Very Long Review of Pride of America Nov 8-18, 2012

Pride of America November 8-18, 2012

I will warn you that this is not a short review and will be posted in a few parts.

(I will add pictures in next few days) :D

In late 2010 DH and I started to plan on going to Hawaii for our 25th Anniversary. So we booked the Pride of America for the November 12, 2011 sailing. Unfortunately DH landed in the hospital for emergency surgery four days before we were scheduled to leave. Thank goodness we had insurance and got our money back. We rebooked an almost identical trip for a year later (The cabin and one hotel were different) for the November 10, 2012 sailing.

Less than two weeks before this trip, Mother Nature decided to test our patience and make getting ready for the trip very interesting. We live in New Jersey and were hit by Hurricane Sandy, 11 days before we were scheduled to leave. Other than some damage to our roof/attic fan our house was ok, but we were left without power for seven days. Our town was on the news quite a few times for the devastation that occurred here (Sayreville, NJ we lost over 250 homes). I had heard all the storm reports the weekend before the storm saying to be prepared for 7-10 days without power. I did most of the laundry that we needed, prepared all the electronics, and printed out all our reservations fearing not having power. Thank goodness I did that. I had to make one trip to the Laundromat during the power outage and didn’t want to make another prior to leaving. The night before our trip, we had a Nor’easter and half a foot of snow. Needless to say we were more than ready to leave NJ and head to Honolulu.

We were on the direct flight from Newark to Honolulu on United Airlines on November 8, 2012. This was a change from our original flight as United had a schedule change that caused a missed connection. This was a blessing in disguise as our original flight would have been canceled due to the snow as it was an early morning flight. We were in first class on all our flights as we redeemed all our frequent flyer miles to do this. The flight crew was great and took great care of everyone. We had lunch and a snack before arriving and they based a goody basket a few times during the flight. Although we took off 30 minutes late, we landed in Honolulu right on time. We were met by the representative from Hawaiian Lei Greetings at the gate for our lei greeting. He took our pictures and showed us a short cut to get to the baggage claim. Our bags were amongst the first off the plane and we were on our way to the Thrifty shuttle. After a short wait we got on the shuttle and had our car (Dodge Charger) less than 15 minutes later. After getting lost a few times trying to find our hotel, Aston Beach Tower, we were safely there. Got checked in and assigned a great room on the 21st floor. Aston Beach Tower has one and two bedroom condos. The condos have a full kitchen, washer/dryer and is right across from Waikiki beach. They stock the condo with basic supplies including coffee. We did have a problem with the air conditioner in the room. The first night it was freezing as the air conditioner didn’t shut off. We let them know before going out. They sent someone up to look at it, but we later figured out that it was blowing out hot air. We let them know and they sent someone up who rigged the air to blow constantly again (I covered the vent in the bedroom so we weren’t as cold). I did let them know when we checked out. They promised compensation. I haven’t seen the credit card bill to know what was done.

Right outside the hotel is a McDonalds we ate a quick snack there after landing and had breakfast there two mornings. Sounds crazy to eat at McDonalds but it was cheap, easy and convenient. They serve Spam there. Spam is huge in Hawaii. Eggs and Things was right next door and they were constantly packed with a line no matter when we went by so we never tried them. On every corner was an ABC store or some other shop to buy drinks and snacks.

On Friday, we went out to explore Oahu. The Valet at the hotel told us to visit the Pali Lookout on our way to the North Shore. Well worth it. The view is amazing. It was incredibly windy there but very beautiful. From there we drove around the North Shore. We stopped a number of places including a park near Chinaman’s Hat and Shark’s Cove. Unfortunately I didn’t write down or take pictures of some of the parks names we stopped at. We didn’t stop at Sunset Beach or the Banzai Pipeline as there were tournaments going on and parking was nuts. We drove to the Dole Plantation. We did the train ride and the Garden. This is where we ate lunch at. I had a Turkey sandwich and DH had the Loco Moco which is a Hawaiian Dish of a beef patty over rice with gravy and a fried egg. I don’t eat beef but the rice and gravy was quite tasty. We then headed back to Honolulu to go to the beach and relax before dinner at Dukes that night. The beach right across from the Aston is protected by some rocks and not that rough. We walked to Dukes and passed the statue of Duke Kahanamoku. We took pictures there and placed our leis on the statue.

Dukes is located in the Outrigger Waikiki which is where we spent the last two nights of our trip. Dukes has a live band during happy hour. The food there was very good and it included a nice size salad bar. Before I forget, many folks have mentioned that the food and drink are very expensive in Hawaii. I found the food to cost a bit more than home but nothing I seen was outrageous except for the two sodas we had at Moana Surfrider while the repairman was taking care of our air conditioner. They were over $5 each. Bottles of water were $.99 in the ABC store and a can of soda was $.79 or $3.50 for a six pack. Right across from the Outrigger is the International Market Place. We found the deeper you walk in there the better the deals become. We found many things a lot cheaper in the back than the front. DH bought a hand carved turtle there - His favorite souvenir from the trip.

Great start, can't wait for the rest. Thanks for taking the time to post.

Hi Deb! Looking forward to more!! :)

Thanks for posting. I'm looking forward to more!

Doug

great job Deb! you are always so good remembering all the details!

Great review. Can't wait to see your photos. I love looking at everyones pictures as it gives me an idea of what the island is like and what we can expect to see.

I enjoyed Part 1.

Great review and I look forward to the rest.

Keith

Can't wait to read the rest of your review. DW and I will be there in one month and a day. :D

Thanks for the review!

As this may be the closest I'll get to Hawaii, I am loving all the details and great info. Looking forward to this review! Thanks Deb!!

Great review! I can't wait to read more and see the pictures! I hope you post a picture of you and your DH, I bet we ran into you many times on the POA and I never knew who you were since we missed the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet.

It looks like we missed the lava flow by 1 week!!!

Deb I hope you have a pic of Mike in a grass skirt!!!!

Deb I hope you have a pic of Mike in a grass skirt!!!!

Sorry to disappoint you Darren but no picture of Mike is a grass skirt.

Great review! I can't wait to read more and see the pictures! I hope you post a picture of you and your DH, I bet we ran into you many times on the POA and I never knew who you were since we missed the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet.

 

It looks like we missed the lava flow by 1 week!!!

I am so bummed about the lava.

Here is a picture of Mike and I. I know we definitely seen you with your husband's birthday shirt.

IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO POST ACTUAL PICTURES FROM FLICKR PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I JUST SWITCHED THERE SINCE WEBSHOTS IS CLOSING.

grrrrr. keep trying to get actual photo to post.

grrrrr. keep trying to get actual photo to post.

I also had a bear of a time with Flickr, you'll notice part of my review is missing several pics that I had to include later. Here's what I eventually did:

Go to Flickr and find the picture you want in PhotoStream (where the pics are all together), then copy and paste the pic to cruise critic. I was not able to select the pics from my organized sets, only from PhotoStream.

If anyone has a better idea please HELP us!

if I try copying from photostream, this is what I get.

I have to be missing something simple.

yyy

YAY for Mike for helping me with the photos. Just4You I do need some other help with the photos. When we click on your photos it takes you to Flickr, when we click on mine it doesn't take you there.

Can you send me some info or screen shots on how you post them. My email is my screen name @aol.com

Ok time to upload some photos now that we have the photo issue resolved.

I found my folder with my notes and info in it today. I will make some tweeks to remaining review prior to posting next installment. Maybe a day or two. I have gaps in names of stuff so I want to fix first.

view from balcony at Aston Beach Tower

View towards North Shore from Pali Lookout

Chinaman's Hat

Shark's Cove

Aston Beach Tower - We were on 21st floor - Middle on Left Side

Looking Towards Diamond Head

Duke Kahanamoku Statue - You donate your leis to the statue.

Sunset at Waikiki

The photos are wonderful! DH and I both remember seeing you two on the POA many times!!

It looks like you figured out how to post pictures. I'm emailing you now to find out how you did it.

We will be on the POA next summer so can't wait to read your review!!

The photos are wonderful! DH and I both remember seeing you two on the POA many times!!

 

It looks like you figured out how to post pictures. I'm emailing you now to find out how you did it.

Too bad that we didn't have a chance to meet formally on the first day. I would have loved to speak to you.

I will respond to your email about the pictures later on.