Post cruise excursion to Pearl Harbor

[TSUmom]

Has anyone done a post cruise excursion? The one we are looking at is Pearl Harbor and Honolulu. Our flight time will be after 6:00 pm. How does it all work? Do we leave the ship immediately? Also, are we guaranteed a ticket on the Az as I have read the tickets go fast. I myself have been to the Az 3 times but my DH has not and would hate to go to Hawaii and miss that experience. We fly in on Thurs evening and are renting a car for Friday and touring the rest of the island. I want him to see that Oahu has so much more to see then Waikiki and Honolulu as that was all I saw on my first trip. Any thoughts or input are appreciated.:D

[CruiserBruce]

The ship will tell you where to go:D:D!

 

Actually they will. They will specifiy what time to be off the ship by, and where to meet (which may be on the ship), to start the tour, just like any other shore excursion. The only difference- you need to clear customs and claim your baggage before you start the excursion.

 

I would assume you are getting a ticket for the Arizona in your excursion, but without reading the description, I don't know. The shore excursion description should clearly say one way or the other- particularly if no ticket is included.

 

Usually these tours say they are designed for people who have a flight after a specific time. Your bags will be on the bus until you get to the airport.

[TSUmom]

Thank you for your response. I am leaning toward the excursion so we don't need to worry about baggage or dropping off a car and then being taken to the airport is a plus. I have been thinking about easy fly too, used it before and I was lucky to have my bags make it home with me. The only time my bags were "delayed" was when I checked them in myself...

[kapoho2]

Just one thing....you will not have to clear customs as the POA never leaves the country!

[TXDZ]

We just did this a couple of days ago & took the Robert's Pearl Harbor & Honolulu city tour. Started @ 9 a.m. - we walked off, caught our bus & headed out shortly before 9. The bus driver got our PH tour tickets before he picked us up, so we had seats on the 10:45 boat to the Pearl Harbor Memorial-it is very hard to get tickets with times before late afterrnoon if you go independent of a tour from what I hear. He then took us to several other sites, the Pali lookout, the Punch Bowl, the palace & King Kamehameha statue and we were done around 2:30 - our last stop in downtown Honolulu (near the International Marketplace), he let us off for lunch, then took everyone to the airport except us b/c we were meeting a friend @ the marketplace & we planned to grab a cab to the airport after (he had 1 couple to drop off @ Hilton Honolulu & dropped them before our lunch stop).

 

Re. your bags: We used "Easy Fly" for our bags (pay NCL a per bag charge - they get your bags @ midnight the night before & you never see them again until you get home). With Easy Fly, you can get off the ship anytime starting @ 7:15. If you don't want to use Easy Fly, you can take your bags with you on the Robert's bus & they will lock them below for storage until you get dropped off @ the airport. (I don't know what process the people who walked off with baggage had to follow...we had larger carryons, and nothing was screened).

 

The bad thing was - we did not have any snacks with us, so there was a long stretch from breakfast on the ship & the stop w/restaurants and there were very few stops w/restrooms. Grab a snack @ Pearl Harbor if you think you won't be able to make it that long w/o eating.

[DAGVBSB]

I would look at the Roberts Tours over the NCL tours... about 50% cheaper to use the Roberts tours over NCL and you see the exact same sites. (Roberts has a "supervisor" stationed at Pearl Harbor to handle the collecting of necessary tickets.)

 

 

http://www.gorabbitgo.com

[rootbear]

Unfortunately it did not turn out like this for me. The Roberts tour didn't get to Pearl Harbor until about 9:30 and the driver got us tickets for 1:45. Since we had so much time to waste we were taken to the Flea Market and stayed there for over an hour. I would never want to spend my last day in Hawaii at a flea market. Then we stopped at a hot dog stand that took up another 45 minutes. After we finally got to see the Arizona Memorial it was to time to take most of the passengers to the airport. We were staying the night at the HHV but we did not get there until after 4:30. What a disappointment for the day except for the Memorial of course. So I guess one experience does not mean everyone will have that same experience. Just be aware of what can happen.

 

That was my only experience with a tour in Hawaii and it was not a good way to end my trip.

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[DAGVBSB]

Unfortunately it did not turn out like this for me. The Roberts tour didn't get to Pearl Harbor until about 9:30 and the driver got us tickets for 1:45. Since we had so much time to waste we were taken to the Flea Market and stayed there for over an hour. I would never want to spend my last day in Hawaii at a flea market. Then we stopped at a hot dog stand that took up another 45 minutes. After we finally got to see the Arizona Memorial it was to time to take most of the passengers to the airport. We were staying the night at the HHV but we did not get there until after 4:30. What a disappointment for the day except for the Memorial of course. So I guess one experience does not mean everyone will have that same experience. Just be aware of what can happen.

 

That was my only experience with a tour in Hawaii and it was not a good way to end my trip.

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That's the one problem with any of the day of disembarkation tours to Pearl Harbor.... you just can't get there early enough. That is why we have always used one of our pre or post cruise days to visit Pearl Harbor. We take an early tour, leaving Waikiki between 6:45 and 7:00 a.m. which puts you over there by 7:30 and you can get morning tickets. I know that when we were there a couple weeks ago, those who arrived at 9:00 a.m. were getting noon tickets.

 

Since the earliest most people can get off the ship is 8:00 a.m., you just can't get there soon enough for early tickets and you end up wasting your whole day.

 

I know people try to cram Pearl Harbor into their disembarkation day so not as to waste another day, but it just means you waste that whole day.