Walking around Lahaina, Kona, Kauai, & Oahu

[emuangel]

I'll be on the Pride of America in August. Trying to figure out things to do in each port.

 

Will probably rent a car for the first day in Maui and drive to Lahaina. What are things to see and do, places to shop, places to eat, what to eat? Any beaches on the way from Kahululi?

 

In Kona I was planning on taking the tender and walking into town. What are things to see and do, places to shop, places to eat, what to eat? Any beaches within walking distance?

 

In Kauai the second day was planning on walking from the ship. What are things to see and do, places to shop, places to eat, what to eat? Any beaches within walking distance?

 

We are spending a couple extra days in Oahu and will probably rent a car to try to see Pearl Harbor, visit a beach, and do a luau. Anything else we should do, see, visit? Any places to get food and what to eat?

 

Background: My husband and I are going, this is our first time to Hawaii, we are in our late 20s and pretty active. Want to experience as much of Hawaii as possible. Enjoy all kinds of food and want to experience Hawaiian food.

 

The 2nd day of Maui we are planning on doing an excursion to Haleakala Crater. In Hilo we are planning on doing an excursion to Volcano National Park and Rainbow Falls. Then the first day in Kauai we are planning on doing an excursion to Waimea Canyon. We are spending a couple extra days in Oahu and will be trying to see Pearl Harbor, visit a beach, and do a luau.

 

Thanks for any information. :D

[Novastar]

In Kauai your best bet is to walk from the ship to the Marriott Hotel on Kalapaki Bay. There is a nice beach fronting the hotel that you can enjoy. It's not a snorkeling beach but there will be surfers and paddle boarders to watch and it's protected so it makes a good swimming beach. However, you will not be able to use the hotel pool or other hotel facilities. Perhaps you can buy a day pass to use them, but I'm not sure about that. There are a number of restaurants and shops nearby as well. It should make for a nice, relaxing day.

[Whittyone]

I am not sure how long the ship is docked for Lahaina, but there ar some pretty cool things there. Front street is where pretty much everything is. It is lined with shops and restaraunts that range from Inexpensive and pretty good (Aloha Mixed Plate) to pretty expensive. Don't miss out on a snow cone from Uelalani's (you will thank me later) The old Lahaina Luua is pretty expensinsive but good food and a very good show. Don't miss sunset down near the Banyan tree park.

There is a pretty good beach just alittle south of town. We love that area, if you can't tell!

[mcmomny]

First of all you are going to have a great time! This has been our favorite cruise so far!

 

Oahu, you can easily drive around the entire island and stop at dozen of beaches in a day!

 

We had a car on each island and just drove around a stopped at beaches along the way, very easy to do.

 

I had bought online maps of the islands from frankco maps, great maps with all kinds of discriptions and marked every beach and discussed if it was easy to get to or not! You can buy them three we liked being able to see them and plan before we went

 

Kona has the Kona beer brewery, it was a fun time! And it is walking distance

 

All of the ports have shopping right off the port but mostly the same thing everywhere, tshirts, and stuff. It is off the beaten path where you find nice local handmade items. Like HIlo, we drove around and found neat shopping away from the main roads

 

We did Smith's luau in Kauai, great time!

 

Really very easy to rent cars and drive on your own! Only trip we booked was Road to Hana, rest we did on our own

 

Join your roll call, there will be lots of ideas there

 

Bring a light wieght rain jacket as it will rain at sometime! Also we wore Keans, if it isn't rainy it is muddy and we did alot of hiking and keans were easy to wash off and dry compared to sneakers!

 

We also brought refillable water bottles

 

Do Pearl first thing in the morning so your wait is not too long and than you can drive to the North Shore afterwards, watch the surfers and eat at a shrimp truck!

[kingfish45]

Maui--rented a car and drove to Lahaina. Small town, does not take all day. I would suggest stopping at the Pacific Whale institute if the whales are in. There are a few beaches along the route. Maybe have a late lunch on Front St in Lahaina. See the Banyon tree etc. Grounds covered with things to buy. . We went to the Old Lahaina Laua. About $100 each. It is possible to park your car back at the ship overnight but space is limited. Second day--if you have a car you could drive to the volcano or Hana if you have the nerve

Kona-we just walked around town and explored, then had lunch.

Kauai-small island. We rented a car and drove to Hanalea stopped at the old light, and then had lunch at the old school house. Same day we drove to the canyon. Ship leaves early on second day.

Hilo--took volcano excursion but you could drive. Beautiful-but you do not see lava

Honolulu--went early. Parking can be very expensive on Wakiki. Actually took public transportation from Wakiki to palace. Royal Hawaiian band plays free on Fridays (noon) hiked to top of Diamond Head and I am old

Had a wonderful sunset meal at House without a key on Wakiki. We took the Pearl Harbor tour as an excursion from the ship. Recommended.

[slidergirl]

For Kailua-Kona, you can just walk along the breakwater and the main drag, Ali'i Drive. Plenty of tourist shops and places to eat. There is also a small royal palace, Hulihe'e Palace right there. For a beach, there is a small one there at the King Kam hotel. Or take the bus along Ali'i Drive down the street to Kahaluu Beach Park. It's a little cove with a small beach, but excellent snorkeling. It's where I go my first day in town just to get re-aquainted. I have always seen at least one turtle swimming around there. The water depth in the cove is not very deep at all. There is also a submerged rock wall out a ways that keeps the wave action out, making it a pretty easy spot to snorkel if you are not experienced. Even if you are experienced, it's a fun spot that you can do on your own.

[Budget Queen]

You may want to back up and look at many options. You state, you want to go to certain specific areas- but then ask what there is to do there? What is the reason you are considering them?

 

There is much more to see and do outside of the port areas. You already are receptive to car rentals.

 

This may very well be a "beach" priority for you? That is all?

[sandinmyshoes]

We splurged & rented a convertible for Oahu and will do it again when we go back in Dec. We also rented a Gypsy Guide which told us about all the sites we were passing as we drove and gave us options to stop at different places from Big Name touristy stops like the Dole Pineapple plantation to small Mom & Pop fruit stands and shrimp shacks. It was very informative and easy to use.

 

The highlight of having the car was driving to the North Shore and seeing the amazing beaches and champion surfers. We also saw several Sea Turtles on numerous beaches along the way. By renting a car, you not only get to see the North Shore you get to see the remarkable east side of the island as well. It has stunning small beaches and alcoves with lots of photo spots, the Kahula Ranch (we ended up doing a safari truck style tour here and saw the ranch, where Jurassic Park was shot, and lots of other things), a small Mac Nut forest and shop with great gifts, and many other sights worth seeing. The freedom the car offered us was invaluable. If you have the extra time, spend a night at Turtle Bay Resort. It is magical and has a wonderful beach and surf area. We stayed in their private cabana on the beach, which was amazing, but they also have a resort hotel on property for cheaper rates.

 

Either way, you will have a wonderful time. We can't wait to go back!

[jdavid]

A few posts down - posted our day by day trip. Hope you find some of the tips helpful in terms of timing. We had initially thought of doing the Crater sunrise and rented the car for two days because of that but Maui offers so many options we opted to not get up in the middle of the night and drive that scene. Have a great trip!!

[genealogyfan]

Here's what we did

 

The 1st day in Maui we booked a Road to Hana tour through Valley Isle Excursions - great way to see it, each bus holds 12 people, highly recommend

 

2nd day we rented a car and drove to West Maui along the coast. Ate lunch at the Hula Grill in Lahaina which was in the Whalers Village shopping area. Great place to stop - gorgeous beaches, easy parking in the parking lots and shopping. The Hula Grill was great - terrific view and good food - at the barefoot bar - sand on the ground. Good stores in the shopping area too.

 

In Hilo we rented a car and drove to the Volcano National Park Walked through the lava tube, crater and other stops. Ate at the Encounter restaurant, where a friend who lives in Hilo took us after going with us to the Park.

 

Wednesday (Kona) - didn't do any excursions, decided just to walk around Kona. Took the $2.00 trolley to the end and back. Walked around the shops. Ate at the Kona Inn which also had a fantastic view and good food.

 

Thursday (Kauai) - booked a tour with "Kauai Photo Tours" which I highly recommend. Excellent and you don't even need to be a photographer to enjoy the tour. We had a great guide who took us to all these places for great photos and places we would have never found ourselves - in neighborhoods, at the end of dead end streets, etc..

 

Booked through Roberts Hawaii for a luau that night - which was at the Smith Family Luau. Definitely recommend this luau - great gardens, food and show. Our guide on the photo tour said this particular luau was the best one in Kauai. We saw 5 or 6 huge buses take cruise ship passengers to another luau that they booked through the cruise. There were only about 25 of us from the cruise being bused via Roberts Hawaii, but the Smith Family luau was packed.

 

Friday (Kauai) - since this was a short day, we didn't book anything. Got up early and went to the beach (can catch a free shuttle to the small outdoor mall nearby - and can actually walk to it too). Then had lunch at Duke's another great view right at the beach and at the Marriott.

[Ilovesailing]

Google search engine can be your best friend.

There is also a travel book called "Hawaii by Cruise ship" by Ann Vipond that is very good and covers all ports stops and islands and is reasonably priced and not bulky to carry.

There are two editions, skip the one that covers Tahiti.

[emuangel]

Thanks for the ideas, love hearing them. Keep them coming.

 

We probably pretty set in our excursion choices, as we received a shore excursion credit from our TA and are looking at a 3 excursion package that 1 person's will be covered by the credit.

 

We are spending 2 days in Maui docking at Kahului. The first day we dock at 8am and will be having our rental car that day. So we've got all day/evening to drive around and see Maui. So that's definitely the port we are looking for more ideas.

 

Kona and Kauai's second day (only until 2pm), we would rather not rent a car if we can find stuff to do within walking distance, so want to see all we can that way.

 

Honolulu we will most likely come in the morning before the cruise (Friday), want to rent a car to drive around and do stuff, will either do a luau that night or the night the ship returns as we won't be leaving until the day after the cruise. The morning of the cruise we want to do Pearl Harbor (is it possible to do the half day package before lunch if we get the first tickets of the day?) then drop off the car adn go to the docks.