Need help with Kauai

Please help me fellow cruisers!Months ago I had all of our excursions picked and paid for, but now I'm second guessing everything! I'm cruising on the POA next Saturday and booked the Kauai tour and luau. After reading the reviews (again) I think this may be a waste of money as it sounds like a whole lot of bus touring instead of on foot exploring (not looking for hiking, but would like to explore a little). Does anyone know of an outstanding tour company on the island not affiliated with NCL that I could look in to? I'd really appreciate any advice.

Thanks for your help!

Please help me fellow cruisers!Months ago I had all of our excursions picked and paid for, but now I'm second guessing everything! I'm cruising on the POA next Saturday and booked the Kauai tour and luau. After reading the reviews (again) I think this may be a waste of money as it sounds like a whole lot of bus touring instead of on foot exploring (not looking for hiking, but would like to explore a little). Does anyone know of an outstanding tour company on the island not affiliated with NCL that I could look in to? I'd really appreciate any advice.

Thanks for your help!

Are these two seperate tours you are talking about? I did not see any "Kauai" tour which included a luau.

Is getting out on your own in a rental car out of the question? The driving is easy, and for a $30 rental fee, you have unlimited time on day one to venture as far as as you'd like. This is what we, and many other POA passengers do, especially on Maui and Kauai.

You could drive through Waimea Canyon, visit the North coast, spend some time on the beach, see falls, take scenic walks, all in one day. There are many possibilities. See Trip Advisor Kauai, Things to Do, for some ideas. Some return to the ship in time for the Kalamaku Luau, or just drive themselves there. If a luau is a must for you, you might consider booking the Old Lahaina Luau in Maui instead. Many people opt to tour in their rental car during the day, then head for Lahaina late in the day to walk around and then attend the luau.

Thank you so much for replying!

No, the "Discover Kauai and Luau" are the same tour. Is it a must? Not really as we are doing a luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center, but we would have liked to see another show. Maui is completely booked with Road to Hana through a private company, so we wouldn't have time there.

Renting a car is definitely a possibility!! In fact, we began to discuss that last night. I need to see the canyon and fern grotto. I'd also love to snorkel again since it seems I'm only getting in the water one time during our whole cruise and that's in Maui. However, to do a guided snorkel is a little difficult as the places I have found don't pick you up or leave before we pull in to port.

The problem is I'm trying so hard to make this the perfect trip and I'm second guessing everything. My husband tells me to relax because the fact that we will be in Hawaii is special itself. I just want to see it all. Did I mention we leave in 6 days and all excursions were booked and paid for months ago? Ugh...

Thank you again for your suggestions! Keep them coming!! LOL!

Debbie

Brenda,

Where do you rent the car from?

Thanks again!

Debbie

http://treadlightlykauai.com/

I'm not sure this will help you at this late stage. We did a helicopter tour in Kauai (Blue Hawaiian) and then we met with Jay from Tread Lightly Kauai. He did a custom tour for the 4 of us and we did some hiking and he showed us some beaches (we opted not to swim that day). This was almost 4 years ago so I don't remember exactly where we went. It was the whole afternoon though.

We did the Chief's Luau in Waikiki before the cruise. I don't know if that's an option for a second luau. It was a lot of fun and much smaller than the ship luau's which I've heard have hundreds of people. There were maybe 100 at the Chief's Luau.

Kauai is so beautiful! So many different textures and, from the air it looks like color blocking. We did some type of land tour sorry, don't remember the name of it. Then we did Big Kahuna air tour, and it was amazing!

I would just rent a car and see the sites on your own. We booked all of our cars through discount Hawaii.

Smith Family Luau was very good on Kauai

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Last I heard both Avis and Enterprise at LIH run shuttles to Nawiliwili when a ship is in port. It is only about three miles to the airport.

I would get a car and drive myself, but I wouldn't snorkel on Kauai, it isn't the best island for snorkeling, the Big Island and Oahu are both better.

The Smith Family Luau is okay when you are only going to Kauai, but OLL (Maui) and Oahu have better luaus. PS Chief's Luau is not in Waikiki nor especially close to it. It is out at Makapu'u, 15 miles (40 minutes) from Waikiki.