Hawaii Campers is an upgraded camper van experience.They have a very helpful website, that answers nearly all the questions you might have about renting one of their five VW camper vans and camping on Oahu. If you still have more questions, Jill can usually answer all of them or will strive to get answers for you. Brad is the "van man," he knows all the in's&out's of each van and gives you a very specific tour of your van's "how to's". If there is something tricky about your van he lets you know and shows you just how to do it.. And if something fails on the van while you are in the middle of your rental (which happened to us), they do EVERYTHING in their power to either get you up and running or they get you a replacement van...ASAP. If there was one complaint we had about their website and their suggestions for places to "pull off" was that legal "pull offs" are far and few between. Many places post up and down the shore line, "no camping." Second, the issue of valuables (both yours and those that belong to Hawaii Campers). Many places post "don't leave valuables in the car." It's difficult to take everything with you to the beach. (ipod, dvd player, phone, camera etc), then you have to worry about them while at the beach. It's a part of van camping...but you should be aware that it's not that easy to just pull over for a worry free overnight. We started our 10 day rental in Daisy (fun & funky but dated) and finished the trip with Cafe Remi (newer, stronger running engine but the stove & frig don't work). Remi also has front seats that swivel backwards so you have more seating options (ask Brad to show you) and the pop up tent is in pristine condition for great ventilation (a huge benefit in Hawaii, especially when the tradewinds die down). Pack lite as what Remi has in kitchen storage she lacks in closet/clothing type storage, we chose to live out of our duffle bags. Keep in mind you are renting over 20 year old vans...not a newer model RV. Describing them as "funky", is the fairest way to describe them. But if you are gentle in your use of them, they will be good vehicles to roam all over Oahu in. Hawaii camping is still primitive camping (by mainland standards), most campgrounds do NOT having electrical hookups, hit and miss clean warm showers/restrooms, all with sand/dirt, wild chickens and feral cats at almost every campground. BE SURE TO CHECK OUT CAMPING ON OAHU before you commit to renting the van. Paying special attention to the days that state parks are open for permits (not free and more for out of state residents). Realize that city&county parks require a permit (although free) that can only be obtained on the island in person at certain gov. offices (not available to arrange at the campground) and that sites are limited. Lastly gov. owned campgrounds are closed Wed-Fri noon. So make sure you have private campground reservations for those days (our favorite were Friends of Malaekahana...just know they will always try to place you in their new "van circle (4) sites" @ $25 a night and Camp Mokuleia @ $30 a night on the northshore. Since this last trip to Oahu was a kid free one of us. This van was nearly perfect for the needs of two active 50 yr olds. The owners are recent new parents of twins and as a parents of four young adults, we can appreciate their coming challenge to keep their customer service at the same high level. So far they seem to be doing a good job. If you love camping and don't like one home base all vacation long, van camping with Hawaii Campers is a great option. read more

We are extremely disappointed with our experience. We booked this rental for 3 nights through the company's booking system, received a confirmation email, and believed our reservation was fully confirmed. Based on that confirmation, we purchased flights to Hawaii, requested time off from work, and planned this trip to celebrate our daughter's birthday and our anniversary. A few days later, we received a call from an employee telling us that the minimum stay is actually 5 nights and that our reservation would likely be canceled because the system "shouldn't have allowed" us to book only 3 nights. This policy was not disclosed during the booking process, and the reservation was accepted and confirmed without any issues. What made the experience even more frustrating was that we were unable to speak with management or obtain their contact information to discuss a possible solution. We understand that mistakes can happen, but customers should not be expected to bear the consequences of an internal system error after making travel arrangements based on a confirmed reservation. We sincerely hope the company improves its booking system and customer service so future customers do not experience the same situation. read more

Hawaii Campers - RV Rental Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Great, simple and convenient camping gear rental service. The person who runs it is very nice.

We had a great experience renting Daisy. She was fully equipped, reliable, and comfy for several nights of camping on Oahu. No troubles what so ever in arranging the rental, Brad and Jill were very helpful. Highly recommended. UPDATE: 1. I'm not sure why my review is filtered. Supposedly it's an automated process. If you'd like to look me up, I live in Boulder, CO. Google my first name and Boulder. I'm real and we paid to rent Daisy (not the other way around). 2. Before you rent, do your homework on where you want to go on the island. There are lots of spots where you can camp for the night, some legal and some not so legal. Some great, some not so great. A few hours doing research before you pick up the van is time well spent. 3. These vans are classic machines. With Daisy especially, you're effectively driving an antique. Like any older vehicle, it can be a bit quirky = but I thought it was in GREAT condition given it's age. That said, I had no issues with gas or batteries, no bump starts, really no problems. read more

Hawaii Campers - Sunrise at Sandy Beach with Daisy - RV Rental Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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I rented a van from Hawaii Campers for one week with my two daughters. We were really excited to camp on Oahu, but unfortunately this company turned out to be a disappointment. I will say that we made the best of our trip and ended up having a good time, but our experiences with the owners -- a husband and wife couple -- were not good, and the van we rented was not in good condition. Our week rental was supposed to include free airport pick up and drop off and lei greeting. After we made the reservation, they said that they just gave birth to twins and that transportation may not be possible. I called a few days before our arrival and the husband said it would be easier if we took a cab and called them when we arrived at the airport. No one answered the phone when we arrived at the airport, and when we arrived at their place of business -- which is actually just the apartment building where they live -- the husband was completely surprised by our arrival, thinking we were supposed to arrive the following day. He came down to meet us with the twins in a stroller, and walked us to our van. We loaded all of our things in, during which time the twins started crying, but when he turned the ignition, the van wouldn't start. I was sympathetic -- I was trying to help him calm the kids -- and he asked if I wouldn't mind taking another van. I said it was fine and we unloaded our things and put them into another van. It was just a very stressful and rushed arrival. The company's website described the vans as "five star, luxurious Volkswagen campers". But the van we rented had several problems -- a broken gas gauge, a hatchback door that has to be propped up with a stick, broken latches, and holes in the pop up tent. Also, the stove seemed to run out of propane, and we had to eat a cold meal our last night. Their website describes this van, which they call "Daphne", as "unbelievably well kept", which just isn't true. It ran okay (although it took a few seconds to start sometimes) but it's definitely a little funky and could easily improved with a few simple repairs. The wife did e-mail me during the trip and apologized for the stressful check in, and offered to drop us off to wherever we were going after the trip. On the morning of our last day, the husband called at 9 am and said he needed the van back in an hour. I said I'd get back as soon as possible and asked if we could be dropped off in Kailua, which is 14 miles away from their apartment. He reluctantly said yes but then when I called to let him know we were on our way, he said he changed his mind -- that it was too far. I emailed his wife asking about compensation for the transportation that was supposed to be included. Her response was that we had left some sand on some items in the van, which would normally incur a $75 cleaning fee. She offered to call it even. I really felt that given the botched arrival, the condition of the van, the early return, AND the fact that pick up and arrival was supposed to be included, that we were really being nickeled and dimed by them. I emailed her back, frankly but politely outlined everything that I've written in this review, and said that I'd leave it up to her judgement as to how we should handle the final bill. She never responded. I can imagine that somebody could have a better experience with this company than we had -- maybe we were an exception. But I did run into another of their customers on the trip and they said that the van they had originally wanted was not available because it had been double booked. (What does that mean?) And there's no doubt in my mind that the company is misrepresenting the condition of their vans on their website. I really don't mind things being a little funky, but it would be better to just tell the truth or at least not say that they're luxurious and incredibly well kept. I did notice that after I pointed out the "five star" description to the wife, this particular phrase has since disappeared on their website. Finally, I think that their interactions with us as customers were very poor. They knew that they had botched our arrival, and when I tried to communicate with them, they apparently just decided to ignore me. You would think is a very unwise way to do business, especially these days when word gets around very quickly. I gave them an opportunity to discuss my complaints, and really I'm a very tolerant and patient customer -- I'm sure we could have worked it out if they had just made an effort. But for some reason they didn't think it was worth it and blew it off. Camping in Hawaii can be great, but next time I will definitely choose another option. My advice is to stay clear of this company. read more

Our review is unfortunately a negative one similar to Kelleth's. Our fundamental advice is ensure that you are comfortable with the level of service you receive from this company, and the condition of the vehicle you are renting. We had a confirmed pick-up time set for when they would get us from our hotel. When they missed this, we called and left messages and sent an email. We received a call not from the owner (Jill), but from the person they use to pick people up. We were told we had arranged for a later pick-up time that what we had confirmed. When we explained the mistake (on their part) we were told he'd be with us in 45 minutes. Two hours later (probably no fault of his due to traffic), he pulled up in Tiki. When you search for Hawaii Campers, the google summary does include "Our 5-star luxurious Volkswagen campers...". The vehicle that pulled up was a camper that is beginning to look worn (poorly painted over rust spots on the exterior and an interior that is starting to show its age). It does look like the "5 Star" is a google leftover, as it's not on their website... but, this is their most expensive rental van. We had planned our trip around the camper, so we hopped in and started the trip to where the camper would need to be dropped off. This is about twenty minutes (?) west of the airport. I can't speak to anything else mechanically on the van, but the brakes had a high amount of 'judder' in them. This was much worse at higher speed braking. It could be unevenly deposited brake shoe material (what is sometimes referred to as warped rotors)... but it does mean that the vehicle should probably be serviced (or the owner should 'rebed' the brake shoes). For us, it was a red flag. If we owned the vehicle, we wouldn't rent it out to people like this. When we got to the drop off location, we asked for a better contact for Jill since she hadn't responded to us yet, other than through our driver (kind of). When we got word through that we were uncomfortable with renting the vehicle, then we heard from Brad (Jill's husband). Brad was very courteous and wound up coming down to the park to speak with us... agreeing to refund us our deposit money. When Brad dropped us off at a rental car company, I nicely explained to him our disappointment in the process and the state of the vehicle. He listened, and maybe it's not fair of me... but he just didn't seem to care. He went so far as to offer that 'Jill has twins'. This response floored us. Our appointment was missed, the vehicle was not in a state of repair that should be reasonable expected... and we never did receive a response from Jill. We just can't recommend supporting a business where the owner doesn't call you (or someone in responsible charge) and simply apologize for missing an appointment that was confirmed. Their website is also quite out of date. Daisy has been sold, and the two vans other than Tiki are currently out of service and in need of repair. This doesn't provide much support to the notion that they put the time and effort into maintaining their vehicles as a serious service to their renters, and potential renters. Kelleth's review echoes our experience related to customer service... there is none. We'd also like to echo that others' experience could be completely different (as is evidenced by the positive reviews), but we can't recommend Jill and her van(s?) at all. We're not really that hard to please... all we'd have requested is a call from Jill immediately when she found out our scheduled appointment had been missed. And then a call explaining the brake judder to us (harder to explain perhaps?). Lastly... this was a delayed honeymoon for us. A week in hawaii. We relied upon Jill and the information on her website (and these reviews) for the planning of our trip. When we didn't receive what we expected, we had to scramble in order to reconfigure our trip. This isn't the easiest thing to do in Hawaii... but thanks to the kindness of a few people, we did find a small place to rent. Many people who might rent a van are probably in the same place where this is a special trip. When something like this falls through, it really impacts the quality of your vacation. This is what I don't get with Hawaiian Campers... if they truly understand how important their service is to their clients, they would maintain their vehicles and their level of service. We just felt that they didn't care. read more

Camping in paradise! Sounds fun, huh? Think twice about renting with this outfit. Our experience began ominously, when our hosts poured two gallons of blue toilet chemicals from an overflowing porta-potty into their own street gutter, a 1/2 block from the Ala Wai Canal--yuck! We discovered the rig lacked a sufficient battery-array to power lights, music, etc. without running out of juice (we had to do multiple push-starts), so basically it only functioned fully while the motor was running. Our hosts recommended staying in a couple of undesignated campspots where we were treated to rowdy local drinking parties and waking up to police flashlights at our windows at 1:00am. (Of course, that had never happened to anyone else before, according to them.) They insisted upon our using premium gas (though it hamstrings the rig's performance on hills), and the tank wasn't completely full at pick-up. They didn't supply us with everything promised, like binoculars (we would have brought our own), but did provide a DVD player and disks that I guess one of us could have watched while the other drove. Jill was hesitant about acquiring permits, "The woman at the office thinks I'm selling them", but came through with a permit we could use at Bellows Beach...if their other customers already on the island weren't using the spot. In general, when Jill couldn't provide an answer or a detail, she would respond something like, "Please don't stress...This trip is about romance and adventure...your gonna have a blast! I am a detailed oriented planer...but sometimes in life the best times are the crazy unplanned/ unexpected adventures!" PLEASE, we're not 21 year-olds! The kicker came when the rig was subjected to a hit-and run while in a parking lot (we were having lunch in a restaurant.) The bill for the damaged fender--$835! Hawaii Campers claims to carry no insurance, so we have quite a paradise tax added to our trip! After five days of dealing, we parked it and checked into a resort to get a vacation from our vacation! The last touch by Hawaii Campers? They could not provide promised transport back to the airport to catch our return flight. We would have to get there ourselves...lovely, our gift-shopping for folks back home would now have to be done in airport giftshops! read more

We have been trying to contact the owners for 4+ weeks now, as well as Josh, the pick up guy with no response until today. We should have done more research before putting down the NON REFUNDABLE deposit as there is no where on the island to free camp and all of the camp grounds I have found are walk in's with NO CAR CAMPING in the parking lot. With our trip less then 3 weeks away and no response from the company, we booked with a VRBO instead. BEWARE...all these are good for is a highly expensive RENTAL CAR...Website is misleading... read more

Absolutely Fantastic!!!! Our 20th anniversary. We were NEVER picked up by "Oahu camper vans " our vacation was on edge of being ruined, and then we contacted Josh who is a extremely cool guy and very helpful. He gave us a quick run down on the van, and some helpful info about the island. The van even had boogie boards, snorkeling gear, beach towels, fresh "nice " sheets, and much much more. He saved our vacation and our anniversary. We can't wait to do it again!! read more

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We texted Josh, the van caretaker when we landed in Honolulu, he promptly arrived and delivered us to Shaggy. After some quick settling of affairs and instructions about the van we were off. Shaggy was just as we expected,and very clean, but with one little twist. To start the van you had to put your foot on the brake, put the shifter in between neutral and reverse then turn the key. Really! It worked and off we went. On our next to the last day the van would no longer start and we texted Josh. He drove an hour to where we were on the other side of the island, arrived when he said he would and with in an hour had it fixed and running. I give Josh my highest recommendation for giving us a pleasant camping experience. The only advice I would give to anyone thinking about renting any camping van on a Hawaiian Island would be to first call the Hawaii Dept of Parks and Rec on King St. in downtown Honolulu. 808-768-3440. There is only 1 private campground on the island Friends of Malaekahana, 808-293-1736, up near the North Shore. We would highly recommend this campground ourselves, but recommend you should know the facts before thinking of staying in state parks. No overnight sleeping in your vehicle allowed, and we weren't in Oahu to sleep in a tent 100 feet from the van we rented to stay in. We stayed in Friends of Malaekahana the whole 10 days and as comfortable as we were there it meant that to see and do the things we wanted to do on the other side of the island we had to drive an hour each day, each way and that ate up allot in gas money. We rented the van to have a lower end budget vacation and ended up spending more than if we rented a hotel room in Waikiki. We did enjoy our time camping, had an awesome sunrise every morning sitting beach side right next to Shaggy and saw an incredible lightening show one night while eating at the picnic table. The beach at Friends of Malaekahana is perfect, great sand, easy waves for beginning surfers or bogey boarders and its a clean campground. Note to self tho, their strict with the 7pm curfew. When it was time for us to go back to the airport, Josh met us, drove us (for a small fee each way) and all was good. I never had any interaction with the owners during our trip nor since. When asked if we would do it all again....We both answered yes but with a different agenda. It would be fun to take our grandsons camping back to Friends of Malaekahana in a camper van but only for a few days, then we would probably rent a condo or hotel room on the other side of the island for another few days. Brad and Joelene Fairbanks, Alaska read more

I don't know why they try to oversell these vans so much. They are not luxurious 5 star machines. They are exactly what you would expect from vans this age. There is seemingly nothing special done to make them nicer, the brakes squeak, "upstairs" bed uncomfortable, they use a ton of gas, etc. etc. Everything works and they are clean, period. That said, It is sure a fun way to travel if you are up for it, and we had a great time. Other thoughts: Why do they have 2 people pick you up from the airport to take you to the van 30 minutes out of the way, instead of having one of them bring the van to the airport? Who knows really. Their helpers are gruff and not very welcoming. We had to convince them to let us turn the van back into the airport instead of their home. -The website says: "Please note if you want to stay at the State and County parks you must put up a tent. We will provide that for you if you would like to stay at these parks." (the girl checking me in looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if there was a tent, so I guess you should specifically request this from them ahead of time?) Things we liked: cd mixes they made, comes w/ snorkel gear for 2, chairs, did not have a problem parking and sleeping where we pleased, It seems like a great business model for them, so I guess they are living the dream. read more

This is the only way to travel around Oahu. We just returned from camping for 5 nights and loved every minute of it! We were able to see the whole island and stop wherever we felt like setting up camp. State parks are all along the coast. We were never bothered ...only by admirers of the van! Thanks Josh (& Jill & Brad) for making our vacation one we'll never forget. read more

My wife Frances and I really enjoyed this unique camping experience. Not being experienced campers, I wasn't sure what to expect. It took me a couple of days to get fully comfortable with the van, but after that it was a pleasure to drive. At one point I ran the battery down, but Brad was patient in helping me get the camper back on the road. Camping on the island was a bit intimidating at first, as we were nervous parking at some of the locations. By the end of trip though we felt much more confident. We slept each net in the pop top, which we found to be cooler than the living room area. Brad and Jill really thought of everything. The kitchen amenities, umbrella, beach towels, quirky touches etc were all greatly appreciated. 'Shaggy' treated us very well. My one piece of advice is to review their introductory materials in the van before you begin your travelling. If we had done so it might have eased some of the nervousness we initially felt. If you're on Oahu, give them a try. It may take a day or two to adjust to this kind of camping, but we think you'll love it. read more

I'm posting this as a WARNING to anyone who is thinking of renting a van with Hawaii Campers. I had read the previous posts before booking and for some insane reason, ignored them completely and still rented a van with this company. After an extremely LONG day of travel from the mainland, the drivers (super nice folks) arrived at the airport in the van that my husband and I would be staying in for 6 nights. My first reaction when hearing and seeing the van as it was parking along the airport curb was totally disappointment. Let me stop here to say that we also rented vans on Kaua'i and Maui for 5 nights and experienced a vintage van in excellent condition with beyond super customer service and a new van in good condition with above average customer service! So back to Hawaii Campers on Oahu and my concerns that are echoed by the concerns already posted previously... 1) the van was in horrible working condition and actually broke down on the side of the road within 30 minutes of us renting it. 2) I e-mailed Jill one week prior to our arrival and the day of our arrival (from LAX) to confirm our van rental and was not notified that there was a change in vans (yes, she has the right to switch out vans as needed, but why not inform the customer so they are not disappointed when they get in the "wrong" van after a long flight?...it feels like bait and switch!) 3) When I called Jill the night of our arrival and expressed my disappointment regarding the van's poor condition and the lack of communication about the change in vans, there was absolutely no customer service expressed. Instead of trying to "fix" the problem and provide solutions to weary travelers from afar, she only made the problem worse by her attitude, defensiveness and blame. Again...we were beyond exhausted after a long day of travel from the east coast to the west coast and then to Oahu and instead of being excited to start our adventure in a vintage van in good condition, we were immediately confronted with a major problem (a van in poor condition) with no solution because it was too late in the evening for us to find anywhere else to stay. We had to take the van in the condition it was in or forfeit that night's rental and lose our deposit. As the drivers were showing us around the van, Jill called them and let them know she would trade out the poor condition van for the one we had reserved within 2 days. WHEW! Okay...we "shifted gears" in our heads and decided to make due with the van we had for only 2 nights. Well...as we pulled away from the airport, the dashboard lights started flashing and I contacted Jill who simply told me to ignored the lights. Within 30 minutes (or less), we were consumed in exhaust fumes and the van was barely able to be driven. We eventually made it to a safe place to park it for the night and after her husband worked on it for a long time, it was deemed unfixable for our adventure. Now we were stranded on a beach for a night so thankfully her husband offered us money for a taxi to get back into Honolulu early the next morning so that we could find an alternate place to stay until the other van was made available. The following afternoon, Jill texted me that since she knew I would post a negative review regarding her company, van and lack of customer service, she was going to go ahead and cancel our reservation for the use of the van for the rest of our stay on Oahu. So...she made a bad situation even worse instead of taking a bad situation and making it better by offering us a working van in good condition. Oh...and to top it off, she blamed me! We went from thinking we would be camping in a van for 6 nights to camping only one night in a broken down van to no more van reservations and no place to stay for 4 nights in Oahu. We are both extremely flexible and adventuresome so we thankfully tackled the challenge of finding a "home" each night and ended up having an amazing trip on Oahu...thanks to Greg on North Beach who always seem to find us a place to sleep each night we were there! Also...one last comment, Jill kept telling me that she had to cancel a family of 4's van so that my husband and I would have our van (the one that ended up breaking down within 30 minutes of us driving it)...I am not sure how that too is my fault since I had made my reservation months earlier. So...to that family of 4 (if you are reading this), be extremely thankful that your van was cancelled...otherwise, you would have been stranded on the side of the road with little to no customer service after a very long day of traveling with kids. Plus...if you complained about it, you too may have been "homeless in Oahu". read more

Perfect. The only way to see Oahu: windows down, coastal highways, sunrises and sunsets, so many stars, tunes, on the move tanning, wake-up to the ocean waves. I don't hesitate to give Hawaiian Campers 5 stars: the staff are beauties; pick-up/drop-off was a breeze; the van has everything you can need for a beach-camping trip all you need is your swim-suit, shorts, some groceries/beer and some adventurous spirit. The vans are old - but in decent condition considering their antique-coolness; expect some adventure and be flexible - but you are going to have the best time. I won't go to Oahu and not be with Hawaiian Campers again read more

My fiance and I rented a camper van from Hawaii Campers just over a week ago. It was great and to cut to the chase I would absolutely recommend it! We were in Oahu for a wedding and wanted to make the most of it on a budget. We figured renting a camper van would help save money by not having to pay for lodging PLUS a rental car. I am very organized & detail oriented so I did a lot of research and asked a lot of questions via email to Jill leading up to and even during our rental period. Jill was GREAT. I've read some reviews dinging the business for bad customer service and I have to think that they must be crazy. Jill not only put up with my many emails, she answered all my questions cheerfully as well as meeting my requests for info and items. I believe she went above and beyond in this area. Regarding the vehicle: It was just about perfect! We were supposed to get the van called Cafe Remi and were very disappointed when she had to be switched out last minute for Shaggy...but we soon learned our disappointment was unwarranted! Shaggy was fabulous! Super clean, well stocked and cute without being obnoxious. All items in the van were in good condition and clean, and had obviousl ybeen chosen carefully and with love. Items coordinated and were not junky "camp gear". Surprisingly, with everything Shaggy held, it was not crowded at all. We had boogie boards, snorkel gear, beach chairs and an extra table (as per my request). Our cooktop was broken so we were given a travel stove. We wound up feeling that was even better because we could cook outside and not stink up the van with the FRESH AHI TUNA we bought out of A LOCAL FISHERMAN'S CARPORT for NINE DOLLARS!!!!!! We don't have kids, so we asked the extra bedding and kid items to be removed...they were! The van ran as well as you'd expect a 20-year old vehicle to. It made some funny noises and had a quirk or two, but nothing that bothered us or seemed unsafe. Incidentally, friends of ours also in town for the same wedding rented a camper van from a different company - it was "fine" but it was no Shaggy. It lacked character, was not as well maintained and felt very campy, as opposed to our experience of having a Home On Wheels. ;) The only drawback was that some items were missing, some more inconvenient than others. We missed the tin foil, food storage containers, playing cards, first aid kit (i stubbed my toe really badly on a rock the first night at Sandy Beach and had to wrap it up in toilet paper), pot holders (suffered a burn) and washcloths. Biggest bummer was that the radio was not iPod ready as it was said to be...there was no cord to connect to an iPod. Not missing from the van, but what would have been great, are a couple of plain old rags - I like a pretty clean environment and using lots of paper towels for cleaning felt wasteful. Also, being novice van campers, we found out too late that there are no curtains for privacy from the cab of the vehicle. We improvised and used towels draped between the drivers and passengers seats. That said, we did not let such small inconveniences effect our good time! Seeing Oahu this way IS the best! We stayed three more additional nights in a rental house and, while the king-sized bed was nice, we had the best time in the van! Regarding Camping: Camping on Oahu is confusing - or at least the info online is. Sources say you need permits for county spots, that there's no camping anywhere on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and that you can't sleep in your vehicle. Also, the online booking system seems faulty. We would up sleeping the first night at Sandy's Beach. It's free and no one bothered us. HOWEVER. It's not super relaxing. Cars were arriving and departing all night. It didn't feel terribly safe. We definitely crossed paths with a meth-head early on which put us on edge and the waves there are SO loud. I wouldn't recommend that spot personally. We stayed the other three nights at Friends of Malaekahana. It is absolutely amazing. We stayed there because they have a "van circle" specifically for camper vans. But when we arrived we discovered that they are just regular camp sites and that pretty much all sides were "drive-in" sites and we probably didn't need a van spot anyway. Our conclusion is that other state parks are probably the same and that you could sleep in your vehicle (van) at ant of them. We also camped there both Tuesday and Wednesday, so not sure if that rule only pertains to county sites. It would be great if Hawaii Campers provided detailed camping info right on their website, as well as a comprehensive overview of campsites and contact info for once you're on the road. That would have made our experience even better. Okay! That is one long review! I just wanted to make sure I covered everything so that potential van-campers could make good, informed decisions. If you're thinking of renting from Hawaii Campers I strongly recommend doing just that! read more

My wife and I celebrated our 30th anniversary on Oahu, and rented " shoots" for 10 days. Our time was absolutely amazing!!!!! Even though the vehicle is a 1982 it is in phenomenal shape. Never an issue starting or driving. Josh gave us the complete rundown, and was very thorough. Jill advised beforehand of the various campgrounds we could book at and use as our " basecamp(s) ". Shoots came fully decked out with everything we needed; bedding, cutlery/utensils, boogie boards, snorkeling gear for 2. It even had a portable DVD player with various movies to watch. It is by far the best way to see the island. We must have driven the island 3 times at least and had the flexibility to stay as long or short as we wanted. Other than not having A/C (which made sleeping at night a little tricky) IT WAS FREAKIN hot while we were there it was the BEST most relaxing vacation we've had in a while. read more

I give this two stars only because if one is to be driving around in a very poorly maintained VW bus, unsure if it will start and whose reverse doesn't work any longer, and stove isn't functioning...well, it's not so bad if you're in Hawaii, right!? :) I echo the sentiment that the website needs an update on their van descriptions...there really was nothing plush about them, though charming and fun and I'm all about quirkiness...it was not as advertised, that's for sure. Our final day, the van even broke down on the side of the road and it took an hour to reach either the owner or her helper (come to find out, it needed a new transmission). I do feel sympathetic this couple was having a recent bad streak of malfunctioning busses, however it is a business, and as much as we did still have an amazing time, it was more the gorgeous location and less the stress of knowing if our van was going to start. The feedback we got from this was essentially 'the vans are old and quirky'. It is also an unfortunate situation that even if a refund was given, one is left to some on the spot lodging searches.. I would recommend camping out in a VW bus to anyone...truly amazing experience, as we made the best of it, however would not recommend this company until they are able to sort through their mechanical issues and get themselves back to what otherwise seems like a very cool business! read more

Absolut no go. Especially NOTE #2 below! 1. The RV (Tiki) we got was nowhere like the photos that were advertised on the website. While we didn't expect it to be new by any means, the car wasn't well maintained and most importantly had some mechanical/electrical issues. The headlights didn't work for example, which made it impossible to drive after dark. We didn't see the other RVs but were told a day before arrival that we will be given a different car because the one we booked had some maintenance issue. With what we got I would loved to see the one (Daisy) we booked. 2. With no knowledge of the island we had contacted Jill a couple of times before the trip and always immediately got a response (adding to the comfort that the company is far off from a scam). When we asked about places we can stay at overnight we were basically told that it wouldn't be an issue to park and sleep pretty much anywhere on the island. Places that were mentioned were Sandy Beach park (near Honolulu), several State Parks etc. What WASN'T mentioned at all was, that it is in fact iillegal to camp pretty much anywhere and that a fine of $500 will apply, if violated (see honolulu.gov/rep/site/dp... for further details. Note that these rules are shown in every park and include the sleeping in a RV). We were even told by police, that is enforcing the rules above pretty rigorously, that this isn't the first time they hear about companies telling customers that it wasn't a problem to camp in car/RV. Not to be presumptions, but after further research Hawaiian Campers seems to be the only RV rental company on Oahu. Also, while allowed in State Parks you are only allowed to sleep in a tent (the RV provided for one), which kind of made the point of getting an RV that you can sleep in obsolete. 3. To avoid having to find an impossible spot to sleep, or been woken up by police in the morning hours (which did happen to us) we decided to opt for a hotel the last night to finally being able to enjoy our vacation. When we asked Jill to forego the charge for the last night we didn't use the RV, she refused to refund us and even stopped responding to emails/messages. read more