Shore Excursions

[CloudTbird]

Need help in finding shore excursions other than those offered by the ship, POA. On other cruises we have been able to walk off the ship and find many individuals willing to take us in a mini van and show us the highlights of the area. Can anyone give me some suggestions?

[smrtypnts]

I've done a decent amount of research and haven't seen anything about excursions when you get off the ship. You have to remember, Hawaii is USA, not another country where we are hurting for business. If you search these boards, you will find plenty of excursion operators willing to do business with you. I am doing at least 2 excursions outside of PoA. One is the mudbug excursion in Kauai and the other is the helicopter ride also in Kauai. The other islands I plan to rent a car and do specific sight seeing on my own making my overall costs cheaper than paying someone to take me to those same places.

If you do not know how to do a search, let me know and I will try to give you step by step instructions.

[Cruz'n Couple]

Try Roberts for some more reasonable tours.

www.gorabbitgo.com

Their tours can be scheduled in advance, and the ones we took were great.

[bustervonboodle]

I recall seeing local guides at Mauai, Hilo and Kona, we used one at Kona. I don't recall seeing them in Kauai.
We used Roberts for everything else and were happy. We also booked several things on our own, including airplane and helicopter rides, which are much less expensive that way.
Roberts picked us up from the pier, everything was confirmed ahead of time and the mini bus was never full, lots of room to spread out. I think we had 6 people on our Sunrise Haleakala tour, vs the cramped full bus from NCL. We got to stretch out and sleep!