Air carrier captain reported late clearance instructions from ATC while inbound to ogg.

Attributes
ACN	1606295
Time
Date	201812
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	HCF.TRACON
State Reference	HI
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Boeing Company Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types

Narrative:

Hcf controller failed to clear us for the visual or to join an instrument approach and left us on a 345 heading directly toward the west maui mountains. We stated three prior times that we had kahului field in sight. We finally were cleared for a visual approach; however we were west of the localizer and had to turn back east to avoid the west maui mountains. Hcf controller seemed unable to handle amount of traffic he was assigned to control.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported late clearance instructions from ATC while inbound to OGG.

Narrative: HCF Controller failed to clear us for the visual or to join an instrument approach and left us on a 345 heading directly toward the West Maui mountains. We stated three prior times that we had Kahului field in sight. We finally were cleared for a visual approach; however we were west of the localizer and had to turn back east to avoid the West Maui Mountains. HCF controller seemed unable to handle amount of traffic he was assigned to control.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.