Customs at Hawaii

[Sailing12Away]

Cruising in general has a very different set of 'normal' rules than regular vacation travel - so I can understand the confusion from the original question.

 

Having done the POA cruise myself, also a fellow NYer, as others have said - no customs per se and no passport needed if you've got your enhanced license. You will have to fill out the agricultural paperwork on arrival and will have your bags scanned twice on departure - once for fruits/veggies/wildlife and again for security related things. The agro scan was outside the airport and was a bit confusing to us, but just follow the crowds.

 

On the plus side - if you can find the Maui gold distributors, you can take home a case of pineapples that will go as free baggage on the plane. We did that on our first trip to Maui (no cruise) and literally checked a crate of pineapples as luggage free of charge. Yummy yummy pineapples for everyone when we got home.

 

Another key thing to remember with the POA that's different from most other trips is the tax. Since it's all in US waters and US crew, you pay extra tax on your 'free' drink package with each beverage. It's not much, but still annoying and something to not be shocked about.

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

no passport needed if you've got your enhanced license.

You don't need an enhanced drivers license. Any valid government-issued photo ID is acceptable, including an ordinary drivers license.

[don't-use-real-name]

Your airline or method of travel to Hawaii may require more finicky ID than that of NCL and the POA.

Still yet the Passport is the GOLD (Platinum - whatever) standard !

Edited November 11, 2020 by don't-use-real-name

[hallux]

6 hours ago, njhorseman said:

You don't need an enhanced drivers license. Any valid government-issued photo ID is acceptable, including an ordinary drivers license.

For now.  Come October next year either an EDL or RealID-compliant ID or DL will be required for the flight.

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, don't-use-real-name said:

Your airline or method of travel to Hawaii may require more finicky ID than that of NCL and the POA.

 

Still yet the Passport is the GOLD (Platinum - whatever) standard !

No US domestic flight requires anything more than a valid government-issued photo ID, so...no...your airline's requirements will not be more finicky about ID than NCL, it will be identical to NCL's requirements. If and when REAL ID requirements are ever implemented for air travel the airline requirements will change, but that has been postponed once again, until October 2021 at the earliest.

 

And a passport has never been necessary for domestic travel, so it's never been the standard for that purpose.

Edited November 11, 2020 by njhorseman

[njhorseman]

4 minutes ago, hallux said:

For now.  Come October next year either an EDL or RealID-compliant ID or DL will be required for the flight.

Yes...well that law's implementation has been repeatedly postponed for years. If it is finally enforced there are still acceptable IDs beyond those you've named, such as a passport or passport card .