Anyone leave POA in Hilo and reboard in Kona next day?

[banjineer]

Wondering if anyone has left POA in Hilo and reboarded the next day in Kona? 

 

There is an evening Mauna Kea observatory tour that looks interesting but happens

after POA leaves Hilo for Kona.   We would find an overnight hotel after the tour.

 

If you have done this, what arrangements were made with staff on POA?

 

Thanks!

[LLWS_Uncle_Rick]

Not sure you'll be able to do that.  I think the "Jones Act" might come into play.   That's some obscure law about getting off a ship in a us port and returning to the ship at another.  

[sunny aurora]

6 minutes ago, LLWS_Uncle_Rick said:

Not sure you'll be able to do that.  I think the "Jones Act" might come into play.   That's some obscure law about getting off a ship in a us port and returning to the ship at another.  

 

POA is US flagged, so Jones Act does not apply.

[Sweetnspicy]

I’m not sure about staying a night off the ship. You would definitely need to call NCL and check. I do know that most of the tours are  very long and it’s an hour drive from Hilo and then about 2 hours from the observatory to Kona. We did an 8 hour tour for sunset/stargazing last year on a land adventure. 

[LLWS_Uncle_Rick]

35 minutes ago, sunny aurora said:

 

POA is US flagged, so Jones Act does not apply.

That's right,  I forgot about it being a US flagged ship.  

[Taters]

We've been on Hawaii cruises where Kona was too rough to tender in and was cancelled.  You are taking chances by not staying with the ship from Hilo.

 

[rexcoltrain]

Not sure when your cruise is, but Mauna Kea Access Road has been closed for some time now due to the protest of the construction of a large telescope. Here's some info:  https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/07/mauna-kea-tour-companies-are-out-of-luck-for-now/

https://maunakea.com/

[papa B me]

Another warning about missing Kona. On our February sailing there was a medical emergency that caused us to miss Kona. Don't think it would be worth the risk unless you have a contingency plan to fly back to Honolulu 

[salty dingo]

10 hours ago, LLWS_Uncle_Rick said:

Not sure you'll be able to do that.  I think the "Jones Act" might come into play.   That's some obscure law about getting off a ship in a us port and returning to the ship at another.  

Even if it were foreign flagged, the Jones Act just prohibits the ship from transporting people from one US Port to another without a distant foreign port in between. In this case the ship would not be transporting them between Kona and Hilo.

 

I think the ship's staff would not really care, except that they would need to know in advance so they would not be calling you on the intercom before departure.

[sanger727]

5 hours ago, papa B me said:

Another warning about missing Kona. On our February sailing there was a medical emergency that caused us to miss Kona. Don't think it would be worth the risk unless you have a contingency plan to fly back to Honolulu 

 

Intra island Hawaii flights run all day are usually around $100. Personally, if there was anywhere in the world where I would take a risk like this it's Hawaii. But, yes, agree you should contact NCL. They can' stop you from missing the boat in Hilo, but they could stop you from re-boarding in Kona. There's also the question of how much of the cruise you would miss if they did that? I haven't done a POA itinerary so not sure where in the week those two ports fall.

[Sauer-kraut]

It's not the Jones Act.  The Jones Act is for CARGO.  You are referring to the Pässenger Vessel Service Act or PVSA which dictates foreign flagged ships must visit a distant foreign port.  Which as we all know, the Pride of America is a U. S. flagged shop and the PVSA doesn't apply for her. 

[salty dingo]

13 hours ago, banjineer said:

There is an evening Mauna Kea observatory tour that looks interesting but happens

after POA leaves Hilo for Kona.   We would find an overnight hotel after the tour.

If all you really want is to visit the observatory, I have some personal observations from out POA cruise.

 

You do not need to stay overnight unless that tour is something special that is not available during normal hours. You can visit the observatory during the day if you want.

 

We made it up to the ranger station and did some hiking. We could see the observatory really far up in the stratosphere 😁 but we did not drive that far because:

• Rental car contract said they would not come get us if we went up there and had car trouble
• Air was getting thin already at the ranger station, and I did not want to get vertigo while driving on those roads
• We opted to do some hiking around the cinder cones near the ranger station.

Many people do risk it and drive all the way up, and if we did that, there would have been plenty of time to drive back down and make it to the ship. So to save the expense of a hotel and missing out on a night at sea, maybe look into a day trip up to the death zone😎.

[banjineer]

Thanks everyone for your great feedback!   Our POA cruise is next year so maybe the protests will have resolved by then and we

can try the day trip up the hill.

 

.

 

[Budget Queen]

15 hours ago, LLWS_Uncle_Rick said:

Not sure you'll be able to do that.  I think the "Jones Act" might come into play.   That's some obscure law about getting off a ship in a us port and returning to the ship at another.  

It’s Passenger Service Act.   And it absolutely does not apply.  

[Budget Queen]

2 hours ago, salty dingo said:

If all you really want is to visit the observatory, I have some personal observations from out POA cruise.

 

You do not need to stay overnight unless that tour is something special that is not available during normal hours. You can visit the observatory during the day if you want.

 

We made it up to the ranger station and did some hiking. We could see the observatory really far up in the stratosphere 😁 but we did not drive that far because:

• Rental car contract said they would not come get us if we went up there and had car trouble
• Air was getting thin already at the ranger station, and I did not want to get vertigo while driving on those roads
• We opted to do some hiking around the cinder cones near the ranger station.

Many people do risk it and drive all the way up, and if we did that, there would have been plenty of time to drive back down and make it to the ship. So to save the expense of a hotel and missing out on a night at sea, maybe look into a day trip up to the death zone😎.

You’re referring to a completely different tour.    The day visit does not compare anywhere near what the night tours offer.    Big. Difference.  

[Budget Queen]

I have done the Observatory night tour.     Which is excellent.   But that has been when I was staying on Hawaii.   Frankly I always add time to my POA sailings. - over a dozen.   2 sailings in August with another week on Hawaii again. 😀.   Simple and cheap with  Wn flights now.  But I certainly used  Ha a lot.    Cheap add ones anyway overall.