Miracle to Hawaii in January. Shore excursion help please

We are going to Hawaii on the Miracle in January. I don't see a lot of excursions offered. I also don't see a luau. Is there any port where there is a nice beach to just go too? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Is it early and will there be more excursions added? Thank you for any advice!!!

I don't know if you like to venture off on your own, but if you do get the Hawaii Revealed books. There is one for each Island. Sometimes you cand pick them up used on half.com or Amazon.

Check out the HI board and your roll call.

On Kauai there is a nice beach behind the shopping center. 10 minute walk from port or take the shuttle.

Check out the HI board and your roll call.

On Kauai there is a nice beach behind the shopping center. 10 minute walk from port or take the shuttle.

Thanks for info.

We are doing helicopter there and wondering what else to do after.

I would think that the balance of the excursions would be posted in the next couple of months.

We did the January 2015 cruise to Hawaii on the Miracle and some of the excursions weren't posted until around September or October. As I recall, there were a couple of different luaus offered. We chose to take Germaine's Luau and were happy with the choice. Food and entertainment were great even if the luau itself went a little long....for my liking anyway.

Relative to a beach excursion, the only one I recall being offered wasn't a great buy for the money. As I recall, the excursion was about $100/person, but was only 4 hours long...and the ride to the beach was one hour+ each way leaving only about 2 hours at the beach....but again, I'm going strictly from memory here.

Garnett

Check out the HI board and your roll call.

On Kauai there is a nice beach behind the shopping center. 10 minute walk from port or take the shuttle.

Are you referring to this beach??

if so, yes, it was nice, but I think it's more of a swimming area as the sand looked like it was trucked in. Regardless, it is nice and an easy walk from the port.

Garnett

We rented a car at each stop. The only issue with this was that some stops were very busy, so you had to be patient. If I remember, only one didn't have a shuttle to the port and back.

We did different activities at each stop, including beaches, saw whales, turtles, great snorkeling, and luau.

I did online searches for each island stop, determined all the activities we wanted to participate in, then had to see which schedule worked the best, since some things could be done at multiple stops.

I didn't bring my snorkel equipment because I saw online that I could rent from one location of Snorkel Bob's and return it at another, for one low price. For us we were able to pick it up at our first stop and return it at our last...it worked well and saved on luggage space.

Spend the time on this site and read the Hawaii threads to get your ideas, then go online and you can get up to date prices and schedules.

If you specifically want to only do cruiseline tours they will show more options because I know most of what we did was offered through the ship as well, but the prices were higher and you don't have as much flexibility.

I am sure you will have a great time

Happy cruising

We are going to Hawaii on the Miracle in January. I don't see a lot of excursions offered. I also don't see a luau. Is there any port where there is a nice beach to just go too? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Is it early and will there be more excursions added? Thank you for any advice!!!

Aloha LuvTheSea14 :D

Your post doesn't have enough info to generate comprehensive answers. You've cruised before and have posted on CC before but, I can't even figure out your ports or time in port with the info provided. If you want to know what to see in Hawaii the only answer that we can give you based on the time & effort you put into asking your question is "Yes, Kauai, Nawiliwili Harbor cruise terminal, Kalapaki beach, walk/shuttle from ship"

If you just ask questions without searching & reading the Ports of Call Hawaii thread, you will just be going over ground that has been covered over & over & over again.

Aloha :D

Aloha LuvTheSea14 :D

 

Your post doesn't have enough info to generate comprehensive answers. You've cruised before and have posted on CC before but, I can't even figure out your ports or time in port with the info provided. If you want to know what to see in Hawaii the only answer that we can give you based on the time & effort you put into asking your question is "Yes, Kauai, Nawiliwili Harbor cruise terminal, Kalapaki beach, walk/shuttle from ship"

 

If you just ask questions without searching & reading the Ports of Call Hawaii thread, you will just be going over ground that has been covered over & over & over again.

 

Aloha :D

We got curious and looked up the OP's cruise on the Carnival website. The ports here are:

Day 6 Maui (Kahului), HI 10:00 AM 11:00 PM

Day 7 Honolulu, HI 9:00 AM 11:00 PM

Day 8 Kauai (Nawiliwili), HI 7:30 AM 5:30 PM

Day 9 Kona, HI 10:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 10 Hilo, HI 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Wow. I was asking for suggestions for shore excursions for our January trip on Miracle. Thought maybe people who took this cruise already could tell me about excursions they enjoyed. Did not expect to be told I had not worded my question correctly. I see many types of questions on these boards. I love Carnival and tell everyone I know how great it is. I also get a lot of good ideas from the nice people who read and write on these boards. Guess I offended someone with my stupidity

We are going to Hawaii on the Miracle in January. I don't see a lot of excursions offered. I also don't see a luau. Is there any port where there is a nice beach to just go too? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Is it early and will there be more excursions added? Thank you for any advice!!!

Wow. I was asking for suggestions for shore excursions for our January trip on Miracle. Thought maybe people who took this cruise already could tell me about excursions they enjoyed. Did not expect to be told I had not worded my question correctly. I see many types of questions on these boards. I love Carnival and tell everyone I know how great it is. I also get a lot of good ideas from the nice people who read and write on these boards. Guess I offended someone with my stupidity

Aloha LuvTheSea14 :D

When I looked at your previous postings in which you only ask questions & don't provide info to other posters on the threads (these threads have to be give & take, not just take, take, take or people will stop using them), I may have gotten a little irritated. It may be that since I'm so old and remember what the original internet message boards used to be like where info went two ways. Your question(s) about excursions/more excursions should have been posted in your Carnival Roll Call thread where previously cruisers with this itin would be posting. I tried looking for a Carnival cruise that fit the brief info (Miracle & January), but couldn't find the cruise (maybe my bad). Otherwise you should have just been on the Carnival Roll Call thread. I also notice that you have not introduced yourself in a Roll Call on this or any of your previous cruises (very rude).

No I wasn't offended by your question (singular, you only asked 1 question in your original post about a beach) and I posted my answer in the tone of your question.

Without knowing what ports or how long you'd be in the port, even info about a luau can't be answered. Silver Sweethearts provided the ports & times for you (which if you should have done) to make answering you easier. Luaus are dinner activities. Your cruise line should offer you a luau excursion on Maui &/or Honolulu. Either location will require them to bus you to the luau location from the cruise dock. If you are looking for a beachside luau, on Oahu Paradise Cove Luau & Germaine's Luau are the ones you want to look at. One luau on Oahu is held in Hawaii's version of Sea World, so you need to read up on where & what the luau actually has to offer. Kahului Harbor is on the north side of Maui & the luaus are normally in Lahaina, the opposite side of the island. The cruise line will bus you there and back. Because of the cruise line up-charges for these activities, some rent a car in Kahului and drive themselves to Lahaina.

If you want to do a Hawaii beach, a Paradise Cove day w/ luau would work. Maui, unless the cruise line takes you to a beach before driving you to Lahaina, no beach. Kauai, Kalapaki beach near Nawiliwli Harbor, is nice & is very nice swimming/sunning beach for locals & Kauai Marriott Resort guests with plenty of places to eat nearby.

So if you want good info, be clear with your questions. Remember that it takes time to think & write out these answers, and if you don't help others on these message boards, you will kill them off.

Aloha :D

Why have you decided to be nasty to me. I have never done anything mean to anyone. I asked for help and my question was moved. I really don't understand how or why someone would even feel the need to look up how many questions I answer. If I have something to help someone I will. Why does anyone care. I am afraid to ask any questions now. I always went to the cruise boards for help. What did I do that was so offensive?

Wow. I was asking for suggestions for shore excursions for our January trip on Miracle. Thought maybe people who took this cruise already could tell me about excursions they enjoyed. Did not expect to be told I had not worded my question correctly. I see many types of questions on these boards. I love Carnival and tell everyone I know how great it is. I also get a lot of good ideas from the nice people who read and write on these boards. Guess I offended someone with my stupidity

I think maybe what she meant to say (I hope) is if you want to go to beaches and luaus or perhaps other type of things.

I would agree that sometimes excursions aren't up til maybe a few months before a sailing as often the cruise line is still firming up the contracts with operators. Our three cruises to Hawaii (all on Princess) have been during holiday time and I don't think the excursions haven't been available for booking until about 70 to 90 days before. But I wasn't able to look on the Princess website to see what was listed for sailings before ours. If you're able to do that on the Carnival website, it may help you out.

Go to your public library and grab any guidebooks on Hawaii that you can borrow. They might not be the latest edition, but you can look through them and see if you like any particular one (for the info and maps) and can go on Amazon or other bookstore website and buy the latest edition. If you're a member of the auto club, you can get their guidebook for free as well as street maps.

I also google each port -- there are so many tourism sites, you'll get lots of places to consider. Google maps will be a good place to check out (before our last cruise, my hubby spent a lot of time zooming in to see what was near each port -- and that was going to be his 5th time on the islands!).

And speaking of hubby, his number one request to me (as the family researcher) is no renting of cars for any cruise port. (on our honeymoon, we did rent a car for our few days in Kauai and went all over; we just used our feet for our few days in Honolulu)

As for beaches, you don't need to do a ship's excursion. One thing to know about Hawaiian beaches is that all of them are public. Hotels can't keep you out.

That beach in the photo is in Nawiliwili. You can walk to it from the cruise terminal. Or you can jump on the free shuttles to Harbor Mall or Anchor Cove Mall (they're basically equidistant to the Kalapaki Beach). Once you get to whichever mall, just check to see where others are walking (with towels, etc). The beach is behind the Marriott Hotel and Duke's. I thought it was a nice beach -- we went there on two of our cruises. Last time, we actually booked an excursion through Princess: the Movies and Waterfalls one. My hubby loves looking at waterfalls and my daughter and I love movies. We absolutely loved it! It's an all day tour, going from the east coast on up to just west of Hanalei Bay. If you're into movies, it's a great tour.

Just two ideas for Kauai, but I would encourage you to go through the guidebooks and sites for ideas that will interest you.

BTW, January is a great time to see whales if you're interested in that, on Maui. I haven't been to the area you're going to, but we did a snorkeling trip off of Lahaina and the boat stopped as there was a group of male whales were doing their "thing" to impress a lady whale. It was amazing. Two years ago, we were in Lahaina on Christmas Day and spent some hours in Ka'anapali Beach (at Whalers Village) and then returned to Lahaina. When we reboarded the Golden Princess, there were whales all around our ship (not kidding).

The one port you're going to that won't have great beaches is Hilo

Why have you decided to be nasty to me. I have never done anything mean to anyone. I asked for help and my question was moved. I really don't understand how or why someone would even feel the need to look up how many questions I answer. If I have something to help someone I will. Why does anyone care. I am afraid to ask any questions now. I always went to the cruise boards for help. What did I do that was so offensive?

Aloha LuvTheSea14 :D

Your original post was just a shotgun blast type of asking for everything anybody would take the time to type out. I looked up your prior posts to see if you just did the same thing wherever you posted (I do my research, see!) just in case your original post here was something different from your norm. So far, you haven't demonstrated that you have had "something to help someone" ever in your posts.

Now you accuse me of being nasty. I'm not trying to be nasty & I'm sorry if you perceived my response as nasty. If you don't understand what you are doing, do you want to just continue in ignorance? Or do you want to do better? Otherwise most of the time when I see somebody that just seems to take, take, take, take, I don't bother posting any information.

BTW, I increase the size of the text in my posts because my eyesight is not what it used to be and the larger text helps me review my posts. If this is perceived as shouting, please tell me. I thought only all caps was shouting.

If anybody out there thinks I am being unreasonable, please let me know, because I have been wrong about stuff before. Also, if my thinking is reasonable, please also let me know.

Cruisin' Chick, what do you think? You always seem to try to help, & I appreciate your effort.

Aloha :D

rakuroda, Sorry but I am a novice on CC and feel you were a little judgmental in your responses. Not everyone knows how to navigate this site as professionally as you. And I wish to apologize for that. This person was very innocent in their request and I'm sure meant no harm. Happy cruises to all!!!

We are going to Hawaii on the Miracle in January. I don't see a lot of excursions offered. I also don't see a luau. Is there any port where there is a nice beach to just go too? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Is it early and will there be more excursions added? Thank you for any advice!!!

I grew up in Hawaii, and I've done the Miracle from Vancouver roundtrip back to LAX. For whatever it's worth....

- It's funny, but folks forget Hawaii is part of the US. (Which explains the Vancouver or Ensenada port calls). Granted you might not get kidnapped like in the D.R., but you can rent a car and your driver's license is honored there. I know, sounds silly, but it's easy to overlook. As has been pointed out, there's easy walking from the ship in Nawiliwili, but it's a very unremarkable beach. Take a sightseeing tour.

- Hilo Town is very walkable, and there's cute shops, great restaurants and museums right there. Or just get the Hoppa-On/Off bus.

- The port call in Maui is long enough to do every place of interest on the island, but I'd go straight to Lahaina and spend the whole day there. There's public beaches, great restaurants and cute shops. Rather Key West like in a Hawaiian sense.

- Honolulu might be your best chance to do a Luau. Check for an excursion with guaranteed transportation back to the ship if you're uncomfortable, but public buses are inexpensive, and cabs aren't too bad. You CAN walk to Waikiki if you wish. You'll pass the Hilton Hawaiian village, right next to the marina featured as the departure point of Gilligan and the Skipper in the opening credits of Gilligan's Island. If you're current or retired military or government, you can get a day pass at the Hale Koa hotel, otherwise try the Hilton.

- Many people want to do the Arizona Memorial. It's challenging, because you've got to fight cross town Honolulu traffic, and the only way to get out there is on a Navy launch from the pier. What I would recommend, if you're a WWII buff, is to take an excursion or rent a car and go out to Ford Island and tour the USS Missouri. You can look down on the Memorial, which is lovely but not very large, and the remains of the battleship in the relatively shallow waters of Pearl Harbor. Interesting spot where you see where WWII in the Pacific started and ended (the deck where MacArthur took the surrender in Tokyo Bay).

Any questions just ask!

Have fun! It's a great cruise!

Thank you everyone for your help!!! I am now very excited that I may see whales since I am cruising in January. You were all very helpful and I now understand that more excursions may be added to the Carnival website as the cruise gets closer. I always appreciate the help from all cruise lovers. To Rakuroda, Please just leave me alone and do not bother yourself with my questions. I do not need to be upset by someone who does not know me. Enjoy your life and leave me out of it. Thank you

Aloha LuvTheSea14 :D

 

Your original post was just a shotgun blast type of asking for everything anybody would take the time to type out. I looked up your prior posts to see if you just did the same thing wherever you posted (I do my research, see!) just in case your original post here was something different from your norm. So far, you haven't demonstrated that you have had "something to help someone" ever in your posts.

 

Now you accuse me of being nasty. I'm not trying to be nasty & I'm sorry if you perceived my response as nasty. If you don't understand what you are doing, do you want to just continue in ignorance? Or do you want to do better? Otherwise most of the time when I see somebody that just seems to take, take, take, take, I don't bother posting any information.

 

BTW, I increase the size of the text in my posts because my eyesight is not what it used to be and the larger text helps me review my posts. If this is perceived as shouting, please tell me. I thought only all caps was shouting.

 

If anybody out there thinks I am being unreasonable, please let me know, because I have been wrong about stuff before. Also, if my thinking is reasonable, please also let me know.

 

Cruisin' Chick, what do you think? You always seem to try to help, & I appreciate your effort.

 

Aloha :D

Sometimes if I see a general question without enough info, I try to ask a follow up question such as asking which ports and perhaps what are the typical activities someone (at least if someone's traveled before) likes doing. Does someone stick with active activities such as ziplining (not my cup of tea), historical sightseeing, shop til ya drop, beaching it, or wants a variety. Sometimes some (especially those new to a site such as Cruise Critic) doesn't know to put these details, or may have posted so quickly, they didn't realize they didn't put enough info. This happens a bit on the western destinations board as someone will ask what to do in Los Angeles...and doesn't know how big and widespread it is (plus do you suggest Farmers Market, Disneyland, Hollywood, Zuma...?), but also we need to know when time of year they're coming.

With Hawaii, at least there's a limited number of ports (Honolulu, Hilo, Kona, Nawiliwili, one of two ports in Maui -- depending on your cruise) and the weather stays almost consistent all year round. But still, many different types of things to do.

But one thing I think may be the least important in terms of planning port days (at least for me) would be going on one's roll call. Yes, some people are willing to join others on a private excursion. But I doubt if there's any fresh ideas for port days if one has read through a good guidebook or found some of the better websites. But that's my family -- we're not going to join others on booking a private excursion.

So joining a roll call would be basically for pre-meeting some who will be on the same cruise and perhaps meeting them in the flesh (even though again for me, I have no interest in hearing ship's officers showing up to talk to the group, as some people seem to obsess on -- I did get a private tour of the bridge on our last cruise, but that was because I was doing a favor for a young future mariner and the cruise line headquarters heard about that).

Also a roll call may be a source of some good info -- on our last cruise, two of the ports were changed because of Christmas (I guess Princess felt too much of Honolulu would be closed for the holiday) about a couple of months before the cruise, and many found out first through the roll call.

But for talking about Hawaii in general, this is a good board to be posting this kind of question as not everyone uses the same cruise line to get here.

No one is obligated to introduce themselves on their roll call. Rakuroda, you were a bit out of line, in my opinion.

Thank you everyone for your help!!! I am now very excited that I may see whales since I am cruising in January. You were all very helpful and I now understand that more excursions may be added to the Carnival website as the cruise gets closer. I always appreciate the help from all cruise lovers. To Rakuroda, Please just leave me alone and do not bother yourself with my questions. I do not need to be upset by someone who does not know me. Enjoy your life and leave me out of it. Thank you

There is a great chance you will see whales! We went in February and saw so many of them. We decided on our cruise dates based on the whales. So glad we did! :D

Very excited. Seeing whales is on my bucket list. Hopefully we are lucky to see them. 😀