USS Arizona Memorial tickets: how the reservation system works

Why this reservation is the one to get right

Of everything on Oahu, the USS Arizona Memorial is the hardest single ticket to secure, not because it costs much but because a limited number of people can cross the harbor by boat each day. The National Park Service runs the whole program — orientation film, boat shuttle, time at the memorial — and caps daily capacity to protect both the site and the experience. Miss the booking window and you don’t get turned away at a gate; you don’t get on the boat at all. Everything else about a Pearl Harbor day, from parking to combining it with the USS Missouri, is covered in Pearl Harbor tours: how to plan the whole visit; this page deals only with getting onto that boat.

Is it free, and what does the fee actually pay for

The memorial program is free to attend. What isn’t free is the reservation service itself: recreation.gov, the federal booking platform the park uses, charges a small non-refundable fee per ticket to process the reservation — a service charge, not an admission price. That fee has been adjusted before and can change again, so treat any figure you read, including on this page, as something to reconfirm on recreation.gov at the time you book. The same caution applies to the release schedule below: the park has changed its booking window in the past, and it can do so again.

Item	Cost	Where it applies
USS Arizona Memorial program (film + boat + memorial)	Free	National Park Service
Recreation.gov booking fee	Small, non-refundable — verify current amount	Per ticket, at reservation
Bag storage (bags are not allowed past security)	Roughly 7 to 10 USD	On site, cash-friendly
USS Missouri, USS Bowfin, Aviation Museum	Separate paid tickets	Not run by the National Park Service — see USS Missouri and USS Bowfin: Pearl Harbor’s other two ships

How far ahead to book, week by week

The National Park Service releases USS Arizona Memorial reservations on a rolling window that has historically opened around eight weeks before the visit date, at a set release time in Hawaii Standard Time. Because the boat schedule caps daily capacity, popular days can fill within that same window rather than lingering. Verify the exact current window and release time on recreation.gov before you plan around it — this is the detail most likely to have shifted since this page was last checked.

• Two months or more out: if your travel dates are visible on recreation.gov, book now. This is the single most time-sensitive reservation on the island, ahead of Diamond Head or Hanauma Bay.
• Three to six weeks out: dates are usually still open outside of major holidays and the peak of summer, but weekday mornings go first. Book as soon as you have committed dates.
• One to two weeks out: expect gaps only on lower-demand days; popular slots, especially anything paired with a cruise ship in port, may already be gone.
• The week of your visit: check daily for cancellations, and plan on the same-day process below as your real fallback, not this window.

If you’re building a Pearl Harbor day around a guided tour rather than a self-guided visit, some operators handle this reservation as part of the booking. A guided small-group visit built specifically around this history is one way to remove the booking risk entirely: a small-group WWII history tour that includes Pearl Harbor. For a more private pace with a driver-guide, a private Pearl Harbor and USS Arizona tour from Honolulu is the other route people take specifically to avoid managing the recreation.gov window themselves. Either way, confirm with the operator in writing whether the memorial boat ticket is actually included, since this varies by tour.

If you didn’t reserve in advance

Two backup paths exist, and neither is a guarantee:

1. Next-day release, the afternoon before. A small batch of tickets for the following day is typically put back online in the afternoon, Hawaii time. This exists because of no-shows and unclaimed holds, and it moves fast once live.
2. Same-day, in person, early. A limited number of same-day tickets are distributed at the center itself, first thing in the morning, in person only. This is the last resort, not a plan: arrive before the visitor center opens, expect a line, and understand you may still not get on a boat that day.

If both fail, you can still see the free museums, the orientation exhibits, and the two paid ships nearby — see Pearl Harbor: half day or full day? for how to build a worthwhile visit even without the boat ticket, and USS Missouri and USS Bowfin: Pearl Harbor’s other two ships for the two ships that are booked separately from the National Park Service system and don’t share its capacity limits.

What the visit actually involves

Once you have a confirmed boarding time, the sequence is fixed and takes a little over an hour start to finish:

1. Arrive early and clear security. Bags larger than a small clutch (roughly 4 by 6 by 14 centimeters) are not allowed anywhere past the entrance — plan on the paid storage counter if you’re carrying anything larger, and build that extra time into your arrival.
2. Orientation film. A short documentary on the December 7, 1941 attack plays before each boarding group, setting up what you’re about to see.
3. Navy boat shuttle. You board a boat operated by the US Navy, not a tour company, for the crossing to the floating memorial built directly over the sunken hull of the USS Arizona.
4. Time at the memorial. You have a set, limited period on the memorial platform itself before the boat returns your group to shore. It’s quiet, open-air, and not rushed, but it isn’t open-ended either.
5. Return and continue your visit. The boat brings you back to the visitor center, where the museums, the Pacific history exhibits, and the nearby paid ships are still open to explore at your own pace.

For getting from your hotel to the visitor center on the day itself, that logistics question — parking, TheBus, rideshare, or a tour pickup — is handled in Getting from Waikiki to Pearl Harbor rather than here.

Building the rest of your Pearl Harbor day around this reservation

Because your memorial boarding time is fixed once booked, it becomes the anchor for everything else that day. A common structure: arrive with buffer time before your slot, do the memorial program first while you’re fresh and the film sequence is unhurried, then use the paid USS Missouri and USS Bowfin afterward, since those two don’t share the same reservation window or daily cap. If you’d rather not sequence any of it yourself, an escorted option like a combined Pearl Harbor and Polynesian Cultural Center day pairs the memorial with an evening luau program, turning a Pearl Harbor morning into a full day without you managing multiple bookings. The full breakdown of how to sequence a Pearl Harbor day — with or without kids, with or without a car — is in Pearl Harbor tours: how to plan the whole visit and Pearl Harbor with kids: what to expect and when to skip it.

If Pearl Harbor is only the first stop of a longer day around Honolulu, see One day: Pearl Harbor and historic Honolulu for how other visitors have paced it alongside the city center and Chinatown.

What to check before you book, every time

Reservation systems for federal sites are updated periodically, and the details that matter most here — the exact booking fee, the release window length, and the release time — are exactly the ones most likely to have changed since any guide, including this one, was last reviewed. Before you commit to a date:

• Confirm the current booking fee and release window directly on recreation.gov.
• Confirm the visitor center’s opening hours for the date you’re planning, since holiday closures (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day) apply to the whole complex.
• If a guided tour operator says a Pearl Harbor reservation is included, get that confirmed in writing rather than assumed.
• Treat the same-day and next-day release paths as a backup for one missed booking, not as a way to skip planning ahead during summer or winter holidays.

See Pearl Harbor tours: how to plan the whole visit for the full logistics of a Pearl Harbor visit, What to book ahead on Oahu before it sells out for the other Oahu reservations worth locking in early, and Planning your first trip to Oahu: what to know before you go if this is your first trip and you’re sequencing Pearl Harbor against everything else on the island. The best-time overview at Best Time to Visit is also useful context for how far ahead to plan a winter or summer visit generally.

USS Arizona Memorial reservations: common questions

Is the USS Arizona Memorial really free?

Yes. The National Park Service center, its two museums, the orientation film and the Navy boat shuttle to the memorial are all free to enter. The only charge is a small non-refundable fee for the recreation.gov booking itself, which changes from time to time, so check the current amount when you reserve.

How far in advance should I book?

The National Park Service opens reservations on a rolling multi-week window, historically around eight weeks ahead, released at a set time in Hawaii. Book the moment your dates open, especially for summer, winter holidays, or any weekday morning, since the daily allotment is capped and this is the single most requested reservation on Oahu.

What if I didn’t reserve in advance?

A limited batch of same-day tickets is typically released online the afternoon before, plus a small number in person at the center early in the morning. Arrive well before opening and treat this as a backup, not a plan, because neither release guarantees a spot.

What actually happens during the memorial visit?

You watch a short orientation film about the attack, then board a US Navy-operated boat that shuttles visitors across the harbor to the floating memorial built over the sunken USS Arizona. You spend a limited time at the memorial itself before the boat returns you to shore; the whole program, film included, runs a little over an hour.

Can I bring a bag or a backpack?

No. Pearl Harbor’s entire visitor complex bans bags larger than a small clutch, roughly 4 by 6 by 14 centimeters. A paid bag storage counter operates on site, and arriving with a backpack you have to check first is the most common reason visitors miss their boat time.

Is the USS Arizona Memorial included in a Pearl Harbor tour I book with an operator?

Sometimes, but not automatically. A guided Pearl Harbor tour usually includes transport and a guide, and some operators build in a memorial reservation, but others leave you to book your own recreation.gov slot. Confirm exactly what is included before paying.

What’s the difference between the memorial and USS Missouri or USS Bowfin?

The USS Arizona Memorial is the free National Park Service site described on this page. The USS Missouri battleship and the USS Bowfin submarine sit nearby but are run by separate organizations with their own paid tickets; a Pearl Harbor day easily combines all three, but they are booked separately.

Does bad weather or a closure cancel the boat shuttle?

The Navy shuttle can pause for weather, mechanical issues, or operational needs at the base, and the memorial closes entirely on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Check recreation.gov and the park’s own alerts close to your visit date rather than assuming the schedule shown when you booked still holds.