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I was doing some research about the ferry system that serves coastal Alaska and got to wondering why Hawaii doesn't have the same sort of thing. The Alaska ferry system is owned and operated by the state, so there's no need to worry about it going out of business, and many of their ships carry cars, so it's entirely possible to bring your car to Alaska from the lower 48 without bothering with the Alcan, and enjoy a nice 4-day cruise besides.
I know it's not practical to run a ferry all the way out to Hawaii from the mainland, but wouldn't it make sense to have a comprehensive ferry service linking the islands? It seems odd that if you have a car on one island, it's basically trapped there - should you want to visit another island, you have to pay big bucks for airfare, and more bucks for car rental - surly taking the car on the ferry would be far cheaper, and more practical than having to jet from island to island.
Any natives care to tell me why Hawaii doesn't have an Alaskan-style ferry system, or if one is planned for the future?
I was doing some research about the ferry system that serves coastal Alaska and got to wondering why Hawaii doesn't have the same sort of thing.
I suggest you do some research about the ferry system that served Hawaii. There is a tab at the upper right that says "Search". Get a coffee, sit back, and read all there is on the subject.
I've read about the Superferry, which went bankrupt soon after it started operating - guess the fares were too high?
What I'm mainly asking about is a state run ferry system, like what North Carolina has for its Outer Banks, or the system that serves communities in coastal Alaska, some of which are not connected to the road system. I just think Hawaii needs to have a comprehensive, low-cost system - I mean, if North Carolina can do it, there's no reason why the state of Hawaii couldn't do the same.
Anyone care to chime in as to why this hasn't happened yet?
PS - I'm a ferry fanatic, I ride them whenever I get the chance - the best ferry ride I took ever was between the two islands of New Zealand - that was a total blast, with the huge seas and all.
You can take a ferry from Maui to Lanai and Molokai.
A slow moving ferry from lets say Maui to Honolulu isn't economically viable from a cost, demand, and time perspective.
The islands are much farther than lets say - the ferry system in Seattle or the San Francisco Bay Area.
That's too bad, really, as I'd love nothing more than being able to ferry from island to island someday - guess there's other places I could do that, like Alaska...lol.
So going from Honolulu to Maui would take a lot longer than, say, the ferry from Seattle to Victoria, BC? If I recall correctly, that took about 3 hours, not too bad at all, considering it was a fair distance. Guess they need to build some faster boats in order to make it work, huh?
Another cool crossing I had the fortune of doing once was across Lake Michigan - took three hours as well. That was another fun experience to be sure.
So going from Honolulu to Maui would take a lot longer than, say, the ferry from Seattle to Victoria, BC? If I recall correctly, that took about 3 hours, not too bad at all, considering it was a fair distance. Guess they need to build some faster boats in order to make it work, huh?
Another cool crossing I had the fortune of doing once was across Lake Michigan - took three hours as well. That was another fun experience to be sure.
The Superferry took 3 hours Maui to Honolulu - so, regular ferry - I have to think 6+ hours. If you ever saw the Superferry from Waikiki you couldn't miss it - it was blazingly fast.
Since someone will ask - the Superferry was about $50 each way - cheaper than flying. The cost didn't put them out of business - the litigation put them out of business. To put a car on the ferry I think was about $60 - that was the best deal - take your car from HNL to Maui and no need to rent a car.
Last edited by whtviper1; 04-07-2012 at 05:06 PM..
I was doing some research about the ferry system that serves coastal Alaska and got to wondering why Hawaii doesn't have the same sort of thing. The Alaska ferry system is owned and operated by the state, so there's no need to worry about it going out of business, and many of their ships carry cars, so it's entirely possible to bring your car to Alaska from the lower 48 without bothering with the Alcan, and enjoy a nice 4-day cruise besides.
I know it's not practical to run a ferry all the way out to Hawaii from the mainland, but wouldn't it make sense to have a comprehensive ferry service linking the islands? It seems odd that if you have a car on one island, it's basically trapped there - should you want to visit another island, you have to pay big bucks for airfare, and more bucks for car rental - surly taking the car on the ferry would be far cheaper, and more practical than having to jet from island to island.
Any natives care to tell me why Hawaii doesn't have an Alaskan-style ferry system, or if one is planned for the future?
The Alaska Marine Highway system (for the most part) enjoys the relatively calm waters of the inside passage. Go on youtube and check out some surfing videos and check out the north shore. Now imagine our ferries trying to handle that. Sure, I've seen Yakutat on a bad day but its got nothing on Hawaii. But on a different note, airfare: Juneau to Sitka (90 miles), $300. Kona to Maui (84 miles), $65. Maybe they don't have ferries because there isn't a single airline enjoying a government-subsidized monopoly? Traveling around SE Alaska on airplanes is WAY more expensive than Hawaii inter-island flying. Its amazing what a little competition will do.
The ocean has eaten all the ferries except the SuperFerry, that one got eaten by paperwork. The last viable inter-island "ferries" we've had that lasted for any length of time were steamships. The Kilauea, Humuula, Hualalai, Waialeale, Hawaii and Haleakala. The big white ships, the Matson ocean liners, brought folks from the mainland to Hawaii, then the smaller steamships would take them inter-island.
The ocean has eaten all the ferries except the SuperFerry, that one got eaten by paperwork. The last viable inter-island "ferries" we've had that lasted for any length of time were steamships. The Kilauea, Humuula, Hualalai, Waialeale, Hawaii and Haleakala. The big white ships, the Matson ocean liners, brought folks from the mainland to Hawaii, then the smaller steamships would take them inter-island.
that made me lol. so true. someone was getting paid off by young brothers.
it definitely wasn't the pricing. i'm sure ppl would have been willing to pay more. it was a steal to be able to take your own car for an outer island trip, vs rental.
from what i understand, outer island ppl would come shop on oahu and pack their cars full. there's no way you could do that on an airplane.
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