First time in Hawaii - June

[can]

Whew...I am quite overwelmed with my choices!

 

We are sailing Jun 20 on POA. There will be 4 of us: me, hubby, 7yo son, 9y0 son. We are trying to go "budget", booking an inside room. After they have dropped the price for us twice, I would like to now have a balcony -- can you believe it? - none are now available for 4.

 

Our family is adventursome, even the 7 year old, and we are game for about anything. (I already told him we can fib in Honolulu at a Dolphin swim that says 8 and older and say he is 8.)

 

My current questions to all of you who know so much more than I:

 

My friends said their sunrise bike tour in Maui was the highlight of their trip. Do I understand correctly that ncl does not offer this tour anymore due to injuries? So if we want to go, I will need to find my own tour company? Is the bike trip "to die for" as my friend put it?

 

Secondly, what are the advantages and disadvantages to booking your excursions through ncl? My last cruise, in my naivity, we booked completly through ncl. But that was before internet.

 

Any other advice for a newbie?

[QueenofEverything]

I don't know the reason NCL no longer offers the bike trip, but a friend of ours was badly injured on it a couple of years ago. He hit a patch of gravel and went face first into a concrete culvert. He ended up in the hospital for about a week with broken bones, broken cheek bone and cracked eye socket. Fortunately, he recovered fully,but what a way to ruin a vacation!

[can]

Another question: Where is a good place to snorkel with the children? They are brave but not used to oceans. Also, I've never been snorkeling and I am terribly nearsighted (read that "blind as a bat"). Can you wear your glasses under a snorkel mask?

[QueenofEverything]

Not sure on the good places, still researching that myself. You cannot wear glasses under your mask as it would cause it to leak. There are places that rent gear that do have prescription masks. One I found is Snorkel Bob's. Check out their website

[smrtypnts]

Our family is adventursome, even the 7 year old, and we are game for about anything. (I already told him we can fib in Honolulu at a Dolphin swim that says 8 and older and say he is 8.)

 

Secondly, what are the advantages and disadvantages to booking your excursions through ncl? My last cruise, in my naivity, we booked completly through ncl. But that was before internet.

 

Any other advice for a newbie?

If your dolphin swim is through NCL, you won't be able to "fib" about your son's age. They will have a copy of his birth cert. on file (at least this is how it works with out of country cruises). If you are not doing this through NCL, then you have a "chance" at fibbing. You could end up "losing" your money, as if your younger son can't do the swim, then you will probably not do it either, which means the loss of two costs.

 

As for booking through or not through NCL--

If the ship is in port overnight, then there is probably very little disadvantage to NOT booking with NCL. The advantage would be a possible/probable cost saving as well as a whole let less people.

 

If the ship is leaving port at night the disadvantage would be if for some reason (stuck in traffic?) you got back to port late and the ship sails without you. If you're on an NCL excursion and something happens to bring you back to port late, the ship waits for it's excursion passengers.

 

I personally have only done ship excursions when I've had no other choice. In Grand Cayman we wanted to snuba--the only company who handled that would not take us if we were on a cruise ship--had to do the excursion through the cruise ship.

 

If you're going to worry all day about missing the ship, then it's not worth taking the chance, but if you've planned to be back at the ship 2 or more hours before sailing, then even if you are back late, it probably won't be too late.

 

Good luck!;)

[beachchick]

It's not NCL that stopped the Haleakala downhill bike rides. It was the local authority because of several extremely serious incidents (including death). It is a heavily traveled, winding, steep road that is not designed for "herds" of bikes. There are still downhill rides, but they are required to start lower (out of the park) and where it is relatively safer. I suspect there are age restrictions on those as they had on the previous ones, but you'd have to check.

 

You cannot "fib" about your child's age for NCL shore excursions. His correct age must be on his reservation. You cannot fib about it on there because that age must match his birth certificate exactly. Period. Most of the excursion providers have age restrictions too, but they are often somewhat lower than the cruise line's.

 

No, you can't wear glasses under a snorkel mask. The mask must fit tightly on your face and the temple pieces of your glasses would prevent that seal. You'd have nasty leakage. Fortunately, almost all of the rental companies have diopter-corrected snorkel masks in a fairly good range of basic corrections. Just rent one that is close to your prescription and you should have no trouble at all.

 

There are numerous places to snorkel for beginners. If you try an advanced search for "X snorkel" (X = name of island) you should get a bunch of detailed threads. You could also try "best snorkel" because that question has been a thread title numerous times too. To start you out: Lydgate and Poipu on Kauai are good for kids. Wailea, Airport beach, and Kapalua can be good for beginners, depending on the conditions. Hanauma Bay on Oahu is, of course, a classic, but you must get there early and you are required to attend a "taking care of our valuable ocean resources" intro--which should be required for all new snorkelers and is a good reminder for everyone because it's so easy to carelessly damage our fragile marine life. Most people don't think anything of standing up on coral, not realizing that it is a living thing and standing/hitting/bumping/breaking it harms and kills it. Things like that. On the BI, Kona side you could go to Kahalu'u at the end of Ali'i Dr. It's not a "beach" beach (wear water/reef shoes or sandals because it's very rocky), but is easy snorkeling and is home to sea turtles. I've heard that some people enjoyed snorkeling right off one of the beaches next to or very near the tender pier, but we haven't done that. We're more experienced and go to other locations.

 

Hope you have a great time!

 

beachchick