Roberts or NCL for Tours?

[bondscruisegal]

Can anyone tell me if there is any major difference between the tours offered through NCL and Roberts of Hawaii (gorabbitgo.com). From checking both web sites I found some of the tours seem almost identical and yet NCL charges twice the price of Roberts.

[Jade's Fire]

We went with Roberts for several tours, including VNP and Pearl Harbor, and were thrilled with them. The drivers/guides were excellent and informative, we went to the same spots as the NCL groups and we saved A TON of money. I highly recommend them.

[shemo]

Ditto, book Robert's. You have another option of dealing with tour guides who are on the pier.

[tofuyan]

I had done most of my tours with Roberts in December. They were great!

[ohioNCLcruiser]

Here are the reasons for the price difference..

 

1. No hidden fees (such as you still have to pay to enter some parks not included)

 

2. If your tour is running late and you're not on a NCL tour the ship will sail without you, if you're on one of NCL's tours they will wait for you.

 

3. If the ship is late arriving in port, the tours will wait for you. A good example of this happened two weeks ago. A woman booked $800 in helicopter tours for her family but due to our ship arriving late in Hilo she missed the flights and didn't get a refund. If she booked this via NCL they would of waited for her.

[Roxanna]

Don't be afraid to book Roberts. I can't say about the helicopter tours, but Roberts is very, very cautious about time. I'd do them again over the ship's tours in a heartbeat.

[zqvol]

Forget the tours, get a guide book, rent a car and go have fun. You are in the US not some foreign location. You will see more in less time and not be herded around, of course if you like being part of a herd by all means book a tour.

[whale-watcher]

We also rented cars, and would do this again in a heartbeat. I am not a big fan of large motorcoach tours, and the Roberts busses were just as large and packed as the NCL busses.

Here are the reasons for the price difference..

 

1. No hidden fees (such as you still have to pay to enter some parks not included)

 

2. If your tour is running late and you're not on a NCL tour the ship will sail without you, if you're on one of NCL's tours they will wait for you.

 

3. If the ship is late arriving in port, the tours will wait for you. A good example of this happened two weeks ago. A woman booked $800 in helicopter tours for her family but due to our ship arriving late in Hilo she missed the flights and didn't get a refund. If she booked this via NCL they would of waited for her.

We did encounter heavy traffic returing to the ship in Kona, Kauai and Maui. We allowed a wide margin of safety, but did see some (official NCL) tours returning late in Kauai.

 

Note that most private excursions are non-refundable. We booked our PWF whale watch on our own, as it was relatively inexpensive (and we scheduled it for early afternoon on our first Maui day), but chose to book our Heli tour through NCL...the cost difference was really not all that much, but I did NOT want to be out that amount of money if we didn't make it into kona!!!

[scubaju]

I would also suggest that you check with Grayline Hawaii (also called Polynesian Adventure Tours). We used them for the Pearl Harbor/USS Missouri post cruise tour. Our tour guide was fantastic and we were brought directly to the airport after the tour. It was much cheaper than booking the same tour through NCL.

[whale-watcher]

I would also suggest that you check with Grayline Hawaii (also called Polynesian Adventure Tours). We used them for the Pearl Harbor/USS Missouri post cruise tour. Our tour guide was fantastic and we were brought directly to the airport after the tour. It was much cheaper than booking the same tour through NCL.

We also used grayline for our post cruise tour of PH and Honolulu. It was only $12/person, and included secure luggage storage (as well as secure storage for purses and backpacks at PH). We were also dropped off directly at the airport. We did not have enough time for the PH/MO option, or we would have done this as well. Normally we prefer renting a car, but this really simplified the luggage storage and parking issue, and was just as economical.

[CC Help Michell]

We also used grayline for our post cruise tour of PH and Honolulu. It was only $12/person, and included secure luggage storage (as well as secure storage for purses and backpacks at PH). We were also dropped off directly at the airport. We did not have enough time for the PH/MO option, or we would have done this as well. Normally we prefer renting a car, but this really simplified the luggage storage and parking issue, and was just as economical.

 

The irony there is that Grayline is nothing but NCL competing against itself. Grayline and Polynesian Adventures are BOTH owned by NCL! I swear (again) one day I'm going to go do a corporate search to find out just who does own/profit from all these tour companies in Hawaii!

[whale-watcher]

The irony there is that Grayline is nothing but NCL competing against itself. Grayline and Polynesian Adventures are BOTH owned by NCL! I swear (again) one day I'm going to go do a corporate search to find out just who does own/profit from all these tour companies in Hawaii!

That is really strange, isn't it? :confused: In any event, the price was right, and it was a great option for us on the final day (with not quite enough time to make a rental car or day-room at the Wyland worthwhile).

[Angsa]

We used Grayline's $12 post-cruise tour, too. That was really neat because it visited Pearl Harbor AND took us to our hotel. I think it would have costed us more if we did this on our own.

 

Yeah, I had the same feeling about Grayline/Polynesian Adventure taking up people without them having to go thru NCLA. And if you book directly with them you save a lot. I guess if Grayline didn't do it they simply cannot compete against Roberts.

 

I mean, after a few days, anyone with their eyes open will become aware of Roberts, and if they bother to look at the pricing they will know that NCLA/Polynesian are ripping them off.

 

BTW, Polynesian Adventure's website is http://www.polyad.com

[piper]

We are just back from the 1/12/08 sailing on the Pride of America. We used Roberts for our 3 tours and were very pleased. We saw the ship's tour buses at every stop we made. I have rented cars and used guide books before, and I have to say that I learned a lot more from the Roberts' tour guides than I would have learned from a book. True, you are regimented and if you have a tiny bladder, a lot of your time may be spent in the restroom line (females, of course!), but all 3 of our tour guides were so friendly and knew so much about each island, that it made up for the inconveniences.

Also, none of our tours included lunch, so be sure to take a snack and bottled water with you. We took the Volcanoes Nat'l Park tour from Hilo, the Haleakula tour on Maui, and the Waimea Canyon tour on Kauai - all 3 were fantastic!