Best Pearl Harbor Princess excursion

[georgeschris]

Sailing Sept 2024 to Hawaii. Never been there. Can we please get some suggestions as to the best Pearl Harbor Tour. And afterwards would there be time to get to a beach. Thanks. George and Christine 

[karatemom2]

Pearl Harbor doesn’t require a Princess tour. It’s easy to do on your own. We reserved our tickets and tour time in advance for our visit and had our own rental car for the day that we picked up at a Waikiki hotel. But you could easily taxi over. The key is to get there in advance of the cruise tours. Plan on spending about a half day there, especially if you also plan to visit the Missouri (highly recommend). Then if you want some beach time, head over to Waikiki for lunch and spend your afternoon there. 

[cr8tiv1]

The Arizona Memorial is best as a do it on your own excursion.  Tour companies are not given preferential treatment for tickets any longer.  They only provide transportation.

 

1.  Get your tickets when booking window opens (about 2 months (8 weeks) in advance). 

https://www.recreation.gov/ticket/facility/233338

 

2.  When you make your reservation, you will need to pick up your tickets and hour before.  Plan accordingly.  Use the hour before the theater movie to wander through the two small exhibits.

 

3.  UBER, Lyft, taxi, bus over to the Arizona Memorial.  You will be extremely restricted to what you can take in to the National Park.  There are a few lockers.  This is why renting a car is better...but before of "opportunists" who prey on rental cars in the parking lot.

 

After the movie, you will be directed out a door that will lead to a launch.  This is the ONLY way to get to the Memorial itself.  They have it down to a science.  20 minute movie.  15 minute boat ride. 15 minutes at the Memorial.  Next boat of passengers get off, you get on 15 minute return back to National Park.  Total....2 hours.

 

While you are there, visit the Bowfin submarine and the Battleship Missouri.  Sister ship to the Iowa docked in San Pedro.  

 

https://www.pearlharborhistoricsites.org/pearl-harbor/arizona-memorial

 

You will still have the afternoon to go to the beach (I recommend Ala Moana/Magic Island over Waikiki).

 

Da Bus: https://www.thebus.org    https://www.holocard.net/for-visitors/

 

They have changed the way they do bus rides now.  I had to go to a City Hall Annex to prove my age.  Then given a (free) tap card.  When I took my grandson on the "new" rail, he had to buy a plastic rail card for $3 then load his $2 fare since there was no way to prove his age at the station.  Do your research to see if they still accept Medicare card for senior discounted fare.  

 

 

[cr8tiv1]

55 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

2.  When you make your reservation, you will need to pick up your tickets an hour before.  Plan accordingly.  Use the hour before the theater movie to wander through the two small exhibits.

 

3.  UBER, Lyft, taxi, bus over to the Arizona Memorial.  You will be extremely restricted to what you can take in to the National Park.  There are a few lockers.  This is why renting a car is better...but  beware of "opportunists" who prey on rental cars in the parking lot.

Arthritic fingers.  

[SCX22]

Don't recommend taking and excursion with Princess if you really want to go to the actual Memorial.  In January there were plenty of unhappy passengers who returned to the ship from their Princess excursion that advertised a visit to the USS Arizona Memorial but weren't able to go to because there were no more tickets available for the day.  Some one told me that they only got as far as the Visitor's Center, but did get a partial refund.

[skynight]

If you are spending some pre-cruise days in San Pedro you may want to visit the Battleship Iowa. This is the sister ship to the Missouri which is Pearl Harbor. It should be pretty much the same.

[2MellowCruisers]

15 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

The Arizona Memorial is best as a do it on your own excursion.  Tour companies are not given preferential treatment for tickets any longer.  They only provide transportation.

 

1.  Get your tickets when booking window opens (about 2 months (8 weeks) in advance). 

https://www.recreation.gov/ticket/facility/233338

 

2.  When you make your reservation, you will need to pick up your tickets and hour before.  Plan accordingly.  Use the hour before the theater movie to wander through the two small exhibits.

 

3.  UBER, Lyft, taxi, bus over to the Arizona Memorial.  You will be extremely restricted to what you can take in to the National Park.  There are a few lockers.  This is why renting a car is better...but before of "opportunists" who prey on rental cars in the parking lot.

 

After the movie, you will be directed out a door that will lead to a launch.  This is the ONLY way to get to the Memorial itself.  They have it down to a science.  20 minute movie.  15 minute boat ride. 15 minutes at the Memorial.  Next boat of passengers get off, you get on 15 minute return back to National Park.  Total....2 hours.

 

While you are there, visit the Bowfin submarine and the Battleship Missouri.  Sister ship to the Iowa docked in San Pedro.  

 

https://www.pearlharborhistoricsites.org/pearl-harbor/arizona-memorial

 

You will still have the afternoon to go to the beach (I recommend Ala Moana/Magic Island over Waikiki).

 

Da Bus: https://www.thebus.org    https://www.holocard.net/for-visitors/

 

They have changed the way they do bus rides now.  I had to go to a City Hall Annex to prove my age.  Then given a (free) tap card.  When I took my grandson on the "new" rail, he had to buy a plastic rail card for $3 then load his $2 fare since there was no way to prove his age at the station.  Do your research to see if they still accept Medicare card for senior discounted fare.  

 

 

Thank you for the great information!  We will be taking our first cruise to Hawaii next year.  I have already signed up using the link you provided and calendared the time the tickets will be available for purchase.

 

Also thank you to the OP for the post.  I hadn't made it over the Hawaii boards yet.  That is my next stop.

 

[Tkhalaska]

We are currently on the Crown on the way back from HI and did the tours on our own.  Here's how it worked out for us:

1) Took an Uber ( $25 each way) from the ship to the Bowfin and did the submarine and exhibit tour.  As stated above, you will not be able to bring a backpack or bag.

2) Took the shuttle to the Missouri and did their tour, also did the chief engineer tour (costs extra and offered on a time schedule).  The MO and Aviation Museum are on base, the shuttle is the best way to get over there.  You would not be able to take a rental car there unless you have a military ID.  Even then, I would check to see what the requirements are for rental car documentation.

3) Took the shuttle to the Aircraft Museum.  There is a cafe there to have lunch at. 

4) Shuttle back to the visitor center, Uber back to the ship.

 

It was a long day with a lot of walking, you would need to be off the ship first thing.  We had been to the AZ memorial on a different trip so did not go again.  We had been to the MO on that same trip but had to cut our time short because we were on an organized tour so we wanted to go back and see more.  We got back to the cruise ship around 1700. Last shuttle out of the Aviation Museum is 1700, last one out of the MO is 1600.  MO closes at 1600, AZ and Aviation close at 1700.  For everything except the AZ you could but wouldn't have to purchase tickets in advance.

 

There would have been time to go to the beach since the ship wasn't due to leave until 2300, but we were tired and there was some kind of a festival going on in Waikiki when we were there.  If you saw fewer of the museums/memorials you could easily do that in the morning and have the entire afternoon and evening free.