An Exhaustive Review of Our Exhausting Hawaiian Adventure

[kwbound]

Aloha Donna,

Thank you again for all the awsome information....it bet it blows my books away that I just ordered from Amazon.

 

Anyway, I was wondering if I could suggest something without being rude. I might be getting old and confused, :D but I'm having a hard time with information like Day 1 Day 2 Day 8....It looks like some of the time the islands are visited in a different direction...so I have to go back and see if I can figure out what Day 8 was.

 

Now, I'm thinking I really messed up because I booked starboard on the advise of an NCL rep and friend. Looks like everyone on this board is saying port side. :confused: Should I change cabins? Deck 8 mid ship starboard....

 

Looking forward to more of the review.

 

Debra - I realized about 1/2 through the review that my numbering system might cause some confusion, but it was too late to change then. The cruise was 7 days, but we had a day in Waikiki before, and then the day we returned to Honolulu. So Day 2 of our vacation was the day we boarded the ship. My Day 8 was the last day of the cruise. I hope that clears it up.

 

I think your cabin sounds great. We passed the lava on the starboard side. For the Na Pali sailby we passed on the port side. The we turned around and went back so the starboard side would have been facing the coast

then, but by that time it was getting dark. I would keep the starboard side.

 

(Starboard IS the right side as you face forward, right?)

Edited November 6, 2010 by kwbound

[sue402001]

Sitting in our seats looking forward we were on the right side of the plane.

 

Thanks for the quick reply! Since we have plenty of empty seats on our plane I'm going to change ours over to the right. I've gotta have my island pics!

[kwbound]

Day 9 – Waikiki Beach and then home

Our originally scheduled itinerary:

Saturday, October 16 – Back in O’ahu

 

9am Disembark – Honolulu Airport Shuttle to Hilton Hawaiian Village. Shuttle is prepaid. Confirmation is DONNA RYALS OCT 16. 808-275-6633

 

9am-5pm Day Room at the Hilton Hawaiian Village http://www.hiltonhawaiianvillage.com/

 

5pm Back to Airport with Honolulu Airport Shuttle – prepaid, same confirmation #

 

7:20pm Flight home 

 

What we actually did:

 

DH got up early as the ship was approaching Honolulu and took and amazing set of photos of the sunrise over Waikiki and Diamondhead. This one is my favorite:

 

 

We had a day room reserved at the Hilton Hawaiian Village from 9am – 5pm. Originally we were going to sleep in a little, have breakfast on the ship and then head over to HHV. But being who we are, we had decided that sleeping in was crazy talk and we needed to get to the beach asap. We could sleep on the sand if we wanted! So the day before I had called Honolulu Airport Shuttle, who I had prepaid transfers with and told them we wanted to be picked up at 7:30am instead of 9am as we had originally scheduled. They said no problem, just to call them as we were about to disembark.

 

We had signed up for NCL’s EasyFly program and it worked really well. You have to be flying on a participating airline (we were on CO) and sign up by Thursday evening. We signed up Wed. It is $25 per person and you are allowed 2 bags per person. (There may be additional charges depending on your airline baggage fees.) On Friday NCL delivered an envelop to our room which contained our airplane boarding passes, and airline luggage tags. We kept out a carry-on bag for Sat and sat the rest of the luggage outside the cabin as usual. NCL picked up the luggage and checked it in the airport for us. It was waiting for us on the baggage carousel when we returned to Houston. If you have an evening flight on Sat, as we did, I recommend you consider this service. It saves you from have to schlep your luggage around all day and we felt like we could stay at the resort a little longer instead of rushing to the airport to get the bags checked in.

 

So at 7:30am we were walking off the ship. It took the driver a few minutes to get there, but just a few. Apparently there is some kind of controversy between regular cabs and pre-scheduled rides, so we had to walk down the drive a bit past the waiting taxis to where he was allowed to pick us up but it was no biggie since we didn’t have luggage. He gave us a bit of bad news once we were on our way – housekeeping and restaurant/bar employees at the HHV had gone on strike a few days before and as a result we might have to wait a few minutes for the strikers to clear the street and allow the car in, which is exactly what happened. There seemed to be groups of strikers on several sides of the resort. They all wore red shirts and chanted “Who’s going to win?! – LOCAL NUMBER 5!!” OK…not sure how relaxing of a day this is going to be.

 

The resort is a beautiful resort. There are several towers and all the lobbies are open air. In the middle of the resort it is almost difficult to tell if your are really indoors or out. Check-in was a breeze (Hilton Honors member). They gave us a list of places that were closed due to the strike. Only one bar was listed as being open, but we never saw it open when we walked by. Now that I think about it, I’m surprised they didn’t offer some sort of reimbursement, or some drink coupons or lunch…something…to make up for everything being closed. But they didn’t. (Guess they couldn't offer meals or drinks with the staff being on strike.) We went up to our room which was on the 19th floor of the Tapa Tower. It had a city view, and a great view of another group of strikers down below. It was a nice room though not as nice as some Hiltons. We dropped our stuff and made our plans. DH wanted to rent a surf board and try it (he was a surfer back in the day, or as much as a surfer as you can be on the Texas coast). DFH was going with DH to rent a boogie board. DFW and I were going to walk down to the International Market for one last bit of shopping. She had seen an ankle bracelet when we were there the previous week she wanted to get. Then we were all going to meet back at the HHV beach. Well when we got back downstairs to the beach, there was a large group of strikers on the side of the hotel as close to the beach as I guess they were allowed to get, and they were LOUD. There was no way we would be able to have a relaxing day listening to strikers chant. So we told the DH’s that the beach here would not be very relaxing, and we would meet them a little farther down the beach, “near those umbrellas”...to be continued...

 

Here are some pictures of the Hilton Hawaiian Village:

 

Strikers from our balcony.

 

Looking towards the beach from the balcony.

 

First sea turtles and now penquins...Best vacation EVAH!:D

 

Penguino found some friends!

 

One more thing about HHV, there are a LOT of shops here...I mean a LOT. And they were all open...unfortunately we were almost out of time and money so we couldn't explore them.

 

Coming up...Waikiki Beach, New Friends and the best Mai Tai of the trip...

[kwbound]

Once we had decided on a meeting spot (or thought we had) DFW and I decide to walk down the beach to the hotel where Duke’s is located and go through that hotel to the International Market. It was a nice walk, and it is on sidewalk for most of the walk, but there are parts where you have to walk through the sand. And not packed, easy to walk on sand but deep, trudge through it sand. We decided to walk back on the streets and we were glad we did, just because of the different sites/shops we saw. When we got back, DH’s weren’t where they were supposed to be. I think DH’s were too excited to get in the surf because they later claimed they missed those “near those umbrellas” instructions. DFW and I got our towels from the towel stand and started looking, and looking, and looking, between where we originally planned to be and where we told them to be. We sat down a while and thought they would come find us. Finally we decided we would go find a drink…no drinks at HHV, because no workers. So we start down the beach and run into the DH’s. They claimed they were right where we told them to be (they weren’t!)...but actually we couldn’t be upset because they were in a really good spot, and they looked like two little boys that had been having such a good time. (They may have been doing some unauthorized bikini watching!) And since we had been off spending money, we couldn’t really fuss.

 

Sidebar: I don't want to take sides in a labor dispute when I know nothing about the issues, and this is certainly not the forum for a labor/management debate but I think that the strikers may have been shooting themselves in the foot somewhat by being so obtrusive. They actually did us a favor by running us down the beach, where it was more relaxing, and prices were cheaper. If I were to go back to Waikiki, I probably would consider a hotel closer to the middle of Waikiki, instead of the HHV...so even when they go back to work, they may have lost me and others like me as a future customer, and that won't be good for them. But I digress....

 

Right next to HHV is the Hale Koa military resort, then Ft. DeRussy Beach park, and then you start getting to the all the other hotels. The Hale Koa has all the concessions between HHV and the Ashton Waikiki Shores Hotel. When we were getting our towels at HHV I asked how much to rent a kayak there. I forgot exactly what he said, but it was so ridiculously high I said no thank you, and I've been waiting to try kayaking for a while. I think it was $40 for the first hour. From the Hale Koa beach rentals kayaks were $12 for the first hour. Those are my kind of prices! Fr. DeRussy park is a beautiful green lawn park with beautiful palms, lots of shade. Then there is the wide sidewalk, then the beach. DH's had staked a claim on the grass right by the sidewalk between the Koa Oasis snack bar and a surf school. It was a wonderful spot. We had lunch at the Koa Oasis which was being run by John, a retired marine (thank you John!). John made THE BEST Mai Tais I had the entire trip, bar none. Probably the cheapest too. We just had burgers, chips and drinks, but in that sitting on that day, it was one of my favorite meals of the trip. DFH asked if John had any lettuce and tomatoes for the burgers. John said "Son, this is just a one star restaurant." LOL We gave it and him four stars. Here are some pics:

 

Great spot the DH's picked out.

 

Our 4-star burger, Mai Tai and Maui Style chips! Yum!

 

Four thumbs up from us!

 

John, Best Mai Tai Maker in Hawaii!

 

Looking down the beach towards HHV. Ft. DeRussy is the grassy area on the right.

 

Love those $12 kayaks!

 

Coming up...more friends, the mean TSA agents...

[kwbound]

From our base if you walked towards Diamondhead the first hotel you come to is the Ashton Waikiki Shores. Just as you get to the hotel, if you look left there is a public restroom, then a sidewalk to the street, then a little covered alley with a few shops and snack places. This is where we met another friend that day - Susan from Korea. Just outside the shops on the sand was another new friend, who's name I can't remember but who for the purposes of this review will be called Tommy Chong.

 

Susan from Korea had the kind of shop that I am a sucker for...a hodge podge of different items all crammed together just inviting you to explore. She sold liquor and mixers. And since you can't have alcohol on Hawaiian beach's, if you bought liquor she provided for free some of the famous red plastic solo cups, which as everyone knows makes liquor undetectable to authorities. (Or at least it worked for us.) We visited Susan several times during the day (not just for liquor!). If you are looking for women's board shorts, which I've been trying to find forever in a fluffy size - Susan is the hook-up! We also got koozies, ice, waters, and a few other souvenirs. Here is Susan:

 

You can't tell in the photo, but I'm wearing the new board shorts.

 

Parrot Dise was a tent set up on the sand where Tommy Chong worked. And he had a flock of parrots. For a price he would take a picture with your camera holding the parrots, with Diamondhead in the background. If you didn't have a camera, he would use his camera and print our the picture right there for you. Our plan was to go down there right before we needed to go back to the hotel and get our picture made with the parrots. We had so much fun with Tommy and the birds that we really had to rush to get cleaned up and be ready for our ride to the airport. Tommy charged $20 to use our camera. I thought he would take one or two shots and it would take 5 minutes. Wrong. Tommy takes his job as photographer seriously! He spent time posing us, posing the birds, tilt your head this way, turn your head slightly, changing camera settings...I doubt the photographers on the ship worked as hard. And he took a LOT of shots. It was one of those unplanned, unexpected things that winds up being a great, fun memory. It was well worth $20. Here are some pics of us, and Tommy Chong:

 

 

Hi Tommy Chong!

 

More pics from our day at the beach:

 

Another shot looking towards HHV with Ft. DeRussy on the right.

 

 

Taken from the kayak.

 

Coming up...time to go home...and the mean TSA Agent...

[kwbound]

Once Tommy Chong finished taking our pictures with the parrots, it was time to go back to our room and get ready for the flight home. We squeezed every last minute out our time on the beach, so we had to take some quick showers, throw on our travel clothes and head for the airport. The driver called before he was scheduled to pick us up and told us where to meet him downstairs. He was there waiting when we got there. On the way to the airport we saw the only rainbow we saw on the entire trip:

 

 

Back on the ship when we were packing the luggage and weighing it, mine kept weighing over 50 lbs. So I took all the bags of souvenirs we had purchased and put them in a carry-on. So I had two carry-ons, one to go in the overhead and a bag to go under the seat. Unfortunately when packing up the souvenirs, I forgot about the bottle of Hawaiian BBQ sauce that I had bought for our son at the Macadamia Nut Outlet way back on day 1 of the trip. The BBQ sauce did not make it past security. And of course it was wrapped up in a bag in the very bottom of the carry-on, so the TSA agent (he wasn't really mean) had to go through the entire bag, opening every sack. And in the process my palm frond fish from the Kona snorkeling trip, and my two raffia angels that I bought at the Kaupo store were also confiscated! OK - my bad regarding the BBQ sauce. I just forgot about that. And I figured that there was a chance that my palm frond fish would get confiscated if it was found. In fact, I purposely carried it in the carry on because I didn't want the luggage being held up during the agriculture inspection when I wasn't there with the luggage. But did they have to take my angels???:mad: They were nice about it though, even though it took a while to go through every thing. They even let us take pictures of them, which I would have thought would be against some sort of regulation, but apparently not. We still got to the gate with plenty of time to roam the airport and get some dinner before boarding for the long, tiring flight home. Don't the flights home always seem longer?!

 

And so our Amazing Hawaiian Adventure was over. It was a trip that we will remember, talk about and treasure for the rest of our lives I'm sure.

 

Nothing to worry about in there officer.:rolleyes:

 

Aloha Hawaii!! Thanks for a wonderful time!

 

Here is a link to all of the Day 9 photos. If you have any questions about what is located on the beach or about what any of the buildings are, let me know. I have a map and I think I can name most of the things in the photos.

 

Coming up tomorrow: Concluding thoughts, tips, regrets (not many), and suggestions.

[Browezilla]

Thanks for that last installment Donna. Do you know why they took the fish and the angels? Since this is solely in the US, I wouldn't think agricultural issues would apply going from HI to mainland.

 

Oh, I know folks that have used the "check your bags in on the ship" service, and they got away with their bags being over 50lbs....but best to be under if possible.

Edited November 6, 2010 by browe

[kwbound]

Thanks for that last installment Donna. Do you know why they took the fish and the angels? Since this is solely in the US, I wouldn't think agricultural issues would apply going from HI to mainland.

 

Oh, I know folks that have used the "check your bags in on the ship" service, and they got away with their bags being over 50lbs....but best to be under if possible.

 

Seems kind of weird to me too. Seems like they would be more concerned about items coming in than going out.

 

This is from the HNL website:

 

All baggage bound from Hawaii to the U. S. Mainland is subject to pre-flight inspection by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Restrictions on the movement of fruits, plants, live snails, and other items from Hawaii to the Mainland are enforced to prevent the spread of fruit flies and other hazardous plant insects and diseases.

 

Please report all agricultural items in your possession to the agricultural inspectors. Inspection stations for check-in baggage are located in front of the airline check-in counters while hand carried articles will be inspected at the security check points.

 

Be prepared to open and close your baggage and parcels for x-ray machine inspection.

 

For further information call the U. S. Department of Agriculture at (808) 861-8490.

 

So apparently it is a US rule and not a Hawaii rule.

 

I was more worried about paying extra baggage fees to the airlines because of the weight than what the ship would say. The airlines will nickel you to death these days!

[Iwannabeatraveler]

I feel like I do after watching the "feel-good" movie of the year. Thanks for such an outstanding review. BTW- Since when is Raffia ( angels) considered a plant?? Excessive in my book, but then, who am I??!!;)

[sue402001]

Bravo Donna, well done! This for sure is one review I'll come back to read.

 

You were right, that "OMG" picture was way worse than the first one, lol. :eek:

[jjduck]

Donna,

 

You win, hands down, absolutely the best writing style. Are you SURE you're not a travel writer? LOL!

 

Penguins at the Hilton! My favorite is Betty (she has a blue band). They are a cute bunch.

 

That picture of you in the kayak with Diamond Head in the background is the perfect ending to your vacation.

 

Weird TSA types. Lauhala fish and angels? Rather silly to confiscate that. Another "uniform syndrome" individual. hahaha!

 

Anyways, so very glad you enjoyed your time here. But then, I get the impression you guys enjoy yourselves everywhere, as it should be.

 

Aloha and take care,

Noreen.

[margord]

Your fabulous review is getting me so excited about our upcoming Hawaii trip in April 2011.

[Maureen4]

Donna- What a great review. Thanks for taking the time to write it. All the info good and bad will sure to be put to good use. We are leaving Sat. and I can't wait. Seeing your OMG made me wonder about some of our OMG pictures. Wouldn't it be funny to start a thread of peoples OMG photos. I have a real beauty to share.

[Umbarger]

I havent been to Hawaii for over two years and this review made me hear it calling my name loud and clear.

 

You sure packed alot into your last day in Waikiki.

 

By the way, those board shorts look great on you!

[KimS.]

Bravo, Bravo, Bravo! The very best review ever! Have a question for you... Tommy Chong sure reminds me of Dustin Hoffman?? :rolleyes: Anyone else think that? Look forward to reading your last installments.

Thank you again, for taking us all on a great trip!

 

Kim

 

POA

2/19/2011

[Browezilla]

It's interesting reading the reviews under the "Reviews" link. By and large, it seems that those that were looking for a classic cruise experience were disappointed, but those that looked at it as a way to get from island to island (e.g. floating room and board) had a much better time.

[czechgal]

Donna,

 

Great review!!!

 

We did a "land" vacation on Oahu and the Big Island in January, and did the Seaquest trip like yours. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! They made our vacation. We didn't want to leave the Big Island and hubby wants to buy a house there! WOOHOO! I made it home with my fish...your TSA guy must have wanted to keep it for himself!

Anyway, loved the review, and will use other portions for future trips to Hawaii.

 

Lisa

[bdaycruisers]

Seems kind of weird to me too. Seems like they would be more concerned about items coming in than going out.

 

This is from the HNL website:

Donna,

You said that you were going to do a final recommendations, tips, etc. and do a review with links to this site. Are you still going to do it, or are you totally exhausted?

 

All baggage bound from Hawaii to the U. S. Mainland is subject to pre-flight inspection by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Restrictions on the movement of fruits, plants, live snails, and other items from Hawaii to the Mainland are enforced to prevent the spread of fruit flies and other hazardous plant insects and diseases.

 

Please report all agricultural items in your possession to the agricultural inspectors. Inspection stations for check-in baggage are located in front of the airline check-in counters while hand carried articles will be inspected at the security check points.

 

Be prepared to open and close your baggage and parcels for x-ray machine inspection.

 

For further information call the U. S. Department of Agriculture at (808) 861-8490.

 

So apparently it is a US rule and not a Hawaii rule.

 

I was more worried about paying extra baggage fees to the airlines because of the weight than what the ship would say. The airlines will nickel you to death these days!

Donna,

Are you going to do a "review" with links to this thread?

Judy

[Kcarp]

Outstanding review, thanks for sharing your Journey with us. Also, thanks for all the great pics & tips. You really have helped our planning for our up coming cruise and we thank you so much.

[CruisingGoddess]

Thanks for the great review! I'm making notes of Susan and Tommy in Waikiki. We'll also be staying at the HHV post-cruise so I'm also looking forward to seeing those penguins!

[kwbound]

Mahalo for all of the kind feedback. I'm so happy that people have enjoyed my review and perhaps found some suggestions that will help make their vacations special.

 

I am planning on a wrap-up post, and to condense the entire review and put it on the members review board. This weekend just got away from me before I knew it and I wasn't able to finish those posts. Thanks for your patience!

 

Donna

[morecrus]

This is an excellent review. My family and I are going on the POA in July of 2011 and your review has given us many hints and suggestions. Your pictures are great. What camera are you using? We are a party of 6, my DW and I have been to Hawaii 5 times and my daughter and her family, DH and ( DS and DD ,both teens ) will be with us. Their first trip. Thanks again for the review.

[kwbound]

This is an excellent review. My family and I are going on the POA in July of 2011 and your review has given us many hints and suggestions. Your pictures are great. What camera are you using? We are a party of 6, my DW and I have been to Hawaii 5 times and my daughter and her family, DH and ( DS and DD ,both teens ) will be with us. Their first trip. Thanks again for the review.

 

Here is our camera info. If you are looking in the albums, there are also some shots that were taking with a disposable Fuji camera. If you are using a disposable and in shallow water with bright son, it will actually take pretty good shots, but anything more than just a few feet away will look blue and hazy. At least that has been our experience.

 

Hey Mrs. OF - We took two cameras with us: an Olympus model SP510UZ, 7.1mp, 10x optical zoom and a 2 gb hd card and a Canon PowerShot D10, 12.1 mp, 3x optical zoom and an 8gb hd card. The Canon is waterproof to 33 feet. Both of the cameras will take video. We took the Olympus because of the higher optical zoom, but I don't think it made that much of a difference.

 

If you are looking for a new camera I would definitely recommend the Canon D10. I'm really happy with the underwater and land shots. And for whatever type of camera you get I would recommend getting the largest best memory card. That allows you to take a ton of shots on the highest settings. I usually take several (at least) 2 shots of everything I shoot as insurance in case the first shot doesn't turn out.

 

For reference, on the RTH shots, the photos from Hamoa Beach and the pools were taken with the Canon. The other shots were taken with the Olympus. The Olympus is several years old, so that model has probably been updated. The Canon is also very small and easy to carry.

 

Day 5 will include underwater shots from Molakini.

 

Aloha!

 

Y'all will have a wonderful time. I think the teens would especially love the SeaQuest adventure in Kona.

[kwbound]

I'm about to post my final-thought wrap-up, and it's longer than most normal reviews!

[kwbound]

Our Amazing Hawaiian Adventure – Final Thoughts

I’ve been trying to figure out how to organize this final post and I’ve decided to go day by day and list anything that I would have done differently or anything that went especially well. I will finish with my final thoughts on the POA.

 

Pre-trip – The best pre-trip advice I can give you is to research, research, research, get organized and be prepared. I admit I’m a little OCD about my travel folder, but it saves so much stress during trips. I always have confirmations, phone numbers, maps and directions, etc. I am always floored when I meet people on a trip and they haven’t decided what they are going to do the next day. The thought of going on a trip that ill prepared gives me heart palpitations!

 

Day 1 – IAH > HNL > North Shore > Waikiki

Flight – Bring a travel pillow, a light jacket and a snack bag if you are not in first class, because the food they give you in coach is not too good.

 

We enjoyed our drive around the North Shore and back to Waikiki, but in hindsight, with the limited amount of time we had I wish that we had gone straight to the hotel and walked around Waikiki. Or done some of the things that we didn’t get to do in Honolulu – China Town, the Palace, etc. What I would really recommend is to try and fly in at least 2 days in advance if possible. There is so much to see in O’ahu that you really need at least 2-3 days. But if you come in the day before as we did, the North Shore is a pretty good drive for what in the end was a hyped up snow cone. If the surf had been up and there had been a lot of surfers to watch, it probably would have been more exciting.

 

Day 2 – Arizona Memorial > Mac Nut Farm Outlet > Kualoa Ranch > ONO Hawaiian Foods > Embarkation

I liked everything we did on this day and would do them all again. I think every American who goes to O’ahu should see the Arizona Memorial and pay their respects. The Mac Nut Farm Outlet is a great, quick little stop for. But if you buy any BBQ sauce there, remember to pack it in your carry on for the trip home. The Kualoa Ranch tour was one of my favorite things we did during the trip and I definitely recommend it for all ages. We always try to have some regional cuisine wherever we travel and we loved ONO’s.

 

Day 2 regrets – I wish I had arranged to drop the rental car off at the airport location instead of in Waikiki. And I wish I had found a malasada to try.

 

Day 3 – Hilo, The Big Island > Volcano National Park > Richardson’s Beach Park > Lava Sail-by

We had fun this day and the schedule worked out perfectly. My biggest recommendation for this day would be BRING BINOCULARS! See my earlier posts for recommended viewing spot. I recommend getting to your viewing spot about 45 minutes earlier than stated in the Daily.

 

Day 4 – Maui > The Road to Hana, ALL the way around

We all enjoyed this day and are glad we did it. It was definitely adventure. But it was a LONG day. Looking back on the trip, this is the only day that I really feel like I should have planned differently. If I had to do it again, I think I would go to the Ioa Valley, snorkel at Kalanapa/Black Rock and then shop at Lahaina. To really get the most out of the RTH, I think you would have to plan on working your way to Hana the first day, spending the night there and then working your way back around the second day. So basically I think I would recommend saving the RTH for a land vacation. But don’t get me wrong – It is beautiful and we did enjoy it. We just didn’t have the time to enjoy each stop as much as we could have.

 

See my earlier posts for pier parking recommendations.

 

Day 5 – Maui > Snorkeling at Molokini Crater with Kai Kanani > Shopping in Lahaina

I definitely recommend snorkeling at Molokini Crater and I definitely recommend the excursion that we took on the Kai Kanani. They are located so close to the crater that you don’t have to leave the ship as early to get there, and it takes them no time to get to the crater. I wish we had had more time in Lahaina. If we had gone to Lahaina the day before, then I think we would have just spent the afternoon at Makena beach when the snorkeling excursion was over.

 

Day 6 – Kona, The Big Island > Snorkeling with SeaQuest > Shopping in Kona

This was our favorite day of the trip. My only regret on this day is that the ship had to leave. I’d love to spend more time here. I cannot recommend SeaQuest enough. Not only was it our favorite thing on this trip, it is the best excursion we have done on any trip. If you can only take one snorkel excursion during your trip, make it this one.

 

Day 7 – Kauai > Ke’e Beach > Kalalau Trail > Hanalei Bay > Smith Family Luau

I loved this day too. If I ever come back for a land vacation, it will be split between Kauai and Kona. I have two small regrets about this day. One, we didn’t bring the snorkel equipment and we could have used it at Ke’e. And two, we didn’t pack a picnic lunch on this day. If we had brought the snorkel equipment and a lunch, we would have stayed much longer at Ke’e Beach. And even it the surf had been up and we weren’t able to snorkel, the picnic lunch would have allowed us more time to be at the beach, instead of sitting in a restaurant.

The Smith Family Luau is a Kauai must-do in my book. I thought the luau would be one of those things that I’d be glad I’d done, but wouldn’t necessarily do again. But I’d definitely go again.

 

Day 8 – Kauai > Blue Hawaiian Helicopter Tour > Kalapaki Beach > Na Pali Sailby

My other Kauai must-do is the helicopter tour. You’re in Hawaii, just do the helicopter tour. Trust me, you will be glad you did. As for Kalapaki Beach, I don’t think this beach gets the props it should. We had a wonderful time here. This beach has a lot of nearby shopping, restaurants and bars, which except for Waikiki Beach, a lot of the Hawaiian Beaches that we saw don’t have. It’s within walking distance of the ship. I recommend that you wait and have lunch back on the ship at the Cadillac Diner’s outside area during sail away, so you can watch the tugboat say goodbye. If you have little kids, that’s a must do. If you don’t have a balcony on the port side, then I suggest you watch the Na Pali sail-by from the Waikiki Bar. Get there 45 minutes to an hour before the time listed in the Daily for the sail-by. If you have binocular, or a camera with a good zoom you will be able to see the tents of people camping at Kalalau Beach.

 

Day 9 – Disembarkation > Hilton Hawaiian Village > Waikiki Beach

If you have a late flight on Saturday, then I definitely recommend using NCL’s EasyFly program. Spend more time enjoying your last day and less time schlepping luggage around. The HHV is a very nice resort, although our day was marred by the employees on strike. Honestly, even if there was no strike going on, I think I would try and get a day room closer to the middle of Waikiki Beach. For inexpensive concession food and beach rentals, definitely use the concessions in front of Hale Koa resort and Ft. DeRussy Park, which is a nice place to lay your towel on the beach. Also – and this applies to all of the beaches – pick up a couple of the woven straw mats to lie on instead of a towel. That will keep your towel from being quite so sandy.

 

Final thoughts on the Pride of America:

Food: We didn’t eat at any of the pay restaurants so I can’t comment on those. We had 3 dinners in the Skyline dining room. One night we had great service and so-so food. One night we had fairly bad service and horrible food. And one night we had horrible service and pretty bad food. So overall I can’t recommend Skyline at all. We had dinner 3 nights in the Aloha buffet and thought it was much better than the Skyline. They had prime rib one night and we all enjoyed that. They had shrimp cocktails every night in the buffet. The breakfasts we had on ship were all at the Aloha buffet and we ate them outside. I was happy with the buffet breakfasts, especially the eggs Benedict. If you are going to make lunches from the breakfast buffet, get the ham from but buffet area and NOT the lunchmeat area, or get peanut butter and jelly. We only had one lunch on board and that was at the Cadillac Diner. Service was good there and food was ok. DH had the brownie chocolate sundae and it was the only decent dessert we had on the ship the entire week.

 

Bars: These were the happy hours on most days (copying from the Dailies):

Wine Happy Hour in the Napa Wine Bar - $4.95 selected wines by the glass 6p-7p

Sangria Special in the Aloha Café “Sangria” Bar – $4.95 Sangria 6pm-7pm

Happy Hour in the Martini Bar – Martini’s - $4.95 and Mai Tai’s - $3.95 9pm-10pm

 

We did go to the happy hour in the Napa Wine Bar. You can get a glass here and take it to dinner. We enjoyed the Wine Bar. It is a nice, mellow place to wind down between the excitement of the day and dinner. We enjoyed the entertainer here, Butch O’Conner also.

 

We also went to the happy hour in the Martini Bar. That bar is below the deck we watched the lava sail-by from. The mai tai was ok.

 

The Key West Bar made a very good berry mojito, using blackberries and raspberries. Unfortunately that was the only bar that made those drinks and it closed at 6pm every day, along with the Ocean Drive bar. They pretty much rolled up the sidewalks at 6pm on deck around the pool.

 

The Dailies list a drink-of-the-day every day, but I was never offered one. Also, this is the first cruise I’ve ever been on where someone wasn’t waiting to hand me a drink as soon as I stepped on board. Idk if there is bar waiter shortage on this ship, or if they are just not very fast or what, but it was definitely not like other cruises where waiters are trying to take your order for the next drink before you finish the first one. You will wait for your drinks on the POA. On the plus side, this was the cheapest bar bill we’d ever had on a cruise.

 

Activities: The only activity we participated in all week was the pub crawl on the first night, and I only knew about it because I had read about it on CC. They were very disorganized about taking payments and signing up participants. But the actual crawl was fun. We left the ship each morning as soon as we could and didn’t return until we had to, so we didn’t make it to any of the other activities. I would have liked to attend some of the activities lead by the Hawaiian ambassadors, but not so much that I’d cut my island time short.

 

Entertainment: We didn’t go to any shows so I can’t comment on those. We didn’t want to stay out too late because we wanted to get up early every morning, and because we were so active during the day we were just too tired. The evenings we ate dinner in the Skyline, dinner took so long that we didn’t have time for any of the shows. And the other nights we chose to spend visiting with each other and other guests. As mentioned earlier, we did enjoy Butch O’Conner in the Napa Wine Bar.

 

Housekeeping: I won’t belabor the housekeeping issues stated early other than to say our stateroom service definitely left something to be desired. The rest of the ship seemed clean and in good shape. I didn’t notice any other dirty areas.

 

Cruise Director: His name is Dougless Dunnell, but I only know that because I just looked it up in the Dailies. Some CD’s really make themselves known. Not this guy. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I may have known his name if we could have heard announcements in the stateroom, but we couldn’t. From what I hear they can’t be heard in any of the staterooms.

 

Staff: Many of the staff we encountered were friendly as can be. But on a cruise you expect everyone you meet to be friendly. Unfortunately there were several bad apples in the bunch, and the general attitude of the staff was unlike any of our other cruises. I hate to say it is because the staff is American. But I did hate that the people we met on the cruise from other countries (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Scottland, England) would go home thinking that the employees on the POA were representative of all Americans, because I don’t believe that. I’m of the impression that the problems with the POA employees are top-down problems that originate with management. The prevailing attitude was that they weren’t happy to be there, and it showed. Once again, I’m not saying everyone. I’m saying some, but definitely enough so that it made a definite negative impression.

 

Photography Services: We didn’t have any formal portraits made and we didn’t buy the embarkation photo or any of the photos taken as we left the ship. In two of the ports they had some really cheesy looking costumed characters to pose with. I think one was a sea turtle and one was Uncle Sam. The photographers did take some good photos of the lava sail-by. You could purchase 4 shots for $12.95. We also purchased a digital photo book package and that was a big mistake. For $69.95 you get a 100 page (50 sheets) photo book that you can load your photos from the trip into. It also has several pages with descriptions of the ship, ports, etc. If you purchased any of the ships photos, they will upload up to 5 of those digitally, but only the pictures with you in them, not the lava photos. We were led to believe that the book was much more customizable than it actually is. The name of the photo book company is Panraven and if I had done any research, I would have known not to buy it. But it looked good at the time and we made the impulse purchase of two copies, costing a total of $159.90 w/S&H. Of all the online photo book services available, Panraven has to be the least user friendly and the least customizable. It may be ok if you don’t have very much experience with digital scrapbooking, and want to take what is basically a promo book for NCL and just drop a few pics into their layout. There are only 30 layouts to choose from and you can’t edit the layouts at all, can’t rotate or move picture placement, can’t put text where you want it, no embellishments at all. On most of their page layouts the picture boxes are square. Pictures aren’t square. So you have to decide which part of the beautiful Na Pali coast pics you want to cut out. It is ridiculous. I have contacted Panraven and NCL about a refund. You can only contact Panraven by email and each response takes days. NCL doesn’t have a customer service email address. You can call them, but if you are requesting any type of action, that has to be put in writing and faxed or mailed. I have a feeling I’m going to have to eat the money in order to put a decent book together. When I do get it together, regardless of which service I wind up using, I will make sure to post a link.

 

Would I recommend the Pride of America?

It depends on who asks. If you are looking for an easy way to get a taste of the islands, you can roll with things and aren’t too picky then definitely I would recommend it. When my friends ask me if I had a good time in Hawaii, it is all the wonderful things we did that I remember and tell them about. I remember how friendly and welcoming everyone on the islands were, how much we learned and the beautiful things we saw. I tell them about the lava sail-by and the Na Pali coast sail-by. The bug in the room, the bad food and surly bartenders are not what I think about and talk about when asked about the trip. But since this forum is Cruise Critic, I do think that not to mention those thing would be doing a disservice to those looking for honest recollections of the ship experience. My recommendation to sail the POA would come with a warning to lower their expectations if they have been on other cruises, especially regarding dining room food, service and housekeeping. I do think it is the most cost effective way of seeing as much as possible in a limited amount of time. I would also recommend just getting an inside stateroom, and I’m a balcony lover. When I first walked in the stateroom I thought “uhoh”. But honestly we were in the room so little that I am glad now we didn’t spend the extra money on the balcony.

 

If someone was looking for a relaxing cruise with great food and wonderful service, I would tell them to save their money and flight time and book a Caribbean cruise with several sea days.

 

Would I book with NCL again? I won’t say that I would never book with NCL again, but it would definitely not be my first choice.

 

Once again, these were all just my opinions and I’m sure there were lots of opinions and experiences on my sailing that were completely different from mine. If you have any questions, I will try my best to answer. I still have all of the Dailies, all my confirmations, etc.

 

So there it is…the end of my review. Thanks for sticking with it. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed writing it and reliving it as I did. I’m already planning our next big adventure, but it’s not a cruise so I don’t know where I’ll put that trip report…maybe Trip Advisor.

 

Mahalo & Aloha!

 

Donna