Pride of America Early Disembark allowed?

[Cristina5468]

Hello,

 

I am currently interested in booking the August 19th sailing on the NCL Pride of America in Hawaii but would have to leave on Friday, Aug 25 from the boat instead of the last day Saturday, Aug 26th.  I would have to be off 8am ish to make a flight.  Is this allowed?  Thanks for any insight.  Signed, first time NCL cruiser and first time to Hawaii :p)

Edited January 27, 2023 by Cristina5468

[GeezerCouple]

3 hours ago, Cristina5468 said:

Hello,

 

I am currently interested in booking the August 19th sailing on the NCL Pride of America in Hawaii but would have to leave on Friday, Aug 25 from the boat instead of the last day Saturday, Aug 26th.  I would have to be off 8am ish to make a flight.  Is this allowed?  Thanks for any insight.  Signed, first time NCL cruiser and first time to Hawaii :p)

 

Welcome to CruiseCritic!

 

First thing, besides any permissions, keep in mind that if weather is bad, that could interfere with the ship schedule.  It's been known to happen...

 

Is that a tender port or is there a dock there?  If tendering, that makes getting your luggage off a problem.  If the schedule stays the same, doesn't the ship stay there overnight?  In that case, the early departure shouldn't be a problem by itself.

 

Now, IF you hear things like it is illegal to transport passengers between two different USA ports, that is NOT relevant here.  POA is American registered and is NOT covered by the law concerning that (for cargo or for passengers).

 

However, when we contacted NCL about this, about 10 years ago (for a "different" off the ship situation) they - the NCL execs - INSISTED it was illegal, even when we escalated it.  Our TA finally looked into it and tried to explain to NCL, but they kept insisting it was illegal, full stop.

It would have been more honest for them to state that *they* were not going to allow it, rather than misinterpret or misrepresent the statutes.

We decided to drop it, because of the possibility that the ship might need to skip a port, although in our case, it wouldn't have been as big a problem as missing a flight.

 

GC

[Cristina5468]

Thank you very much for this info! I never thought about that.  It's just such a huge price difference in flights if we fly back on that Friday versus Saturday, it's doubled on Saturday!  Thanks again...!

[Longstockingpippi1]

Pick a time when you can do the entire cruise or stay on in Hawaii for a few days until there is a cheaper day to fly out. Looks like you will be in Kauai that day, it is the most beautiful of the islands. And you would have to leave it AND the spectacular sail by of Na Pali coast, that is insane 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️. 

[Cristina5468]

Thanks so much for the feedback!  Well, we booked this yesterday!  I am SO excited.  We are in a obstructed oceanview for approx 5600 so the price is right.  We are flying out there on August 13 and leaving on that Friday August 25th but mid day.  It was half the cost doing it this way.  We can't wait!  Now we are figuring out where to stay in HNL from that Sunday - Saturday prior to the cruise.   I am leaning towards the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort.  We have 2 kids (ages 10 and 12) and we are 43 celebrating our 15 wedding anniversary.  Our first and only cruise up until this one was our honeymoon celebrity cruise in Europe.  

[The Traveling Man]

10 hours ago, Cristina5468 said:

Thanks so much for the feedback!  Well, we booked this yesterday!  I am SO excited.  We are in a obstructed oceanview for approx 5600 so the price is right.  We are flying out there on August 13 and leaving on that Friday August 25th but mid day.  It was half the cost doing it this way.  We can't wait!  Now we are figuring out where to stay in HNL from that Sunday - Saturday prior to the cruise.   I am leaning towards the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort.  We have 2 kids (ages 10 and 12) and we are 43 celebrating our 15 wedding anniversary.  Our first and only cruise up until this one was our honeymoon celebrity cruise in Europe.  

Did you get a confirmation from NCL that you would be able to disembark in Kauai on Friday before you booked your cruise?  Are you flying home directly from Kauai or do you have to fly to Honolulu to change planes before flying home?  If your focus is saving on airfare by avoiding travel on the weekend, why not arrive a couple of days before sailing on the 19th and then return home on the Monday or Tuesday after the cruise ends on the 26th.  That way you don't have to worry about whether NCL allows early disembarkation and you fly in and out of Honolulu which probably gives you more options and likely less costly flights than from one of the lesser used airports on one of the other islands.

[Cristina5468]

Sadly, I can't do that due to my kids start school on that Monday and I go back to work as a school nurse.  But we are flying out on August 13th so it'll be a nice 12 nights spent in Hawaii.

[mrfeeto]

Sorry, I know this is super old, but just wondering how this ended up working out for you. We're also considering leaving the boat in Kauai and staying in a condo for a few days. We might even use the boat the first night after visiting Poipu and the south part of the island, then disembark the next morning. Did you encounter any hassles and who all did you have to tell?