POA Maui Whale Watching

We are interested in doing a whale watching cruise when we arrive in Maui on POA in February. I noticed there is a whale watching excursion by NCL, but it is not one that is loaded to our reservation. I called the PCF group in Maui, and they said they have two ports that do the cruises, but if we book independently we would need to get our own transportation & cabs are expensive. (It didn't seem worthwhile to try to rent a car just to get to either of the whale watch ports.) PCF said they have a contract with NCL, so probably easier to just go through NCL.

I called NCL, and the Shorex rep said none of the whale watching excursions are going to show up yet. I told her that we got that message in our NCL inbox that not all are loaded yet & it says to check back for excursions or book onboard, but she said not a good idea to wait until on board because they could be sold out by then. She said they will be posted before we leave, but probably not at least until the end of December. She didn't give the reason for this, but I'm spreading the word.

May we ask how much NCL is charging for the Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF) whale watch tour sailing out of Ma'alaea?

I am under the impression that NCL does it out of Lahaina, which is further away from Kahului than Ma'Alea. Because it isn't available to my tour, I cannot really be sure of the price.

Just FYI in checking online briefly, we show the NCL tour is $119. per adult including transportation. You might want to recheck this yourself to make sure, but the PWF website offers the same tour (supply your own transportation) for $39. per adult. (That leaves quite a fair amount left over for a taxi or Uber!).

Thanks, I'm on the fence until I see what NCL ends up posting. PCF rep said to Ma'Alea the cab fare would run around $50 each direction, and to Lahaina it would be at least $75-$100 each direction. That would make the NCL trip a reasonable deal for going out to Lahaina port, but not as much for Ma'Alea.

Thanks, I'm on the fence until I see what NCL ends up posting. PCF rep said to Ma'Alea the cab fare would run around $50 each direction, and to Lahaina it would be at least $75-$100 each direction. That would make the NCL trip a reasonable deal for going out to Lahaina port, but not as much for Ma'Alea.

We checked the Taxi Fare Finder website for a taxi between Kahului Harbor and Ma'alaea Harbor, and it should run you about $30.00 each way - and do remember that is the cost for the whole cab and not per person. No reason to go to Lahaina unless you want a longer ride and want to spend more money. As far as we know, the tour is the same by PWF in both places.

May we ask how much NCL is charging for the Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF) whale watch tour sailing out of Ma'alaea?

We are going next month and it is $160.03 for adults and $98.17 for children (AU). We have ended up hiring a car and will drive ourselves.

I totally agree with taking a whale watching tour from Ma'alea if you are docked in Kahului. And you might post this question on the roll call for your cruise and see if there are others that would be interested and share the cost of the taxi/uber. Cherie

We just returned from the Dec 2-9 sailing of the POA. We left the ship via Hertz shuttle Sunday around 8 AM, rented a car at the Kahului Airport ($20 for the day), drove to Lahaina. We got there early enough to peruse the local artists showing their wares in the square under the huge tree. On line, we had reserved an 11:20 AM 2-hour whale watch with Ultimate Whale Watch ($49 per person). They use a small boat, and immediately found 2 whales, and later 2 more. We got quite close, saw several flukes and even got a pectoral fin wave, but no breeches. And this was only the second day of their season! After the whale watch, we headed to the beach, stopping at Leoda's Bake Shop (highly recommended!) for lunch. Our drive to Lahaina took 45 minutes max. If you are a Costco member, bring your Coscto card. Their gas is the cheapest on the island and is right on the way to the airport for refilling the rental car.

I just got back and did the excursion through NCL...price was $119 per person. It was a great excursion done through PAC Whale Foundation. It was my 2nd excursion with them, I thought they did both very well. Transport was easy from POA to the pier- it was a quick drive, maybe 20 min. We were 2 weeks early for true whale season but saw more than I saw previously in Alaska and the whales were much more playful. After the ride, you are dropped at the PAC Whale Foundation store to pick up your “free”gift...it is a poster- but the store is cool with some neat gifts.