We cruised on 4/15/06. We arrived in Honolulu on the 13th and stayed at the Holiday Inn for 2 nights. We rented a car and only used it to go to Pearl Harbor and the Punchbowl. We also did the Polynesian Cultural Village but used their bus service. It was okay, however the luau was lousy but the show afterwards was great.
On Saturday we boarded the ship and it took 45 min from the time we got there till we reached our cabin. We were very pleasantly surprised to find we had been upgraded from an inside cabin 4555 to a balcony 8654. However, they sent our luggage to the original cabin and we had to wind up going to fetch it ourselves.
In Hilo we took the tour to the Volcano National Park. Lousy part about it was it was the rain as it ruined the tour. We rented a car in Maui and did the Road to Hana. Don't miss it and expect to be gone the whole day. We did it going the whole way thru on the unpaved road and over the mountain. I didn't speak the whole time going over the mountain as it's one lane for 2 way traffic and you have to honk as you go around. I just sat quiet and wouldn't look as Jim drove.