POA Excursions - Hilo & Kauai

[crusinlover]

Going on a cruise in March & staying at HHV 3 days prior. We've already booked some excursions (this site has been extremely helpful!)but have questions on some others. Has anyone been on the Roberts tours (Volcanoes National Park & Rainbow Falls in Hilo & the Journey to Waimea Canyon in Kauai)? NCL has an excursion to Volcanoes National Park (Hilo) that also looks interesting. Any advice would be appreciated!

[Raison]

We will be in Hawaii in March too! What sailing are you on?

 

In Hilo, we have booked a tour of the Hilo area and Volcano National Park with Ricky's Tours. I have been happy with the communication we have had with Ricky so far.

 

There has been some discussion about these tours on the boards, if you search you should find some info. I would put a link in to the thread if I knew how!

[funtimex2]

Raison, We are also wondering about the Robert's tours too. I had asked this same question on another thread and got a few responses. Hopefully you will get more responses here.

[crusinlover]

Thank you Raison. We're going on our cruise 3/19/11. It'll be my husband, myself & another couple. We are all so excited. None of us have ever been to Hawaii. We've already booked some excursions but had questions about a Volcano and/or Canyon Tour through Roberts. I did have some difficulty getting into "Ricky's" website to see a list of their tours. Does he have this or do I have to call? I'd love to find something in Hilo or Kauai that would be an easy to moderate walk/hike along the beautiful coast with a waterfall included!

[Dakota Traveler]

Going on a cruise in March & staying at HHV 3 days prior. We've already booked some excursions (this site has been extremely helpful!)but have questions on some others. Has anyone been on the Roberts tours (Volcanoes National Park & Rainbow Falls in Hilo & the Journey to Waimea Canyon in Kauai)? NCL has an excursion to Volcanoes National Park (Hilo) that also looks interesting. Any advice would be appreciated!

 

My DW and I did the VNP & Raindow Falls with Roberts last year. We enjoyed the day very much. The bus driver was also the tour guide and he did an excellent job. During your ride he would inform you of the site your were to visit. You were on our own once off the bus at each site. Also, visited macadamia nut factory, Big Island Candies (for chocolate lovers) and an Orchid farm, it looked liked these were stops for all tours. Our tour bus was full sized.

 

DT

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Ricky does not have a list of tours on his sight. His description of his VNP & Hilo tours are all one tour. He is a small operator. If you e-mail him he is prompt to respond and will be happy to answer your questions. We are paying $60 pp for our VNP & Hilo tour in May.

 

We are booked with Robert's in Kauai for the Waimea River and Luau Combo Tour on Day 1 and the Hailea Tour on Day 2. The reviews on Robert's have been consistently good. They do use full size buses form what I understand, but so do the ship. I have been on ship tours that have been excellent, so am expecting similar quality from Robert's. For the price I think they will be great days!

 

For reference purposes - we have a long history of doing private tours, ship tours and independent exploration, depending on the circumstances and our preferences/needs and have had very few disappointments. I credit that to a lot of diligent research prior to booking a tour and an attitude of enjoying the day for what it is.:cool:

[crusinlover]

Thanks, Ginny! We did end up booking a couple tours through Roberts & a couple through NCL according to what we all wanted to do. I've been having fun doing "the research". I like your attitude of enjoying the day for what it is!!

[CruisingGoddess]

For Hilo - We went to VNP and Rainbow Falls. We spent a lot of time in VNP, exploring parts of it that most tours do not take you. You can read about our experience on my blog:

 

http://moonprincess.com/travel/554/

 

In Kauai - We went to Waimea Canyon and did a ton of little stops, like Glass Beach, Kauai Kookie Kompany, Red Dirt Shirt, and Poipu Beach. Here's that blog:

 

http://moonprincess.com/travel/565/

 

The second day, we did a tour with Blue Hawaiian Helicopters.

[Raison]

Thank you Raison. We're going on our cruise 3/19/11. It'll be my husband, myself & another couple. We are all so excited. None of us have ever been to Hawaii. We've already booked some excursions but had questions about a Volcano and/or Canyon Tour through Roberts. I did have some difficulty getting into "Ricky's" website to see a list of their tours. Does he have this or do I have to call? I'd love to find something in Hilo or Kauai that would be an easy to moderate walk/hike along the beautiful coast with a waterfall included!

 

There is not a lot of info on Ricky's website. I communicated via email with him as we live in Australia and it is international calling rates. I have read that others have called him.

 

He seems like he will be flexible with where he takes his tours depending on the wishes of his passengers.

 

By the way, we will be boarding the POA on March 26, the day you will be finishing!

[funmama]

Also deciding on excursions in Hilo and Kauai. Husband and I and another couple crusing in May and we want to pick one helipcopter tour. Can't decide between Hilo over volcano plus waterfall/coastline or Kauai. Any suggestions if we have to pick only one?

Thanks,

Kris

[CruisingGoddess]

Also deciding on excursions in Hilo and Kauai. Husband and I and another couple crusing in May and we want to pick one helipcopter tour. Can't decide between Hilo over volcano plus waterfall/coastline or Kauai. Any suggestions if we have to pick only one?

Thanks,

Kris

 

Basically, you are choosing between volcanoes and lush scenery. The problem with a volcano flight is that it isn't as exciting if it isn't active. We decided to do the flight in Kauai and it was wonderful. I'm glad we choose to see the volcanoes up close, rather than see they from the air. We spent almost the whole day at VNP and really got to see it in depth.

[serenity27]

We will be on the Princess Golden leaving March 30 for Hawaii. I have found your posts most helpful when planning our excursions. We are currently deciding if we want to go with Princess sponsored tours or companies like Ricky's or Robert's and truly appreciate all of your comments. We are looking at more water-oriented tours (snorkeling, dolphin encounters, etc.) so I believe that will play a big role in our final decision. Regardless, thank you all for sharing your knowledge with the CC community.

[CruisingGoddess]

We will be on the Princess Golden leaving March 30 for Hawaii. I have found your posts most helpful when planning our excursions. We are currently deciding if we want to go with Princess sponsored tours or companies like Ricky's or Robert's and truly appreciate all of your comments. We are looking at more water-oriented tours (snorkeling, dolphin encounters, etc.) so I believe that will play a big role in our final decision. Regardless, thank you all for sharing your knowledge with the CC community.

 

Not sure if this was directed to me but if so, you are very welcome and feel free to let me know if you have any questions. We did not take very many tours in Hawaii but if you're interested in DIY, I can help!

[hawklady]

We took Ricky's tour to VNP and the other typical sights: Rainbow Falls, Orchid Farm, black sand beach, for $60 pp. It was a terrific experience. As someone mentioned, Ricky is a small operator, drives his 15-passenger van himself and acts as guide. You can contact him by email and he will put you on his list. He will pick you up right at the Aloha Center in Hilo. A very positive experience.

[toomuchluggage]

There are two "Roberts" companies of which are under same ownership one is Roberts Hawaii which runs land based tours there link is

http://www.robertshawaii.com/index.php

 

We have used them quite a bit pre and post cruise as we usually stay 5 -7 days pre or post cruise.

 

The other is "gorabbit" and their link is http://gorabbitgo.com/

this company does ship excursions on all the islands and is set up for particular ships and dates with POA being one of them.

These two companies combined are one of the largest tour companies in Hawaii they are well recommended, reputable and extremely knowlegdable and most of their employees have been doing their individulal tours for many year so they know the history, where to go and how to get there and back the quickest safest and easiest route.

We have used them in 2008, 2010 and will use them in 2012.

You'll save min 40% over ship prices for the same tour. Thy also run smaller buses and vans so you avoid much of the cattle herding.

 

If you do a search using search engine and put in Roberts Hawaii y'll get lots of info. about 10 page.s

[hill6]

Cruising Goddess how long did it take you to do the Waimea Canyon etc on Kauai? Looking at Smith Family Luau for that night and don't want to miss it.

[CruisingGoddess]

Cruising Goddess how long did it take you to do the Waimea Canyon etc on Kauai? Looking at Smith Family Luau for that night and don't want to miss it.

 

We were done with Waimea Canyon and back on Hwy. 50 at 1:50 pm, but that included stopping at Walmart for about 20 minutes before we went to Waimea Canyon and having lunch at Kokee Lodge, which took about an hour.

[hill6]

We were done with Waimea Canyon and back on Hwy. 50 at 1:50 pm, but that included stopping at Walmart for about 20 minutes before we went to Waimea Canyon and having lunch at Kokee Lodge, which took about an hour.

 

 

Thanks. Another question. How long did it take to get to Waimea?

[CruisingGoddess]

Thanks. Another question. How long did it take to get to Waimea?

 

Take a look at my blog entry for that day. It has all the times listed.

 

http://moonprincess.com/travel/565/

 

Let me know if you still have questions.

[hill6]

Take a look at my blog entry for that day. It has all the times listed.

 

http://moonprincess.com/travel/565/

 

Let me know if you still have questions.

 

Thanks. Got the info I needed.