apbabowling

its the getting there that's the problem for us as we don't want to hire a car and will rely on public transport and this is one place we don't want to miss. I am going to look into the bus times and routes etc,

But if you're cruising and thinking of taking the bus, what on earth are you going to do with your suitcases if it's before your cruise or if you do it after your cruise (assuming you don't pay for the post-cruise excursion with your cruise line)?

-jarrod

OP here, made reservations with Avis for Hilo Airport, Kaanapali Airport, and Lihue Airport. Does Avis offer shuttle buses from the cruise ports to the rental offices?

Hilo and Lihue is a definite yes. Don't know about Kaanapali.

We purchased UDP for 21 people for family cruise before the price was raised to include the new gratuity. Will we be charged the extra money?

Same story with us. We just got off the POA and we weren't charged a cent of gratuity last week. 18% of nothing (with the UDP) is still nothing.

-jarrod

About 10 days ago, we walked in at about 8:10am, got tickets for the 8:30 Arizona. No sweat, no problems, no fees.

-jarrod

I thought it was odd about 10 days ago when I walked in, somebody had a backpack on in front of me and just got waved in, no checking, no nothing.

But I also saw a lot of people heading over to the lockers automatically. So I guess it's a crapshoot in the end.

-jarrod

Yes, this helps a lot! Thanks so for much for the info! :)

 

Hope you had a great cruise on the POA.

The lot right by the pedestrian walkway (the closest one possible) WAS open when I was there just last week. I walked over to the National on Monday and rented one. I didn't quite realize what that lot was for until my wife said something.

-jarrod

Was there a National Car Rental at all the ports - Hilo, Lahaina Maui, and Nawiliwili Kauai?

In Hilo there was. It's bundled with Alamo. Quick little drive there.

In Kalahui Maui there's one across the street at 40 Hana Hwy from the POA dock.

Kauai I booked with Avis, but it seemed like everybody and their brother had a shuttle somewhere, so National was probably there too.

-jarrod

DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT pay for a tour to go to Pearl Harbor.

Get a rental car and drive yourself there. Plenty of parking if you get there earlier in the day.

We just got back from a 4 day stay in Oahu (Kalakaua Ave) and a 7 day POA cruise (yes, the building is still moving).

We drove to Pearl Harbor (thanks GPS!), walked up at about 8:10am, got free tickets for the Arizona Memorial for 20 minutes later, got on the boat.

We paid for the Bowfin ($12 audio tour) and it was great. We had the option for the Missouri to take an audio tour but was overruled by our daughter and just walked around ourselves. I would have preferred either a guided or an audio tour. In the end, I much preferred the Bowfin because of that.

-jarrod

This post may seem pointless since I just booked a condo on Oahu, but we were seriously thinking about doing the NCL Pride of America cruise with the land tour next March.

But upon comparing the prices for the land tour on cruises that are leaving in the next month to just the cruise, I can see that the land tour is still about $800 a person no matter how soon you're leaving. For the 5 of us in my family that's going, that's $4000.

Since I booked a condo (for a little less than $1100, 4BR, sleeps 10) which we can easily make every single meal we eat for the Wednesday to Saturday before the regular cruise leaves and be entertained for far less than the $2900 which is left.

I was wondering if anybody thought the land tour was really worth $800pp for the three days. Yes, it includes the hotel and entertainment, but what also scared me is that NCL's website doesn't seem to mention a thing about meals during the three days. Unless I missed something completely obvious.

But the last thing I wanted to do is get there and be told by NCL, "The website doesn't mention meals because they're not included. Why are you surprised?"

I'm sure the smart thing would have been to call and ask about it, but I'm sure others have gotten 1 answer on the phone and found out the story was different when they got somewhere.

And it'll be my 4th cruise, but my first foray into planning our own activities, at least in the 3 days before the actual cruise.

Thanks for any clarification anyone can provide.

-apbabowling