On your own or DCL excursions in Hawaii?

[DCLSecondChance]

We are looking at cruising Hawaii at Christmas with NCL, and looked at Princess 15 Day and just as a lark saw that DCL has availability in April for the same price as the XMAS Princess cruise.

I was wondering though for now for those booked, are you using DCL excursions, private vendors or renting car and doing it on your own?

 

[socababy]

From what I have read on the Hawaii meets thread, some are doing things on their own and some are doing things through DCL. My plan is to do things through DCL unless the timing doesn't work. I just like knowing the ship will not leave without me! LOL

 

[DCLSecondChance]

However we go, I think we will do a mix of independent and on our own. It is like driving in any of the US States.

We do know that we would only drive the road to Hana if we wanted to spend four hours in traffic to get to a town where there really is nothing to do!

 

[over50visits]

From what I have read on the Hawaii meets thread, some are doing things on their own and some are doing things through DCL. My plan is to do things through DCL unless the timing doesn't work. I just like knowing the ship will not leave without me! LOL

If it does it won't go very far at all - and you'll get an evening in Hawaii!

 

[sayhello]

If it does it won't go very far at all - and you'll get an evening in Hawaii!

Unless it's the last port before they sail back to the mainland! That's quite a long hop!

However we go, I think we will do a mix of independent and on our own. It is like driving in any of the US States.

We do know that we would only drive the road to Hana if we wanted to spend four hours in traffic to get to a town where there really is nothing to do!

The point to the Road to Hana is definitely NOT Hana. It's truly a case of the journey being the highlight. You pass amazing waterfalls, cliffside vantage points, beach views, the 7 "sacred pools", etc. The road to Hana, in my opinion, is best enjoyed from a small tour van, where everyone is free to sightsee. (The driver definitely gets the short-shrift on the Road to Hana).

Sayhello

 

[DisneyManFamily4]

We would love to be able to afford to do all things through DCL. We will most likely do most activities on our own, however I would LOVE to convince DH to do the Luau through DCL so we can relax and as the previous poster said, not worry about the ship leaving us. Unfortunately, we are meager Silver and there probably won't be any availability left by the time we get to book our excursion of choice. In the end, we may be on our own for that too.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

We are mainly doing tours on our own. It seems to be running 1/2 off the price that DCL charges. We like the smaler van tours over the big bus tours. Through a tour company we are doing a Volcano Natl Park tour in Hilo. We are booked for a doors off helicopter tour on Kauai. It will be private so we don't have to worry about not having a window. On Maui we are having an awesome private Waterfall excursion that we are so excited to be doing. We did book the Luau on Maui through DCL. We will tour Pearl Harbor on our own but need to decide an afternoon activity there as well as on Kauai.

 

[sayhello]

We are mainly doing tours on our own. It seems to be running 1/2 off the price that DCL charges. We like the smaler van tours over the big bus tours. Through a tour company we are doing a Volcano Natl Park tour in Hilo. We are booked for a doors off helicopter tour on Kauai. It will be private so we don't have to worry about not having a window. On Maui we are having an awesome private Waterfall excursion that we are so excited to be doing. We did book the Luau on Maui through DCL. We will tour Pearl Harbor on our own but need to decide an afternoon activity there as well as on Kauai.

What's the private Waterfall excursion on Maui? I'm going to Maui in May, and would love to know about this excursion!

Sayhello

 

[aan1701]

I just like knowing the ship will not leave without me! LOL

This is why, no matter the cost, all my stuff for the April cruise is booked through DCL. Peace of mind. I will never not book through the ship.

 

[AlohaDisney]

We will be booking all of our excursions on our own. Seeing as this will be our first cruise with DCL and that my son will be 2-weeks shy of turning 5-years old, I don't think there will be much left for us at that point and my son's age locks us out of doing almost all of the excursions.

I'm not going to stress about being left behind by DCL. Will just make sure that we are back on the ship at a proper time. There are worse things in life than being stranded in Hawaii!

 

[over50visits]

Unless it's the last port before they sail back to the mainland! That's quite a long hop!

Yeah, that would put a damper on a cruise

 

[DCLSecondChance]

The biggest thing that appeals to me about NCL is being able to overnight in Maui and Kauai. Driving up to Haleakala and experiencing sunrise is something on my bucket list.

Renting a car and driving Maui is so easy.

Hilo offers VNP, the macadamia nut farm and more.

Kauai will offer surfing lessons for my girl, a drive to Waimea Canyon and a luau that is not as tourist oriented and certainly cheaper.

 

[AngieBoraBora]

We are mainly doing tours on our own. It seems to be running 1/2 off the price that DCL charges. We like the smaler van tours over the big bus tours. Through a tour company we are doing a Volcano Natl Park tour in Hilo. We are booked for a doors off helicopter tour on Kauai. It will be private so we don't have to worry about not having a window. On Maui we are having an awesome private Waterfall excursion that we are so excited to be doing. We did book the Luau on Maui through DCL. We will tour Pearl Harbor on our own but need to decide an afternoon activity there as well as on Kauai.

I think this is the way we are going to go too, the prices ive seen are much better when we don't book the ships tours.

Who did you book with for the volcanos national park? we are trying to find a tour that isn't on a motorcoach bus. Is your whole family going on this cruise together? Did you book a private tour?

we are still deciding what to do on the other islands, but the volcanos are the only thing we want to see in Hilo, and a waterfall would be nice too.

 

[AngieBoraBora]

Has anyone done the Taste of Maui tour on Hawaii Cruise Excursions? We looked at the road to Hana, but an 8 hour road is just not my idea of fun. This tour, looks good, includes wine tasting, lunch, and an island tour, anyone gone on this tour?