Going On Norwegian Hawaiin Cruise

[sahsadnace8]

i am going on a norwegian cruise line hawaiian cruise in feb. if you have been to hawaii before on a cruise, or otherwise, and have a preference on certain shore excursions, places to visit there, resteraunts, etc., feel free to post here! any tips will be greatly aprreciated. thx!

[sahsadnace8]

i should have been a bit more specific.. we are going on the pride of aloha ship

[beachchick]

I suggest you do two things to start. First, post questions about Hawaii on the Hawaii forum as well as here. Second, use the advanced search feature on this forum and the Hawaii forum. There's a ton of really good and current information on both these boards that will help you narrow down what appeals to you. It's really hard (at least for me) to answer such a broad question without more information (ages, likes/dislikes, health, etc.).

 

To get the most out of searching, always use the advanced feature (the regular search is often inefficient and frustrating). Be very specific in your search terms and don't use too many at once. Start your searches for things like "X excursion" (where X is the name of the island) and "Pride of Aloha review" and also things like "X snorkel" or "X beach" or whatever activities you enjoy. Then, when you have a better idea of what you might like, please do ask more specific questions that will help you decide what's right for you. Only search back a few months to start (you probably will not need to go back further than 3 months, if that, to get tons of posts that can help you). Also, scroll over to the right to the "Forum to Search" column on the search screen, and then scroll down to the forum you're searching and highlight it (it will already appear highlighted, but for some reason the search works better when you re-highlight it).

 

Aloha and welcome to CC.

 

beachchick

[Host CMLA]

I suggest you do two things to start. First, post questions about Hawaii on the Hawaii forum as well as here.

Actually, don't post questions about Hawaii on this board. This is the NCL board. Questions about Hawaii should be on the Hawaii board. ;)

[vega]

Hey, we sailed on the POA a month ago. Below is a bit of our island experience, which includes the tours we took and the beaches we visited.

 

Islands/Tours

 

 

Kauai – we booked the six hour Heaven and Earth expedition through NCL, which gave us a tour of Kauai, a chance to see the town of Princeville, learn about the red dirt that is found on every island, lunch at Hanalei Bay, and take a 30 minute helicopter ride over the NaPali coast and Waimea Canyon. We got to see where King Kong and South Pacific were filmed and the sheer beauty of the NaPali Cliffs. My husband never once turned off the video camera because each mountain, each ridge was unique. The waterfall was spectacular, and our pilot, Joe, was very smooth. I was terrified to fly and get sick but it was an easy flight and I could not have felt better. It was also beautiful to see the NaPali coast from water, as we cruised by it the following day.

Hilo – Big Island, the newest island, the continually growing island. We booked a Circle of Fire Helicopter tour, also through NCL, and saw the smoke coming out of Vent Poooaaah (I’m butchering the spelling, sorry), which is a part of Kilauea Volcano. We circled over the vent and saw the lava inside the craters. We saw the lava flowing down the side of the mountain and entering the ocean as smoke arose.

After the tour of the volcano, we headed to Old Richardson’s beach, a small, rugged black sand beach that is about a 10-minute ride away from the cruise ship. It was lovely – the water was warm and clear, there were lots of volcanic rocks, beautiful places to take pictures, and a picturesque beach in general.

Kona – since we only had one day in Kona we wanted to make the most of it. Our cruise director recommended going to Turtle Beach, which actually has a number of other names, because it has the best snorkeling and turtles that swim up to shore. This beach also had black sand and was very rugged. Water shoes would have been helpful since there are a number of rocks in the water. The beach did have unbelievable snorkeling – we saw a lot of different types of fish. I told my husband that I felt like I was in “Finding Nemo” because we saw nemo, we saw the puffer fish, and an assortment of other beauties.

Maui – We booked two tours here – Molokini and Turtle Arches snorkel and Haleakala Sunrise and Downhill Bike tour. Snorkeling at Molokini was fun – the water was very clear, we got to see a lot of different fish and it was amazing to realize that we were snorkeling in a crater! Turtle arches was also nice –we got to see a few turtles and some other nice fish around the corals.

The Haleakala sunrise and bike down was the highlight of our trip. It was the best tour we took. We booked it through NCL, who contracted with Maui Downhill. We were picked up at 2:30 am from the ship by Nikki and Adelia, driven 10-15 minutes to a location where we ate some breakfast (tea/coffee and muffins), were given our helmets, and windproof pants and jacket, and then taken up to Haleakala. Word of advice – dress warmly, very warmly, particularly if you are not from the North and not used to a good cold winter. We were up there in late June and it felt like it was 40-50 degrees, which is not bad but the wind chill brought the temp down to about 30, plus there was no sun to warm you up, so it was cold. My husband and I had thermal underwear, pants, a tank top, a t-shirt, a light sweater, a warm sweater, a jacket, PLUS the windproof gear we got from the tour providers to keep us warm. The sunrise was spectacular. We have witnessed many beautiful sunrises but never from 10,000 feet up and from above the clouds. Once the sun finally came up, you were able to see the magnificent clouds and the crater all around us. Our pictures make Haleakala look like Mars! Everything is orange and beautiful. By 7 am we were biking 28 miles down the crater through a series of turns and switchbacks, 7 ecosystems, a temperature that kept elevating, scenery that kept changing, clouds that kept rising as we kept going downhill, and smells that were captivating. We had a blast and would definitely recommend it. If you are wary of riding a bike, afraid of heights (there are times when you look to the right and all you see is a precipice and clouds), you can hop in a van that follows the group and drive down in the van the rest of the way back.

[Treven]

I thoroughly enjoyed my excursion to the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island. There are 11 observatories up there.

[beachchick]

Actually, don't post questions about Hawaii on this board. This is the NCL board. Questions about Hawaii should be on the Hawaii board. ;)

 

Sorry, Cecilia. I should have been more specific. I meant that questions about NCL Hawaii cruises (not just the ships, but excursions, experiences, etc.) should be posted here.

 

beachchick:o

[Host CMLA]

Sorry, Cecilia. I should have been more specific. I meant that questions about NCL Hawaii cruises (not just the ships, but excursions, experiences, etc.) should be posted here.

Most definitely! Anything having to do with NCL ships, NCL shore excursions, NCL procedures. This is definitely the place to be. ;)