Biking down Haleakala - Maui

[Aloha_Jackie]

we were on a land based vacation when we did our tour, we used Cruiser Phils

 

 

Sorry I cant help you

 

We were on the 15 day Los Angeles to Hawaii and back aboard the Island Princess, not RCCL

[worldsbestcandles]

What if you don't want to ride but want to go up for sunrise? Is it open to anyone? And if you are not a part of the ship's tour, can you get on a tender or will you have to wait for a long time for a tender? Does anyone know how long a ride from the pier it would be to get there? Would it be hard to drive a car down around all of the people on bikes?

 

Thanks for any advice you can offer....

 

WBC

[Aloha_Jackie]

The area is open to the public. Typically tenders are priority for those on the tour. It takes a while to get up there, I cant remember how long, its in the earlier part of this post - read thru it. Driving down isnt nearly as fun or adventurous, the scent of Eucalyptus and flowers filling the air, and wind in your face. Its a whole new perspective on the bike, and you dont really have to peddle at all, mostly slamming on the brakes the whole time wishing the bozo in front of you would "punch it, Marge!"! At first its a bit scary and then afterwards more fun. Of course there are several groups, this vendor and that, where one tour company and their chase van take off, then the next and so on until all the crazy characters are cycling down the hill. Cars must wait for the groups of people to pull over, etc. Once in a while you pull over to take clothes off and take view pictures - group shots etc. If you get scared or tired or injured, you ride in the chase van, which also hauls down all the stuff you cant carry or dont want to wear when you get hot. I used the van for a video camera I wanted to take to film the event, they dont allow it. You need both hands:eek:

[H20 Lover]

Aloha (or anyone that knows), can you bring your video camera, keep it in the van and video when you stop? That was on my "to bring list" in my head. :D

[ERAMP76]

Yes, you can bring cameras, video cams etc. but they must stay on the van until you stop. Our tour made several stops to rest, take pictures, etc.

[H20 Lover]

Phew, Eramp Thank you!, that was exactly what I wanted to know. We are photo freaks and I hate having to take a mental picture cuz my memory stinks. ;)

[Aloha_Jackie]

oh yeah, bring the video, tape on the way up the hill, thru Kula and all that, then of course I thought I was a hotshot and would tape my extreme adventure, nooooooot. They didnt allow it. I was glad after I realized that I needed to hold on and slam on the brakes the whole time. No leftover hands for the video. I sure wished there was a video helmet:D cam! Just tape when they stop for a view shot or strip stop. Funny how you imagine things and then the way they turn out. :)

[H20 Lover]

Oh boy, I just booked through RCCL's excursion site and in fine print, Event Time: 08:00am that is way past sunrise. So now for the homework on local companies that do it. As long as they get me back to my little boat in time. :rolleyes:

[Aloha_Jackie]

remember that (usually) people with ship-sponsored tours have priority on tenders

 

Our bus that took us all up there (for three different tours) got stuck in the mud, we took longer to get back, and were in line at the dock with NCL pax waiting forever to get back on the tenders returning to the ship

 

Ochestrating the tenders and priority and all those weary pax - what a mess:rolleyes:

[worldsbestcandles]

Oh boy, I just booked through RCCL's excursion site and in fine print, Event Time: 08:00am that is way past sunrise. So now for the homework on local companies that do it. As long as they get me back to my little boat in time. :rolleyes:

 

Yvonne,

 

We are interested in going up at sunrise too, although I'm not so sure about the biking thing.... maybe if you don't end up booking a tour we could split a rental and go up as a group? We can chat on our cruise board about it too...

 

Steph

[bdoster]

H20Lover

 

Which RCCL sailing are you on? We are doing the Serenade in September from Vancouver & have a roll call here...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=114531&page=20&pp=25

 

I wanted to do this, by my DH 86'd it & we will zipline instead.

[H20 Lover]

Hi bdoster, it's up in my signature a couple postings up. Radiance 10/5. But thank you for thinking of me. :D

 

Steph, I booked the one with the ship to hold it and I'm really leaning towards keeping it. Like Aloha brought up again, you get priority over tendering. Also the stuff I have read through the companies that do it, you have to be at their spot by like 2:30 a.m., how do we get off the ship at that time, are there tenders? So, it's just too many things I don't like. I told my Brian we could always do the sunrise one when we stay on Maui, I can see us going back there someday on our own.

 

It's been so helpful reading this thread, thanks to all of you.

[xpcdoojk]

What if you don't want to ride but want to go up for sunrise? Is it open to anyone? And if you are not a part of the ship's tour, can you get on a tender or will you have to wait for a long time for a tender? Does anyone know how long a ride from the pier it would be to get there? Would it be hard to drive a car down around all of the people on bikes?

 

Thanks for any advice you can offer....

 

WBC

 

You can drive up on your own easily or with a tour... Most of the cars that went up for the sunrise left before we started down on bikes. It is a great time. We were blessed the night we did this excursion to be there for the peak of the orionids meteor shower, and the sky was clear and beautiful.

 

jc

[Aloha_Jackie]

when we were in Maui - another cruise ship was there at the same time - NCL something or other, we were on the Island Princess. It was difficult for them to coordinate the tenders from our ship and NCL, and it took awhile to get people in (ashore). On one day (cant remember which port-Kona?) we had a private charter to go fishing and snorkeling. IP had people waiting in a lounge, and did a ticket thing to get tenders, where once you and all of your party were ready, you went to the lounge. You picked up a ticket and on the ticket were a series of numbers. They would call a series of numbers and you just had to wait your turn. So you couldnt just go to the tender area and linger around and expect to get on one and go ashore. It really was a pain. I recommend that unless there is some reason, to book your tours with the ship. Anyone who has a ticket for one of the ship sponsored tours, will likely get off the ship faster than those who dont. Just something to think about. We have done it both ways. I like them having to worry about getting me there on time, I am on vacation.:)

[worldsbestcandles]

But if the ship doesn't have a tour for sunrise, there wouldn't be anyone with a ticket ahead of me right? It would only be people who also are going on thier own to see the sunrise? Maybe I'm missing something... I have heard the tenders run one an hour overnight so you would just have to plan to be able to get on a tender before sunrise.... anyone know about this?

[spleen93]

It's technically supposed to be a tender an hour ... but in the middle of the night, the schedule can get a little screwed up. Leave earlier than you need to to make sure that the tender gets you to shore in enough time to make the trek to the top of Haleakala. And at that time of the morning, there should be no organized ship tours. :)

Spleen

[xpcdoojk]

yes, WBC, most of the time the tenders leave every hour.... it is at least an hour drive, so find the sunrise time, and then subtract an hour for the drive,then subtract 30 or 45 minutes for the tender process, and then subtract at least an hour because the sky before the sunrise is more amazing than the sunrise, and then take the tender before that time! :D

I may have posted this before(definitely have and maybe on this thread since it is a year old), but we did the Old Lahaina luau with open bar the evening before, got to bed at about 10:30pm, set the alarm for 1:30am and caught the 2am tender, fell on the wet steps from the top step to the bottom step about 8. Ouch.... had a nice bruise on my right buttock, the security guys wanted to make sure I was OK, I said no problem, lets get this boat to shore! :D I was sure they were going to make me go to the infirmary. If you do the bike remember they only have the lowest gear for climbing hills. They do not want you to add speed to your descent. Make sure your brakes work really well before you start downhill. My brakes would not stop me in an emergency, in less than about 3 football fields. We went thru a cloud several hundred feet below the parking lot at the top, and it was snowing. Fun stuff. It is a great memory to this day, probably won't do it again, but a great memory.

jc

[worldsbestcandles]

JC and Spleen,


Once again my voices of reason.... I think we are going to enjoy a quiet night on the ship while others are at the luau (maybe even Chops or Portofinos?) and then get on a boat super early. If we rent a car the day before and leave it at the pier we should be ok to get up there.... we'll have to see how we go. Currently sunrise is at 5:47am. So if I were doing it today I would probably want to be on the 3am tender for sure so we would probably go on the 2am tender just to be safe.... is there any kind of market or place to get breakfast near the pier that might be open 24/7? Maybe even someone making some malasadas? (sp?) like Leonard's in Honolulu... those are my favorite....

thanks again for all the tips you have to offer!
WBC
Steph

[spleen93]

Sorry but Maui is dead late at night. No late night places I can think of off the top of my head except for places like Taco Bell and Wendy's.

Spleen

[xpcdoojk]

WBC, I always defer to Spleen's knowledge of the islands, because I have only visited, of course being a tourist I do all those crazy tourists things that the good folks that live there shake their collective heads at! :D Plus given the oppurtunity, I always go to bed early!:D

jc

[worldsbestcandles]

jc,

you still have been my voice of reason on other boards as well...

as for Maui being dead at that hour... whoever says Starbucks are everywhere is wrong!:D

I think we'll be ok though... hopefully we'll make it... my BF will probably just want to sleep... I'll just have to guide him to the tender and hope he doesn't fall down any steps!:eek:

I think he would be up for riding the bikes, but if he broke anything I know he'd be ticked and I don't want to take care of him on vacation (not that I wouldn't, it's just that I don't want us to get hurt...)

Spleen,

I have heard that parking at the pier can be crazy around there... you have any advice to add? I think when I look on the port calendar link we are the only ship in port overnight. I just don't want to get parked in or something.

Thanks,
Steph

[xpcdoojk]

WBC, Steph.

Your post reminded me of our bike excursion with Maui Downhill. I think in our group there were about 10 people in the group. The wife of our travel companions didn't ride the bike, but she road in the support van down the hill and to the breakfast on the east coast town at the end of the 32 mile ride. The funniest thing on the ride was a German couple that showed up, dressed in dress shoes and dress slacks with a shirt and tie, and the woman showed up in fancy dress sandals and a dress. They looked ridiculous to the extreme, especially her in the big bulky rubber rainsuits they gave us. They had a hard time riding the bikes in those shoes, especially the poor lady. I figure if they could make it anyone could make it. :D

jc

[worldsbestcandles]

so is it other companies that offer the sunrise/bike option and the ship's doesn't (cause on our sailing it is at 9am or something). Or are the two events totally unrelated? If there are companies that let you do both (go up early for sunrise and bike down) maybe we could do the 'he bikes I ride in the van option'.... we will have to see how the money goes at that point...

[xpcdoojk]

Steph,

I don't know what excursions are offered by the ship. I do know that RCI did not offer the bike option in any form in 2001. I do think they offered a sunrise over Haleakula excursion, but I am not sure. There is really no compelling reason to me to booking excursions with the cruise company if you are capable of getting around on your own in Hawaii. By definition you are capable, because you are considering the bike option, and renting a car. You can book thru several discounters, such as Tom's Barefoot Hawaii all of the excursions that you could possibly want to do in Hawaii. You can also book directly with most of the operations if you know them or can do a search by interest on the various islands to contact the vendors direct. I have done both. I think Tom's had in 2001 about 5 or 6 different vendors on the Maui downhill sunrise excursion. I would guess that there was more than 15 vans with bikes waiting for the sun to come up and well over 100 bikes. Each group was lead by a van and followed by another vehicle which kept the groups separate from each other. The put the light people in front, to limit the speed. Since my DW weighs about 115# and I weigh about 190#, I had to ride my brakes constantly to not go blowing by the lighter folks. I remember one vendor included a trip to a winery. I don't know what the current prices are, but our cost thru Tom's with the vendor they recommended was about $70 and included pickup at the tender pier, transportation to and from, the bike ride and breakfast with cocktail at the end of the bike ride. I think my friends wife was only $45 or so. You can pretty much book an excursion pretty much how you want. Only thing you can't change is when that ole sun comes up! :D

jc
ps you can email at the address in my signature if you want to ask me specific questions, as I don't want to take over any of these Hawaii threads because I am not qualified in any shape form or fashion as a Hawaii expert. I can only tell you about my personal experiences.:o

[H20 Lover]

[URL=http://shorex.rccl.com/RC/AvailList.asp?pmode=Browse&ShoreXSessionID=B15C72D1F0C240CB983D131208B60B74&pagreement=&pdest=HAWAI&pdestname=Hawaii&pship=+&pvoyage=Wed+Jun+22+14%3A48%3A19+EDT+2005&plksessionid=F4A427C60F&pcur=USD&preflang=ENG&pport=MA+&pportname=Lahaina%2C+Maui%2C+Hawaiian+Islands&peventdate=Wed+Jun+22+14%3A48%3A12+EDT+2005&pshorexid=9300&pshorexdescid=23084&pshorextitle=Volcano+Downhill+Bike+Tour&padultamt=125&pchildamt=125&plocationtype=null]RCCL's Maui Bike Ride[/URL]

I hope this link works. :D