Pride Of America excursions

[Firstin87]

Keep in mind that the national park service now requires reservations at Haleakala if you want to be up top at sunrise. so you might want to do the ships excursion for that... or if you're going to diy it, make your reservations up to 60 days in advance at the NPS website.

 

As others have already said, Hawaii is very easy to DIY with a rental car.

 

have fun, whatever you do

 

We were on POA April 29-May 6. Although we did not do sunrise at Heleakala, I do recall seeing this information during my research . This would be one of the few/the only excursion I would recommend booking through NCL.

 

As many others have posted, it is easy and far less expensive to book excursions yourself in Hawaii. Many of the excursions we saw available through NCL we booked ourselves and the price difference was incredible - sometimes as much as $100 more through NCL - and there is no differences at all in the excursion.

 

We rented a car on most islands and explored on our own. We drove to LeHaina on Maui and it was a cute tourist town. One thing I did not want on our vacation was for my husband to do a lot of driving (he does enough of that on his work commute), but the drive to LeHaina took less than an hour and was beautiful. You're not on a freeway, you're driving through the beauty of Hawaii, so it is an enjoyable trip.

 

On Maui, we did the Skyline Eco Adventures zipline in Haleakala. It was a lot of fun. If you're interested in something adventurous, that's a good activity to do - great for first timers like us.

 

You'll have a wonderful trip! POA is a lovely ship, service was great, restaurants were good. My only "complaint" would be that the buffet was very limited, both with food options and closing time. At 9:30 one night we wanted ice cream or a quick snack and figured we'd drop into the buffet, but they were closed. Also, their dessert selection was poor. Ended up at Cadillac Grill (great! disappointed we only got to eat there once) and despite ice cream not being on the menu, our waiter brought it. He was great - funny, friendly, we had a nice visit with him as the Grill was basically empty.

 

Downside to this cruise is that you come home afterwards. Readjusting to "real life" is hard.

[Cruise Lou]

We sailed the POA last September. We took the road to Hana tour through valley isle excursions. It was spectacular. Also took the helicopter tour of the volcano at Hilo through Blue Hawaiian. Don't miss this! Do not book through the ship. It is cheaper to book outside the ship.

Leave a day or two in between to stay on the ship and relax!

 

We did book the Pearl Harbor tour through the ship as they included airport drop off.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

 

Thanks for the tips Janice! Hubby and I looked up Blue Hawaiian helicopter tours on Hilo today and we are so impressed! Just a couple of questions though. Do you know which company NCL uses for it's helicopter tours? Also, if we book a Blue Hawaiian one, how far from the ship do you need to go to get to the tour, and how did you get there? Is there any issue with getting off the ship in time for the tour if it isn't an NCL tour? Any input would be useful please.

[Cruise Lou]

We're on the POA March 20 of next year and that was exactly my question.....how soon do shore excursions become available? Whenever I ask, someone always tells us to book own own excursions, which I am not interested in doing. I've been to Hawaii half a dozen times and I just want to show DH around the islands with the convenience of the ships excursions. Yes, it may be cheaper but I'm not interested in saving money when I'm on vacation. So, when will the excursions thru NCL be available for next March?

 

I finally did get an answer from NCL! They said six months prior to this cruise is when the excursions are available for booking.

[KeithJenner]

I finally did get an answer from NCL! They said six months prior to this cruise is when the excursions are available for booking.

 

 

 

Just because you get an answer from NCL, that doesn't mean that it's the correct answer.

[punkincc]

Thanks for the tips Janice! Hubby and I looked up Blue Hawaiian helicopter tours on Hilo today and we are so impressed! Just a couple of questions though. Do you know which company NCL uses for it's helicopter tours? Also, if we book a Blue Hawaiian one, how far from the ship do you need to go to get to the tour, and how did you get there? Is there any issue with getting off the ship in time for the tour if it isn't an NCL tour? Any input would be useful please.

 

I don't know who NCL uses in Hilo, and even if it is Blue Hawaiian, I'd still book direct with BH for significant savings rather than through the ship. We have used them in Kauai, and they picked us up at the gate. We did confirm with them that we wanted pick up. In Kauai, they are at the airport, about 5 min away. The airport is a little farther from the port in Hilo, but still not far, if that is their location there.

 

I'd look at their website for Hilo info for "cruise ship passengers". Or send them an email to inquire, or just call, keeping in mind the time difference. Worst case scenario, you might need to taxi to and from their location. You can probably Google taxi rates in Hilo.

 

Hilo is not a tender port, so no difficulty getting off the ship, but of course allow time for a possible line first thing after the announcement is made, and time to walk to the port gate.

[cruiser123!]

We were on POA in March. I started booking about 6 months out. Prices went up the closer we got, so I was very glad I did!

 

The only thing we did through the ship itself that I would recommend was the helicopter tour over the volcanoes out of Kona.

 

The "discover Kauai and Luau" was really really long (knew that going in), but even with 11 hours, we only spent 20 minutes at the Canyon. Quite disappointing there. The Luau was fun though. If I were to go back, I'd definitely get a car and go myself.

 

The tour we took out of Hilo isn't even offered anymore if that tells you how bad it was! 15 minutes at Jaggar and 45 at a store...hmmmm

 

For Maui, I would absolutely recommend checking out "epic experience Maui" We went on a private west lobe tour with Emily and it was spectacular! We did that on the short day. She met us right at the ship, and had us dropped off with plenty of time before sailing.

 

On the long day, we rented a car and drove to Lahaina to go whale watching on the Trilogy and drove to the summit ourselves for the sunset. The road isn't horrible and it was way cheaper.

 

 

Have fun!

[Diver2014]

I finally did get an answer from NCL! They said six months prior to this cruise is when the excursions are available for booking.

 

Thank you! So I'm assuming October would be when we could start booking excursions for the March 2018 cruise.

Like I said, I've been to Hawaii 5 or 6 times so I don't want to rent a car to see places I've already been to. I want someone else to do all the driving for us and maybe we can learn some stuff about the places that we'd never know if we'd gone off on our own. A guided tour is what I'm looking forward to, for a change.

[Cruise Lou]

Hi there,

 

20 excursions for this cruise are available for booking, and we have booked two, but are waiting for all the others to appear. It is unusual how they don't appear all at once.

[kngtrtn]

@Cruise Lou if you are on the 3/17/18 cruise please come join us on the Pride of America Roll Call - March 17, 2018 thread!

[flag fan]

Hawaii is a great port to DIY every island, rent a car and do your own thing, no need to book through NCL.

 

I almost always book excursions through the cruise line but on a cruise on the old Pride of Hawaii I rented cars and made my own arrangements at each port--it was great, a Mustang convertible on one island, a jeep on another, a Corvette on a third (definitely not worth the money, but now its off my bucket list). Because the entire cruise is within the U.S., there is no worry (for Americans) about being stranded someplace without a passport or not knowing how to get to the next port or home.

[Candy Apple 12]

Valley Isle was awesome. Part of the reason I picked them was their ability to accommodate my special diet.

 

What special diet do you follow, and what did they serve? I'm needing gluten-free. TIA!

[Daan386]

I still can't find an answer to when they will be available to book. I just keep checking!

we are traveling in June on POA customer service told me about 6 months out they will start to show up as thing to do when you log in at the my NCL page

[Diver2014]

I've booked 4 excursions online so far but no helicopter tours are available yet on the NCL website. I called and they said to keep checking back about the helicopter tours.

[boatliker]

Has anyone noticed a cutback on the number of shore excursions available on POA in Hawaii? I have a cruise booked for April and two on a courtesy hold for October. All three show only 31 shore excursions available for the entire itinerary while the NCL website is showing 89 shore excursions for Hawaii. I'm particularly curious about the "biking down the volcano" excursion and the "Pearl Harbor Tour with hotel drop-off" on the last day of the cruise. Is anyone else experiencing this?

[Crazy planning mom]

Has anyone noticed a cutback on the number of shore excursions available on POA in Hawaii? I have a cruise booked for April and two on a courtesy hold for October. All three show only 31 shore excursions available for the entire itinerary while the NCL website is showing 89 shore excursions for Hawaii. I'm particularly curious about the "biking down the volcano" excursion and the "Pearl Harbor Tour with hotel drop-off" on the last day of the cruise. Is anyone else experiencing this?

For Pearl Harbor, we used this company and they were reliable https://enoa.com/ . or you can do it on your own by booking advance tickets with the National Park Service and then ubering or taxing over https://www.recreation.gov/showPage.do?name=landing&landing=/htm/pearlharbor/home.jsp&contractCode=NRSO&parkId=72369

 

For Haleakala, we did the Haleakala at sunset tour. it was great. By the way, Roberts Hawaii does most of NCL tours. You could book with them directly. https://www.robertshawaii.com/

[amc155]

I realize it was a while ago, but we cruised March 21, 2015. I booked an excursion in Kona on June 16, 2014, one in Kauai on on June 24, 2014 and Haleakala sunrise on July 16, 2014. These were all pretty much as soon as they were available as I knew exactly what we wanted to do and kept checking daily to make sure I didn't miss out. Good luck and enjoy your cruise!:D