A Photo Trip Report of POA 3/25-4/8/15

[BnAv10]

Friday, March 27 continued

 

After our hike, we walked back to our hotel, took a little rest break, then took another walk on the main drag to our chosen lunch spot for the day, called Hiking Cafe. We had salads. This place had zero ambience but yummy salads. I had the quinoa salad with jalapeño dressing and Brad had the mixed greens salad with guava dressing.

 

quinoa salad with jalapeno dressing:

 

mixed greens with guava dressing:

 

After lunch, we noticed a cool looking brewery just up the street so stopped to check it out. It's called Waikiki Brewing Co. It was a fun little place to stop and do a little beer sampling.

 

I think i'm obsessed with these tiki totems because i insisted on getting my pic taken with every one i saw ha!

 

the sampling:

 

Turns out the place had just opened a few days before we discovered it. It is somehow attached and related to Cheeseburger Waikiki/Paradise, literally and figuratively. (There is a location of Cheeseburger next to it, and i was told by our server that a couple of the investors were also investors in the Cheeseburger restaurants.) Btw - the Cheeseburger in Paradise/Waikiki restaurants in Hawaii are not related to the Cheeseburger in Paradise locations at other places in the U.S. Those other locations are affiliated with Jimmy Buffett but not the ones in Hawaii. At least, that's what i read in my guide book.

 

After lunch and beer tasting, we took our long leisurely walk back to our hotel.

 

I wanted to add a note here about the birds of Hawaii. I really enjoyed them. So colorful and varied just like the flora of Hawaii. We had many different birds that came to visit us on our lanai at the Marriott. I enjoyed them so much I took some pics and even a little video.

 

[YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/OtwCr_WxZV8[/YOUTUBE]

 

Not sure that youtube thing is going to work, so here's the link just in case:

https://youtu.be/OtwCr_WxZV8

 

One more thing i'll try:

[YOUTUBE]<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OtwCr_WxZV8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/YOUTUBE]

 

And here's a couple pics of those cute birds on our lanai:

 

 

Stay tuned for tomorrow's trip report on embarkation day!

 

Aloha and Mahalo for following along on my trip!

 

p.s. if anyone has any tips for how to post youtubes correctly so they will play, please let me know! ha!

[BnAv10]

Trying this again. Let's see if i can figure it out! Sorry for all the false youtube posts! Ha!

 

[YOUTUBE]OtwCr_WxZV8[/YOUTUBE]

 

Woohoo! I think this one worked! Yahoo! :)

[cyndepet]

Following your review! We leave in 6 weeks.

 

How long did it take you to do the Diamond Head hike from the time you left the hotel until the time you got back? We are thinking about doing this on Saturday morning before boarding. We're staying at the Aston Waikiki which is fairly close to the Marriott, I think.

[AEckhardt]

I'm trying to convince my BF to switch from a suite on the Dawn to Bermuda to a balcony on the POA, ( because Hawaii!!!) and I'm thankful for your photo review to help me!

 

I noticed on the itinerary there are two days at two different ports. Do you stay docked overnight or do you go out to sea a bit for the overnights? I ask because one of his favorite things about cruising to Bermuda is the freedom to explore in the evenings and not feel rushed to get back on the ship.

[BnAv10]

Talk about your Million Dollar View. Breathtaking (In so many ways :) not sure I could make the climb)

 

It really was an amazing view! One suggestion i could make, if you're not up for the hike. When we were walking from the street entrance up the road leading up to the Diamond Head Park proper entrance, right before that tunnel i took a pic of that we had to walk through to get to the entrance... there was a parking area/pull over area with an incredible view. If you're not up to the climb, and you'll have a rental car with you, that would be a great place to drive to and get really nice views from. And bonus, you wouldn't even have to pay to get in the park since it's before the proper entrance. Sorry i don't have a pic of the view from there though, but i recall my husband and i saying that if someone wasn't up for hiking, that would be a great spot to stop at.

 

Following your review! We leave in 6 weeks.

 

How long did it take you to do the Diamond Head hike from the time you left the hotel until the time you got back? We are thinking about doing this on Saturday morning before boarding. We're staying at the Aston Waikiki which is fairly close to the Marriott, I think.

 

Thank you for reading! Good question! You are in luck because i took good notes about this! ;) From the place we got smoothies, it took us about 40 minutes to walk about 1.5 miles to the bus stop at the bottom of the hill that leads to diamond head park. Then, another 15 minutes from that bus stop to the proper entrance where you pay to get in the park proper. Then, it took us 45 minutes to climb to the top of the trail, and about 30 minutes to hike back down, and about another hour to walk back to the hotel. All in all, about 3 hours and 15 minutes. NOTE: this does not include time to check out the farmers market across the street from Diamond Head, which will be open on Saturday morning!

 

I'm trying to convince my BF to switch from a suite on the Dawn to Bermuda to a balcony on the POA, ( because Hawaii!!!) and I'm thankful for your photo review to help me!

 

I noticed on the itinerary there are two days at two different ports. Do you stay docked overnight or do you go out to sea a bit for the overnights? I ask because one of his favorite things about cruising to Bermuda is the freedom to explore in the evenings and not feel rushed to get back on the ship.

 

Thank you for reading! You get a true overnight in port on Maui and Kauai. However, on the Big Island, on the first day we leave Hilo port at 5:30 p.m., and the next morning we port at Kona (this is our one and only "tender" port btw), on the other side of the same island, so we don't get a true overnight in port on the Big Island.

 

I agree, having the overnights in port was awesome. Because of that, we felt comfortable doing excursions on our own in Maui and Kauai, including the Road to Hana on Maui which was a bucket list item for me! :)

 

I will post more info about these ports when i get to those days in my trip report (slowly but surely!) but hope this helps in the meantime. Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have!

 

Hope this helps! :)

[hopeful2]

Can't wait to read more and look at the pics. We leave in Nov first time in Hawaii for our 30th anniversary.

[carmzav]

Thank you for taking the time to write this review! Love it!

 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Forums mobile app

[relic2]

Great review and pics. I appreciate the view from Diamond Head, since there is no way my replaced knees will tolerate the climb. We will be there January 2016, cruising POA 16 January.

[Miicah]

(((MIICAH))) I feel like we're bosom buddies now after spending so much time "with" you reading through your detailed trip report. Maybe someday we'll meet on the other side of the rainbow in person. Thank you for reading my review! Yours was so awesome. I don't think i took nearly as many helpful and awesome pics as you did though. Hopefully my review won't be too redundant. ;-)

 

Awn, totally! And now I can spend some time with you reading your review! It'd be awesome to see each other on the other side of the rainbow! And you're so modest, your pictures are awesomesauce :D

 

I can't believe you went up that steep staircase! You're a real trooper lol I'm still happy I went up the other way :p And I'm glad you got the video working, I can't wait to see and read more! Keep it coming!

[BnAv10]

Thank you for taking the time to write this review! Love it!

 

Thank you for reading! :)

 

Can't wait to read more and look at the pics. We leave in Nov first time in Hawaii for our 30th anniversary.

 

Thank you for reading and following along! Very excited for you and congratulations on 30 years. Wow! That is something to be proud of! :)

 

Great review and pics. I appreciate the view from Diamond Head, since there is no way my replaced knees will tolerate the climb. We will be there January 2016, cruising POA 16 January.

 

Thank you for reading! Regarding Diamond Head, don't know if you saw my reply to another person up above, but there is a spot before the tunnel before the main entrance to the park that has an outstanding view. If you have a rental car, that would be a great place to go for the view. I hope you have a wonderful time on your trip!

 

Awn, totally! And now I can spend some time with you reading your review! It'd be awesome to see each other on the other side of the rainbow! And you're so modest, your pictures are awesomesauce :D

 

I can't believe you went up that steep staircase! You're a real trooper lol I'm still happy I went up the other way :p And I'm glad you got the video working, I can't wait to see and read more! Keep it coming!

 

Miicah - thank you so much for your kind comment on my pictures! That is quite a compliment coming from you! ((hugs)) You're right, there was that other way round at the very top of Diamond Head so you could avoid (one of) those staircases. Good tip, thank you for sharing!

 

Coming up next: embarkation day trip report! Stay tuned! :)

 

Aloha and Mahalo for following along on my journey everyone! It has been really fun reliving it all while writing this trip report. If I forget to mention something that you have a question about, please feel free to ask. I'm happy to help if i can!

[BnAv10]

Saturday, March 28

 

Embarkation Day! We were so excited!

 

We got up early and headed just a block away to try a different place for breakfast called Lulu's. They had one of those tiki totems in front so of course i had to have my picture taken with it!

 

 

The view was nice. It was across the street from the Waikiki Pier, also known as Kapahulu Groin. If you walk out on that pier, you can sometimes catch surfers flinging themselves off the pier into the water (i found that very early a.m. was a good time to see this.) And sometimes some kids just wanting to cannonball over the side. The pier is also a good place to catch the sunset.

 

 

 

 

Brad had the waffle which he said was average. He also got a side of potatoes which he said were "better than the waffle."

 

 

I had the tofu benedict. I'm sorry but i can't say anything good about it. Other than maybe how it looked when they brought it out. I had high hopes. Unfortunately, it seemed that the chef had no idea how to prepare tofu. It was cold, bland, no flavor at all. And there was no hollandaise sauce, no sauce at all. So it was basically a raw piece of tofu with tomato and spinach on top. Nothing was seasoned, it was all very bland. What a disappointment! The view was nice. The server was ok but honestly he seemed like he was on something. Very jittery. I'm hoping it was just too much coffee, but that's not what it seemed like to me.

 

 

Did i mention the view was nice?

[BnAv10]

Saturday, March 28 continued

 

After breakfast, we stopped by our room momentarily and then headed out to do some last minute errands and shopping. There is a Ross Dress For Less right in the Waikiki beach area of town so it's easy to walk to. I picked up a couple shirts there as i felt i just didn't have enough clothing for the entire trip (women will understand!) Ross is my favorite place to shop!

 

After Ross, we noticed a little alleyway behind the Ross that had some stalls in it where they were selling all those Hawaiian souveniers, dresses, shirts, jewelery, etc. I think this is what is left of the International Marketplace. As i said it's located behind the Ross in a little alleyway, cross streets are Kalakaua Ave and Kuhio, and Seaside Ave and Dukes Lane. If you find those 4 streets on google maps, you'll see the block that it's in, in between Ross and Foot Locker on that map.

 

By the way, two apps i used daily on this trip were Yelp and Google Maps. They were indispensible! And free!

 

In that little marketplace, be sure not to pay the first price they tell you. It's the kind of place you haggle. I'm not a fan of haggling, but Brad pointed out a piece of jewelry to me, and the lady first told me it was $120 then said $80 then $50.... i kept trying to explain to her we weren't in the market for anything but it was really hard to convince her. I think she thought i was haggling ha! I was just being polite. Sometimes you just have to walk away. I finally got her to stop by saying i'm sorry but i'm just not going to buy anything today. Honestly, i don't think the stuff in these stalls was high quality, but if you want some cheap souvenirs, this would be a good place to check out.

 

Oh and there was another tiki totem so you know what happened next:

 

 

After that we headed back to the room to chillax until it was time to go. There was a parade that day right on Kalakaua Ave, the main drag in Waikiki, and we had a great view from our lanai.

 

 

 

While we were waiting out there, the bell hop came by and picked up our luggage to take to NCL. Note: we could not hear people knocking on our door while out on our lanai, so just be prepared, they will let themselves in.

 

I took a very short video to give a feel for the parade.

 

[YOUTUBE]246KuYfBleQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

Around 10:45 we checked out of our room and headed downstairs to the designated place to meet the transfer shuttle bus to the pier. Btw, it was not the main entrance to the hotel, kind of the opposite side of the lobby. When we arrived it was not quite 11 a.m., and the paperwork had told us to be there at 11:15, but there were people with clipboards and they ushered us onto a waiting bus and we were whisked away immediately even though the bus wasn't even half full.

 

Pic of us being goofy on the bus:

 

 

Our first view of the ship:

 

 

The lady driving the bus said there was bad traffic due to the parade and traffic being diverted, but we still got to the pier by 11:15 a.m.

 

Once at the pier, we were able to go inside the building, and the first line was very short, just a few people, then we got lei'd, then there was a photo op with some beautiful hawaiian hula dancers (one male and one female) and then another line to check in, then we were given a boarding group #, and told to sit in a big group of chairs.

 

Us waiting...(patiently?) in those chairs:

 

[BnAv10]

Saturday, March 28 continued

 

This all went very quickly until our group was called and we had to go up an escalator, and then... the long wait in line began to get on the ship. I was hoping to avoid the long line because we checked in at the hotel but we still had to wait in the line. We finally got on the ship around 12 noon ish.

 

We then waited in another line in order to make dinner reservations (reservations desk is right inside the ship when you first enter.) While waiting in line (not so patiently) we were treated to a Hawaiian band set up on a platform in the grand staircase.

 

 

 

 

After making the dinner reservations, we headed to the Key West Bar and Grill (poolside). We got a couple seats at the bar and the bartender walked us through how to set up the wine package. If you buy 6 bottles up front, you get 20% off. You can pick any six bottles off the wine list. Once you do that, those bottles are delivered to your stateroom the following day. Once you do that, you can add on additional bottles if you want to throughout the cruise, and you just tell the bartender or waiter that you have the wine package, and you will get those additional bottles also for 20% off. So, when we had dinner our first night at La Cucina, we didn't yet have our bottles delivered to our room, but we were able to buy an additional bottle at the restaurant and were given the 20% off discount (but you have to ask for it.) Once you have the bottles delivered to your room, you can either enjoy them in your room (there are glasses and a corkscrew in the room) or you can take a bottle to any bar or restaurant, and they will uncork it and provide glasses at no charge. And in case you were wondering, none of the servers seemed grumpy about doing so. Everyone was very pleasant about it.

 

The Key West Grill opened at 12:30, and there was no line. They have burgers, fries, and some salad. If you ask the chef/cook, he will make you a veggie burger. We got veggie burgers, and had to wait about 15 minutes for them, but they were very good. We also enjoyed the fresh hot fries. I think this is a nice option if you're ok with just burgers and fries for lunch and want to avoid the craziness of the buffet.

 

 

 

[BnAv10]

Saturday, March 28 continued

 

After lunch we walked around the ship for a while, checking out all the public areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gotta run for now. Will post more later tonight! Stay tuned!

[jordanandcathy]

Awesome!!! Thx. We are going in sept.

[ilovewdw]

What a great review so far. I'm so excited to read more! We are starting to plan our very first Hawaii trip for August 2016 and I'm very overwhelmed with which islands to do, which do excursions are a MUST and just traveling between the islands. I can't wait to hear more about your trip. THANKS FOR SHARING!!! :)

[AF-1]

Embarkation day is so exciting. Ship looks great. I know you guys had fun.

[Solararc]

Makes me want to go back, it's been 3 years since POA

 

 

*Living large one week at a time*

[BnAv10]

Awesome!!! Thx. We are going in sept.

 

Thank you for following along! I am so excited for you about your Sept. trip! I think Sept. would be a great time to go! :)

 

What a great review so far. I'm so excited to read more! We are starting to plan our very first Hawaii trip for August 2016 and I'm very overwhelmed with which islands to do, which do excursions are a MUST and just traveling between the islands. I can't wait to hear more about your trip. THANKS FOR SHARING!!! :)

 

How exciting! I know, it can be overwhelming! NCL's POA cruise is a great first trip to Hawaii. It gives you a great first overview of the Hawaiian islands. I'm sure you will have a wonderful time no matter what you do! Thank you for following along. I hope my review is helpful in some way! :)

 

Embarkation day is so exciting. Ship looks great. I know you guys had fun.

 

It was so exciting! We had a blast. Thank you for following along! :)

 

Makes me want to go back, it's been 3 years since POA

 

Thank you for following along! Maybe it's time to plan another cruise! :)

[Solararc]

I have 2 cruises on the books right now, unfortunately Hawaii isn't one of them

 

 

*Living large one week at a time*

[Imalismom]

Was the 6 bottles of wine a set price? Or do you pick 6 off a list and they just tally up the price?

[BnAv10]

Was the 6 bottles of wine a set price? Or do you pick 6 off a list and they just tally up the price?

 

There was not a set price. You pick any 6 wines off the wine list, and you get 20% off. So the price can range drastically based on the original prices of the wines you choose, i.e. there are $35 bottles or $200 bottles.

 

 

I have 2 cruises on the books right now, unfortunately Hawaii isn't one of them

 

How exciting that you have two cruises to look forward to! Once i pay off this trip it will be time to pick out our next one. :)

 

Sorry everyone for the delay in posting. Life sometimes gets in the way! Coming up next, embarkation day continued, followed by Maui Day 1!

[BnAv10]

Saturday, March 28 continued

 

We walked through the gym which seemed very nice with lots of machines. We do like to workout when at home, but since we had active excursions planned for each day of our trip, we wound up never using it. They had a schedule of classes available in the gym, some free and some you pay for.

 

Here is the schedule of classes i picked up in there:

 

Here's some pics of the fitness center:

 

 

 

[BnAv10]

Saturday, March 28 continued

 

We took pics of the two main dining rooms, Liberty and Skyline. They have the same menu, but Liberty has a little bit of a stricter dress code than Skyline.

 

Liberty:

 

 

Skyline:

 

 

At 2:30, there was an announcement that the staterooms on the 9th floor were ready. They did it by floor. So at 12:30, there was an announcement that the 12th floor was ready, but we didn't get in our rooms till 2:30. Our room was 9028. I am sorry to say i did not take any pics of the inside of the room. But it was a typical small cruise stateroom. We did get a room with an extra large lanai (aka balcony). I had read a review on here before the trip that said there would be lounge chairs out there, but there weren't. Just two regular chairs, and the smallest little table ever. I peeked my head out my stateroom door and caught the eye of our stateroom attendant, Made (ma-de). He was super nice. I explained how we were hoping for lounge chairs on the lanai since we got the extra large lanai, and he said he would snag some for us later. They were there by the time we got back from dinner.

 

Unfortunately, Brad's suitcase did not show up before dinner, although mine did. So we went to dinner in casual attire. The good news is that all the restaurants waive their dress code for the first night, since this is usually a problem.

 

Side note: there is no iron in the room, but if you call 00, and ask for one, they will deliver one and then you just call them when you're done with it and they pick it back up.

 

There were lots of pieces of paper full of info on day 1. Here's a couple things that might be helpful to know:

 

 

[BritChickBN1]

Enjoying your review. Thanks for sharing.