Pride of America Tips for Savings

[pattycake08]

We were on the Pride of America 8/18/18 Hurricane Lane Sailing. We really looked forward to this cruise as it was planned for 1 1/2 years. Unfortunately due to the storm we had to make the best of it. Here are a few money saving tips that helped us. We stayed at the Marriott for our 1 day pre-cruise, and ate dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, the Moana Terrace. Just a hambugrger was $20.00. However, before the cruise I ordered The Entertainment book for Hawaii for $7.00 & it had a $14.00 coupon for the Moana Terrace restaurant. So that was some added value. Also I rented a car on each island thru Discount USA Car Rental and joined each rental car's rewards program which qualified you for free upgrades on the cars and bonus points to frequent flyer miles. Also I did not purchase rental car insurance, I called my auto insurance & found out that I was covered in Hawaii for the same coverage I had in my home state, but I did bring a copy of the policy with me but no one asked to see it . Also, I would suggest not pre-paying for a gas fill up, but rather going to the gas station before returning the car & fill it up your self. The difference was staggering a pre-paid fill up at the rental agency was $67.00. We had the car 2 days in Maui & drove to Lahaina twice about 80 miles over 2 days & we paid $17.50 to fill the car. We booked our cars in June for our August cruise and they were approx $50.00 per day. The week before the cruise I checked the prices and they were down to $35.00 /day for each car, so I made a new reservation for the same car, then cancelled the original reservation. The car we were given was a newer Altima which had an electric start, I had no idea how to start the car so far anyone who may run into this you touch the start button and step on the break at the same time. Also, NCL will provide transportation from the hotel to the pier free of charge, but we still needed to get from the airport to the hotel & then the pier back to the airport. The cost was around $45.00 for each trip. However, while looking for rental car info, Groupon popped up, which I never thought of, but was curious & am glad I did. I found shuttles from HST shuttle service from the airport to the Waikiki and from the pier to the airport for $8.00 per person each way on Groupon, what a bargain and the company is highly rated. With all that said, we would have loved to see all the ports, but really only had our 2 days at Maui & a shortened stay at Kauai. We spent 3 days at sea away from the storm, then came in to port a day late. The captain did a good job keeping up informed and safe. However, they were unprepared on how to handle the storm as far as opening up the phone lines to cancel/rebook travel reservations, it was a mess. Hope this post helps a few.

[johnrich]

Thank you so much for the tips. We will be sailing on the POA in 90 days so these are really helpful.

 

 

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[hihilo]

I would certainly use the HOPPA-on / HOPPA - off bus, as its a GREAT deal, and stops at all the sensible and interesting spots.

I would also boycott the expensive Cruise-Line-Tours and hook up with the local drivers / operators who are at the pier. This ( being the USA) they all speak English and work well with one another, to be sure you are back on time.

I'd NEVER do the "manage it on your own" tours in Asia or the Middle East..... but its a very safe bet in Hawaii.

ENJOY!!

[mdcrim]

We rented cars in every port. I initially booked throug Costco travel but then tried Autoslash which saved around $75. We also upgraded to convertibles at the rental car desks for much less than we would have paid to rent the convertible initially.

 

If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card (a great way to earn points for travel), they operate as a primary rental car insurer if you pay with that card and decline coverage at the desk. (They also have great trip interruption and cancellation benefits).