Hawaii Excursions

DebbieandJerry · December 30, 2008

I am beginning to get sticker shock over the cost of the excursions in Hawaii. I have been reading that "up-country" in Maui is beautiful. Has anyone taken an excursion? Was it worth it? Or, should we rent a car and do it on our own. We dock at 7am on Monday and don't leave until mid afternoon on Tuesday.

This will be our second trip to the Hawaiian Islands so we really want to do/experience other things. In other words, luau isn't a top priority for us.

JoeyandDavid · December 30, 2008

I am beginning to get sticker shock over the cost of the excursions in Hawaii. I have been reading that "up-country" in Maui is beautiful. Has anyone taken an excursion? Was it worth it? Or, should we rent a car and do it on our own. We dock at 7am on Monday and don't leave until mid afternoon on Tuesday.
This will be our second trip to the Hawaiian Islands so we really want to do/experience other things. In other words, luau isn't a top priority for us.

i would think car rental would be the way to go especially since this is your second trip to Hawaii

hazelson · February 15, 2009

From the reviews I've read on this one - it looks like the car rental is the way to go. You get to make your choices of what to see and when to do it.

Seems like the best way to explore :o)

Not long now is it????

Enjoy!

DebbieandJerry · February 20, 2009

No, it's not long at all. Can't believe we have waiting this long for a vacation. Sometimes it seems like an eternity.

Right now, we have rented a car for Honolulu. We are there from 7am to 11pm. We already did the touristy stuff when we were there in 2005 so we kinda know what we do and don't want to do.

We definitely want to go whale watching. Can't get enough of that because we just don't get that opportunity. So we're looking in to both Kona and Maui for that. Will book this on our own and not through the ship.

Still undecided on whether we're even going to Up Country in Maui. Guess I'll report back on our excursions the end of March.

Thanks for all of the votes for RENT THE CAR! We concur.

Shari2 · March 9, 2009

Hi Debbie...the car rental sounds like a good idea, but if you don't want to drive, a private tour is always nice. Both times that we were in Maui we just got off of the ship and went with private drivers. This last time was a taxi, which was a nice air-conditioned, large-window van. We had a nice tour of the island. The first time we were there in 1992, we did the same thing, and we lucked out and had a wonderful driver who took us anywhere we wanted to go, and stopped while we had lunch, and then we continued. He knew all the best places to see and he told us all about the island's history. He was great...he was just a young man...name was Phil, but that was a long time ago, and I wouldn't know how to get ahold of him, or if he's even still there...but we did have good luck both times with the private excursions. You just have to make sure of what they will charge for the amount of time you want to spend and for the amount of people in the van.

DebbieandJerry · March 10, 2009

Shari, thanks for the information. We were discussing the hiring of a taxi/driver last night over dinner. I think that's the route we are going to take. Didn't know it, but it's spring break in Maui and rental cars have increased in rate and are far and few in terms of availability.

lindasuelucas · September 6, 2009

sounds like a whole lot of good advice - linda

DebbieandJerry · September 19, 2009

Linda, that's what I love about this website and the folks that post. They are not afraid to state their opinion and/or their experiences.

Hawaii was a blast. We ended up doing most of our excursions on our own and not through Celebrity.

The highlight was the whale watching that we did very early in Maui. We went on a zodiac that was about a mile away from the pier. We either walked or took the shuttle in Maui so that ended up costing practically nothing.

In Oahu we took the city bus. I think that cost all of $8 and we were able to get on and off the bus all day long. Got to see all the stops that we wanted to.

We walked in Kona and Hilo. Found a great farmer's market in Kona and took advantage of it before our zodiac/snorkel excursion (which we booked online prior to leaving). Visited beautiful gardens in Hilo that were about 2 miles away from the pier. Again, we took our time getting there.

Shari2 · September 28, 2009

Hi Debbie...so sorry I didn't get back to you...don't know how I missed this. I'm so glad you had a great trip.

I love Hawaii and would love to go back again some day. I really enjoyed seeing the Maui Tropical Plantation area and Iao Valley Rainforest area on Maui (now a state park). It's so beautiful in those areas.

DebbieandJerry · September 28, 2009

Shari, we, too, will be returning to Hawaii but not for a couple of years. It is very expensive there. I truly believe that your best bang for your buck is a cruise. Lots of ships are pulling out of there, so we will wait and see what happens down the line.