Pride of America - Tours or Rent a Car?

[Kathy D]

We have six people on the Pride of America on 10/22. We are now looking at the various day tours and trying to decide what to do. Should we rent a car/van and tour on our own? I would love to hear your experiences on the tours offered on the Pride.

[fyrmand]

Hey, my wife and I are on 10/22 as well. We already have a car for Maui to go it alone. Doing Old Lahaina Luau first night which is suppose to be good but not offered by NCL. Otherwise no idea...Where are you all from??

[sweetannie]

We rented a car in each port, the only ship tours we took were snorkeling in Kona and Maui, but I think with 6 you can do much better on your own. Car rental was fairly easy and the only problem was the parking while in Maui and Kaui fills up very fast, a lot of folks are doing the rental cars. Honolulu is the only place that has crazy one way streets and lots of traffic, the other islands are very easy to drive.

[nysportsfan101]

Cruised 20 August POAm (we had great time). We rented from Thrifty at Hilo...take any shuttle to airport where rentals are in booths next to each other. Drove to Volcano National Park on our own..no big deal, there aren't many roads. We had time to stop off at the Macadamia nut factory and see the falls up past the Botanical gardens. Likewise we rented post cruise at honolulu. True a little congested but folks generally are polite drivers. We drove up to Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, snorkeled at Hanauma Bay. Car rental is less expensive way to go. Some notes though.

Whatever company you use, make sure to join their membership. Doesn't cost anything but gives priority rentals. Saves time.

Rentals much cheaper than NCL tours but tours give the guidance and info you don't get on your own.

Research the excursion of interest. Some rental cars aren't allowed in some areas you might want to visit. If you want to save a lot of money, stay home and rent a video!

Have a great cruise and don't spend the next month reading everyone's conflicting views.

[jlines]

On our Wind cruise we rented minivans from National or Alamo in every port for 8 of us. The average cost was about $45 plus gas. We got to see a lot more at our own pace and had a blast. Hawaii is very easy to get around in and being a state laws and such are at least somewhat familiar.

[SBChamps96]

Just off the 8/27/05 sailing. Highly recommend renting vehicles in all ports. With 6 people you will save hundreds of dollars. For excursions, I used these guys ( http://www.hawaiiactivityworld.com/ ). Save hundreds of dollars over the ship's prices as well. All ports have shuttles for all major rental companies. Hope this helps.

[poajj08]

There are six of us going together on the Oct 8th cruise on POAM. We chose to rent cars in every port but Kona. This is the only port where there is tendering. There we wanted to make sure we did something and then got back in time for the Chocolate buffet. Booking a morning excursion through the ship allows us to get priority tendering, have a nice snorkel trip and get back to the ship by 1:00pm.

 

The other days we are exploring on our own. We booked the Feast at Lele on Maui for Sunday. We booked waverunners on Kaanapali for Monday. Plan on driving to Volcano National Park on our own on Tuesday. Thursday we are going to Ke'e beach on Kauai and Friday we are at sea. On our cruise we leave Kauai at 6am on Friday.

 

Just over two weeks to go!

[AmyinVail]

We're doing a bit of both:

 

Hilo: Ship excursion - kayak and waterfall

Maui: Renting car from Thrifty (Blue chip member)

Maui: Still have rental and doing ship excursion surf lessons

Kona: Booked on our own scuba diving

Kauai: Ship excursion - ATV waterfall and swim

Kauai: Ship excursion - helicopter ride

Honolulu: Renting a car from Thrifty and driving/staying at Turtle Bay until red eye flight home

 

We'll see how it goes! Looks good on paper :D

[mermaid40]

AmyinVail

Who did you book your scuba diving with in Kona? We want to dive in Maui and Kona and are just starting to research...will be sailing on the Pride of America in May. Thanks!

[beachin']

With six people, you'd save a lot of money by doing it on your own with a rental car/van. It also allows you to do a lot more than you would be able to with the ship's excursions. We rented on all islands:

Hilo - Volcano Nat'l Park: Crater Rim Drive and then Kilauea Iki Crater trail hike; Mauna Loa Macadamia Center

Maui - 1st day: Road to Hana

2nd day: up to Napili Beach and then down to Big Beach in Makena

Kona - Mauna Kea beach (beautiful!), Hapuna Beach, Hilton Waikoloa, and Magic Sands/Disappearing Sands beach

Kauai - 1st day: Drove up coast to the end, stopping at Wailua Falls, Opaeka'a Falls, Hanalei, Lumahai Beach, Tunnels Beach, and ending at Ke'e Beach

2nd day: Waimea Canyon/Kokee State Park, Poipu Beach, Spouting Horn

Oh, and still had time for shopping - everyday! Wouldn't have done anything differently, other than trying to also do Haleakala at sunrise on Maui.

[AmyinVail]

We did some research and decided on: Big Island Divers (website is the same as the name) as they take out small, intimate groups, meet you at the pier, give you coffee in the morning, etc. It was the best we'd found for Kona, which we were told was the best place to dive. I'll let you know how it went after we come back in November!

[scottcaps]

One piece of advice when renting cars on the islands. Make sure they offer a shuttle to pick you up at the pier and find out what the hours of the rental car office is. In Kona, for example, we had reserved with Budget, but when we arrived at the pier after tendering and called for shuttle pick-up, we were told that they didn't have a shuttle pick-up from the pier and that we would have to take a taxi to the airport to get the rental car. The taxi ride was something like $20 each way! With the help of a very nice lady at the tourism office at the pier, we were able to cancel our Budget reservation and book instead with Enterprise, who not only came to pick us up, but their office is not all the way out at the airport. On Maui, the rental car office closed early (I think it was 4 pm), so we had to make sure to get back there in time for the last shuttle back to the ship. And, make sure you have the local office phone number with you, so you can call from the pier or with a cell phone for shuttle pickup. Calling the 1-800 number takes much longer. With this advice in hand, we highly recommend doing the rental car thing and really exploring the islands to see as much as you can. It is very easy to drive around.

[Glendamcd]

Just came back from 9/10/05 tour on POA. Had a great time. Definitely rent a car in Maui. Easy to drive the Hana Road and the drive the La Haina is really nice plus you can stop at several beaches on the way to La Haina and have a picnic or just go swimming.

 

We used Green Travel Tours in Hilo and had a fantastic time. The tour guide was local and picked some banana apples off his tree at home for us. Gave us a lot of input about Hilo and showed us a lot of interesting places including the Akakala Falls and a Lava Tube plus the Volcano Park which he shared a lot of details on. Yes you can drive on your own but you miss the local stories which we found a big part of our enjoyment. Our tour guide was a retired military gentleman who was born in Hawaii.

 

We did the Kona land and sea excursion from the ship which gave us a land tour plus a catamaran tour along with lessons on Hula and a Dolphin show

we did enjoy this excursion and it included a nice little lunch on the boat.

 

On Kauai, we used Blue Hawaiin Helicopter Tours and loved it. There are many free shuttles in Kauai at the port which take you shopping or to the Harbour Mall which is also a free ride to the beach in front of the beautiful Marriott Resort. This was a nice beach and the Marriott had lots to walk around and see including a beautiful garden and coy pond. Dukes bar is also located next to the Marriott along with the Alcove Shopping center. Very easy to just walk around in Kauai. The Coconut Market was not that great but the free shuttle took you past many areas of Kauai including the river that leads to the Fern Grotto which is a highlight of this island. You cannot see the Fern Grotto from the highway but you can see the river that leads to it. Kauai was the last island so we were ready for a lazy day except for the Helicopter ride which was wonderful and they also make a complete CD of your ride and you can purchase everything you see from the Helicopter for $25

 

Hope this helps someone

 

GM

[Lightbulb03]

The road up to Coconut Market also passes the remains of the Coco Palms Resort, the famous hotel in Wailua where Elvis shot some of "Blue Hawaii". The grounds also contain the largest coconut grove on the Islands of Hawaii with 2,000 trees. More about the Coco Palms Resort area can be found here:http://www.coco-palms.com/history/

 

I saw on the travel channel that there is a coconut festival every year in this area as well.

 

I also think it's a good idea to take a tour or two to get the history and general personal feel of the islands from a local tour guide. You may not like the in-and-out style of a guided tour, but if you get the right tour, you can end up with a wonderful guide who takes his/her time.

 

All the NCL tours that we did were rushed (ok, you have 15 minutes to go to the bathroom and oh, yeah, look at the view), but we thoroughly enjoyed the "first look" at many places we plan to go back to. We also enjoyed the stories and history that came along with the tour as told by the guide. While NCL is expensive, other tour companies abound, just make sure you can get back to the ship on time.

 

Another thought, there was a shuttle to Poipu Beach at the Pier in Nawiliwili. I didn't expect that since I hadn't read that anywhere on the boards. We definitely would have taken that the second day on Kauai.

 

HTH (Hope this Helps)

[Glendamcd]

Hey, my wife and I are on 10/22 as well. We already have a car for Maui to go it alone. Doing Old Lahaina Luau first night which is suppose to be good but not offered by NCL. Otherwise no idea...Where are you all from??

 

We rented a car and did the Hana Road on first day in Maui. We used Dollar

Rentals and had no problems.

 

After Hana Road we stopped at Mama's Fish House for Lunch "FANTASTIC"

lunch and the location is beautiful with a sandy beach in front of the restaurant. You can go on line to see Mama's Fish House and her menus

Prices are a little high but very good food. "worth the memory"

 

We then proceeded to La Haina and did some shopping. Great place to walk around and shop. Very cute shops (expensive) but nice.

 

The Old La Haina Luau is located in La Haina just past town on left.

 

The Luau was very nice and the setting was beautiful. The Pig was delicious

some of the food was so so (just not to my taste) Drinks were great and the service fantastic. The show was beautiful. We really enjoyed the Luau.

 

HTH

GM

[Lightbulb03]

Must agree on Old Lahaina Luau. FANTASTIC!

The food that I tasted was great. It is a typical Hawaiian feast with some things that are not my bag either but I took enough to taste and ate more of the stuff I liked. Chicken Long Rice surprised me. I thought I'd like it but I didn't care for it. It tasted ok, but I didn't like the texture of the noodles. Lomi Lomi Salmon was interesting especially mixed with Poi (I got that suggestion somewhere on this board). The pork was delicious and there was certainly enough of everything.

 

The setting is perfect for a luau, with the setting sun and breezes off the water. I picked it for the reputation, the traditional hawaiian show, the great seating (real chairs) and the view.

[Kathy D]

Thank you all for the great suggestions. I think we will be renting a car for the overnight stays and using tours for the day trips. Does anyone have a favorate tour?

 

Thanks

[Lightbulb03]

In Hilo, see Volcanoes National Park, however you can. We took the one through NCL that included Rainbow Falls, Nani Mau Gardens and the Mauna Loa Mac Nut Factory and lunch (we could have done without this too). The store at the factory was great (bought lotsa nuts and chocolates), but the factory was closed on Sunday so there wasn't anything to see. Your focus should be on the Volcano. The other two stops we could have done without since there are other, better waterfalls and gardens to see on other islands.

 

In Kona, find a tour of Kona (coffee, painted church, place of refuge, etc) on the pier. It can be done and you'll have a better tour than the one through the ship and it's less expensive.

 

Those are my level 1 pics (low impact).

[YogiDog]

We rented from Thrify in every port and circled the perimeters of Maui and Kaui which was incredible. I think that the roads in northern Kauai were just as curvy and exciting as the road to Hana in Maui.

 

In Kaui we drove to Polihale State Park (leeward side of island) and went as far as you can go on the roads before you hit the Napali coast and the cliffs. We tried some beach driving but got stuck in the sand and had to be towed out by some wonderful locals (evidently tourists get stuck a lot!). It turns out we needed to reduce the air in our tires before we attempted beach driving...pretty funny experience! We stayed and watched the sun set and there were only 4 other families on the entire beach (which streched for miles!).

 

Good luck and have fun!

[bronsong]

We're going on the Oct. 1 cruise. We were considering doing a Pacific Whale Foundation sunset cocktail cruise in Maui (not thru NCL). Has anyone else done this? We'll have a rental car, so we can get where we need to be easily.

 

Thanks,

[oregongirl]

Has anyone done the Tubing the Ditch excursion? Our cruise begins 10/15.

[penorment]

I have a question for Glendamcd: How did you do the Road to Hana and Mam's Fish house for lunch? I thought the road to Hana took all day. I really wanted to go to Mama's Fish House for dinner and thought it would be too hard to do both or even to do the road and the Lahaina Luau. I thought there wouldn't be enough time but let me know how you managed. I am one of those nuts who tries to cram too much into vacations.

[crewsin250]

Hi, Yogidog

 

I am sailing on 12/31 and have booked Thrifty at each port and was wondering how your service was and anything I should know before I go.

Thanks Paul

[dagtoking1]

NCL really doesn't offer anything for the Na Pali Coast other than Na Pali Explorer at $165.00 pop. I've been there before and hiked it and it's a must do. Are there rent-a-car places right at the port (Nawiliwili Harbor)? I was planning on doing the cruise line excursion in Maui but that Luau that has been described here sounds off the chain. How about in Maui's port, was the rent-a-car place walking distance from the ship?

 

Any help is appreciated, thanks!