POA Report: 7/24 - 7/31/2010

[TXDZ]

Said I wouldn't get to this until next week, but got thinking about it & couldn't focus on real work! So here is the first few days...more later.

 

About us: We traveled with a party of 6 - my DH (38) and I (39) took our two kids (15 y.o. son and 12 y.o. daughter), and were accompanied by my father & mother-in-law.In laws are experienced cruisers - I believe this was their 4th, but the rest of us have never cruised in our lives. DH and I went to Hawaii (Oahu & Maui) 24 years ago on a high school choir trip...we were not dating at that time, but were best friends, so it was fun to revisit some of those memories & share them with our kids. DH & I knew this wasn’t a luxury cruise, but worried that the inlaws would be hyper-critical. They seemed to adjust their expectations & have a good time, but I know it wasn’t their favorite cruise.

 

Day 1, Sat 7/24: We were some of those poor schlubs who have to fly in the day of embarkation, thanks to my work schedule. It was a VERY long day, thanks to leaving our house for the airport at 4:30 a.m. central time, and a 3 hour delayed layover in Denver, and then learning our bags were not on our flight once we got to Honolulu (they were on the next plane that arrived an hour after us). Fortunately (yes, fortunately in our case!) our cruise was already scheduled for late departure, thanks to the mandatory 24 hour dry-dock that cut the previous cruise short, so we weren’t worried about missing the ship. In fact, we did not expect to be allowed to board when we arrived at the terminal around 4:30 (we had been told no one could board before 6), but they were letting people on, so we went right through boarding without a hitch - it was not crowded at all, I assume b/c most thought they could not get on yet. We were thankful that sail-away was delayed on this day b/c even though we would have made it had it been regular sail-away time, it would have been much, much more stressful to deal with our flight delay & baggage issues.

 

We proceeded through the reception area (Capitol Atrium), after politely telling at least 4 different crew members that we were not interested in the soda pass, up the elevator to the pool area to check it out (our rooms were ready, thanks again to the dry docking, but we knew it would be a while before our bags would make it to our rooms), and then up to the Key West Grill for a little liquid refreshment! Absolutely no one was on the deck at this point so we had the area to ourselves. We visited with the bartender, and learned about the Teen Passport, which is a coupon book w/20 coupons for shakes/smoothies/non-alcoholic cocktails...it was $34.50, which is a great deal, considering the shakes themselves are about $4.95 each, and between the 4 in our family, we figured we’d go through that many easily (we didnt -only used 10...still came out ahead financially, and sent the remainder to another CC member for their enjoyment). Kids got strawberry smoothies, and DH got a Lynchburg Lemonade and I got a Blue Hawaiian - a note about the Blue Hawaiians at Key West - they only do them from a mix & frozen. I’ve never had a frozen Blue Hawaiian, and it really had very little flavor - it was like drinking a slurpee with very little discernable "kick." When I tried to order one on the rocks later, they told me they couldn’t @ Key West. I never tried to order another one on board at any of the bars.

 

We then went to the teen club to check it out & filled out forms for our kids. We did not learn for sure until the Monday that they hold very fast to the age requirements - our 12 year old enjoyed the first day’s activities on Sunday w/her brother & some on Monday, but when she went back to do something on Monday by herself, they told her "sorry, you’re only 12" and sent her on her way...sadly, that meant she was wandering the ship by herself for a couple of hours b/c she didn’t know we’d be in the main dining room, and our cell phones weren’t working. She was very sad not to be able to participate in the teen programming - everything on their itinerary was right up her alley, and she is a very mature almost 13 year old (she is 3 months shy of 13). Still, I understand the reason for the age limit, but would definitely recommend that NCL consider offering some "tween" programming for the kids too old for what they offer to the little kids in the kids club, and too young for the teen club. She definitely fell through the cracks & I’m certain she wasn’t the only one. Her brother, who is not a social butterfly, could not have cared less about the teen club activities...so that made her even more mad that he COULD participate, but didn’t. She would get a wistful look whenever we saw the teen group doing things on the ship, like scavenger hunts, taking pictures in their togas for their own White Hot Toga Party, etc. I felt really bad for her, but she bounced back well enough. Hard to be sad when you are in paradise!

 

Nevertheless...sorry for the digression! We then went to our rooms and were surprised to find our bags already there. We had 3 obstructed view cabins - 7634, 7636 and 7638. Although they say everyone under 18 must have an adult in the cabin with them, they had one of our rooms set up w/the twin beds, and the other pushed together to form a queen...so we put the kids in one, and ourselves in the other...made for some interesting dilemmas throughout the week w/our keycards, though. Didn’t bother looking for a cabin steward at this point because we didn’t need anything, but noted that there was no top-sheet on our bed...we were too tired to bother with it at that point, though.

 

We learned that the muster drill would not take place until 10:15 p.m., which was going to be very difficult for us, given that 10:15 = 3:15 a.m. where we’re from, and obviously we had not made the adjustment! We also learned that Lazy J was doing a special on their cover charge - $15 instead of $25, so we headed there & were the very first people in the door. Our server (Jamie, I think his name was) was extremely personable, and the rest of the wait staff was as well-several said hello to us (it took quite a while for people to start filling the restaurant). The food services manager also stopped by to see how we were doing. Unfortunately, we were beginning to feel the exhaustion of our long day (we were up @ 4:30 a.m. our time to get to the airport), and the kitchen was excruciatingly slow. When the food finally came out, it was just OK. Let me just say, I was prepared for the food to be just average on this cruise based on previous reviews, but I was really disappointed in the food in what was supposed to be a "premium" restaurant. My father-in-law and I had the steak, both of which were tough and very salty (the beginning of a repeating theme for the entire week). My husband had the lambchop, and he enjoyed it thoroughly. Son had salmon and enjoyed it well enough. Daughter had crab legs and seemed to enjoy them. Otherwise, it was just "meh." Sad that the steak in the steakhouse was not up to snuff. I'd compare it to steaks I've had at places like Golden Corral. I started to worry about the food in the non-premium restaurants at this point, but pushed it to the back of my mind. I wasn't going to let the food ruin my trip!

 

By this time, we were all having a terrible time keeping our eyes open (it was about 8 p.m.), so we decided to take a nap until the muster drill. I have never had so much trouble waking up in my life! But all of us but my mother-in-law dutifully reported to our muster stations to see a demonstration that I just know could have as easily been done in our cabins on the tv (other than locating our muster stations, which were in the back of the Skyline diner on Deck 11). Then off to bed.

 

Day 2, Sun. 7/25: Maui

We woke up fairly early, since we were still on Texas time, and wandered down to the Aloha Café for breakfast. It was not too crowded, and we were impressed with the variety. We’d find our favorites by the end of the week (waffles with whipped cream! Eggs over-medium from the omelette station, little hashbrowns, oatmeal, sausage gravy & biscuits - which really looked gross, but were surprisingly tasty), tried some weird things (eggs benedict for the first time...interesting), and things to avoid (the coffee was like drinking sour dirt, sadly, and the scrambled eggs were just nasty). Lots of fresh fruit as well. We never did find the table w/the cold cuts and bread everyone here talks about to take food out on excursions...but we didn’t try that hard, and left the soft-side cooler in the room for the duration. Anyway, my hopes for the food situation were lifted a bit after this experience.

 

Next, I left a note for Andrew, our Cabin Steward (although I didn't know his name yet), leaving him a small bag of "Texas Trash" from a local confectioner, and asking for a top sheet to be put on our bed. Then we were out the door - DH & FIL had gone to Thrifty to get our rentals (mustang convertibles), and we were off to Lahaina for some shopping and maybe some beach time. Walked the shops - got a great deal on a sundress - you see these sundresses in every store and every port (all the stores start to run together b/c they are the same) - this place had it for $12.99...everyone else had it for $17.99. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of the store! Checked out the Banyan Tree & the artists who were selling their wares under the canopy, then headed to Lahaina Fish Co. for lunch where we had delicious fish & chips and $4 mai tais on the deck. Did a little more walking, then decided we were ready for the beach and headed further toward Kaanapali & stopped at a beach on the roadside-wish we'd stayed on the road a little longer & stopped @ the beach by the Royal Lahaina, but oh well.... I don’t remember the name of it - it wasn’t exactly a nice beach, and there was actually a sad looking cemetery right next to it, but we didn’t care. We were at the beach. After some attempts at snorkeling (not great - the water @ this beach was cloudy) and general fun in the sun, we headed back to the ship to get ready for dinner b/c we had reservations at Duke’s Beach House.

 

Duke’s Beach House was WONDERFUL. The atmosphere, the food, the beverages (I finally got a proper Blue Hawaiian), the desserts. Just YUM. DH had the baked ahi, and I had amazing sauteed macnut & herb crusted ono fish, while the kids had seafood risotto & scampi kealoha respectively. Followed by a trio of creme brulee (Kona espresso, Tahitian Vanilla & Hawaiian vintage chocolate flavored) for DD and me and Hula Pie for DH & DS, topped with a perfect sunset we could watch from our table (the entire restaurant is "outside" although some is covered), while listening to the surf. We took a little walk on the beach afterward & just soaked it in. Then a beautiful moonlit drive back to the ship. Parking back at the pier was terrible...lots of people double parked, but we expected it, and didn’t let us spoil our evening. We did learn that our kids do not like convertibles! I wasn’t surprised b/c I never liked them when I was a kid either...unless you are sitting in the front seat, which the kids never are. Maybe they’ll enjoy them one day.

 

In-laws, in the meantime, dined at Mama’s Fish House, and reported that it was phenomenal. Interestingly, their bill for the 2 of them was equal to our bill for 4 @ Dukes, just to give you some perspective of how expensive Mama’s is.

 

We turned in very shortly after we got back to the ship...still feeling the time difference. Andrew had made up our rooms nicely & given us a topsheet (yea!), but no towel animals in any of our rooms. No problem...we'd see what happened later in the week.

 

More later...gotta get back to work!

[vbmom87]

Enjoying your review. On our cruise in May, the cold cuts were on the opposite side of the ship from the fruit stations, along the windows. (near the bar)

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[FloatYourBoatSince2003]

Loving the detail! Feel bad for your daughter and the Teen club - glad to hear it didn't keep her down for long.

 

I'm impressed you managed to make it to the muster drill. I'd be VERY tempted to "skip class" and figure out the stations in the morning....

[TXDZ]

Loving the detail! Feel bad for your daughter and the Teen club - glad to hear it didn't keep her down for long.

 

I'm impressed you managed to make it to the muster drill. I'd be VERY tempted to "skip class" and figure out the stations in the morning....

 

Mother-in-law did. And I'm fairly certain she did not go to the makeup the next day (we were still in Lahaina).

[kwbound]

Enjoying your review. We are from Texas also, so we have will have the same time difference issues. However we are going to be able to go in on Friday, so hopefully that will help some.

 

Is Duke's Beach House in Lahaina? Did you drive back to the ship to change, drive back to Lahaina and then drive back to the ship again? How far is that drive?

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thank you for the review. It sounds like you had a nice day in Maui.:)

[scrappydoo]

Keep 'em coming, TXDZ!! Enjoying it, and I am looking forward to the rest of your review. Thanks for taking the time to share! :)

 

And it was so kind of you to give the remainder of your Teen Passport to someone else who could use it. Thank you for that...

 

I'm not a drinker, but I don't have a teen either... would I be able to purchase one of those passports for non-alcoholic specialty drinks or shakes and whatnot? Though I doubt between me and my roomie, we'd get to 20 drinks. Out of curiosity, don't specialty drinks require mandatory tip added? or was that just alcoholic drinks??

[TXDZ]

Is Duke's Beach House in Lahaina? Did you drive back to the ship to change, drive back to Lahaina and then drive back to the ship again? How far is that drive?

---------------------------

I'm not a drinker, but I don't have a teen either... would I be able to purchase one of those passports for non-alcoholic specialty drinks or shakes and whatnot? Though I doubt between me and my roomie, we'd get to 20 drinks. Out of curiosity, don't specialty drinks require mandatory tip added? or was that just alcoholic drinks??

 

Yes - closer to Kaanapali. And yes, we drove back to the ship to change and back out again - we were to dirty from the beach to go as we were. We were glad we did - everyone was dressed nicely (think sundresses for the ladies, linen pants & Hawaiian shirts for the men).

 

When we bought the passport @ Key West, it didn't seem to matter to them whether we had teens or not (although they were standing right there). And they never asked us "where's your teen" when we used the coupons. We were never asked for our key card when we bought shakes or smoothies (which were alot like virgin strawberry daiquiries), so my guess is the service charge only applied to alcoholic drinks....

[TXDZ]

Pretty sad that it hasn't even been 2 weeks, and my memory is already failing me!

 

Day 3, Mon 7/26: Maui

We got a later start b/c we were booked on a snorkel excursion to Molokini Crater (this one on Quicksilver through the NCL excursions). Because of the later start - around 8:15, Aloha Cafe was insane. Not a table to be had, and people practically throwing elbows to get to the food (not really that bad, but I did have a lady practically push me to get to the waffles). We ended up sitting in the Gold Rush Saloon, which served as nice overflow seating & it was a little calmer atmosphere in which to eat.

 

Then we disembarked & met the shuttle bus (Polynesian Adventure Tours - owned by NCL we learned on these boards). The Quicksilver was a pretty basic boat - 2 decks, helpful crew. Fruit & pastries as well as hot chocolate & juice - possibly coffee, for breakfast (we didn’t partake b/c we had already eaten). I immediately accepted the pitch to rent a wetsuit - DH gave me a hard time, then acquiesced, and was later very glad he did b/c the water @ the crater was very cold. Can’t remember how much it was - maybe $6 (don’t quote me), but well worth it. DH and FIL both rented underwater digital cameras - I think for $25 (again, don’t quote me), and that gave them use during the entire excursion, and we received a DVD with our pictures before the boat even got back to shore. You could also pay her extra and she would follow you & yours around, taking pictures of you & giving you the disk - I don’t remember the price, b/c we didn’t take advantage of it. The ocean was very choppy today - I was instructed to sit toward the back of the boat b/c I get motion sick easily (took some Bonine ahead of time, and did not suffer at all, but DH ended up feeling yucky at certain points) several folks got full on motion sick & I felt bad for them.

 

When we got to Molokini Crater, there were already multiple boats there...not sure why we got a later start than they. We jumped in, and it was still cold enough to make our teeth chatter. I was disappointed at how "dead" the crater looked. In pictures, it appears very green and lush. Notsomuch right now, but I hear they are in the midst of a drought. The fish were OK, but the quantity & variety was not terribly impressive. I kept having trouble with my mask filling up, despite following the instructions of everyone and switching to a child size one, so that made it a little annoying. We stayed a short time there - maybe 30 minutes? Then got back on the boat where we found that all of our belongings were drenched because we were seated on the bench next to the slide (we didn’t recognize the slide in it’s upright position)...not having a towel to dry off when you are that cold is kind of disheartening! And our clothes that we had worn over our suits were wet as well... Also, the motion sick people had camped out where we had been sitting, and by the looks of them, they were not going anywhere. We made do. Headed to Turtle town, where again, the other boats had beaten us. The boat’s photographer told us to follow her b/c she always found turtles and would be photographing them. I did, and sure enough, after what seemed like forever, she found a giant turtle. He was pretty cool to see. Otherwise, there were few things to look at b/c the water was cloudy (and so was the sky by this point). We were served lunch, which was either chicken or pulled pork w/pasta salad, sodas, mai tais (for $1, I think), and cookies. The pulled pork was surprisingly good, and welcome b/c by then we were very hungry. We then headed back to shore, and enjoyed our captain’s narrative of the sights and other islands as we passed. We were glad to get back on land, though & although our clothes and things were wet, we managed not to freeze. I do have one complaint about the bus driver - when I saw him, I asked him "are you the shuttle to the Pride of America" and he said "I’m the only bus here, aren’t I?" Um...thanks for not answering my question, buddy. There were lots of people on that boat who were NOT from the POA, and I had no idea how they got there...didn’t seem like an unusual question to me. Evs.

 

When we got back to the ship, the men decided to make a run to Kmart to get more sunscreen and then to turn in the cars (it was really unnecessary to have it for a second day, since we had that excursion, and we weren’t really in the mood to go anywhere else). MIL and I sat by the pool for a while, then we showered and tried to figure out our next course of action (kids went to the teen club for a while - this was earlier in the day b/f DD was told she couldn’t participate). After showering, MIL and I headed to Gold Rush Saloon for Margarita Madness...I really liked the Seaworthy Maggie (a marg w/Blue Curacao)...it was totally worth the $4.95 (plus mandatory service charge). She had something more fruity. We were surprised that so few people were there. WE then proceeded to the Excursion desk to try to cancel our snorkeling excursion in Kona - we were booked for the BOdy Glove snorkel, but after the disappointing fish sightings @ Molokini crater, and the motion sickness that a couple of us experienced then, we wanted to cancel and do something else. Unfortunately, nothing else in Kona sounded good (they wouldn't let us cancel - just exchange it for something else), so the inlaws booked the Historic Kona tour, and the rest of us booked the Atlantis submarine (will write about that in the Kona report). The agent @ the excursion desk was very professional, but we were disappointed that we were stuck with something we really didn't want to do in the end...if we had it to do over again, DD and I would have booked the Kona Beach Blast, and the guys could have been on their own (they had intro to scuba planned for later that day). Oh well!

 

Later, DD decided she wanted to participate in the teen scavenger hunt, so she had dinner @ Cadillac by herself (the servers were wonderful, and although she had forgotten her teen passport, the server said if she wanted a shake, he’d pay for it himself). She reported later that the food was atrocious (her word) and anytime the subject of eating there came up, she violently protested. We found out later in the week what she meant. DH, DS and I headed to Skyline for dinner while the in-laws went to Jefferson’s Bistro. We were immediately seated & noticed a lot of motion, being so low on the ship...we were not, however, immediately greeted by a server, and sat there for a good 10 minutes with no sign of a server. We were too tired to go try to find something else...but that was sign of things to come. I won’t bore you with the details, but not only was the service terrible, the food was below average (can’t even remember what any of us had), but we were so exhausted we were actually falling asleep at the table! Then came the call from DD telling us she’d been wandering the ship for over an hour with nothing to do b/c she didn’t know where we were, and had been denied entrance to the teen club. We met her on the pool deck though, and somehow got our second wind, and headed to see the earlier Second City show in the Hollywood Theater. We enjoyed it immensely - I can see where they might have off nights, and folks not really like them, but we laughed a lot. Then, off to bed.

 

Day 4, Tues. 7/27: Hilo

We were booked on the Volcano National Park tour through Robert’s, so again, we got up a little early for breakfast @ Aloha-it wasn’t too bad today, and we didn’t have to eat in Gold Rush. Disembarked and met our driver - he was really a great guide. It was a cloudy day (not unusual), but we saw some sights, headed to Rainbow Falls, where we enjoyed the view but on our way to hike to the top of the falls, DS took a spill and really scraped up his ankle...our tour guide was very helpful w/providing bandaids & antibiotic ointment for the wound, but DS apparently twisted his ankle and was in a lot of pain...fortunately the drive up to VNP was long enough to help him recover somewhat & he was a trooper for the rest of the day. Before we got to VNP, though, we stopped @ the Mauna Loa factory & did a tour & bought some mac nuts & lunch (they sell sandwiches & ice cream). We chuckled at all the signs warning us to stay away from the wild pigs...and the kids were sad they didn't see any while we were there. Then, at VNP, we visited the visitor center, smelled some sulphur, and watched the smoke billow from the crater (pretty awesome to think about what was going on beneath the surface to cause that, and our driver was funny - he said "if something happens while we are up here, our tour is over. Don’t come look for me, and I suggest you run UP wind." Funny guy). We then drove to some different lava flows & heard the stories of how they hampered road construction, destroyed others days after they were opened, etc, walked through the Thurston Lava Tube (didn’t need our flashlights b/c we stayed only in the part that is lighted...we’ll remember that next time, and save the space/weight in our suitcases). On the way back down, we stopped at an Orchid garden & saw some amazing flowers (one smelled exactly like lemon pepper), then @ Big Island Candies & bought some cool sweets (DH bought chocolate covered seaweed, and FIL bought chocolate covered fish of some kind. YUCK).

 

When we got back to the ship, we just lounged around and explored...DH and I went back for more Margarita Madness in Gold Rush, and then we made plans to go to Liberty for dinner with the in-laws. The service at Liberty was so much better than we had experienced at Skyline, but the food was still just OK... I ordered the Beef Wellington, which on it’s own was pretty good, but they drowned it in what must have been brown gravy (not bearnaise sauce as was described on the menu). The gravy was so salty, I could barely eat it, but I didn’t send it back b/c it took a pretty long time to get it in the first place & I was getting sleepy again! I can’t remember what everyone else got - no one was raving, but no one was repulsed, so that was better than nothing, I guess! We also had some wonderful pina coladas in collectible fish bowl glasses (they floated a bit of dark rum on top...yum) while we were there. This was another night that we turned in early, so we didn’t see any of the night’s entertainment.

 

Next day Kona, which was an interesting port, and I wish I had been better prepared for it (since we had originally planned the snorkel excursion, I hadn't done any research on it at all). I'll write about that one later!

[Scarlett3]

Thoroughly enjoying your review!!! We go to Hawaii on the POA next month - so excited! Thanks for all of the details!

[annecolorgreen]

You sure had some exciting times! (and isn't it funny how quickly we forget? :rolleyes:)

 

Sorry to hear about the food. I'm tempted to get a sandwich from room service every night!

 

Do you remember how much your souvenir fish bowl drink cost? Was there a margarita madness every night?

 

Thanks for your posts!

[GypRasc]

Funny how you mentioned about not being prepared once you changed your tour. I already figured I was going to have a back-up plan available for all the islands JUST IN CASE! The last thing I want to do is stand around saying "now what"! Hopefully you were able to fill the time nicely and it didn't end up being wasted time.

[TXDZ]

You sure had some exciting times! (and isn't it funny how quickly we forget? :rolleyes:)

 

Sorry to hear about the food. I'm tempted to get a sandwich from room service every night!

 

Do you remember how much your souvenir fish bowl drink cost? Was there a margarita madness every night?

 

Thanks for your posts!

 

Well, it is nice to know that room service is an option...and that Aloha is also an acceptable backup if the restaurants disappoint. We probably would have tried the other premium restaurants if Lazy J hadn't disappointed us on the first day. I wanted to try the Teppanyaki and Little Italy, but DH was not interested, so we didn't!

 

The souvenir fish bowl drinks probably cost about $11 (can't remember if that's with or without the service charge). By the end of the week, we'd bought about 6 of them between the 2 of us-didn't know we could keep the first two, and we left them in the Hollywood Theater after the Second City show. We had no way to get them home, so we gave them to the inlaws. They said "So this is what they mean by 'getting your fish legs'" or something like that. As far as I know, Margarita Madness was every day (I think from 5-7).

 

Funny how you mentioned about not being prepared once you changed your tour. I already figured I was going to have a back-up plan available for all the islands JUST IN CASE! The last thing I want to do is stand around saying "now what"! Hopefully you were able to fill the time nicely and it didn't end up being wasted time.

 

Yeah...I was actually disappointed that we canceled b/c for once I did not have any trouble with sea sickness but the DH and FIL did. I heard the snorkeling off Kona was much, much better than off Maui, and that was confirmed by one of the alternate activities my daughter & I did to fill the time. Having a backup plan would have been good!

[TXDZ]

Left something MAJOR out of my Hilo review! We headed to the forward starboard deck around 6:45 to secure lounge chairs for the volcano sailby...enjoyed the breeze & incredibly full moon while we waited to reach the lava flow. We were VERY lucky that Madam Pele' was in the mood to grace us with an impressive display of above-ground lava flow when we sailed by that night. We not only got to see the embers on the hillside, but see, hear and smell the lava as it flowed into the ocean. That alone was just about worth the price of admission! Amazing. We were not encouraged by previous weeks' experiences b/c the flow had been underground, but we got lucky!

 

Also - there were drink specials every day, but I'd hardly call them special b/c they weren't any cheaper than other drinks. However, if you watch the dailies, you'll see that there are often specials in the bars - Happy Hour @ the Martini bar, you could get martinis for $4.95 or Mai Tais for $3.95 (from 9-10 pm); Sangria @ Aloha's Sangria bar for $4.95 from 6-7 pm; Select wines @ Napa Wine Bar for $4.95 glass...etc.

 

Another thing we learned too late - the did a photo special on Friday - buy 4, get 1 free...if we'd only known, we'd have waited. We were purchasing our pictures throughout the week as we went - no reason to do that. The pics stay up all week long, so we could have waited (though it would have been crowded, might have been worth it to save that $12.95 or whatever we spent per photo).

[TXDZ]

Day 5, Weds. 7/28: Kona

Since we were booked on the Atlantis Submarine excursion, we didn't have to get up early for tender tickets (we just met in the Hollywood theater & went with our group @ the same time). Before that, breakfast in Aloha, and the usual chaos from a later start. Tender trip from ship to shore was pretty short - 7 minutes, maybe? Seas were smooth, and I didn't feel any discomfort from motion sickness. When we disembarked, we found the lady from the submarine place, were told to sit tight & wait, so we did, and watched people head out to one thing or another. There were the usual Hilo Hattie's and Wal Mart shuttles there, and there are "beaches" on either side of the tender port that you can snorkel or paddle surf...I say "beaches" b/c they were small, and not very inviting IMO. Probably 20 minutes later, we were directed to another boat which took us to the submarine. My family was ambivalent about the submarine ride - it felt like something we were being forced to do since we had canceled the body glove snorkel. In the end, I'd say it was interesting, but not exciting, even though at one point we were over 100 feet below sea level. Some interesting fish & coral, but we were not wowed. It was all over in less than 2 hours.

 

Once back to shore, we started walking down the street to check out shops (more ABC stores...), and were underwhelmed by the prices and selection. Passed the old churches and palace, and settled on lunch at the Kona Inn. By now, it was overcast (started out very sunny...but the clouds stuck for the rest of the day) & sprinkling a bit. Lunch was OK-DH and DS had the calamari sandwich and raved. I had pulled pork sandwich, and it was not as good as the one we'd had on the Molokini crater snorkel trip 2 days earlier. Can't remember what DD had.

 

After lunch, we headed back to the tender port to find out what our options for the afternoon were, since DS and DH were going on the Discover Scuba excursion @ 1:00. We learned from the Visitor Center at the dock about a shuttle through The Beach Shack for $10 round trip, so DD and I went to get tickets for that. I wrote this previously on another thread: We had canceled our snorkeling excursion b/c some in our party had a tough time w/motion sickness on the one we took from Maui to Molokini Crater, so we had a pretty free day...didn't know what to do, but there's a visitor's center right next to the place where you tender, and they have good ideas. We ended up going to a place called the Beach Shack in a shopping center right across from the pier and paying $10 each for round trip shuttle to Kahalu'u Beach where the snorkeling was surprisingly amazing - many, many more & varied fish than we had going to Molokini Crater a few days before, and you just walk out into it (reef shoes recommended - the Beach Shack also rents all the gear you need for pretty reasonable price if you don't have your own - we did, so I don't know the price offhand). There were also turtles, & we heard others yelling about puffer fish, so that was a bonus & a snack bar where you could get food for lunch & shave ice for snacks. I never would have stopped at that beach if I'd just driven by-it wasn't pretty, and there were lots of people there, but there was a covered area where we felt safe leaving our things while we snorkeled. We also had the option of being dropped @ White Sands beach, but it was overcrowded & the kids on the boogie boards looked a little reckless to us). We stayed at Kahalu'u beach until the last shuttle left at 3:00 in the afternoon & got back to the tender port in time to make a last run to Hilo Hatties before catching the tender back. The line to the tender was very long, but they were coming pretty regularly, so it didn't take a long time.

 

Once we got back to this ship, the guys report that their Discover Scuba experience was amazing & I regretted not trying it. You don't have to be certified to do it, and you just walk out into the water with it - no boat ride. In-laws reported that the Historic Kona tour was interesting - got lots of pics of the Painted Church & some more coffee. Once again we headed for Margarita Madness before going to get ready for dinner & sailing away. We went to Aloha Diner this night. It was Prime Rib night, I believe (there's a good chance I've mixed my nights up here, though...whatever night we went to Aloha was PR night). It was OK...the sides were like any school cafeteria food we've had. I did have a soufflé (w/no fruit filling), and it was tasty, as well as some chocolate dipped marshmallows. I was disappointed in the desserts on the ship in general...man, I am really complaining about the food alot! Sorry for being a broken record! The good news is, I did not gain a lot of weight on this trip b/c the food was not as tempting as I expected, so there's the bright side. After that, we finally explored the shops, and wandered around - listened to the piano guy in Pink's, wandered to Hollywood to watch the magician (for a minute - it was kind of boring to me, and I actually fell asleep so I excused myself), then back to the room & bed.

 

BTW-some nights were rougher than others. I can't remember which exactly, but I do remember some serious weaving from wall to wall in the halls. I took the meclizine daily as a preventive, and slept with the sea bands on (didn't wear them all day - they were not very attractive!). I only really felt bad enough to take additional doses the night we watched Second City in Hollywood theater & watched the curtains swaying, and on the last night from Kauai to Oahu...

[vbmom87]

Left something MAJOR out of my Hilo review! We headed to the forward starboard deck around 6:45 to secure lounge chairs for the volcano sailby...enjoyed the breeze & incredibly full moon while we waited to reach the lava flow. We were VERY lucky that Madam Pele' was in the mood to grace us with an impressive display of above-ground lava flow when we sailed by that night. We not only got to see the embers on the hillside, but see, hear and smell the lava as it flowed into the ocean. That alone was just about worth the price of admission! Amazing. We were not encouraged by previous weeks' experiences b/c the flow had been underground, but we got lucky!

 

We had a nice display on our May cruise, but did not hear or smell the lava. We could see it as it entered the water and we could see the steam rise, however no sound effects. You must have been much closer is my guess.

[DAGVBSB]

 

BTW-some nights were rougher than others. I can't remember which exactly, but I do remember some serious weaving from wall to wall in the halls. I took the meclizine daily as a preventive, and slept with the sea bands on (didn't wear them all day - they were not very attractive!). I only really felt bad enough to take additional doses the night we watched Second City in Hollywood theater & watched the curtains swaying, and on the last night from Kauai to Oahu...

 

 

The two roughest nights are usually the nights from Kona to Kauai and the last night (Kauai to Honolulu). The POAm never seemed to get above 17-18 knots, but those were the two nights when we were moving the most. (those are also the longest distances...)

[TXDZ]

Day 6, Thurs. 7/29: Kauai

We were scheduled for a 10:00 a.m. helicopter tour through Blue Hawaiian, so we had a little extra time to kill this morning, and had a late start for breakfast @ Aloha. Again, extremely crowded & hectic, so we ended up finding a table in Gold Rush. After disembarking, we found the Harbor Mall shuttle which took us directly to Blue Hawaiian. We were pretty early, but got checked in, stowed our belongings (they have storage bags for each family & give you a tag for when you pick them up - all you can bring on the flight is your camera & a bottled water). We watched the video/safety briefing, then had lots of time to kill so we walked around the shopping center before being shuttled to the airport. Our pilot was very knowledgeable, and informed us that Blue Hawaiian was the choice provider of heli services on island by the Hollywood types--evidently he had flown Jerry Bruckheimer around a few days before while looking at locations for the next Pirates of the Caribbean film, which was being filmed in/around Kauai & Oahu while we were there (we never saw the Black Pearl, but a friend from Oahu did). Also learned of a pseudo-connection to the pilot - FIL was a pilot in Vietnam, and he was shot down w/in a few months of arriving-suffering serious burns on his face, upper body and hands. He is visibly scarred, and actually had not been on a helicopter since that time, 41 years ago. We shared with the pilot who asked a few questions, and turns out he was in the same unit, in the same location, arriving in Vietnam about a year after FIL left.... Anyway, we really, really enjoyed the flight - it was a highlight of the trip...and, it helped us decide what we wanted to do the rest of our time in Kauai.

 

After returning to Blue Hawaiian and gathering our belongings & buying the video of our flight, they were kind enough to shuttle us back to the airport @ no charge, so we could pick up our rentals @ Thrifty. Again, we got 2 Mustang convertibles (much to the children's dismay). We decided to head out the Hanalei Bay b/c it looked so beautiful from the air. It was a very nice & easy drive w/beautiful scenery. When we got to Hanalei, we were hungry, so went into a restaurant for a bite...called "Kalypso." It was tasty but incredibly expensive...wish we'd looked at the prices before we sat down. We'd have gone across the street to Bubba's Burgers.

 

Went across the street and rented some beach chairs and boogie boards (can't remember the name of the place, but their prices were reasonable) and then headed down to the Hanalei Beach and staked out a spot. The water was incredibly calm - we found a spot near where the river emptied into the bay, so there were lots of kayakers. No snorkeling to speak of, but you could walk out into the bay a significant distance. Kids were bored b/c there were no waves at all. We stayed there a while & decided to head a little further down to Tunnels Beach, and THAT was where all the waves were. Nice white sand beach, crazy waves...watched some sail boarders out in the distance, and enjoyed being thrown around in the surf for a while. Kids couldn't figure out how to use the boogie boards, and we didn't end up using the beach chairs at all, so that was a little waste of money. Anyhoo, wished we had gone to this beach first. By the time we got there, it wasn't crowded at all b/c anyone who had come from the cruise ship was headed back to get ready for the Luau Kalamaku (which we had canceled our reservation to). After some fun there, we decided to head back to Hanalei and return our rentals and do a little bit more shopping, but by then, there really wasn't much shopping to do. Decided to head back to the ship for dinner at Aloha.

 

Aloha wasn't terribly busy since so many were at the Luau, but the food left a lot to be desired. We decided to give Cadillac a chance (despite DD's protests), and boy, were we sorry. (skip this paragraph if you have had enough of reading detailed descriptions of bad food from me). I ordered the spinach artichoke dip and the kids ordered cheese sticks. The artichoke dip was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen when it came out. I had to cover my mouth with my hand to keep from asking the server "seriously? You just actually put this on the table, looking like that? Can't you see how horrible it is?" It looked like they had opened a can of Popeye's spinach & dumped it into a ramekin, heated it in the microwave and left it sitting under a heat lamp for days, and smelled awful. I tried to dip a chip into it, but it was too thick & heavy. The cheese sticks were freezer burned and tasteless. DD did not hesitate to say "I told you so." I can't remember what we ordered off the menu for dinner...but it was not good either. We tried to salvage dinner by using our Teen Passport to order shakes for everyone. DS got chocolate, DD got a mocha and DH & I ordered the Butterfinger. Big mistake - there was nothing butterfinger about it, although it had sort of a peanut butter flavor, and there was a huge chunk of what looked like one of those peanut butter logs (we used to get at Halloween) in the cup. Anyhoo, disappointing meal all around...but we were too tired to explore any other options, and headed to bed.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Could you tell me why you cancelled the luau? I must admit that the reviews I just read on Trip Advisor were iffy at best. 75% approval is low for tickets starting at $100, IMHO. I would like to find one good luau for our trip, though. Maybe in Maui?

[Raison]

Enjoying your review so far.

On your helicopter tour, how did the people in the middle in the back seats find the view? We are booked on Blue Hawaiian and I just know at least one of us will end up without a window seat.

[TXDZ]

Could you tell me why you cancelled the luau? I must admit that the reviews I just read on Trip Advisor were iffy at best. 75% approval is low for tickets starting at $100, IMHO. I would like to find one good luau for our trip, though. Maybe in Maui?

 

We considered the Old Lahaina Luau on Maui & Kalamaku w/the cruise, and originally booked Kalamaku, but canceled b/c we figured for our family of 4 (the inlaws were never interested), it wasn't going to be the best bang for our buck (w/all the service charges, etc., we were looking at almost $450 for dinner and show). DH & I had been to OLL when we were in high school, and although we vaguely remembered the show being entertaining, we remembered the food didn't do much for us...we decided if we wanted such a high dollar meal, to pick a place where we'd have control over what we ordered (we ultimately ended up @ Duke's Beach House on Maui). I do think we missed something by never seeing a polynesian show (we didn't see the one on the ship, although we had planned to). If we had done one, we'd have done OLL b/c it is as close to the beach as you can get & less cattle-callish (we've heard Kalamaku is just too huge), and just generally had better reviews (if not for nostalgia reasons).

 

Enjoying your review so far.

On your helicopter tour, how did the people in the middle in the back seats find the view? We are booked on Blue Hawaiian and I just know at least one of us will end up without a window seat.

 

Thanks! We chartered the whole helicopter b/c there were 6 of us...they put the lightest people in the front with the pilot (the kids in our case), then the 2 lightest of the remaining 4 in the center-backseat, heaviest on the outside. This was the one time I was happy to be one of the heaviest b/c I was by the window behind the pilot. The kids were in the front, DH and SMIL were in the center/back, FIL by the window on the other side. I did not gather that DH's view was hindered significantly; but he was irritated that our daughter, who had the good camera, did not snap better pictures (she's 12 & just learning so she didn't avoid the images in the reflection as well). There was very little glare out my window (we wore dark clothes as recommended, but there was still a significant glare on the front window, evidenced by DD's photos). I felt like the pilot made an effort to make sure everything was equally viewable from both sides of the aircraft. In many cases, we were literally surrounded by the scenery...and that's why we did the helicopter instead of fixed wing...the helicopters can just get closer to the sights. They also have a musical soundtrack to go with the sights that made it kind of cool (Jurassic Park theme when you go over Jurassic falls, etc.).

[DAGVBSB]

Day 6,

 

Aloha wasn't terribly busy since so many were at the Luau, but the food left a lot to be desired. We decided to give Cadillac a chance (despite DD's protests), and boy, were we sorry. (skip this paragraph if you have had enough of reading detailed descriptions of bad food from me). I ordered the spinach artichoke dip and the kids ordered cheese sticks. The artichoke dip was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen when it came out. I had to cover my mouth with my hand to keep from asking the server "seriously? You just actually put this on the table, looking like that? Can't you see how horrible it is?" It looked like they had opened a can of Popeye's spinach & dumped it into a ramekin, heated it in the microwave and left it sitting under a heat lamp for days, and smelled awful. I tried to dip a chip into it, but it was too thick & heavy. The cheese sticks were freezer burned and tasteless. DD did not hesitate to say "I told you so." I can't remember what we ordered off the menu for dinner...but it was not good either. We tried to salvage dinner by using our Teen Passport to order shakes for everyone. DS got chocolate, DD got a mocha and DH & I ordered the Butterfinger. Big mistake - there was nothing butterfinger about it, although it had sort of a peanut butter flavor, and there was a huge chunk of what looked like one of those peanut butter logs (we used to get at Halloween) in the cup. Anyhoo, disappointing meal all around...but we were too tired to explore any other options, and headed to bed.

 

Just to show how selective food reviews are:

 

My father loves cheese sticks. Orders them all the time. He thought the cheese sticks in Cadillac Diner were some of the best he has ever had. He ordered them all 3 times we were there and stopped for an order to take to his room one time late evening.

 

I do agree about the milk shakes. They rave about how great the shakes are in Cadillac... but I found them runny (chocolate milk for $4.15 anyone?) and just not that good. We ordered them once there just to try them.

 

The rest of the food that we got in Cadillac was very good except for the Ham & Cheese Panini that I ordered one time. It had some sort of green sauce on it (that's the way it comes I was told). But when I told the waiter I didn't want it, he cheerfully asked me what he could get me instead and it was out very quickly.

 

and let's not forget about the fantastic Macaroni and cheese in Cadillac (and Blue Lagoon on other NCL ships.) Very cheesy and a huge portion.

 

And one more thing.. I remember the Aloha Cafe's menu on Luau night. We were going to eat there until we saw what they had and then we quickly decided to go to Skyline. (It was LUAU food!! If people choose not to go to the Luau, do you think MAYBE it might be because they don't like luau food??? So why in the world would you serve the same stuff on board?? Not the brighest meal planners in the world...)

[Cruising Young Senior]

I am reading about your trip and taking notes. Very interesting about the Visitors Center. And where the cold cuts are on the ship. My trip is in a little over 2 weeks.

I've been to every Island before, and my friend has not. So I'm trying to find interesting things that I haven't done before. Sounds like the food isn't that great, so I won't have a lot of expectations.

Mahalo

[intentionaltourist]

We booked the luau. Did you happen to hear what people said about it>

[TXDZ]

Just to show how selective food reviews are:

 

My father loves cheese sticks. Orders them all the time. He thought the cheese sticks in Cadillac Diner were some of the best he has ever had. He ordered them all 3 times we were there and stopped for an order to take to his room one time late evening.

 

I do agree about the milk shakes. They rave about how great the shakes are in Cadillac... but I found them runny (chocolate milk for $4.15 anyone?) and just not that good. We ordered them once there just to try them.

 

The rest of the food that we got in Cadillac was very good except for the Ham & Cheese Panini that I ordered one time. It had some sort of green sauce on it (that's the way it comes I was told). But when I told the waiter I didn't want it, he cheerfully asked me what he could get me instead and it was out very quickly.

 

and let's not forget about the fantastic Macaroni and cheese in Cadillac (and Blue Lagoon on other NCL ships.) Very cheesy and a huge portion.

 

And one more thing.. I remember the Aloha Cafe's menu on Luau night. We were going to eat there until we saw what they had and then we quickly decided to go to Skyline. (It was LUAU food!! If people choose not to go to the Luau, do you think MAYBE it might be because they don't like luau food??? So why in the world would you serve the same stuff on board?? Not the brighest meal planners in the world...)

 

I'm cringing re-reading my review of our one meal @ Cadillac, because honestly, we are not picky eaters! We like good food, but aren't food snobs! I guess we just went on an off week bc other reviews I've read rave about the service in Cadillac, and that was off as well (except for the awesome guy who offered to buy my daughter's shake the night she dined alone). Although Aloha's shakes were good overall, except for the weird butterfinger. Probably should have tried the mac & cheese...

 

TOTALLY agree about the luau food on luau night (that's what Aloha had, and why we ended up in Cadillac in the first place). We regretted not staying on shore & getting something there.

 

We booked the luau. Did you happen to hear what people said about it>

 

Didn't hear from anyone one way or the other.