Pearl Harbor tour

What is the best way to do a Pearl Harbor tour? Would it be best to take a ships tour or are their companies on the island that would be just as easy to book with?

You need to define "best". What does that mean to you...we can't read your mind.

We have toured Pearl twice. Always on our own. We control the time we spend there, and what it is focused on. There are 4 major sights...you could spend most of two days easily. It is up to your interests and needs.

Agree with Bruce & we’ve used their public transportation system (The Bus) which costs about $5 roundtrip and less for seniors. A taxi or shared ride is another option...more expensive but faster.

It’s possible to pre-reserve a tender ticket time to the Arizona Memorial for a small fee or to walk up for tickets without any fee.

A ship’s tour would be a much more expensive & inflexible experience.

Agree with Bruce & we’ve used their public transportation system (The Bus) which costs about $5 roundtrip and less for seniors. A taxi or shared ride is another option...more expensive but faster.

 

It’s possible to pre-reserve a tender ticket time to the Arizona Memorial for a small fee or to walk up for tickets without any fee.

 

A ship’s tour would be a much more expensive & inflexible experience.

AstroFlyer...coming in hot on Monday...get out of the way!!:D:D:D

AstroFlyer...coming in hot on Monday...get out of the way!!:D:D:D

We’ve taken good care of Maui for you! :D

With coming in hot, should I rig the barricade or will the arresting gear suffice?

Our 4 weeks here end in about 10 days before returning to the Mainland until spring.

We’ve had some heavy rain in Hawaii but not too much in South Maui. More thunderstorms are forecasted for Thursday through Saturday but trades & no rain for next week. (y)

Stay off the flight deck unless you have a valid reason to be there...!

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For the OP, who's been blown into the catwalk;

- The two major attractions at Pearl are the AZ Memorial itself and the USS Missouri.

- IF you're very aggressive and organized (or pay for a tour that specifically states they'll handle the logistics) you "can" do both of them on the same day. Oddly enough, they are in fact right next to each other; the issue is, the Memorial is only accessable by US Navy launch from the main base, but the 'Mo is tied up at Ford Island, and accessible only once you've taken that confounded bridge across the harbor to the Island.

(I grew up on Ford Island and took the ferry every day, so to me, the bridge is an unfortunate eyesore)

- If you could only do one, I'd head to Ford Island and take the 'Mo tour. I'd also get over to the Aviation Museum of the Pacific, which is on Ford Island - and as recently as last September, had Dick Girocco as a docent. Here's a quick pitch - I've met the man, and he's one of the sharpest individuals I've met in my life, period. He stopped working on the NY Times crossword puzzle to tell me his story:"On December 7, 1941, Dick Girocco was a 20-year-old sailor working on PBY seaplanes at Hangar 54 on Ford Island. "The first thing that got our attention was the noise, the dive bombers, that's how close they were, coming down on our seaplane ramp," Girocco said."

Just my $0.02

During a couple of years of hooking up aircraft to the USS Midway’s starboard catapult, I kept my head on a swivel to not get blown into the catwalk or even worse to the lowered forward starboard elevator when it’s at the hangar bay. ;)

The other section of V-2 Division was arresting gear & as I recall it was a group effort the one time it was necessary to rig the barricade. I attended the flight deck & below deck firefighting school at North Island. After the Forrestal, Oriskany & Enterprise fires all flight deck personnel were required to go through firefighting training because everyone was a first responder.

My first time to Hawaii was arriving at dawn on the Midway in Pearl Harbor & circling Ford Island before docking...a memory that’s firmly etched into my memory.

My first time to Hawaii was arriving at dawn on the Midway in Pearl Harbor & circling Ford Island before docking...a memory that’s firmly etched into my memory.

That, I know, was special. My first time was on the USNS Gaffey (T-AP-121) which in the good old days was how you PCS'd to Hawaii from the west coast. Left on the Lurline after growing up on Ford Island. While we lived there (my father was with Fleet Intelligence Center, Pacific, which was on F.I. in the early /60s), my mother was part of a ladies' Hula Troupe that would be dancing on the pier at Ford Island - so I very clearly remember the Midway, Oriskany, Coral Sea, and several others rotating to and from Vietnam in the early years.

Although I was a jarhead, the CO ("the real Captain," as he would remind me) made me flight deck officer on the USS Ogden when I was the CCO from '83-85, so I had the pleasure of going to some of those super happy fun schools at NAS NI as well.

My son, at 14, did a Tiger Cruise on the USS Ogden. I will never forget watching the Ogden pass Waikiki with my son on it. I was going on a float trip in Arizona with my USS Ogden t-shirt on and a USS Ogden sailor was happy to see it. Cherie

I searched for the USNS Gaffey (troop transport resembling an oceanliner) and USS Ogden (amphibious transport dock). I discovered that both were sunk as RIMPAC targets: Gaffey-2000; Ogden-2014.

Thankfully I can still visit the Midway in San Diego as a floating museum. The Oriskany couldn’t relieve us on Yankee Station in ‘72 after losing a screw & is now an artificial reef off Pensacola FL.

On the Midway in ‘71 en route to Yankee Station, our stop in PH was extended to 5 days for their dockworkers to repair the hole in a sponson deck...a result of poor Hunters Point work.

It must have been an interesting time growing up on Ford Island. I’ve studied the attack & got to see some things at PH & Hickam when visiting a USAF chaplain buddy stationed at Hickam AFB. My most recent Arizona Memorial visit was shortly after the 61st anniversary & I purchased a flag at the gift shop that briefly flew over the Arizona Memorial on the evening of 12/7/02.

Looking on the PH tour site. They have 1 with the Arizona & Mighty Mo that has a transfer from and back to the hotel pick up is 6:45 AM and return 1:30 PM April 21st. For you folk's in the know will we have enough time on the battleship MM? We have done PH before with Princess it was just for about 4 hours missed a lot, but enjoyed what we got to do. Or should we take a taxi and book only the MM tickets and then head back after we poke around PH for a bit?

Not sure if NCL transfer will take us to the ship when we return or not, but will see then.

If you are just focusing on the Missouri, yes, that would be a good amount of time. Doing anything else takes a bite out of the Missouri time.

Good Old Oggy-Dog; Ogden even shows up in a Clancy novel. When I was the J-1 for CJTF HOA in Djibouti in 2004, the Ogden limped over and docked pursuant to some Marine training ashore - one of my Army CPT staff had never been on a ship, so I volunteered to take him on a tour..hadn't been on the ship since I left in 1985, and it did 'freak' the crew out that some old jarhead was running amok poking into all sorts of places, mysteriously knowing where everything was. She's already developed a fatal crack in the hull, and was non repairable. Last time I saw her was pier side in San Diego after decommissioning in 2007. Nobody was aboard except for two employees of the salvage company, and they didn't care if I roamed around by myself (I wasn't even in uniform).

Growing up on Ford Island was an experience, particularly then. I watched Otto Preminger's crew film "In Harms Way," - most of which was set there. It's really pretty cool you've got that flag that flew over the Arizona.

I searched for the USNS Gaffey (troop transport resembling an oceanliner) and USS Ogden (amphibious transport dock). I discovered that both were sunk as RIMPAC targets: Gaffey-2000; Ogden-2014.

 

Thankfully I can still visit the Midway in San Diego as a floating museum. The Oriskany couldn’t relieve us on Yankee Station in ‘72 after losing a screw & is now an artificial reef off Pensacola FL.

 

On the Midway in ‘71 en route to Yankee Station, our stop in PH was extended to 5 days for their dockworkers to repair the hole in a sponson deck...a result of poor Hunters Point work.

 

It must have been an interesting time growing up on Ford Island. I’ve studied the attack & got to see some things at PH & Hickam when visiting a USAF chaplain buddy stationed at Hickam AFB. My most recent Arizona Memorial visit was shortly after the 61st anniversary & I purchased a flag at the gift shop that briefly flew over the Arizona Memorial on the evening of 12/7/02.

If you are just focusing on the Missouri, yes, that would be a good amount of time. Doing anything else takes a bite out of the Missouri time.

We have only the Arizona and MM scheduled with poking around of course. Wanted more but didn't want to rush. We will be back for the Aviation & Sub another trip hopefully.

Thanks for your reply have a great day, Laura