Hawaii Tour Recommendations

[trbarton]

I’m on a cruise to Hawaii & am looking for independent tours for the following cities. Any help/suggestions appreciated.
 

Hilo, Hawaii....

 

 

Honolulu, Hawaii...

 

 

Maui (Lahaina), Hawaii

 

 

 

Tom😀

 

 

[Thrak]

Hilo: I'd just do a Hoppa Ona Hoppa Ofa bus tour. Plenty of places to see that way and not expensive.

 

 

 

Might catch some mongoose action in the gardens. Sadly, you likely won't be able to pick them out at the base of the tree.

 

 

It's a beautiful spot to visit anyway.

 

 

Honolulu: Holokai Catamaran Sunset Cruise (My wife and I really liked this one as did everybody else on the excursion.)

When we did it (2017) it was $55 each. (Probably more now...) It was a bit windy and rough that evening when we did the excursion but we had a blast.

 

https://www.sailholokai.com/

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by Thrak

[Av8tor]

44 minutes ago, trbarton said:

I’m on a cruise to Hawaii & am looking for independent tours for the following cities. Any help/suggestions appreciated.
 

Hilo, Hawaii....

 

 

Honolulu, Hawaii...

 

 

Maui (Lahaina), Hawaii

 

 

 

Tom😀

 

 

 

Tou might get more & better responses if you posted your question in the Ports Of Call - Hawaii forum

[trbarton]

19 minutes ago, Av8tor said:

 

Tou might get more & better responses if you posted your question in the Ports Of Call - Hawaii forum

 

19 minutes ago, Av8tor said:

 

Tou might get more & better responses if you posted your question in the Ports Of Call - Hawaii forum

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Tom😀

[trbarton]

45 minutes ago, Thrak said:

Hilo: I'd just do a Hoppa Ona Hoppa Ofa bus tour. Plenty of places to see that way and not expensive.

 

 

 

Might catch some mongoose action in the gardens. Sadly, you likely won't be able to pick them out at the base of the tree.

 

 

It's a beautiful spot to visit anyway.

 

 

Honolulu: Holokai Catamaran Sunset Cruise (My wife and I really liked this one as did everybody else on the excursion.)

When we did it (2017) it was $55 each. (Probably more now...) It was a bit windy and rough that evening when we did the excursion but we had a blast.

 

https://www.sailholokai.com/

 

Thank you very much. Much appreciated!

 

Tom😀

[skynight]

8 hours ago, trbarton said:

I’m on a cruise to Hawaii & am looking for independent tours for the following cities. Any help/suggestions appreciated.
 

Hilo, Hawaii....

Hoppa on Hoppa off bus. Just outside the port gate.

Volcano tour

Honolulu, Hawaii...

Pearl Harbor

Polynesia Cultural Center

Maui (Lahaina), Hawaii

Whale Watch

Tom😀

 

 

 

[Essiesmom]

We did a (ship's) whale watching tour in Maui.  Pretty much a bust...saw more, closer from our balcony after returning.  EM

[RLK33853]

Hilo - rent a car and drive to Volcano National Park and to the black sand beach.  Have lunch at a small town sandwich shop.

 

Lahaina - book a tour with Pacific Whale Foundation - they are right at the tender pier

 

Honolulu - so many things.  Pearl Harbour if you have never done it before, climb Diamond Head, walk Waikiki beach.

[Potstech]

In Honolulu either the Pearl Harbor of the Movie tour which is very informative.  By the way the falls shown above where used in both Fantasy Island and then in the last Jurrasic Park Movie. You might even find out where the 3 hour cruise actually landed.

[CruzinNoony]

Tom, what month are you going?  We were there in Feb. a couple of years ago and it was like whale soup in Maui.  Pacific Whale Foundation is who we went with and they were awesome!

[trbarton]

17 minutes ago, CruzinNoony said:

Tom, what month are you going?  We were there in Feb. a couple of years ago and it was like whale soup in Maui.  Pacific Whale Foundation is who we went with and they were awesome!

Thanks!  Our cruise is from November 23 - December 8, 2020 on the Ruby from San Francisco. 
 

I'm hoping that their will be people that have done independent tours with recommendations of different tour venders. I’m wanting to organize a group, to keep the costs down, with my CC group. 
 

Thanks to any recommendations from everyone. 
 

Another option, which I’ve done before, is to meet as a group & decide what we want to do & just walk off the ship & bargain  with venders for a tour. 
 

Thanks again!

 

Tom😀

[skynight]

3 minutes ago, trbarton said:

Thanks!  Our cruise is from November 23 - December 8, 2020 on the Ruby from San Francisco. 

 

Tom😀

You probably will miss the whale season.

"The peak season for whale watching on Maui is January, February, and March, though whale season in Maui officially runs from December 15-May 15"

[Sea Hag]

We did a helicopter tour with Paradise some years back. It was on the big island and flew up over the volcano. It was a small copter, with the doors off. Only two seats in the back, so hubby and I both got the full no-door experience. Spectacular! If/when we ever go back, I'd go this again like a shot. https://paradisecopters.com/tours/hilo-doors-off-lava-rainforests-adventure/#.Xt0e8TpKhyQ

[BarbinMich]

Our first visit to Hawaii was in May 1997 to take a cruise around the islands on the now-long-gone S.S. Independence.  After that we made a number of two-week fly-drive trips to the islands, always visiting 2 islands each time.  When on the cruise, we took a tour to Haleakela, a dormant volcano on Maui; later we drove up there ourselves, stopping at a winery on the way up.  On Kauai, we took a ship excursion where the highlight was Waimea Canyon, a smaller version of the Grand Canyon--very colorful. At Hilo, we took a ship excursion to Volcanoes N.P.  On our later independent trips, we took an excursion to see the "Road to Hana" on the Big Island, a whale-watching cruise out of Lahaina (which was better than watching them in the distance from where we were staying <g>).  On Kauai we've visited the north shore in our rental car; on our cruise stop there we visited Kilauea Point which is a Natl. Wildlife Refuge site.  Enjoy!

[JF - retired RRT]

5 hours ago, skynight said:

 

I second skynight's Pearl Harbor.

We did it on our first Hawaii cruise.

Booked the tickets for Pearl online.

Caught the bus

Did the tour

Took the bus back

 

Total cost (at the time - 2013) was $6.00 for both of us. Can't beat the price with a stick.

[Av8tor]

19 minutes ago, BarbinMich said:

...  On our later independent trips, we took an excursion to see the "Road to Hana" on the Big Island, a whale-watching cruise out of Lahaina (which was better than watching them in the distance from where we were staying <g>)...

 Hana is on Maui, not the "big island."  If you took an excursion to see the road to Hana on the Big Island you must have gotten pretty wet   😲 !

 

To the OP, you can also research tours for each stop on the Trip Advisor website.

 

[BarbinMich]

4 minutes ago, Av8tor said:

 Hana is on Maui, not the "big island."  If you took an excursion to see the road to Hana on the Big Island you must have gotten pretty wet   😲 !

. . .

Oops!  Was thinking of being driven around the base of the "big mountain" aka Haleakela on Maui <g>.

[nycruiser2006]

14 hours ago, trbarton said:

I’m on a cruise to Hawaii & am looking for independent tours for the following cities. Any help/suggestions appreciated.
 

Hilo, Hawaii....

 

 

Honolulu, Hawaii...

 

 

Maui (Lahaina), Hawaii

 

 

 

Tom😀

 

 

We just did the same cruise Jan 27-Feb 11.  Here is what we did:

Hilo: did a private tour which covered Volcanoes Nat’l park, rainbow falls, black sand beach, macadamia nut tour.  Ricky’s tours. Google then email him. 
Honolulu: took a uber to Pear Harbor. Reserve your spot ahead if time under National parks website.  When you get there we paid $7.50 for narrated headsets. Very worth it. Then we ubered to Waikiki beach

 

Kauai:  private plane tour.  Absolutely amazing. Saw Waimea canyon, Napali coast, whales breaching. Best tour we’ve ever done. 
Wings Over Kauai

 

Maui:  whale watching excursion through the ship. 
 

Best cruise ever ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

 

[Slotown]

2 hours ago, nycruiser2006 said:

We just did the same cruise Jan 27-Feb 11.  Here is what we did:

Hilo: did a private tour which covered Volcanoes Nat’l park, rainbow falls, black sand beach, macadamia nut tour.  Ricky’s tours. Google then email him. 
Honolulu: took a uber to Pear Harbor. Reserve your spot ahead if time under National parks website.  When you get there we paid $7.50 for narrated headsets. Very worth it. Then we ubered to Waikiki beach

 

Kauai:  private plane tour.  Absolutely amazing. Saw Waimea canyon, Napali coast, whales breaching. Best tour we’ve ever done. 
Wings Over Kauai

 

Maui:  whale watching excursion through the ship. 
 

Best cruise ever ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

 

Can vouch for Ricky's Tours in Hilo.  Did it about 9 years ago and was planning on doing it again this April before our cruise was cancelled,  Have done Enoa's Circle Island tour in Honolulu.  Noth booked independently on internet.

[skynight]

4 hours ago, Av8tor said:

 Hana is on Maui, not the "big island."  If you took an excursion to see the road to Hana on the Big Island you must have gotten pretty wet   😲 !

 

To the OP, you can also research tours for each stop on the Trip Advisor website.

 

Note regarding Hana. We were on the Emerald in February 2019. Our departure was delayed until around 11pm. On a Princess tour to Hana the mini bus broke down all the way out in nowhere land. The tour company had to send another van to pick up the passengers and bring them back to the dock. A tender was waiting at the dock to shuttle the passengers back to the ship. The planned 10 hour trip turned into about 15 hours. The ship waited because it was a Princess tour. We were not on this tour but friends on board were and gave us the lowdown. 

[Anubi]

16 hours ago, nycruiser2006 said:

 

Hilo: did a private tour which covered Volcanoes Nat’l park, rainbow falls, black sand beach, macadamia nut tour.  Ricky’s tours. Google then email him. 

 

 

13 hours ago, Slotown said:

Can vouch for Ricky's Tours in Hilo.  Did it about 9 years ago and was planning on doing it again this April before our cruise was cancelled,  Have done Enoa's Circle Island tour in Honolulu.  Noth booked independently on internet.

Another vote for Ricky's Tours in Hilo.  We had a great day with him.