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Pride of America Review July 17-23, 2010 plus pictures

kingpgmr

By kingpgmr,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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DAGVBSB

DAGVBSB

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Thanks for your reply, Kingpgmr. I feel better about the WWII tour...:) I heard about the renovations. We are going in the end of November and I am hoping she will experience most, if not all, of the completed Visitor Center. Unfortunately, we will not be there for the official dedication on Dec7, but I am hoping everything else will be open and running for my friend to enjoy at the end of November. *fingers crossed* Does anyone know if they are opening parts of the Visitor Center that are completed in phases, or are they just going to do one "Grand Opening" reveal only on Dec7?? I just want her to have a good (full) experience. I hope I am being clear in my questions here :confused: heehee, Thanks!

 

Keep those reviews coming! I'm loving them. Great pictures on that LOST tour. I loved the show, too!! :D

 

When I was there on July 18, the new visitors center appeared a long way form being ready...but our driver said that they have made a pledge to have the whole thing open and ready to go on December 7, 2010. (yes, I snuck a peek through the fence...lol).

 

I really can't tell if they will be able to open it in phases or just keep the temporary running until then.

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kingpgmr

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Day 1 – Saturday, 7/17 Embarkation

We slept until 9 am and woke up feeling quite refreshed. We checked out at 11 am and hung out in the lobby for about 45 minutes in some comfortable and relaxing chairs, and then took a taxi to the pier. We arrived at the port around 12:05 pm (the drive to the pier was shorter than I expected) and dropped off our luggage (there is a luggage drop off area very close to where the taxi dropped us off). We went inside; breezed through security and got in a very short check-in line for Latitudes members (they had separate lines for general check in, suites and Latitudes). About five minutes later, we were checked in and headed for the ship.

There was no line at all and we just walked aboard. This was the quickest and easiest embarkation we’ve had for all of our cruises (even slightly quicker than we had last year in Barcelona on NCL). NCL definitely has embarkation down pat and does a great job in this regard. We were pretty hungry so headed upstairs to the Garden Café (the ship’s buffet) for lunch. The buffet wasn’t as nice on Pride of America as it was on the Gem but did have separate stations for hamburgers, sandwiches, ice cream, soups, salads, etc. The food was generally pretty tasty but there didn’t seem to be much variance during the week and seating was usually pretty tough to find (but we did always seem to eventually find a table whenever we came here). I still think that Carnival does the best job with their buffets. Pride of America’s was passable though.

The state rooms weren’t ready yet so we made some dinner reservations for the week and played a card game in the card room to pass the time and wait for the announcement that the state rooms on our deck were ready. They seem to work from the top down as decks 11 and 12 were called first and then 9 and 10 and then 4, 5 and 8. And finally, our deck was called! We made our way to our obstructed family suite 7594 which consisted of two rooms. One room had a fairly large sitting area and a queen size bed and a bathroom.

The other room had two twin beds and another bathroom. There was also a sleeper sofa in the larger room and two pull down beds in the smaller room. Up to 8 people could stay in this suite but we only had the four of us so we had plenty of room. There were also large picture windows that were indeed partially obstructed by the life boats hanging down, but we could still see out reasonably well. The bathrooms were pretty small but manageable. There was also ample storage for us to fully unpack. One nice thing about the room is it was extremely quiet. We heard no noise from adjoining cabins or from above or below us all week. We could hear the announcements though as those are extremely loud. We checked out the small television and noticed the channels were pretty limited (Fox news, CNN, E!, BBC news, and a bunch of ships channels as well as three channels that showed current movies. There were no interactive features such as we had on the Gem (to check shore excursions, menus, to order pay per view movies, check on your ship account, etc). and we really missed that. We had papers in our cabin that indicated that we had $200 on board credit per person, due to the cruise being shortened by one day. So for us, we got $800 on board credit which isn’t bad at all.

Our luggage soon arrived and our room steward also poked her head in and said hello. We asked for some ice and beach towels (as we only had three in the room) and she soon returned with them for us. She did a good job with our room all week and kept our ice full and our rooms clean so we were happy! At 4:30 pm, we had the obligatory life boat drill which I always dread, but this one didn’t seem too bad and only lasted 10 minutes or so.

They had a first night special at the Lazy J Steakhouse for $15 instead of the usual $25 so we decided to try it out. I had lobster bisque, a salad, and filet mignon which was cooked to perfection. Unfortunately, they undercooked my wife’s prime rib and the kids steaks and we had to have my step daughters’ steak put back on the grill. But once we got that sorted out, everyone really enjoyed the meal.

I found it odd that they didn’t have any sort of Welcome Aboard show but possibly it was due to the shorted itinerary? Instead they had the Second City comedy troupe, who performed both rehearsed skits and completely improvised routines based on audience suggestions. They were enjoyable but we didn’t find this troupe nearly as funny as the one we saw on the Gem. I was still on Texas time I think and dozed off for part of the show. This was also the first cruise I’ve ever been on where I didn’t see the cruise director once the entire cruise. He or she was either invisible or I was always at the wrong place at the wrong time. On every other cruise I’ve taken, the cruise director seems to be an integral part of the experience, but not on Pride of America. We got our first towel animal when we returned to the room. Strangely, we got towel animals for the first four nights and then stopped getting them. Maybe it also had something to do with the crew getting ready for the coast guard inspection? We were all pretty exhausted after the show so we went to bed and day one of the cruise was over.

Day 2 – Sunday, 7/18 Maui

We ate breakfast at the Cadillac Diner and it was pretty good. I had an omelet and some breads and pastries and it was all fresh and tasty. My step daughter had the French toast and she seemed to really enjoy it. We had decided to rent a car for our two days in Maui and do our own touring. Thus, we got off the ship at 8:15 am and caught the Dollar/Thrifty shuttle. The shuttle was already waiting and full so we had to stand for the short ride to the rental office. There was a medium size line at the Dollar rental location but I had signed up for the Dollar Express program so was able to bypass the line. We got a full sized car which turned out to be a black Dodge Charger and it was fairly nice to drive and had lots of room so we were happy with it.

The kids nodded off to sleep as we headed up towards the Haleakala Summit. My wife and I had done this drive a few years ago on our land based trip to Hawaii and we had really enjoyed it so we decided to take the kids on the same experience. As you proceed higher on the drive, the views of Maui and nearby islands gets more spectacular and eventually you even get above the clouds.

There aren’t any guard rails on most of the drive so it’s best to take it slow and easy. We stopped at the visitor center near the main entrance to the national park to take a picture and it was really windy and cold. We stopped again at the next visitor center near the summit and viewed the inside of the crater (it’s actually still an active volcano) and took some more pictures.

Finally, we drove the short distance to the summit for more spectacular views and photos.

We drove back down and stopped for lunch at the Kula Lodge, which was okay but featured slow service and overpriced food. The food was tasty though so this is an okay place to grab some lunch. Expect to pay about $20 per person though for pretty much anything you order. We also did a little souvenir shopping at the shop they have there.

After lunch, we stopped at Wal-Mart (always a highlight of any vacation) to buy a few assorted items and then continued on into the Iao Valley. It was pretty crowded but we did find a parking spot and the kids and I hiked up to the overlook of the Iao Needle (my wife decided to wait below). It was a nice clear day so we got a great view.

From here, we drove around to Lahaina and did some more shopping before heading to the Old Lahaina Luau. I had heard a lot of great things about this luau so was really looking forward to it (my wife and I had gone to the Feast at Lele when we had been here the last time). We had normal seating as you can choose between normal seating in chairs or traditional seating on mats.

We were given leis and a mai tai (fruit punch for the kids) and were led to our seats. They have displays and demonstrations to view before the luau starts so we wandered around a bit. The setting is gorgeous as the luau is right on the beach with spectacular views.

The luau includes all you can drink (tropical drinks, beer, wine, sodas, and virgin versions of all the tropical drinks). I ordered a chi chi but didn’t care for it as all I could taste was alcohol as it wasn’t properly mixed. My wife’s lava flow wasn’t very good either. I attended the unveiling of the pig from the imu which was interesting.

After this they started allowing certain tables to go and get food from the buffet. Of course, our table was called last and when we got to the buffet, food that was supposed to be cold was warm and food that was supposed to be hot was cold. There were also numerous flies buzzing all around. I found most of the food to be bland and other than the pig (which was outstanding) I was really disappointed in the food. Now part of it may have been bad luck due to being called to the buffet last, but overall I didn’t care for the food. The show started and it was enjoyable and featured various Hawaiian dances. I knew that they didn’t do a fire dance as they put on an authentic Hawaiian show but I found the show lacked pizzazz without it. I enjoyed the Feast at Lele so much more than this luau, but maybe I'm just spoiled. The food, drinks and show were all far superior there in my opinion. The kids did have a good time though and our waiter was excellent so we had a fun evening.

We drove back to the pier and arrived there around 9:30 pm and asked the security guards where to park. They gave us instructions to a parking area nearby which worked out fine. The parking area was about a 10 minute walk from the ship but along a clearly guided pedestrian pathway.

Day 3 – Monday, 7/19 Maui

Today, the disappointment of Shorebird and Old Lahaina Luau were washed away by the wonderfulness of the Gazebo restaurant. The Gazebo is a small breakfast type restaurant within the Napili Shores Condos. My wife and I had eaten here on our previous trip and loved it so we couldn’t wait to come back. It’s a small place next to a pool and there is almost always a wait. We got here at 10:30 and the line wasn’t bad at all. We only waited about 20 minutes before we were seated. I ordered the same exact thing as my last time, which was breakfast fried rice (with eggs, bacon, Portuguese sausage, onion, etc) and the combo pancakes (pineapple, banana, macadamia nut with coconut syrup). Everything was so delicious and just as good as last time so we were all happy campers. This was part two of my pancake challenge and so far the Gazebo was in the lead over Eggs n’ Things, although both had been excellent.

After our brunch, we drove to Whaler’s Village at Kaanapali Beach to do some shopping and swimming. There was a big sign posted that stated “no beach parking” so I asked the parking attendant about it and he said it was fine to park there for the beach. I’m not sure why they have those signs then. We lets the kids swim for a couple of hours and then did some shopping.

It was a really hot day so we left around 2:00 pm and returned the rental car and boarded the ship for some relaxation.

Tonight we had reservations at the Little Italy restaurant. I had read some bad reviews of this place but I thought it was decent and we all enjoyed our meal. We had received a free bottle of wine from our travel agent (to be used at a dinner) and were allowed to pick pretty much any wine from a fairly large list. We chose a sweet dessert wine and it was very good. Our waiter actually gave us a more expensive bottle than the one we had ordered (he said the bottle he brought was much better) so I thought that was a nice touch. We were tired and skipped the show tonight. We went to fewer shows than normal on this cruise as the port intensive nature of the itinerary found us to be quite tired out each evening shortly after dinner. The only shows we went to all week were the Second City show and a comic magic show, which was good but not great. We would have gone to the Polynesian show too, but it was on the same night as our luau on Maui.

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Hdog76

Hdog76

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Amazing review..thanks....we are getting marrie din hawaii (oahu) august 20th and taking the POA cruise the 21st. We booked our only LUAU in Maui, the one u just reveiwed about, but maybe would choose the Feast at Lele????? Are they similar?

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kingpgmr

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Amazing review..thanks....we are getting marrie din hawaii (oahu) august 20th and taking the POA cruise the 21st. We booked our only LUAU in Maui, the one u just reveiwed about, but maybe would choose the Feast at Lele????? Are they similar?

 

The Feast at Lele features several courses, each of which are followed by a part of the show (that corresponds to the food that is served). So they have a course of food from Hawaii followed by Hawaiian dances, then New Zealand, Tahiti, etc. And they finish with dessert followed by the fire dance. All food is served by waiters directly to your table.

 

Old Lahaina luau is a buffet followed by an entire show (but no fire dancing). Many love the Old Lahaina Luau but I just think the Feast at Lele was more my personal style. I think both luau's may be owned by the same people, but I'm not 100% sure of that.

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spacepotatoes

spacepotatoes

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Interesting that the cruise director doesn't have much of a presence on the POA. It seems they've gone from one extreme to the other. Last summer, the CD was Silas Cook and he was a constant presence. He had a lot of energy and enthusiasm, but by the end of week, we found it obnoxious. I believe he's on the Epic now from some of the reviews.

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annecolorgreen

annecolorgreen

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Thanks Doug! Really enjoying your review and pictures!

 

You made me feel better about my decision to pay a little extra and go to the Feast at Lele (how is it pronounced by the way--long A sound??). My husband and I are celebrating anniversary #25 on this trip. BUT, I think if my kids were along, OLL would be a better choice.

 

We will be in Maui a few days prior to the cruise and I will absolutely have to get dh to the Gazebo (he's not a breakfast person in general but I LOVE pancakes! :)). We will be staying in Ka'anapali.

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kingpgmr

kingpgmr

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Day 4 – Tuesday, 7/20 Hilo

We awoke to a bright and sunny day in Hilo which is a rarity, as it rains here often. We had a tour booked with Ricky’s tours to visit Volcanoes National Park and the sights in Hilo and Ricky was right on time at 8:45 am sharp. Ricky is a very knowledgeable tour guide and we found him to be informative and polite and we really enjoyed the tour.

We visited Rainbow Falls near Hilo which turned out to be just a trickle (compared to a torrent of water on my last visit here)

and an orchid center

which had a large variety of orchards (one variety smells like lemons and one like chocolate) on our way to Volcanoes National Park. Ricky suggested that we visit the Macadamia Nut Center on our way back so any chocolate that we might buy wouldn’t melt, so we took his suggestion.

At Volcanoes National Park, we stopped at some steam vents

and then visited Jaggar Museum where they have some displays of volcanic rocks and information about volcanoes. We also had a great view there of Halema`uma`ua crater which has a huge cloud of smoke billowing out of it (this started two years ago).

We also stopped at a 1974 lava flow to take some pictures

and then visited the Thurston Lava Tube which is a lighted cave like lava tube discovered in 1913.

It’s nice and cool in the tube so it was a nice place to cool off! We also stopped at a scenic overlook to view the Kilauea Iki crater which is another large crater, but without smoke.

On the way back to Hilo, we stopped at the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Farm, which has a short tour and gift shop.

I didn’t realize that they had been bought out by Hershey and as such they had macadamia nut Hershey kisses that were delicious. I also saw these for sale elsewhere around Hawaii. The prices here aren’t great but the nuts are fresher so we all bought some assorted goodies.

Our last stop of the day was at Richardson Beach Park near Hilo which is a small black sand beach.

The kids liked it but I didn’t find this beach nearly as scenic as Punaluu beach which is near the southern tip of the big island.

We had a great day with Ricky and were able to see many sights in a short time so I was very satisfied with the tour. We got back to the pier around 2:30 pm and rested for a bit before dinner. We tried the main dining room tonight but it was a bit warm and there was lots of motion so I bailed before we ordered and headed back to the room. My wife and kids said the food was average so I didn’t miss much. I ended up ordering a pizza and BLT from room service and both were surprisingly delicious. There had been a note in the daily newsletter stating that the lava viewing tonight wouldn’t be that good but we decided to go out on deck at 9:45 pm anyways and could see quite a bit of lava in the distance. There was a light drizzly rain but it didn’t keep crowds from forming on deck. I’m not sure if the newsletter was incorrect or if the viewing is usually even better, but I thought the lava to be breathtaking. One spot had several explosions which were shooting lava high into the air. I couldn’t get any pictures though as it was all too far away, but fortunately had brought a pair of binoculars which enhanced the experience.

Day 5 – Wednesday, 7/21 Kona

We were up really early this morning as we needed to be on the first tender off the ship in order to be on time for our Fairwinds snorkel tour. Thus, we ate a few breakfast bars and were in Pink’s Champagne Bar by 6:50 am to get a tender ticket. An NCL representative showed up at 7 am sharp and handed out the tickets and then at 7:05 announced that we could proceed down to deck three to catch our tender. They used the ship’s lifeboats for the tender process and it was a short ride to shore. We were ashore by 7:20 am and easily found some cabs waiting and caught one to the Fairwinds office in Keauhou Bay. We arrived at Fairwinds at about 7:50 am so were quite early since check in for the tour wasn’t until 8:30 am.

My wife and I had taken this tour a few years ago and loved it so couldn’t wait to see how the kids liked it (neither had snorkeled before).

The trip to the snorkel site at Kealakekua Bay took about an hour and it was smooth sailing all the way.

They had bagels, Danish, muffins and juice for the ride out. The crew was very friendly and helpful with those who hadn’t snorkeled before and they had flotation devices, inner tubes, viewing devices, etc. I highly recommend this trip if you haven’t ever snorkeled before. The snorkel site itself was beautiful with clear water and lots of coral and fish (and some spinner dolphins near the entrance to the bay) and a huge eel. We spent about 2 ½ hours here which is more than enough time.

After snorkeling, burgers and hotdogs were served up and we headed back to Keauhou. The trip back was also smooth and relaxing. All in all, this was a great outing.

We had Fairwinds call us a taxi to return to the ship but the taxi didn’t show up for awhile and a mini van driver (with a sign that said cruise ship shuttle) asked if we wanted a ride back for $20 for all of us so I agreed and off we went. He actually ended up dropping us off at Hilo Hatties for yet more souvenir shopping and I bought some more macadamia nuts and coconut syrup. We took the free shuttle back to the ship and I went back on board to relax while the wife and kids headed back out for a bit more shopping.

Tonight we had a reservation at Jefferson’s Bistro and it was fantastic. My wife and I had the whole Kona Lobster which is actually Maine lobsters that are raised in Kona. The lobster was served whole but with the meat already carved out for us and it was fantastic. I also had two orders of scallops and some filet mignon. For dessert, we shared two orders of the chocolate fondue for two which was also yummy. The lobster was $20 more above the normal cover charge of $25 but where am I going to get a delicious surf and turf like that plus appetizers and dessert for $45? I thought it was well worth it. The service was also excellent here and they gave me unlimited refills for my soda as I had about four sodas but they only charged me for one.

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familycruzinnewbie

familycruzinnewbie

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We are planning on going to Waikiki at the end of next June with out kids who will be 8 and 11. DH has a conference there so we'll be there for about a week and then we have another week or so to see other things. Is there way to get a good price on this cruise. Or if you didn't do the cruise and just visited one or two other islands, which one would you pick? I was thinking Maui at first but seeing the volcano on the Big Island would definitely be cool. Thanks

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kingpgmr

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I am interested in your tour in Hilo. How long in advance did you reserve your tour and how many people does he require as a minimum?

 

I always reserve tours way in advance (I think I booked this tour back in March for a July cruise) but that's probably not necessary. I don't think Ricky really has a minimum but I'd email him to check. He's very prompt in answering emails and questions!

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kingpgmr

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We are planning on going to Waikiki at the end of next June with out kids who will be 8 and 11. DH has a conference there so we'll be there for about a week and then we have another week or so to see other things. Is there way to get a good price on this cruise. Or if you didn't do the cruise and just visited one or two other islands, which one would you pick? I was thinking Maui at first but seeing the volcano on the Big Island would definitely be cool. Thanks

 

That's a tough call on picking just one island as they are all very different to me and offer different things. Maui offers great beaches, Haleakala, the Road to Hana, etc while the Big Island has amazingly diverse scenary, great snorkeling and Volcanoes National Park. Kauai is also beautiful with alot to offer. You can't go wrong with any of them really!

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kingpgmr

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Day 6 – Thursday, 7/22 Kauai

Ellen and Bruce, the owners of Wings over Kauai are two of the nicest people that you’ll ever meet. We had received a phone call from Ellen yesterday letting us know that they had an unexpected inspection of their larger plane (GA-8 Airvan) scheduled for today so we wouldn’t all be able to fly together on our scheduled sightseeing flight. She had offered us the option to take two separate flights on their smaller aircraft (Cessna 172)

or to take their competitor Air Venture (she had even talked to Air Venture about available flight times with them). We decided to stick with Wings over Kauai and were glad we did.

We decided that my step son and I would take the first flight at 11 am and that my wife and step daughter would take the later flight at 12:30 pm. Ellen picked us up at the ABC store near the ship (it’s about a 10 minute walk or a free shuttle ride) and we headed to the airport where we weighed in and waited until Bruce was ready. I sat up front with Bruce and my step son sat in the back. The Cessna was definitely small and was by far the smallest aircraft that I’ve ever been in, and I was a bit nervous at first.

Bruce’s calm manner and professionalism quickly put me at ease though. We both had on headphones so we could hear Bruce’s narration and converse with him. As we taxied out, he had me read off his preflight check list which was fun. He is very methodical and safety conscious so I felt like we were in very good hands. Soon we were cleared for takeoff and it didn’t take long for us to be airborne. We flew over Waimea Canyon,

the Na Pali coast,

the waterfall from Fantasy Island,

and even saw the summit of Mount Waialeale

which Bruce said was rare (it’s one of the rainiest spots on earth with an average of 426 inches of rain per year). We saw numerous mountains, waterfalls, beaches, and beautiful coastline on our flight and Bruce is a veritable encyclopedia of knowledge. I haven’t done any helicopter flights but couldn’t imagine it being any better than this, and at a much cheaper price than a helicopter too. We flew over the Pride of America on our way back to the airport and all too soon were coming in for a smooth, smooth landing.

My wife and step daughter were waiting at the airport for their flight so Ellen took a picture of all four of us in front of the plane. That picture ended up on the cover of the free dvd that they gave us (which features footage from what we saw on the flight but not from our specific flight). Ellen drove us back to the ABC store (she offered to take us to the ship but we wanted to buy a few t-shirts) and bid us a fond farewell. Later, when my wife returned, her and my step daughter raved about their flight and we all compared notes. What a wonderful experience.

We were supposed to overnight in Kauai but because of the shortened itinerary we were only here until 3:30 pm. We originally had an ATV tour planned at Kipu Ranch for one of our Kauai days but sadly had to cancel it. A couple of hours after we sailed from Kauai, we had a scenic sailing (with narration) past the Na Pali coast and it is indeed spectacular. It was nice to get another perspective of it after flying over it earlier in the day.

We were all really tired from the week of touring so we went to the Cadillac diner for dinner tonight. I had a tuna melt but it was not nearly as good as one I’d ordered from room service earlier in the week. I also ordered a milk shake as I’d heard that they were really good but mine was average at best. Dinner here was passable but I actually preferred the room service food. Then came time for my least favorite part of the trip – packing. We put our luggage out before midnight (it would be taken directly to our hotel) and called it a night. The last night on a cruise is always a melancholy affair for me. How had it gone by so fast?

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Kylie

Kylie

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We are planning on going to Waikiki at the end of next June with out kids who will be 8 and 11. DH has a conference there so we'll be there for about a week and then we have another week or so to see other things. Is there way to get a good price on this cruise?

 

I got a great price on the PoAM for the end of May 2011 by looking early and checking different cruise booking sites. The prices are up in the summer though. We have done the NCL Hawaii cruise 2x already and plan to go back again next summer. It is a great way to see different islands in the week and so much to do at each port that you can't do it all in 1 time.

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Hdog76

Hdog76

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I always reserve tours way in advance (I think I booked this tour back in March for a July cruise) but that's probably not necessary. I don't think Ricky really has a minimum but I'd email him to check. He's very prompt in answering emails and questions!

I tried booking with Ricky, and he was sold out. If Im correct he is sole operator and I THINK only has room for a handful of people in a smaller van

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Ms belp

Ms belp

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We are planning this for August 13th of next year for my birthday. After reading I think we will plan not to do so much and just enjoy what we can do from the ship and their excursions. I'm tired just from reading it all!:p

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vbmom87

vbmom87

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We are planning on going to Waikiki at the end of next June with out kids who will be 8 and 11. DH has a conference there so we'll be there for about a week and then we have another week or so to see other things. Is there way to get a good price on this cruise. Or if you didn't do the cruise and just visited one or two other islands, which one would you pick? I was thinking Maui at first but seeing the volcano on the Big Island would definitely be cool. Thanks

 

The best thing to do is to watch for NCL sales. Get on their e-mailing list if you can. Watch this forum and the NCL forum. People will often post when the sales are available. In general the prices are cheapest further out. We planned a last minute trip this year in May and paid more than if I was purchasing for the following May when we originally were planning to go.

 

As far as picking an island or cruising that is up to you. We debated the issue long and hard. I read lots on these forums and we concluded that for us and our travel style, we would spend four days in Oahu and then do the POA cruise. It ended up being perfect for us. The thing about picking one or two islands was we really felt this would likely be our only trip to Hawaii. We didn't want to see just part of Hawaii. We wanted a taste of it all. If we did want to come back, we would know our favorite island and could return. If we decided not to come back, at least we had a taste of the four big islands. We were very happy with our choice. It takes some planning to make the most of your time on each island. You will have to do alot of research to find the things that will appeal most to you. We were very happy with our choice. We saw all the highlights that were our priorities. At this time we have no intention of going back to Hawaii, so I am happy how we did it.

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vbmom87

vbmom87

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We are planning this for August 13th of next year for my birthday. After reading I think we will plan not to do so much and just enjoy what we can do from the ship and their excursions. I'm tired just from reading it all!:p

 

We were renting a car in this port and initially after reading many posts I was planning on doing Akaka Falls, the popular Black Sand Beach and Volcanoes National Park. The more I thought about it I decided I would just like to experience the VNP and we did. We left the car rental at about 8:20 a.m. and were back at the ship at 4:30 p.m. We spent all of our time at the park and LOVED it. In fact we wished we had another day there. Sometimes less is more for some people. We just loved the park. I know many said an hour and half was plenty, but we just love National Parks and it was a good choice for us. Whatever you decide, I am sure you will have a great time.

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kingpgmr

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Day 7 – Friday, 7/23 Disembarkation, Honolulu

We had originally scheduled a tour through Roberts to see Pearl Harbor with an airport drop off, but Roberts had cancelled the tour because of the changed itinerary of the ship. Thus we decided to go with an NCL tour of Pearl Harbor and the U.S.S. Missouri with a drop off at our hotel. We met in the show room at 8:00 am and waited for our tour to be called. It didn’t take long and we were off the ship in minutes and on board a large tour bus (that held about 40-50 people). NCL definitely does a great job with embarking and disembarking the ship, as well as tendering.

We drove to Pearl Harbor and waited near the entrance as our driver/tour guide got tickets for the Arizona Memorial for all of us.

Our tour time was 10:30 am which wasn’t bad (it was currently 9 am) so our guide told us we could watch the movie, check out the store, get a snack or visit the Bowfin submarine until our tour time.

There was quite a bit of construction going on as they are building a new visitor’s center so we decided to watch the movie. It was a good orientation for those not familiar with the events of December 7, 1941. Finally it was 10:30 am so we took the short ride over to the Arizona Memorial on the boat launch.

You can see parts of the ship sticking up out of the water (how much depends on the tide)

as well as oil that is bubbling up that is still leaking from the hull (it will supposedly leak oil for another 20 years or so). There is also a memorial plaque for those who lost their lives there.

It’s a very poignant and solemn experience.

When we returned back ashore we met up with our tour guide who led us to the shuttle bus which would take us to the U.S.S. Missouri on Ford Island.

Ford Island is an active military base so you can’t drive there without a Navy pass. We passed remnants of the old WW II airstrip and control tower before stopping at the Missouri. There was also a memorial for the U.S.S. Oklahoma here (also sunk at Pearl Harbor). We took a tour of the Missouri including the spot where the WW II peace treaty with Japan was signed. I hadn’t realized that this had happened on the Missouri so I found it fascinating. We then had some free time to wander around the decks some more, visit the gift shop and grab a quick snack.

After this, we regrouped with our tour and had a city of tour of Honolulu on our way to the various hotels where people got dropped off (our hotel was the last drop off of course and we arrived there about 3:30 pm). Upon arrival at the Marriott Waikiki Beach, we discovered that NCL had a desk setup and we got our room key from them. We were told that our luggage was already in our room which was nice. I felt that NCL handled the hotel situation very well as it was really quick getting checked in and situated. Our room was really nice with a spectacular ocean view

but only had two queen size beds, so we paid for a rollaway for my step son to sleep on. The room was good sized but it was still rough having all four of us in one room but it was only for one night.

For dinner tonight we tried out Mac 24-7. I had seen it on Man vs. Food and wanted to check out the monstrous pancakes there. It was a short walk to the restaurant from our hotel and it wasn’t crowded at all (it was about 5:45 pm now). I ordered Pineapple coconut macadamia nut pancakes and the first thing I noticed is that they didn’t have coconut syrup. The pancakes arrived and they were indeed huge and they were also indeed dry and bland. I was surprised really by how tasteless they were. Bigger is not always better. The rest of my family’s food was average too and none of us were really impressed. Thus my pancake challenge ended with the Gazebo winning, Eggs n’ Things fairly close behind and Mac 24/7 way behind in last place.

My wife and the kids decided to go to the International Marketplace after dinner but I was tired and walked back to hotel. They did find a few more souvenirs so it was a worthwhile endeavor for them!

Post-cruise Saturday, 7/24 Home

Our flight home wasn’t until 7:30 pm today so we had arranged to rent a car from Enterprise for the day and drive back to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Enterprise picked us up at our hotel at 10 am and drove us over to their nearby office. We ended up with a mini van and my wife got to be the driver for the day (as I’d be navigating today).

Our first stop was at Nico’s on pier 38 for an early lunch. I’d seen this place on Diners, Drive-ins and dives on the food network and it looked great. I had a fresh Ahi sandwich that was outstanding and my step son had some fresh grilled Ahi that was out of this world. My wife and step daughter had cheeseburgers though as they don’t like fish. Nico’s features some of the freshest fish that one can get and is very casual with a decent number of tables on a patio type setting. I highly recommend it.

We had a nice relaxing drive back to the Dole Plantation (we felt like we had barely seen it on our circle island tour). This time we got to take the Pineapple Express (which is a short train tour), taste a yummy Dole whip, and do some more souvenir shopping.

The kids did the maze, which is supposedly the second largest in the world. They gave up after about a half hour though as it was extremely hot out. We all really enjoyed our day here though and felt it was worth coming back.

We drove back to Honolulu and returned our vehicle and Enterprise called a taxi for us. Soon we were at the airport waiting for our flight home wondering where our vacation had gone. The 767 flight home was uneventful and we got all of our luggage okay so the journey had a happy ending.

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kwbound

kwbound

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Posted

Thanks so much for posting your review and pictures. I really enjoyed reading it. Thanks also for your review of Mac 24/7. We had also seen it on the Food Channel and was considering trying it. I think we'll cross it off the list though.

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deb63

deb63

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I enjoyed your review as well. And made notes of some of the places/tour guides you mentioned. Thank you.

 

I lived on Oahu as a teen - but haven't been back in a very long time. We are doing Alaska next year, and my DDs have begged to do Hawaii next. It has been fun to relive some places through research.

 

Your family is lovely - your wife has a wonderful smile!

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