Is the Pearl Harbor excursion worth it, or should we go on our own?

[CaoilinnsMom]

Just trying to narrow down activities

 

[abdgeek]

I did Pearl Harbor on my own versus taking a tour because I didn’t want to be rushed. Tickets for the Arizona Memorial are free, but you will pay a fee if you buy them online. In pre-COVID times, you would watch a video and then board a boat to the memorial. You will have to check the website to see how they are doing it now.

If you decide to do Pearl Harbor on your own, get there early so that you can get the closest ticket to your arrival time. I arrived about 8:30am and wound up with an 11:30am ticket time for the Arizona. I also got tickets to the USS Missouri and Bowfin, so I was able to do that while I waited. Keep in mind that you cannot take bags into the park. While you can rent a locker to lock your things up in, be careful about leaving them in your car even if it’s in the trunk. Thieves are aware that tourists do this.

 

[braysmommy]

If you have a car I’d do it on your own. Check website to see how far out you can reserve tickets and plan to get them as soon as they are released for your date. Make sure you have an account already on website.

 

[JC1984]

Do it on your own. Like someone said you don’t want to be rushed and want to be able to enjoy such a somber special place. Take the time to take it all in and embrace what happened there.

 

[lizard1]

Do it on your own. Reserve tickets online in advance so you are guaranteed a spot.

I did Pearl Harbor on my own versus taking a tour because I didn’t want to be rushed. Tickets for the Arizona Memorial are free, but you will pay a fee if you buy them online. In pre-COVID times, you would watch a video and then board a boat to the memorial. You will have to check the website to see how they are doing it now.

As of two weeks ago, they still weren't showing the video, you walked straight through the theater and onto the boat.

 

[FoodieFriend]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get directions to Arizona Memorial, not Pearl Harbor, if you go on your own! The attraction that's open to the public is Arizona Memorial. If you try to enter Pearl Harbor without a military ID, you will get turned around at the guard gate & snarl up traffic for us!

 

[tankin]

Just trying to narrow down activities

What's more important to you? Saving your time or saving your money? If you're willing to go thru the routine of timing the ticket release to get tickets on your own, I'd say do it on your own and save the money (my family enjoyed the Sub, forgot the name, and the USS Missouri both of which are an added fee). If not, pay someone else to do it and join the excursion. We loved being able to go at our own pace.

 

[nkereina]

IMO, the organized tour/activity is worth it solely for the logistics. I didn't do it through Aulani as we did it through Discover Hawaii Tours when we were staying in Waikiki, but the benefits of the tour are the same and I presume they operate similarly. In my experience, they facilitate the tickets for you that coordinate with your tour timeframe. You are free to tour the free portions yourself - we had about 2 hours to do this before our tour time. We were not rushed to get back to the bus after our Arizona Tour. I think they picked us up from our Waikiki hotel around 6:45, we got there around 7:15, our tour was 9:15, and we were back on the bus by 11.

Doing it on your own can give you more flexibility, but can also put you in a pickle from a timing perspective. Currently, tour times can only be obtained online a week in advance and its very limited. If you're not lucky enough to obtain one, you'll have to arrive quite early to wait in the standby line to obtain a tour time. The further back in the line you are, the later your tour time will be. If you're there at 8am and get a 2pm tour time, then you'll need to occupy your time between 8-2 somehow. You can fill a couple hours touring the free portions, but not that full time and food options are limited. It also doesn't allow you time to do the Missouri or anything else offered there. Leaving and returning can be tricky because there can be parking challenges later in the afternoon, and its also not advisable to leave bags or anything like that in your car because theft can be rampant at Pearl Harbor. So, it makes it difficult to plan your day and you'd have to dedicate a full day to it, just in case.