Golden Princess Hawaii - how early have you gotten off the ship in Hilo?

[Sea Hag]

Hi all,

 

The title says it all. For anybody who's sailed on the Golden to Hawaii, what time did you manage to leave the ship in Hilo? Trying to book the earliest helicopter flight that we can, and I'm not so sure about this. I know the pier at Hilo is very near the airport, so that helps. I've asked this on the Hawaii board as well, but I thought I'd ask here and maybe catch some Golden passengers who might not visit the Hawaii board.

 

Thanks for any and all!

[Sea Hag]

Anybody?

[smoothdancer]

Getting early off the ship may not be much of a problem, but you have a good hour ride by van to get to the helecopiter site.... If you hit traffic coming back and getting back in time can really be a high stress situation...Think NYC 5:00 traffic, double it!!! More than one should indure on a vacaton like this....

 

My humble opinion, this is one of thoes shore excurisons that would be best to do a Princess cruise... It is not all that much more money and the "no stress" factor of getting off and on the ship is worth the extra dollars you may pay.... BTW, this tour is really expensive no matter what route you choose, but well worth the cash you will give up!!

 

I did this tour using Princess, the tour was top notch and although an expensive tour, was worth every single last dollar I had... Awesome!!

[Sea Hag]

Getting early off the ship may not be much of a problem, but you have a good hour ride by van to get to the helecopiter site.... If you hit traffic coming back and getting back in time can really be a high stress situation...Think NYC 5:00 traffic, double it!!! More than one should indure on a vacaton like this....

 

My humble opinion, this is one of thoes shore excurisons that would be best to do a Princess cruise... It is not all that much more money and the "no stress" factor of getting off and on the ship is worth the extra dollars you may pay.... BTW, this tour is really expensive no matter what route you choose, but well worth the cash you will give up!!

 

I did this tour using Princess, the tour was top notch and although an expensive tour, was worth every single last dollar I had... Awesome!!

 

I agree with you on Princess tours. We've done some that were very good. But they don't offer the doors off flights, and that's what we want. It's not about saving money by not doing the Princess excursion, it's about getting the experience that we want.

 

Thanks for the info on traffic. Going to have to go into heavy duty figuring out mode!

[StLouisCruisers]

Are you sure the helicopter site is a good hour ride by van from the ship? The airport is not far at all from the pier. We walked into downtown Hilo from the ship (fairly early but I can't remember how early exactly), and the planes were landing and taking off very nearby as we walked to town.

[Sea Hag]

The flight we're on is at ITO Main Terminal, Lobby 2, and I also doubt it's an hour. Google maps shows a walk of a tad less than a mile, and if that takes an hour in a van, then I'm for sure walking it no matter what! :D

[smoothdancer]

I for sure do not want to deabte this with you guys,

 

All I can tell you is what I expereinced on my Hawaii cruise on Princess and hope it helps the next person to have the same wonderful experience that we had on our hawaii cruise....

 

We have done many cruises, and I have to say nothing came even close to this cruise.... This is a one an a lifetime cruise... So ,enjoy!!!

[Sea Hag]

I for sure do not want to deabte this with you guys,

 

All I can tell you is what I expereinced on my Hawaii cruise on Princess and hope it helps the next person to have the same wonderful experience that we had on our hawaii cruise....

 

We have done many cruises, and I have to say nothing came even close to this cruise.... This is a one an a lifetime cruise... So ,enjoy!!!

 

I don't want to debate this either, and that wasn't ever my intention. :)

 

I'm just a poor soul here, trying to figure this out.

 

I do thank you for your input and your good wishes for our cruise. We've only gone to Hawaii once, and I'm looking forward to it very much.

[Suzieb]

We were on the Golden back in October, and it is fading a bit but I think we got off at 8AM. I know is was early since some of the stands on the pier were not open yet. We waited for a rental car shuttle for about 30 min and the ride to the Airport was about 15 min. But there is other types of transportation around

Hope this little bit of info is helpful, and good luck on your trip.

[Sea Hag]

We were on the Golden back in October, and it is fading a bit but I think we got off at 8AM. I know is was early since some of the stands on the pier were not open yet. We waited for a rental car shuttle for about 30 min and the ride to the Airport was about 15 min. But there is other types of transportation around

Hope this little bit of info is helpful, and good luck on your trip.

 

Hi Suzie,

 

Thanks for the info! It's very helpful. I'm thinking get off the ship as early as possible and dive into a taxi. :)

[Cruizin' Dude]

We did the Helicopter tour about a month ago. We could only sign up for 12:00 as the rest were booked up. It only took us about 15 min to get to the Airport. Was a fantastic flight. Was my first Helicopter ride, so I was a bit nervous at first, but it quickly faded. The tour and pilots seemed to have fun with their jobs, and it made it a nice time. Our Pilot was Ron. :D

[Sea Hag]

We did the Helicopter tour about a month ago. We could only sign up for 12:00 as the rest were booked up. It only took us about 15 min to get to the Airport. Was a fantastic flight. Was my first Helicopter ride' date=' so I was a bit nervous at first, but it quickly faded. The tour and pilots seemed to have fun with their jobs, and it made it a nice time. Our Pilot was Ron. :D[/quote']

 

Thanks for the info!

 

We've only done one other helicopter flight, and I just flat-out loved it! We're booked with Paradise Helicopters on the Doors Off With Watefalls and Jack's Lava House Landing. Our other flight was on Maui with Blue Hawaii.

 

How did you get to the airport? Car? Taxi?