Very Long Review of Pride of America Nov 8-18, 2012

[hill6]

Here are some photos of the cabin (9202)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hill6]

 

Outdoor buffet area.

 

 

[kslmp]

Loved the picture of the arch. When I was there in May of 2003 you could actually see "beach" underneath the arch.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

The food was really good and it was nice to stop after going to the top.

 

I did enjoy your review when you went last year

Mahalo! I can't wait to go back.:)

 

I am waiting anxiously for more like everyone else. But this is such a busy time of the year. Enjoy your Christmas. It gives us something to look forward to after the holiday.:)

[hill6]

Mahalo! I can't wait to go back.:)

 

I am waiting anxiously for more like everyone else. But this is such a busy time of the year. Enjoy your Christmas. It gives us something to look forward to after the holiday.:)

 

 

Ginny I will put up more this weekend. I am an accountant and we are very busy at work this time of year (it will only get busier). Trying to do last minute stuff for the holiday plus trying to catch up on paperwork from not having power for a week before we left.

[rocklinmom]

Enjoying your review! We will be on the POA next July and your information is so helpful. And love the pictures!

[hill6]

Enjoying your review! We will be on the POA next July and your information is so helpful. And love the pictures!

 

Glad you are enjoying it. It was truly the trip of a lifetime

[hill6]

Just realized that I didn't post the last part of our Hilo day.

 

We had dinner that night at the Teppanyaki. Be sure to book this online when it becomes available. They only have three seating’s each night and it was sold out much of the week. The food was excellent and the show was very good. I had the chicken and shrimp combo and DH had the seafood (lobster, scallops and calamari if I remember correctly). We eat hibachi often and we enjoyed it very much. You can also order sushi from the sushi bar.

 

The lava was not flowing into the ocean so the ship took the northern route to Kona. Unfortunately we were a few weeks too early as the lava hit the ocean two weeks too late for us. Oh well.

[hill6]

Wednesday, November 14th, Kona. This is the only port that is a tender. It is also the only port where DH and I did separate things. He loves fishing and he went deep sea fishing through the ship. He left at 7:15 am. They didn’t catch anything and the boat was very rocky. He was pretty queasy when we met back up. He didn’t get sick but came pretty close. I did the Historic Kona Tour through the ship. The driver was Sal. He did a great job and gave lots of information. Our first stop was at Royal Kona Coffee. After spending lots of money there (I have a coffee drinking family), we also stopped at the Painted Church. Our last stop was the Place of Refuge (Pu'uhonua o Honaunau). The bus driver did give a tour at the Place of Refuge and explained what happened there. I think more than half the bus stayed with him. The place of refuge were royal grounds. If you wronged your tribe, you would have to swim the shark infested waters to get to the beach on the ocean side. If you survived and managed to arrive on the beach you were forgiven and able to return to your tribe. You then had to survive the swim back. Very interesting place.

 

 

Kona is a tender port.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After getting back to Kona and meeting up with DH, we ate lunch at Fish Hoppers. The food was very good food and it is right across from the ship. We walked Front Street for a bit and did some shopping (buying more coffee) before returning to the ship. We spent the afternoon relaxing as DH was still not feeling 100%. We had our massages this afternoon. It was DH’s first massage and he really enjoyed it. I have a feeling it may not be his last.

 

We had dinner in the dining room again tonight. Once again I had the Mahi and thought it was a bit dry. Mike had the chicken dish that was on the menu. I cannot remember how it was prepared. Another early bed night after being up early and still not adjusted to Hawaii time.

[hill6]

 

Painted Church - The walls inside the church were painted. There was a language barrier and by painting the walls it was a universal way of communicating.

 

 

 

 

 

[hill6]

 

Beach at the Place of Refuge

 

 

Seal Sunning himself on the beach. They had the area roped off and a guard watching to make sure no one got too close.

 

 

 

 

[hill6]

 

 

 

[Molokai-Chuck]

Hill6...Debbie and Mike....

 

The Teppanyaki dinner you did.... I think we are going to do it on our next POAm cruise, and you said it was offered 3 different times per night...do you remember the times offered for reservations?

 

Thanks,

 

Chuck

[hill6]

Hill6...Debbie and Mike....

 

The Teppanyaki dinner you did.... I think we are going to do it on our next POAm cruise, and you said it was offered 3 different times per night...do you remember the times offered for reservations?

 

Thanks,

 

Chuck

 

It is offered at 5:30, 7:30 and 9:30. You can book it online 45 days out. They do charge your credit card at that time. This was sold out most nights. Book early. This is the one "pay" restaurant we had planned in advance. We do hibachi at home and the show was a bit different than the one at home It was enjoyable.

[Molokai-Chuck]

Thanks for the help...as like you said...it sells out fast....I have not done it on the ship....yet....but will make reservations on-line when it opens up.

 

Chuck

[hill6]

Thursday, November 15th, Lihui, Kauai. Off the ship and once again caught the Thrifty shuttle to the airport for the car - Another Ford Fusion. We drove along the south coast of Kauai to go to Waimea Canyon. Waimea Canyon is often referred to as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. We drove along the coast and stopped a few times to take some amazing photos. We went up to the top of Waimea Canyon and there are a number of points to pull off and take photos. They are doing construction on the road in install guard rails and drains at various points. At the top of the road you can look down to the North Shore of the island. The view is stunning. We at sandwiches at Kokee Lodge on the way back down the canyon. We stopped at the Shrimp Station and got some garlic shrimp and rice - Yummy snack.

 

 

Some of the red dirt that covers the entire island.

 

 

Waimea Canyon - The Grand Canyon of the Pacific

 

 

 

[hill6]

 

View from top of Waimea Canyon - we would see this from the water the next day. Spectacular from both sides.

 

 

 

 

[hill6]

From there we went to the Red Dirt Shirt Factory. This is the location that was featured on Dirty Jobs a few years ago.

 

 

 

The island is covered in the red dirt. From there we headed down the road right behind the store that turned into a dirt road that led to the glass beach. This was pretty cool to see the glass that has been smoothed over by the water and sand. We spent about half an hour there collecting glass.

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped at the Kauai Coffee company on the way back and did their self-guided tour and bought even more coffee. The snack bar there left a lot to be desired so DH was not able to get an iced coffee. The staff was extremely slow. We were not the only folks who walked away.

 

 

 

 

[hill6]

We then went to find the Spouting Horn in Poipou. Our GPS did not give us the best directions to get there. A lovely lady gave us some directions that we were able to follow and we made it there safely. The Spouting Horn shoots water up as the waves hit the coast - The bigger the wave, the larger the amount of water that spouts up. Well worth seeing.

 

 

 

 

 

From there we drove back to Lihue to find the two sports bars that the cashier in the ship’s gift shop gave us the name of to watch the Thursday night game. They do show the football games in the Gold Rush Saloon and they have drink specials during the game. The two places in town are Kalapaki Joes and JJ’s Broiler. JJ’s is in Anchor Mall and Kalapaki Joes is on the second floor of Harbor Mall. Kalapaki’s is open air and that is where we went. The Thrifty shuttle driver dropped us there as it was right on the way back to the ship. We scored a table and watched the game while watching the lovely sunset behind the tv. DH is a huge Buffalo Bills fan and this was the week they had their night game. The food was good, the atmosphere was great and the Bills won. It was a good day. From there we walked the ¼ mile back to the ship. We stopped at Jefferson’s Bistro and moved our reservation back for dinner as we were late getting on board. Jefferson’s is one of two places on the ship where there is a dress code (Liberty Dining Room is the other). DH had to wear pants and I wore a sun dress. This is a quiet night on the ship as the luau tour is offered this night through the ship and a lot of folks went. The food and service at Jefferson’s was excellent. I upgraded to have the lobster tail. DH had the filet mignon. We ate dinner and went to bed early again.

[hill6]

Friday, November 16th. Lihue Kauai. Finally a day to relax. We had our breakfast in bed delivered to our room today that was part of the package from Mom. We enjoyed breakfast in bed and on the balcony.

 

 

Early morning in Kauai. Gorgeous view from our balcony.

 

 

We then got on our bathing suits and walked over to the Hyatt. All the beaches in Hawaii are public. Once there we rented two chairs and an umbrella. We did forget our books to read. Oh well. We relaxed, enjoyed the water and took a walk around the property - Very nice place. We would stay there on vacation. We left a little around 11:30 to do some shopping. We had to be back on board by 1:30. We got on board around 1 pm and had lunch at the buffet.

 

 

 

 

 

Ship from the beach.

 

[hill6]

 

 

 

 

[hill6]

At 3:30 pm we had our follow up with the ship’s officers. It was in a meeting room on the front of the ship. They had cookies, juice and coffee available. Only four showed up including DH and I. We were each given an opportunity to speak and give our comments both positive and negative. They took notes and each officer for the appropriate department addressed any negative comments that were made. They do genuinely care about improving their product. We had our afternoon tea and canapés delivered at this time too. We munched on them as we packed and waited to get near the NaPali Coast on the north side of Kauai.

 

 

Goodbye Lihue.

 

 

[psyfi]

Fantastic review, love the details and the pictures!

[hill6]

Fantastic review, love the details and the pictures!

 

Glad you are enjoying it.

[TerryAndDoug]

Thanks for your most recent additions! We board POA in one month and can't wait!

 

Doug