Is Hawaii ready for the Superferry?

July 4th, 2007

There’s been a lot of anticipation about the superferry coming to Hawaii and I have to say that I’ve been caught up in this anticipation as well. When I first heard about the ferry coming, I thought it would be a great idea and as a travel agent, I was thinking of all the possibilities that this could open up. For example; we could create all-inclusive packages that include a car and our clients could simply drive onto the ferry then disembark and drive to their hotel or any activity that they choose. I also thought it would be great for people who live here who will finally be able to get to some of the other islands pretty easily with their car.I love driving my car however, there’s not too many places you can drive after awhile; you pretty much drive around in circles here so I looked forward to the idea of maybe driving up to Haleakala or a ride down Front Street! So as days approached for the ferry to come to Hawaii I kept checking to see when you would be able to purchase tickets online and finally last week they started accepting reservations for later in August because they do not have a start date for the first voyage. I decided to make reservations for a date in August and started to drill down through their website to add the various components for the reservation. I selected 2 adults, the Premium upgrade, and one car, the total price was $466.33 WHAT!!! Wait a minute I said, I don’t think I’m quite ready to spend 500 bucks to go over to Maui plus a three hour boat ride!!! Additionally, when I get there I have to have pay for a hotel for the night because the ferry won’t be back until the next day

And then it hit me!! This superferry may not be such a good idea after all especially from a cost/time perspective. Think about this, you have to get yourself together and drive on down to the port, wait on a line if you have a car, and get your car through their inspection, then you have to find seats on the ferry, then you have to eat, yes, more money!! You also need or four or five hours to spare because that’s how long this whole fun trip is going to take.

The jury is still out on the superferry and I really hope that we can find some ways to make this work for us both to the tourist and for Kamaaina. I will certainly take the ferry as soon as I have an extra of $466 to spare but in the meantime I think taking the ferry might be a little too expensive. Especially when you fly the neighbor Islands for half the price.

Written by Bruce Fisher

Since 2006 Bruce has been writing and producing Hawaii Vacation Connection Podcast and the Hawaii Vacation Blog and the which create daily content about Hawaii Travel and Tourism. His postings reflect the Hawaiian Islands, their culture and their lifestyle as accurately and thoroughly as possible. The tone is anecdotal, breezy, and devoid of any commercialism.

Entry Filed under: Oahu