Pride of America planning

We are attending a wedding in Honolulu this summer and want to take the PoA cruise before the wedding. We've looked into purchasing from 3 different sources.

Travel Agent: A friend recommended a travel agent, who offered us a package which includes airfare, 2 nights hotel, stateroom including gratuities, shipboard credit, and transportation to/from the airport, hotels and the port.

NCL is handling the airfare, and unfortunately they wont allow any changes so we would have to book a one-way ticket to get home.

Costco: The Costco rep told us we would be better off handling the airfare ourselves and just to purchase everything else a-la-carte. They gave us a price for the stateroom that was several hundred less than the travel agent (for the agents stateroom only price)

USAA: USAA offered a price slightly higher than Costco, but said they would match and beat any other price we found.

USAA told us the hotel being offered by the Agent goes for about $150/night, so it seems the only information we are missing is the travel costs from the airport-hotel-port. Does anyone know what we should expect for this (party of 2)?

We are leaning towards USAA because of the price match, but also because we have control over our flights. Have we covered all of our bases? Should I look at another reseller? We got a fairly decent airline rate locked in for another 48 hours, so we need to shore this up soon.

Thanks

PPP

As you haven't told us where the hotel is, hard to help you.

If you look down the board, you will see several threads about taxis and shuttles from Waikiki to/from airport and to/from port. Assuming you will be in the Waikiki area- very common and popular area.

We are not allowed to name or discuss travel agents on Cruise Critic, but as some one who frequently uses the agency you mentioned that has initials, and is a member of the one that also is a store, I think you are definitely on the right track. Cruise fare and air fare are the big issues. Hotel is a smaller issue, fairly easily arranged. Transport in most cases is a small issue, very easily arranged.

The big bucks go for cruise fare and air. How do the quoted TA cruise rates compare to what you'd pay for the same cabin category if you booked direct with NCL today? We have used the big box TA in the past for that reason. For our upcoming POA this summer, we booked with a web cruise agency for substantial savings over the NCL price and researched and booked our own airfare.

We have private transfers from Honolulu airport to our Waikiki hotel for $23 for 2 people, so that is the least of your worries.

For Hawaii we booked directly with NCL, then booked our own flights and than booked our own hotel.

This way we had control of everything and I really felt we got the better prices this way

When we used a travel agent for Bermuda (only because I had a gift card for a large amount of money) I felt completely like once the TA got my money she had nothing to do with us, she constantly kept referring me to NCL's web page for any questions I had.

4 times I have cruised with NCL, twice with a TA annd twice totally on our own planning and I will always do it on my own from now on

We also booked everything ourselves, dealing directly with NCL, booking our own air using miles from my account, and our own hotel after online search. I prefer to have complete control over all facets of the trip, particularly the selection of flights & hotel.

I highly recommend having extra time in Honolulu either pre or past cruise which seems that you have done. There is a wide price range of hotels in Waikiki. We enjoyed our stay at the Park Shore. We had a ocean front / Diamond Head balcony room. It was spacious, close to the park, beach, restaurants, and shops. We even walked to Diamond Head!

I must also state that we had a balcony cabin on the POA and would definitely do that again. I know this is extra money, but it does have its benefits. We were usually the first persons off of the ship and last ones on at each port. We probably tried to do too much! We are going to relax more on our next trip to Hawaii. The Hawaii cruise is much different than cruises to other destinations. You go on this cruise for the destinations not for the ship.