Road to Hana & Mama's Fish House

[africanviolet]

We will be on the NCL Pride of America in November. Are there cabs or tour operators outside the ship that will take you to Hana or do you need a reservation in place? If we are able to get a private driver is Mama's Fish House a stop we could do on the way back? Thanks.

[slidergirl]

A quick browse through the Web for Hana trips show that most last 9-10 hours. I've never heard of hiring a taxi for this - that could be VERY expensive. Hopefully, someone will be able to offer their experience with a private driver. You might be able to negotiate to have you dropped off at Mama's for dinner (be sure you have reservations beforehand!) and then get a taxi back from Mama's to the ship.

On my browse, I did see that some of the operator sites had info for NCL passengers where they would say that trip X would work for Day 1 in port or Day 2 or that it wouldn't work if you ported at Lahaina instead of Kahului. From one of the operators:

"NCL cruise ship passengers are able do the Hana tour with either Valley Isle Excursions or Ekahi Tours on their first day in port in Kahului. They will pick you up at the harbor shortly after you disembark. Please note that they cannot tour you on your second day in port. Unfortunately Lahaina cruise ship passengers are not able to do this tour either on day one (you arrive too late) or day two (your cruise ship departs too early)."

[EmmasNana]

I'm sorry I don't recall who we used for this excursion. I prearranged this road to Hana tour and it was fabulous. It is a very long excursion and I think we would not have been able to make a stop at the place you want to go, just because it wasn't an included stop. I do think there are cabs that you could after your Hana tour.

We had to go outside the security gate and cross the street to wait for our tour driver. I did not see anyone else who did this so most people either rented a car that day or did an NCL excursion.

Hope this helps a little.

[genealogyfan]

Highly recommend Valley Isle Excursions - buses of 12 people each (I think they had 3 or 4 buses picking up) - and one went the opposite the direction. Very informative guide, interesting stops too

 

go to http://www.tourmaui.com

 

They picked us up just outside the gates at the pier - easy to meet them.

[Just4You]

If I remember correctly, Mama's Fish House is only a few miles away (less 10 mi) from where the ship docks, so a taxi wouldn't be outrageously expensive. You will pass it on Road to Hana.

[mking8288]

RTH is a narrow road with plenty of turns & twist, average speed is under 10 miles an hour and once you leave Kahului & getting further in, you cannot drive any faster than 15 miles an hour anyway - aside from signing up for NCL tours or privately arranged tours, the best way to experience it is to rent a mini-van for day 1. Start out early and pack some snacks, lunch & drinks in-town, unless you are prepared to stop for a $8 hamberger. Many of the narrow bridges can only safely allow one lane of traffic getting thru, so it's alternately - drivers going in either direction yielding to each other. Slower & nervious driver will find cutouts & places to pull over close to the side & edge of the road to allow other traffic to get ahead - the courtesy is expected.

 

A GPS device is helpful but not necessary as there is no way to get lost going there or coming back, unless you drove off the side & ended up at the bottom of the cliff or valley.

 

It is a very scenic drive, slow but worth it, with numerous photographic stops all along - there are no gas stations, 7-11's along - except for roadside stands setup by locals (freshly cut pineapples are sweet, yummy) On the average, I would say - plan for and allow at least 4 hours going out to Hana and another 4 hours coming back without feeling rushed. We left before 8 AM right after docking at the pier and were on our way, came back to the ship around 5 PM - had dinner early and were off again to catch the sunset on the summit peak @ 10,000 ft. above sea level - so it was a busy day for us. Having 2 or more drivers also help as RTH require plenty of concentration on staying on the road while driving, pass other cars & mini-vans going the opposite direction within a foot of each other at times.

[TSUmom]

Highly recommend Valley Isle Excursions - buses of 12 people each (I think they had 3 or 4 buses picking up) - and one went the opposite the direction. Very informative guide, interesting stops too

 

go to http://www.tourmaui.com

 

They picked us up just outside the gates at the pier - easy to meet them.

We too highly recommend Valley Isle Excursions. We had a fabulous time!!

[Id rather be diving]

Has anyone done the Road to Hana from a non NCL ship? How about a Princess ship? Is there enough time to do it? I've sent an email to the tour company but just thought I'd ask here too.

[cb at sea]

I'm not quite sure why the "road to Hana" is so popular. We did it on a land-based vacation....took about 9 hours.....it's a narrow, winding road, with a couple of "photo -op" spots along the way. Would I do it again? Nope. If you have limited time, there are better ways to spend your day.

[vbmom87]

I'm not quite sure why the "road to Hana" is so popular. We did it on a land-based vacation....took about 9 hours.....it's a narrow, winding road, with a couple of "photo -op" spots along the way. Would I do it again? Nope. If you have limited time, there are better ways to spend your day.

 

 

The Road to Hana was one of the favorite things we did in Hawaii. It was extemely scenic.... we had far more than a couple of photo ops We also went with Valley Excursions and loved the tour and guide. We would definitely do it again. Everyone has different likes when it comes to vacations. Scenery lovers will enjoy the Road to Hana. Although we originally thought we would have preferred to do the tour on our own, we were not willing to violate a car rental agreement. As it turned out we LOVED our Valley Excursions tour. We being three people in their sixties and a 22 year old. In fact the 22 year old was probably the biggest Road to Hana cheerleader. The day is long and I can understand where this tour would not be for everyone.

[puddles99]

"NCL cruise ship passengers are able do the Hana tour with either Valley Isle Excursions or Ekahi Tours on their first day in port in Kahului. They will pick you up at the harbor shortly after you disembark. Please note that they cannot tour you on your second day in port. Unfortunately Lahaina cruise ship passengers are not able to do this tour either on day one (you arrive too late) or day two (your cruise ship departs too early)."

 

Just a heads up that Ekahi Tours appears to have closed up shop about two years ago. In my research, I've found Valley Isle (as others have mentioned) and Robert's Hawaii (www.gorabbitgo.com) seem to be the most "reliable" - based on reviews - private operators offering the Road to Hana tour. We haven't made a decision yet on which we'll book with so I look forward to reading more reviews and recommendations here!

[vbmom87]

Just a heads up that Ekahi Tours appears to have closed up shop about two years ago. In my research, I've found Valley Isle (as others have mentioned) and Robert's Hawaii (www.gorabbitgo.com) seem to be the most "reliable" - based on reviews - private operators offering the Road to Hana tour. We haven't made a decision yet on which we'll book with so I look forward to reading more reviews and recommendations here!

 

Not sure about now, but when I went to Hawaii and booked with Valley Isle, Roberts had a little larger buses. Not sure if it matters to you or not. No matter whom you travel with, you are on the same road. I just highly recommend that you make sure whomever you go with does the full circle and does not turn around and head back the same way you came.

[Donray]

Not sure about now, but when I went to Hawaii and booked with Valley Isle, Roberts had a little larger buses. Not sure if it matters to you or not. No matter whom you travel with, you are on the same road. I just highly recommend that you make sure whomever you go with does the full circle and does not turn around and head back the same way you came.

 

No tour company goes a full circle. The road is very bad dirt road for about 20 miles starting about 10 miles after Hana

[msakmom]

Another option is to rent a car for the day and drive it yourself. We stayed on Maui for a week and I have to say that was the biggest highlight for me. It is a long trip, but I really researched it (even bought a book online showing all of the unknown places to stop). It was well worth the day spent on the trip. I'd do it again, if given the opportunity.

[vbmom87]

No tour company goes a full circle. The road is very bad dirt road for about 20 miles starting about 10 miles after Hana

 

Not sure if we have a different definition of full circle, but in 2010 we did go on a dirt road with Valley Isle. We did not turn around when we got to Hana, but continued onto the dirt road. It was quite an experience. Here is a quote from their website:

 

"Once you get to the Kaupo Gap, the tropical vegetation stops and the landscape is barren and dry. Here Haleakala's rain shadow creates an environment of yellow grassland dotted with volcanic rock. Just after Kaupo, the dirt road becomes a beat up pothole patchwork of a road that wheels along with the ocean far below. Along this part of Maui, few people live and it's mostly given over to cattle grazing and open grasslands. In the distance, on most days you can see the big island with it's towering mountains."

 

For a full description, check it out here.

 

http://www.tourmaui.com/

[vbmom87]

Another option is to rent a car for the day and drive it yourself. We stayed on Maui for a week and I have to say that was the biggest highlight for me. It is a long trip, but I really researched it (even bought a book online showing all of the unknown places to stop). It was well worth the day spent on the trip. I'd do it again, if given the opportunity.

 

We had wanted to rent a car, but we were unable to locate a car rental company that would let us go beyond Hana and we really wanted to get the full experience. I was not willing to take the chance. Many insurance companies will no longer cover a rental car if you violate the contract, which we would have been doing if we did the full road.

[msakmom]

Last I had heard the road was closed pass Hana. It may have opened now. We had to turn around and head back the same way we came.

[vbmom87]

Last I had heard the road was closed pass Hana. It may have opened now. We had to turn around and head back the same way we came.

 

How disapointing if this is indeed true. I haven't been following the Hawaii forum much lately. Hopefully it is just temporary. The landscape is so different after Hana and a pleasure to see.

[Ksmith23]

i have never cruised to hawaii but have been several times, we rented a jeep and did the road to Hana on our own, i reccommend purchasing the maui reveled book, it will tell you were to locate the black sand beaches, lava tunnels and waterfalls. we did not do the whole trip, just personal preference to see other sites. also on our trip we stayed at mama's fish house, we loved the cute little accomadations and the resturant was amazing! keep in mind, you will need to dress up a bit for the resturant. we went in the evening so it could be different dress attire in the day.

[genealogyfan]

No tour company goes a full circle. The road is very bad dirt road for about 20 miles starting about 10 miles after Hana

 

You are incorrect - we took Valley Isle Excursions in April and we went full circle - well started at one end and ended up at the other end - we didn't backtrack

 

In fact another bus from the same company went the opposite direction of us

[Susan-M]

No tour company goes a full circle. The road is very bad dirt road for about 20 miles starting about 10 miles after Hana

 

The gravel road is only about 3 miles long and it's well maintained, and then there's a stretch (about 10 miles) of bumpy paved road (the bumps are a result of all the patching that has been done). The rest of the road is in very good condition. And, as the above poster mentions, Valley Isle does the full circle around Haleakala on the Road to Hana tour. The scenery on the south side is spectacular & it's great to do the full circle tour in order to experience the views on the RTH and on the south side of Haleakala.

[Randyp1234]

....even bought a book online showing all of the unknown places to stop.....

 

MSAKMOM,

 

What book was that? We're going to be there in April and would love to have this - unless it's "Maui Revealed", which we already have.

 

Randy

[msakmom]

MSAKMOM,

 

What book was that? We're going to be there in April and would love to have this - unless it's "Maui Revealed", which we already have.

 

Randy

 

Hana Highway Mile by Mile - The Road to Hana & Beyond

 

A couple wrote this book. They've traveled this road numerous times. They give you step by step instructions to find things off the beaten path. They also give a start rating system as to which stops they felt were worthwhile and which ones weren't. We found it very helpful. I think it made the trip even more enjoyable. I found it on amazon.

[DaisyGoldberg]

I really enjoyed the trip with Valley Isle -- very comfortable van and yes, the seats are high, so you really do look down at a lot of the vistas (so if you have height/ledge issues, let somebody else have the window seat)

 

Many of the narrow bridges can only safely allow one lane of traffic getting thru, so it's alternately - drivers going in either direction yielding to each other.

 

Our driver backed up in some pretty tight spots in order to yield (safely, I'm sure -- it's just that I would have been hard pressed to do the same with rock wall on one side and a cliff on the other) She explained that she knew what she was doing so it was safer for her to yield than to expect a rental car driver on the cliff side to attempt it. And some of the rental car joyriders we saw seemed pretty cavalier about road conditions -- the prospect of two completely unprepared tourist cars jockeying for position on some narrow paths is scary. Another reason to leave it to professionals and relax.

[mking8288]

Our driver backed up in some pretty tight spots in order to yield (safely, I'm sure -- it's just that I would have been hard pressed to do the same with rock wall on one side and a cliff on the other) .... than to expect a rental car driver on the cliff side to attempt it. And some of the rental car joyriders we saw seemed pretty cavalier about road conditions -- the prospect of two completely unprepared tourist cars jockeying for position on some narrow paths is scary. Another reason to leave it to professionals and relax.

 

That's for sure, we rented an 8 pax mini-van, don't recall if it was a Chrysler or Toyota & we sat higher up, Jeep 4x4's were popular too, as there Mustang convertible - often looking at locals familiar with the road come around the corner with their full sized Dodge pickup or Ford 350's.

 

Anyway, going thru our collection of DVD collections and online library, found a 2 minutes Windows Media clip on our driving the Road To Hana in May of 2009 - it will give some of you a good feel for what it's like behind the wheels (or in the front pax seat, riding shotgun w. the DVDcam running) - ignore or turn off the sound as the audio are most foreign language to most, we had the Garmin GPS running but it was too busy "spinning" its icon & hardly called out directions as there were no turns to made anywhere.

 

Clip on the dropbox link on a PC and it should play on Windows Media Player or compatible - should be fun for some of you thinking or planning to drive it yourself, or, leave it to the Pros' on the island. For 6 of us, this was a great money saver - except for poor driver, that's me. Later that day, we drove up to 10,000 feet in watching one of the most beautiful sunset seen, high above in the clouds.

 

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/64025118/Rd%20to%20Hana%20May%205%202009.wmv