PoA itinerary change

[ULCajunCruiser]

Very few Napali Coast excursions from Nawiliwili, its on the opposite side of the Island!!   This change by NCL is a punch in the gut, they don't have any excursions to fill the void.   Perhaps some private tour operators will step up and fill the need???

[cruiseny4life]

9 minutes ago, ULCajunCruiser said:

Very few Napali Coast excursions from Nawiliwili, its on the opposite side of the Island!!   This change by NCL is a punch in the gut, they don't have any excursions to fill the void.   Perhaps some private tour operators will step up and fill the need???

Cancel your cruise. For the money, you can have a much better land-based adventure where you're not wasting time with NCL. 

[kelib]

On 3/8/2023 at 10:59 AM, Joshthedog said:

We are on the PoA in July and recently received an email from NCL about an itinerary change. They removed the NaPali coast from 7/22 through 9/30 sailings and extended the time in Kauai. Wonder what the real reason is they cancelled.

 

Fron NCL
“Our company is committed to driving a positive impact on society and the environment. As part of our global sustainability program, Sail & Sustain, we are continually seeking opportunities to reduce our overall carbon footprint, and recently committed to pursuing net zero greenhouse gas emissions across our operations and value chain by 2050. To support this mission, we are excited to share that we have revised Pride of America's sailing from July 22, 2023, through and including September 30, 2023, to now include an extended call in Nawiliwili, Kaua'i.”

Had the same happen to me in 2018…they were pulling a life boat off every week in Kauai and doing maintenance work on them (or related) I guess to them it sounds better like hotels saying to not wash towels every day to save the planet. 
 

Ours was last minute instead of advance notice. 

Edited March 9, 2023 by kelib

[LloydJr]

1 hour ago, ULCajunCruiser said:

Very few Napali Coast excursions from Nawiliwili, its on the opposite side of the Island!!

At first glance, it looks like you can Uber $50 each way to Eleele and catch a $200 pp sunset sailing of 3 - 4 hours.  That compares favorably in my eyes to many SHOREX options to much less desirable destinations.   Also, as you suggest, with POA dropping the Napali sail by, it is reasonable to expect that new SHOREX options will emerge from right at the cruise port.  We'll see....

[Oceansaway17]

aw gee this was my third try as well to go on POA.

I will wait a couple of weeks before I call as I think a lot of folks will cancel and phone will be busy.

NCL just keep getting more and more negative IMHO.

I will really be pissed if the make change to my NCL Star r/t out of Iceland doing Greenland next year.

[LloydJr]

4 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

I will wait a couple of weeks before I call as I think a lot of folks will cancel and phone will be busy.

Is this the only reason you're cancelling?

[kitkat343]

26 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

aw gee this was my third try as well to go on POA.

I will wait a couple of weeks before I call as I think a lot of folks will cancel and phone will be busy.

NCL just keep getting more and more negative IMHO.

I will really be pissed if the make change to my NCL Star r/t out of Iceland doing Greenland next year.

I haven't booked that cruise even though I want to go to Iceland  because I was on Lazlo's getaway cruise that lost a day and a morning for environmental reasons after final payment.  They decimated a Panama Canal cruise, taking out Costa Rica and Nicaragua for safety reasons (which is reasonable for Nicaragua but not for Costa Rica because they replaced those ports with Jamaica and Aculupulco) and changed the overnight in Panama to a late night visit, which was too late for people to see the locks in action on the ground.  

 

It's too difficult to rely on NCL for ports.

[bluenose1]

Looking at NCL for the Pride schedule, there are no dates between Jun 24 2023 to Jan 6 2024. Strange. Been on the Pride 3 times in the past. 

 

[Ellis1138]

2 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Cancel your cruise. For the money, you can have a much better land-based adventure where you're not wasting time with NCL. 

I offered that to my husband, since our deposit is refundable and I haven't made any other payments. I've been to Hawaii twice with a previous husband and done Na'Pali by helicopter, catamaran snorkel and also partial Kalalau Trail, so for me, it's not huge, although I did get a cabin on the port side for this purpose. 

 

But my current husband, who hasn't been to Hawaii, doesn't want to do multiple airplanes and multiple hotels; He wants the cruise, even just as a floating Best Western. 🙂

[LloydJr]

12 minutes ago, bluenose1 said:

Looking at NCL for the Pride schedule, there are no dates between Jun 24 2023 to Jan 6 2024. Strange. Been on the Pride 3 times in the past. 

 

Scroll down and you'll see them.

[BirdTravels]

Peak hurricane season. Maximizes time in sheltered ports. Even in a passing glancing blow from a storm. 

[lissie]

1 hour ago, LloydJr said:

At first glance, it looks like you can Uber $50 each way to Eleele and catch a $200 pp sunset sailing of 3 - 4 hours.  That compares favorably in my eyes to many SHOREX options to much less desirable destinations.   Also, as you suggest, with POA dropping the Napali sail by, it is reasonable to expect that new SHOREX options will emerge from right at the cruise port.  We'll see....

Thank you for this - we got the same email today for our cruise in late April 2024.  I do want to see the coast so this looks like an option 

[lissie]

2 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Cancel your cruise. For the money, you can have a much better land-based adventure where you're not wasting time with NCL. 

Really? Its not a cheap cruise but I've priced out a land holiday covering all the islands in 7 days - and frankly its not really possible the approx $1000k / day we're paying. And I'm good at logistics but I would draw the line of doing all those islands in 7days too 

[EngrJones]

13 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Peak hurricane season. Maximizes time in sheltered ports. Even in a passing glancing blow from a storm. 

12 months a year?  Check NCL.com and the posted letters from NCL in this thread.  Napali coast is gone for all future bookings.

[cruiseny4life]

22 minutes ago, lissie said:

Really? Its not a cheap cruise but I've priced out a land holiday covering all the islands in 7 days - and frankly its not really possible the approx $1000k / day we're paying. And I'm good at logistics but I would draw the line of doing all those islands in 7days too 

$1,000/day? Wow! We definitely went a lot cheaper for ten nights on the islands. We did only hop between three islands (Oahu, Maui, Big Island). We rented a car on each island, stayed in nice hotels (not luxury, 5 star places), but nice. I just did the math on what we spent on hotels for ten nights. It was $2,850 (3 nights on Oahu, 4 nights on Maui, 3 nights on Big Island). The car rental was included in the hotel on Maui, but on Oahu and the Big Island we spent about $250 each.

 

As for food, we ate a ton of local fruits, found the local diners (Cafe Kaila is amazing), had some pizza, and went to a luau. We don't drink, so didn't have to worry about those prices. Our airfare cost us $12 as we used my United miles, but you'd have to deal with airfare on Pride of America or a land-based trip. We did have three inter-island flights which I get people don't necessarily want to do. Am I right, @Ellis1138? Honestly, it was only 45 - 60 minute flights though. They cost between $75 and $150 each, so there's another $1,000. 

 

Of course, these are all 2019 prices as we went to Hawaii on a delayed honeymoon (married in the summer), but work, ya know. I'm sure inflation has increased the prices a bit, but we certainly did ten days for just under $5,000 back in 2019. 

 

I'm in the beginning stages of pricing out a Hawaii trip for 2024 as we want to spend our five year Hawaii honeymoon anniversary in Hawaii. If we never move to Hawaii, we at least want to spend every five years there for a couple of weeks. I've looked at the hotels we stayed at on our last trip. They all seem to be about $50 more expensive per night. Not bad, considering! 

 

We are definitely going to hit up Kauai and the Napali Coast on this trip! And, we like things slightly bit more upscale than we did before, so our hotels may cost more. But! Definitely still going to be cheaper than taking a seven day Pride of America cruise in a suite where the ports/cruise by's may be canceled. I just priced the cheapest suite on Pride of America for February. It would cost us nearly $10,000. We won't be spending that in two weeks doing a land-based trip. 

 

Having said all that, everyone has their best way to spend a vacation and if you're spending your money, then do what makes you happy! For Hawaii, we personally just don't see value in a cruise, especially knowing ports can change at the whim of NCL/weather/etc.

Edited March 9, 2023 by cruiseny4life

[lissie]

I think you'

3 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

$1,000/day? Wow! We definitely went a lot cheaper for ten nights on the islands. We did only hop between three islands (Oahu, Maui, Big Island). We rented a car on each island, stayed in nice hotels (not luxury, 5 star places), but nice. I just did the math on what we spent on hotels for ten nights. It was $2,850 (3 nights on Oahu, 4 nights on Maui, 3 nights on Big Island). The car rental was included in the hotel on Maui, but on Oahu and the Big Island we spent about $250 each.

 

As for food, we ate a ton of local fruits, found the local diners (Cafe Kaila is amazing), had some pizza, and went to a luau. We don't drink, so didn't have to worry about those prices. Our airfare cost us $12 as we used my United miles, but you'd have to deal with airfare on Pride of America or a land-based trip. We did have three inter-island flights which I get people don't necessarily want to do. Am I right, @Ellis1138? Honestly, it was only 45 - 60 minute flights though. They cost between $75 and $150 each, so there's another $1,000. 

 

Of course, these are all 2019 prices as we went to Hawaii on a delayed honeymoon (married in the summer), but work, ya know. I'm sure inflation has increased the prices a bit, but we certainly did ten days for just under $5,000 back in 2019. 

 

I'm in the beginning stages of pricing out a Hawaii trip for 2024 as we want to spend our five year Hawaii honeymoon anniversary in Hawaii. If we never move to Hawaii, we at least want to spend every five years there for a couple of weeks. I've looked at the hotels we stayed at on our last trip. They all seem to be about $50 more expensive per night. Not bad, considering! 

 

We are definitely going to hit up Kauai and the Napali Coast on this trip! And, we like things slightly bit more upscale than we did before, so our hotels may cost more. But! Definitely still going to be cheaper than taking a seven day Pride of America cruise in a suite where the ports/cruise by's may be canceled. I just priced the cheapest suite on Pride of America for February. It would cost us nearly $10,000. We won't be spending that in two weeks doing a land-based trip. 

 

Having said all that, everyone has their best way to spend a vacation and if you're spending your money, then do what makes you happy! For Hawaii, we personally just don't see value in a cruise, especially knowing ports can change at the whim of NCL/weather/etc.

I think you're going to be in shock on prices then! We went to  Waikiki (only) in July 22 - I was shocked to have to pay around $180 /night in Waikiki - which I booked at least 6 months in advance - the price only went up from there. Car hire for a day was around $100 (and that was a good rate).  As parking was $50/night - it was better to only hire on the day you needed a car. 

 

I  priced a few days in Waikiki as a stop over THIS July - and the same hotel was now closer to $300/night (booked a similar time in advance) and it was still a good deal!  I didn't get as far as car hire we're not stopping over this year. 

 

We're not staying in a suite on POA - its an inside cabin. We don't mind flying and we like small planes - but a 60 minute flight is still the loss of 1/2 day by the time you get to the airport / clear security etc. So part of the extra expense of a land-based holiday is that it couldn't match the speed of covering all the highlights in 7 days.  I also wasn't impressed by the accommodation available. We don't need 5 star but I don't cook on holiday - so we tend to like motels or smaller hotels. These didn't seem to exist - it seemed all to be airbnb types with 5 nights minimum and crazy expensive cleaning charges. And often a long drive to go out for dinner - and we do drink so  having to drive to dinner is an issue too. Plus I don't trust airbnbs - not just cruises can cancel things at the last minute. 

[EngrJones]

13 minutes ago, lissie said:

We're not staying in a suite on POA - its an inside cabin.

Exactly.  I would rather be in an inside on POA where I can walk out 24/7 and see the Ocean 360 than in a "fancy" hotel suite where I can look out and see....something.

[lissie]

22 minutes ago, EngrJones said:

Exactly.  I would rather be in an inside on POA where I can walk out 24/7 and see the Ocean 360 than in a "fancy" hotel suite where I can look out and see....something.

We always travel inside cabin - we're yet to find a reason to upgrade - because as you say not yet found a ship that doesn't have outside decks 

[alrose251]

2 hours ago, Ellis1138 said:

I offered that to my husband, since our deposit is refundable and I haven't made any other payments. I've been to Hawaii twice with a previous husband and done Na'Pali by helicopter, catamaran snorkel and also partial Kalalau Trail, so for me, it's not huge, although I did get a cabin on the port side for this purpose. 

 

But my current husband, who hasn't been to Hawaii, doesn't want to do multiple airplanes and multiple hotels; He wants the cruise, even just as a floating Best Western. 🙂

Do you think Na'Pali is viewed nicely from a helicopter?  What other excursion would be good to view Na'Pali?

 

[Ellis1138]

2 hours ago, alrose251 said:

Do you think Na'Pali is viewed nicely from a helicopter?  What other excursion would be good to view Na'Pali?

 

The Na'Pali was amazing from a helicopter. On the flight I was on, we went over the Waimea Canyon, by the Na'Pali coast and then inside Mount Waialeale, where it was amazing to see goats and sheep perched on teeny cliffs. I'm trying to convince my husband that it will be great. 

 

I also did enjoy taking a catamaran to the Na'Pali coast and snorkeling. There are also sunset dinner cruises and adventure rafts to the coast. 

 

There might be enough time for the truly adventurous to do the Kalalau Trail, but you need reservations and gear and to be in really good condition. And not afraid of heights. But it's the true Na'Pali experience, for sure.

 

You can also do the Kalalau Lookout at Waimea Canyon and see that part of the Na'Pali. The valley and the jagged mountains are dramatic. Fog-dependent, of course.

 

For @cruiseny4life : Yeah, I know the flights are short, but it still means we lose part of a day to travel, since we have to drive to the airport, go through TSA, wait at the gate, fly, get to the next hotel and so forth. If he had more vacation days, I might be tempted, but the PoA cruise is a decent way to give him a sample of the 4 basic islands in the shortest amount of time.

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Ellis1138

[cruiseny4life]

15 hours ago, lissie said:

I think you're going to be in shock on prices then! We went to  Waikiki (only) in July 22 - I was shocked to have to pay around $180 /night in Waikiki - which I booked at least 6 months in advance - the price only went up from there. Car hire for a day was around $100 (and that was a good rate).  As parking was $50/night - it was better to only hire on the day you needed a car. 

Oh boy! I only have one meeting today at work so I might start doing some actual price checks. Thanks for the heads up!!

 

11 hours ago, Ellis1138 said:

For @cruiseny4life : Yeah, I know the flights are short, but it still means we lose part of a day to travel, since we have to drive to the airport, go through TSA, wait at the gate, fly, get to the next hotel and so forth. If he had more vacation days, I might be tempted, but the PoA cruise is a decent way to give him a sample of the 4 basic islands in the shortest amount of time.

Very true. It is convenient to be transported to each island. I hope you and your husband enjoy the trip! Hawaii is a truly magical place.

[dexddd]

23 hours ago, Laszlo said:

The environmental excuse is getting really old. We heard them all on our 12 day Getaway cruise. They changed port times (for the worse), missed a port and then had three sea days home. The meet and greet got a little testy at times with the one officer trying to explain things and he ended up just talking in circles about it ended with I don't agree with it but its what corporate needs to do. 

I really think your case falls under the 'for your convenience, of course' situation.

[dexddd]

18 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

I haven't booked that cruise even though I want to go to Iceland  because I was on Lazlo's getaway cruise that lost a day and a morning for environmental reasons after final payment.  They decimated a Panama Canal cruise, taking out Costa Rica and Nicaragua for safety reasons (which is reasonable for Nicaragua but not for Costa Rica because they replaced those ports with Jamaica and Aculupulco) and changed the overnight in Panama to a late night visit, which was too late for people to see the locks in action on the ground.  

 

It's too difficult to rely on NCL for ports.

From our couple visits there, I've heard canal transit price is based on multiple factors including time of day.  Hmmm.

[Oceansaway17]

21 hours ago, LloydJr said:

Is this the only reason you're cancelling?

No I said I will wait for the rush to end as I want to cancel.

I don’t want you to hold on phone long time.

missing the coast is break point for me and quite rude for NCL to do this IMHO.

[Sexydva74]

We're on in July (also affected) and decided to book a plane ride because it picks up closer to the ship.  One of the main reasons I booked this cruise (besides being my 50th birthday) was to cruise the Na Pali Coast and see it from our aft balcony.  While we'll still keep the aft balcony, I'm disappointed to not be cruising it.  They didn't let us know until after payment.