Beagle Feels Sincere "Pride Of America" - A Lengthy Trip Report w/Pics

[alwalaska]

Thank you for the reviews and photos. I've been through part and can't wait to catch up and follow along.

 

Did you happen to get photos of the Dailies or the menus? I'm sorry if I missed a post about it.

[Beagleluv6107]

Wow I have always wanted to know more about Rappel Maui so thanks for such a detailed recap!

 

Your Welcome! So glad I could help.

[Beagleluv6107]

Your reviews and pictures are wonderful! We leave next Saturday (19th) and are celebrating our 20th (a bit earlier than the actual date). Your posts are so informative and helpful! I had become a bit discouraged reading all the negative posts, but now I am now looking forward to our adventure and getting excited. Thank you for a balanced view and congratulations and best wishes for many more years to you both!

 

Hey Cherokee,

Congratulations on your 20th and going on this adventure. I just know you will have a great time! Thanks for reading along. I will try to post a little more tonight.

[Beagleluv6107]

Thanks for your review! I'm loving it! We will be on the POA for our anniversary and aren't big into paying extra for restaurants etc so it's good to know you can get crab cakes and prime rib in MDR. Your meal looked great! Did you use a travel agent? Just wondering how they knew it was your anniversary. Thanks! Can't wait for the rest of your review!!

 

Hi there,

Thanks for reading along. I did use a NCL Rep when I booked. I must have told him it was our 10th anniversary at some point. When we checked in, the rep at the desk wished us a happy anniversary, our room steward wished us a happy anniversary, then the cake and singing. It was all so sweet.

[Beagleluv6107]

Thank you for the reviews and photos. I've been through part and can't wait to catch up and follow along.

 

Did you happen to get photos of the Dailies or the menus? I'm sorry if I missed a post about it.

 

Hi there,

I only snapped a few blurry photos of menu's. I do have all the Freestyle Daily's somewhere. If you really want to see them, I can try to scan them and save them as a jpeg.

[alwalaska]

Hi there,

I only snapped a few blurry photos of menu's. I do have all the Freestyle Daily's somewhere. If you really want to see them, I can try to scan them and save them as a jpeg.

 

I have some from 2016 but I'd love to see some newer ones if you have the time. No worries if you don't have time. If it is easier to scan pdfs I can make a web folder and give you a link where you can upload the pdf files.

 

Thanks again for your review. I'm trying to finalize my Feb plans and I can't wait.

[deew0424]

Thank you so much for your wonderful review! My DH and I are celebrating our 25th Anniversary on October 2nd aboard the POA. Cannot wait for this trip!!!

[Beagleluv6107]

Day 5 – Paddle Boarding in Maui Yeah!!!! Well Maybe…

 

Since we had a “heads up” from Paddle On Maui, we discussed a Plan B. We had to rent a car for this excursion, so my suggestion was to keep the car rental and drive around near Makena Beach. I had already researched the area and I figured we could find some shopping and a nice place to eat lunch.

 

We were up early and had another buffet breakfast. The potatoes in the buffet were the best part. I’m sure an omelet was good, but I wasn’t gonna stand in that line. We were supposed to get the shuttle to the car rental place at 8am. Brittany called at 7:45 and said it was raining and the winds were terrible. She said the wind was never this bad and it’s one of the few times she’s had to cancel an excursion for wind. Bummer! She did have a few suggestions on what we might like to do and said she would text my phone.

 

Ok, time for Plan B. I booked the car through www.discounthawaiicarrental.com and chose Thrifty for a small car for $53 for the whole day. The instructions said that if you are renting a car on Day 2 of the POA Maui stop, be sure to call Thrifty and they will send the shuttle. According to my printout, the shuttle is not automatic. So, I called for my pickup and got no answer and no way to leave a message. That was real helpful. :confused: We decided to go outside to where the shuttle buses were picking up. We ran into an elderly couple that I thought were very nice. DH not so much. They gave me very specific instructions on how to handle these car places. How rude the reps are and how they insist on upgrading you. Luckily for DH, the thrifty bus showed up after about 10 minutes. Apparently, you do not call, you just wait at the bus stop. We had zero trouble with the folks at Thrifty and were in and out in 5 minutes. I heard the older fellow still arguing with them about gas as we walked out.

 

We took off in the direction of Makena Beach and the skies began to clear. I received a text from Brittany that there was a hike we might enjoy at La Perouse Bay Lava Field. When I punched in the address the GPS said we would have to park the car and walk to our destination. Cool, that sounded intriguing. A few pictures from our drive.

 

 

[Beagleluv6107]

I took this picture from the car.

 

 

 

I took this picture as soon as we parked.

 

 

When they say you walk on a lava field, they mean it!! It was all rock the entire path so I suggest good footwear. I ended up bruising my foot but never noticed until later that night. We loved the walk. The scenery blew our minds. We took lots of pictures. It took us exactly 1 hour and 20 minutes to walk the 2 miles out and 2 miles back.

 

[Beagleluv6107]

Once we were at the point, we talked to a few local boys doing some spear fishing. There wasn’t anyone else around. They said they were catching parrot fish. One of them was picking up snails off the rocks and said they were very good on the grill with sauce. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the snails.

 

 

 

 

 

[Beagleluv6107]

 

The picture above you can see the boys snail picking. LOL I'm not sure what the rock formations are about on the picture below.

 

A few more beautiful scenery pics...

 

 

[Beagleluv6107]

After the walk, we stopped by Makena State Park. Had we known the sun was going to shine on this part of the island, we would have packed our suits and towels. It's hard to believe how incredibly beautiful it was here and just a few miles away it was rain and high winds.

On the ride back through town we saw plenty of places to shop. We still hadn’t found anything for my mother in-law, so we stopped at an area that had lots of shops to walk around in. It was almost like a flea market type atmosphere. We didn’t find anything to buy... but we did find the South Shore Tiki Bar.

A cute place with very cold beer. We were about to order lunch when a local named Hammer chatted us up for about a half hour. We decided to get out of there and eat back on the ship.

 

We stopped and filled up the tank for 7 bucks and we were at Thrifty by 2pm. While waiting for the shuttle guy to pick us up and take us back to the ship, we ran into that couple from earlier. I was happy to see them, they made me laugh. The husband was still annoyed about a lot of things and ended up telling the shuttle driver all about it for the entire ride. :')

[Beagleluv6107]

Once back on board, we went to the Cadillac Diner. DH had wings and jalapeno chicken breast and I got the wedge salad. All 3 were excellent.

 

 

 

 

 

The wings were so good DH mentioned he had to get another order of them before the cruise was over.

[Beagleluv6107]

We headed to the Ocean Drive bar for a bucket and who do we see but our friends from the rappelling. Next thing we saw, the husband slips and falls right on the pool deck. Whoops, this guy can’t catch a break!!!

 

We headed to the Hollywood Theater to catch the Lights, Camera, Action show at 6:30. After the show we headed back to the Skyline main dining room for dinner. We had about a 20 minute wait. We both had the bouillabaisse soup and it was fantastic.

 

DH had the shrimp and beef sirloin.

 

I had the crab and fish cake.

 

Neither of us really enjoyed the main meals. We were back in our room by 8:30 and worn out. We had a big day in Hilo coming up so we went to bed early.

Up Next - Volcano's National Park

[New2RCCI]

Hi Beagleluv!

 

Really loving your review - Thanks so much! We just booked POA for July 28 and are starting to plan our excursions. We did this trip back in 2007 on Pride of Hawaii, absolutely loved every minute! But we had booked it about 9 months in advance that time, so I'm feeling a bit behind, just over two months to get it all sorted out.

 

Can't wait for your next installment...

[Beagleluv6107]

Hi Beagleluv!

 

Really loving your review - Thanks so much! We just booked POA for July 28 and are starting to plan our excursions. We did this trip back in 2007 on Pride of Hawaii, absolutely loved every minute! But we had booked it about 9 months in advance that time, so I'm feeling a bit behind, just over two months to get it all sorted out.

 

Can't wait for your next installment...

 

 

Thanks for following along. I hope everything goes great on your July 28 cruise!!!

[Beagleluv6107]

Day 6 –Volcano’s National Park

 

Before I even start this part of my review, I want to express my sadness at what is happening in Hilo right now. I’m keeping everyone in my thoughts and prayers. We just can’t believe we were just there. But speaking from a month ago when everything was calm, here’s how it went down…

 

 

I knew from the start that we wanted to explore Volcanos National Park. All the advice I read said to rent a car but that’s not our style. I wanted a tour with less shopping and tourist traps and more walking and hiking. Lavaland actually says that on their website so I tried to book with them about 4 months in advance and I received a message they needed more people before they would agree to a tour. They put us on the waiting list and I felt confident they would get the numbers they needed. When it hit 30 days until we would be there, I started to get nervous. I emailed them and they said it was still just us and they would not run the tour. I researched more companies and even private tours. I found cheaper tours that take you everywhere including shopping and ice cream places. I reached out to my extremely quiet CC roll call and not one person replied. I went ahead and put a post on the CC Ports of Call Forum asking for other options. I had a few people offer some suggestions. The very next day, I received an email that Lavaland had their quota and we were all set for the tour. Yippee, maybe someone “lurking” on CC didn’t reply but decided to join us after all. At the time, that was the last loose end that I needed to get tied up before we flew out.

Here’s a few pictures from our port view.

 

 

[Beagleluv6107]

Lavaland’s instructions said they would meet us at the port at 9:30. Since we are early birds, this gave us plenty of time to avoid that buffet and go to a nice sit-down breakfast in the MDR. Sorry this is a lousy picture of the menu but you can see there isn’t much different offered than at the buffet. We weren’t given any breakfast breads and the service was very slow. DH got the eggs benedict and I had the huevos rancheros.

 

 

 

 

[Beagleluv6107]

After breakfast, we went to find our embarkation photo. Since this was our first time on Norwegian, we learned about the binder and how every picture you take is in your binder. I thought that was fantastic and sure beats hours of looking for every single picture taken.

 

We walked around the ship a bit, then it was time to meet Lavaland in the terminal. We had 8 people total for the tour. Our tour guide was Vince. I called him St. Vince. He is just an awesome guy. He only does the tours for the POA group every Tuesday and the rest of the week, he works full time with special needs young adults. He’s just the kind of guy you meet and think the world needs more Vince’s. Not to mention, he did an outstanding job on the tour.

 

At the time of the tour, Hilo already had 80 inches of rain since January. We all suited up on poncho’s provided by LavaLand. Our first stop was Volcano’s National Park. It seems kind of odd to say I saw lava splatter from the Halema’uma’u Crater, but at the time I was quite impressed. Inside the tourist center Vince explained everything and we had a crowd gathered around us so they could hear him as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Beagleluv6107]

From there, we went to a few steam vents off the beaten path and away from the crowds. I did get a little too close and felt that heat and it got my face and glasses all steamed up. I quickly moved away. These pictures don’t do it justice.

 

 

 

We had a nice hike out to the Keanakakoi Crater created from an eruption back in 1974. It was a very enjoyable hike and we didn’t even know we were going to walk up on this deep crater.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Beagleluv6107]

A few more pictures from our hike.

 

 

 

 

 

[Beagleluv6107]

It rained off and on but was never a problem. We did a walk thru of the Thurston Lava Tube.

 

 

 

[Beagleluv6107]

Then we went to have lunch outside. We got lucky as it stopped raining long enough for us to eat. We had sandwiches and chips and Vince brought something called Longun Fruit. It was tasty. It reminded me of a grape that you had to peel.

 

Once we piled back into the van to goto Rainbow Falls it started downpouring. Lucky for us, the Falls is right next to the road so you don’t have to walk far to get your pictures and your selfies.

 

[Beagleluv6107]

We said our goodbyes to Vince and we were back on board the ship at 4:30. We needed a bucket of beers pronto. All that learning and hiking makes me thirsty. We hung out at the Gold Rush until it was time for the comedy show at 6:30. The comedian was Michael Somerville. He was excellent. I had to dry my eyes a few times.

 

The day before I made a reservation for the Skyline at 7:45. That really worked out good for us on this night. DH had the shrimp, ceasear salad, and chicken parm.

 

 

 

 

 

I had the asparagus and artichoke risotto and the grilled grouper. They were both excellent.

 

 

 

 

This was by far the best meal I had on board. Once we got back to the room it was around 9pm and the captain was sounding the horn every few minutes. I thought it may have been for fog? I’m not sure but this was Hilo day and we were supposed to be sailing by the lava flow. I forgot to ask any passengers if they saw anything that night.

 

Up next –Secret Waterfalls…

[C cruise]

wow - those pictures are awesome