Best of Oahu Grand Finale Excursion

[Diggerdon]

Has anyone been on the Best of Oahu Grand Finale excursion thru NCL? We are on the PoAm 7-28 thru 8-4-07. Our flight out is at 10:15 p.m and the tour last 12 hours. We are traveling with a elderly lady and we are not sure whether this is something she can handle. Thanks for any help.

[jkrislc]

If it's what they use to call the Deluxe Grand Circle Island Tour, then it was enjoyable and seemed with the money. After all, what else is there to do when you have 12 hours to kill.

 

Here's my summary of the tour from two years ago. If it's not the same tour, I'm sure it is very similar.

 

We started today later than most as we had a 10P flight home. As a result, we booked the Deluxe Grand Circle Island Tour, which met at 9:45A in the main showroom.

 

While I know NCLA does not dictate the airline schedules, I have a suspicion that the company enjoys booking guests on late flights even when earlier flights might be available through airlines such as Hawaiian and Aloha as they book 600 to 800 people on excursions on this day as reported on the ship.

 

We were the last tour to depart the ship, and I'll admit that is was nice to have our stateroom until departure time. Meeting in the main showroom, we were eventually told to collect our bags, which were then loaded into the compartments under the bus by airline.

 

The tour was operated by Robert's Hawaii, which I found to be the best tour operator with the nicest busses in Hawaii. We started off heading to the North Shore, stopping at Dole Plantation along the way.

 

Lunch was included on the tour and took place at Turtle Bay Resort. The lunch was actually the Sunday Brunch offered by the hotel, which was far superior to the buffets offered on the ship, and included California roles, fresh fruit, Belgian waffles, Mahi Mahi, lomi salmon, an omelet station, and the like. A fabulous selection of desserts was also offered.

 

After lunch, the tour continued its circuit around the island, stopping at a macadamia nut shop, a small jewelry type stop, Hanauma (sp?) Bay, the blow hole, and Diamond Head lookout. We then went off to Waikiki. The only disappointment on this tour is that we ended up spending the last two hours in Waikiki, when we were supposed to spend the last two hours at the Ward Entertainment Center. While this was probably preferable to many, we had spent our precruise time here, and really had nothing that we wanted to see.

 

After about two hours in Waikiki, we headed to the airport at about 7P, arriving by 7:30P. Having our luggage screened, checking in, etc., we grabbed a bite to eat and then waited for our flight home.

 

[Diggerdon]

I don't know if this is the same tour. This one goes by Pearl Harbor and The USS Missouri, but thanks for your response.

[jkrislc]

I don't know if this is the same tour. This one goes by Pearl Harbor and The USS Missouri, but thanks for your response.

 

Sounds like a different tour, then. However, I will say I was impressed with the tours in general through NCL and it's a good option to kill time while transferring to the airport.