Beachiekeen

We were told no last week on POA. We tried. They let us make a charge on our ship account. Maybe we just got someone who gave us incorrect info.

1 hour ago, Firepath said:

I really enjoyed the report and your photos are great. Thanks for writing it!

I can’t wait to read yours next!

1 hour ago, dexddd said:

You made a wise choice picking 12.  Very quiet up there.

Yes we loved it. We didn’t even bid for an upgrade to the OS (even though it killed me!) because we didn’t want to lose that deck! 

2 hours ago, smithop said:

What a great review, you are quite the planner, your ILs were very lucky to have such a wonderful trip.

 

We own a timeshare in Waikoloa and go to Hawaii every year, have never done the cruise.  You made it perfect for first time visitors to get a taste of all the islands and hit some of the best places to visit.

 

Thanks for putting this review together.

 

Next time you are in Kona, try the Swedish shave ice, its in one of your photos, near the palace.  They can put a scoop of chocolate mac nut ice cream in the center, oh its heaven in a shave ice!

I saw that place! But I love Ululani’s so I couldn’t pass it up. 
 

I love planning and had a ball doing it! I’d do it all again just the same!

35 minutes ago, EmeraldBay said:

Thanks for your inspiration.  We are doing this as our first cruise for our 50th.  Best DIL ever!

You are so welcome! I loved doing it! Have a wonderful time!

3 hours ago, jmcmo said:

Thank you so much for this very thorough review.  We are booked for 2021 and already making notes from all your suggestions.

 

Have a great time! You have lots to look forward to!

2 hours ago, amelia3171 said:

Thank you so much for your wonderful, positive review; your photos are fantastic. We had a similar experience with iPhone 11 photos being better than with a DSLR.

 

I also absolutely love your tunics, the turquoise paisley one is particularly stunning. 

Aww thanks! I got that for $14 at TJ Maxx! Best deal ever! It really came in handy.

One thing I forgot to mention--I found out on FB on Friday that ours was the last sailing to sail by the Na Pali Coast until mid-December of this year.  They are changing the itinerary for that time period.  So we got really lucky with that.  Some people didn't get much notice at all.  Another significant thing about this is that I read on FB that possibly this had been done other years as well.  So if you are planning a November or early December cruise, it is something to keep in mind.  That is generally a very slow time of year for all of Hawaii travel (other than Thanksgiving week) so it may be that NCL chooses this time period specifically for that reason.

Final thoughts:  We had a wonderful vacation.  I don’t regret doing this cruise for one second and would do it again.  Even though my in-laws don’t love the beach or the warm tropical weather, they were still smitten with Hawaii. For hubby and I, it’s just one of many trips we hopefully make.   The weather was incredible.  The Aloha spirit was everywhere in the residents, the ship's crew, and the visitors.

 

To make the most of this cruise, you really need to plan and research in advance.  I see many suggestions of hop on/off shuttles, shopping, Roberts tours, and I want to scream no, no, no.  Yes, those are convenient and easy, but it’s not in my opinion, the way to see Hawaii.  It’s not that much more to rent a car for two days than to pay $25/pp for a shuttle.   There are many great independent local operators who will get you to the ship in plenty of time and you will be in a small group instead of with 20 of your closest friends.  (The shuttles are improving but I still don't think it's the best option.)  There is great souvenir shopping at the ports, but check the labels and make sure you are getting something made in Hawaii.  I always want to support the local economy on any trip I take.

 

The ship is what it is.  It’s on its way to being better but Hawaii is the draw here—not shows, not the food, not entertainment or activities.  They provide enough onboard activities for those that want them.  The ship is adequate, it provides the necessities, no more, no less.  If you take the cruise knowing its limitations, you will have a great time.  Personally, I had low expectations for the ship but in the end, it exceeded those expectations.  I just wasn't there to see the ship, I was there to see Hawaii.  

 

Our suite was great, but it's a suite so nothing to complain about.  I have read tons of reports on FB about the cabins being small and just comparing our suite to the one other I have sailed in, I would agree.  I love that the balconies are enclosed on NCL (or at least ours was, as was our one on the Dawn).  This was our 2nd NCL cruise and we loved it like we loved our one on the Dawn.  I think the entertainment on NCL is much better than on other lines, their singers and dancers and musicians are all really good.  And I LOVE the NCL finale!  :) 

 

I see lots of reports about the specialty restaurants being expensive, you shouldn't have to pay to get good food, you have to always make a reservation at the dining room even though it's supposed to be "freestyle" dining.  I would agree somewhat with all of that.  But the specialty restaurants are really good and we are not people that mind paying for good food once or twice on a trip.  Having the dining package was totally worth it though.

 

I have read tons of negative reports on the staff but that wasn't our experience at all.  I had read the food was just ok and I would agree but I don't go on a cruise for fine dining.  We ate off the ship as much as we could.   Cagney's was certainly the standout.

 

This was truly an anniversary to remember!  All the planning paid off and we all had a wonderful time.  I hope this report helps someone with their planning or simply gets them excited about their own upcoming trip.  I'm happy to answer any questions.  Aloha!
 

 

Ugh Saturday.  It was here, the dreaded day we had to leave this wonderful ship, our wonderful suite, and say goodbye to this wonderful crew and staff.  It was hard, ya'll.

 

We had our last sort of rushed breakfast at Cagney's.  It is open for suite guests regular hours on the last day which is great.  Hubby and I had not really finished packing so we had to spend most of the morning doing that. 

 

We found Roland and were escorted off the ship around 9:00.  (If we had been ready, we could have all had breakfast at Cagney's and left the ship from there.)  We always do self-disembark and walk off with our luggage,  we don't place it outside to be picked up.  It's a good thing too because I would have not been ready by the night before!   I wanted to cry walking off the ship!  But I think we might be back.

 

Incidentally it seemed as if disembarking was going smoothly, I don't remember crazy lines or chaos or anything like that.

 

I really struggled with planning this last day on Oahu before our 6:30 flight.  I thought about doing a walking tour of Honolulu and the Iolani Palace, but that meant storing our luggage and having to go back to get it.  Hubby did not want to drive and I didn’t blame him.   I had looked at Resort Pass, however the hotels that participate will not store your luggage, so that was once again an issue.  (Only the Prince Waikiki said they would store our luggage for us.)

 

In the end, we decided to just rent a room at the Royal Hawaiian to use for the day.  I emailed the hotel in advance and RH agreed to give us a 10:00 check in which was great.  We took a cab from the pier and stored our bags with the valet and hubby and I made a beeline for the pool.  FIL watched a movie in the room and MIL found a breezy spot to read a book.  Hubby and I drank lava flows and had lunch at the pool and walked on the beach.   Waikiki beach was crazy packed! 

 

I was so glad we decided to do this as we were all tired and this relaxing afternoon was just what we needed.  Walking around hot Honolulu would not have been nearly as nice as this!  It's an expensive last day but every time I read that someone had done this, they said it was totally worth it and I agree with them.  It ended up being really good for us because our Boston family members' flight was changed and instead of leaving at 2:30, they left at 11 pm so they got to use the room once we left.  

 

We had to keep an eye on the traffic as the main road in Waikiki was closed for a festival.  So we decided to get a cab rather than take a Lyft as we wanted a driver who would be familiar with alternate routes.  We ended up getting a great driver and the road closure ended up being a non-issue.  I wanted to leave Waikiki at 3:00 for our 6:30 flight.  We ended up being a little later as it took awhile to get a cab, I think we ended up leaving around 3:15 and with the road closure, traffic was heavy but we still made it to the airport in plenty of time.   

 

Then it was home again, home again.  Back to life, back to reality.  But the memories we made will be something I will cherish always.  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We gathered at 5:00 on our port side balconies for the Napali Coast sailby and I took my last picture around 6:25.  If you are in a balcony, you want to be on the port side, the view is far superior.  Yes the ship turns and starboard sees it too, and although the view itself was still great, the sun had set and the colors were all gone and it wasn't nearly as spectacular.  We went to the ILs starboard suite just to see it so I feel confident saying get the port side balcony.  (We ran over there so fast, we forgot to grab our key and ended up locking ourselves out of our cabin!)  Also once the ship turned, port side got to see the sunset.  It was really fun having seen the coast by air that morning and to now see it by sea. 

 

After the sailby, hubby and I and the ILs went to Teppanyaki for dinner.  I thought this would be a fun way to end the trip, and while it was, everyone was tired--not just us but everyone at our table, even the chef mentioned it!  The food was good although we all thought the shrimp was undercooked and I wouldn't eat any of it.  They let my MIL who is allergic to shrimp substitute scallops with her steak and of course they cooked hers first.  Hubby got a really good martini there so I got one too, it was delicious! I wish I could remember the name of it but it had lychee in it.  Since hubby and I had the drink package, the waiter poured bottled water into our glasses which I thought was a nice touch.

 

After dinner, I made hubby go see Vegas the Show because I wanted to see the finale that NCL does better than anyone, but I won't spoil it!  :)  

 

The pictures are a combination of all of our cameras (iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, Nikon 3400).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure this is the picture I took on the starboard side.

 

 

After lunch hubby and I and the ILs went back to the ship while BIL and his friend spent some time at the beach.  I warned them that all aboard was 1:30 and that I better not hear their names called out over the speaker!

 

I had mentioned to our butler, Roland, on the first day of the cruise that I wanted to use some of our OBC to have a bottle of champagne while we cruised the Napali coast and wondered if he could arrange that for us.  But that was before we decided to get the Dom. 

 

When hubby and I got back to the room, we had a gorgeous towel animal and a complimentary bottle of good champagne (we looked it up, it was about a $60 bottle) in our room compliments of Roland.  Sweet!

 

Hubby and I had a slight dilemma.  We had spent all our cash and didn't have any left to tip our butler or steward.  We loved our steward, Edwin.  We hardly ever saw him but he left us towel animals every night--he would put them in sneaky places for us to find.  Our room was also spotless every day.  Our butler Roland, didn't do a ton for us since we planned the trip and made all our reservations in advance.  But he was really nice, always finding us and checking on us, and now he had brought the champagne so we wanted to do something.

 

So now we had errands for the afternoon before the Na Pali coast sailby.  I also wanted to drop off my hero card for Edwin.  Hubby wanted a drink so we decided to go to the Waikiki Bar since the seating back there was so nice. On the way, we saw the pool was packed because everyone was watching the officers vs. guests volleyball game.  It looked really fun.

 

At the bar, we ran into one of the great ladies I had met on our FB page/CC roll call and her group was nice enough to invite us to sit with them.  We sat with them and had a couple of drinks and watched sailaway and it was such a fun time!  

 

(I totally forgot to mention that on day 1, hubby and I went to our CC meet and greet.  We were late and almost didn't make it but it was fun to finally meet everyone and a shout out to Chris for setting it up!  These are really fun because it's fun to run into people you have met and ask how their cruise is going, etc.  Everyone we met was so nice.)

 

So I just wanted to mention that Guest Services was very helpful (once we finally made it there).  You can fill out a form and essentially charge your tips to your ship account.  They give you a copy of the form that you can then hand to your steward, butler, etc.  (We could not have used our non-refundable OBC for this, only refundable OBC can go towards tips.)   There is one ATM on the ship but it was broken!  We did see a couple of ATMs at different ports also.  

 

We were back in our cabin at 5:00 and the in-laws came to our cabin for the Na Pali coast sailby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our wonderful tour, we went over to Duke's at the Marriott on Kalapaki Beach.  Some of our group wanted to go walk around the Marriott but I was concerned about our big group getting a table since only the Barefoot Bar is open for lunch.  It was 11:00 am so we made a reservation at 11:30, which was a good thing because when we got back, the restaurant was busy.

 

We went and walked around the Marriott which has beautiful grounds and a koi pond.  Then we went and had lunch at Duke's, I got kalua pork nachos and a lava flow which was delicious, one of the best ones I've had in Hawaii (and I've had several!)

 

We all had a great time and I was dreading the moment we would have to get on the ship and sail away from beautiful Kauai. Only knowing I will be back in May made it easier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here a few of the pictures I took that I deemed worthy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some things I would like to mention about plane/helicopter tours.  First of all, I instructed the family to wear dark clothing so that you have less reflection through the windows.  Also, hubby used his iPhone 11 pro max, and I brought my DSLR.  While my camera took nice pictures, what I did not realize is that it would be very difficult to get my lens right up to the glass--although the flight was smooth, I risked breaking my lens if there was any jolt at all.  But hubby could get his phone completely to the glass, blocking nearly all the reflection.  So his pictures are much better than mine--I think I ended up keeping only a handful of mine.

 

Here are just a few of the amazing pictures we took.  These air shots are with hubby's iPhone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday:  Kauai

 

Hubby and I had breakfast at the Aloha Cafe again.  Breakfast for me was a fresh juice and a sugar-free Red Bull.  There was a line this time for the juice and the guy didn't make it nearly as good this time.  Even though we could have a nice breakfast at Cagney's, on the mornings we wanted to get off the ship quickly, the buffet was quicker.

 

We met to get off the ship at 8:00 am and took the Anchor Cove Mall shuttle over to the mall to meet our bus driver for our tour with Wings Over Kauai.  The shuttle driver was really nice and gave lots of good information.  The shuttles run continuously until 1:00 on Friday I think he said.  We were early so we walked over to nearby Kalapaki Beach and just sat outside in the shade enjoying the morning.  

 

My in-laws will not do a helicopter so I found Wings Over Kauai which is a small plane tour similar to the seaplane we took over the glaciers in Alaska, a highlight of that trip.  The price was much cheaper than a helicopter tour also ($125/pp or $600 for 5-6 people), and since the airvan held 6 passengers, our group would have the entire plane to ourselves.  Yet another plus was that everyone had a window seat.  It was another gorgeous morning with our pilot, Marcus, commenting on how lucky we were.

 

This. Was. Amazing.  Words cannot even describe it.  My eyes actually welled up with tears several times.  The plane was so smooth, at times it felt as though we were suspended over the island, not even moving.  To see Kauai in her beautiful splendor from the air is something I will never forget. 

 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, Cindy said:

I’m sad your cruise is almost over!😢

Me too!  

We just rented last week.  We used Avis.  They have a shuttle.  We parked for $15 at the airport.  Most people on FB rent from Enterprise and park overnight for $10 at the Maui Beach Hotel.  This wasn't possible for us with seniors, nor would I park at the hotel and make that walk at night, but many do and say it's fine.

 

I'm doing a trip report on the Norwegian board.

I took so many pictures on Kauai, it's hard to pick only a few!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday:  Kauai

 

The Thursday on Kauai was our 10-year wedding anniversary.  We had a big day planned.  I loved that we could stay out as long as we wanted with no rushing to the ship to worry about.

 

I was out on the balcony at 6:00 to watch the ship come in to port.  I started taking pictures and texting them to my mom who is coming with us on our land vacation to Kauai in May.  She is so excited already.

 

I told everyone to meet at 8:00 by the elevator.  Hubby and I had breakfast in the cafe.  The buffet situation was not bad on POA, there was always ample seating and it seemed to be laid out nicely.  Usually the buffet is a complete madhouse and you can never find a place to sit.  I discovered the fresh juice station and got a carrot-pineapple-orange juice and it was heaven.  I was sad I had only just now discovered it.  You can also get bottled water there so I got our water to take off the ship. 

 

(By the way, the Cagney's breakfast menu lists fresh juice but whenever I tried to order it, it was met with complete confusion.  I finally realized they have to go get it from the buffet juice station.  Which is annoying because it was clear they didn't want to do it and of course it took forever.  They should really just remove it from the menu altogether.  If you tell me I can have fresh squeezed juice for breakfast, I am going to order it.)

 

We all met at 8:00 am to disembark.  We wanted to take a cab to the airport to pick up our car as the shuttle line was long and we missed the first one.  But no cabs would take us and they weren't being let into the port area until the tour buses had left. So we waited for the second shuttle and got our third minivan of the trip at Avis and were on our way to Waimea Canyon by 9:15.

 

We used the Shaka Guide app again for our drive up the canyon.  The weather was gorgeous once again, but I was nervously watching the sky as I didn’t know when the clouds might come in.  When we got to the first lookout, we all got out and took pictures so that if the clouds did come in, at least we got to see something.  

 

We continued up the mountain with each lookout more beautiful than the last.  We did a hike called the Iliau nature loop which was an easy hike for my ILs.  We stopped at the big Waimea Canyon Lookout which was full of people, but everyone was glad to take turns viewing at the top.  We stopped at the Kokee Museum for a break and souvenir stop.  

 

We made it to the Kalalau Lookout around 12:40 and the clouds were just rolling in—I felt like we missed it by maybe just a few minutes.  This is the lookout where you can see the Napali coast.  Alot of people drive straight to this lookout and then work their way down.  But  I felt like everyone seeing the canyon was more important and I am glad we did it the way we did. 

 

I had planned for us to drive straight to Poipu for lunch on the beach but by the time we were back in Waimea, everyone was hungry so we stopped there for some lunch at a little Thai place and got JoJo’s shave ice.   I told everyone to get the ice cream on the bottom!  I had a bite of my MIL’s (but she got a coffee flavored one and I don’t like coffee). Everyone really liked it though.

 

After lunch, we drove towards Poipu and stopped at the Spouting Horn blowhole which was cool to see (and hear) before getting to beautiful Poipu beach.  We got the ILs settled under the shady covered pavilion and the rest of us spent time at the beach.  This beach reminded me a little of Kapalua Bay on Maui.

 

We were able to wash off at the beach and I threw a pretty cover up over my bathing suit and we went to our dinner at Rumfire at the Sheraton.  I had given hubby the choices of the Beach House restaurant and Rumfire for dinner and he chose Rumfire. We got there at 5:00 for Aloha Hour and all had $6 mai tais which were delicious—I think I liked this one as much or more than my favorite one at Merriman’s on Kapalua.

 

Dinner was pretty good but our server seemed overwhelmed.  Rumfire allows you to mix two entrees so I got the filet and butterfish, hubby got ahi and one of the featured fishes, Ono, which I was excited to try.  It was good but his ahi was a bad cut and he couldn’t finish it.  MIL’s steak was overcooked but they took it off the bill.  So it was hit and miss but the good was really good.  

 

For dessert, hubby and I got a dessert called the Baked Kauai for two which was a pineapple cake, coconut ice cream, and meringue that they bruleed at the table.  It was divine, I am still dreaming about that dessert!  The sunset was beautiful also. All in all, it was a wonderful anniversary dinner.

 

MIL’s overcooked steak meant we missed the Avis shuttle that stops running at 8:00.  So we had to use the “need a taxi” phone at the airport to call a cab after we dropped off the car.  A surly cab driver arrived and didn’t speak one word to us as he drove us back to the port but at least we got there!  I don't recommend relying on cabs on Kauai.  

 

Back on the ship, hubby and I wanted to use our onboard credit for a bottle of good champagne.  We had $500 in OBC when the cruise started and had hardly made a dent in it.  We went to the Napa Wine Bar and saw we could get a bottle of Dom Perignon for $284, a price you rarely see outside of a liquor store.  So we figured, why not, there was nothing else to use it on and the cruise was almost over.  We looked up the vintage the bar had (2008) and it was ranked very highly, Wine Spectator gave it a 96.

 

So we used our onboard credit to get a bottle of Dom Perignon to celebrate our anniversary. It was delicious, I don't know how I will go back to regular champagne after this!   An anniversary to remember for sure!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday:  Kona

 

Our tour was at 8:00 today so I was up at 6:00 on the balcony.  I was tired.  I was wishing we could just sleep late and enjoy the morning, maybe walk around the pier for a while and then spend the day at the pool.  But instead, we had to be up the earliest yet for our tour.  If you want a day to just chill, Kona is a good day for that.

 

I told everyone to meet at 7:30 to we could take an early tender.  The tenders start running at 7:15 and from 7:15-7:45 you can walk off the ship without needing a tender ticket.  So that was perfect for us.  We didn't make the one at 7:30, but the one just after it and we got to the meeting place right at 8:00.  Luckily we had Josh again and he knew we were coming.

 

Our tour was of all the places listed in my first post.  The Greewell Coffee Farm was neat.  I think farm tours are always fun and interesting.  Everyone got to drink all the coffee they wanted.  I don't drink coffee but I still enjoyed it.  At the end, Josh asked everyone if we wanted the "optional" stop of the Painted Church and I yelled "Yes!" since that was the stop I wanted to see the most.  I would have been disappointed not to see it.

 

In the end, I was glad we took the tour and didn't just walk around the pier.  The tour was shorter so it left us time to do both, so it was the perfect day really.

 

After the tour, we asked Josh how to get to Kona Brewery and he just drove us there himself.  Google makes it look like it's really far to walk from the port area but it isn't, there is a cut through.  Hubby loves to try new local beers on vacation and since he wasn't driving, he was finally able to have a drink.  We can get some Kona Brewing beers in Dallas, but there are always local ones that they don't distribute that are fun for him to try.

 

We had a bit of a wait for a table so hubby got a beer and we got some T-shirts.  I had wanted to get some T-shirts at the gift shop on the boat since we had a ton of OBC but I had not found anything.  We got a nice table at the back where it was quiet.  I got a pork sandwich and hubby got fish tacos and we shared them.  The food was ok, and hubby got a beer flight and said the beers were ok, not his favorite.  He likes Maui Brewing better I think.

 

After lunch, the ILs went back to the ship and the rest of us walked around the pier.  There is quite a bit to see at the pier, a small beach and a bigger beach a little more of a walk (but we didn't go there).  We could see these beaches from our balcony.  There is a famous palace you can tour for $10, a historical landmark, places to eat, souvenir shop, and Ululani's shave ice.  It's a really nice little area.

 

We took the 4:00 tender, went and got some pina coladas at the Key West bar; then went back to our balcony for sailaway and had our wine, canapes and the chocolate covered strawberries the in-laws never ate.  We had made reservations for the Skyline dining room.  It was ok, not great, not terrible.  I don't even remember what I had but I think I got all appetizers because I wasn't that hungry from all our snacks!  That night, we slept with our balcony door open for awhile so we could hear the waves as we cruised towards our last port, Kauai.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday:  Hilo 

 

I woke up at 6:00 and watched sunrise on the balcony.  We all met at 8:15 to disembark.

 

I chose two tours for the Big Island to give hubby a break from driving which he desperately needed.  I knew we wouldn't see as much this way, but I wanted my husband to be able to relax for two days and let someone else do the driving.  I had wanted to use Mary Lou’s Big Island Tours for Hilo and Island Wide Family Tours for Kona which is owned by Mary Lou’s son.

 

Unfortunately, the patriarch of the family, Ken, died suddenly while I was planning the trip.  When it came time to book the tours, Island Wide’s website was still up so we called and talked to Kyle who informed us what we suspected--that his business was for sale and the family was still not doing tours.  My heart goes out to this family and wish them all the best.

 

Kyle recommended Mauka Makai who was my second choice anyway.  We had the same driver, Josh, both days.  We loved Josh and this tour and we had a great group of 10 people (including the six of us) both days.  I highly recommend Mauka Makai.

 

I was not sure what to expect on the BI but I loved it.  I listed the stops we made in my first post.  It was so lush and beautiful with interesting vegetation I had never seen before.  I did lament that we saw so little of the park after researching it, but driving it would have been risky and I didn’t want everyone stressing out about missing the ship.   So we got a little taste of both Hilo and VNP and that’s ok.  It was still really amazing.  Lunch was sandwiches from a little place called Eagles Lighthouse Cafe and were yummy.  

 

My BIL who has been to the BI before asked about going to Volcano Winery so Josh said as long as everyone was ok with it we could go.  So we went and some of us did a wine tasting which was really fun. I don't believe we would have stopped here without my BIL mentioning it, but I'm glad we did.  After that, we went to Big Island Candies which was a huge cluster of people but the samples were delicious and I bought chocolate covered macadamia nuts for gifts.

 

Throughout our cruise, I saw the big green Roberts van at every port.  Everyone on Facebook recommends them and I cringe every time.  It’s a huge gigantic bus with dozens of people to herd in and out.  While we had 10 people and were able to do some things on the fly and customize our tour as we went along.  Which is a much better choice in my opinion.

 

I would have liked to maybe seen more of the park and maybe omitted a stop or two but generally these tours are meant to please everyone and to give you a little tour of the whole area.  Mauka Makai also offers a tour of the coast in Hilo and if we go back, I would love to do that one next time.

 

We were all back on board about 3:45.  We had chocolate covered strawberries in our room so we had those with one of our complimentary bottles of sparkling wine.  About 5:45, hubby and I went down to the Napa wine bar and got glasses of champagne to take with us to our 6:00 dinner at Cagney's.

 

This meal was delicious, by far the best on the cruise.  I got the crab cake, filet and macaroni and cheese and the delicious macadamia nut ice cream for dessert!  Everything was great. 

 

After dinner, hubby and I went to Pink's for a cocktail.  Hubby got the Rum Cake martini, which I had had on the Dawn and loved, but this one was really strong so hubby had to drink it.  We listened to the music for awhile and then went back to the room.  On the way, we got our pictures taken since we were all dressed up.  Back at the room, we sat on the balcony for awhile listening to the waves as we cruised to Kona.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday: Maui

 

After breakfast at Cagney's we left the ship at 8:30 and took a cab to the airport parking, once again not waiting for the shuttle. This was not a trip where we wanted to be waiting in line, and we don’t mind paying $15 for a cab if it gets us going quicker.

 

We drove to Haleakala National Park and got to the visitor's center around 10:15, so the drive took almost an hour and a half.  We have made this drive several times so it is one we felt comfortable doing, and we were never too far from the ship.  The weather was beautiful and I had never seen Haleakala so clear.  We all got out, took a few pictures and used the restroom, then we did the .20 Pa Ka’oa trail to an overlook.  Even my ILs were able to make it to the top, slowly but surely.  

 

By now, we needed to get going to make our 1:00 reservation at the Mill House at the Maui Tropical Plantation.  We made it with about 5 minutes to spare. We were excited for everyone to get to eat there as this is always our favorite meal when we visit Maui.  Hubby got a curry shrimp, BIL got fish, FIL got a burger and MIL and I got the fish sandwich.  Everyone loved it.  We dropped off the car at the airport, took the Avis shuttle, and were back on the ship well before 5:30 all aboard.    

 

(Incidentally, we did not fill up any of our cars before returning them on this trip.  We just paid for it at Avis and in every instance, it was cheaper than gassing it up ourselves and we didn’t have to worry about finding a gas station, etc.)

 

Hubby and I watched a little of the Monday Night football game in our room  and then went and had a drink before sailaway.  We went out on deck 11 for sailaway and I said goodbye to Maui!

 

The dining room could not accommodate our party of 6 with no reservation so some of us went to the buffet for dinner.  I had a slice of pizza and a salad and a dessert crepe, and it was all edible.  We are not buffet people, but I've certainly seen worse.  We went and watched a little of the Aloha Polynesian show but we were tired so we left before it was over.  We were back in our room by about 8:30.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did not fill up any of our minivans on the cruise before dropping them off, and in every instance, what we were charged was cheaper than gassing up the cars ourselves.  It was great.

I just did Wings over Kauai on Friday morning last week, we took the 9:30 am flight, then had lunch at Duke's on Kalapaki beach.  

 

It was spectacular.  My eyes actually welled up with tears several times.  Our pictures are incredible.  The flight was so smooth, it was perfect. 

 

The airvan holds 6 plus the pilot so our family of six had the entire plane.  The other great thing is everyone has a window seat.