A few questions about the Pride of America....

Four of us are planning to cruise the Pride of America in Hawaii in 2020..I have 3 questions:

1) What side of the ship is best for best views for a balcony cabin, port or starboard?

2) Is there a Luau on the ship, or in any of the excursions, OR are we on our own- I have seen the Old Lahaina Luau in 2002, which was fantastic..

3) Anybody book one of the helicopter tours NOT with NCL? Like the ones on Trip Advisor?

Thanks! any other tips would be appreciated...this will be our first cruise to Hawaii, but 4th time there..we have done 36 cruises to date, so very experienced...

Big Al

Aloha Big Al,

I live on the Big Island of Hawaii, and have toured with most of the helicopter companies. Blue Hawaiian does a great job and is probably the most well known, but my favorite is Paradise Helicopters. On the Kona side, Paradise is a lot closer to the pier where the POA tenders, because they fly out of KOA airport, while Blue Hawaiian is a 40 minute van ride away at the Waikoloa Heliport. Out of the Kona Airport, Paradise does a terrific "Circle Island Tour" which includes the Volcanoes National Park and hunting for active lava flows, waterfalls up in Kohala, and the Kona coast.

Your best bet, whether through NCL, or on your own, if you don't want to spend as much, are the shorter trips out of Hilo Airport. Again, here I think Paradise offers a spectacular option in a Hughes helicopter with the doors off down to the active lava flows. This is a certified thrill!

As far as which side of the ship is best... it's probably 50/50 given the routing through the islands. There's going to be beautiful scenery port and starboard, and Kona is the only tender port, and like most tender operations, the tend to rotate the ship in Kailua Bay, but you will typically get the best views of town and the island that morning on the Starboard side, and leaving port, you'll get the best post-sunset/twilight views most days on the Port side.

I hope you enjoy your cruise among the islands... I am happy to answer local questions about Kona in the shore excursion forum.

Coy

Aloha Big Al,

 

I live on the Big Island of Hawaii, and have toured with most of the helicopter companies. Blue Hawaiian does a great job and is probably the most well known, but my favorite is Paradise Helicopters. On the Kona side, Paradise is a lot closer to the pier where the POA tenders, because they fly out of KOA airport, while Blue Hawaiian is a 40 minute van ride away at the Waikoloa Heliport. Out of the Kona Airport, Paradise does a terrific "Circle Island Tour" which includes the Volcanoes National Park and hunting for active lava flows, waterfalls up in Kohala, and the Kona coast.

 

Your best bet, whether through NCL, or on your own, if you don't want to spend as much, are the shorter trips out of Hilo Airport. Again, here I think Paradise offers a spectacular option in a Hughes helicopter with the doors off down to the active lava flows. This is a certified thrill!

 

As far as which side of the ship is best... it's probably 50/50 given the routing through the islands. There's going to be beautiful scenery port and starboard, and Kona is the only tender port, and like most tender operations, the tend to rotate the ship in Kailua Bay, but you will typically get the best views of town and the island that morning on the Starboard side, and leaving port, you'll get the best post-sunset/twilight views most days on the Port side.

 

I hope you enjoy your cruise among the islands... I am happy to answer local questions about Kona in the shore excursion forum.

 

Coy

Coy- Thanks so much for the info! Sounds like a tour near Hilo airport might be best...do you know the name of the tour with the doors off in Hilo by Paradise? They are all so $$, but I want to do a great one..any chance any of these pilots speak Spanish? My sister-in law & hubby don't speak English..only Spanish from Peru..I hate trying to translate everything along with my wife, who speaks somewhat, but not great...and mahalo again!!! :cool:

Big Al

Four of us are planning to cruise the Pride of America in Hawaii in 2020..I have 3 questions:

 

1) What side of the ship is best for best views for a balcony cabin, port or starboard?

 

2) Is there a Luau on the ship, or in any of the excursions, OR are we on our own- I have seen the Old Lahaina Luau in 2002, which was fantastic..

 

3) Anybody book one of the helicopter tours NOT with NCL? Like the ones on Trip Advisor?

 

Thanks! any other tips would be appreciated...this will be our first cruise to Hawaii, but 4th time there..we have done 36 cruises to date, so very experienced...

 

Big Al

The ship has a luau excursion in Kauai. We did Chief's Luau before the cruise in Oahu and can highly recommend that onee. Port side was great for viewing the Napali coast Friday afternoon leaving Kauai. The ship gets up close.

The ship has a luau excursion in Kauai. We did Chief's Luau before the cruise in Oahu and can highly recommend that onee. Port side was great for viewing the Napali coast Friday afternoon leaving Kauai. The ship gets up close.

Thanks for your post...did you also do the luau in Kauai? I think port side will be best for me..

Thanks for your post...did you also do the luau in Kauai? I think port side will be best for me..

No, in Kauai we rented a car at the airport from Discount Car Rentals to explore. We got an app called Shaka Guide which is like your own tourguide for 5 bucks. We loved Waimea Canyon and ate at the beautiful Beach House restaurant in Poipu Bay.

Coy- Thanks so much for the info! Sounds like a tour near Hilo airport might be best...do you know the name of the tour with the doors off in Hilo by Paradise? They are all so $$, but I want to do a great one..any chance any of these pilots speak Spanish? My sister-in law & hubby don't speak English..only Spanish from Peru..I hate trying to translate everything along with my wife, who speaks somewhat, but not great...and mahalo again!!! :cool:

 

Big Al

I did the Paradise "doors off" volcano tour from Hilo this past june (I was on a land vacation and there for the Kona marathon. So didn't arrive by ship.). Well worth the money to go doors off in my opinion. Being able to feel the heat is a cool experience and the pilots are good about finding actual lava to show you. (the are there day after day after day).

Port side for Napali Coast.

We rented car too and did Waimea Canyon and also a luau at Smith's. From reports of those doing luau through NCL, the NCL was not as good.

Sailing this Saturday...yippee!! Question: wifi on the ship sounds expensive so we plan to turn our phones to airplane mode once on ship. How close to the ship should we do that??

We are luau - ing in Ohau also, pre-cruise. Chiefs luau. Good to hear it's a good one.

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Port side for Napali Coast.

 

We rented car too and did Waimea Canyon and also a luau at Smith's. From reports of those doing luau through NCL, the NCL was not as good.

Coy- Thanks so much for the info! Sounds like a tour near Hilo airport might be best...do you know the name of the tour with the doors off in Hilo by Paradise? They are all so $$, but I want to do a great one..any chance any of these pilots speak Spanish? My sister-in law & hubby don't speak English..only Spanish from Peru..I hate trying to translate everything along with my wife, who speaks somewhat, but not great...and mahalo again!!! :cool:

 

Big Al

I did the Paradise "doors off" volcano tour from Hilo this past june (I was on a land vacation and there for the Kona marathon. So didn't arrive by ship.). Well worth the money to go doors off in my opinion. Being able to feel the heat is a cool experience and the pilots are good about finding actual lava to show you. (the are there day after day after day).

Sent from my SM-P600 using Forums mobile app

Sailing this Saturday...yippee!! Question: wifi on the ship sounds expensive so we plan to turn our phones to airplane mode once on ship. How close to the ship should we do that??

 

We are luau - ing in Ohau also, pre-cruise. Chiefs luau. Good to hear it's a good one.

 

Sent from my SM-P600 using Forums mobile app

Pride of America does not have a Cellular at Sea tower unlike most ships, so your phone will not try to connect to it, with the associated cost, you will just lose signal when outside of land based cell towers. Without buying the ship's wifi package, you should be able to use data and even use your phone as a wifi hot spot as long as you have signal from your carrier. So, during the days in port, and those overnights, you should have signal, its just at night at sea.

We did Blue Hawaiian on our own from Hilo airport to see the volcano. It was spectacular. We were in front of the ship port side. Amazing views of lava sail by. We tried to book port side dinner table but ended up starboard. We still had amazing views of Napali coast and saw a double rainbow that those on the port side didn’t.

Also highly recommend road to Hana with Valley Isle. Don’t try to drive it yourself!

Above all do your homework. Have a great cruise!

Four of us are planning to cruise the Pride of America in Hawaii in 2020..I have 3 questions:

 

1) What side of the ship is best for best views for a balcony cabin, port or starboard?

 

2) Is there a Luau on the ship, or in any of the excursions, OR are we on our own- I have seen the Old Lahaina Luau in 2002, which was fantastic..

 

3) Anybody book one of the helicopter tours NOT with NCL? Like the ones on Trip Advisor?

 

Thanks! any other tips would be appreciated...this will be our first cruise to Hawaii, but 4th time there..we have done 36 cruises to date, so very experienced...

 

Big Al

Hi,

This is an amazing cruise!

Port side is good for Na’pali coast . Starboard good for lava viewing.

We had port side so we relaxed on our balcony watching view for a while.

For volcano flow we went to the promenade? Deck. One u can walk around. Plenty of spaces no glass blocking the view. Get there earlier than hey say because u can see it before they announce.

They did not have traditional luao but on Maui overnight (day 2) they have an Aloha? Show. It is great!! Traditional dances really good IMO.

We did the sunset Haleakala crater tour and we just made it back in time.

If u like snorkeling in Kona best snorkeling excursion ever!! It is tender port and the excursion catamaran is next to dock. Boat is called bodyglove so u can look it up.

Large 2 story catamaran. 1st floor in shade seating. Upstairs some shade, jumping platform and slide. Tons of noodles, floating pads,some paddle boards as well.

3 bathrooms... good food! Included continental bkfst and bbq lunch . Cash bar.

Spinner dolphins follow the boat to most pristine spot with over 100 ft visibility .

Would do again in a heartbeat.

Biggest difference is no casino and funny enough the shops are open when in port because of same local rules.

Happy planning

Kerri

We also did chiefs luau pre cruise- great way to kick off the holiday

Also be sure to plan an excursion to pearl harbour either pre or post cruise! And the Polynesian culture center is a gorgeous place to go !

In Maui we rented a car and kept it in a parking lot close to the cruise terminal, so we could use it both days !

We did wings over Kauai which flew over the napali coast and waimea canyon etc it was well worth the money - so glad we did it because the next day it was cloudy and misty and we could not see anything !

You will enjoy your cruise I'm sure !

Pride of America does not have a Cellular at Sea tower unlike most ships, so your phone will not try to connect to it, with the associated cost, you will just lose signal when outside of land based cell towers. Without buying the ship's wifi package, you should be able to use data and even use your phone as a wifi hot spot as long as you have signal from your carrier. So, during the days in port, and those overnights, you should have signal, its just at night at sea.

Thanks for that great news!!

Sent from my SM-P600 using Forums mobile app

We did the sunset Haleakala crater tour and we just made it back in time.

We are just curious about what you mean with "we just made it back in time" after the sunset Haleakala tour? If you did it Sunday evening, why the hurry since the ship stays overnight? We can't see how you could do it Monday since the ship leaves at 6 p.m. and you obviously wouldn't have time to do a tour that evening.