Pearl Harbor Museum
 

Hi!

My fiance and I will be honeymooning in Kauai this October and he wants to take a day trip to Oahu to see the Pearl Harbor museum & the Bowfin. I looked into it and there are a bunch of different museums like the Missouri & Arizona memorials, etc.

Has anyone been there and have any advice on what to see? The latest flight back to Kauai is 8pm....can we fit all of this in one day before we leave? Are there package tours that do everything?

Thanks!!!

I believe it is doable if you catch the first flight to Oahu to arrive early in the morning to avoid waiting in line and crowds #o. Visiting the Arizona memorial includes access to the Pearl Harbor Musuem. The nearby Bowfin submarine tour is under separate admission $-) and is a pretty cool (self-guided) tour and you go at your own pace. Have not done the Missouri tour but other fodorites have noted it is quite moving.
www.nps.gov/usar/pphtml/planyourvisit.html
If you haven't booked your flight to Kaua`i in October, we have found that a convenient way to visit Oahu for a day is to connect through HNL, that is you fly from mainland to HNL and catch a connecting flight to LIH Kaua`i, at the beginning of your honeymoon, and on your last day take first flight from LIH to HNL & spend the day visiting Pearl Harbor then fly back to mainland in the evening. Congratulations! :S-

We did this. Fly to Oahu early in the morning, rent a car for the day, and drive over there. See everything, drive back, fly out.

Worked perfectly. No tour needed.

Check the Entertainment Book, www.entertainment.com , October is right before expiration and it's now June so they should be discounted. We saved the price of a (discounted) book just using their USS Missouri coupon. You won't find much for Kauai in it tho'.

IMHO everyone should visit the Pearl Harbour/USS Arizona memorial at least once.

We bought the combo tour: the USS Missouri guided tour and the USS Arizona memorial. We did the Bowfin and the submarine museum separately on the same day. I highly recommend doing it all. The guided tour was very good on the USS Missouri and I got so much more out of it than if we had toured it on our own.

Thanks for the advice! I booked a flight arriving at Honolulu at 7am and we leave to go back to Kauai at 8pm.

Should we spend all day at the Pearl Harbor, Bowfin, Missouri, etc. museums....or do you think these can all be done in the morning and we'll have time to rent a car and drive around the island for a bit?

Thanks!

Mphiebig,

You will need to rent a car, with such a short time table no other option. To fully get the Pearl Harbor experience, it takes most of the day. If one rushes it can be done faster, but with traffic and a flight to catch, trying to do too much might be a mistake. Highly recommend the Bowfin and Missouri as well as the Arizona. It is an amazing experience and one can feel the history.
You could fit in more of the island, but it all depends on how long one spends at each site. It would be a shame to rush it, and not give the sites their due.

Good luck and happy travels!