Excursion companies

Hi - This is my first post! We are taking the NCL Pride of America cruise in June. In looking at their excursions, there are a couple of ports where we don't love the excursions that the cruise offers. Can you give me some names of reputable excursion companies that will pick you up at the port?

Also, do you have recommendations for excursion that would be fun for children (10 and 12 years old) and also grandparents? Thank you for your time.

Help us out a bit; what do you want to do?

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Welcome to the Hawaii forum.:)

Do it yourself exploring in Hawaii with a rental car is easy, economical and fun - suggest looking into renting a mini-van in some ports.

Beaches would probably be the most fun for your children, and perhaps sightseeing for the grandparents? How active is everyone ... i.e. would short (or longer) hikes or walks work for everyone? (The nice thing about a rental vehicle is that you can do various things in a day that will appeal to everyone.)

If you scroll through the threads here, there is lots of info/feedback that will be helpful to you in planning your trip.

Re excursion companies ... one that is often recommended here is Mary Lou's (in Hilo).

Hi - This is my first post! We are taking the NCL Pride of America cruise in June. In looking at their excursions, there are a couple of ports where we don't love the excursions that the cruise offers. Can you give me some names of reputable excursion companies that will pick you up at the port?

 

Also, do you have recommendations for excursion that would be fun for children (10 and 12 years old) and also grandparents? Thank you for your time.

Can you give us the names of the two ports you are needing recommendations for? That would help narrow it down.

There is a thread on the board "List Your New or Completed Itinerary" or something like that, that has been active for about 1 year. It lists many things people did on their own or through excursions and how they liked them. Might be helpful.

Hi - This is my first post! We are taking the NCL Pride of America cruise in June. In looking at their excursions, there are a couple of ports where we don't love the excursions that the cruise offers. Can you give me some names of reputable excursion companies that will pick you up at the port?

 

Also, do you have recommendations for excursion that would be fun for children (10 and 12 years old) and also grandparents? Thank you for your time.

Roberts Hawaii is a widely mentioned and used tour operator on all the islands, and they have comparable tours to NCL that are 1/4 of the price.

Also, Google is everyone's best friend :D

We're going in 2 1/2 weeks and I plan on doing a review (ha! watch that change lol) Not sure when you're going in June, but if it's later on in the month, I may be able to answer questions about the tours/excursions we used. Since DH and I don't drive, it might be helpful to others who don't plan on renting cars at each port.

returned in March 2017... loved Roberts Tour of the north island of Oahu

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We did too and there buses are also quite comfortable and fairly new.

Roberts Hawaii is a widely mentioned and used tour operator on all the islands, and they have comparable tours to NCL that are 1/4 of the price.

 

Also, Google is everyone's best friend :D

 

We're going in 2 1/2 weeks and I plan on doing a review (ha! watch that change lol) Not sure when you're going in June, but if it's later on in the month, I may be able to answer questions about the tours/excursions we used. Since DH and I don't drive, it might be helpful to others who don't plan on renting cars at each port.

You can also save more by booking there combo packages of 3/4 island tours.

We found the Roberts drivers/tour guides to be quite knowledgeable on their particular tours as they have been doing the same one for years. They also know of shortcuts if they run into travel issues. There is never a need to worry about them getting you back on time as they can't afford to ruin there reputation.

In 2012 we were on a tour and the bus got a flat tire, they had a new bus there in Less than 30 min meanwhile another tour company drove by and stopped and gave our driver a case of water.

Hi - This is my first post! We are taking the NCL Pride of America cruise in June. In looking at their excursions, there are a couple of ports where we don't love the excursions that the cruise offers. Can you give me some names of reputable excursion companies that will pick you up at the port?

We took an all day tour of Oahu several weeks ago by KaPili Tours http://kapilitours.com/ and it was wonderful. If you have traveled a bit, perhaps you have had your fill of museums and monuments. KaPili is a very relaxed, small-group tour that shows you miles and miles of beautiful scenery. There is even time to go swimming if you like. It was thoroughly enjoyable. Oh yes, they picked us up at the port.

We took our 11 year old son on the POA last summer, and he loved it. It was his second favorite trip ever. (Legoland being his favorite. :) )

We used Roberts, Big Valley Isle, and Marylou's Guided tours and were pleased with all of them. We also did one through the ship. Pictures and info are in my review - the link is in my signature.

It all comes down to what kind of traveler you are. There are a LOT of advantages to renting a car, and on the islands, it is SO easy to do. We preferred being driven and not worrying about traffic, so the tours were best for us.

We used Big Island excursions in Kona & Hilo. Both days were wonderful. In Kona we did snorkeling, outrigger canoe & standup paddleboarding. The location (right by the tenders) is very convenient & the Kona Boys (a couple from Colorado) were great. Our fee included the outrigger, snorkel gear, 2 beach chairs & umbrella. No food. Paddleboarding was an additional fee (& so worth it)

Hilo was supposed to be National Volcano Park & Rainbow Falls. We connected with our driver from Greens Tours with 3 other couples in a 16 passenger brand new van. We had an amazing day also going to Bkack Sand Beach, Mauna Loa Macadamia Factory, the cookie factory, the Orchid Farm as well as Rainbow Falls & Volcano Park & Lava Tubes. Very informative tour guide. We bought our own lunch at the macadamia factory (highly recommend the chocolate macadamia ice cream!). Great tour & very reasonable