Summit-Hawaii excursion question

[Coolcruise02]

Have any of you done the ships whale watching excursion on Maui (Lahaina)? I know this is a tendering port and was concerned about booking an independent tour not knowing what time we might be off the ship. Normally we don't book ship excursions but I was thinking this might be a place to make an exception. It would be $10 more per person for the ship tour but we would get first tendering or the tour boat may come to our ship.

 

Is there anyone who as first hand experience? Thanks

[xtopher_66]

We had this same tour booked but never got to take it as we were notified of its cancellation after we got off the tender in Maui. There was an emergency of some sorts involving one of the tour operator's other boats. We found another tour from Pacific Whale Foundation and it turned out to be $10 less per person and was a very good tour. I'd highly receommend them.

 

We had booked the tour through Celebrity for the same reason you did, but we had time after the tour to do a little walking around Lahaina and got on the tender before the lines got too long.

 

Chris

[Coolcruise02]

PWF is who we were looking at booking with, but didn't know what time would be safe. If tendering starts at 7:00 with ships excursions getting first priority do you think 9:00 would be a good time?

 

It sounds like you were saying the ships excursion doesn't leave from the ship, but you are tendered to the pier and then meet your excursion boat.

[Senga]

We did the ships Lanai Wild Dolphin excursion on the Summit in March. Due to the terrible weather they had before our arrival they were unable to take us to Lanai and our tour ended up being a whale watching expedition. While we would much rather have seen dolphins we totally understood the reason for the change (murky waters with whale placenta is a breeding ground for sharks!) and enjoyed the experience. For a difference of only $10. I would recommend the ships tour which is also with the Pacific Whale Foundation. This way there's no guessing/estimating involved, everything is arranged for you.

[sal7202]

I would definately recommend a ships tour in Maui. We too were there in March 2006, and had our Lanai Wild Dolphin Swim converted to a whale watching tour with some snorkeling off the Maui coast. That was not a problem for us. Additionally, while getting off the ship and tendering to shore didn't seem to be a problem, returning to the ship was a real SNAFU.

 

The line for the tenders was emense, literally around the block, because the security people at the pier inept. Without exageration, we waited over an hour in the hot sun to board tenders while this security company's employees searched everyones bags by hand, and hand wanded every passenger before they could board the tenders. There were no magnatometers nor xray machines. I should note that this wasn't a TSA operation, but rather some fly by night local group who were obviously in over their heads. It reminded me of a Keystone Kops movie and would have been laughable if it wasn't for the fact that there were elderly people on line literally passing out from sunstroke. Celebrity had the good sense to have employees walking the line handing out cold towels and bottled water, but it had all the makings of a real disaster.

[ExRockyMountainGal]

W took the ship's tour when we sailed in January. The operator of the tour is the Pacific Whale Foundation. We had thought about booking with them independently, but really wanted to have the earlier trip. It also was the only way to get on one of the early tenders.

 

We saw lots of whales and had a great time. We also had time afterwards to walk around Lahaina before catching one of the last tenders back to the ship.

 

I hope you have a great time.