Things to do in Pago Pago from a cruise ship + walking near cruise port in American Samoa ⚓ South Pacific travel blog

Hi there!

I went to Pago Pago by cruise ship. It was on a Princess cruise ship during a transpacific repositioning cruise.

First things first… Pago Pago is pronounced more like pango pango!

All in all, I was quite happy with my time with one day in American Samoa!

Even starting the walk from the cruise ship it just gave a small town tropical island feel! I loved it!

Most notably, my one day in Pago Pago included a walk to the national park visitor center, hiking in the National Park of the American Samoa, back to the cruise ship for food, and then snorkeling at a beach within walking distance of the cruise port!

It’s important to note that I was there in October 2023, and things can change!

Still, I hope that my experience will give you ideas on how to approach planning your one day in American Samoa!

 

📌 Save this post for later! Save on Pinterest! 👈📌

 

 

As you may have already figured out yourself, information about the Pago Pago cruise port and things to do from the cruise ship is scarce!

I even went to the destination speaker session about Pago Pago on the cruise ship, and there was wrong information as I found out upon arrival to Pago Pago and verifying the information.

So it did make it a little difficult to plan for, but at the same time, that is kind of the charm of it all, right?!

It truly is a remote island in the middle of the Pacific, and it’s not as developed as other major cruise destinations.

And with that… here are some things to look into when you’re on a cruise to American Samoa!

 

📌 Save this post for later! Save on Pinterest! 👈📌

 

 

1. Island tour by bus (excursion)

If you’re looking for an easy way to get an overview of American Samoa during your cruise ship visit, the island bus tour is it!

 

👆 You can do a bus tour as your Pago Pago cruise excursion.

 

On my cruise ship arrival, it was not necessary to book this in advance. As soon as you get off the cruise ship, you can look for someone who’s holding a sign for a $20 island tour, and off you go.

Of course, there is no guarantee they will be there when you go, but… since cruise ships to Pago Pago are few and far between, my guess is that the locals who do these tours know when cruise ships will be in town, and they will be there.

It’s been described as a “wooden seat truck tour” so you shouldn’t expect luxury (welcome to remote island life!) but otherwise based on what people who have done the tour have said, it seems like it’s worth it for the price.

On my cruise there was an excursion through the cruise ship for $99 that was an “around the island” tour, so you can also sign up for that.

But…

I was a part of the facebook group specific to my cruise sailing date, and the report about the cruise excursion was that for the price it was terrible.

Well, that was my takeaway. 🤪 There was one person who seemed rather mad about it being a waste of money.

It seemed you would be better off getting the $20 island tour from a local once you arrive. (It seemed there were complaints about the comfort of this tour too. So just don’t have high expectations for comfort, and to me it seems to be a nice way to get an intro to American Samoa!)

So if I was interested in doing an island tour, I wouldn’t book it through the cruise ship, but rather hope that the $20 island tour people are there on arrival.

Princess cruise excursions have reviews. Read those! Even if you’re not on a Princess cruise ship, your cruise line will probably have a similar sounding excursion so it will give you an idea. Here are the Pago Pago shore excursions.

 

How to do the $20 island tour

Walk off the cruise ship and head towards the exit (follow the crowd!), and hopefully you will see locals holding up a sign for the $20 island tour!

 

👆 You’ll see locals offering bus tours at the Pago Pago cruise port.

 

 

2. National Park of American Samoa visitor center (walking + on your own)

By going to the national park visitor center, you aren’t really in the national park itself.

But the national park visitor center is within walking distance of the cruise ship, so I think this is a must-do so you can get an overview of what American Samoa is all about!

You can get the standard national park brochure about the National Park of American Samoa, and there are displays so it’s like a mini-museum.

You can also get your national park passport stamp!

 

👆 You can get a national park passport stamp at the American Samoa national park visitor center!

 

The visitor center is also a good spot to buy souvenirs.

Their credit card machine actually wasn’t working when I went and I don’t think they accepted cash either, so you couldn’t buy anything. (Once again, welcome to remote island life! 🤣)

But if you don’t make it to the visitor center, you can actually buy American Samoa items online too at the Hawaii Pacific national parks store.

 

👆 You can walk to the national park visitor center from the Pago Pago cruise port!

 

👆 You can learn a bit about American Samoa at the national park visitor center.

 

 

How to get to the American Samoa national park visitor center

You can walk to the national park visitor center from the cruise ship!

The American Samoa national park visitor center is around a 20 minute walk from the cruise ship. (map)

 

👆 Walking toward the national park visitor center from the cruise ship, you can stop for some pictures on the way!

 

 

📍 Also be sure to see the interactive Pago Pago cruise port map that I created on google maps.

 

 

3. Mount Alava Trail (hiking in National Park of American Samoa on your own)

There are 63 national parks in the United States. The National Park of American Samoa is one of them!

This is one of the least visited US national parks, one of the most remote US national parks, and the only US national park in the South Pacific!

I did not want to pass up the opportunity to go to a national park, so the National Park of American Samoa was one of the things I REALLY wanted to do!

 

📌 Save this post for later! Save on Pinterest! 👈📌

 

 

The Mount Alava Trail was the way I was going to be able to step foot into the National Park of American Samoa!

I walked to the Mount Alava trailhead. On Google maps, it’s listed as Fagasa Pass trailhead to Mount Alava Trail. (map)

Once near the trailhead, be sure to continue walking a little further on the road and there’s a great ocean viewpoint from the road.

At the Mount Alava trailhead, there was friendly local guy there who said there was a viewpoint along the trail.

So basically I walked to that viewpoint as my “destination” and turned back.

 

👆 My “destination” on the Mount Alava Trail was this viewpoint. It was around 30-35 minutes from the trailhead. I was walking at a leisurely pace. You can keep hiking on the trail past this.

 

👆 There were bamboo trees somewhat nearby the viewpoint along the trail.

 

Actually I went just a little further just so I could have a reference point on google maps of how far I went. (It didn’t really work out, as I wouldn’t be able to tell you on a map where I went to. 🤣😅)

The trail kept going but I didn’t want to walk so much not knowing what was ahead so I decided that viewpoint would be it.

It seems like there were other people (from the cruise ship) who walked further. And since I didn’t see them again, I’m guessing they probably made it to the “end” of the trail or “destination” of that side before turning back.

When I returned back to the trailhead I saw there was a map and explanation about the trail (I should have looked for this before I began 🤣) and it did show that the trail leads to the Mount Alava summit (and beyond).

The map showed that from the trailhead to the Mount Alava summit is 3.5 miles one way. The distance to Vatia village is 5.2 miles one way.

 

👆 This is toward the start of the Mount Alava Trail.

 

👆 There is a nice viewpoint of a little bit of Fagasa Bay around a 5 to 10 minute walk from the Mount Alava trailhead.

 

👆 Hiking in the National Park of American Samoa during a cruise ship visit to Pago Pago!

 

👆 In addition to the information at the trailhead, there is basic information about the Mount Alava Trail posted at the national park visitor center.

 

 

How to go hiking in the national park from the cruise ship

To get to the Mount Alava trailhead from the cruise ship is a bit of a walk. It’s 2.5 miles from the cruise ship. (map)

To walk from the national park visitor center to Mount Alava Trail is around 1.8 miles. (map)

To reduce the amount you need to walk by a little bit (including an uphill portion on the road), you can get a taxi from the cruise port to the Mount Alava trailhead.

If you do this, I would think that it would be best to plan to walk back to the cruise port, in the likely event that you won’t have phone service once you have finished the hike.

 

 

My original (loose) “plan” for hiking in the national park

My original plan that I came up with based on the limited information I could find online was to take a bus to Vatia to do the Pola Island Trail and/or the Tuafanua Trail, which are both a part of the National Park of American Samoa. (national park map pdf)

The destination speaker on the cruise ship also referenced being able to take a bus to Vatia, so I was optimistic and took some dollar bills with me to pay the bus fare. Once in Pago Pago, I went to the national park visitor center to ask about the bus to Vatia, and… the lady working at the visitor center said that the bus to Vatia was no longer running! 😭 Out of curiosity I asked if it was permanently discontinued and she said yes. (Of course, this can change.)

So then I asked her if Blunts Point was a part of the national park (since I saw on Google maps that I could walk to Blunts Point Trail), and she said no. (I guess it must just be a national landmark? I don’t know, but I didn’t want any doubt about whether I had officially been to the national park or not!)

So then I asked how can I step foot into the national park. And she told me about the Mount Alava Trail.

At first I was told about the bus to Fagusa to get there, so actually I started to wait for a bus. There was a bus stop across the street from the visitor center.

But then there was a local guy at the bus stop who told me I could walk to Mount Alava Trail.

So that’s what I did, and it was a good thing I didn’t wait for the bus.

Because actually it seems like the bus to Fagusa might come along every couple of hours (no idea), because I’m not sure I ever saw a bus during my walk there, and it would have been along the same route.

 

 

4. American Samoa Highway 005 to Fagasa Bay overlook (walking from cruise port)

So, what’s the walk to the national park trailhead like?!

It’s a walk along Route 005, as listed on Google maps! (map)

I thought this was a nice walk that made me feel like I was walking on a tropical island, so I liked it!

This is a normal road that cars drive on, and it’s pretty much all uphill. You pass by residential houses too, so I thought it was an interesting walk.

You can turn onto Route 005 and just walk as far up as you feel like it.

If you walk the road just past the Mount Alava trailhead, you’ll come across a nice Fagasa Bay viewpoint. You can also make that your “destination” before turning back, if you don’t have an interest in hiking in the national park.

That would be about a 5 mile walk round trip, and you can also stop by the national park visitor center along the way. (map)

 

👆 You can walk from the cruise ship to the Mount Alava Trail in the National Park of American Samoa.

 

👆 Walking from the cruise ship along route 005.

 

👆 Off of route 005 you can see residential houses.

 

👆 This is a viewpoint of Fagasa Bay right near the Mount Alava trailhead.

 

👆 This is the road past the Mount Alava trailhead that heads towards the village of Fagasa.

 

 

5. Sadie’s by the Sea restaurant (food)

If you’re looking for food with views near the cruise port, you can try the restaurant at Sadie’s by the Sea! (map)

This is a hotel with a waterfront restaurant with views of the ocean and mountains. Read the reviews. (You’ll need to sift through the hotel reviews.)

Goat Island Cafe is another waterfront restaurant that is near the hotel. Read the reviews.

 

 

6. Utulei Park (swimming and snorkeling near cruise port)

Utulei Park seems to have some snorkeling, although I went snorkeling and swimming in what seems to not be a part of Utulei Park (I think). But it’s in the same general area.

I went to a spot with ocean access just to the south of the DDW cafe, and I saw a different types of fishies so I was happy about that! (map)

For your post-swim food, you can go to DDW! Read the reviews.

 

👆 This is the American Samoa beach I went snorkeling at on my own, walking from Pago Pago cruise port! Next up, landmarks to look out for so you can go snorkeling in the same spot!

 

👆 You can look for that red and white shelter. Although, it could always get painted a different color. That’s my backpack. I did leave it on the beach.

 

👆 Another landmark to look for off to the right. I went swimming off to the left facing the ocean.

 

👇 And now some of what I actually saw. These are screenshots from video taken with my phone. I had a cheapo waterproof phone case for snorkeling that I bought on Amazon.

 

You can see more of what I saw snorkeling by watching my Pago Pago youtube video.

 

On google maps, there is Utulei Beach Park shown as being to the north of Sadie’s by the Sea.

As indicated by the sign that I walked by, Utulei Park also is to the south of Sadie’s, and there is beach access here.

After swimming and on my way back to the cruise port, I actually saw a sign at Utulei Park that said there were high levels of bacteria in the water and it advised against swimming. (I saw people in the water in this area.)

If I would have seen this sign before I went snorkeling, I am pretty sure I would not have gotten in the water. (I got a bit scared after I saw the sign!)

So, look for an advisory sign before you go swimming at Utulei Beach!

 

More snorkeling in Pago Pago

A common beach to go on a Pago Pago cruise ship visit is Two Dollar Beach, and this seems to be a good snorkeling spot. People from a cruise ship reported getting there by taxi. It’s a 25 minute drive from the cruise port. (map) The entry fee is $5.

 

Packing for your cruise: See my post about what to pack for snorkeling in Tahiti. The basics apply for snorkeling in American Samoa!

 

 

Final cruise tips!

👆 There will be many places where you will be told what time you need to be back on the cruise ship in Pago Pago. This includes a sign as you are walking off the cruise ship. Take a picture of it so you have no doubt about remembering!

 

👆 There will be signs all around the cruise ship with what time you need to be back on board on Pago Pago day. Also be sure you take with you on land a government issued photo ID.

 

👆 No one plans to have problems when they leave the cruise ship. But take a picture of the Pago Pago port agent information just in case you do end up having some sort of problem! You will also see this all over the cruise ship on the morning of Pago Pago day.

 

 

More for your transpacific cruise:

• Walking in Papeete cruise port (Tahiti)
• Hawaii cruise port travel tips
• California cruise port travel tips

 

HAPPY CRUISING TO AMERICAN SAMOA!