Tips for Your Hawaii Cruise Vacation (7-day Norwegian)
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2024
- This video offers some tips and insights into how to make your Hawaii Norwegian cruise everything you hope it will be, including itinerary suggestions and photos.
For some additional tips around logistics, planning, and tips on and around the ship, see • 20 Tips for Your Hawai... .
Photo credit: Annie C.
Tip: Wear bug spray for the Makamakaole hike! We got bitten several times by mosquitos. We didn't need mosquito spray at all for the rest of the trip.
Norwegian Cruise Line Hawaii: www.ncl.com/cruises/7-day-haw...
Polynesian Cultural Center: www.polynesia.com/
Pearl Harbor: pearlharbor.org/
Maui Ocean Center: mauioceancenter.com/
Recommended Norwegian excursions: Atlantis submarine, Helicopter tours, volcano tours, Kauai film tour, Luau Kalamaku, snorkeling
Edit: Nepali is actually spelled Na Pali
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
1:30 Itinerary
2:45 Honolulu
3:20 Polynesian Cultural Center
4:20 Ha Breath of Life
4:45 Pearl Harbor
5:10 USS Bowfin
5:50 Arizona Memorial
6:20 USS Missouri
6:40 Pride of America Photos
6:58 Maui
7:00 Maui Beach
7:45 Maui Ocean Center
8:30 Lahaina
8:46 ABC Store
9:00 Nakalele Blowhole
10:28 Makamakaole Trail
11:07 Big Island
11:15 Carlsmith Beach Park
11:40 Big Island Candies
11:55 Liliuokalani Gardens
12:30 Kona
12:50 Tender Boats
13:10 Snorkel
13:40 Quilt Passions
13:55 Atlantis Submarine
14:40 Kalapaki Beach
15:20 Botanical Garden, Kauai Marriott Hotel
15:50 Luau Kalamaku, Kilohana Plantation
16:20 Kilohana Plantation Train
16:45 Na Pali Coast
This well composed information and the details you included will help us make choices for our itinerary. This video experience is like hearing about a fun trip from a thoughtful neighbor.
Thank you very much for your kind comment, Carol :).
I happened to come across with your clip, and it is very informative. Thank you. This will make our trip plan so much easier..
You're very welcome, Jason. I'm glad it was helpful. Enjoy your trip :)
Appreciate your thoughts of what to visit. The cruise is overwhelming trying to decide where to visit when you have no clue what to choose! Your input was very helpful.
Thanks, tomster70! I appreciate your feedback. It is definitely a great cruise with so many options.
Thank you for your informative presentation. It has been 35 years since my husband and I have been to Hawaii. We hope to take the Pride of America cruise soon. Thanks again.
Thanks, very informative. We live on Oahu and planning to take this cruise and your clips of all the attractions of the outer islands were helpful!
I appreciate your feedback, Marimo Chan :). I hope you enjoy the cruise!
Great suggestions. Im travelling with family in late January. Very informative and helpful. Thanks
You're very welcome! I hope you enjoy your trip! :)
Booked our cruise for May of 2023. Can’t wait
Great video with a lot of wonderful tips! We have been bumped off of this cruise 2x now during the pandemic, hopefully 3rd time is a charm (End of April 2022). Thank you for including about Uber and Lyft, very helpful. Definitely going to add an additional day before hand to see a bit more. Would love to visit the Polynesian Cultural Center, I wasn't even aware that existed. Thank you again!
I stayed in Honolulu last May for two weeks, I did the glass bottom boat, Star of Honolulu dinner cruise, Arizona memorial and the helicopter tour. I was there when they had the fissures erupting. I am now headed back for this cruise March 2nd. Staying in Waikiki two days before sail, and three days after. I am so excited!
Sounds like a GREAT plan! I'm eager to go back for our second trip some day. Enjoy :)
Thank you we are thinking of cruising March but after this video we may just stay on Kauai for a week! 🌺
I would not blame you at all for staying in Kauai! My wife and I will most likely do the same next time we visit Hawaii. It has a different feel than the rest of the islands. We've talked to several people since our cruise who also view Kauai as their primary Hawaii destination.
We're doing this cruise in the Fall , and I appreciate your ideas. Already have ideas of what excursions we'll do, namely the Pearl Harbor tour, a plantation tour in Maui, and the movie locations tour in Kauai. I did research something that involves a volcano look-see, but I can't recall the particulars right now. So looking forward to this experience.
Best of luck to you, Arlene L! I look forward to hearing about your trip :).
We've just booked for an eleven day cruise tour with Norwegian Pride of America. Loving your video, sharing with my wife. Our trip will be in Sept. for our 50th anniversary.
Thanks for your comment, Charles Patrick! I hope you have a great trip. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Thank you for the video!
We are going on cruise in August celebrating anniversary. Thank you this was very helpful.
You're absolutely welcome. I'm glad it helped. That's so exciting that you're going in August! :)
And happy anniversary :)
I'll be there in August for our honeymoon
Thank you very much I thought that was a great and very informative video!
Thanks, John!
We are going on Cruise on January 4th , 2020. Tips we got from this video were great!
We got Reservation for Plantation Tour and Luau , also Road to Hana. We are arriving 2 days prior to cruise so we also have tour to Pearl Harbor.
Thank you for your tips, we will do our own tour as you mention in your video.
You are very welcome, Krystyna! I'm glad you found the tips helpful. Those sound like wonderful excursions and I'm also happy that you're doing Pearl Harbor before the cruise so you're not exhausted doing it after the cruise. That's so exciting that you're going in the next week and a half! I hope you have an incredible time :). If you're interested in more cruise or travel videos, feel free to subscribe to the channel as I often make more. Thanks again for your comment :).
Great information, thank you. I am going on the cruise early jamuary 2020.
You're very welcome, Debbie :). I hope you have a lot of fun!
Great information!
Very thorough overview thx ❤️🐬
You're very welcome, 46foryounger. :)
Great video! Did this in 2009, really enjoyed it.
Thanks, Daniel! I didn't realize they've been doing the cruise that long. I don't blame them, seeing as how it's such a great cruise. Do you think you'll ever do it again?
Utter Practicality I'd love to. My son is seven now and it would be a great way to show him Hawaii. When we went we did the same as you, flew there one day earlier and stayed a few days after. Made for a great vacation, but expensive too! Thanks for making sure a complete video!
Great info thank you 🙏
You're welcome, Melissa! I'm glad you found it helpful :).
Thanks for the Quilt Store info!
You are very welcome! They had some beautiful fabric in the store.
We are going next year. We’re planning to comer 2 days early so we can do the Polynesian Culture Center and USS Arizona and Pearl Harbor before we go on the cruise.
thank you so much for this vedio. my wife and I are planting our 30th anniversary coming up in 2021. and we always talked about going to Hawaii. and we thought a cruise would show us the most and be the most romantic. we never went on Norwegian.
You're very welcome, Gene! I'm glad you found the video helpful. And congrats on your 30th anniversary! :)
@@conciseisnice thank you so much for getting with me. my wife and I will have to check out the pride of Norwegian. thank you for your help. we've cruised on carnival for our 25th. it was ok. we oyr 30th to be real special and Romantic.
Great vídeo !
Thanks! :)
Did the road to Hana. Very scary but at the end is very rewarding.
I will have to try it sometime. It sounds like it's worth it!
I just started planning a trip for Jan 2020 but haven’t seen on the ncl site how to book excursions or reservations yet. I just assumed it was still too early. Your videos are really helpful.
Thanks for your comment, Denise! During the checkout process when purchasing the cruise you'll be able to add excursions.
Great video, thanks for the suggestions... we are in the planning stages of taking this tour the following spring for our anniversary (so we have about a year to get it put together).
I'm sure there are way too many things to see and do at these islands, and we are starting to research things that would interest us to visit - call me old-school, but I still don't know how to use Uber, so we're likely going to book our excursions well in advance... we also plan on arriving 2 days prior to the cruise, and staying at least a day after... so we're probably going to rent a car for a day to see some things around Honolulu... already excited with a year to go, so thanks for the video
Sigma Delta, I'm glad you enjoyed the video and how exciting for you that you are planning on doing the cruise! Congratulations! You are right--there are way too many things to do on the islands to get them all done in a hundred trips. I think that's a great plan that you are going to Honolulu two days before so you can experience it before your cruise. If you decide you are interested in learning how to use Uber, you can download the Uber app on a smart phone, create an account, and then this video shows you the basics of how to use it czcams.com/video/R1DYoycc17s/video.html. We enjoyed it because they were so available at every port and inexpensive to get to key locations around the port. The Norwegian excursions do take care of travel, though, so you will have no problems there. Best of luck to you!
lots help, thanks bro
You bet, Jin. Thanks for your comment.
I enjoyed watching your vlog and very informative. I have a cruise coming next week by Princess cruise from Vancouver. Thanks,
Thanks for your comment, Marie!
Most welcome
We're in the early days of planning our trip to Hawaii and the information in this video has been extremely helpful. We plan to go in February 2021. We know that's the rainy season but we've chosen it in the hope of seeing whales. Any comments regarding our choice of month? Kind regards.
great video!
Thanks, @cluelocker!
informative video, thank you for sharing and passing along information. Quick question, you mentioned that you all used both Uber and Lyft, did you all used it through out all the island's? Or did you all rent a vehicle at some locations? I am sure someone already ask, but I didn't have time to read all the people's comments.
Very well done I had to let you know that
D Walker, thank you very much! I appreciate your comment. Glad you enjoyed the video.
Yours is one of the most down to earth, informative videos I've viewed about the Hawaiin islands...and I've researched A LOT for my upcoming April Pride of America vacation . I can't wait! I've only seen Oahu 20 yrs ago. Did you book excursions other than the ship ones, such as shipmate? Good to know uber or lyft is available. Also, if you read this, are there roaming fees for my AT&T I phone on the islands? It is america after all! Thanks!
Thank you for your comment, Diane! That's exciting that you're visiting Hawaii again! I think the cruise is a great way to go. I did not personally book excursions besides the ship excursions. We only did two excursions and they were both offered by Norwegian. The easy thing about booking with the cruise line is that all the transportation is very easy and provided for you from leaving the ship to returning. There are probably external excursions that will pick you up from the boat or very close by, though. They want your money so they'll make it as convenient as they can. We use Verizon and we didn't get any roaming fees. I believe most phone carriers are the same way, because Hawaii is in the states. It looks to me like AT&T will not have roaming fees, according to this page that I found: forums.att.com/t5/Network-Coverage/Roaming-in-Hawaii-and-or-on-cruise-ship/td-p/5200628.
@@conciseisnice thank you so much for answering my questions and for going out of your way to post the AT&T website for me!
Thank you so much for this. When and How did you see Na Pali and was the Luau Kalamaku a part of the excursion? Thank you again for this!
Jules A, We saw the Na Pali coastline from the ship on the last day of the cruise. You go for about an hour or so cruise by the coast before heading back to Honolulu to disembark. The Luau Kalamaku was actually an excursion on Kaua'i. It seemed like a large portion of the cruisers went to the luau, and it was great fun for my wife and I and the food was good as well.
I leave for training in a couple of weeks and if I pass .y exams and physicals il be going there to work on the Pride of America
Thanks for the information, just wondering what time you left for Pearl Harbor and what time did you get back to board the ship. Our Travel agent thought we wouldn't have time to do the trip there before we boarded on the first day
Becky and Tim, our tour picked us up in Waikiki at 6:00am the day of our cruise. We were dropped off at our hotel after the tour (Pearl Harbor, Arizona ferry, Missouri tour) and had time to drop our rental car off near the airport and then take a Lyft to the cruise terminal and arrive at the terminal at 2pm. If I recall correctly, we didn't have to be on board until 4pm at the latest, so we did have plenty of time, but it was an early morning. We booked our tour through www.pearlharbor.org.
Thank you so much for this vid and the other one on tips! Greatly helpful. My family of 12 are going on this same cruise in March with 4 young children and 2 older parents. We will plan on reserving for the Luau + Plantation excursion. However, we're wondering for other excursions (e.g., Submarine, Frozen Fire on Hilo, and Jungle Falls by Kayak and Hike on Kauai), do you think we should book them in advance or it's likely we can still book these on the ship? We're not sure if we're committed to these ones yet so want to know what you think. Thank you again!
How exciting! The submarine tours only last for about an hour and a half, so I believe there are several of them throughout the day. If you have a group of 12 then I recommend booking the excursion prior to the cruise if you want to all be together--there are 20-30 seats on the sub. Otherwise, it's probably safe to book on the ship as long as you do it very soon once you board. I don't have any experience with the other excursions you mentioned, but I would think that generally it's ok to book excursions on the ship and you'll be fine, as long as you do it soon after you board because I think a lot of other people are probably squaring away their itineraries once they get on the ship, too. It would depend on if you want to all be together and if there's space on the sub and shuttles, etc.
One other thing that might help with your decision is that Norwegian has what's called CruiseNext, which is where you get hundreds of dollars of credit for future cruise excursions if you book excursions on the ship. So you can find their desk on the ship and do that. For example, you can book an excursion on the ship at the CruiseNext desk, and depending on how much you spend you will receive a few hundred (up to $500 I think) dollars towards excursions on a future Norwegian cruise up to several years in the future.
Does that help?
Utter Practicality thank you so much for more useful tips! I’ve passed these on to my family. Greatly appreciate your help!
@@sherryshaw3474 Happy to help :). Enjoy your trip!
The road to Hana is worth it.
So in Honolulu did you us Uber to go to pearl harbour etc? Also for the other islands did you just hire a car to drive around or also Uber . Sorry I’m from Sydney Australia and want to arrange a cruise and extra day in Honolulu as Hawaii is my mums dream holiday and want to make the most of it all.
We actually rented an Enterprise car on Maui, then did Lyft for getting around on the other islands when we got cars (I think there's just Lyft mostly, not Uber if I recall--I might mention this in the video). But for Honolulu we did a bus excursion for Pearl Harbor, but a rental car for getting from the airport and to Polynesian Cultural Center.
There were a lot of rental places, and Lyfts available. So we found it was quite convenient to get around, just depended on how we wanted to do it.
That's awesome that you're going from Australia! How long of a flight is that for you to Hawaii?
when is the prices go up? and what ship did you and yoyr wife go on?thank you for getting back with me. my wife and I will have to check out the pride of Norwegian.
We went on the Pride of America ship. That is the standard ship that does the 7-day Hawaii cruise for Norwegian. As far as the price, I actually have a playlist I've recently started that tracks the prices of Norwegian cruises. The playlist is called "Norwegian Cruises of the Week." I invite you to watch those videos when I release them every week and look at the spreadsheet to see when you can find good deals. For example, this is the latest video in the series: czcams.com/video/jIII87_i6eU/video.html
Great information! Would you recommend any other cruises in Hawaii or is the Norwegian is the best to see most of the islands? Thank you 😊
That is a great question! This is the only Hawaii cruise I've been on myself. I know it was the best option when I took the cruise a few years ago, because a lot of the other cruises visiting Hawaii left from Los Angeles, so they added on a bunch of days to get to Hawaii. Whereas with the Norwegian one it was the most efficient way to visit all the islands at the time.
@@conciseisnice that’s what I have heard. Was the ship nice? My friend called it a Tin can 😂 lol.
@@SandyB4975 I didn't mind the ship! I don't think it was really fancy, but it felt nice enough. I would compare it to Royal or Princess--not much difference.
Would you be able to use a handicapped scooter seeing the things on Hawaii?
Yeah I would say you could, as many of the things to do can make accommodations. There are lots of pleasant drives that could be done with great views. Actually, a great lady we met on the cruise was in a wheelchair, and she seemed to be having a great time. So it certainly seems possible. I'm not sure how much she got off the ship, however.
So yes, you could probably see more than you might think, but I'm sure there would be certain things that wouldn't be possible. It would probably be best to look specifically into the things you are interested in doing and seeing what kind of accommodations they are able to make. I imagine a lot of the bigger sights to see do, like Pearl Harbor, Polynesian Cultural Center, etc.
Hope that helps.
Great video. I’ll be doing the 7 day cruise in March. I will be flying in 2 days prior. For your excursions that the ship offers, do you have to find your own way to excursion sites?
That's exciting! Congratulations on your cruise! Norwegian makes the ship excursions convenient and they transport you to the excursion sites from the ship and back to the ship from the excursions. There's a staging area right at the port as you get off the ship (you can't miss it, you walk right by it), and they have signs for each excursion meeting area. Additionally, you'll get tickets in your stateroom when you board the ship with instructions for each excursion. You'll follow those instructions and meet in a designated room on the ship shortly before you depart for the excursion. So you'll be with other people going on the excursion and with the Norwegian crew every step of the way. It's very convenient. Hope that helps!
This is very very helpful. Thank you so much.
Do each of the islands have an actual port? We have little babies and will need to get on and off ship a lot
Great question! Yes you'll be able to get off the ship at each island. One port stop each on Maui and Kauai and two on the Big Island, and of course start and end on Oahu.
Can I take a cruise from la to Hawaii and then stay there for months and then take a cruise back?
Ninja69, I am not able to find any cruises that are one-way. I am certain Norwegian doesn't do this. All the cruises I can find from L.A. to Hawaii are round-trip. You'd probably have to talk directly to the cruise line to see if something like that could be arranged. Princess Cruises does a few cruises from the west coast (L.A., Seattle, Vancouver) to Hawaii but they are round-trip.
What hotel did you stay at when you saw Pearl Harbor and the plantation prior to your cruise.
Sorry for the delay. We stayed at the Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort.
Are you planning a trip yourself?
We are taking this cruise in 18 days
I take it I could stay a day early or late in Honolulu and do some of the things on your list.? The thing is isn't part of the price you pay that the transfer from the Airport to the Port included? If we statyed a day early, could we still take advantage of that and have them take us to our hotel instead? Why does everyone say that the drive is exhausting for the road to hana? Are you able to rent a car at any of the Ports? If so, are the cars located near the Port or do you have to take an Uber? How difficult is it to get a car? So on the Big Island you dock on one side and the 2nd day it takes you around to the other side? Did you book your excursions through Norwegian or is it cheaper to book it directly with the company?
Lots of great questions, @Eric. I'll try to address each one. I'm not sure what you're referring to about transport from the airport to the port being included. There is probably some sort of shuttle Norwegian offers, but we didn't take that ourselves. We had an Uber take us to our hotel from the airport because we got in a day early. Personally the drive to Hana would be exhausting because you have to be so attentive to the curves and it takes several hours. So you wouldn't get to enjoy the view as much if you were driving, but I know a lot of people still do it. Yes you can rent a car at every port, if I remember right. There are car rental agencies very close by. So you could get an Uber to the car rental place. We reserved our car on Maui a few days in advance just to guarantee it would be available and we just took an Uber to Enterprise to pick it up, which was like a 5 minute drive from the port. Correct about the big island how you dock on two separate ports. We booked our excursions with Norwegian and we liked how convenient that was. We did not book any from outside companies directly, but I know it's pretty common and I believe you can probably find cheaper prices if you do it that way, just might not be quite as convenient. It's convenient if you book through the cruise because they always tell you where to go and they have transport for you and all that.
@@conciseisnice I am hearing bad feedback from previous people that sailed and said the ship was crappy and old? Thoughts ... Also, do you have a preference of where to stay on the ship? Which location is near everything? Front - back?
@@erickuntz9045, I did not feel like the ship was crappy or old, at all. Seemed nice, clean, had some fancy parts, but overall seemed like an upper-mid-tier hotel to me for the most part. Well-kept, good furnishings, rooms, etc. Hmmm as far as where to stay on the ship, you'll be closest to things if you are near the middle of the ship because there are things on both ends that you'll want to do. So if you're in the middle you don't have to walk as far to either end. Plus you board and get off of the ship near the middle on one of the lower decks. Decks 5 and 6 have a lot of shopping and dining. Decks 11 and up have dining as well and a lot of activities. So if you are ok taking the stairs I'd say deck 8 or 9 is really ideal because it's a few flights of stairs either way. But if you take the elevators then it really doesn't matter which deck you're on. We found we did a little bit of both. If you want to check out the deck plan you can here: www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/pride-of-america/deck-plans. Hope that helps.
Did you rent a car at the cruise port to tour the islands?
Yes, we rented a car on Maui near the port and drove around for a day there. We also rented a car at Honolulu at the airport. The rest of the days we just used Uber and Lyft because we didn't go too far from port. From what I recall, there are not car rentals at port itself. You can, however, take an Uber or Lyft from port or very close to port (sometimes you have to walk a few hundred meters from port) to a car rental place. Because the cruise gives so much business to car rental places, you won't have any trouble finding some close to port. I recommend doing a Google Map search for car rental places at each port you want to get a rental, and then determining if you want to walk to the rental place or take an Uber or Lyft. Does that help?
You should edit out all of your smacking- the info was great but it was very distracting.
Thanks for the tip :)