Need Your Input

[DASA]

My wife and I are taking a cruise to Hawaii in late September, and I have a few questions. We will be sailing on the Pride of America.

 

What is the dress code for evening dining? Are capris acceptable except for formal night?

 

What is the best island to see a volcano?

 

What is the best helicopter tour, and on which island?

 

What is the best luau in Honolulu? We will be arriving 2 days before we sail and would like to go to a luau before we embark on the ship.

 

Thanks.

[Spikesgirl]

What is the dress code for evening dining? Are capris acceptable except for formal night?

 

## This one I can't really help with as we've never cruised with NCL. You can always go to their section and just glance through the threads. It seems to me that there isn't really any formal dress on this cruise, but I could be wrong.

 

What is the best island to see a volcano?

 

## There's only one island that has an active volcano on it and that's Hawai'i - the Big Island. You can drive all around it, walk on it and fly over it (providing the vog isn't bad that day). All the islands are actually volcanos, dormant or otherwise. Kauai is my choice of the perfect helicopter island because so much of the volcano is eroded back into the ocean and is not really visible except by air or sea (like the opening of "Jurassic Park").

 

What is the best helicopter tour, and on which island?

 

## Best helicopter tour is a matter of choice really as well as how much you want to spend. Every island will have different opertaors and charge more. For the Big island, there are Blue Hawaiian, Tropical Helicoopters, Safari, Sunshine(I've never heard or flown with these guys) and Mauna Loa to name a few. We've always flown with a private pilot out of Volcano, but most of these fly from Kona. Everyone, though, has their own personal tastes and desires, so you should spend some time either reading through the hundreds of threads here on the various helicopter tours (go up to the search function at the top of this post and type in helicopter tours) or check out some local guide books - these will provide phone numbers and websites.

 

 

What is the best luau in Honolulu? We will be arriving 2 days before we sail and would like to go to a luau before we embark on the ship.

 

Again, luaus are a matter of choice - there are hundreds of them to choose from. One of the overall best luaus from a Polyneisian history type of view would be the one offer at the Polyneisian Cultural Center. Do be warned that they don't provide alcohol. Again, use the search function to help narrow down the choices. Honolulu is the only city, in fact, Oahu is the only island that that we haven't done a luau on. Someone here is sure to be able to help you though.

 

Good luck and have a great cruise,

[dottiespots]

Hi, we sailed PofAm May 24-31. We ate in the dinning rooms on several occasions and wore capris myself and saw them on many others. Most of the gentlemen had on slacks with collared shirts, but I did see jeans and tshirts also.

 

I can't say which is the best helicopter tour to take but I can tell you that we did a helicopter tour on Kauai thru Blue Hawaiian and it was spectactular.

 

Have a great trip!!!

[rklemay]

DASA,

We just got back from the Pride of America and dottiespots is correct. Capris are fine every night - even formal night since dressing up is optional on NCL. Regarding your luau question, we have done Paradise Cove twice on Oahu and had a great time both times. It may not be as authentic as others, but it does include open bar and the show was very entertaining. You'll have a great time whatever you decide to do.