Waimea'sMom

You may want to take note: Thrifty's car rental facility is not located at the airport, where the other car rental agencies are -- they are a little further offsite. I would allow a little longer to get to and from the pier, and also be sure you don't take the wrong shuttle. I don't do it, but I've heard people say that they will grab the first shuttle that comes since all the agencies are "all together."

 

It is not a factor on a cruise port, but I do avoid booking Thrifty when taking the early morning flights out of Kauai due to the further locale.

You may wish to get a Hawaii library card. If I recall, a visitor card is about $25 and good for 5 years. You can then get free wifi at the libraries. In Lahaina, it is literally across the street from the tender dropoff. In Hilo, there is one downtown. In Oahu, there are a number of branches -- plus Apple stores in Waikiki and Ala Moana, both of which will have free wifi. In Kauai, the best library branches are in Koloa and Lihue.

 

Also, McDonalds has free wifi too -- a lot faster than Starbucks.

 

And in Kauai, you can also get free wifi at the Kukui Grove shopping mall. Take the Kmart shuttle and it is next door.

It doesn't bother me how people attain their Elite benefits (be it through days or sailings) since that is the way the system has been set up. What does irritate me is that there is no benefit beyond Elite.

 

I've done 31 cruises with Princess and have over 300 days, and other than the token additional OBC they offer each sailing there is nothing to reward loyal passengers above fifteen sailings.

 

Heck, since Platinum gets internet and the Elite lounge too, their really is no difference from Platinum on that score.

 

I wish they would institute some type of level above Elite -- at 30 or 40 or 50 cruises, whatever they wish. They could offer a free specialty dinner, or breakfast in Sabatinis or dare I wish, double the internet minutes. But having the same number of internet minutes as my spouse (who has six completed sailings) seems crazy to me.

Have a wonderful cruise! I just got off the ship the day you boarded and had a wonderful time. I highly recommend the ukulele and hula lessons taught by Dave and Leialoha of Elua. :)

This is a very sad situation for the man, his family and his friends and just as we need to have compassion for them, I think we should have some compassion for those on board even the so-called 'complainers'. We don't know their situation either. This may be an once in a lifetime trip for them, the only opportunity for them to ever see the Hawaiian Islands. This may be their once a year or once ever 2 or 5 year vacation from a stressful life and job. Just like we don't know why this man felt the only way to deal with his life was to end it, we don't know the circumstances of others on the ship. I don't think that just because they are complaining they are necessarily uncaring people. Please let's have compassion for everyone in this sad situation and not criticize or demonize how anyone is reacting.

 

Precisely. I am onboard the Star right now. We aided in the search along with the Grand. I overheard a woman that was very upset, she had booked this cruise specifically to visit Maui, and we missed Maui and will substituting Kona instead.

 

I am very fortunate to have traveled many times to Hawaii, but for many people this is a once in a lifetime journey. I can understand their disappointment at missing their chance to visit a place they had always wanted to see.

I just want to chime in to second the recommendations on the ukulele lessons. I have taken this itinerary a number of times and back in 2008 I first took the uke classes from Dave and David. My mom ended up buying me an ukulele when we got into Hawaii. I now have seven ukuleles (as you can see in my avatar), and I am a moderator on the largest ukulele forum on the internet. But this was where I caught the bug.

 

The hula classes are great fun as well, and my mom and I always attend those. She always wants us to do hula so I usually do, but twice I did pick ukulele in the show.

 

PunkiC - it has been great fun reading this, as I am taking this cruise again next month. Now, I just have to decide which ukulele to take with me. :)

PunkiC

 

-I know you mentioned the wine corkage fee checking in Oahu. Did they do that in Maui as well - or the other ports?

For your guitar picks, try Lahaina Music in Maui (near Hilo Hattie) or Hilo Guitars in downtown Hilo. Sorry, I could have told you tons of shops in Oahu and a few in Kauai to try if you had not already been to those ports.

[quote name='hillslife']Princess just added the Medallion/Red Level recently between Blue and Gold.

I would like another higher level to achieve with more benefits.....something to work towards.[/quote]

I agree. I am Elite (reached via days or cruises -- 335 days and 30 cruises) and while I love the laundry benefit, I would like to see something to reward people after 16 cruises. The internet is nice (but often so slow as to be useless) and the minibar is a nice perk -- though I always just exchange everything for Diet Coke. And the $25 OBC is a nice gesture, but just that, a gesture.

The idea of having the Sabatinis breakfast, or those free drinks in the bar sounds great to me. They could make the cutoff at 35/350 or even 50 cruises/500 days to limit the number of people accessing it per sailing.

The rudest passenger I ever encountered was on my last cruise on the Sapphire. I was in the gym on the bike when he came up and asked if he held a piece of pizza in front of me would I pedal faster. He then repeated the same "funny" line to a fellow on the treadmill. The guy on the treadmill looked like he wanted to punch him.

 

Admittedly, I am sensitive about my weight -- I am much smaller than many other passengers but still larger than I would like to be. That precisely was why I was in the gym. I am just so thankful that it was me instead of the lady that took the bike after me. She was very softspoken and very large. I think I would have gone off at him if I had heard him say it to her.

 

Still, it wasn't until later in the day when I picked myself back up emotionally that I decided I should have retorted, "Pizza? No. If you want me to pedal faster you should bring doughnuts."

 

I was in the gym every day of that cruise and never saw that ******* in there again.

 

Every other rude passenger I have encountered is the typical abuse suffered by the waiters and stewards. It always amazes me that some people treat service personnel like slaves.

Hi, I'm aware of some of the themed dinner menus depending on the destination (Alaskan, Caribbean, etc.). I haven't done a Princess cruise to Hawaii before...does anyone know if they do an onboard luau or have a Hawaiian themed dinner menu? My only previous Hawaiian cruises were back on the old American Hawaii ships the Constitution and Independence in the mid 80s. Sorry if this is already posted somewhere, I tried a search in Princess and Hawaii boards but couldn't find anything...

So everyone whose still plugged into this thread...Whose cruise is next? Where are you headed?

 

Don't know if we are next or not, but my partner and I (and our parents) are headed on the Dawn Princess to Alaska in about a month...

 

I'm in a cabin with my Mom, she is next door with her aunt, and her parents are in the third cabin. Is it just me, or would hetero couples also be expected to split up as though they were roommates? Luckily, my Mom and I are really close so I don't mind sharing with her.

 

Don't mind me...I'm still bitter that her Mom (who actually is a lovely woman) insists on introducing me as her daughter's "friend" and her Dad refused to attend our commitment reception.:mad:

 

Aside from that, they really are nice (I'm not being sarcastic, they are)...I'm just dreading being forced into a closet for 10 days. Thankfully, we have traditional seating for 6 so we don't have to play act in front of people at dinner every night. I can suck it up on a tour or two, but to do it repeatedly and concoct a fully fake story would grate on my nerves. Still, we aren't taking off our wedding rings, so when we both deny having husbands, I'm all too happy to let people make the obvious connections themselves.

Hmm, I was about to try to convince my dear partner to let us book that cruise since we were already planning to go to the Caribbean next Spring -- I assure you, my huge crush on k.d. lang had NOTHING to do with my desire to be on the ship!:D But now that I see it is a drawing and there is only one show, I'm going to book us the more convenient (date wise) and MUCH less expensive Caribbean Princess instead. Looks like my honey won't have to watch me swoon over k.d. after all...

Hi all, I just wanted to introduce myself. I just joined the Cruise Critic boards today and I'm thrilled to see this thread. I was wondering: how out are all of you on the general threads? I hate mentioning my partner as my spouse or friend or having to play the pronoun game but I've seen so much flaming on other message boards and forums that I'm gun shy.

 

Here, amongst family, though...let me introduce myself. I'm Staci, a 33 year old former attorney/aspiring travel agent. My partner is Shannon, a 36 year old police sergeant. We live in Southern California with our three cats (Dakota, Kahlua and Creampuff). In fact, my screen name comes from our kitten Waimea who passed away when only one year old.:(

 

I've been cruising with my family since I was a kid (see list below in my sig) and Shannon took her first cruise with me, and our moms, to Europe last year. We are currently booked on a cruise to Alaska this August with my Mom, her parents, and her aunt.

 

We would love to do an Olivia cruise but I just can't bring myself to justify the extra cost. Still, it would be nice to be amongst "family." This trip to Alaska should be interesting since her father refused to go to our commitment ceremony, and her mother always introduces me to everyone as her "friend." My mom, though is practically PFLAG material. :D

 

We are also planning on going to the Caribbean just the two of us next spring (before or immediately after Red Sox and Dodgers Spring Training games-- how lesbian is that?!) and I'm nervous about our dining options. On cruises I have taken with my Mom, people have been rather forthcoming about extreme right wing views in just casual dinner conversation -- something they would never guess affects me since I'm femme. My partner, though is very butch and Hellen Keller would have known she is gay. (Except apparently her supervisors in the U.S. Navy -- don't get me started...they sent her to Iraq for a year but would discharge her now if they knew about her).

 

So aside from the gay issue, we also have to be careful because of the don't ask/don't tell issue. How have most of you handled your dining? Traditional? Anytime/freestyle? And did your dining companions on hetero cruises know you were gay or care?

 

This has never been an issue for us before since her only other two cruises were with a set group (4 and now 6 of us), and when I'm with my Mom, I certainly "pass" inspection with homophobes.

 

Anyway, I'm thrilled to see you gals here and I hope to talk to you again soon...