Grand Finale Tour through NCL

[judyf]

Bid farewell to Hawaii with a grand finale tour of Oahu, featuring the Pearl Harbor USS Arizona Memorial and the world-famous Polynesian Cultural Center. After a stop at the USS Arizona Memorial, your journey continues through the lush Koolau mountain range and includes a stop at the famous Pali Lookout with a glimpse into the ancient Hawaiian battles fought there. The dramatic mountain vistas and cool blue Pacific Ocean welcome you to the windward side as you near the Polynesian Cultural Center. Play games with friendly island natives, get temporary tattoos and show off your new hula and Tahitian dance moves. Relax by the waterways and enjoy the songs and dances of Polynesia as island performers glide by in a pageant of long canoes. Cap off your day with an award-winning farewell feast and Grand Finale Show featuring Polynesian hospitality at its best.

 

I copied this from the NCL website. Has anyone done this tour? Is it worth the $119 pp. Did you have enough time at the PCC? We're really interested to hear what those that have been there have to say about the above "show and feast"

 

 

 

We're thinking this would be a nice relaxing end to our Hawaii vacation. No rental car worries, no driving worries, no worries about our luggage. Well another question NCL will take our lauggage on this tour, correct? How does that work? Do you put it out the evening before and then get it to go on the tour? Or does NCL have tags for the luggage with tours? I've never done a post cruise tour.

 

Any info much appreciated, thanks.

[Disneyworld]

We were originally booked on this tour, but changed it to the Grand circle tour with NCL.

We are arriving 2 days early and really wanted to see the night show at PCC called HOrizons and NCL leaves PCC too early to see that show.

We have opted for the Luau there as well. We are doing it precruise with Roberts on their PCC Amb. package which doesn't get back until 10:30 pm.

But, if it wasn't for wanting to see that night show, we would have thought like you that it would be great to do on our last day, especially since our flight doesn't leave until 10:45 pm.

Just make sure that you don't plan on booking this on a Sunday. PCC is closed on Sundays.

[judyf]

Thanks DW. This is why we are thinking of booking it after our cruise. We aren't arriving in Hawaii until 7pm Hawaiian time on a Sat. So we are doing Germaine's (sp)? Luau on Sunday night as PCC is closed on Sundays. Then I don't have to worry about getting to PH pre cruise eother or renting a car after the cruise. And another plus is the luggage.

 

I'm hoping that someone who has recently done this tour will post.

[DALSAL]

The day before, I found a table set up where they were having a sale on tshirts and things..it was advertised in your daily..on the table,they have all of the different luggage tags set up,and one of these is the TOUR tag. If you have a tour set up,we did the Grand Circle Tour,you put your luggage outside your room with these tags on them,just like everyone else,and then after you debark,you find your luggage (it was easy),and then you go to your tour bus,and they load it on there,and then drop you and your luggage at the airport after the tour.Dot

[judyf]

The day before, I found a table set up where they were having a sale on tshirts and things..it was advertised in your daily..on the table,they have all of the different luggage tags set up,and one of these is the TOUR tag. If you have a tour set up,we did the Grand Circle Tour,you put your luggage outside your room with these tags on them,just like everyone else,and then after you debark,you find your luggage (it was easy),and then you go to your tour bus,and they load it on there,and then drop you and your luggage at the airport after the tour.Dot

 

Great thanks. I thought it would be something like that.

[alikim]

Oh, didn't know they have separate tags for TOUR tags.

 

So if we put tour tags, we put our luggage out night before like everyone else and our luggages will be deliver to the appropriate bus?

 

Are they already in the bus or outside the bus so they we can check to make sure our luggage is at the right bus.

 

Thank you.

 

The day before, I found a table set up where they were having a sale on tshirts and things..it was advertised in your daily..on the table,they have all of the different luggage tags set up,and one of these is the TOUR tag. If you have a tour set up,we did the Grand Circle Tour,you put your luggage outside your room with these tags on them,just like everyone else,and then after you debark,you find your luggage (it was easy),and then you go to your tour bus,and they load it on there,and then drop you and your luggage at the airport after the tour.Dot

[DALSAL]

You put the tour tags on,they have colored tags for everything...you put your luggage out at night..then you meet at whatever time your tour says to meet,and then you debark with this group,and your luggage is in the tour luggage area..you get your luggage and wheel it to the tour bus which was near by and waiting. They load it on the bus for you,and then when they drop you off at the airport,they unload it for you at your airline destination. It was all very easy. I guess they have you pick up your own,because there could be more than one bus taking the same tour,so your luggage will be on your bus. Dot

[alikim]

Thank you so much.

 

I guess we'll just keep the smallest luggage with us so that we can pack our pajamas and etc on Sunday morning and leave the bigger bags outside the door night before so they can be sent down to the tour bus.

 

You put the tour tags on,they have colored tags for everything...you put your luggage out at night..then you meet at whatever time your tour says to meet,and then you debark with this group,and your luggage is in the tour luggage area..you get your luggage and wheel it to the tour bus which was near by and waiting. They load it on the bus for you,and then when they drop you off at the airport,they unload it for you at your airline destination. It was all very easy. I guess they have you pick up your own,because there could be more than one bus taking the same tour,so your luggage will be on your bus. Dot

[DALSAL]

Yes,thats what we did,and then at the airport you can see what bags you want to check and what you want to carry on. You can put anything under the bus and bring some on with you. I had a back pack type bag that I put things in that I thought I might need during the day. Im sure it would be very hard for them to get your bags out if you put something in there you might need before you get to the airport...Dot

[judyf]

Thanks for all the info. I'm 90% sure this is what we are going to do.

[MommyJamiex4]

Thank you so much.

 

I guess we'll just keep the smallest luggage with us so that we can pack our pajamas and etc on Sunday morning and leave the bigger bags outside the door night before so they can be sent down to the tour bus.

 

LOL When it's just dh and I we sleep in the buff on the last night so we don't have to put jammies anywhere...:eek:

[judyf]

I did it! I just booked this tour for the 4 of us. I checked out the PCC website and I really think it's a spot I don't want to miss and with transportation there and to airport, luggage taken care of and Pearl Harbor included it's worth the price.

 

Still looking to hear more about the PCC on this tour. What show is included? What feast do we get, LOL? What are we allowed to do or not do at the PCC?

 

I e-mailed PCC but they weren't very helpful, they didn't know what package it was but looking at the website I didn't see a package that matched, maybe I missed it.

 

Thanks for all the info everyone is providing!!! This board and the people that post are so great!!

[judyf]

LOL When it's just dh and I we sleep in the buff on the last night so we don't have to put jammies anywhere...:eek:

 

One way to save luggage space in your carry on. :D

[DALSAL]

LOL When it's just dh and I we sleep in the buff on the last night so we don't have to put jammies anywhere...

 

Just make sure you have a ships robe handy,just in case someone yells fire and you have to run out into the hall!! :)

 

Im not sure about PCC,but I thought you paid to get in and then decided what you wanted to see on your own... Dot

[TOURMAN1]

LOL When it's just dh and I we sleep in the buff on the last night so we don't have to put jammies anywhere...

 

Just make sure you have a ships robe handy,just in case someone yells fire and you have to run out into the hall!! :)

 

Im not sure about PCC,but I thought you paid to get in and then decided what you wanted to see on your own... Dot

 

My DW and I are seriously looking at this tour for our POA Cruise Nov. 21, but I'm still not sure about the details, and the Shore Ex Person at NCL wasn't much help. I called the PCC, and they insist that if you have dinner (any style) and see the Horizons evening show, there's NO WAY you can be at the airport for a 9:30 flight like they say in the description for the tour. The show ends around 9, and it's AT LEAST almost an hour drive back to the airport. Our flight doesn't leave until 11:45PM, and it still makes me nervous about getting back in time when you include checking in for the flight, and everything else that's involved. We may end up going (if the PCC is what we decide to do) the first day (Nov. 21) we get on the ship, since the ship doesn't depart until 6 PM the next day. I'm sure NCL has a plan to see things, but I'm just not sure you would see the same things that you would want to see if you had more time. The rest of the day sounds great though, and it would be a great way to end the vacation. Anybody else with input would be appreciated.

[Disneyworld]

My DW and I are seriously looking at this tour for our POA Cruise Nov. 21, but I'm still not sure about the details, and the Shore Ex Person at NCL wasn't much help. I called the PCC, and they insist that if you have dinner (any style) and see the Horizons evening show, there's NO WAY you can be at the airport for a 9:30 flight like they say in the description for the tour. The show ends around 9, and it's AT LEAST almost an hour drive back to the airport. Our flight doesn't leave until 11:45PM, and it still makes me nervous about getting back in time when you include checking in for the flight, and everything else that's involved. We may end up going (if the PCC is what we decide to do) the first day (Nov. 21) we get on the ship, since the ship doesn't depart until 6 PM the next day. I'm sure NCL has a plan to see things, but I'm just not sure you would see the same things that you would want to see if you had more time. The rest of the day sounds great though, and it would be a great way to end the vacation. Anybody else with input would be appreciated.

We had planned on doing this the post cruise as well since our flight doesn't leave until 10:45 pm. We, like you, asked NCL shore exc. person and they were clueless when we asked if they stay for the HOrizons show.

What we found out is they see the afternoon shows, have the buffet, not the luau, then leave and get you to the airport around 8 pm.

Since we really wanted to see the HOrizons show, we actually changed our flight to leave a day earlier so that we could go as a land exc. from our hotel. We booked thru Roberts since we aren't renting a car anywhere. We got the Amb. package which includes the transportation to and from,the hotel, the luau, admission, and private tour of PCC as well as select sits for the show. It costs 138 each, but to us it is worth it.

Roberts says that we should get back to hotel around 10:30 pm. There are less expensive plans. RobertsHawaii website lists all your options. If you want to see the night time Horizons show precruise or on your own post cruise and staying one more night is the only way to see the HOrizons night show.

[DALSAL]

Ok,Im confused...your on the POAmerica this coming Nov.2007? Because Im seeing the cruise is Nov 24th,not Nov 21st. And,that it sails on the 24th. If this is correct and you do PCC that day,you would miss muster,and have to make it up the next day. Am I missing something about the dates?? Dot

[DALSAL]

TOURMAN1,with NCL,thats a 12hr tour.It leaves at 8am,so that puts you at the airport at 8pm...

[TOURMAN1]

Ok,Im confused...your on the POAmerica this coming Nov.2007? Because Im seeing the cruise is Nov 24th,not Nov 21st. And,that it sails on the 24th. If this is correct and you do PCC that day,you would miss muster,and have to make it up the next day. Am I missing something about the dates?? Dot

Sorry for the misunderstanding, Dot.... I am not used to all the abbreviations yet on these boards. I am on the 10-day Pride of Aloha Cruise that does board at Honolulu Nov. 21, but actually doesn't depart for the other Islands until thanksgiving Day (Nov. 22). We are coming in a day early (Nov. 20) since we're coming from the East Coast, and staying overnite at the Marriott. Hope that clears things up.

Dave

[DALSAL]

LOL...Ok,I thought I even looked at POAloha,but I guess I didnt! Sorry. Have a wonderful cruise! Dot

[judyf]

If I had the option to go pre - cruise on my own and see the evening show I would do it. But we are flying in 2 days per cruise but arriving late sat night and the PCC is closed Sundays.

 

Sailing on the POH on a Monday makes it a little tricky.