POA Unreseved Excursions?

[Luvsdaislands]

Hello all,

 

This will be my first time on NCL (normally cruise on Carnival), On Carnival at some ports we would just get off the ship and hire one of the tour operators to take us wherever we wanted to go. Is that advisible for the Hawaiian Islands we will be visiting on POA?

[Ilovesailing]

From my experience and 3 cruises on POA I would have to say no and don't take the risk as this is an expensive vacation for most folks. But from what I saw at most ports is that the only tour companies that are in the terminal are the ones that are authorized and they are there picking up customers that have paid for an excursion and these companies are often running small mini buses or vans as the islands are mall and not the easiest to manoeuvre with big buses.

If you check the internet or here on CC you will see lots of tour company recommendations and you will save 40 to 50% over cruiseship prices for basically the same tour without all the cattle herding.

The only island that I've seen lots of tours offered at shore is Kona and Maui.

Another reason why it's not easy to get unreserved tours is because a couple of the ports are located in industrial area.

The same goes for trying to get a last minute car rental at ports by going to the pickup vans and asking the drivers if they are cars available and I've only ever heard the answer NO, these guys no in advance because they get people coming up to them on every cruise.

[cod]

When we did Hawaii several years ago, we rented a car in a couple of the ports. I researched what we wanted to do in each port...in one we went to an Aquarium, and a remember a park with some beautiful walking trails and waterfalls (and some crazy teenage boys jumping from a walkway into some rather shallow water) and in one place we went to a volcanic state park. Without digging out my folder on that trip, I can't be more specific.

But we enjoyed renting a car and exploring on our own and had do problems doing so

 

We went on one NCL tour. It was to a Grand Canyon look-alike with one of the best tour guides we ever encountered. We learned a lot about where we were(?) and he tried to teach us a few Hawaiian expressions. He was a hoot!

[puddles99]

That's not really viable in Hawaii - but you also don't need to book through the ship. It will take some effort to do some research and decide what you want to do, or you can rent a car and that would enable you to "wing it" a bit more.

 

I'd recommend spending some time on the Hawaii Port of Call forum for some ideas or read some of the recent reviews. TripAdvisor is also a great resource. If you have any questions, just ask - there are lots of us who will try to help :)

[Sauer-kraut]

My parents went to Hawaii on a cruise and they just walked around the ports on their own. My dad is a tightwad so they used public buses and such or just walked. Of course they didn't see a lot, but what they did see they enjoyed immensely. One day they encountered a group of Hula Dancers who were more senior citizens practicing in the park -- they watched the show and got to learn more about the group by speaking with some of them. Priceless encounter.

 

Anyways, I'm just trying to point out that you don't necessarily have to do a tour at all.... :)

 

Enjoy the POA and have a wonderful time.

[cod]

I read my post from yesterday..really, my spelling/grammar is not that bad normally! That's what I get for rushing! But heck, makes-mox-nix.

 

I dug out the info from our September '07, 10 day repo cruise on the Sun. That was the year they were going to leave the Sun in Hawaii do to 7 nighters as does the POA. They changed their minds and the deals were spectacular. I cancelled the Caribbean cruise we had booked and I will be forever glad. I doubt we could do it at todays prices. But back to our cruise.

 

We rented cars in 2 ports...Kahului Maui and Hilo Hawaii. I reserved both thru Orbitz and both required a lift to the rental office from the port. (I don't think we could have done it last minute because if I remember right, you needed a reservation to get the lift!) One car was under $30 for the day and the other under $35 (totals). One was through Dollar and the other, Thrifty. On the big island of Hawaii we went to the Hawaii Volcanoes Park (I found our $10 car pass to get in) and in Maui we went to the Maui Ocean Center (wonderful). DH said Maui is where we also drove to a garden park where those 'crazy kids' were (his words). We had no trouble getting around by car in either place. Remember, you are actually in the good-old USA and not in a foreign country. (I probably didn't have to point that out!) Both days we had an agenda in mind, but we also stopped here and there to either get a bite to eat or check out a store. Gas was expensive but we didn't use much either.

 

Where we did the NCL tour was in Nawiliwili Kauai..it was called Journey To Waimea Canyon. Very worthwhile and I'd do it again.

 

The other port we went to Lahaina Maui and if I recall, it was a good port for walking around on your own...a couple weren't and were in industrial areas as someone mentioned.

 

We stayed at the Aqua Wakiki Wave Hotel. Reasonable and tho not on the beach it wasn't far and an easy walk. There was a bottle of Champagne on ice when we got there and deep down I knew that it had to be a mistake. I asked the desk clerk about it the next AM and he was surprised it was there but said, 'go ahead, enjoy'! We did with some a few baked goodies from a wonderful little bakery right next door before setting off for the Sun!

 

My husband still claims Alaska as his favorite cruise but for me, this one was it.

[Socref124]

We did Hawaii 10 years ago and did NCL tours only. It was so much easier and I didn't know any better at the time.

I would highly recommend that you do as much research as possible before booking anything. Sometimes the hassle getting to and from the private excursion is not worth the savings. You also have to worry that the transportation is reliable and will get you back to the port on time. If you are on a NCL tour and the transportation breaks down POA will wait for you. If you are on a private tour, you are out of luck and will have to arainge transportation to the next port at your expense.

If you do private excursions you can save a lot of money but you can also fall prey to an unscrupulous company if you aren't careful.

Renting a car on an excursion or just walking around would be my last choice as you don't know how to get to and from places of interest as quickly as the tour operators and you will miss so much just walking around. I would definately recommend renting a convertible pre or post cruise to tour Oahu. There are many places on Oahu to see and riding in a convertible is a great way to see the sights.

Use Bing and/or google and the ports of call section on these boards and have fun doing your research. Good luck and have fun.

[cod]

I looked at our itinerary for that trip and saw that we arrived in each port at 8:00am and left at 10:00pm. (No wonder I don't remember there ever being a rush to get back to the ship!) I don't know if the POA has the same kind of schedule. All this reminiscing about Hawaii is making me wish we could return...we saw some beautiful beautiful places. Perhaps the one thing I remember most is the number and colors of the many rainbows always around! Of the few balconies we've had over the years, this is the one that was a must and that we enjoyed the most. We even made use of it on the sailing back over the Pacific where the weather was very calm the entire crossing. But enough.

 

I hope anyone planning a Hawaiian trip or cruise enjoys theirs just as much!

[dogo88]

Hello all,

 

This will be my first time on NCL (normally cruise on Carnival), On Carnival at some ports we would just get off the ship and hire one of the tour operators to take us wherever we wanted to go. Is that advisible for the Hawaiian Islands we will be visiting on POA?

 

As others have pointed, you need to do your research. I spent many nights looking over the ports and tours available, plus reading all the reviews of folks that did it on their own. I have no interest when on vacation to try and rent a car and learn the local roads. We chose Roberts, http://www.gorabbitgo.com , for almost all our tours. We found them to be equal to NCL tours and with their multi tour discounts, usually were half the price of what NCL tours were. They went to the same locations, in a similar bus, with absolutely no issues.

 

We had a fabulous time on the POA and talk about going again.

 

Dan