New 11-night Wind Notes Including about the TWO days in Lahaina

[Das K]

Hi all....

I just got home from the July 23rd sailing for 11-nights on the Norwegian Wind. This is not a full review, but just a few (hopefully) helpful notes for those who are on this trip in the future....

 

ABOUT THE TWO DAYS IN LAHAINA (NO STAYING OVER)... The Freestyle Dailies highlight that it is a violation of U.S. Customs and Immigration to spend the night in Lahaina instead of returning to the cruise ship, and that there are penalties for doing so (I did not ask what the penalties were). Since the Wind is a foreign flagged vessel, it MUST physically leave the port and go out to sea that night. All passengers must be back on board by 10pm. The ship returns at 7am the next day. It is also a tendered port. This said, I like this schedule since it allows you to return as late as 10 pm on Day #1.

With this schedule, if you want to go to the Road to Hana, it is far better to use the first day for the Road to Hana, since you have much more leeway in getting back to the ship later. On Lahaina Day #1, we got off the ship on the first tender we could, grabbed a cab to the Alamo Rental center (a shuttle is available, but I didn't want to wait) picked up the car, headed for the road, limited our stops, and still did not get back to the ship until 9pm. We were not rushed, but it can ve a VERY long day.

 

CAR RENTAL IN LAHAINA - Every Hawaiian port we stopped in had shuttles to the car rental counters. However, in Lahaina, I split a cab to Alamo with another passenger, since the Alamo shuttle said it would be about 1/2 hour til it got there when I called. We used Alamo, Enterprise and National. We did have some hang-ups with Alamo and renting at Kona, which I will detail later.

We used Alamo in Lahaina, reserving from the morning we arrived until the MORNING AFTER WE LEFT. Alamo's counter closes at 4pm, and you must catch a cab back after that. HOWEVER, they do have an after hours key deposit slot, which bought us an extra hour on our second day in Lahaina. Since we were going to Hana, we reserved a Sebring Convertible, and we enjoyed having it on the road. After returning from Hana on the first day, we parked in an open air lot on Dickenson Street, about two blocks from the tender pier. There are many open air lots that offer PRE-PAID overnight parking, but I chose one that appeared to be well lit and in a higher traffic area. I recommend pre-paying for the 24 hour period (ours charged $12 for 24 hours). A few couples only paid for 12 hours, and were panicked when they realized their tenders would not get them back in time. Towing fines can be expensive and time consuming, so spring for the 24 hours of parking. Street parking is prohibited between 3am and 5am in most areas near the tender pier and shops.

 

THE 'FORBIDDEN' ROAD FROM HANA ALONG THE SOUTHERN COAST. This road is an adventure, but passible if it is not raining. I recommend it IF IT IS DRY, AND IF IT IS STILL DAYLIGHT. The drive along the southern coast is unique and beautiful. Just be careful on the bad parts. Allow PLENTY of time, since it does take a long loop northwest before looping back to Lahaina.

 

AFTERNOON SNORKELING TO MOLIKINI....As seems to happen most times, the weather kicked up the afternoon and all PM trips I heard of were diverted to other areas or cancelled. The afternoon ship excersion to Molikini went to 4 sights, found no place acceptable, and came back to the ship. All of the passengers got refunds, but it wasted a lot of precious Maui time. Our self-scheduled trip on the Four WInds II diverted to their alternate location instead of Molikini, but the reef and fish there were extremely disappointing. If you are going to snorkel in Lahaina, do it in the morning.

 

BACKTRACKING - VOLCANO DAY AT HILO - Recently, a large area of the Kilauea lava flow has been roped off due to the danger of a 'shelf collapse'. Due to this, it is about a 3 1/2 -4 hour round trip walking out on the lava flow to see lava. On our day, we only could afford 3 hours, and did not make it to lava (we had the gloves, comfy hiking shoes, camelbacks, hats, etc.). We could see the steam rising where the lava was spilling into the sea, but we did not see flowing lava. Check with the Ranger station near the park entrance to see how far our you would have to hike to see lava.

 

RETURNING TO THE SHIP ON KAUAI - There is a large traffic jam southbound along the eastern shore of KAWAI from about five miles north of the airport southbound down to the airport. Locals told us that happens everyday. You are due back onto the ship by 4:30pm that day. Make sure you leave an extra half hour more than you think you need if you are north of the airport on KAUAI.

 

CAR RENTAL IN KONA - Time in Kona is extremely limited. The car rental location for Alamo in Kona is at the airport, about 8 miles (15-30 minutes drive, depending on traffic) north. HOWEVER, the last shuttle to the pier for Alamo is at 3:30pm. POTENTIAL CRISIS HERE... I returned the car at 3:15pm, and was waiting with the other cruise passengers for the shuttle. The van contracted by Alamo seated 14 people. There were 16 of us. Being the gentleman, I asked DW to go with the shuttle, while my self and daughter would wait for the next one. The shuttle driver REPEATEDLY AND PASSIONATELY assured us that there was another one coming in just a few minutes. The shuttle left at 3:30 pm. At 3:50pm, I re-enterred the Alamo rental center, who said there was only one shuttle at 3:30, and no others would follow. They told me I had missed it, and that they would call me a cab. I explained the situation, and told them they needed to pay for the cab. At 4:15pm, they decided that a shuttle driver would drive us, as well as two passengers from National, to the pier. We did tip him generously, since he proposed doing it to his manager. We arrived at the pier at 4:45pm (15 minutes late), and was on the last tender to the ship. Always carry your Daily ashore. The daily lists two numbers for a ship agent on shore FOR EMERGENCIES. I did call to tell the ship that the four of us were on the way and would arrive slightly late. HOWEVER, I would not count on this courtesy.

 

SELF PLANNED EXCURSIONS ON KONA - Although the ship arrives in Kona at 7am, most passengers cannot catch a tender until after 9am since immigration and customs verifications are done that morning. You must also be back at 4:30pm. We went to the car rental, drove to our kayak and snorkel rental, kayaked Kealakekua Bay to the Captain Cook Monument, kayaked back, returned the car and sprinted to the pier (see above). Due to the shortened day, I would recommend taking the ship snorkel trips to Kealakekua Bay for this port. Doing it yourself just is not practical for this port since time is limited. The Kayak trip from launch to the reef is about 25-30 minutes EACH WAY, and we only had about a hour at the reef, and had to work very hard for that. The reef is BEAUTIFUL, but I was very jealous of the cruise guests on the Captain Zodiac trips who were all around us. They looked very relaxed, much more so than I did! IF YOU DO WANT TO RENT A KAYAK, I WAS EXTREMELY PLEASED WITH KAYAK CENTRAL at Pineapple Park. The woman there was VERY helpful and cut us a few financial breaks on her own. A very nice person. The Kayaks were carried on foam cushions on top of our rental car (no convertables!). If you do want something simple on your own, go to Kahaluu Beach park about 10 miles south of Kona (otherwise known as Turtle Bay).

 

DAYS AT SEA AND FANNING - The ship has plenty of deck space and there was never a shortage of deck chairs (this was a problem on other cruises with other ships). Fanning Island was nice, and I highly recommend the Napali Beach option. It is beautiful place, and fun to be at (we also took the sports option with sailing, kayaking, biking, etc.)

 

FORMAL DAYS, DINING ATTIRE AND DINING - There were two formal days, and I was surprised at the percentage of people who dressed up (about 75% in suits or tuxes the first formal night). There were fewer people dressed up on the second formal night (50%). Most people did respect the Resort Casual suggestion. LaTrattoria has reservations required, and requires formal attite on formal nights. LaTrattoria does NOT charge a premium, but does require a reservation. Le Bistro charges $10 per person as a premium dining location, with an extra $5 ($15 each) for guests ordering surf and turf. In Le Bistro, you will be fortunate to get Katie Bychkova as your stewardess.

 

SCENERY FROM THE SHIP - Unfortunately, the 11-night Wind trip does not go past the lava flows or the NaPali coast. Too bad, a lost opportunity for a memorable vista (but I'm sure it helps excursion sales).

 

SHIP ROCKING - This is definitely the Pacific, and not the Carribean. I did not get queasy, but you feel the ship moving a whole lot more out in the Pacific. Pack the Bonine.

 

K-MART at Pier 19in HONOLULU - When the Pride of America is in Honolulu, the Wind will be at Pier 19. There is a K-Mart just outside of the gate for Pier 19, for those last minute "I forgot" list.

 

I cannot be very helpful with the shows or other ship programs. Maybe it was the time change, but we did not make it to ANY of the shows, and very few of the musical entertainment. Our 13-year old daughter did not participate in the youth program ( I guess I'm not poison to her until NEXT year!). Also, Captain Lars is a very fun and relaxed captain. Each day we waited for the morning announcements, which we dubbed "The Captain Lars Comedy Show".

 

That's about it for now. I will look at some other recent questions to see if I can help out.

 

All in all, it was a very nice trip. The crew is, on the whole, very friendly and efficient (with some exceptions). I am not a complete convert to Freestyle, but felt it was much better experience with three people travelling than with our last group trip with 12 people. It does make disembarkation a much more pleasant experience.

 

Thanks to BankofDad for his great advice prior to our trip. We did go on the Dolphin Excursions AM trip, and we did find dolphins. However, part of our groupt kept splashing and swimming after them, so the dolphins kept leaving the close area. A nice trip, but could have been better (not the fault of Dolphin Excursions).

 

Travel safely!

[ModestMeans]

Das,

 

Thanks so much for this post. We are scheduled for an 11 day Wind trip and you have answered some burning questions I had as well as provided some great suggestions that I know will make our trip more enjoyable.

 

Appreciatively,

 

Jim

[Das K]

I guess that reflects what is is a common theme with the Wind... it is a nice and serviceable ship, but not new, spectacular or outstanding. A common theme with passengers was that they booked the trip for the destinations, not the ship. But I enjoyed the crew and their efforts, and I did enjoy sailing on the Wind.

[Das K]

Although Kiribati is due south of Hawaii, the Republic has placed itself west of the International Date Line, since many of it's islands are west of the original line. At the time this was done, it was viewed by many to be 'cheating' in order to get the first sunrise of the new millinium. Regardless of why, the island is a day 'ahead' of the US. We took our passports ashore and had them stamped with "Sunday", when our ship was still on Saturday time. It was the only passport station I have gone to with it's own Tip Jar!

We also mailed two postcards with Kiribati stamps to home from the Island. US or other foreign stamps are not valid to mail things from the island. We found a small stand that sold Kiribati stamps that, coincidentally, cost one US dollar each! We are told it often takes months for cards to arrive home, but we wanted to try it anyway.

 

Anybody who has other questions, feel free to ask away!

[pugsbest]

Did you (or any other cruisers you met) do the Barracuda Reef Snorkel on Fanning Island? We leave in a week and I would like to hear what other cruisers thought about it.

[Das K]

The way we looked at it, the snorkelling promised to be much better in Kona (use the Captain Zodiac/Kealakelua Bay trip), so we targeted Fanning for some relaxation at Napali. I did not talk to anybody who went on the snorkel trip at Fanning. I did ask somebody if there was swimming on the 'outside' of the island, facing the ocean. I was told that there was not, since it would be more like the risk of swimming in the open ocean (baracudas, and other possible predators such as the dreaded 'S'-word).

Fanning reminded me of Gilligan's Island - a thin, broken circle of land with a lovely lagoon in the middle. I rode a bike on Napali about four miles out to the secondary school and was able to see some of the island's residents living away from the tourist area. It was an interesting comparison of cultures (extremely simple and primitive for most, but a few concessions to civilization - seeing a solar panel, a few mopeds, etc.). I enjoyed the ride, however, I would not recommend biking that far and back again in wet swim trunks ('nuff said).

Sorry I couldn't help more!

[professor]

We took our passports ashore and had them stamped with "Sunday", when our ship was still on Saturday time.

When I was at Fanning Island a couple years ago, I didn't see a place that stamped passports. I went to the little "post office" where they sell Kiribati stamps and coins. When you visited, were passports stamped there (post office)? Or is the passport office located in the "town"?

[KeystoneCruiser]

ABOUT THE TWO DAYS IN LAHAINA (NO STAYING OVER)... The Freestyle Dailies highlight that it is a violation of U.S. Customs and Immigration to spend the night in Lahaina instead of returning to the cruise ship, and that there are penalties for doing so (I did not ask what the penalties were). Since the Wind is a foreign flagged vessel, it MUST physically leave the port and go out to sea that night. All passengers must be back on board by 10pm. The ship returns at 7am the next day. It is also a tendered port. This said, I like this schedule since it allows you to return as late as 10 pm on Day #1.

With this schedule, if you want to go to the Road to Hana, it is far better to use the first day for the Road to Hana, since you have much more leeway in getting back to the ship later. On Lahaina Day #1, we got off the ship on the first tender we could, grabbed a cab to the Alamo Rental center (a shuttle is available, but I didn't want to wait) picked up the car, headed for the road, limited our stops, and still did not get back to the ship until 9pm. We were not rushed, but it can ve a VERY long day.

 

RETURNING TO THE SHIP ON KAUAI - There is a large traffic jam southbound along the eastern shore of KAWAI from about five miles north of the airport southbound down to the airport. Locals told us that happens everyday. You are due back onto the ship by 4:30pm that day. Make sure you leave an extra half hour more than you think you need if you are north of the airport on KAUAI.

 

Kauai's traffic was like that last year! I can't believe they aren't finished with that project yet. That is why we opted for a ship sponsored excursion in Kauau because a poster on here before our cruise last year warned us of the problem. If you take an NCL excursion and aren't back in time, the ship will wait, if you do your own and aren't back in time, you wave bye-bye to the ship.

 

Patty was our CD on the Aloha last year. She is very good and seems like she never sleeps.

 

I do wonder what the penatly is if you don't get back on the ship in Lahania. What if, like in any other port, you miss the last tender or the ship sailing? In those instances, I have been told that you have can catch up to the ship in its next port (at your own expense of course) and rejoin your cruise. They have never said anything about a "penalty" except for your costs to get there. If there is no penatly in those instances, why would Lahania be any different??

[Das K]

Professor - About Passports, there was an outdoor table located past the lunch area toward Napali Beach (past the Volleyball court and away from the market area). There were two Police Officers in uniform there sitting at the table. They would stamp the passports, and hand write the date.

 

Keystone - I think missing a tender/departure is different when dealing with US Customs and Immigration. In the Carribbean, it might be easier to 'catch up' to the ship, but I think the US takes a stricter view of security these days. Also, the Freestyle Daily does explicitly state that there was a $300 fine for permanently leaving the ship prior to arriving at Fanning Island, citing it as a violation of the Jones Act.

 

One other Dressing for Meals detail... the only nights cited as sugessting "Hawaiian" as dress for meals were on the departure day and day #3 (Lahaina#1). With two formal days on Days 6 and 9, both "at sea", all of the other 7 remaining evenings were suggested as Resort Casual. The Daily did state on Departure Day that Hawaiian Resort casual was acceptable in resturants on the departure evening only, and attire was very relaxed on that day (some t-shirts, shorts, etc.). I did not see anything that casual on other evenings in the main dining rooms.

[kydeg]

Just curious... while at Fanning Island, I am sure there were preparations made to feed everyone... My Question: Was the food all prepared and served in a single location. If you pay to go to Napali are there arrangements to provide food at that location as well, or do you have to return to the tender area or to the ship for lunch.

[Das K]

Having to go back to Fanning to eat was the one thing we were not thrilled with on the Fanning Island stop. Lunch is served on Fanning only, from 11:30am-1:30pm. We caught a tender from Napali direct to Fanning at about 12:45pm, arriving on fanning just before 1pm. We had time and plenty to eat, but we also walked around on Fanning for Passport stamping, sending postcards and shopping at the market on Fanning. We left Fanning to return to Napali at 2:40pm, and by the time we got back to Napali, we had about 1/2 hour more beach time there. Then again, I could have stayed there 20 more hours and still been disappointed when I had to leave! Napali is a great place, it's just a long break when you go back to Fanning to eat lunch.