Time taken to clear Customs etc in Honolulu

We are travelling on Holland America in October & want to mainly visit Pearl Harbour before other sites during our 2 day port of call. I have heard that getting off ship & clearing customs can take hours, is this still true & would this happen on both days or mainly the first? Told that all of the ships tours leave first & people with private tours etc have to wait till these tours leave. Thinking it may be best to book via the ships excursions (which we don't do very much) as there is so much we want to see while in port & would hate to miss opportunity to do so. Also we may miss out on tickets once we get a taxi to Pearl Harbour or have to return at later time. Also, other CC members who have been on a similar schedule, would it be best to go to Pearl Harbour on first day in port or the 2nd day?

Thanks for any advice on this matter.

Any immigration/customs issues will be dealt with the day you arrive. Once the ship clears, you are free to come and go as you please. No procedures after the initial arrival.

If you are docked (which you will be), and immigration and customs issues are cleared, you may simply get off the ship. Non-excursion people aren't typically delayed by excursions people. Perhaps for a couple of minutes, occasionally, but generally no delays.

I would get the Pearl tickets for early on the second day, then catch a cab over.

Hi,

We are joining the Noordam cruise on 5 Oct in Honolulu to Sydney. Is this your cruise?

I just booked a Pearl Harbour tour with http://www.discoverhawaiitours.com/activities/pearl-harbor-and-historic-honolulu-city-tour/

They pick up from cruise terminal and have a choice of start times - we chose the later 9:10am rather than the 6:25am - cost more but the DW likes her bed.

Chose them over Roberts (a large tour company with an earlier start time of 5:45am) based a CC recommendation.

Cheers

Gary and Trudi

We're also on the Noordam with Nang and we're going to do Pearl Harbor on our own on the second day which is Oct. 6th. We've never been but decided to do this on our own. We just secured our tickets though http://www.recreation.gov/showPage.do?name=landing&landing=/htm/pearlharbor/home.jsp&contractCode=NRSO&parkId=72369. The earliest time we could get was Noon and now the earliest time is 1 PM. If you plan to do it on your own, then I'd secure your reservations as soon as possible.

Utahtea