POA Review October 2010

[Tightwallet]

My partner and I spent six day’s pre cruise in Waikiki and stayed at the Aqua Wave Hotel which is a small boutique hotel in the heart of all the action, we also stayed here in 2008. We used Roberts hotel shuttle to hotel $9 one way $12 for two way.

It was basically a time to rest, catch some rays, go to Pearl Harbor. We also did a tour called “Hole in The Wall” which is a tour for foodies, it was a lot of fun and you won’t be hungry when finished it was a small tour of 12/13 people. You can see reviews on this at Tripadvisor.com.

Cruise

Embarkation was a breeze. We Checked in early morning, left our luggage then ventured to Aloha Tower were we were disappointed to see that at least 50% of the place was vacant of stores and that our favorite coffee place “Jack Ass” coffee was gone. But we wanted to feed the fish at the pier as they have a 25 cent feeding machine.

 

We did 2 weeks b2b and had an aft balcony cabin deck 9 which was great and our room steward “Noel “was one of the best we’ve ever had out of 18 cruises.

Food/ Restaurants

We ate in the specialty restaurants every night and took advantage of the reduced price on the first night for Lazy J’s and we also purchased the dinner passport, 4 restaurant’s for $60 pp.

Which gave you 1 Bistro, 1 Lazy J’s, 1 Little Italy and we chose East Meets West for the other.

 

Aloha café

we ate breakfast outside every morning to grab some rays, for the views and the Hawaii Ambassador would talk about each port. However the food set up outside is not a full food selection so be prepared for long walks to main buffet.

 

Jefferson’s Bistro

We ate here at least 4 nights a week, the food was always good as was the service. They have added “chicken coco vin” to their menu and it’s absolutely a fantastic dish which I had three times. The salmon and lamb were also very good.

They have taken the bread basket off the table and replaced it with personal service by waiter carrying basket. Also on the table now is a salmon mouse plate with a couple pieces of french toasted bread which we really liked. The service here was always the best and we had different servers almost every night.

 

Lazy J’s

We ate here 4 nights and surprisingly enough it was 4 for 4 as we haven’t had good luck with Cagney’s on other ships in the past. The shrimp cocktail is huge (4 large shrimp) and very tasty as are the crab cakes. Service was always very good.

 

Little Italy

First off I have to say we had an amazing waiter by the name of “Kwan” who really belongs in a top notch fine dining restaurant and who pays attention to the finer details.

There has been changes to the menu such as the antipasto cart is gone as is my favorite dish lobster ravioli which I know hasn’t been a popular dish with others. Minestrone soup is also gone but replaced with a hearty thick and filling bean soup which they use to serve a few years ago and is also quite good. The osso buco is still a fantastic filling dish.

 

East Meets West (asian cuisine)

This has also been a favorite for us and I know that it doesn’t always get good reviews and I really think it’s because people aren’t sure what to order and the portions are on the small side

as I think they are prepared for one person, not like at home where you get and share a portion.

Example would be the spring roll where you only get one and it’s small so just order two each

etc. The food is always tasty and fresh.

The night that we ate here was lobster night where all the restaurants feature a lobster dish.

East Meets West offer’s a lobster stir fry and I would have to say it was probably the tail as there was a lot of lobster but again we ordered one each.

The one negative would be that they serve a lot of broccoli which I don’t mind but is was always rock hard so we would just leave it.

 

Entertainment (Main Theater)

We didn’t catch all the shows so I’ll just comment on what we saw:

1)Tribute to Frankie Valle was quite good and the 4 guys got an ovation from the audience.

2)Second City has never been one of our favorites but it was ok.

3) Comedy was a guy by the name of “Bud” who was very entertaining but I’m not sure he is back on ship as he was on our flight to Chicago.

4) Magician what can I say other than I’ve seen this stuff over and over I think on every ship.

Most important is that they have brought back “Fountains” which to me is just hilarious but I couldn’t remember what show it followed (my guess is Second City) you can view it on you tube just put NCL Fountains into their search.

 

Doug the Cruise Director does a tribute to Broadway in the Mardi Gras Lounge one night and he has a very nice voice and worth seeing if you love Broadway tunes.

Newlywed game is always funny.

 

Overall this cruise was the 2nd for us, our first was 2008 on Pride of Hawaii and we have to say we just don’t understand the negativity this cruise receives. Yes there was minor issues here and there but not worth putting in writing.

We have also just booked the cruise for January 2012 on POA.

 

Excursions

This is where I’ll beat up NCL/NCLA!

NCL can continue trying to put the fear factor into cruisers but we will not fall for your “ you may miss the boat” line.

When I can save substantialy by going with a reputable tour operator and have done the necessary homework we will continue to do so. For this cruise it was an easy save of 40% over cruise line prices.

We used Robert’s Hawaii (go rabbitgo.com) for all our excursions except the helicopter tours.

Keep in mind that we were there in 2008 and did most of the big and important excursions on that trip.

 

The following is a list of our tours:

 

1)Sunset at Haleakala great to do for sunset pics as your always above the clouds, 8000 ft above sea level. Also nice scenic drive.

 

2)South Maui Breach Transfer nice small beach but no lounges or umbrella’s but across the street in the small mall is an ABC store (gee what a surprise) you can buy blow up lounges for $2.69 and another 60 cents to have it blown up or you can go around and there is another store that does strictly rental s on the cheap. There is next to no shade on the beach but if you look to the left when facing ocean you will see a mini parkette that has trees and that is where we laid, its just a hop skip and jump from ocean. Beautiful beach but small.

 

3) Waikoloa Beach Transfer this beach is just beautiful! It’s 45 min’s away but well worth it

You enter this beach through the Marriott Hotel which is where NCL excursion goes to snorkel.

Lots of shade and lots of lounges. We saw two turtles feeding at the shoreline and was surprised to see that they were not afraid of being close to people standing in water taking their picture while feeding.

Across the street where you will meet your van to come back to ship is a high end mini mall with Macy’S, Gucci stores etc. There are also eating places and a café.

We did this beach break both weeks.

 

4) Pearl Harbor we did this excursions on the last day of first week and chose to be dropped off a pier. What can I add about Pearl Harbor except that everyone should do it at least once and pay respects to those that have fought for us.

We also did a tour of the Iolani Palace before going back to ship as it’s only 10 min walk to/from ship. We did the self guided tour and rented the audio recording. Well worth it!

 

2nd Week

1) Highlights of Hilo Worth it for the waterfall pic’s alone!

2) Waikoloa Beach Transfer see above.

3) Hanalei Tour Kauai This was one of the best tours, it was a jam packed 4 hours. It was a very scenic drive with lots of Kodak moments along the way including water falls, beautiful little surfing town an a beautiful long pier and unbelievable beach.

 

Helicopter Tours, we did two

1) Hilo “Circle of Fire” just amazing to see for first time. Was not a lot of action but certainly enough to see, especially looking into lava tube and being able to see the hot lava.

2) Kauai Mokihana Helicopter words can not explain the hidden beauty behind th napali coast.

When you have done all the land excursions you just have to see it from the sky!

 

We did these two tour's through NCL because I didn’t want to pay out or tie up$1000 to $1200 to a company that could go bankrupt.

 

Disembarkation was a breeze and we had pre booked Roberts for transportation pier to airport $6 pp.

 

Any question feel free.

[inahaze]

I guess you made it home safe and sound. Long flights! I am just today beginning to feel like myself again. I thought I was ready to come home and I missed my boys, but I already miss hearing "aloha" every other minute.

 

We agree with you totally on the Hanalei tour with Robert's on Kaua'i. We really enjoyed that tour as well. The pictures we took look really beautiful. I think if, no when, we go back to Kaua'i we will likely stay in that same area.

 

I am jealous you already have your next trip to Hawaii booked! Enjoy! I will also be interested to hear your feedback on the Epic. Take care!

[Tightwallet]

Thanks! We xcancelled our Europe cruise and booked Hawaii My arthitis is so bad in my feet and knees that I was afraid of all the climbing up and down through Greece, Turkey and Croatia.

And after doing the Kauai heli and the Hanalei tour I too could fall in love Kauai to stay there. Personally I could never get enough of the Hawaiian islands and it's people.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thank you for the review. You got me thinking about booking the tour in Kauai. Hmmmmmm.........:)

[Tightwallet]

It is one of those tours that I will do again. And it's funny because I almost cancelled as it was so early. But you will get breathtking pictures.

[PanamaJoe]

Thanks for your review.