Hawaii cruise tour

[marnie2005]

Can anyone give some details on the Pearl Harbour tour that’s offered by NCL and part of the cruise tour…thank you!

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, marnie2005 said:

Can anyone give some details on the Pearl Harbour tour that’s offered by NCL and part of the cruise tour…thank you!

We took this tour several years ago.  Things may have changed since then, but when we disembarked from the ship, they placed our luggage in the storage bin under the bus, we got onto the bus, and they first took us on a tour of Honolulu, with a brief photo stop at the Iolani Palace and a drive by the national cemetery.  Then it was off to Pearl Harbor for several hours of touring the visitor's center, with time to take the harbor cruise to the Arizona memorial.  Then it was back on the bus for our drop-off at the airport.  Many of the flights to the mainland depart late in the afternoon, but you should verify the schedule before you sign up for the tour.

[marnie2005]

Thank you for your reply! The cruise tour is actually 3 nights and 4 days prior to the cruise. So the Pearl Harbour tour is I believe on day 2. I’m wondering what the tour consists of, would the Arizona Memorial be part of this?

[MeHeartCruising]

2 hours ago, marnie2005 said:

Thank you for your reply! The cruise tour is actually 3 nights and 4 days prior to the cruise. So the Pearl Harbour tour is I believe on day 2. I’m wondering what the tour consists of, would the Arizona Memorial be part of this?

 

Is this the tour?  If so, the fine print at the bottom of the page says "Note: Due to group ticketing restrictions, A visit to the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor is not included."

 

https://www.ncl.com/hawaii-cruisetours/oahu-explorer

 

Perhaps the tickets can still be purchased on site individually.

[GreenFamily]

If you are staying in a hotel, why wouldn’t you book a private tour from Waikiki that includes the Arizona Memorial? FYI: it’s impossible to get tickets on your own because the tour companies buy them all. 
 

The Hanauma Bay snorkeling tour is a lot of fun. 
 

If you are traveling during the winter, check out the Waimea Bay wave forecast. The record wave was 85 ft! It’s a thrill to watch the big wave surfers.

Edited November 30, 2022 by GreenFamily

[The Traveling Man]

8 hours ago, marnie2005 said:

Thank you for your reply! The cruise tour is actually 3 nights and 4 days prior to the cruise. So the Pearl Harbour tour is I believe on day 2. I’m wondering what the tour consists of, would the Arizona Memorial be part of this?

Sorry, I must have misread your earlier post.  The only NCL tour we have taken in Honolulu was the post-cruise tour to Pearl with drop-off at the airport.  I thought that was the one you were asking about.  On that trip to Hawai'i, we also spent about three days in Honolulu prior to the cruise and booked a number of excursions on our own.  That gave us the flexibility to pick the tours that really interested us, rather than rely on NCL to decide when and where to go.

[misspCO]

Arizona Memorial tickets can be purchased ahead of time on Reservation.gov    I don't know if the NCL excursion will allow time for the Arizona if you have your own ticket.  

 

We have one extra day in Honolulu prior to our cruise so we are going to try to get Arizona tickets and also purchase a tour from a tour company independent of NCL.  I'm trying to figure out the timing and logistics.  

 

[GreenFamily]

1 hour ago, misspCO said:

Arizona Memorial tickets can be purchased ahead of time on Reservation.gov    I don't know if the NCL excursion will allow time for the Arizona if you have your own ticket.  

 

We have one extra day in Honolulu prior to our cruise so we are going to try to get Arizona tickets and also purchase a tour from a tour company independent of NCL.  I'm trying to figure out the timing and logistics.  

 

Make sure your tour includes access to the USS Arizona. The tour companies get most of the reservations due to an arrangement with the park service. It would be a shame to miss this. 

[Paula_MacFan]

1 hour ago, GreenFamily said:

Make sure your tour includes access to the USS Arizona. The tour companies get most of the reservations due to an arrangement with the park service. It would be a shame to miss this. 

 

We were able to easily get USS Arizona tickets a few days ago on Reservation.gov.  Per the site: Reservations are released daily at 3 p.m. HST in two windows: 24-hours and 8-weeks in advance. So for example on January 1, tickets were released for January 2 and February 26.  

Tickets are $1.  

 

We are leaving in 6 weeks and everyone on our roll call was able to easily get the USS Arizona tickets.  There are many reports of people getting on the stand-by line the day of and getting tickets as well. 

 

As far as the NCL Hawaii land tour, here is the brochure with all the details including schedule. 

 

 

Hawaiiupdated111014.pdf

[fc123]

I am trying to help my dad with his Hawaii trip.  He is looking at the NCL Cruisetour and we saw that the USS Arizona was not included as part of the Pearl Harbor Tour.  This is something he really wants to see.  It sounds like you were able to get your own USS Arizona tickets on Reservation.gov and meet back with the group later in the day.  Can you tell me what time you had for your Arizona tickets and how that worked.  Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

[cruiser2015]

17 minutes ago, fc123 said:

I am trying to help my dad with his Hawaii trip.  He is looking at the NCL Cruisetour and we saw that the USS Arizona was not included as part of the Pearl Harbor Tour.  This is something he really wants to see.  It sounds like you were able to get your own USS Arizona tickets on Reservation.gov and meet back with the group later in the day.  Can you tell me what time you had for your Arizona tickets and how that worked.  Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

According to the brochure in post # 9, a visit to the Arizona Memorial is included.

[cruiser2015]

On 11/29/2022 at 2:19 PM, marnie2005 said:

Can anyone give some details on the Pearl Harbour tour that’s offered by NCL and part of the cruise tour…thank you!

You can review the helpful brochure posted by Paula_MacFan.

 

I would compare pricing of this cruise tour to your own booking options. These tours are convenient and will include transfers, but tend to be very expensive.

 

We sailed the POA several years ago. Booked 4 nights pre-cruise on Waikiki at the Hyatt Regency. Good location in the middle of the area.

The brochure says they use the Marriott. I stayed there in 1978 for a week (it was called the Hawaiian Regent back then). Only issue there is it is at the far end of Waikiki, so not as close to some shopping and restaurants  - a bit more of a walk.

I booked a Pearl Harbor tour, but I don't recall with what company. It was most of the day, included the Arizona memorial, time on the Missouri and visits to other highlights.

Did the Polynesian Cultural Center, purchased directly from the Center on their website - had the best pricing, choices of tours with/without food, and there were add-ons available. We took one the toured parts of the island's center and then to the Center for the rest of the day, through their evening show and then back to our hotel.

Took a cab to the pier on embarkation day.

 

If you do your own arrangements, you can choose whatever hotel you like and, I'll wager, save a lot of money. 

[bonvoyagie]

in 2006 we did the POA cruise, stayed at the Marriott, bought the tickets to the PCC and spent one day there. We also purchased an NCL pre cruise tour that covered the Honolulu Highlights plus Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial before boarding the ship. Our luggage was stored under the bus during the trip. At that time if you booked your pre cruise stay with NCL they would haul your luggage to the ship for you. Again we opted to buy our own airfare that had direct flights from our city to Honolulu and arranged our own transportation to the hotel.

[fc123]

Unfortunately, NCL does not include the USS Arizona as part of their stop at Pearl Harbor any longer.  They specifically state on the website, "Due to group ticketing restrictions, A visit to the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor is not included."  My Dad is 80 and traveling by himself. Staying with the tours offered by NCL as part of the 3-day pre-trip Cruisetour is the best option from a convenience standpoint. We were hoping for him to still see the USS Arizona even if not included on the Cruisetour.  If they just give you 5-6 hours at Pearl Harbor and say to meet back at 4:00 pm, he could just skip one of the other museum/ships  and meet back at the designated spot.  This sounded like what maybe was done in Post #9 and I was hoping for more details on how that worked. Thanks again.

[usually happy cruiser]

Were you able to figure a way to visit the USS Arizona Memorial from the 3 day pretrip?

[carohs]

On 10/27/2023 at 1:24 PM, cruiser2015 said:

If you do your own arrangements, you can choose whatever hotel you like and, I'll wager, save a lot of money.

I agree. We booked a couple extra nights in Waikiki and did both PH and PCC and saved a lot compared to the NCL package. The NCL package doesn't include Ha at the PCC either, which we really wanted to see. We also were able to make Arizona reservations ahead of time on release day. Had our choice of time slots, too, although we weren't restricted by tour times. 

[Kp125]

You just need to reserve a time for the Arizona during the tour time. The company running recreation.gov gets paid per reservation so they don’t allow the tour companies to get it for you.