Maui Car Rental Firms Restrict Crater Access

If you are headed to Maui’s Haleakala Crater, the dormant volcano that draws more visitors than any other spot on the island, choose your car rental agency carefully. Times contributor Susan Essoyan reports from Honolulu that three major companies, citing safety concerns, now prohibit drivers from taking their vehicles on the steep road to the spectacular summit at Haleakala National Park. The problem isn’t getting to the top of the 10,000-foot mountain, it’s coming back down. Apparently many tourists don’t bother to downshift, and instead ride their brakes to the point of overheating and brake failure. As a result, Avis, National and Alamo began prohibiting drivers from Crater Road, also known as Highway 378, about two months ago. Several other companies--including Thrifty, Budget, Hertz and Dollar--still allow customers to go to the summit. Park rangers are printing up new warning signs with a graphic of a car on an incline and the words, “Avoid brake failure. Use low gear.” General Motors sent a team of brake specialists to Maui to study the issue last month. “We found no cause for the problem, other than over-abuse of the brakes,” said GM spokesman Jack Dinan.

Travel Quiz: In addition to the United States, what other popular travel destinations use the U.S. dollar as at least one of their official forms of currency?

Olympic Tickets Now on Sale: Tickets are now on sale for the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Norway through Cartan Tours Inc. of Manhattan Beach, which has been chosen as the exclusive American ticket agent for the Games. Winter Olympic events will take place in four towns: Lillehammer, Hamar, Gjovik and Ringebu, all on or near Lake Mjosa, north of Oslo. A brochure with event schedules, prices and instructions on how to order will be available about Dec. 1 from Cartan Tours, and orders will be accepted at that time. Acknowledgments will be sent out as orders are received, but tickets will not be mailed until about 45 days before the February, 1994, Olympics. Tickets will be available for single events and will range in price from about $22 for hockey and bobsled events to $160 for free-style figure skating to $175 for opening and closing ceremonies. Cartan is also organizing tours that include transportation, hotels and home-stays with local residents. To leave a message to order printed ticket information and the official Olympic brochure, call (800) 841-1994. Demand is expected to be high. “I would predict that event tickets may sell out by summer,” a Cartan spokesman said.

Cruise Controls: With the cruise high season under way, the U.S. Customs Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has launched “Operation Cruise Control” in an attempt to catch drug couriers, or “mules,” aboard cruise ships. The waterfront operation--which involves random searches of cruise passengers’ luggage--and a similar effort at the San Juan airport are intended to stop Colombian drug traffickers from using Puerto Rico as an entry to the United States, according to a Customs Service official. It is no easy task, since 1,495 cruise ships carrying 546,911 passengers and crew members arrived in that port from October, 1991, through August, 1992. In the last two years, there have been nearly 90 arrests connected with commercial ships docking in San Juan, including 20 arrests of passengers or crew members, and officials believe the courier system is expanding. Under Operation Cruise Control, most cruise lines will provide Customs with passenger information that can be run through enforcement computers to check on criminal records and frequency of trips. Agents will track certain passengers and crew members as they head ashore and train shipboard security personnel to spot possible drug smugglers. Particular attention is being paid to ships that stop in Venezuela and St. Maarten, thought to be major pickup points for drugs from Colombia.

Comparatively Speaking: Average cost for a doctor visit in Rome: $70.75. In London, $59.33. In Tokyo, $42.63. In Copenhagen, $31.53. In Sydney, $22.13. In Johannesburg, $18.93. (Source: Runzheimer International.)

Egyptian Monuments Suffered More Than Thought: A recently released survey by Egyptian government antiquities officials has found that the Oct. 12 Cairo earthquake damaged hundreds of ancient Egyptian monuments--a far greater number than originally believed. Initial estimates put the number of damaged monuments at 40, but the survey found that 212 monuments suffered damage, though the Sphinx appears to have come through unscathed. Cairo’s ancient Coptic Christian and Jewish relics were seriously affected. One badly hit area is one of Cairo’s most picturesque and a favorite with tourists, the Gamaliya district, especially al-Mo’ezz li-Din Allah Street in the heart of medieval Cairo. Segments of the street, which runs between two original gates of the old city, are flooded from broken water mains, pavements are buckled and parts of balconies and buildings have collapsed or appear about to.

Quick Fact: More than a dozen states employ correctional facilities inmates to answer phone inquiries and give out state travel information. States using inmates include: Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon and Tennessee. (Source: National Assn. of State Development Agencies.)

Prices Sliced: For passengers booked on Singapore Airlines flights that connect through Singapore, the airline has a stopover deal, beginning Jan. 1, that includes transfers and a night’s hotel in Singapore for two for $52. An alternate program offers one night’s lodging, transfers, breakfast and a half-day tour for $78 for two. The promotion is being subsidized by the Singapore government to entice people to stay at least one night on the island. For details, contact Singapore Airlines: (800) 742-3333.

Quiz Answer: Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau all use U.S. currency.