Island Questions

[teddycruzr]

We are sailing on the IP 4/11/07 and I have a couple of questions I hope someone can help me with. We are in a Dolphin mini suite and I'm wondering if there is a safe in the cabin? Also I see we can pre-reserve our shore excursions....do you have to prepay them when you make the reservation or are you charged for them on the ship when you confirm or take the trip? Any other tips you can share will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[PEFER33]

teddycruzr,

Yes, there is a small safe in the closet. It's roughly 15 in. by 12 in. by 6 in. high. Ours used a four digit code to lock and unlock the door. Shore excursions are charged to your on-board account after you board. Tickets will be delivered to your stateroom. Sometimes new tours are added which are not available pre-boarding. Make sure you review the shore excursion flier that will be in your room. - Phil

[Rob & Beckys mom]

Another tip, bring along an extra ziplock type bag to put your smaller items in before putting in the safe :) .

 

Jan

[JGR01]

Another tip, bring along an extra ziplock type bag to put your smaller items in before putting in the safe :) .

 

Jan

 

What? You travel with your jewels in zip lock bags?

 

My good stuff only sees/feels the lining of my Louis Vuitton jewelry case.

 

I mean in a full suite, the safe would not lock up with a zip lock inside .. :D

[teddycruzr]

Thank you all so much for sharing! This is our first trip to Hawaii and I don't have a clue which excursions to book. We want to get a taste of each island so could you all please recommend your favorite excursions? I'd really like to go to a luau....can anyone compare the Polynesian Cultural Center to the one in Kauai? I'm also hoping for some whale watching. Really anything you can tell me or recommend I'll be very grateful!! Barb

[lois1112]

I have done the RT to Hawaii twice. you will love the trip. one was on the Island (I have also been in a Dolphin mini suit...3 days from vancouver) I personally loved the hike on the lava on the Big Island (can't remmember if it was Hilo or Kona) Whale watching is best in Maui....may be a little late in the year.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We are sailing on the IP 4/11/07 and I have a couple of questions I hope someone can help me with. We are in a Dolphin mini suite and I'm wondering if there is a safe in the cabin? Also I see we can pre-reserve our shore excursions....do you have to prepay them when you make the reservation or are you charged for them on the ship when you confirm or take the trip? Any other tips you can share will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

When you close the safe, you punch in a code of your choosing. Just make sure your cabinmate/spouse/s.o. knows the code too. As stated above, a ziplock bag (about quart size) is useful to keep everything together as you probably won't be tall enough to see inside the safe (I guess that's it -- I'm 5'3" and hubby is 5'7" and we couldn't).

 

You can pre-book the excursions but won't be charged until your cruise. You will get the tickets on the first day from your cabin steward. If you want to cancel, just drop the tickets off at the shore excursions desk up to 48 hrs (or whatever is listed on the envelope or Patters) before the day of that port. There's even a box that you can drop the unwanted tickets in. If you're interested in adding an excursion, there should be a board by the desk that will show which excursions still have room or are sold out. Keep checking because maybe some cancellations will open a space for you.

 

And don't forget to check the Horizon Court for the free ice cream around 3:30 - 5pm (on one side or both).

[RodneyG]

Do the falls/river/ferngrotto (was closed)/Lua trip on nawilliwilli ,was a great day for us in dec/jan this yr. The Lua food was not great , but thats besides the point , the show was wonderful.

None of the other tours really offer you a major taste of each island , imho the best way would be to rent a car or even a scooter at each and do your own thing apart from nawilliwilli and hilo , where a volcano/lava tube tour is probably the best.

We did the ocean centre at Maui ( a little dissapointing) , the aquarium in honalulu (excellent show) and did our own thing on kona apart from a short glass bottomed boat tour over the reef.

I will never go to the islands again , im in South Africa , very far away , but if I did , I would spend a few days on each with my own transport.

The IP is a wonderful ship and we got excellent service.

[robtulipe]

I have done the RT to Hawaii twice. you will love the trip. one was on the Island (I have also been in a Dolphin mini suit...3 days from vancouver) I personally loved the hike on the lava on the Big Island (can't remmember if it was Hilo or Kona) Whale watching is best in Maui....may be a little late in the year.

It was probably at Kilauea Crater in Volcano National Park about 20 south of Hilo although there are lava trails all over the Big Island. Here there are trail that go into lava tube caves and of course the active volcano which has been continueously flowing toward and into the sea for something like 20 years. This crater is over 5 miles wide and is a must do on the Big Island. See http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/

In April you can still see the Humpback whales since the mothers with new offsprings tend to stay to the end of that month to allow the calves a little more time to grow before the long migration back to Alaska. I would recommend doing this with the Pacific Whale Foundation which provide very good reasonably priced boat tours and are a non profit organization that support marine life research. More info at http://www.pacificwhale.org/

Going to the top of Haleakala volcano caldera on Maui, at over 10,000 feet is another great adventure with a fantastic view but this must be done in the early AM as most of the time ( 90% ) it start to cloud over by early PM.