anteaters

Thanks so much to all of you who gave such good sounding advice. I'm going to print it up. Oh, we will be in Lahaina which I just called Maui--I have to learn more about the islands obviously.

Hi! We'll be in Hawaii in late January on a Princess cruise and will be renting a car in Maui, Hilo, and Honolulu (just one day for each island.) While we want mostly to travel around and see the main sights on these islands, we would also love to be able to stop and spend an hour or so going for a swim. We would need a place where we can park our car for free or at a reasonable cost, have bathrooms for changing in and out of our swim suits, and beach waters that are considered safe for swimming and where there will be some other people around. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hi! We'll be doing this Hawaiian cruise in about a month and it is such fun reading about it now. Thanks for the great information. I have been learning from others' questions and have a few of my own. Are people swimming in any of the pools and if so, is there one pool that is heated? Also, a lot of dancing has been mentioned, but is there line dancing also? And, has anyone gone to that beach that is included as a stop on the Hoppa On, Hoppa Off bus and if so, could a nice day in Hilo be just using that bus, getting off at a few of the stops, and then laying/swimming on that beach? Thanks for any/all answers.

Book what on line in advance? A Princess excursion? That will give you priority tendering to make that excursion.

 

If you start tendering at 7am (hard to guarantee that), and you have no elite status, and are not doing a Princess excursion, I would book a private excursion for 8:30 to be safe. You might make 8am, but that is pretty tight.

Thanks for your input! No, it's not a Princess excursion or there wouldn't have been any concern. Maybe we'll just plan about 9:00 to be really safe (plus have time for a good breakfast on the ship first ;) .

Hi! If you have done the Princess tender into Catalina Island, can you give me an idea of what time we could expect to actually get on Catalina itself? We are not Elite or in a suite so we would not be able to be one of the first to tender. I believe the ship is supposed to arrive there at 7:00 AM. We want to book on-line in advance and need some idea of what time to put down so we won't be late.

Hi, we're going to be on Princess in January and are thinking about what to do in Kauai. I think it's now between renting a car and driving around ourselves (my husband and me) OR the Princess excursion called Hollywood in Hawaii--Movies & Waterfalls in Kauai which is quite expensive but would probably get us to lots of scenic views. We do love getting out and walking around too, not just sitting in a bus and being taken to places where we would only have a moment or two to get out and snap photos. So I'm wondering if anyone has been on the excursion who would know how much getting-out-walking-around time there would be and if that tour would be better than what we could do with renting a car (we dock at 8:00 and have to be back on board by 4:30 so would probably want to return the car by 3:30) if that gives any idea of how long we'd get to travel around by car. Thanks for any help!

We just got off the Emerald after a 2-week Canada/New England cruise. We had no complaints about any aspect of the ship itself and the crew was one of the friendliest and most helpful that we've ever had. Unfortunately for me, the food in the main dining rooms, buffet, and International Cafe was excellent and I happily ate much more than planned. We enjoyed a Princess Theatre show every evening and also went to lectures, teas, line dancing, and other daytime activities. I just hope that our coming cruise on the Star will be as good.

Lori, we're looking into the Rhine Getaway with Viking in August. If you send us your blog, I can assure you that I'll give it my full attention. Thanks, Jo Anne jo50s@aol.com