Electricx Posted October 27, 2022 #1 Share Posted October 27, 2022 Hello! I am hoping someone can help me out! My husband and I are new to Princess after having sailed with Carnival for a number of years. We just completed a Cruise to Mexico in the beginning of October, and we have had our cruise to Hawaii (Jan 16 out of SF) booked forever. We returning from Mexico, paid for Hawaii and buckled down to start booking our shore excursions. They are all sold out. They have one or two groups to the Pearl Harbour Museam (for example), sold out. Another volcano type trek / hike, with one group sold out. Pretty much everything is sold out. There is no wait list. I called Princess, and all they could say is that they noticed their Hawaii excursions drop off, but she didn't know if that was due to COVID or operators changing. All she could suggest was to wait and see if more pop up. I asked her how a ship of 4000 people only has ONE 40 person offering of a shore excursion, and she couldn't answer me. So I guess the question I pose to you all is, do more shore excursions show up or get populated closer to? I try not to compare Carnival to Princess too much, but I am getting a little frustrated that I am literally trying to give Princess money a number of times and no one is interested LOL. Any insight would be appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skynight Posted October 27, 2022 #2 Share Posted October 27, 2022 I would go to your roll call and see if you can join private tours. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloopsailor Posted October 27, 2022 #3 Share Posted October 27, 2022 18 minutes ago, Electricx said: I asked her how a ship of 4000 people only has ONE 40 person offering of a shore excursion, and she couldn't answer me. They only list 40 or so people, but there are often several busses for the same excursion. We booked our excursions early and the number did not change after our booking was confirmed, indicating that there are more availability than the initial number of people listed. Also, they typically leave a portion of the bookings unreserved so people can book them once on board. One other note: the parks department limits how many people can visit the Pearl Harbor sites on any given day. That means that these excursions sell out early. especially during the busy tourist season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paradiselivin1 Posted October 27, 2022 #4 Share Posted October 27, 2022 29 minutes ago, skynight said: I would go to your roll call and see if you can join private tours. Agree which if most often what we do but would suggest keeping an eye on the excursion daily (if possible) as we were able to book a Princess excursion recently for our cruise next August to Greenland when everything had been sold out and can only guess that someone canceled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickeyandLV Posted October 29, 2022 #5 Share Posted October 29, 2022 Check Tripadvisor and Viator. Search for shore excursions. We have booked excursions to Pearl Harbor before. The company we used is no longer in business due to Covid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiner6 Posted October 29, 2022 #6 Share Posted October 29, 2022 I cancelled 2 excursions to Pearl Harbor last night. I would read what others are saying first before booking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare PescadoAmarillo Posted October 29, 2022 #7 Share Posted October 29, 2022 (edited) https://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com/ has some nice port excursions for Hawaii cruises. DH did one just yesterday in Honolulu. Edited October 29, 2022 by PescadoAmarillo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donaldsc Posted October 29, 2022 #8 Share Posted October 29, 2022 Have you checked on private tours or group tours that are not done by the ship? You don't have to book ship sponsored tours. DON 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebe2m Posted October 29, 2022 #9 Share Posted October 29, 2022 In the many years with Princess we have never booked our excursions until a day or two before the port. Things have changed. We are going to Hawaii the end of January and a lot of the excursions are full. I've was able to book 3 excursions and am waitlisted on one. I don't know why things are different but it's worrisome for sure. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Coral Posted October 29, 2022 #10 Share Posted October 29, 2022 I am booked on a cruise soon that I booked this summer. The ship is only 2/3 full and all the good excursions were full by the time I booked the cruise 4 months out. I am doing mostly private tours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Paula_MacFan Posted October 29, 2022 #11 Share Posted October 29, 2022 We're going to Hawaii in January and many excursions have been sold out for months. We booked everything early and I'm glad we did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiliconCruiser Posted October 30, 2022 #12 Share Posted October 30, 2022 (edited) On 10/27/2022 at 8:11 AM, Electricx said: I am hoping someone can help me out! For all of the Hawaiian ports, take a look at what Roberts Tours has to offer. They are the largest tour operator in the islands and also contract with local municipalities for their local transit systems. They also contract with Princess for many of their excursions. Super nice people that embody the Aloha spirit. They know what they're doing and usually will be running their own tours that match the Princess tours. Don't buy that 'get you back to the ship on time ' line that Princess feeds you about them waiting for you. When Roberts offers an excursion directly, they will also only do it for one ship. So if the Roberts bus is late getting back to the port, the Princess tour that Roberts is contracted for will also be delayed (maybe even later.) We had an experience where they didn't have a 16 passenger mini-bus with a wheelchair lift (they said that Princess had taken it.) When I told them that the chair would fit in a baggage compartment, they said they could arrange that. The following morning, there was a 54 passenger bus for 16 passengers and a wheelchair! ... the Aloha spirit at work. Oh, we went through the entire Hawaiian cruise without booking a single excursion with Princess and were quite pleased with our experience with Roberts at all the ports. (except Oahu where we used DaBus.) Edited October 30, 2022 by SiliconCruiser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cr8tiv1 Posted October 30, 2022 #13 Share Posted October 30, 2022 (edited) @SiliconCruiserYou are spot on with Roberts and doing Hawaii on your own...with a few exceptions The night-time luaus, Polynesian Cultural Center after dark, Hana, and the north shore of Kauai. All of these have reservations due to traffic concerns. Most everything else is very doable on your own or with independent tour companies like Roberts. When I am "home", I give myself plenty of extra time due to traffic. Edited October 30, 2022 by cr8tiv1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ldtr Posted October 30, 2022 #14 Share Posted October 30, 2022 From what I have seen a number of the tour companies in various of the Hawaii Islands went out of business and/or dramatically reduced their staff during Covid. Especially noticeable on the big island and Kauai. Would not be surprised if this is impacting the number of tour slots that are available. Last spring when I did the Hawaii cruise noticed that several of the tours had changed with a noticeable drop off in quality compared to pre-Covid. Spent a couple of weeks in Kona at the end of September. Talked with some people I know in the tourism industry. They indicated that the number of people doing various tours is down substantially compared to pre-Covid, even with the number of tourists returning. A number of people that used to work in that area have totally left the islands due to lack of work during Covid, dramatic increases in housing costs, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrak Posted October 30, 2022 #15 Share Posted October 30, 2022 When we visited the Oklahoma we got tickets online for like $1 each. The place is actually free to visit but the tickets got us a time slot rather than having to just wait. Princess wanted something like $99 per person for the Arizona. We rented a car and the three of us made a full day of it for less than paying Princess just for the Arizona visit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ldtr Posted October 30, 2022 #16 Share Posted October 30, 2022 42 minutes ago, Thrak said: When we visited the Oklahoma we got tickets online for like $1 each. The place is actually free to visit but the tickets got us a time slot rather than having to just wait. Princess wanted something like $99 per person for the Arizona. We rented a car and the three of us made a full day of it for less than paying Princess just for the Arizona visit. Most of the excursion cost from Princess is the transportation cost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cr8tiv1 Posted October 30, 2022 #17 Share Posted October 30, 2022 1 hour ago, Thrak said: When we visited the Oklahoma we got tickets online for like $1 each. The place is actually free to visit but the tickets got us a time slot rather than having to just wait. Princess wanted something like $99 per person for the Arizona. We rented a car and the three of us made a full day of it for less than paying Princess just for the Arizona visit. Thrak is absolute correct in his description. Visiting the USS Arizona Memorial is one of the easiest things to do...but does require pre-planning. In addition to reserving tickets, the NPS has very strict what you can carry in to the park. If you just want to walk around the museums and view the Memorial from a distance, then nothing more is required. You will need a ticket for the movie, the launch, and to step on to the Memorial. https://www.nps.gov/perl/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissP22 Posted November 3, 2022 #18 Share Posted November 3, 2022 On 10/30/2022 at 12:08 AM, ldtr said: Most of the excursion cost from Princess is the transportation cost You always have the option of doing your own excursion and using the local bus transportation system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cr8tiv1 Posted November 3, 2022 #19 Share Posted November 3, 2022 (edited) 44 minutes ago, MissP22 said: You always have the option of doing your own excursion and using the local bus transportation system. Bus fare has gone up….haha. But you still can get a senior fare by showing your Medicare care. https://www.thebus.org/Fare/FareTran_Brochure_English.pdf Edited November 3, 2022 by cr8tiv1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roatanfans Posted November 5, 2022 #20 Share Posted November 5, 2022 We've done this cruise 3 times. We use Robert's Hawaii for excursions. They offer many of the same excursions as Princess at a discount. They are usually the company doing the Princess excursions, so quality is the same but often smaller groups. They also have a return to your ship guarantee if you are nervous about booking non ship excursions. Their tours are wonderful and we use them whenever we can. The one Princess excursion I can recommend if you want something a little more adventurous is ditch tubing in Kauai. My kids still talk about it and want to go back and do it again! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrak Posted February 6, 2023 #21 Share Posted February 6, 2023 I have absolutely no idea why I referenced the Oklahoma a couple of times above. I obviously meant the Arizona. It must have been an old man brain fart. My apologies to all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Rick&Jeannie Posted February 6, 2023 #22 Share Posted February 6, 2023 39 minutes ago, Thrak said: I have absolutely no idea why I referenced the Oklahoma a couple of times above. I obviously meant the Arizona. It must have been an old man brain fart. My apologies to all. Hey...we've all been there! 🙄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ldtr Posted February 6, 2023 #23 Share Posted February 6, 2023 40 minutes ago, Thrak said: I have absolutely no idea why I referenced the Oklahoma a couple of times above. I obviously meant the Arizona. It must have been an old man brain fart. My apologies to all. There is an Oklahoma memorial located on Ford Island as well https://www.nps.gov/places/uss-oklahoma-memorial.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrak Posted February 6, 2023 #24 Share Posted February 6, 2023 43 minutes ago, ldtr said: There is an Oklahoma memorial located on Ford Island as well https://www.nps.gov/places/uss-oklahoma-memorial.htm Yes, I know. That is likely the source of my error but I definitely meant the USS Arizona. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cr8tiv1 Posted February 6, 2023 #25 Share Posted February 6, 2023 Hawaii is so easy to on your own with some early planning. We speak (American) English. We are happy to take your dollars (no exchange rate for Americans). Our gas is cheaper than California. The weather is wonderful. You might even see a rainbow (anuenue) if you are lucky. Food is ono-licious. We drive on the “correct” side of the road. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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