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Pearl Harbor from Maui
... Round-Trip Airfare from Kahului, Maui to Honolulu ... Rental Car for the day ... Tour Pearl Harbor on your own ... See Waikiki Beach, downtown Honolulu, the Pali Overlook, north shore beaches ... wherever you'd like to go on Oahu

$250 per person from Maui ($290 per person for holiday travel dates from December 15 to January 4) ; Round-Trip Airfare ... Rental Car for the day ... Tour Pearl Harbor ... See Waikiki Beach ... free to plan your own day and save money compared to structured tours. Priced per person based upon minimum of 2 people sharing the cost of the car. Solo travelers are $20 higher. This package covers airfare and rental car; tickets to Pearl Harbor attractions are the responsibility of the guest to arrange upon their arrival. We also include a link to the National Park Service and the USS Missouri Association in your email confirmation.

Book as soon as you can! If you wait until a few weeks before your trip, the cost may go up if the less-expensive seats are already booked. Rates quoted are our typical package prices available in advance for most dates. If travel on your selected date is going to cost more than the posted price, we will contact you prior to finalizing your reservation just after receiving your order. In many cases we surprise people; they receive confirmation and discover the rate is actually less than we post here.Fly-drive reservations must be charged at the time of the reservation and are non-refundable. They should also be considered non-changeable as any itinerary changes will result in significant change fees plus the difference in the cost of the airfare.

The most popular day trip to another island is for visitors to fly to Oahu to visit Pearl Harbor to see the Arizona Memorial, the USS Missouri Battleship, the USS Bowfin Submarine, and the Pacific Aviation Museum.

While they are hard to find, occasionally there are more expensive tours that fly you from Maui to Oahu, and provide bus transportation to Pearl Harbor, and take you to Waikiki for a few hours, but you give up a lot of freedom that way. The best way to visit Pearl Harbor from Maui is to do a fly-drive package. You get round-trip airfare from the main airport at Kahului on Maui to Honolulu, and the use of a rental car for the day. Pearl Harbor is very close to the airport, and the rental car attendant will give you a map and directions to get there. 

There is much to see and do at Pearl Harbor, and you'll never get it all done in a day due to the historic popularity of this place. The two major attractions at Pearl Harbor are the Arizona Memorial, and USS Missouri battleship. It should be your goal to do one of these two attractions, and if you are able to get them both done in a single day you are truly blessed!

The USS Arizona Memorial is part of the National Park Service, and there is no admission fee for the Arizona Memorial. When you arrive, you will wait in line to get a ticket which admits you to the theater at the next available show time. The documentary film prepares you well for what you are about to experience, because when the film ends and the doors open, everyone boards the Navy shuttle boat in hushed silence. While the wait to get a ticket and the wait for your turn to ride the boat can take hours, the ride to the memorial only takes a few minutes. (see note below for advisory about availability of tickets for the shuttle boat to the memorial.)  

The USS Missouri Association is a non-profit group that offers tickets for purchase for touring other sites at Pearl Harbor including the Missouri, the USS Bowfin Submarine, and the Pacific Aviation Museum.

Typical Schedule:

On most dates the morning departure choices are 6:09am and 7:09am ... all flights depart from the main Maui airport in Kahului. The return choices are typically 5:39pm, 6:20pm, 7:48pm, 8:29pm, and 9:50pm  We highly recommend the 6:09am flight as it enables you to get to Pearl Harbor shortly after they open at 7am. This can save you hours of waiting ... if you arrive later you'll end up stuck in line behind hundreds of tour bus passengers from Waikiki.

UPDATE 2/21/2012: While most people do not have tickets prior to arriving at the Arizona Memorial, it may be possible to reserve them in advance. Our confirmation email for your air-car package will contain a link to the National Park service website where you can check to see if advanced reservations are possible for your date. Only 20% of available tickets are currently being offered as "reserved seats in advance" for Arizona Memorial tour times and for dates a minimum of three weeks in advance and a maximum of three months in advance. Tickets are still free, but they charge $1.50 per seat "convenience fee" for this service. Your best bet is still book an early flight time so that you can make the most of your day on Oahu, and if you are able to reserve a specific tour time in advance, that helps you plan your time on Oahu more effectively.

UPDATE 6/12/2013: Due to government cutbacks forced by "sequestration" in the spring of 2013, the park service has cut back on the number of available daily tickets to the Arizona Memorial because the last shuttle boat now runs at 1pm. During peak summer and holiday dates it is not uncommon for all available tickets to be distributed shortly after they open at 7:00am. Unfortunately our agency has no control over whether tickets are still available for the Arizona Memorial when you arrive at Pearl Harbor. If there are no Arizona Memorial tickets available, we recommend guests go right next door and arrange a tour of the USS Missouri, the WWII battleship that is similar to the USS Arizona prior to its destruction. The Missouri is docked right next to the Arizona Memorial, and gives guests a fuller experience of WWII naval life. The Missouri is also famous because it was on the deck of this ship that Japan surrendered to end WWII. See our comments under "Activity Tips" below for more information.

(Note: Fly-drive reservations must be charged at the time of reservation and are non-refundable. They should also be considered non-changeable as any itinerary changes will result in significant change fees plus the difference in cost in the airfare, if any.) 

Activity Tips

Pearl Harbor is open seven days a week ... every day of the year except for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. And while technically open on December 7th, there are always so many ceremonial events going on that it makes it difficult to have a "normal" experience at Pearl Harbor on that date.

It is a tragic shame ... and it truly is shameful ... that political gridlock in Washington DC is restricting the number of guests who get to experience the Arizona Memorial each day. Due to the budget cutbacks forced by "sequestration" the shuttle boats now stop running at 1pm each day (the last boat used to run at 3pm). This has resulted in a 25% drop in the number of available boat seats each day. It would be easy to add a nominal ticket fee to pay for the cost of running a full schedule, but there would be public backlash to charging a fee to visit what is effectively the grave of those who died here. But cutting back on access to the public and turning away people who traveled great distances to pay their respects is perhaps a far greater way to disrespect the fallen. We hope this situation is resolved soon.

For years, people have gone to Pearl Harbor and visited the Arizona Memorial, and that was the extent of their visit. The upside to this cutback is that far more Pearl Harbor guests are patronizing the USS Missouri, which has long been overlooked as the "main attraction" at Pearl Harbor. Walking around on the decks of the Missouri and standing in the shadows of those giant guns is in many respects a fuller experience of WWII than actually going on the Arizona Memorial, where you can only see the faint outline of the ship below the surface of the water. We also highly recommend a tour of the USS Bowfin submarine; it's amazing to experience the tight living and working conditions aboard WWII era submarines. At long last the public is discovering that there is more to see and do and experience at Pearl Harbor than just the Arizona Memorial!

If you do get a ticket to ride the boat out to the memorial, one photography tip for you... when you are re-boarding the boat for the return, try to get in the last row. As the boat pulls away from the Arizona, you will get your best photo from there.

One question I often get asked about the fly-drive ... "If there are four of us, shouldn't the price get a little cheaper since there are four of us sharing the cost of the car instead of two?" Good question. The answer is "no" ... unless you want to squeeze four people into an economy car. Parties of four get larger cars ... and larger cars cost more. It evens out ... trust me! 

The driver of the rental car must be 25 or older with a major credit card in his / her name. Drivers 21-24 are possible, but you need to give us a call and let us know. Avis charges an extra $27 or so for younger drivers at the rental car counter.

A major credit card is required at the time you pick up your rental car (damage deposit). Most people don't take out the option insurance coverage because their auto insurance at home covers rental car damage as well (subject to your deductibles ... see your policy for details). My advice on the gasoline ... DON'T pre-purchase a tank of gas from Avis... tell them you will bring it back full. You won't likely use a whole tank of gas unless you drive the car all day long and do three circles around the island of Oahu! There is a gasoline station at the airport where you can fill up ... conveniently located in the same block where you return the car! If you didn't go anywhere except Pearl Harbor, the needle probably hasn't moved on the gas gauge and in that case you don't even need to worry about filling up.

Interisland carriers have discontinued the use of "flight coupons." In the past it was possible to get discount airfare by buying these coupons from a travel agent. They aren't available anymore.

On-line Fly-Drive Reservations