Recommendations on what excursions to take on the POA?

[Elainie]

Anyone who has travelled on POA July 4 and 11- do you have recommendations --what are the "musts" for excursions offered through the ship and what should be avoided? Much appreciated.

-Elainie:)

[Jeconk]

Elaine: In my opinion, all of the shore excursions through the ship should be avoided! They are all priced way above what it would cost you if you booked individually or rented a car. When I was on the POA and did their excursions, I asked some of the drivers what the same tour cost if you booked directly. I found that NCL prices were at least 40% higher.

 

For example: The ship offered a trip to Lahania on Maui. (BTW, don't miss Lahania) The ship cost was $25 a person round trip. (12.50 each way) There were six of us. That would have cost us $150.00. We rented a car through Alamo and paid $62.00 total and had the car for 13 hours!! We were not only able to see Lahania, but also several other sights as well. (If you have kids, Maui Ocean Center is great too. We saw it on the way to Lahania...another cost savings for us since we still had the car.)

 

NCL has a racket going with their shore excursions...there are other alternatives. Rental Car companies will pick you up at the ship and drop you back off. You can also call the tour companies directly for information.

[Zeno]

Shore excursions are always over-priced by ships. Jeconk is correct. You are much better off doing it on your own. I have never cruised in Hawaii but I have done a land and air vacation there. I highly recommend 2 things

1. Get some really GOOD guidebooks (like Maui Revealed). They will have tons of suggestions for interesting things to do.

2. Seriously consider renting a car in each port - it will be cheaper than a ship's tour and it will give you a lot of flexibility. Rental rates are not outrageous in Hawaii and roads are good and well sign-posted.

My personal favorites on various islands are:

Maui: drive up Haleakala (it is not necessary to do it at sunrise and there is less traffic later on in the morning. The views will take your breathe away

Kauai: Waimea Canyon - once again - the views are amazing. The north shore is also gorgeous

Big Island (Hawaii): Volcanoes National Park, Pu'uo Honaunau (Place of Refuge)(for historical buffs and good snorkeling next door) or Fairwinds snorkeling trip to Kealakakua Bay is a lovely snorkeling trip suitable for families

Have a great time !

[Guest alexMD]

I absolutely 100% agree with the above two responses. DIY excursions are less expensive (so you can do MORE) and more rewarding than the ones you get on the ship. However, this may not apply in all cases.

 

For example:

 

- Driving a rental car may not be for you if you are from part of the world where people drive on the "wrong" side of the road or are otherwise unfamiliar with US traffic.

 

- DIY (Do It Yourself) excursions may not be for you if you get lost easily, can't read a map, or don't want to read a guide book beforehand. DIY excursions give back what you are willing to put into them.

 

- Ships contract with the major excursion suppliers (snorkeling boats, parasailing companies, bus tours, etc) and often OWN them (just like they have an interest in many of the stores you see at every port). You CAN book 99% of the excursions offered on board _directly_ yourself at about 50% of the price the ship charges. BUT, about 99% of the time the company will not be able to pick you up from the pier like the other passengers. (How would that look to the cruise line?)

 

- Everyone will be quick to tell you: If you book through the cruise line and your excursion is late, the ship will wait for you. If you're on your own... you're on your own. That's true. And it is a VERY valid concern in some far-off foreign ports. But in all my cruises this has never been an issue, and this cruise in particular is totally within the US, where... if the absolute worst case happens and you miss the boat, you can easily get a plane to the next port of call.

 

My website below, although presently being updated, has some pointers for people interested in DIY excursions in Hawaii... based on my last cruise there aboard the SS Independence. Since the SS Independence board is no longer on Cruise Critic, I'm sure they won't mind me mentioning that it might be a good place to start for ideas on what to do in Hawaii.

[ptngr]

Doc Alex makes some good points. I'll also like to add that for some excursions on some days, it may not be possible to do it on your own.

 

For example, on 2nd day in Kauai, the ship leaves at 1pm. If you want to, say, tube the ditch (a very popular excursion, I heard). NCL has it for $99. Yes, you ban book it yourself for $85 or through Barefoot Tours for $79.90. BUT the first tour is at 9am and lasts 3 hours. So you're supposed to be done at noon and we know these things can run late. Their location is in just out of Lihue, but definitely not walking distance from the ship so you'll have to find some way to get there. You can't rent a car because you won't be able to return it and get back to the ship on time. If you take a cab, will you be able to get a cab back? Depending on how many there are in your party, the costs of transportation pretty much wipes out the savings you get from booking it yourself. There are many other excursions like that for that day. The Bike&Hike to Papakolea Falls tour ends at 12:30!

 

Of course what most people do is to do those types of excursions on longer days and do shorter excursions or no excursions on the short day. But sometimes you want to do everything and the scheduling just doesn't work out. All I'm saying is don't completely dismiss NCL's excursions.

 

That said, we've booked zero excursions for our POA cruise (leaving tomorrow!) That's zero through NCL, and zero direct. The only thing we reserved were cars (at all ports except Kona) and a week's rental of snorkeling gear from Snorkel Bob's so we can go snorkeling on our own! (It's great, you can return the gear at any of the 4 major island.) We just don't have the money to do the rest of the stuff. There are more than enough free things to do to fill our time.

[Sthronds]

I guess that I did the opposite of most people because I booked all but two days through the ship. For me traveling alone it was convenient and safe. I personally loved kayacking in Kauai. I did the short trip but I am sure they are all awesome. I also really enjoyed the Kona Coffee Then and Now trip. If you want to snorkel I would avoid the Molokini snorkel on Maui because it is in the afternoon and most days you can't snorkel Molokini in the afternoon becuase the water was too rough. Our excursion went all the way out there, decided it was unsafe then took us back to an alternate spot. Snorkel Molokini on your own in the morning if that is what you want to do. Like someone mentioned, do research! I had an idea of what I wanted to do on all the islands before I looked at the shore excursions. If something fit what I wanted, I did it. One word of advice. Pre-book all your excursions (do it by phone). THere was a huge line for shore excursions and people were really angry when they didn't get what they wanted. The list was really tapered down by the time we boarded so some trips sold out before embarkation day. I walked in my room and all my tickets were waiting for me. It was great!

[ptngr]

Susan,

Good point about traveling alone. I agree that when you don't have other people to share transportation costs (and help navigate if you rent a car), booking excursions through the ship suddently becomes much more attractive.

 

Re: Molokini. From what I've heard you didn't really miss much. People who did go to Molokini said it's overrated and crowded for snorkeling. The water is supposed to be kind of deep so it's a great diving site, but not-as-good-as-reputation-would-have-you-think for snorkeling.

[jcolley]

JeconK has a great point. Renting a rental car through Alamo (Rate Code 6T), or someone else is a good idea. You can get a convertible from Alamo for $38. The cruise excursion fare is $26 pp RT. However, don't think you could just take a cab, that'll run you about $55 each way!

[Another ship trip]

Most prior posters encouraged booking on your own and I agree in Hawaii. I fully agree too, that do get the most out of each island, you probably want to rent a car. Now, for me, these were the "Must Do's" for us. Of course, some of these may not be appealing to all, but again, just my must dos.

 

In Hilo--Volcanoes National Park. You'll see steam vents definitely stop at the main visitor's center, look around, and watch the film. After seeing the craters and other sites a walk on the active volcano to the point where you will feel the lava heat and see molten lava beneath you and possibly even see some flowing was for me, a definite MUST DO. You probably will never have an opportunity to do this anywhere else on Earth. It isn't "totally spectacular" for some, but still is a very unique experience. If you do the ship's tour, you will NOT do any lava walking and you will NOT see molten lava. The trip to the lava is about a 3.5-4 mile RT walk after parking on the Chain of Craters road. Wear long pants, good tennies or hiking boots, carry plenty of water.

 

In Kona-we went scuba diving on a trip we arranged on the internet. Best place to dive of the 4 places we visited, so that was the place we chose to dive. Saw some interesting things (love the Spinner dolphins) but have done much better diving in Cozumel and Grand Cayman.

 

In Maui--we enjoyed the Road to Hana. It is a picnic for your senses. Take your time, rent a car. The ship's tour was described as "boring" by one recent poster. If you want to swim in waterfalls, wear your swimsuit and rent a car. There is a CD that you can get that will narrate your drive and there are websites that are good at describing what you will see at each mile marking, divided by the 1/10 mile.

Old Lahaina Luau gets consistently rave reviews though you must book well in advance.

We also booked with Maui Mountain Bikes to get picked up from the ship's gates at 2.00 am for the trip to the summit to see the sunrise, then bike down the mountain (38 miles). My opinion was that it was beautiful but the long wait in very cold weather. Even with gear provided, it was quite uncomfortable for me--maybe I have thin blood. If you are used to 35 degrees and heavy winds, then you will be ok. Someone said it was 45 degrees the day I was there, but it felt like about 15 to me! I had to get 10 miles down the mountain before I started warming up. BUT, it again, was a unique experiece and I am glad I did it. Messed up my timing though. Once I got back to the ship I wanted to sleep several hours, so when I woke up, I only had a couple of hours till sailing, so we went to a movie. There is a movie theatre and mall right across from the docking area. The movie, of course, is NOT a must do!

Those are the only things that we did that I would call "do not miss" things though we did things in Kauai and Oahu. SKIP the train if you should go to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. 7.50 pp and a huge ripoff. Have fun!

[BillandLaura]

I agree with the previous poster (a couple back) about booking through the ship on day 2 in Kauai. I was way too worried about missing the ship to do anything on my own. That, and the fact that if you have to return your car to the airport, you are pretty much limited to just a couple of hours, anyway.

 

That said, there is only one other consideration regarding booking through NCL or direct. It really depends on what you want to do (we only booked Kauai excursions through NCL day 2 - plus DH & DS went on a helicopter tour day 1 when I went to pick up the car for our trip to Waimea Canyon and Poipu Beach). During research, I found that a few of the companies would not book individual people when the cruise ship was in port. They said that the cruise ship had pre-booked all of their openings. I ran into this with a horseback riding excursion (don't remember which one), and also with snorkel excursion companies.

 

Again, however, we rented cars everywhere but Kona (and Kauai day 2). We had a great time. Most of the islands are very easy to navigate (finding your way around, that is! - I don't think anyone would say the Road to Hana is easy to navigate!)

 

Have a great time! We did!

[Elainie]

This is great information for my family, thank you :) We are now looking into rental vehicles for our family of 15. I have been to Maui before, but everything else will be new to me. I plan on getting a decent travel book and going from there.

Another question -- given the freestyle system, what times are the nightly shows usually at?

 

Thanks again :)

-Elaine

[mountainhouse]

Don't avoid NCL's excursions, just do some shopping first. We're just back yesterday. By the way, it was an awesome week! 2 examples of shopping: my favorite excursion was Tubing the Ditch on Kauai. It's $99 through NCL, and $85 if you go direct. But, with the NCL deal you get transport to the location. So the net is cheaper with NCL. On the Captain Zodiac, it's $85 through NCL, and $74.43 direct (if you book online). However, with NCL, since you're on that excursion, you'll be in the first tender. Makes it easy. So, make a case by case decision.

 

By the way, we booked car rentals through Hertz, because we'd heard they tended to be less busy. Didn't work out that way in Hilo, but service in Maui was great.

[cnmiranda]

Ooooohhh Mountainhouse, please give us your review:D:D:D

[Sthronds]

Another question -- given the freestyle system, what times are the nightly shows usually at?

 

Thanks again :)

-Elaine

 

The first show was always at 8:00 and the late show varied from 9:30 to 10:00. (usually 10)

[Elainie]

I ended up "holding" the Volcanoe National Park and Kuai Fern Grotto/Canyon/River boat excursion incase I cannot persuade anyone from my family to go with me. We are doing the Lahaina Luau and also the beach escape in Maui. Thanks again everyone for all the great advice :)