Kauai

[scottcaps]

Since it seems to be taking so long for reviews to get posted, thought I would go ahead and post my Hawaii port experience, in case others might find it helpful for planning. Many of the things we did on our April 18-25, 2004 NCL Star cruise were from recommendations and suggestions on this board. Maybe our experiences will now help some others on thier way to Hawaii. This is a little lengthy, but if you are headed that way, you hopefully will find some good info.

 

This was our sixth cruise, our second on NCL, and our first on NCL Star. We are an active, professional couple in our mid-thirties.

 

Nawiliwili on Kauai

Our last port, and possibly the port we were looking the most forward to. We ate breakfast while we watched the ship coming into the obstacle-course port of Nawiliwili. Definitely a fine display of navigation to get into the dock. We then leisurely left the ship and again waited for our Dollar Shuttle, which did show up shortly after we had walked out to the shuttle area. The shuttle took us to the Dollar office at the airport, where we got our rental car and headed south to Hanapepe, taking in the scenery along the way. Our goal in Hanapepe was Burn’s Field, where we had pre-booked a helicopter flight-seeing tour with Inter Island Helicopters. Our tour was scheduled for 11:30, but we were supposed to check in by 10:50. We got to Hanapepe a bit early, so drove past the entrance to Burn’s Field to explore the Salt Pond Park. This proved to be a great park with pavilions, bathrooms, playgrounds, and a very well protected cove great for swimming (especially for young children). Having read that there was also good snorkeling here, we were surprised to not see any snorkelers in the water. So, we inquired with the lifeguard and he directed us to the snorkeling area to the left of the main part of the cove. We walked out to the area (which is best accessed not from the main park parking area, but from a dirt parking area which can be reached by making a left hand turn on a road just before reaching the main park area). We were skeptical, because the water looked very shallow and sandy. But, it was then time for us to head over to Burn’s Field for the helicopter tour.

 

We checked in at the Inter Island Helicopter trailer. Burn’s Field is very small, there is a runway, but as far as we could tell, the Field is only used by a couple of helicopter tour companies. After signing the release form and watching a short safety video, we were taken to the helicopter and given inflatable floatation devices. We picked Inter Island because we had read some good recommendations on the Cruise Critic message boards. The helicopters only hold four passengers – two in the front beside the pilot and two in the rear. We liked that every passenger would have a great view. We also liked the fact that Inter Island didn’t use the doors of the helicopters, so the views were unhindered – which is great for flight seeing, but especially great for taking photographs. Though a bit scary at first and when the pilot does banking maneuvers (especially for someone like me, who admits to a fear of heights), this no door thing proved to be a wonderful experience. We do recommend wearing pants and/or a jacket, as the flight can be cool at times and we did encounter some moisture as we flew through low-lying clouds and into some of the very rainy areas of the island. The tour provided ample photo opportunities so make sure you bring plenty of film. Also note that the pilot gets extremely close to the scenery, so a zoom lens is unnecessary.

 

Following the helicopter tour (which lasted about 50 minutes), we returned to Salt Pond Park, although we parked at the area convenient to the snorkeling spot recommended by the lifeguard. Despite the water being shallow, we did find the snorkeling to be pretty good. There was coral protected by rocks that shielded the area from the much rougher currents further out. The snorkeling provided the opportunity to see many of the fish we had seen at other locations, although we had the surprising opportunity to see an eel. This was a very nice park and a place we’d recommend bringing a picnic lunch, as well as a place conducive to families with children.

 

After some time snorkeling, it began to rain (a relatively short shower, but we didn’t know that at the time and decided to explore other parts of the island). We headed east on route 50 to route 530 in order to find a place for lunch in Poipu. We settled on a place called Keoki’s Paradise. This turned out to be a great decision! Like we found on this entire trip, the Hawaiians really know how to make a good fruit smoothie, so we had one more before the end of our vacation. The restaurant was open air and beautifully landscaped with a great selection of lunch items including sandwiches and salads.

 

After lunch, we walked to a public beach nearby (access was across route 530 from Keoki’s) through a timeshare community parking lot. We were short on time, but we enjoyed a short snorkel at Poipu Beach Park. This beach was large and had lots of activity, although I wouldn’t call it overcrowded. The snorkeling was decent although not the best of our trip. We did enjoy watching the surfers one last time before we headed back to the ship.

 

Following this, we returned to the Dollar office and then back to the ship for our last evening aboard.

[bankofdad]

Thank you so much for your review of the islands during your trip. I mostly really appreciate the detail. The little things like the location of the ABC store in Kona, the distance between the pier and Downtown Hilo, details on the places visited, and many of your other comments are the types of things that really help us future cruisers maximize our port time.

 

Thanks again Scottcaps!!!!!

[debiitodd]

Thanks again for your detailed reviews, they are terrific. I can't wait till we will be there in December! :)

 

Take care...

Aloha,

Debi :cool:

[cctexan]

Thanks so much for your review and especially the information on Inter Island Helicopters. We have them booked for our trip in December but had been unable to find anyone on these boards that had used them.....was beginning to get a little nervous. Sounds like you had a great time. We're really getting excited now - just 60+ days to go!

[cruisingrightalong]

Great...we are headed out there in November....and are flying over from Oahu for the day.....have thought about a helicopter ride. Did you see where one crashed last week on Kauai...Bali Hai was the company I think...unfortunately all 5 died. Well, accidents do happen.

 

Lou

[scottcaps]

Glad that our reviews are helping some other folks with thier planning. We found Inter Island through these boards (there were some threads last spring, when we were planning). Everyone seemed to really be pleased with them, and that is one reason we went with them. It was definately the highlight of our trip and we would recommend the company highly. Yes, it is horrible what happened this week with the crash on Kauai. As with all other aspects of our lives, there is always risk. Everytime we get in a car, a plane, or even walking down the street, there is potential for accidents. We can just take the precautions that are available and live our lives to the fullest.

[cruisingisgreat]

Scottcaps,

 

Can you give me a little more Info on your Rental cars in Maui and Kauai?

Did you reserve your cars on line our did you do it over the phone?

Did you have to call the Dollar Office and let them know that the your ship had docked?

How much time did you alot for travel between the ship and the Dollar Offine?

Did you keep the cars overnite on Maui and Kauai, if so was parking a problem?

 

Any info would be great,Thanks

[scottcaps]

We made all of our car reservations in advance of our trip through Dollar's website. We historically preferred using Budget, but for this trip, we found that Dollar was not only cheaper on every island, but that Budget didn't even have cars available on a couple of the islands. Before we left home, we made sure we had the local phone number for each Dollar office and knew what the office times were for each office (it varies by location). We did not keep any of our cars overnight on any island. At all ports, we disembarked with our cell phone and the LOCAL phone number for each Dollar office in hand and called them as soon as we hit land to request a pickup. Make sure to have the local phone number, not just the 1-800 number (but, probably good to have the 1-800 number as a backup). For Kauai (LIH) and Kahului (OGG), we were happy with the shuttle service, they came quickly to pick us up and they also were quick to take us back to the ship at the end of the day. These offices were fairly decent sized and stayed open later than our ship stayed. They are in tune with the cruise ship schedules, and always told us what time to make sure we were back at the office to catch the shuttle to make it back to the ship. Allow yourselves an hour from the time you step onto the pier to the time you drive out of the lot. Lahanai is a smaller office and further away from the peir, and seemed to take a bit longer for the shuttle to show up. Also, that office closes early (I think it was 4:30 pm), so make sure you know what time you have to be back to catch the shuttle back to the pier. If you want to stay out longer - you will have to use the drop box to leave the keys of the car in and call a taxi to take you back to the pier.