Sailing POA - do we need to have activities booked

[ski_mom]

We are sailing on the POA this summer. Some of the things we know we want to do while in Hawaii: parasail, zipline, swim in a waterfall (if possible), take surf lessons, paddleboard... We are staying in Honolulu for 2 nights prior to the cruise and at Aulani for 4 nights after the cruise, so will have time to fit some things in on Ohau as well as the other islands.

 

I'm trying to do some research, but I don't know if I need to have these things lined up ahead of time, or if there will be places when we get off the ship to arrange what you're looking for like there are in the Caribbean islands.

 

I'm not good at setting a time for things and don't mind "winging" things, but I'm just nervous that we won't be able to arrange for our activities if we don't have them set up ahead of time in Hawaii.

 

I'd love any advice / experience anyone has! Thanks!

[punkincc]

We are sailing on the POA this summer. Some of the things we know we want to do while in Hawaii: parasail, zipline, swim in a waterfall (if possible), take surf lessons, paddleboard... We are staying in Honolulu for 2 nights prior to the cruise and at Aulani for 4 nights after the cruise, so will have time to fit some things in on Ohau as well as the other islands.

 

I'm trying to do some research, but I don't know if I need to have these things lined up ahead of time, or if there will be places when we get off the ship to arrange what you're looking for like there are in the Caribbean islands.

 

I'm not good at setting a time for things and don't mind "winging" things, but I'm just nervous that we won't be able to arrange for our activities if we don't have them set up ahead of time in Hawaii.

 

I'd love any advice / experience anyone has! Thanks!

 

 

It sounds like you will have plenty of time on O'ahu for things like paddle board, surf lessons, parasail, all things which hotels and beach vendors typically offer.

 

I would save my "port" time on the cruise to see the attractions on each island. Do some research on the web for what to see on each island, things like Waimea Canyon, Mt Haleakala, Volcano National Park, Road to Hana, whale watching, snorkeling trips, etc.

 

Hawaii is not like the Caribbean. You will want to have an advance plan. Car rentals are easy and cheap and get you to most everything, no tours needed. For those things you need a tour for, check out the ship excursions and use Trip Advisor or the boards here to find good private excursions which are superior to what the ship offers, and usually much cheaper. The ports are mostly industrial and with limited access. There are not vendors lined up like in the Caribbean, and besides, that is a crap shoot.

[cccole]

I agree that Hawaii is not like some other cruises where there are a lot of tour options holding signs when you get off the ship. My personal opinion would be to look at the ports, get an idea of what you want to do in those ports, and then look at your options. If you are not morning people but the only tours available when you get there are first thing in the morning it might not be an option.

 

Have you been on the roll call for your cruise? I have always found some very good info there. I totally understand "winging it" but also would not want to miss out on something we really wanted to do because my first choices are booked. Being over scheduled and crazy with a tight schedule is also a burden, hopefully you can find a happy medium. Have a great time, Cherie

[cb at sea]

Yes...if there are things you want to do..book in advance via the ship...or do some research and book privately...

[Freehike]

Book early, save yourself the pressure. This is a much different experience than the standard Caribbean cruise you've been on.

 

Aulani is great btw, I hope you enjoy it. We really liked that entire Ko'Olina area.

 

 

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[phillygirl63]

I was on POA a few years ago. Personally, given the limited time in port, I would never go on a cruise without some kind of plan of the most important things I wanted to see and do in each port. That way there is no wasted time. I'm actually an excessive planner, and have an itinerary figured out well in advance of the cruise. :) However, I do understand that some people don't care for such regimen. For Hawaii, I strongly suggest booking in advance car rentals and any helicopter or plane rides. Seeing Kawaii by plane was a highlight for us and was a great way to see all of the island.

 

Aulani was being built when we were staying in the Ko'olina Marriott next door, and it looked very nice. It's a bit out of the way though.

[ski_mom]

Well, I'm the poster originally posing the question as to what to have set up ahead of time. We are now back, so I thought I'd share my experience in case others have similar questions down the road.

 

To begin with, we had a great cruise / 2 weeks in Hawaii! It was with my family of 5, my sister and her 2 daughters and my mom, so it was an extended family of varying ages and everything went better than I could have expected!

 

That being said, the only thing from the list I had mentioned above that we actually did was the swimming in a waterfall. No one seemed to mind though as we were able to do so many amazing things that we had never experienced before.

 

Basically, the only things besides the hotel reservations that we had lined up ahead of time were the car rentals for each island. That went very smoothly and gave us the freedom to do what we wanted each day. We knew we were not going to book excursions because we felt it was just too costly with our group size. We felt we were able to drive the places we wanted to go on our own and that part definitely worked great! We had a pretty good idea of the things we wanted to see on each island and we used the touring apps (Gypsy when available and the Shaka app) for their suggestions as to where to stop along the way.

 

I think our mistake on the surfing was that we didn't just do it on our first 2 days at Waikiki. My daughter had read about a place in Maui where she really wanted to do it, so we were waiting for that, but when we got there, we found out they didn't do lessons on Sunday. I would have known that if I would have tried to book it ahead of time, but it turned out fine. We just enjoyed the beautiful beach without surf lessons!

 

The zip-lining and parasailing we just ended up deciding against because of time constraints of getting there and giving up time to do other things. We cruise in the Caribbean somewhat regularly and we just decided to do those things next time we're there.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions given above. We found that the Hawaiian ports definitely don't have the vendor offerings the way the Caribbean ports do though and you do have to have at least an idea of what you want to do each day or your day will quickly be wasted. If we had not at least known what places we wanted to see on each island, I think it would be difficult to figure it out once you got there. Even the maps from the car rental agencies don't necessarily give route suggestions.

 

So, in summary, everything went great without having lots lined up ahead of time, but I agree that you need at least somewhat of a plan for each island - or a couple of ideas and decide each night what you want to do the next day.