Guidance for our itinerary

[Raison]

We will be doing back to back cruises and having 8 days in Honolulu pre cruise. Any comments or suggestions on our flexible plans would be appreciated from all you who have travelled to Hawaii before.

 

 

Honolulu

Thursday – arrive Honolulu airport early in the morning. Book in at hotel (room booked for previous night to ensure it will be ready and waiting for us), have a restful day. Get some sunshine to ward off jet lag and do some

grocery shopping.

 

Friday – wander around Waikiki and some relaxing time at the beach.

Maybe a spot of shopping as I know prices in Hawaii are much cheaper than Australia (that is my excuse and I am sticking to it)

 

Saturday - Hanauma Bay snorkelling in morning (arrive early). Drive around the east side, stopping at spots of interest (we will probably drive as

far up as the PCC).

May do the Trolley that goes out this way in preference to driving a car.From what I can see we will have to return the same way as we go up,

at least as far as Kailua.Tantalus Drive on way back - only if we have hired a car??

 

Sunday – no plans at this stage. Maybe Bishop Museum, if open. Maybe golf for hubby.

 

Monday – Hire car and drive to North Shore via H2 or Kamehameha Highway - recommendations on the which would be best (read prettiest) would be appreciated.

Is it possible to drive to the North Shore area via the west coast?

Check out the beaches and sights to see.

Maybe PCC in afternoon and attend evening show.?? Or is that too much for one day?

 

Tuesday – no plans. Afternoon drinks at House without a Key. Maybe golf for hubby and shopping or something for the golf widow.

 

Wednesday – visit Pearl Harbour – get an early start. Punchbowl Cemetery, Arizona Memorial and Missouri Battleship.

Maybe drop by the Aloha Stadium swap meet afterwards.

 

Thursday - Diamond Head hike in morning. Will go by Trolley. Back to Waikiki.Maybe a Laua in the evening (choices are Germaines / Paradise Cove / HHV)

 

Friday– This day left intentionally blank. Will be a restful day at beach or wandering or doing anything else we have found that we might like.

Or redoing anything we really liked!

 

 

 

Pride of America Cruise 1

Saturday – Embarkation day. No plans for before we go to the ship.

 

Sunday 1– Maui

Road to Hana tour with Valley Isle excursions.

 

Monday 1 – Maui

Hire a car and go to Iao Needle, and the Tropical gardens/plantation. Not sure what else yet.

 

Tuesday 1– Hilo

Hire car. Drive to and around Volcano National Park. Whatever else might be interesting in this area. Suggestions?

 

Wednesday1 – Kona

We were considering an easy day. Last time we tendered off a ship, we had a bad experience and only ended up with half the time we should have had,

so we really don't know what to plan here.

 

 

Thursday1 – Kauai

Hire car (one day only). Drive to Waimea Canyon and the south west areas.Will go to the last lookout on Waimea Canyon Drive and work our way back.

I am considering a part of the Pihea trail hike.Would like to hear from anyone who has done this hike. We would probably only go as

far as the intersection with the Alakai Swamp trail and back again.

Check out the Poipu area on the way back.

 

Friday 1– Kauai

Helicopter flight with Blue Hawaiian. Smell the plumeria till the ship sails!

 

 

 

Pride of America Cruise 2

Saturday2 - Honolulu

No plans. Maybe find a laundromat (I know I know, the excitement will kill me). Hubby may play golf.

 

Sunday2 –Maui

Hire car.Morning drive to Haleakala NP (not for sunrise). Afternoon will probably be sight seeing Kihie / Wailea /Makena. Would this be worth the time or

are we better to do something else?

 

Monday 2 –Maui

Hire car. Hubby wants to play golf on Maui. Not sure which course yet, but it will probably be around Lahaina. So this is where we will head to on this day.

We want to drive up and have a look around Kapalau so will probably do that after golf, the rebel in me wants to drive the Kahekili, but the sensible me

will probably win that arguement.I may take a whale watching excursion while the golfer is in action.Maybe this is too much to do on a day we need to be

back on board. Opinions?

 

Tuesday 2–Hilo

Would like to go to the Hawaii Tropical Botanical gardens. Will probably hire a car and then we can also drive a bit further up as well.

Not sure about this day, suggestions appreciated.

 

 

Wednesday 2 –Kona

Hire car.Unsure of how much we should plan to do, due to the tendering process.

Drive south and visit Place of Refuge, snorkel. Have a look around at whatever is there.

Do we have time to drive north as well? I would like to go to Hawi, but we may not have time.

Maybe I will revise plans for Kona on cruise one and hire a car then as well. Any thoughts?

 

Thursday 2 – Kauai

Hire car (one day only). North east drive to Kee Beach. Maybe hike a bit on the Kalalau Trail, dependent on weather and energy levels.Sightsee and stop

off at various places on the way back.

 

Friday 2 – Kauai

No plans for this day - relax, maybe pop to the beach. Enjoy our last day in Hawaii.

 

Saturday April 9 – Disembark ship. Travel to airport and catch flight back to Sydney. Farewell Hawaii.

[riofriotex]

I can comment on a little:

 

...Honolulu...

 

Monday – Hire car and drive to North Shore via H2 or Kamehameha Highway - recommendations on the which would be best (read prettiest) would be appreciated.

Is it possible to drive to the North Shore area via the west coast?

Check out the beaches and sights to see.

Maybe PCC in afternoon and attend evening show.?? Or is that too much for one day?

 

Too much for one day. Don't remember which road number the Kamehameha Highway is, but we drove to the North Shore via Hwy 83 on the east side of Oahu. That way, you are driving along the ocean side of the road and have the prettier views.

 

Monday 1 – Maui

Hire a car and go to Iao Needle, and the Tropical gardens/plantation. Not sure what else yet.

 

We really enjoyed 'Iao Valley State Park and wish we could have spent more time in that area, which also has a couple gardens.

 

Tuesday 1– Hilo

Hire car. Drive to and around Volcano National Park. Whatever else might be interesting in this area. Suggestions?

 

There's so much to see at Volcano NP, you can easily spend a day there as well, IMHO.

 

Wednesday1 – Kona

We were considering an easy day. Last time we tendered off a ship, we had a bad experience and only ended up with half the time we should have had,

so we really don't know what to plan here....

...

...Wednesday 2 –Kona

Hire car.Unsure of how much we should plan to do, due to the tendering process.

Drive south and visit Place of Refuge, snorkel. Have a look around at whatever is there.

Do we have time to drive north as well? I would like to go to Hawi, but we may not have time.

Maybe I will revise plans for Kona on cruise one and hire a car then as well. Any thoughts?

 

PoA uses its own lifeboats for tendering, as opposed to having "local" boats do it. In my opinion, the tendering was VERY fast and efficient.

 

I don't think we got off the ship until 9 AM or so and picked up the rental right at the end of the pier at Thrifty at the King Kamehameha Hotel. We drove to the Place of Refuge first and really enjoyed it - maybe spent about an hour there; would like to have spent more. Then went to the nearby Painted Church and to Napo'upo'u Beach Park to see the Hikiau Heiau and Captain Cook Monument. We passed a number of coffee plantations on the way so that is something else you could see/do. We stopped in Kainaliu at Surfin' Ass for some Donkey Balls and then drove back to Kailua-Kona and the pier via Ali'i drive - stopped to get a photo of St. Peter By The Sea (alas, it was not open) and the Kuemanu Heiau (surfing temple).

 

My family members were tired/hungry and took the tender back around 2 PM - I returned the car and walked around Kailua-Kona near the pier. Lots of restaurants and shops very close to the pier, and some historical stuff (if you are interested): in and around the King Kamehameha Hotel, the Hulihee Palace, Mokuaikaua Church. I took a tender back somewhere between 3:30 and 4 PM - it was a very hot, muggy day and I was beat. :cool:

[Giantfan13]

The only comment I have is

 

I'm jealous

 

Cheers

 

Len

[wwb]

We did many other things, too, but these are a few of the lesser discussed places that we saw/visited:

We enjoyed a private tour in Captain Cook area (day in Kona) with Koa Coffee Plantation.

The tour was entirely free and walked around the various parts of their processing, gave us freshly brewed coffee to sample and was just great!

 

Packed a room service picnic lunch to eat at Volcanoes NP at the Holei Sea Arch picnic table...don't forget to bring some plastic sandwich bags. This is the only place we did this, and we were mighty glad we did, otherwise there is not much to eat here! Also brought flashlights for the unlit part of the Thurston Lava Tube

 

We enjoyed a visit to the artsy town of Paia (Maui) and Hookipa beach overlook. Had delicious before dinner dessert Crepes at Cafe des Amis in Paia.

 

Rainbow Falls (Hilo) is a quick and easy stop and pretty, too.

 

On Kauai, my husband went on a 5 hour private Photo trek out of Kapaa (2pm to 7:30pm), which he really enjoyed, and the rest of us toured the Grove Plantation (1 pm). We also had pupus and drinks while listening to live music (4:30ish) at the Duke's Canoe Club at the Marriott here.

LOVED the Anini beach (Kauai) and spent time here after visiting the Kilauea Lighthouse and seeing the great assortment of birds(boobys, frigatebirds and albatross).

Visited the town of Hanapepe and went in and out of galleries and went to the Taro chip Factory. If you go, you will laugh at this description!

Visited the spouting horn here, too.

 

As I said, these are not the most common things to do, but since you will have 2 cruises to fill, some might interest you.

 

Please allow some time to participate in lei making, etc. aboard the ship in the late afternoon. This was lots of fun!

 

Hope that helps and don't forget to visit Walmart for 18 cent postcards, cheap nuts and Maui Cookies.

 

Have Fun!

Wendy

[riofriotex]

Please allow some time to participate in lei making, etc. aboard the ship in the late afternoon. This was lots of fun!

 

I second this. PoA has a "Hawaiian ambassador" named "China" (she'll tell you the story) who is very knowledgeable about the culture and history of Hawaii. She conducts various classes, lectures, and entertainment.

 

I went to a class to make a kukui nut lei - there are also classes for fresh flower, ribbon, and shell leis. You get the supplies for the one you make in class free, but they also sell shells, kukui nuts, and ribbons if you want to make more. There are also classes to make paper flowers and to learn to hula.

 

Unfortunately a lot of the activities are in the afternoons while we were still out sightseeing, but some of them get started at 4:30 or so (and there are some evening lectures and entertainment, such as the Aloha Polynesian show), so I was able to make it to a couple.

 

Just another possibility for you. :)

[annecolorgreen]

On Kauai, my husband went on a 5 hour private Photo trek out of Kapaa (2pm to 7:30pm), which he really enjoyed, and the rest of us toured the Grove Plantation (1 pm).

 

Wendy--so...did your husband book his tour with the ship or someone else? And, did you like the Grove Plantation tour--I'm strongly considering that.