Oahu and the Big Island

[scottcaps]

Since it seems to be taking so long for reviews to get posted, thought I would go ahead and post my Hawaii port experience, in case others might find it helpful for planning. Many of the things we did on our April 18-25, 2004 NCL Star cruise were from recommendations and suggestions on this board. Maybe our experiences will now help some others on thier way to Hawaii. This is a little lengthy, but if you are headed that way, you hopefully will find some good info.

 

This was our sixth cruise, our second on NCL, and our first on NCL Star. We are an active, professional couple in our mid-thirties.

 

Prior to boarding the ship on Sunday, April 18, we spent two nights in Waikiki at the Ohana Waikiki Village. This was in order to acclimate ourselves to the time difference (since we were traveling from the east coast), as well as to do some sight-seeing on Oahu since it was my husband’s first trip to Hawaii. We recommend this highly as we felt completely acclimated by the start of the cruise. We spoke to other cruisers who did not do this and wished they had because they were so tired the first day. The hotel was average, but was in a good location for the price.

 

On Oahu, we rented a car to visit the Pearl Harbor memorial, attend the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet (a Hawaiian style flea market held every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday from 6 am – 3 pm), visit beaches on the North Shore, as well as various sights on the eastern part of the island.

 

For dinner the two nights in Waikiki, we ate a small meal at House Without A Key in the Halekulani Hotel just down the street from the our hotel on Friday (dinner served 5-9 pm accompanied by Hawaiian music); and Saturday we went to Neptune’s Garden based on a recommendation on a message board. Both places were very good with a great view at House Without a Key and an impressive fish tank at Neptune’s Garden. Also, per recommendations on the message boards, we obtained an Entertainment book prior to our trip which we used at Neptune’s Garden and a few other stops on our trip. We more than made up for the cost of the book (around $30).

 

Kona on the Big Island

This is a tender port, but the ride to shore is short. We never heard an announcement over the PA that tendering had started, so we decided to just walk down to the gangway. There was no line and we got right on a tender. We had reserved a rental car from Dollar on-line prior to our trip. After arriving at the pier, we didn’t see their shuttle, so we called for pick-up. It was only then that we learned that the Kona Dollar location does not provide free shuttle service to the pier and it is a $20 one-way taxi ride from the pier to the airport (where the Dollar office is located). Thanks to help from a Kona visitors’ center volunteer right there on the pier and our cell phone, we were able to change our reservation to Enterprise and cancel the Dollar reservation. The Enterprise rental was $11 more per day than Dollar, but the free shuttle ride clearly made up the difference. And, as an added bonus, the Enterprise office is about 2 miles from the pier right in Kona, instead of located at the airport, so that helped us make up some of the time we lost changing our reservation.

 

Once in our car, we drove south on Route 11 heading toward the Southernmost point. En route, we stopped at the Coffee Shack (one mile south of Captain Cook) to get sandwiches and pie for a picnic lunch later. Sandwiches were excellent on their home-made bread with fresh, tasty meat and fixings. The peanut butter pie and macadamia pie were wonderful!! The Coffee Shack had a great view of Kealakekua Bay and outside seating if you have the time to eat there. They do serve breakfast.

 

We stopped along the side the road several times for quick picture taking, so it took about 2 hours to get to the southernmost point. After exploring there and taking several pictures, we continued on Route 11 to Punalu’u Black Sand Beach Park to see the beautiful palm tree lined black sand beach. There are green turtles there, which we saw swimming in the water. While we ate our picnic lunch on the beach, one of them crawled onto the beach and began basking. Some folks were in the water, snorkeling, but the water seemed very rough so we decided against going in ourselves. Instead, we walked around the cove to the lava fields and watched some dramatic waves crashing into shore.

 

We had been warned that traffic in the afternoons in Kona could back up, so we allowed ourselves plenty of time to get back into town. Took us 1.5 hours to return to Kona from the Park, with no stops. We didn’t encounter any really bad traffic, but there were some backups at lights and the opposite side (south bound) traffic looked worse than north bound. We went past Kona to get gas for the rental car and also to go to the MacPie shop (located just north of Kona, in the second level of a shopping center behind a Chevron station). We bought a small pie which we saved until we returned home and it was delicious!! They offer mail order, so I think there will be some Macpie deliveries in our future. We also quickly visited the Kona Brewing Company to buy a t-shirt and made it back to the Enterprise office by 4:30 pm and they quickly shuttled us back to the pier. There was a very long line for the tender, since it was almost 5:30 pm (last tender), but they had four tenders going and the line moved as well as can be expected.

 

Kona is a small town with only a few blocks of shops, but the pier is right in the middle of it, making it easily walkable to the stores from the pier where the tenders come in. There is an ABC store just behind the large banyan tree as you exit the pier for souvenirs, a newspaper, or snacks.

 

Hilo on the Big Island

This was a gangway port, so no time wasted on tenders. We elected to take an NCL excursion for this port called the EcoSafari Tour. This was the only excursion we booked through the cruise ship. We made the reservation online prior to the cruise as we have with other cruise lines and we highly recommend this to cruisers as it saves time waiting in line on the ship. This particular tour was 6 hours in length and we visited five spots south of Hilo. The group was split up between a 12 passenger van and a mini-bus, which we preferred over a coach bus. Our driver/tour guide was Tony, and he was a wealth of information about the environment as well as living in Hilo. You could tell he was very happy living there and very proud. We first visited the Hawaii Orchid Farm, where Tony told us how orchids are raised and how new varieties are created. We then walked briefly around one of the greenhouses. Next stop was to the lava flow by the ocean, where the 1990 lava flows created new oceanfront property. The longest stop was at Ahalanui Park, where there is a geothermal pool, a mixture of heated fresh water coming from underneath the ground and cooler salt water coming in from the ocean. We were served a deli style lunch, which was plentiful complete with cookies, chips, and fresh fruit along with soda, water, and fruit drinks. The park was beautiful and uncrowded – a very relaxing stop. After lunch, we went to the Lava Tree State Park to see the tree molds from the 1790 lava flows. Last stop was at the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo. This was a nice surprise. It was a county zoo, but very well maintained and very interesting. Tony walked around the zoo providing interesting commentary, but many folks elected to go at their own pace in their own direction, which was fine, too.

 

After the tour returned to the ship, we took the free shuttle to Hilo Hattie’s (offered in every port during the tour, along with free shuttles from the pier to Wal-Mart and K-Mart at some ports). The Hilo Hattie’s was only about a 10 minute ride away from the pier, and was located near a mall and a Wal-Mart. We stocked up on extra film for the rest of the trip and reasonably priced macadamia nut treats to take home to our co-workers from Wal-Mart, which had a good selection of souvenir items. My husband had looked several places for a University of Hawaii shirt, which we ended up finding at a Champs store in the mall, and we bought a couple of things at Hilo Hattie’s before returning to the ship.

 

The downtown area of Hilo was not walkable from the pier, and we overheard other cruisers complaining about that fact – just keep this in mind if you want to explore Hilo on your own – you will need to pay for a taxi. Because we took the tour and did the shopping, we saw virtually nothing of the town of Hilo itself.

[bankofdad]

Thanks again scottcaps for the great reviews! A few question on the Big Island;

 

In Kona, did you notice if there were taxis waiting at the pier when you got off of your tender? Also, how far from the pier (in walking minutes) was the Kona Brewing Company?

A million thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

[eileen11]

Thank you, Scott, for all your reviews! It's really appreciated!

[bambam]

Great review, a big MAHALO for reviving the memories!! :D

[scottcaps]

Yes, there were taxis at the pier in Kona when we got off the ship. Kona is a fairly small town, and the Kona Brewing Company is definately walkable from the pier - I would guess 20-30 minutes at a leisurely pace. (we drove there, so I am kinda guessing). It sits off to the side of the North Kona Shopping Center, at the corner of Alii Drive and Kuakina Road. Alii Drive is the road by the pier - take a left on Alii once you exit the pier area.

[bankofdad]

Thanks again Scottcaps! Kona Brewing Company is one of my trips most important shore excursions:D !