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Solo on NCL POA


mpk112782
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  • 4 months later...

I sailed POA back in 2010 and have been to Hawaii many times. It's a great cruise and a great itinerary. I've done several solo cruises on NCL as well, but the POA was with my brother.

 

Ask any questions you have about Hawaii!

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I sailed POA back in 2010 and have been to Hawaii many times. It's a great cruise and a great itinerary. I've done several solo cruises on NCL as well, but the POA was with my brother.

 

Ask any questions you have about Hawaii!

I'll be going solo on the POA on 6/23/18...Decided to rent cars in all the isles...Best suggestions on where to visit would be really appreciated

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I'll be going solo on the POA on 6/23/18...Decided to rent cars in all the isles...Best suggestions on where to visit would be really appreciated

 

Good plan, we did cars every where as well.

 

Here's my list for Maui, but you will not be able to get it all squeezed in in two days: (I wrote this list up for some friends) Since you'll be there on the Cruise, I'd recommend Fleetwoods, Julia's Banana Bread (great driving trip), the Lavender Farm or Surfing Goat Dairy (or both!). We did the road to Hana one year, but it's a lot of winding roads and for being there on the cruise I think you can get better value for your time visiting other spots. There's also a really neat beach we did, Palauea Beach, that's awesome at sunset and not that crowded, a little off the beaten path. The blue Maui Revealed Ultimate guide book is a great asset and will have awesome tips as well.

 

Fleetwoods in Lahaina, they have rooftop bar that overlooks the harbor, happy hour specials of grilled fish tacos on roof, and wine tasting on roof at 5pm. Hawaiian priest blows conch on roof at 6pm. Lots to enjoy.

 

 

Hali'imaile General Store in Hali’imaile, nice place, up on the mountain, so good view of sunset.

 

 

Polli’s Mexican Restaurant in Makawao, neat little place, up on the mountain also.

 

 

Ali’i Kula Lavender Farm in Kula, up on the mountain, breathtaking views of the island, nice tea shop.

 

 

Surfing Goat Dairy in Kula, also up on the mountain. All kinds of goat milk products, goat farm, really neat, has little bit of everything. Goats get on surf boards, hence the name.

 

 

Tedeschi Vinyards Maui’s Winery in Kula, Ulupalakua Ranch. Working Vineyard, tasting, very scenic.

 

 

Monkeypod Kitchen by Merriman in Wailea, more upscale, kinda posh, good food.

 

 

Maui Fridays: different street fair every friday all over the island. The one in Lahaina is the best.

 

 

Maui Ocean Center, great to do on rainy day or any day

 

 

Wailuku Coffee Company, nice little coffee shop

 

 

Maui Coffee Roasters, another nice coffee shop, near airport

 

 

Julia’s Best Banana Bread. It really is the best. A bit of a drive, but very scenic on north end of the island, nice country. It’s a half day to drive up there and back easily.

 

 

Pacific Whale Foundation, they have sunset cruises and whale watch cruises out of Lahaina. Did both, the sunset was nice, they serve a nice meal, you get to sail up the coast at sunset and they talk about whales, ecology, etc. The servers are all college kids studying marine biology. Really nice.

 

 

 

 

 

For Hilo, we did Volcanos National Park, which is even more current than what we did! After leaving the park on Mamalahoa Highway, keep driving south and you'll end up at a beautiful black sand beach, I think it's Honuapo Bay, and there are lots of sea turtles there up on the sand.

For Kona, we did the Bodyglove snorkel tour, so not much to report for that port.

Kauai, love that island, have been many times. The Kauai Revealed Ultimate Guide Book is good here as well.

I haven't had a chance to do this, but some locals have told me that if you want to snorkel with sea turtles, get up early, drive on Kuhio Highway north all the way to the end at Haena State Park, and swim out to the edge of the reef at sunrise, the turtles come in to eat kelp. The year I tried it the bay was closed to snorkeling. It will burn a half day easy, so it may be too ambitions for your port stop since you leave Friday at 2pm.

The ATV tours from either Kipu Ranch or Kauai ATV are both good and you'll see lots of beautiful back country scenery. Kauai ATV you get a little more in the mud and dirt and fun, Kipu is a little more reserved, but both fun.

Koloa Rum company is a neat little place with a tasting room, they've won awards, and near there is a little train tour you can take at the Kauai Plantation Railway.

The Waimea Canyon is awesome and you should definitely check it out. Polihale State Park is awesome also, but don't even try going there unless you rented a Jeep and are careful, and never tell the rental company you went there, they will state you aren't allowed to go off pavement, so if you get any mud on the car, wash it off, they'll charge you.

Kauai Coffee Company is kinda neat as a walking tour.

Glass Beach in Port Allen is picked over, not much glass any more.

Just past Kekaha, right when the highway stops following the coast and starts to bend inland, there is a little beach park that is nice, and all along this area around Kekaha you can see awesome sunsets.

The Keahua Arboretum is very beautiful in the up country. If you have a jeep, and are careful, you can go further inland from there and see where they filmed some Jurassic Park scenes, but it's all mud and you can't tell the rental company. The blue guide book has directions here and it's on the way to Blue Hole.

Staying closer to the coast, there is a secret falls kayak tour, I think the ship will offer it but I booked it direct. You kayak up the Wailua River and then have a short hike to an 80ft water fall. It's very scenic, and really cool. I had never kayaked, but the guides are super helpful and it was a great time. The funny thing about the Secret Falls is that ALL the other tour companies know where there at, so I'm not sure what's still secret. ;)

Coconut Marketplace is recently remodeled and is a neat little stop right on the highway.

Shipwreck Beach is neat, but the wreck washed away years ago.

The important thing is not to try to schedule too much, pick like one thing a day to do and just relax, sight see and enjoy the views. I've gone back to Kauai 4 times after my cruise and stayed there.

Let me know if you have any questions! My apologies for this being a little disorganized.

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Are you kidding??? No apologies allowed...This is much more than I expected... Thank you Thank you Thank you...Quick question...In Hawaii... can you cover Hilo and Kona in one day? Hard to tell how many miles between the two.

 

I don't know that it's practical. The way the islands are, there's really just the one highway, so it just takes slow traffic or an accident to clog everything up. I was in Wailea once on Maui driving to Kahului and there's just the one highway. Even though it's only 15 miles it took 3 hours because of a traffic accident.

 

So since you've got the cruise deadline, I don't think trying to cover both towns in one day is practical. Is your cruise one that is cutting the Hilo stop due to the volcano?

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can you cover Hilo and Kona in one day? Hard to tell how many miles between the two.

 

I just looked it up on the map, it shows 78 miles between the two, but it's estimating 2 hours drive time, you'd better allow more, so I'd say 5 hours round trip. That eats over half your port day.

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