Tour and Excursion Questions

[CruisFran]

First time to Hawaii. We will be sailing on POAm, late September. Four in our party. No one wants to drive, so car rental is out! What would be our best options? Ship excursions, or pre-arranged private tours? Are there cab tours or tour operators soliciting at the pier/s? What are the must-see's?

 

Thanks in advance! So looking forward to our visit!!

[beachchick]

Aloha.

 

Except for Hilo, there really aren't tour operators soliciting at the piers. Taxis around the islands (for island touring) are prohibitively expensive, IMO.

 

Either ship excursions or pre-arranged tours with excursion companies will probably be your best bet.

 

As for must sees, that's far too broad a question to answer in a single post. It would take hours to list all the possibilities. Also, we don't know anything about your likes/dislikes, activity levels, etc. Your best bet is to start by reading through this forum and to do advanced searches for the kind of things you know you enjoy (e.g., "X beach" or "X excursion" or "volcano" or "road to hana" or "pearl harbor" and so forth; X = name of island). Then, when you have a better idea of what might interest you, please do come ask more specific questions. We all love to "talk" about Hawaii, but there is already a wealth of excellent and current information to get you started.

 

beachchick

[CruisFran]

Aloha beachchick!! Thank you for your help. We have purchased "Hawaii by Cruise Ship" travel guide, and also requested and received the official Hawaii visitors guide. We have not bothered with the "Reveal" books, mainly because there is too much info, better for a land visit perhaps. We will do a bit more research, and will be sure to come back and get opinions!

 

Thanks again!!

 

Aloha :)

[beachchick]

CruisFran: Sounds like you've gotten started in the right direction. Getting good tour/island information makes a huge difference. It's true that the Revealed books are quite detailed, but they have a wealth of information that can be helpful for land or cruise visitors. You might see if your local library has them (many do). If so, check out at least one and see if you find it helpful. That way you don't have to invest the money if the books aren't really what you are looking for.

 

beachchick

[CruisFran]

Thanks beachchick, checking the library is a great idea! Did not want to invest in book/s that would not suit our particular needs, but borrowing is okay! :)

[JNCRUISEBUMS]

HI BEACH CHICK! YOU HAVE A LOT OF GREAT INFO. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR IS A DRIVER TO TAKE US TO THE VOLCANO, ORCHID FARM, NUT FARM (HA) AND COFFEE FARM. AND ANY OTHER SITES ALONG THE WAY. ONE OF US USES A WALKER BUT GETS AROUND PRETTY GOOD. ANY IDEAS? THANKS! NANCIE

[KKCruisers]

CruisFran: Hi, I found a book I love. Hawaii for Dummies, I read it all the first night I bought it and now I use it for reference when I read something on the board that sounds interesting. I have also started my own handwritten book with all the Islands as categories and when I see something I really want to do on a particular Island I copy it to the loose leaf book. Once I have enough things of interest to do then I will start making my reservations for the tours. We will be on the POH Aug 27 and l can't wait! Aloha! (this book even tells you how to pronounce Hawiian words correctly) Have a wonderful cruise, I'm sure you will and keep getting advise from this board it everyone is very nice and full of great advise. Hope I was of help.

[beachchick]

HI BEACH CHICK! YOU HAVE A LOT OF GREAT INFO. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR IS A DRIVER TO TAKE US TO THE VOLCANO, ORCHID FARM, NUT FARM (HA) AND COFFEE FARM. AND ANY OTHER SITES ALONG THE WAY. ONE OF US USES A WALKER BUT GETS AROUND PRETTY GOOD. ANY IDEAS? THANKS! NANCIE

 

Aloha. First, you wouldn't do coffee farms (on the Kona side) on the same day as you do VNP. For coffee farms and tasting, you would do a tour out of Kona, but there were not tour vans lined up at the pier soliciting business. You would have to either take a ship's excursion (if there is one) or arrange for a tour in advance. Here's a good website with Kona coffee touring maps and some information. They might have links if there are companies which do Kona coffee farm tours.

 

http://www.konacoffeefest.com/drivingtour.html

 

For Hilo, you may have no problem finding a tour that suits you. Hilo was the only port where there were several small tour vans lines up and offering various island tours for the day. Some of them were willing to negotiate specific tour components (we heard a few pax talking to the operators). Many were from specific places and only doing those activities (such as a couple of the botanical gardens).

 

The Mauna Loa visitor's facility is about 6 miles south of Hilo on 11. I don't know locations for any orchid-specific farms (but there must be because I think Hilo is an big orchid center). There are several good botanical gardens. One is north of Hilo, but that's about all I know.

 

beachchick