Pearl Harbor excursion

Morning, Does anyone know if I will have enough time to go on the excursion of Pearl Harbor when I have a 3:00 pm flight. I spoke with Royal and they say it begins at 8:15 and it is 5 hours which gives me 1.5 hours to catch my flight. Is that enough time to go through customs and security & make my flight. Any help is greatly appreciated.

If you are arriving on a cruise, you will have already been through immigration and customs, so just security. Guess it depends on how far it is to the airport... Ports of Call board for Hawaii might give you a better idea. EM

Are you talking about a ship's excursion en route to the airport, or taking the excursion then going back to the ship after the excursion and disembarking then? If the excursion drops you at the airport at the end, you might make it, but it will be tight. If you have to go back the ship, no way.

BTW, be aware that traffic in Honolulu is among the worst in the U.S.

Morning, Does anyone know if I will have enough time to go on the excursion of Pearl Harbor when I have a 3:00 pm flight. I spoke with Royal and they say it begins at 8:15 and it is 5 hours which gives me 1.5 hours to catch my flight. Is that enough time to go through customs and security & make my flight. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Hi,

Am on active-duty Navy and spent four years there through 2015... if you are disembarking that morning, then you will have time to get over there.

It does not take five hours to go through it unless you want to read all the murals, and see every exhibit. However, I strongly advise you to get there no later than 7:30 AM so that you can -already be in place in line- to grab tickets for the first public water shuttle; which should be 8 AM. Check directly yourself with the National Park Service to see what is current.

If- you are just getting in line around 8 or 8.15, and have not already obtained a ticket, you may have to wait an hour or two depending on crowds just for your shuttle to go over.

Please understand it is very dependent on what crowds happen to show up. In order to not have your visit disappointingly unavailable to you, please, again- show up very early.

I highly recommend that you do not try to go through Agriculture at the Honolulu airport and be at your gate with only 90 minutes to spare. Hawaiian time is a well–earn reputation.

Give yourself at least 2.5 hours from putting your foot inside the airport before your plane is scheduled to depart.

Cheers,

Bob

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I think you are cutting it way too close...You can never underestimate the crowds on any given day and time at the memorial. It's not something that should be rushed. JMHO from a few visits.

Morning, Does anyone know if I will have enough time to go on the excursion of Pearl Harbor when I have a 3:00 pm flight. I spoke with Royal and they say it begins at 8:15 and it is 5 hours which gives me 1.5 hours to catch my flight. Is that enough time to go through customs and security & make my flight. Any help is greatly appreciated.

When you spoke with Royal did you tell them your flight time? Most (all?) cruise lines have a 'no earlier flight time than ..." caveat in their post cruise excursions and they err on the side of caution since they don't want to deal (understandably) with unhappy passengers who missed their outbound flights. If your flight time is later than that caveat you should be fine; if it is earlier Royal probably won't let you book the excursion.

I'm pretty sure if this is a tour with RCCL, which ends at the airport, they will have already purchased the tickets with a time on them. This helps tremendously. We did this a few years back with RCCL for the day we boarded. They already had our tickets. Also, if you are headed on an RCCL excursion, you'll leave the ship first on disembarkation.They'll already have your luggage loaded on the bus.Your carry on (if you have one) will be safe on the bus. The driver stays with the bus. Another big time saver for you.

I would not even attempt to do this unless it's a ship sponsored excursion with some guarantees about timing from RC.

Did the excursion through RC but with return to the ship. When we got to Pearl they had pre-purchased tickets, which was a huge benefit. Our tickets were for around 9:00. Ticket counter was already selling tickets for the afternoon. Huge lines. I had no idea so many people would be there. Security also took time. They got on the bus and checked ID. This was a few years ago.

I also spent three weeks in Hawaii just before Christmas. Honolulu traffic was the worst I have ever encountered. My son is in the military there and says that's normal. Takes for ever to get anywhere.

When returning home from Honolulu airport was very congested. Main back up was the agriculture and TSA checks; again very long lines.

Any delay on the tour or in getting to the airport could cut check-in and TSA time too close. If OP is on his own, he might be able to cut things short - and head to the airport earlier, but I would not stick with that tour as scheduled.

The Pearl Harbor excursions are a rip off. You can DIY for so much cheaper. You can't bring bags of any sort into the park. They do have a place you can check bags for a fee $5 per bag; they will take luggage.

Hop a taxi or Uber to Pearl Harbor & tour it on your own then go to the AP arriving 2 hours in advance or by 1 p.m. You don't have time for the ship's tour but the park itself can be done in about 2 hours.

Do go to the National Parks service web site & book your tickets to the Arizona Memorial in advance or you will be foreclosed from them if you wait to get them at the park.

https://www.nps.gov/valr/index.htm

OP: why would you spend money on airfare and not do a land extension pre/post cruise?

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I think you are cutting it too close, I wouldn't do it. Hawaii was on our bucket list and we were able to enjoy it on a NCL cruise, loved it. We could not go to Hawaii and not do a Pearl Harbor tour. We took the tour through NCL which dropped us off at the airport. I don't recall the total cost but it was very reasonable and all tickets were part of the tour, no wait at all. Our plane departure time was early evening so we had no issues of concern about missing the flight. Here's hoping you can find a way to do the tour and still catch your flight.

Thanks to everyone's advise I will definitely look into it more. I did get my flight through Royal and at the time it seemed late enough but when I saw the tour was 5 hours I got concerned. I am weary about getting tickets off the ship and to tell you the truth I am not sure that the cruise line will be getting us tickets for Pearl Harbor for us. The excursion says (First, proceed to the Rangers Station to see if Memorial ticket times are available. If you obtain a ticket, the tour will take 1 hour 15 minutes.) Not guarantee a ticket.