Hawaiian excursions

[didugger]

Can anyone suggest must see excursions for Hawaii?  We are in our 60’s so hiking is out. We have no problem walking !  We would like to see black sand, go to a luau and see Pearl Harbor. Have I missed anything Great?  Also did you use Carnival or an outside vendor.  Excursions seem to be a little pricey and I don’t want to make a mistake. Thanks. 

[Denverdonkeys]

Pearl Harbor can be booked outside the tour companies if you are on the ball. they sell a certain number of tickets to certain tour time slots directly from the National Parks. an uber is easy to get to there if you dont have a large party.

 

Hiking is the best on Kauai, which is what we did, so I dont have anything else to recommend. 

 

Not sure what islands you are visiting but we did a luau at Smith Family Luau on Kauai (lihue area). we didnt get the food part, just the show, but they have both options. we loved it.

 

We were there when the volcanoes were erupting, so we could not go to the volcano national park. but I wish we could have.

[leen50]

We used Roberts Hawaii in 2016. They were fabulous. On their website you click on your ship/date & they have a variety of tours for each of the ports. I heard that Carnival bought the Company so I don't know what has changed.

 

[Cushing985]

1 hour ago, didugger said:

Can anyone suggest must see excursions for Hawaii?  We are in our 60’s so hiking is out. We have no problem walking !  We would like to see black sand, go to a luau and see Pearl Harbor. Have I missed anything Great?  Also did you use Carnival or an outside vendor.  Excursions seem to be a little pricey and I don’t want to make a mistake. Thanks. 

 

We did that cruise out of San Diego onboard the Spirit back in 2014.  By far, my favorite!  My wife was born in Hawaii and I lived on Oahu for nine years and we go back to Maui (our favorite) every few years.  What we did back in 2014 was rent a car for all four islands.   There are alot of ideas on the internet for things to do and you can typically get tickets on-line that are cheaper than Carnival.  Roberts Hawaii is a good source.  The things we like to do are:

 

Oahu - Pearl Harbor, Waikiki, Sea Life Park, Diamond Head

Maui - Road to Hana (pretty much an all day thing but beautiful).  They even have a Black Sand Beach (although not the "famous" one on the Big Island)!  We also like to do some snorkeling.

Big Island - Volcano National Park (for us an all day affair)

Kauai - Not my favorite island but it is beautiful.  Hawaii's Grand Canyon is a must for first time visitors.  Seems to me we went kayaking there (not in the canyon 🙂).

 

Long post but hope it's helpful.  Google Hawaii Visitors Bureau.  They have a list of things to do on each island.  A very good site.  Another idea for your visit is to throw me in one of your suitcases and I'll give you a personal tour of each island!

Edited January 23, 2020 by Cushing985

[crzndeb]

There is a lot of information on the Ports of Call board also.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/37-hawaii/

[sunshinecruiser62]

We’re sailing out of San Diego to Hawaii on Miracle in October. Thank you for this info, its really appreciated.  How was the embarkation and debarkation experience in Dan Diego?

[Cushing985]

11 minutes ago, sunshinecruiser62 said:

We’re sailing out of San Diego to Hawaii on Miracle in October. Thank you for this info, its really appreciated.  How was the embarkation and debarkation experience in Dan Diego?

 

I thought it went pretty smoothly except for the "Walk-Thru" x-ray thing.  It kept going off when I tried to get through it to the point I offered to take all my clothes off.  The guy operating it finally gave up and just sent me through.

[cat shepard]

Hi

 

I am 65 and thought my post from my October - November, 2019 cruise might have some info you might find useful.

 

Ann

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SunshineGirl100]

we booked with both our ship and with a private company. we booked with our ship for Pearl Habor, it seems like everyone takes that tour and it was one of the cheaper tours our ship offered. it was a lot of people, but there was a lot of people at Pearl Harbor, so it was not really possible to skip the crowds anyways for this tour.  we booked with Hawaii Cruise Excursions for a volcanos park and swim tour for Hilo and a boat ride and beach day for Kona. Both tours had 6 of us on tour and were cheaper than our ships tours. our ship didn't even offer either of the tours we booked privately and it was great to get away from the crowds.

[Caribbean Chris]

One of the most enjoyable excursions we’ve ever taken was a Road to Hana ship’s tour a few years ago in a small bus. It was more $$$ than we usually spend, but so worth it. The scenery was everything li had imagined to find in Hawaii, and it was the highlight of our cruise. Our tour included a very good lunch (anything on the menu) at Hana Ranch. We returned via the “back way” on bad roads with different scenic views, rather than back-tracking. The guide did a great job and gave a good commentary without being intrusive. It was a full day, and I felt that we received good value for the cost.

 

Yes, you could rent a car for much less, but the driver will have to keep eyes on the road and navigate numerous curves and one-way bridges, as well as be responsible to get back to return the car and reach the ship on time.

[AKJonesy]

Depends on your time in ports.  In Honolulu we have almost two days so one of those we are renting a car.  There is car rental within walking distance of the port.  We've done Pearl and all of the highlights.  If you want to do something in addition to Pearl and have a long port day then you might consider renting a car.  If you have only one port day, it might be easier to do an excursion.  Traffic in Honolulu is bad.  

[Darstime]

We just want to go to a place to swim in the sea what’s the best place to do that?