Excursion in Hawaii cruise

[esper10]

Hi all, hope I can get some help. We are taking the emerald princess to Hawaii in April. I was trying to call princess for excursions but they don’t answer so I thought may be you all can help me. I’m trying to sigh up for an island tour in Maui, Hilo and Kauai. I’m looking for around 4-5 hours mostly in the bus easy to moderate. Any recommendations? Also I have to have surgery in the beginning of March so if from any reason I can’t make the cruise will they refund my excursion money back, I do have insurance. Thank you

[TheRabbit]

One option is to rent a car. It is easy in most ports except Honolulu.

[voljeep]

are the excursions listed in your Cruise Personalizer when you log into your cruise on the Princess website ?

[coo359a2]

Check your "personalizer" on Princess website for your Hawaii cruise.  It should list all the tours (with level of activity)  for each port that you reserve.  If you have sufficient on board credit,  your on board credit will cover the cost of tours.  

 

Don't know the correct answer if you have to pay with your credit card to book the tours.

[esper10]

10 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

Check your "personalizer" on Princess website for your Hawaii cruise.  It should list all the tours (with level of activity)  for each port that you reserve.  If you have sufficient on board credit,  your on board credit will cover the cost of tours.  

 

Don't know the correct answer if you have to pay with your credit card to book the tours.

it is listed and I see the level but not sure what is an island tour of them I thought may be someone did this kind of cruise and can recommend an excursion. Not able to rent a car

[AF-1]

If you have the Princess Insurance and cancel your cruise due to medical issues; there is a refund chart that you will go by

[coo359a2]

7 minutes ago, esper10 said:

it is listed and I see the level but not sure what is an island tour of them I thought may be someone did this kind of cruise and can recommend an excursion. Not able to rent a car

We have done this cruise several times and will be on the 30 March Emerald cruise also.  Not sure Princess has a complete island tour that circles each island. 

I can tell you  our favorite places - 

National Park in Hilo,  Arizona Memorial  and Diamond Head in Honolulu, Waimea Canyon in Kauai.  We did these either by renting a car or taking the city bus in Honolulu.  Princess has these sites for their tours.  For Maui, we have only   done private tours - waterfall hike and zipline.  Considering Haleakala Crater (with Princess)  for Maui on this cruise.  I wouldn't do a whale watching tour on Maui as they should already be on their way to Alaska by mid April

 

[Kartgv]

When you look at the excursions online, there should be a button called "Details" or something similar, or maybe "More information".    They're usually quite detailed descriptions.    What exactly do you mean by an "island tour"?   You won't find anything that covers the whole island - it's usually specific stops/attractions.     You might post on the Hawaii board under "Ports of Call" and list what you specifically want to see,    

[2theship]

When we did that cruise, we booked some of our tours through Roberts Hawaii. On their web page, under the "More" tab, you'll see a listing for shore excursions; you can enter your specific cruise and they'll tell you what's available.

[tailspintom]

1 hour ago, esper10 said:

Hi all, hope I can get some help. We are taking the emerald princess to Hawaii in April. I was trying to call princess for excursions but they don’t answer so I thought may be you all can help me. I’m trying to sigh up for an island tour in Maui, Hilo and Kauai. I’m looking for around 4-5 hours mostly in the bus easy to moderate. Any recommendations? Also I have to have surgery in the beginning of March so if from any reason I can’t make the cruise will they refund my excursion money back, I do have insurance. Thank you

I have used the big box store store excursion provider on the Hawaii cruise(s). They provide a smaller group size for all of the islands with excellent guides.  They likewise will reimburse you upon notification if you do not make the cruise.  Their pricing is similar to Princess but the tours are in smaller groups with the ability to semi-customize according to the wishes of the group as a whole.

[BarbinMich]

Advice so far is good.  We've spent many 10-14 day visits to the islands and always rent condo apts on two islands each visit (Hawaii air is very inexp. to get between islands).  While I know you're cruising and will only have one day per island, here are my recommendations for sightseeing:  Kauai:  Waimea Canyon (similar to our Grand Canyon, just smaller); Honolulu (Oahu):  Arizona Memorial, but that doesn't take more than a few hours; Maui (I like snorkeling there):  Haleakela (10,000 ft dormant volcano), assuming you're docking at Lahaina, I would take a ship's tour, because the traffic south of there is horrendous (or can be) in the afternoon; the Big Island:  Hilo itself is interesting IMHO (we've stayed there for a few nites); Kona is good for snorkeling if you enjoy that like I do; don't know current status of Volcano National Park but that area is very interesting.  Enjoy!

[JF - retired RRT]

Kauai doesn't work well for a "circle" island tour. The main road (actually any road) doesn't go all the way around the island.

There's HOHO tour that you can easily grab at the Anchor Cove shopping center. It's approximately 2 blocks from the ship.

You can also take the bus. A ticket costs $1. Not sure if you'd need transfers after you get on. It would basically be a bus ride West and another bus ride East. To drive those 2 directions is 45 minutes to one hour going out. Coming back (if it's "rush" hour) tack on another 30-45 minutes for the East route. The but would obviously take longer.

When we lived there we used the "Lihue shuttle" all the time (25 cents for seniors). It circles around Lihue. It's an easy way to see the main town.

[AF-1]

2 hours ago, BarbinMich said:

Advice so far is good.  We've spent many 10-14 day visits to the islands and always rent condo apts on two islands each visit (Hawaii air is very inexp. to get between islands).  While I know you're cruising and will only have one day per island, here are my recommendations for sightseeing:  Kauai:  Waimea Canyon (similar to our Grand Canyon, just smaller); Honolulu (Oahu):  Arizona Memorial, but that doesn't take more than a few hours; Maui (I like snorkeling there):  Haleakela (10,000 ft dormant volcano), assuming you're docking at Lahaina, I would take a ship's tour, because the traffic south of there is horrendous (or can be) in the afternoon; the Big Island:  Hilo itself is interesting IMHO (we've stayed there for a few nites); Kona is good for snorkeling if you enjoy that like I do; don't know current status of Volcano National Park but that area is very interesting.  Enjoy!

What do you mean by Waimea Canyon is similar to our grand canyon? shouldn't it state similar to the grand canyon. They are the 50th state.

[polmcs]

5 hours ago, coo359a2 said:

Considering Haleakala Crater (with Princess)  for Maui on this cruise. 

 

We did this Princess tour on a cruise back in Dec 13. I now know what the inside of a cloud looks like! 😉 We couldn’t see anything as the cloud layer dropped to a few thousand feet below the summit of the crater. 

[coo359a2]

39 minutes ago, polmcs said:

We did this Princess tour on a cruise back in Dec 13. I now know what the inside of a cloud looks like! 😉 We couldn’t see anything as the cloud layer dropped to a few thousand feet below the summit of the crater. 

Bummer!  That's one reason I haven't booked yet.  People who have had clear weather said they liked it.

[esper10]

Thank you all, love the ideas. When I said island tour I didn’t mean to go around the whole island but more like sitting in the bus for most of the excursion and see the important sights. I hope I will get more ideas the public bus sounded good also.

[polmcs]

32 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

Bummer!  That's one reason I haven't booked yet.  People who have had clear weather said they liked it.

Yes, me and the weather in HI aren’t on speaking terms! I’ve done the HI circle cruise out of LA twice now with the intent on taking a helicopter tour on the Big Island over the volcano and lava flows. The first time we arrived in a Kona, it was absolutely bucketing down, so the flight was immediately cancelled. The second cruise, we booked the helicopter tour as part of a HI BBQ/waterfall/helicopter tour. We ended up doing the land tour first in perfect sunshine and actually got to the airport this time, checked in, got weighed, assigned to a helicopter, only for them to cancel before we boarded as the clouds rolled in. We ended up getting bussed back early to the ship. Of course, 30 mins later the clouds lifted and as we sat on our balcony with a consoling cocktail, we could see the later helicopter flights buzzing around. At least I got to see AF1 at the airport as President Obama and family were vacationing on the island over the Christmas holiday, so some consolation. 

 

Maui and the low cloud cover a few days later after that was just a kick in the you know where! 😭

 

Attempt number three will be over Thanksgiving this year! 🚁 

[BarbinMich]

All of our trips to Hawaii, except the first, were in January [we live in Michigan <g>] and weather has been wonderful.  Our first trip was a cruise around the islands on the long-defunct Amer. Hawaii Line (went bankrupt during a bad recession) in April 1994.  Hilo is on the rainy side of the Big Island and we had rain the days we stayed there, but not all the time.

 

On 2/10/2020 at 7:35 PM, AF-1 said:

What do you mean by Waimea Canyon is similar to our grand canyon? shouldn't it state similar to the grand canyon. They are the 50th state.

I was surprised to see such a canyon in Hawaii (we had already seen the Grand Canyon in AZ).  Each island in the chain has unique feature(s):  Kauai has Waimea Canyon, Oahu has Diamond Head, Maui has Mt. Haleakela, the Big Island has Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.  And, of course, all have wonderful beaches and other beautiful scenery.  As I believe I said earlier, we have spent 10-14 days in many January's over the years, staying on two islands each stay and since DH doesn't snorkel or lie in the sun as I like to do, we have done a lot of sightseeing, mostly on our own with a rental car.

[AF-1]

BarbinMich,  I thank you for the reply.  I lived in Hawaii for five years;  Know all the islands well.  Have fun out there.

[swe9742]

We are on the same cruise.  We have booked a Road to Hana tour through Princess as everyone tells us that is the thing to do in Maui, if you've never been.  We have also booked a Pearl Harbor tour through Viator as a backup in case I can't get Arizona tickets on line when the booking window opens.  Last I checked the ones through Princess were all sold out.  In Hilo Volcano National Park is good, lots of local tour companies or rent a car, it is a beautiful drive and you can stop at the Macadamia Nut farm.  We plan to rent a car and go to the Botanical Garden as this is the only island we've been to and saw most everything, except the botanical garden.  I've also heard that Roberts is a good company to book through.  Hope this helps