Road To Hana Excursion

[cr8tiv1]

15 hours ago, Aesop081 said:

I'm plugging the Vanilla Macadamia Nut.  To die for.  Had one at Queen ??????? mall in Kahalui with chewy caramel in with the vanilla Mac...oh oh oh...my

 

This is for independent travelers (not Princess cruisers):  Better than ice cream is Guri Guri at the Maui Mall.  Only one in the STATE.  https://www.mauimall.com/store/tasaka-guri-guri/

 

Kahului (across from the other port/near the airport)

 

[talltyson]

I was there for a week.  We had a Jeep, and drove to Hana and then around the whole southern part of the island on past Palapala Ho‘omau Congregational Church.  There is also a nice stop with water falls, seven sacred pools at ohe'o right before the church.  If yo u must take a tour, i would check and see if they go to these stops.

 

You can see the Big Island on a clear day.  Not much around the southern part of the island, no true citys and one service point (more of a tourist shack, fill up with gas before leaving Hana).  But was cool to do, pretty and landscapes changed often.  Once back on the western part of the island, we went up to the top of haleakala.  I don't know how long you have, and its a pretty long road trip, but that was an awesome day, and probably my best memory of Hawaii out of two week plus trips.  You cold cut out Haleakala to save time.

[GloriaF]

We rented a car and drove a portion of the Road to Hana, but we both said we would take an excursion next time.....we felt that although it was nice to stop when we wanted, the driver missed much scenery when the car was moving bc the road takes concentration.  

 

I think you are doing the right thing with an excursion.  With a ship excursion, the ship will wait for your excursion to return or take responsibility for getting you back to the ship.

Edited February 18, 2019 by GloriaF

[MauiLvrs]

On 2/13/2019 at 12:05 PM, Syracusefan44 said:

Thanks so much for all the information.  We decided to book the 8 passenger limo van thru Princess. 🛳️

I would never consider booking Hana except through Princess...

Good choice...

Have a great excursion.

[Desert Cruizers]

We spent 3 days on Maui so had the time to drive all over which is really a good way to see Hana and the rest of the Island. 

[Micahs Grandad]

We always do private tours but for this one did it thru Princess and was an awesome excursion.

 

Did get somewhat carsick on the way down but after a few stops was fine.

 

Would do it in a smaller vehicle if possible as you want to make lots of stops.

[strobellayjam]

On 2/12/2019 at 3:15 PM, Syracusefan44 said:

My wife and I are taking our first cruise to Hawaii out of San Francisco on April 21st.

 

We were hoping we could get some input on which Road to Hana excursion to book from passengers who have taken these excursions in the past.  We always book excursions through Princess and they offer one excursion Hana Road Adventure & Picnic in an 8 passenger limo van (9 hours) and a second excursion Adenture to Hana on a 20 passenger bus (9.75 hours).

 

 

@Syracusefan44 I know this thread is from a while ago and you have long returned from your cruise but wondering if you could share some insight into the Road to Hana Princess excursion?  My DH and I are contemplating this excursion as well for our March trip. 

[Desert Cruizers]

30 minutes ago, strobellayjam said:

 

@Syracusefan44 I know this thread is from a while ago and you have long returned from your cruise but wondering if you could share some insight into the Road to Hana Princess excursion?  My DH and I are contemplating this excursion as well for our March trip. 

We did this trip a long time ago but rented a car. and were on the island 3 days, staying up in Hana.  From which Port will you be leaving from, If Lahaina, it is a lot of driving but a beautiful trip. How long are you in Port. 

[Papa Yoda]

 

We've done the 8 passenger limo van and absolutely loved it.  The van picks you up right by the tender pier. The guide is terrific. You stop often enough.  If weather permits you may be able to swim in waterfall pools or at the black sand beach.  We had cool rainy weather and it was still one of our favorite excursions.  Ice Cream as noted and Aunty Sandy's Banana Bread.

[mcrcruiser]

We has a mini van & our daughter drove .There was 8 of us  . Such gorgeous scenery ,the way Hawaii was hundreds if years ago . 

 We had kobe hamburgers in Hana ;which were sort of pricy but delicious 😀

 We bought several prints of the scenes & framed them .A nice  look back . 

Edited January 3, 2020 by mcrcruiser

[mcrcruiser]

We are doing a 18 night Hawaii from San diego Round Trip  on holland america Koningsdam ,Nov 3 ,2020  We have 2 days on Oahu/honolulu port & 2 days in Maui /Lahania port  .A great cruise to do the road to Hana  in a  rental car or mini van 

[strobellayjam]

9 hours ago, Desert Cruizers said:

We did this trip a long time ago but rented a car. and were on the island 3 days, staying up in Hana.  From which Port will you be leaving from, If Lahaina, it is a lot of driving but a beautiful trip. How long are you in Port. 

We arrive in Lahaina and are in port from 7AM - 6PM. We did this same cruise many years ago and found with the rendering process (even on priority tender), car rental process, and all it will cutting it too close for doing the Road to Hana on our own. Hence why we will be booking with Princess directly. Just deciding between the smaller group excursion vs larger group. 

[strobellayjam]

9 hours ago, Ferd Berfle said:

 

We've done the 8 passenger limo van and absolutely loved it.  The van picks you up right by the tender pier. The guide is terrific. You stop often enough.  If weather permits you may be able to swim in waterfall pools or at the black sand beach.  We had cool rainy weather and it was still one of our favorite excursions.  Ice Cream as noted and Aunty Sandy's Banana Bread.

Thanks for the feedback! Did the guide make any impromptu additional photo stops along the way given it’s a more personalized tour and with fewer people? In comparing the 8 passenger limo excursion with the 20 passenger mini bus excursion, it seems the former makes fewer “official” stops. 

[BarbinMich]

I commented on this topic early on, but did not say that I wouldn't do it from Lahaina except on a ship excursion because the traffic south of Lahaina, going north can get backed up and if you're in a rental car you could miss the ship.  As I said earlier we did it while staying in Kahului (airport area).  But we have stayed at various rentals north of Lahaina and the traffic on that road, at least when it was just 2 lanes (may now be wider) could be horrendous in the late afternoon.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Many years ago (around 1990 or so) my wife and I spent a week in Maui and did the Road to Hana on our own.  Reading through this thread makes me realize that things MUST have changed quite a bit!  We did the typical tourist bit and rented a convertible.  (I believe it was a Camaro...not sure.)  One of the first things the rental agent said was "Do not take this car all the way around the "great circle" on the Road to Hana!"  We were so uninformed that we didn't even know that it made an entire loop around the island.  We had only heard that "The Road to Hana is great".  Well, that was when I was of the age that 1) I can do anything and 2) thinking, "Hey, it's a road so any car should be just fine!"

 

Looking back, I totally understand why the agent said this.  If the posters in this thread are saying that they now allow buses to travel the entire loop, then they absolutely have done major improvements to the less traveled portion.  There is no way a bus could have made it through the entire second half.  It was REALLY rough.  There were many spots where I could go no faster that 5-7 mph...no exaggeration.  So...it sounds very much like significant improvements have been made.  Of course...it may still be the same where the first half of the loop is considered the "Road to Hana" (technically correct) and the second half is not done on excursions.

 

Oh...and it took the better part of a day.  We left probably around 9:00am and it was beginning to get dark when we finally made it back to "civilization".  It was a demanding trip for us...but we absolutely loved it!

[sttopmh]

11 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Many years ago (around 1990 or so) my wife and I spent a week in Maui and did the Road to Hana on our own.  Reading through this thread makes me realize that things MUST have changed quite a bit!  We did the typical tourist bit and rented a convertible.  (I believe it was a Camaro...not sure.)  One of the first things the rental agent said was "Do not take this car all the way around the "great circle" on the Road to Hana!"  We were so uninformed that we didn't even know that it made an entire loop around the island.  We had only heard that "The Road to Hana is great".  Well, that was when I was of the age that 1) I can do anything and 2) thinking, "Hey, it's a road so any car should be just fine!"

 

Looking back, I totally understand why the agent said this.  If the posters in this thread are saying that they now allow buses to travel the entire loop, then they absolutely have done major improvements to the less traveled portion.  There is no way a bus could have made it through the entire second half.  It was REALLY rough.  There were many spots where I could go no faster that 5-7 mph...no exaggeration.  So...it sounds very much like significant improvements have been made.  Of course...it may still be the same where the first half of the loop is considered the "Road to Hana" (technically correct) and the second half is not done on excursions.

 

Oh...and it took the better part of a day.  We left probably around 9:00am and it was beginning to get dark when we finally made it back to "civilization".  It was a demanding trip for us...but we absolutely loved it!

We were in Maui in 2014 and rented a Mustang convertible. Our rental agent specifically told us that the vehicle was not to be driven on the other side of Hana. We did drive the Road to Hana and stayed at a hotel there. Coming back the way we went, returning to civilization a few days later. We enjoyed it, but not sure that I would do it again.

[Papa Yoda]

4 hours ago, strobellayjam said:

Thanks for the feedback! Did the guide make any impromptu additional photo stops along the way given it’s a more personalized tour and with fewer people? In comparing the 8 passenger limo excursion with the 20 passenger mini bus excursion, it seems the former makes fewer “official” stops. 

 

They stop at all the "good" spots, but will stop pretty much wherever requested.  Picnic lunch is at Hana Bay Beach Park.

 

And it does not go past Hana, just there and back, nor does it go to Lindbergh's grave.

Edited January 3, 2020 by Ferd Berfle

[bookmama22]

My  husband and I did the road to Hana a few years ago when staying on Maui and we were given an SUV at car rental place as the entire car rental place was non-functional because their systems were down and so you were given the next available car no matter what you had reserved. Not only was this car not fun to drive on the Road to Hana because no shoulders and many one way bridges that require you to back up.. Hana itself and the Road to Hana was one of the most overrated destinations I've ever experienced. The road was in serious disrepair, no place to pull over at the sites that are suggested, No Trespassing signs all over the place, school buses, soda delivery trucks, lumber trucks coming at you in the other lane, no restroom facilities over than one park but only 2 parking spaces there, not much going on in Hana to see. I do understand that if you stay in Hana overnight you can see bamboo forest and more but if only driving the road for the day no time really to do that. We had to leave the Hyatt Regency in Lahaina early to drive to the beginning of the Road to Hana after stopping for breakfast. The best part of the day was seeing a beautiful beach with many surfers before you get on the actual Road to Hana.  Never again for me!

[bookmama22]

Also Hana Beach Park had a pier that was blocked off from walking on because in serious disrepair. It is a lovely cove however not worth the time it took us to drive there.  Of course anytime in Hawaii you can have a torrential downpour and we had one while we there huddled under a tin roof shelter

[Micahs Grandad]

We always do private excursions.

 

For Road to Hana we did it thru Princess on the smaller van and had a great time. No way would I want to drive that road myself. Not to mention way to likely to run into traffic and miss the ship.

[brenton]

We are looking into the 8 person van one as well and are particularly interested in the black sand beach at Wai'anapanapa State Park.  Did you get to actually walk around on the beach?  Or just look at it from afar?

[Treasure Hunter]

On 2/13/2019 at 3:05 PM, Syracusefan44 said:

Thanks so much for all the information.  We decided to book the 8 passenger limo van thru Princess. 🛳️

Y

 

On 2/15/2019 at 12:59 PM, Cruiserkenn said:

 

Sounds fantastic!  Thanks for mentioning😌🌝🍦🍨🍧⛴

 

You will love it. Take a Bonine before you leave. I’m glad you booked the van, much more comfortable as it is closer to the road and makes more stops. Especially the seven sisters waterfalls. The bus trip makes less stops as they need the extra time for the endless pit stop. 

[Papa Yoda]

2 hours ago, brenton said:

We are looking into the 8 person van one as well and are particularly interested in the black sand beach at Wai'anapanapa State Park.  Did you get to actually walk around on the beach?  Or just look at it from afar?

 

 

Yes you wander down some stairs to the black sand beach - sand that is more like gravel - and you can walk through lava tubes

[Papa Yoda]

Our funny story about this tour was that as we were about to board,  a couple literally elbowed us out of their way to get by claiming they were ahead of us in line.  Turns out they got a full van and we who were elbowed got a van with 2 empty  seats and extra elbow room!  Our driver/guide was also excellent, his name is Michael.

[caribill]

On 1/3/2020 at 2:45 PM, Micahs Grandad said:

No way would I want to drive that road myself.

 

Not while on a cruise, but I did do that drive myself.

 

Having lived in WV, I was quite used to curvy roads. The speed limit was 25 (if I remember correctly). I wanted to go 10 MPG faster than the limit and other tourists were doing 10 MPH less than the limit.

 

I did read in the paper two days later that a local resident had died on that road after going off a cliff.