watersco

It is possible if you are disciplined about the time. We had a rental car (which we just parked on the street overnight) and left about 8:00 in the morning. We drove up Waimea canyon to the very end of the road at the Na pali coast lookout, but there was cloud so we saw nothing. We then hiked the Canyon trail to Waipo'o falls. (We are fast hikers, I wouldn't recommend this under time pressure otherwise, it was a lot of uphill on the way back.)

I dropped the rest of the group off at the ship then dropped the rental car at the airport and got back with about 30 minutes to spare. We took a risk ... but it was the last day of the cruise and we really wanted to see Waimea canyon. It was definitely worthwhile. We had seen it on a Helicopter flight the previous day, and it was interesting to see the same thing from a different perspective.

Don't discount the kids program on the ship. We were on the PoA last year and our 4 year old loved the splash academy - in fact he enjoyed it much more than the days where he came ashore with us. Everyone else was happier too. Each day was long and hot which doesn't lead to happy 4 year olds.

We also had two 7 year olds and an 8 year old who came ashore most days. They did enjoy the splash academy one day so the adults could go hiking.

Since there are no at sea days on the Hawaii itineraries there isn't a lot of time to enjoy the view from bed. Though we did wake a couple times as the ship was coming into port. From the bed the windows are looking almost directly forward, so the view is pretty spectacular.

There isn't a separate desk or makeup table from what I can remember. There is a small ante-room before you enter the bathroom, but it only has closets and drawers but no desk or makeup mirror. I think the hair dryer was in a drawer in the bathroom. By cruise ship standards the bathroom is quite roomy. It has a separate toilet, but with a glass door and a glass enclosed shower. A tip: if you spill water from the shower throw a towel on the floor. The floor is very, very slippery when wet. We had a couple of nasty spills.

The bedroom is completely separate, and private. Although there is only one bathroom, there are separate entrances from the living room or bedroom.

We got 3 bottles of wine. Just before the cruise we received an email asking what we would like and we chose 3 bottles all the same.

There was an endless supply of soda in cans that was replenished on request. They are pepsi products so we brought our own diet coke too.

The sofabed was soft, comfy and nicely made up and our young kids slept together there with no problem. But it was quite short. A stark contrast from the very large and nice bed in the bedroom.

We had the same experience as CactusFlower with the deck and loungers. It was very wet each morning. Moving the loungers completely under cover in the evenings solved the problem.

I have attached some photos of 13000. It is a great room with plenty of space (we were there with out two young kids). We also had the connecting room 13002(?) which also has a huge balcony, but isn't nearly as nice a room.

The sofa-bed can only hold kids. Even one adult would have trouble fitting on it satisfactorily.

The balcony is absolutely enormous, and the view is fantastic since it covers 90 degress. The photo of the balcony has the Napali coast in the background. It was also nice sitting out there on the day in Kona.

IMHO these suites are surprisingly good value. In particular 13000 and the mirror on the port side are worth the slight premium over the other suites on the 13th floor.

We were on the PoA a couple of weeks ago. The dress code on the ship is very casual - at least compared to other cruises we have done with Celebrity. It is in keeping with the weather and location and IMHO didn't detract from the cruise at all.

Shorts and flip-flops seemed acceptable everywhere. with one notable exception: in the Liberty dining room they turned away men not wearing closed toed shoes or shirts with a collar. But flip-flops were fine in the Skyline dining room downstairs (which has virtually the same menu).

I will answer my own question. My family (except me) went on a helicopter tour with Blue Hawaiian from Hilo a couple of weeks ago. The pictures they came back with look very similar to Raina's ones. They were all very happy with what they saw and enjoyed the flight, but there was not a lot of lava seen.

We we on Kauai on the PoA a couple of weeks ago. I did a flight with Island Helicopters that was great. I did a lot of research online before we went and discovered that they are significantly cheaper for what appeared to me to be the same flight as other companies were offering. My father sat in one of the back middle seats and was completely happy with his view.

Before I went I had wondered if a doors-off flight would be fun ... but after seeing how much rain there can be in Kauai I would save that for another place.

Has anyone done a helicopter tour on Hawaii since the Kilauea lava flow has been going inland rather than into the ocean?

Did you see any interesting volcanic activity?

It seems like you can't hike to see the lava flows at the moment so a helicopter would be the only way to see anything. But I wonder if they are allowed to fly anywhere near the eruption?

I would also be interested in any recent hiking experiences on the crater rim trail.

We are going to be in 13000 and 13002 in a couple of weeks and I plan to take a lot of pictures. I will let you know when we get back.

I have studied the pictures and plans in great detail and from what I can see the balconies are enormous, but it will be interesting to see them in person.

Regards, Chris.

Hello. Has anyone been in the other SE cabins (13004, 13006, 13008, 13504, 13506, 13508)? How big are the balconies there? How private are they? Are they big enough for 4 seat table and loungers?

 

How big is the sofa bed (queen/double)?

 

Any pictures?

 

Thanks.

Here are some more photos of 13000 and 13002 (actually I think the photo of the bed is from the other side of the ship) that NCL shared. They give some idea of the room layouts and the balcony which is nice.

Descriptions are very confusing and the pictures do not show the actual cabins. The rep I spoke to actually sent me the archetect layouts for both 13002 and 13000.

The website should be updated with accurate imformation.

Can you share the layouts you got? I have both 13002 and 13000 booked and I really want to see the layout of the room, and the balconies.

A curtain down the middle of the room on a room that sleeps 6 (and is described as two separate bedrooms) is just wrong. It seems to meet every definition of false or misleading advertising.

We are booked into 13000 and 13002 for a 2014 cruise and I got a call from NCL today to let me know that the description of 13000 has changed and it now only has one bathroom, and no hot tub. My bigger shock was that the description now only has one bedroom. When we booked the room description was for "two separate bedrooms" and two bathrooms (I have it printed in my Vacation Summary). When I booked it I called NCL to confirm the specification of the room, and that two separate bedrooms was in addition to the living room.

The person I spoke to from NCL today quickly confused themselves looking at the conflicting floorplans and photos on NCLs own website. They said they would call back next week with more accurate information.

The lack of accurate floorplans and photos on the PoA is a real problem. It seems that the information is lacking for all decks, not just 13, and is much less accurate than for other NCL ships. It makes it very hard to know what you are going to get - which is frustrating when you are spending tens of thousands of dollars. I can't imagine buying a car with so little information.

Anyway, I too would also welcome any trip reports and photos from the 13th floor.

The lack of accurate floorplans for the POA on the NCL website is very frustrating. I just booked a couple of rooms on the 13th floor for a 2014 sailing - it took a lot of calls to different NCL reps to get information about the floorplans that I felt I could trust (I really needed to get the right combination of separate bedrooms per suite).

In the course of those conversations it was pretty clear that 12006 is having another bedroom added. I got the impression that it won't be complete until September.