Pride of America Dec. 3-10, 2011 Review

[krkheffe]

Day 4, Hilo (Tuesday Dec. 6th, 2011):

 

We had booked 3 tours through Robert’s Tours http://www.gorabbitgo.com/activities_schedule_all.php?m=12&d=3&y=2011&ship_id=2&pattern=11M4&ship_name=Pride%20of%20America

It cost $99 for the 3 tour combo….this was the first tour, Volcano National Park and Rainbow Falls. The other 2 were Hanalei in Kauai, and Pearl Harbor Honolulu City tour on disembarkation day on Saturday.

 

Our tour guide was again, great and very knowledgeable. It rained some on this tour which is very typical of Hilo. We stopped first at the Macadamia Nut Factory and the guide, Tony, explained that hopefully we would be there before the other busses as they probably stopped somewhere else first. Everywhere we went this day seemed to be that way…we just missed other busses or they were just leaving. The timing was great. The factory gave out samples and we watched them make candy.

 

After the nut factory, we went up to Volcano National Park. We really enjoyed the museum and the sights up there. He drove us to a lava field where we could walk around on the lava and take pictures. We went to the Thurston Lava Tube which was a bit crowded, but not too bad. We enjoyed walking through it. After this we went to Rainbow Falls. It wasn’t early morning so we didn’t see a rainbow, but the falls were brilliant! We enjoyed the photo ops and also climbed a trail to the top of the falls. If you continue on the trail, there is a huge banyan tree that was unbelievable. Back on the bus and to a candy place……there we watched them make candy and also had samples. This was the last stop and we were soon on our way back to the ship. It was a great day and tour and another excellent guide!!

 

Volcano at VNP

 

Lava Field

 

Rainbow Falls

 

Banyan Tree at top of Falls

 

One of the beautiful orchids at the orchid farm

 

One thing I should mention....I called Robert's tours a couple of different times, the most recent the day before this tour. I had read conflicting info about if and when they would stop somewhere for lunch. I was told each time I called that we would definitely stop for lunch and we didn't need to bring anything. They even said we would stop at VNP even though I had read that there was no eating places there. I figured that these tours go out every day and that they should know.

 

We opted to make something that morning during breakfast and take along anyway so we were safe. At our first stop at the Nut Factory, the guide did tell us that if we wanted to get something that we could purchase a sandwich of some kind here to bring along. I don't remember him being very insistant that this would be the only opportunity to purchase something to eat although he did mention that if we thought we would be hungry to get something because maybe we wouldn't want to wait until later and getting back on the ship to eat.

 

Anyway....we didn't worry about it as we had brought something with us but I think many people did not, and did not opt to purchase anything when they had the chance. I thought at some point he would stop somewhere at a picnic table or mention that at the next stop if we wanted to eat lunch while looking at whatever...but he did not. When we were done at VNP and on our way to the Orchid Farm, I asked if we could eat on the bus which was fine...so we all just ate on the way to the orchid place.

 

Just thought I would mention this as the people that answered the phones at Roberts definitely gave me incorrect info, and it wasn't real clear even when we got on the tour. We were glad we brought something along.

 

This evening we ate in the Cadillac Diner. The food was just OK…they had hamburgers, chicken strips, and that sort of thing. It was just OK…the service was poor and SLOW. What was particularly aggravating to me was that from where our table was situated, I could see our waiter in the kitchen goofing off and joking around with whoever was in there while we sat at our table with empty glasses and plates for a long time. He finally came out and was looking busy doing something and I gave him sort of a “stink eye” and he came right over to our table. I just felt he could have been a LOT more attentive to us and at least ask if we needed anything. We did have the brownie ice cream sundae thing….a couple of our group really enjoyed it but a couple also didn’t think it was that great. The brownie was more like a piece of cake than a brownie….again, just our opinion.

 

 

Couldn’t wait to get to bed as we were again very tired and had another big day ahead of us in Kona….snorkeling with Sea Quest!!

[krkheffe]

Yikes! Our Luau is scheduled to end at 9 pm!! :eek:

 

Maybe the last shuttle ran at 9:30pm for us because they know the luau ends at 8:15 during the time we were there? That is a great thought and possible..but maybe you should be prepared to pay a taxi to take you back to the pier unless you keep the vehicle overnight. Just make sure you ask when you pick up your rental what time the last shuttle back to the pier leaves!

[krkheffe]

Day 5 Kona, (Wednesday Dec. 7th, 2011):

 

This was probably the day I was most looking forward to…the Deluxe Early Morning Snorkel tour with Sea Quest!! I had read great reviews about this excursion and knew it was a must for us. Originally all 6 of us were planning on doing this tour but my in-laws decided the water would be too cold and/or the boat too rough for them so opted out a couple of months before the trip.

 

I had pre-arranged a taxi to be waiting with Mel’s Taxi Service 1-808-987-2308. They said to get on the first tender and when we were on it, to call and the taxi driver would be waiting for us by the banyan tree at the pier. We went to Pink’s Champagne Bar…where you get the tenders…at 6:30am. The first tender was to be at 7am and we wanted to be sure we got on the first one as our excursion was at 8:15am that morning and it was a 20 minute taxi ride. We were one of the first ones there and got numbers 3-6 so was great.

 

Tender we took from ship to Kona

 

 

Like we had arranged, our driver was waiting at the banyan tree and had a mini van to take us to Sea Quest. It was about a 20 minute drive and we also arranged for him to pick us up at the same location he dropped us at 1:15 that afternoon when our snorkel tour was over. We had him drop us at the edge of the shopping area and walk back to the ship looking and browsing.

 

The check in spot for Sea Quest looked as if it had been damaged in a storm so they were checking in people out of the back of a truck. We checked in and were given the opportunity to use the restrooms before taking off. The boat was a zodiac type boat that held 14 people. There were 6 of us on each side hanging on for dear life, and the captain, Steve, and his first mate. We were not on that boat for 5 minutes when I told my husband I was glad my in-laws decided not to come along. We had asked the captain if anyone had ever fallen off this boat and he said no, but if we wanted them to talk about us each and every day, to go ahead and fall off and we would be famous! Hahaha…none of us wanted that of course, but I imagined my in-laws could possibly have been famous.

 

Zodiak Boat

 

 

We saw a group of spotted dolphins along the way. I had my camera out at the time and tried to take pictures but by the time I got it pointed at them, they were under water so none turned out quite like I would have liked. I decided at this point to put my camera away as I was having a hard time hanging on to the boat and my camera. I didn’t take any pics at all after this which I regret, but oh well.

 

Not a very good picture but at least you see a fin!

 

 

Soon we were at our first snorkel spot well ahead of any other boats as the zodiac boat can go faster than the bigger boats. I had purchased a rash guard for my husband and myself to wear over our suits which kept us from burning and added a little warmth as well. I was pretty concerned about the water temp before as I thought it would be pretty cool. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was tolerable and a bit cool, but comfortable. I get cold very easily so was concerned about this.

 

The water was like swimming in a fish aquarium. You could see the bottom of the ocean and it was the clearest water I have ever seen. The fish and coral were beautiful and we really enjoyed our time. I forgot to mention that my husband and his brother were given prescription type masks at the beginning as we were all asked if we needed them. They appreciated the added strength and were able to see way better. After we got back on the boat, there were drinks for us and little pineapple shaped wooden dishes with fruit in them. There was a pineapple slice, papaya slice, and a lime slice. One of our group…again, who will remain nameless, stuck the lime right in their mouth and thought it was pretty sour. Hahahaha…I knew better than that, but did not realize it was to squeeze the lime juice over the papaya slice. I do not like papaya so just passed on this.

 

We snorkeled at another spot and went in and out of sea caves all while the captain narrated about the scenery around us. The last spot was fairly crowded already and was at the Captain Cook Monument. This site was also beautiful…it was amazing there as the reef seemed to just end and go right into a bottomless pit of ocean. It appeared to be very deep there and was kind of neat to see. When we got back on the boat we had lunch waiting for us. It was a nice deli type sandwich with chips and cookies. For dessert we had chocolate covered macadamia nuts…YUM!

 

On the way back to the Sea Quest place, we got to see a large group of spinner dolphins! I wished I had my camera out but then again, it was nice to just watch them and enjoy them. They were so close to our boat, I could have almost reached out and touched one but if I had tried, I am sure I would have been the “famous” person that fell off the boat! The dolphins jumped around and spun around out of the water and chattered. It was really cool!! Soon we were back at the dock and like planned, our taxi driver was waiting.

 

One more thing I would like to add is that we are novice snorkellers. I have been a few times before but it has been a few years. I know you are breathing through your mouth obviously while using the snorkel but I was surprised at how fast my mouth became dry and I wanted a drink almost immediately. It was very nice after the first snorkel stop to get back on the zodiak and have a drink waiting for us. We did NOT have a drink after the second stop and had lunch with drinks after the third and final stop. I wished I had brought along a water bottle or two because I was needing a drink more often than everyone else it seemed.

 

He dropped us off near a farmer’s market where we walked towards the beach and we had an excellent view of our cruise ship so took a few pictures. In hind site, we should have sent the guys back to the ship as they weren’t really interested in shopping, but we didn’t. We bought a few treasures and soon made our way back to the dock where the tenders were waiting to take us back to the ship. There was a pretty large line waiting for the tenders, but it moved quickly and before long we were on our way back to the ship.

 

Picture of POA from Farmer's Market area in Kona

 

Another view of POA from Farmer's Market

 

 

The in-laws ended up finding an excursion at the dock that took them on a glass bottom boat ride. They said it was really fun and enjoyed seeing the fish and also saw dolphins!

 

Tonight we went back to the Skyline for dinner. We had planned on seeing a magic show at 7pm, but the service took so long that we didn’t get there on time. We were there when the place opened at 5:30 too…so we thought that would be enough time. The food was good, but slower service this time that the first time. We ended up going to the show late and got in on the last part of it. What we saw was good though and we enjoyed it.

 

My husband and I decided to get to bed a bit earlier and get ready for our next big day in Kauai….ziplining!!

[krkheffe]

Day 6, Kauai (Thursday Dec. 8th, 2011):

 

Today all 3 couples went different ways. My husband and I had already reserved a car through Thrifty’s Blue Chip. His brother and wife were meeting with friends who lived in Kauai, and the parents were not sure what they were doing and found something on their own to do which I’ll talk about later.

 

We took the Thrifty shuttle to pick up our car. The blue chip line was empty so we got our car and off we went pretty quickly. We decided to go to Wailua Falls and Opaekaa Falls which is the falls pictured at the beginning of the old TV series…Fantasy Island. We were impressed immediately with Kauai and understood why they call it the garden isle since it was so green and lush. We were really enjoying the scenery. Our destination for the day was up north by Hanalei in the Princeville area to zipline with Princeville Ranch Adventures http://www.princevilleranch.com/zipline.html. We really enjoyed seeing a rainbow over the road on our way to the first waterfalls…Wailua Falls. Across the road from the falls, was an overlook that looked over the Wailua River and we happened to see the boat going down it that takes people to the fern grotto.

 

Picture of rainbow over the road on our way to Wailua Falls

 

Across street from Wailua Falls is the Wailua River...you can see the boat in the distance going to the Fern Grotto!

 

The next stop…Opaekaa Falls, was where we really first noticed the great abundance of chickens! I was infatuated with them at first and took several pics of them up close. Later, though we saw so many of them that the infatuation wore off!

 

I couldn't get enough pictures of the beautiful flowers!

 

 

We continued up the road towards Princeville and stopped at the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge where there is a great lookout of the lighthouse. You can stop at this lookout and not enter the park and get some great photos. We also started to see the nene bird which is Hawaii’s state bird I think. There were lot of them here but again, it is a wildlife refuge.

 

We opted to pay the $5 each to walk into the park and right up to the lighthouse. They are refurbishing it so you can’t go up in it, but you can walk right up to it. The lighthouse really isn’t very big in my opinion. We had some great views every direction there and there were several lookout spots where they had those binocular type things mounted where people could view the area. I heard people say this was also a great spot for seeing whales but we didn’t see any that day. We didn’t spend too much time here as we needed to get to our zipline tour by 12pm.

 

Lighthouse view...we got closer as we went into the park. This was taken from outside the park.

 

 

We had no trouble making it to the Princeville Ranch where we were going to zipline. We were all given a backpack to carry with us and my husband and I rented closed toe sandals from them as we were told our shoes may get muddy and/or wet. This proved to be a wise decision. We were taken to a working ranch not far away where we were to begin our adventure. We have ziplined before so although they are different as far as how they stop you etc….once you have done it once, it isn’t really hard. We really enjoyed the views and the thrill of zipping across high areas where we could see waterfalls and pretty greenery. We saw many helicopters while on this trip which flew out above and around us. Helicopter tours are very common on this island particularly.

 

One of the ziplines

 

 

Before the last zipline which was a tandem type line where 2 people zipped at the same time, we took off our gear and walked down a hill to a swimming place. I had asked the guides if the water was cold and they said…no. They lied….it was really cold. It was a spring fed water hole and was colder than the ocean water could have ever felt! We briefly swan in this water and got out and had a nice lunch with chips and cookies in a covered picnic area. We climbed back up the hill and put on our gear for our last zip of the day which they call King Kong. It was the longest of the ziplines. Soon, we were on our way back to the Ranch where we changed clothes and said goodbye and thank you for the great fun!

 

I might just add here that I really liked the way they handled tipping the tour guides…who were excellent by the way. They had a little potted plant/tree thing sitting on the table with clothespins attaches to it. You could place whatever you wanted to give the guides there as opposed to just handing it to them. I thought it was a nifty idea.

 

We decided that since we were so near to the end of the highway before it actually stops before the Napali coastline….that we would go ahead and drive to the end. It was a beautiful drive with several one lane bridges. At one point I saw a far off very high waterfall up the side of a mountain and stopped for a picture. I zoomed my simple camera in as far as it would go but it didn’t turn out very well. Later, we found out that my in-laws had taken a helicopter ride that day and zoomed right over that waterfall! I am sure their view was far superior to ours! Eventually the road did just end….if we had kept going we would have driven into the ocean.

 

At this point there is an 11 mile ( I think) trail that heads up and around the area. We had thought about going just a little way on this trail, but it was already starting to get dark so opted to head back towards home…the ship. Later we found out that my husband’s brother and his wife did hike a couple of miles in on this trail. The beginning of the trail looked ominous to me and my sister-in-law said that the beginning was the worst part of it. Their shoes got very muddy and she was hoping it would later come out in the laundry.

 

Waves at the end of the road north of Hanalei

 

 

We arrived back in Lihue and stopped at a Hilo Hattie’s….our first stop there. We wanted to see what it was about. I picked up a beautiful calendar of Kauai that had many pictures of the places we had been for only $1.29!! What a bargain! We also stopped at a Walmart for a couple of needed toiletry items. Soon we were back at the airport just in time for the last Thrifty shuttle to take us back to the pier.

 

My husband and I ate at the buffet this evening and did not see our other family members until the next day. While the brother and wife would still be with friends for the half day we had in Kauai the next day, the parents and us took our second Robert’s Tour to Hanalei. No shows for us tonight and off to bed we went!!

[krkheffe]

Day 7, Kauai (Friday Dec. 9th, 2011):

 

This day we went on our second Robert’s tour of Hanalei with Randy’s parents. Greg and Jill were still with friends today. Our tour guide was again, wonderful and very friendly and educational all day long. He pointed out many things on the numerous stops we made. He showed us in the mountains how they call one of them the “sleeping giant” and pointed out how it looks like a sleeping giant. He pointed out King Kong as well although I never did see King Kong in the mountains. My husband tried very hard to point what was apparently obvious to everyone else but me…oh well….I believe that he is truly there!

 

This tour actually stopped at several of the places Randy and I had stopped at the day before on our way to Princeville for our zipline tour. We went to Opaekaa Fallsand took more pictures of that area. We also stopped at the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge,but it was not open yet so we just stopped at the lookout right before you enter the park. We had not done this the day before since we actually went into the park so I was glad we stopped there. We got several really good pictures from that viewpoint.

 

Nene Bird

 

 

These are the types of birds you see all over at the lighthouse area.

 

We went to the town of Hanalei which we had driven through the day before as well. The guide did point out a little waterfall right off the road that he called “Peek-a-boo Falls” because you pass it and can only see it for a very brief moment. We did not see it at all the day before so was glad he pointed it out. I believe this is the Falls that he said Hugh Hefner had some little bunnies take pictures in front of several years ago that caused quite the traffic problem as it is right off the main road…hahaha.

 

We stopped at a beautiful viewpoint area overlooking Hanalei and the beach area….it was a picture they must create postcards out of as it was probably the single most beautiful spot I saw on all the islands. I will never forget how blue the water was and how green the trees were. I could have sat there for a long time just enjoying the view, but considering we were right off the highway and the other people wanted to move on….I had to get back on the bus.

 

View of Hanalei Bay

 

Kelly and Randy at Hanalei

 

Next, we travelled to a beach area where we could walk out on a large dock area and view the surroundings. This was absolutely stunning! We really enjoyed watching people surf, seeing the fish, and just taking in the area’s beauty. I could definitely see how I could enjoy spending a couple of weeks in this area relaxing and enjoying the beauty.

 

For lunch the guide stopped at a small shopping area that had a few eating places and several little shops. It was only around 10:30am at this point so we decided we would just look around the shops instead of eat as we were not hungry. We didn’t have a long time at this stop so really it was either eating or shopping…and eating on the ship for free sounded better to us anyway…especially since this tour was only half day as the ship departed Kauai by 2pm.

 

Soon it was time to head back to the ship and the driver didn’t waste much time getting there as he had a schedule to keep and needed to get us back. We had stopped at all the stops on the way up the coast anyway. He did continue to talk and educate us on the surroundings and whatever else he thought of while driving back to the ship. We really enjoyed this day a lot more than I had originally thought we would. Considering our action packed other days, this was a nice break to just sit back in the little bus and listen to the guide and see awesome sites!

 

We got back on the ship in plenty of time. We had to go through a scanner for our bags and our own body each time we got back to the ship and before getting on it. Today I had picked up a few pieces of dead coral that had washed up on the beach…small pieces but I really think it is neat looking. I asked the bus driver about it as I didn’t want to take something I wasn’t supposed to have. No problem…until my bag went through the scanner. This lady immediately grabbed my bag and asked is I had coral in it. I was amazed that she could see and know exactly what it was through that x ray machine. I told her that yes, I did have some and she made me get it out and threw it away right there. I asked about it as I thought it was OK to have it. She said that the coral here was dirty. I am not sure what that meant and didn’t want to hold up the line behind me any more so just moved on. Oh well…I don’t want dirty coral I guess!

 

Because there were a lot of pictures today and more to come this evening, I broke this day up into 2 parts….which I will continue in the next post….the Napali Coastline Sailby!

[krkheffe]

Day 7, Kauai (Friday Dec. 9th, 2011) continued:

 

After getting back on the ship today from our tour to Hanalei, we ate on the pool deck outside. They have a little buffet out there with burgers and brats and fries and that sort of thing. We wanted to try it and thought it would be different. It was good, but not my favorite hamburger of all but then again, I am a very picky hamburger eater and rarely order them as I don’t like them a lot. Suddenly, I remembered as the ship was about to pull away, that the little tugboat does a little spinning dance as it says goodbye to the POA on the last day we depart from a port. I mentioned to my in-laws that I was pretty sure I had read about this and it would happen.

 

Tugboat saying goodbye!

 

 

Randy and I decided to go way up top of the ship to view this. We watched for quite a while as the ship was pulling away and it occurred to us that we probably needed to head to the back of the ship. I imagine several other people knew about this or maybe they were just watching the ship depart. Soon enough the little tug boat came to the side of the ship and started spinning around. It was really very cute and I am glad we watched it. Sometimes the little things, like this, brings us so much joy! It was almost like I thought it would start tooting and it would suddenly have eyes and a mouth and start yelling goodbye….kind of like that cartoon about the tug boat….tubby…or whatever it’s name is. Unfortunately, that did not happen, but we enjoyed it all the same.

 

We went back to our room and rested a bit and tried to figure out where the cruise critic end of the week meeting would be held. I was just certain this would happen for some reason. I called the reception desk, but no one new about it. I decided, while my husband took a little nap, that I would go down and ask myself or find one of the officers I had met at the first meet and greet on day one.

 

I took this time to browse through the gift shops one last time. They had some big sale going on apparently and there were people hovering over a table like it had great treasures on it. I edged up to see what I was missing…I didn’t think it was great myself, but everyone has a different idea of what a treasure it right? I did pick up a University of Hawaii T shirt for my daughter and another one that just said Hawaii on it for another daughter.

 

I didn’t learn anything about the meeting so decided to go back to the room when I ran into the captain! Conveniently, because I had been at the meet and greet on day 1, I knew who he was. I stopped to ask him about it…he didn’t know, but immediately got on the phone to ask about it. He let me know that there wasn’t one scheduled, but that he could put me in contact with Dallas, the hotel manager. I told him this wasn’t necessary. But before long I was being led to Dallas’s office. I sat down with him and mentioned the few things that had concerned me during the week…Skyline exceptionally slow service and no map when we boarded. I expressed how much we had enjoyed the cruise and the ship and I had no real complaints….but talked about those 2 items. I felt like they really cared and was interested in what I had to say!

 

We decided to go up and watch the Napali Coastline sail by a bit before it was to start. Of course, all the chairs and tables were taken which was fine…we wanted to get up high anyway. We really enjoyed the narration and the views during this time. A rainbow had appeared which was beautiful. I took a ton of pictures as I wanted to make sure I got the rainbow. Then, as if it couldn’t get any better, a double rainbow appeared. This thing was a full semi circle rainbow that came all the way down into the water and reflected off the water and came towards the ship. It was awesome! I was busily snapping pictures when it began to rain….quite a bit actually. We headed down to take a bit of cover.

 

Napali Coastline

 

Beautiful rainbow!

 

Double Rainbow!

 

 

I had actually heard the narrator say that they were seeing a whale at the front of the ship, but we were too far away to see it considering we were in the back of the ship. We decided we would go to the other side of the ship and see it all again as the ship turns around so the other side gets a great view too. We sat there a while and finally decided that we would just go back to our room and get ready for dinner.

 

This last night we decided to eat in the Liberty Dining room. We had not eaten here all week so thought we would try it.

 

The Liberty appears to be directly above the Skyline and you can get to it by entering the Skyline and going up some pretty stairs. They had a Christmas tree on the stairs this week so we had to go another way. We kind of didn’t know how to get there and asked a crew member…they told us to go outside and then re-enter the ship through the next set of wooden doors. This is the time it decided to really start pouring rain, but thankfully we were able to get under something and make our way to the doors!

 

The Liberty was beautiful…as was the Skyline. We were seated right next to what appeared to be the main table with a huge chandelier over it that was beautiful. They didn’t seat us at this table though….not sure why..hahah. I thought the service and atmosphere of this place was a step above the Skyline but they were very similar really. We enjoyed our meal, but again, took quite a while to get our food and desserts etc.

 

After dinner, Randy and I headed back to our room. We had packed earlier in the afternoon after getting back from our Hanalei tour, but we were tired and the next day we were taking our last Robert’s tour of Honolulu City and Pearl Harbor before they dropped us all at the airport.

[krkheffe]

Day 8, Honolulu (Saturday Dec. 10th, 2011)

 

We had decided that we would all just walk off the ship with our bags as opposed to getting the color coded luggage tags and having them take them off for us. For them to do this, you had to have your suitcases out in front of you room door the night before by midnight and we thought we would be able to do this faster ourselves than to have them do it. We were right it seemed….we didn’t have any problems other than having to wait a while for an elevator. It may have taken us 10 minutes or so waiting for the elevator but wasn’t too bad.

 

We ate our last breakfast in the very crowded buffet this morning. We couldn’t find a seat but there is an area out n the deck of the ship in the back of the buffet…there are several tables and if you don’t mind eating outside, it works out great. They even have a smaller version of the buffet outside as well. It was beautiful so we made our way out there which was still pretty crowded. We were about to sit at an empty table when we saw Randy’s brother and his wife so we sat with them.

 

Before long we were off the ship…our tour was to leave at 9am and we didn’t know how long it would take us to get off the ship with our bags so left about 8am. We were out sitting on a bench and waiting for the tour bus by 8:20am…so obviously didn’t take too long getting off. The bus pulled up a bit before 9 and we boarded and off we went.

 

Again, I can’t say enough about the tour guides…today our guide was awesome! He grew up in Hawaii and really shared a lot about the things we were seeing. We drove around the city some and then headed up to Punchbowl…the cemetery. He has family buried there and was very emotional about it. We really enjoyed seeing the place and it was a humbling experience. We were soon on our way to the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.

 

Punchbowl....photo taken from inside of bus so is a bit blurry.

 

 

I am not sure what I expected from this part of the tour, but I found the entire experience to be very moving and definitely educational. We had tickets for 11:20am….so had about 45 minutes to an hour to walk around and go through the museum like area before we headed to see the movie and then the memorial itself. We found it very interesting that the movie had actual footage of the attack on Pearl Harbor from both standpoints. The war planes had cameras attached to the front of them so that they could see where the ammunition storage was placed on the ships so they knew exactly where to bomb the ships. It was very sad to see this movie, but I am glad we did and really think everyone should see it and the memorial. It definitely made it a lot more real to me than it had ever been before.

 

Arizona Memorial

 

 

Soon we were on the boat headed for the memorial itself. It was a rectangular looking building with 7 windows on each side and 7 on the top…we were told that it symbolized a 21 gun salute to the people who lost their lives that day. The memorial also slants down in the middle and rises on each end….which symbolizes the low point in the middle….for the attack itself, and the ends where we would be victorious in the end. We saw other memorials where other ships had also gone down and they were marked with a large stone like structure with the names of the ship on them. I thought it really neat as well that the place where the flag was, is actually the same place it is on the sunken ship. We saw the oil that still leaks from the Arizona coming up from under the memorial as well. This was a very humbling experience.

 

Part of Arizona sticking out of water

 

Names on the wall of people who had lost their lives

 

Oil still leaking from Arizona

 

USS Missouri

 

When we left Pearl Harbor, we continued our city tour and saw where the series Hawaii Five-O is shot. We had some extra time so the driver took us to the base of Diamond Head. We did not have time to do anything else, but soon we were on our way to the airport. We were dropped there and the rest of the family flew out in the morning so we took their airport hotel shuttle to their hotel and waited a while before it was time for Randy and I to head back to the airport for our 10pm flight home.

 

We rested up a bit and walked to a local favorite pizza place called Big Kahuna Pizza. It was very good and we really enjoyed our last meal there. They had some kind of local favorite that was a garlic bread ball thing that the people at the hotel had told us about. We ordered these and we were told they would be free as this was our first time there...they were yummy!

 

Way too soon we were at the airport waiting for our flight. We heard the flight was overbooked and they were looking for 4 people stay over night. I was really tempted, but Randy had to get back for work so we needed to be home by the next day.

 

The flight from Honolulu to LA was long and tiring. I could not sleep on the plane which was no fun at all. The man that say next to me asked what we had done in Hawaii and he mentioned that he was a chef on the POA…imagine that! He was on his way home after working for 5 months and then he has 5 weeks off. It was really interesting as he told me all kids of things about the ship and working there and I asked him a lot of questions. I actually remember seeing him in the Aloha Buffet! Small world sometimes!

 

We had a couple hours in LA before our flight headed back to St. Louis….by this time it was around 6am and I was really tired. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open in the airport and I am sure I had dozed off before the plane left the runway. I dozed off and on for the next couple hours which helped, but we were still really tired.

 

We got home around 1pm on Sunday and after telling the kids all about the trip and giving them their shirts and candy etc. from Hawaii…we took a couple hour nap before starting our regular life all over again!

 

Hope you enjoyed the review. I wish I had taken more pictures of the ship and had fully intended to but it just didn't happen. I would love to go back someday and hope everyone has a great time on their Hawaiian adventure!

[lv2bgoofy]

Thanks so much for the extensive review....and your pictures were great!

[krkheffe]

Thanks so much for the extensive review....and your pictures were great!

 

 

Thanks....wish I could have posted more pictures but I had a hard time uploading them to a site to transfer to cruise critic...they only let me upload a certain amount a month.

[herdingdogmom]

Great review. Thanks for posting! Happy New Year.

[hill6]

Yes, we did take a cooler with lunch and some snacks for the Hana tour. I am glad we did as there was only one place to eat on this tour. Hana is very small. We stopped at a little place that had a place to grab a sandwich or you could eat inside at a sit down place. There were a couple of little gift shops you could browse around but didn't take long at all.

 

There was a little pavillion area where you could sit and have a picnic lunch. If we had ordered food, we would have spent all our time waiting for lunch and then eating. I was glad we brought something to eat so we didn't waste all out time waiting for our food!

 

There wasn't much to look at but we did browse through the little shop and then went down to a gas station on the corner to get a diet coke for the afternoon.

 

There are several stops along the way to get pictures etc...but no place to buy a drink aside from the banaba bread stand, the lunch stop, and the last winery stop.

 

Hope you have a great time! If you are prone to getting car sick...definitely take medicine that morning....and I brought along my bottle and passed it around for anyone else who might need it!

 

thanks for the information and advice. I do tend for motion sickness and will have my seabands with me. I will be sure to bring the bonine too

[krkheffe]

thanks for the information and advice. I do tend for motion sickness and will have my seabands with me. I will be sure to bring the bonine too

 

No problem...if you get motion sickness easily it probably goes without saying that sitting in the front seat of the bus would be best.....also sit on the LEFT side. We sat on the right and missed out on several photos because we would be taking pictures of everyone's heads on the left side of the bus.

 

I am mentioning the front as there was a lady on our tour sitting in the back of the small bus that got sick...not very far into the tour. The poor lady was sick all day and had gotten sick on the person in front of her. It was a bad situation and everyone felt badly for several people involved. You may even want to mention to the driver you tend to get sick and would like to sit at the front of the bus...that may help.

 

Kelly

[hill6]

No problem...if you get motion sickness easily it probably goes without saying that sitting in the front seat of the bus would be best.....also sit on the LEFT side. We sat on the right and missed out on several photos because we would be taking pictures of everyone's heads on the left side of the bus.

 

I am mentioning the front as there was a lady on our tour sitting in the back of the small bus that got sick...not very far into the tour. The poor lady was sick all day and had gotten sick on the person in front of her. It was a bad situation and everyone felt badly for several people involved. You may even want to mention to the driver you tend to get sick and would like to sit at the front of the bus...that may help.

 

Kelly

 

Yuck. That poor person in front of that lady.

 

I will remember about sitting on the left side.

[Trip10]

What a great trip report! Thank you for taking the time to include so many details. You're right, it's the little things sometimes that make an impression and you included several details in your report that will be helpful for our Jan 14 cruise.

 

Glad you had a good time, down to the chef as your seat mate on the plane!

 

Really enjoyed reading your review, thanks again!

[krkheffe]

What a great trip report! Thank you for taking the time to include so many details. You're right, it's the little things sometimes that make an impression and you included several details in your report that will be helpful for our Jan 14 cruise.

 

Glad you had a good time, down to the chef as your seat mate on the plane!

 

Really enjoyed reading your review, thanks again!

 

 

Thanks! It was fun writing it and reliving it again! Definitely a memorable experience.

[krkheffe]

Great review. Thanks for posting! Happy New Year.

 

 

Thanks...Happy new Year to you too!

[dogo88]

Great review. We are booked for a 9/1/12 cruise. We even are staying at the Ohana Waikiki East too!

 

One question (for now), do you remember what pier/dock the POA embarks from?

 

Dan

[krkheffe]

Great review. We are booked for a 9/1/12 cruise. We even are staying at the Ohana Waikiki East too!

 

One question (for now), do you remember what pier/dock the POA embarks from?

 

Dan

 

Ohana East was fine for us....a block or 2 away from beach but definitely close. Hope you enjoy it. I cannot remember the pier number but it was right next to Aloha Tower shopping plaza. We didn't go there but I saw it when we got on the ship. Hope you have a great time.

 

Kelly

[herdingdogmom]

Great review. We are booked for a 9/1/12 cruise. We even are staying at the Ohana Waikiki East too!

 

One question (for now), do you remember what pier/dock the POA embarks from?

 

Dan

 

I was on the same cruise and the taxi driver insisted we tell him the pier #. We were at Pier 2 which is not right at the Aloha Tower. You can walk it, but we didn't. Apparently, the POA does sometimes dock there so it is not always Pier 2. I believe the Pier # will be on your boarding docs.

[dogo88]

Thank you all for the information.

[cruisinskier]

Thanks for the great review!! Brings back lots of great memories....especially Kauai :D

[krkheffe]

Thanks for the great review!! Brings back lots of great memories....especially Kauai :D

 

Thanks! we loved Kauai as well..would love to go back there for a couple of weeks someday!

[Countrygirl44]

Truly enjoyed your review. DH and I are booked on the POA for September 15, 2012. Like you, we have that long flight from the East Coast. We change planes in Denver on flight over and in Chicago on flight back. Due to our home in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, we always have to drive to Charlotte NC (close to three hours) and fly from there. We always stay the night before our flight out and the night we fly back...however, on this flight back we get into Charlotte around noon.

We are thinking about the Hanalei Tour with Roberts. Thanks for your great review and pictures. We are also going to do the Volcano National Park tour with them in Hilo. Now, I know if I decide to do the Pearl Harbour with them on Saturday, it would be more cost effective, just not sure.

This will be our first NCL cruise and our first cruise to Hawaii. We spent a week in Honolulu about ten years ago. Even though we went to Pearl Harbour then, I must go back again. It just touches the inner most parts of my soul.

Your pictures were absolutely wonderful!

Where do you plan to cruise next?

[krkheffe]

Truly enjoyed your review. DH and I are booked on the POA for September 15, 2012. Like you, we have that long flight from the East Coast. We change planes in Denver on flight over and in Chicago on flight back. Due to our home in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, we always have to drive to Charlotte NC (close to three hours) and fly from there. We always stay the night before our flight out and the night we fly back...however, on this flight back we get into Charlotte around noon.

 

We are thinking about the Hanalei Tour with Roberts. Thanks for your great review and pictures. We are also going to do the Volcano National Park tour with them in Hilo. Now, I know if I decide to do the Pearl Harbour with them on Saturday, it would be more cost effective, just not sure.

 

This will be our first NCL cruise and our first cruise to Hawaii. We spent a week in Honolulu about ten years ago. Even though we went to Pearl Harbour then, I must go back again. It just touches the inner most parts of my soul.

 

Your pictures were absolutely wonderful!

 

Where do you plan to cruise next?

 

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the review. Actually we added the Hanalei tour because we knew we already wanted to do the VNP and the Pearl Harbor tours. Adding the 3rd tour was so cheap and we didn't know what we do for the 1/2 day in Kauai anyway. We really enjoyed the Hanalei tour...much more than I thought I would. Even though my husband and I had rented a car and seen a lot of the same things the day before...the guide told us a LOT more than we knew when we saw it the day before.

 

Now sure where we will go next or when and if we will cruise again....we would like to of course but expensive! We have only been on one other cruise and we had a day or two at sea so was a LOT different than this cruise.

 

Hope you have a wonderful time and let me know if I can help your planning or answer any questions...not sure I would be able to but always glad to help!

 

Kelly

[Coolcruise02]

Great review and pictures!