How full are Matson auto shipments? (Hilo: rental car, rental, military)

[xxthinkpinkxo]

Hi all, I'm shipping my car from Seattle to Hilo thru Matson. I called Matson and they told me the boat leaves Monday (Dec. 28) with a Thursday (Dec. 24 cut off date). I arranged to drop my car off Wednesday thru the online reservation. Figured that'd give plenty of time to clean the car, replace the windshield and still use it for a few days. I called Matson this morning though, and they said online reservations mean nothing -- it's basically first come, first serve so if the boat is full you just have to wait for the next one (two weeks from now). I asked the nice lady if that meant I should drop the boat off earlier. She said "there's no way to know how many people will ship their car" but full ships "haven't been a problem lately and don't happen very often" but also added a comforting "it's certainly a possiblity."

I pressed a little more and asked how many reservations Matson had for this upcoming boat and how many cars the boat holds. She became clearly annoyed the more I asked and repeated "there's no way to know" and people at the port don't even know so don't bother asking. I didn't ask any more for fear she was going to throw things at me through the phone.

So I'm wondering if I was being silly asking these questions? Is it kind of a no-brainer all the cars will fit, or something? Anyone had an experience showing up to the port the day of the cut-off or the day before and been rejected? If so, my car and I will curtail down there this afternoon. If not, obviously having my set of wheels an extra day would be quite nice.

This whole shipping process seems so complicated. I don't know if Matson understands holding a car an extra two weeks would mean an extra two weeks of a rental car ($$$$), so it's pretty important to make it on the desired ship. I wouldn't have made an online reservation weeks ago if it wasn't. It seems like they should be able to pull up the number of reservations quite easily, right? And the capacity of the boat should be well-known?

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

I doubt that there would be a whole lot of people shipping their cars the day before Christmas. Although that is an assumption, and we know what that means.

We've shipped cars with Matson out of both Seattle and Long Beach, and never had any problems getting on the boat. I believed we just dropped the cars off the day before.

[xxthinkpinkxo]

thanks you have no idea how helpful that is! Totally takes the stress off.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Originally Posted by xxthinkpinkxo

thanks you have no idea how helpful that is! Totally takes the stress off.

Good luck and I hope your move goes well!

[ScottStielow]

Best of luck with your move. Good luck with Matson, should have no issues shipping the car!!

[onetwo3]

I had the opposite experience wirh Matson. Had to wait a month and a half, military weirdness. Boat was empty then full. Our trailer ended up on Oahu and "lost" for a afternoon. We rented a car for the extra week it took for the truck to show. With the trailer they did say that had never happened before. Also they broke the safety chains on it. Paid for it to be repaired though, after hoops. Went to get the truck and person in yard smacked car next to it with my door. No worries on my old ride but the other car not so much. Response- shrug whatev. Not any other way here though, so you are stuck. Hope for the best, expect the worst. I did get a key chain "MATSON" and a neat story about how they no longer ship batteries or lp tanks anymore in containers. Best advice get there early in the day, when they first open and KEEP TRACK OF PAPERWORK they give you and be able to reference it. Learn their names, there are only five or so people you might deal with. Saying who was in last helps.
Mahalo
Be safe, have fun.