Getting to Memorial Visitor Center
 

We want to see the Arizonia Memorial while we are in Honolulu (staying at the Outrigger Reef). I read that there are privately owned vans and shuttle buses that will drive you to the Memorial visitor center. Has anyone ever taken one of these, and can you suggest a couple of companies to check out? What is the price, do they pick you up at your hotel, do I need to arrange it a day or two in advance? <BR> <BR>Thanks

Even better, take the public bus for $1. I believe it runs every 30 or 60 minutes and will take you right to the memorial museum. Please note, you have to take the navy ferry to the actual memorial/ship

Hi, <BR> <BR>I should have mentioned in my first post that we do not want to take the bus, and we will not have a rental car. <BR> <BR>So, again, here is what I want to know: I read that there are privately owned vans and shuttle buses that will drive you to the Memorial visitor center. Has anyone ever taken one of these, and can you suggest a couple of companies to check out? What is the price, do they pick you up at your hotel, do I need to arrange it a day or two in advance? <BR> <BR>Thanks, <BR>Chris <BR>

I realize that you said that you don't want to take the public bus but let me tell you what we experienced. We took the bus, no problem. Got right there. On the way we had planned to stay around 45 minutes to 1 hour since the tour groups were going for 2 hours and I am not interested in military stuff. <BR> <BR>Well, I was wrong, it was very interesting. We visited the Arizona Memorial, the submarine and the battleship. I loved it. We spent more than 7 hours there. This would not have been possible with a tour group. If you like military history, make sure the tour goes there for a long enough time. <BR>Just in case this also applies to you, we had an 8 year old girl with us. Who would have thought that she would like it so much too.

I think there are some vans or shuttle buses that drop you off, and return at various times, so you could stay as little or as long as you wanted. The reason we don't want to take the bus is it takes longer, and often is full for popular attractions. <BR> <BR>Again, if anybody has experience with these vans or shuttles to Arizonia Memorial, I would appreciate a response.

Chris, <BR> <BR>You might be interested in my reply to the post "3 Islands...", my replies are dated 1/26 & 1/27. Hope it helps.

It has been awhile since we went, but I am pretty sure we just took a cab from the airport and back.

Chris: I had an overnight layover with a business trip (had been further out in the Pacific) last year so had limited time and I was by myself, so I did arrange for a private car to take me and bring me back to the hotel to collect bags and scoot to the airport. The cost was something between $50 and $100 (probably with the tip), which gave me a driver who was interesting to talk to in his own right, since he had been a pre-teen during Pearl Harbor, and sort of set the stage for the tour. He "hung out" while I went out to the Memorial, then we left immediately. <BR>This was my 5th year to have this quick layover and I had always wanted to get to the Memorial, so I justified it as a splurge. I simply asked my hotel to arrange it, and they did a fine job. I must say that I really regretted that I didn't have time, having been on the Memorial, to really wander the grounds and go into the submarine, as I found it to be a moving and fascinating experience. <BR>I see your website listed; tonight I will hunt thru my records, and assuming that I find the actual cost I will e-mail you. I may even have a card from the driver; it may be possible to save a bit by calling him directly, I really don't know. <BR>If there are several of you and you can give it a full day, I too would recommend the bus, but I know from personal experience that sometimes the easy way doesn't work!

We took one of the tours that go over to Arizona and then Missouri because we didn't want to rent a car and prefer the assurance of a tour rather than a private rental. They are pretty reasonable in price and we were lucky enough to get one of the nicest drivers who also ended up helping us make dinner plans and even called to make reservations since he knew the host who was working that night.