Hawaii 15 Day Hawaii/Ruby Princess,

Interested in excursions Hilo, Honolulu, Kauai and Maui . Please help me choose best excursions? Thank you, Sherry

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

There is no right or wrong answer to the "best" excursions. The "best" excursion is the one that interests you, not what I say it is. Plus, we don't know your interests, your budget and any limitations you may have, physically or otherwise.

So, to narrow down this overly broad question, I would suggest some research on the Hawaii board, here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=62

Know that an excursion is not required at any port on your cruise. Some you can do on your own, by renting a car, taking public transit, private tours, or just walking around.

Join your roll call, found here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=481

to see what others on your cruise are doing.

Look at the Princess forum, here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=197

for tons of good, general Princess info.

Lastly, see what Princess is offering, and what interests you. Check their website for this info.

Research any cruise books you can find at your local library. That will give you an idea of what you might like to see or do. You can then check what excursions will fit your needs. You can rent a car but you will be too busy driving to see much scenery.

Similar thread here.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2117310

Interested in excursions Hilo, Honolulu, Kauai and Maui . Please help me choose best excursions? Thank you, Sherry

Hilo- For sure a Helicopter ride and Volcano National Park. Hilo is located on the Island of Hawaii, the Big Island or Hawaii Island. It is the largest and the southeastern-most of the Hawaiian islands. Hilo is the oldest city on the Hawaiian archipelago and the second largest metropolis after Honolulu. Evolving from farming and fishing, the sugarcane industry was the backbone of Big Island’s economy for more than a century. In 1946 and 1960 the town was nearly swallowed by earthquake initiated tsunamis. Helicopter rides are fun but expensive the Black sand beach is nice too, if you happen on Blue Hawaiian Helicopters for your ride you have found the best.

Oahu Honolulu - Here I recommend either renting a car or taking a tour to the Polynesian Cultural Center and North Shore. I think you'll like both, some friends also Hiked, Kayaked, and Snorkeled Adventure at Kualoa. I like surfing so the North Shore was a no brainer for me. ;)

Kauai- Since we already did the helicopter on the Big Island we sought out a 4 wheel drive in a Mud Bug went to the waterfalls and had great pictures made.

Maui Lahaina - We shopped took a group surfing lesson and saw more waterfalls. :)

Sherry, be sure to check out the links that CruiserBruce provided.

In Honolulu a very moving experience is to visit the USS Arizona Memorial and I would highly recommend it. I would book an organized tour either through the cruise line or privately. If the tour also includes a stop at the USS Missouri where the peace treaty ending the Pacific Conflict of WWII was signed that is good to see as well.

Keith

We've done this cruise three times on Princess (LA-Hawaii) and really enjoyed it. Prior to that, I've been to Hawaii twice on land trips.

As someone said, it really depends on what type of activities (sight seeing, active, beach, shopping) that you like.

What I would do on my first time to a place (or even subsequent visits) is to get a guide book from a library and see what interests my family. I might even buy the most recent edition of a guide book that I like. I would also google each port as there should be plenty of tourism sites.