POA Review 6/5 Honolulu & Emabarkation

[mcdlady]

POA cruise – 6/5/10

Just returned from the vacation of a lifetime! This was the first cruise and trip to Hawaii for both the DH and I. We had been planning to go for years when our 25th anniversary rolled around, although we didn’t get to actually book anything until 3 months out. We’re in our late 40’s, and with 2 boys in college and elderly parents with health problems, we had to pick our travel time carefully. We also had a budget, so we picked and chose when to splurge and when to save a few $. I learned so much from these boards, I will try to repay some of it! One word of caution: we are not foodies or night owls/partiers, so there won’t be any info about that in my review, sorry. :rolleyes:

 

Precruise: We flew from ATL to Honolulu on Friday, 6/4. We had a 1 hour layover in LAX, but the gates were right across the concourse from each other, so no problem! We arrived in Oahu at 8:30, Hawaii time, but that was 2:30 Atl time, so we were beat. We had a reservation with Hawaii 23 for pickup, so we called after we landed and Mark was there waiting for us when we picked up our luggage. We had heard about them from CC, and they were great! No sharing a ride, but a reasonable cost from airport to Waikiki ($23)! (http://www.hawaii23.com) Since we were almost to Diamond Head, we didn’t want to do the Roberts thing where we had to stop at all the hotels on the way. We also used them for the ride to cruise dock on Sat. ($16 for both of us & luggage) We stayed at Waikiki Beach Marriott, but did not book through NCL. We found a discount rate ($149 a night) on line, and we were able to use credit card points for Marriott gift cards to cover the cost of pre and post cruise nights! :D We upgraded to oceanview rooms, and they put us on the 29th floor in a corner room. We had two balconies, one oceanview and one city view! Everyone was very welcoming and pleasant. Beautiful views to wake up to!

Embarkation Day: Even with the time change, we slept a little later than usual. We walked down to the beach, picked up a fast food biscuit, and ate on the benches at the beach. We spent some time just sightseeing on the beach, and shopping in the stores along Kalakaua Ave. Mark picked us up at noon to head to the cruise.

 

NOTE: This is one thing we would change if we did it again. We felt like we needed to check in as soon as possible, but we wish we had used this time to sightsee more on Oahu, see Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, etc. There really wasn’t any advantage to boarding early, unless you wanted to hang around the pool or such)

There was a little bit of a check in line, although it was very organized and moved quickly. It took about 45 mins to check in and get aboard. None of the rooms were ready until 2, and our floor was the last one to be ready (about 4pm), so we had quite a wait. We ate lunch in the Aloha Café, and wandered the ship public areas, finding our way around. Then we disembarked, and went to find some cokes to bring onboard. (Personal note: Being the Diet Cokeaholic I am, I was disappointed that the ship served only Pepsi products. I purchased DC’s in port, and kept them in the small fridge in the room.) We had read on CC that there were stores right off the dock, but we had to walk a little way to find anything. There were many empty storefronts in the bldgs across the street. I guess the economy is hitting everyone hard right now.

 

When we reboarded at 3pm, there was no one in line to check in. Still had time to wait to get in our room, so we sat out on the Aloha lanai and had a drink. We finally got in our room with enough time to unpack some before the safety drill at 4:30. We then attended a CC Meet & Greet at 5:30 with others from the site. It was great to meet those we had been chatting with, and meet the Captain and other crew members who dropped by to meet us. DH was surprised the Captain would take time to meet with such a small group of passengers. I guess it shows how much the opinions of CC members matter to them.

We ate at the Aloha Café again for dinner but sat outside on the lanai. It was good food, but nothing spectacular. We enjoyed the sunset then wandered the shops inside for a while. The time change caught up to us, and we had to turn in early.

(Another note: If we could do it again, we would arrive in Honolulu a couple of days early to adjust to the time change. It was a 6 hour diff from East coast time, and it took us at least 3 days before we could stay up past 9! Our schedule wouldn’t allow that this time, so we added a day post cruise. It was good, but we wish we could have arrived on Weds or Thurs and flown out on Sat after the cruise.)

More on the ports and pics later. :)

[TXDZ]

Thanks for sharing! Reading these reviews is really making me anxious for ours in late July.

 

Question about the CC meet & greets...I have seen many mentions, and I even waited a while to see if a roll call for my cruise would pop up, but when none did, I started one...only 2 people have chimed in. Hopefully more will...but if they don't I assume there will be no CC meet & greet...is that something that one of us has to volunteer to coordinate?

[Fitzemt]

Thanks for sharing! Reading these reviews is really making me anxious for ours in late July.

 

Question about the CC meet & greets...I have seen many mentions, and I even waited a while to see if a roll call for my cruise would pop up, but when none did, I started one...only 2 people have chimed in. Hopefully more will...but if they don't I assume there will be no CC meet & greet...is that something that one of us has to volunteer to coordinate?

Once you get some interest generated in a M/G there is an e-mail address on here to contact. Someone from your Roll Call takes the lead and the cruise line does the rest ....very easy ...did it a couple of weeks ago. I'll look for the e-mail and post it if someone else doesn't sooner.:D

 

here it is :

 

groupeventamerica@ncl.com

[darceyg3]

Thank you for your post. We are cruising end of July and will be travelling all the way from Edinburgh, Scotland we are having 3 days pre-cruise to help with time change. Good to hear about Hawaii 23, I am awaiting a reply from Mark as I write this. I am glad you told us about having time on the day of cruise. No real rush for us either so we can have a few extra hours before boarding. Looking forward to the rest of your review Thanks

[CruisingGoddess]

Thanks for sharing! Reading these reviews is really making me anxious for ours in late July.

 

Question about the CC meet & greets...I have seen many mentions, and I even waited a while to see if a roll call for my cruise would pop up, but when none did, I started one...only 2 people have chimed in. Hopefully more will...but if they don't I assume there will be no CC meet & greet...is that something that one of us has to volunteer to coordinate?

 

If your group is small, you don't have to let NCL know about your get together. Just decide on a time and place and make sure people in your roll call knows. For our Alaska cruise in a few weeks, we've only got about 5 people interested in a CC meet & greet so we're not coordinating with Princess Cruises. I'd personally be embarrassed if crew members showed up and it was just me and my husband! :eek:

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I'm anxious to read the rest of your review. We are going on the POA next May!:)

 

It is nice that NCL will host a M&G. Our Roll Call is still small, but we are hoping more will join us as we get closer.

[tripster]

Enjoying your review...and looking forward to more. Kudos for getting the jump on me! Hopefully, I'll get around to posting one soon. Glad I had the pleasure of meeting you and your husband.

[mcdlady]

Enjoying your review...and looking forward to more. Kudos for getting the jump on me! Hopefully, I'll get around to posting one soon. Glad I had the pleasure of meeting you and your husband.

 

We enjoyed meeting you, too. I hope to post a few more review days soon. Fathers day plans and family birthdays are keeping me busy right now. It is a good thing I have the summer off this year!:p

[tripster]

We enjoyed meeting you, too. I hope to post a few more review days soon. Fathers day plans and family birthdays are keeping me busy right now. It is a good thing I have the summer off this year!:p

 

Lucky you! Enjoy!! :)