POA - Hawaii LIVE Sep 30, 2023

[carohs]

17 hours ago, Ellis1138 said:

I just thought of another question. How often do the tenders run at Kona? Is it like 1 boat every 15 minutes?

🤔 well we left at 830ish. At that point they was one right behind the other, running as often as it took to load up and go. The ride over was only 10 min or so. We did come back earlier about 3 I think. We didn't have to wait for a tender at all and it did fill up quickly so we got going in short order. I imagine they run consistently throughout the day.

[Ellis1138]

Thanks. It sounds better than the tendering at Bar Harbor with the Escape. That was utter chaos and that was with me having an NCL Golden Ticket for an excursion. 

 

For our PoA cruise, I've rented a car so we can go to Pu'uhonua O Honaunau, the nearby bay to snorkel and then our final stop at Big Island Abalone Farm for a tour. If the traffic is just normal, then we'll make it back to the car rental place by 3:30 pm and the Kona tender place by 4 pm. I just worry that at 4, there will only be 1 or 2 tender boats and we'll be left behind. 

 

I've paid for the car with our loyalty points and the tour will be a 'walk in' that day, so if we can't tender, we're not out any actual cash.

[carohs]

2 hours ago, Ellis1138 said:

Thanks. It sounds better than the tendering at Bar Harbor with the Escape. That was utter chaos and that was with me having an NCL Golden Ticket for an excursion. 

 

For our PoA cruise, I've rented a car so we can go to Pu'uhonua O Honaunau, the nearby bay to snorkel and then our final stop at Big Island Abalone Farm for a tour. If the traffic is just normal, then we'll make it back to the car rental place by 3:30 pm and the Kona tender place by 4 pm. I just worry that at 4, there will only be 1 or 2 tender boats and we'll be left behind. 

 

I've paid for the car with our loyalty points and the tour will be a 'walk in' that day, so if we can't tender, we're not out any actual cash.

You'll have a great time! Our tour in Kona on Greenhill Farms was also walk-in and we had no problems with availability. Hopefully Abalone will be the same for you. The last tender was at 5pm, so with a 4pm time you may or may not run into a crowd getting back to the ship but you should also have plenty of time to get on a boat or for them to make a round trip for more passengers.

[cruiseny4life]

Thank you! It was really wonderful to follow along. I'm sad I couldn't do it in real time, but happy I could read about it after. Safe travels home, if you haven't already gotten home.

[carohs]

We are home! Back to working and cooking our own meals. Alas.

 

Our last day in Maui was quiet. In the evening we went to Tiki's to have an evening meal watching the sunset. I was ecstatic to get an ube piña colada, since my favorite color is purple. I also ordered the purple quesadilla. Note to self: don't expect spicy salsa from a none Mexican restaurant, or hot sauce that isn't Tabasco. All in all it was a great way to end an otherwise busy vacation. 

[carohs]

The map of PCC got wrinkled. I took pictures of it nonetheless. Hope it helps some.

 

[carohs]

[carohs]

We got to the airport a little early but discovered the gardens. That was neat too. 

[carohs]

Step counts, because I'm curious

 

9/29 - 9,620

9/30 - 16,026

10/1 - 14,609

10/2 - 15,410

10/3 - 17,112

10/4 - 9,584

10/5 - 8,8544

10/6 - 15,519

10/7 - 13,504

10/8 - 8,457

10/9 - ? Fitbit didn't track spent most of the day flying anyway

 

This is about double what I would do in a normal week. Not enough to justify how tired I felt maybe. 

[carohs]

Overall thoughts:

 

Flights. Hawaiian Air wins hands down. From seats to beverage service to onboard entertainment. Even their float in the parade was a thing of art. Southwest simply had a banner and a few employees walking and waving

 

The Ship. I'm not one to notice little details but overall I got the impression the ship was clean and well maintained. I loved finding all the quiet sitting areas around the ship too. Everything was easy to find. Besides the quirk with the midship elevator with two separate call buttons, deck 12 took me a couple tries to figure out. If you took the aft elevators to 12 (as we did after leaving the MDR) you end up by the Spa. We were going to Splash so we went down a deck to midship then back up the stairs. A couple days later there was a lady on 12 midship utterly lost looking for the Spa. 

 

Stateroom. Location-wise it was pretty good, between midship and forward elevators on deck 7. Our steward did a great job and the rooms were always clean by the time we made it back onto the ship. We didn't get any towel animals, and the steward never did personally introduce himself. As far as storage we easily fit everything in the drawers and shelfs available. Both suitcases went under the bed. DH finally found the behind the mirror storage in the bathroom night 3. I had known and mentioned to him it would be there, but upon initial glance it didn't seem to me it was there. I guess I should have looked a little more closely. Due to the room setup, we slept in separate beds for the 7 nights. Shh don't tell but I think I slept more comfortably not sharing blankets, body heat, or disturbed by DH's getting up in the middle of the night or early morning walks. We're both glad to be back in our own bed though. I would book the room again on the POA but I would strongly consider weather or not an upgrade was worth the increased cost on a different itinerary. We had an obstructed ocean view which I had expected to be completely blocked by the lifeboat. In truth if you stood, you got a decent view out the window over the lifeboats. If not a view, we at least got plenty of natural light. 

 

Entertainment. We only participated in hula classes, the flower lei making and two comedy shows. If we were on the ship, we spent our time eating, sleeping or chilling in the pool/hot tub. I was glad that the only activities available that were of interest to me were all during a time we were on the ship. Isabella, the CD, has her work cut out for her given the low key vibe of the passengers. She seemed better suited for a Carnival ship where she may have been given back the same level of energy she was putting out. There was very little to do on the ship (you could look through the dailies) but that was expected. At least there was no FOMO about leaving the ship for most of every day. 

 

Food. We had one or two stand out dishes during the sailing, and also one or two bad dishes. Most everything was okay to good. Thankfully we aren't picky and like to try new things or we may have had a hard time finding something we liked. The best meals in the café are breakfast and lunch. The specialty dining we chose, Moderno, was excellent having the best meal and service of the whole vacation.

We had one bad service in the MDR. I do try to give most servers a break but this guy didn't seem to know how to multi-task or keep track of which of his tables needed what next. For example we got dessert menus and had our plates cleared before the table next to us who were served dinner as we sitting down. DH had two plates served to him that he didn't order, which he declined and they made it to the right place. 

 

Someone had asked me about the officers earlier. I managed to get the following. 

Food and Beverage: Alain Nicholas

Beverage Mgr: Timea Bartha

Housekeeping: Arvin Vitug

Guest Services: Kelani Cing

 

Let me know if I can answer any other more specific questions

[LouChamp]

Aloha. Glad you are home safe. I thoroughly enjoyed your posts and pictures and it was a pleasure to be part of your experience. Mahalo.

[NikiPinkston]

I know I'm late to the game, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review. We were last on the POA at the end of 2022 and I'm really jonesing to do it again this year, so it was a lot of fun following along with you. Mahalo for taking your time and for including so much detail and so many great photos!🌴🍍🌺

 

[carohs]

6 hours ago, NikiPinkston said:

I know I'm late to the game, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review. We were last on the POA at the end of 2022 and I'm really jonesing to do it again this year, so it was a lot of fun following along with you. Mahalo for taking your time and for including so much detail and so many great photos!🌴🍍🌺

 

Aww thanks so much! It's only been a few months but I keep thinking back on all we did. I hope another opportunity to go again comes soon for both of us.

[UnbridledEnthusiasm]

On 12/27/2023 at 6:41 PM, carohs said:

Aww thanks so much! It's only been a few months but I keep thinking back on all we did. I hope another opportunity to go again comes soon for both of us.

I downloaded all the dailies you posted! Thank you for your photos and for uploading whatever you could for us. Just have a couple questions if you see this if you wouldn't mind answering!

 

1. I'm a bit confused with drink packages. Is there only one package on the Pride of America which includes alcohol? I know when I was on the Gem in Europe over the summer you had 2 packages that included  alcohol...the standard FAS and the premium plus. Randomly I then found online a few minutes ago a "Hawaiian Beverage Package" so I'm lost. 

 

2. Was there only 1 comedian for 2 nights?

 

3. What time did people debark the ship? 7-9?

 

Thank you!

[turbulentwaters]

I can comment on questions 2 and 3.  I was on the ship in late October and early November.

 

-There was one comedian who performed on two different nights, including the last night.  

 

-At most ports people were able to leave about a half hour after arrival, sometimes even earlier.  Debarkation in Oahu was quite early, I think most people leaving between 7:30-9:30 but I am only going by memory there.

 

-I cannot comment on the drink packages - With the automatic tip charges based on something like ten drinks a day we certainly did not feel like we would get our money's worth doing the packages or even the poorly named "Free at Sea" package.  Check what the tip charges are before buying a package.

 

It is a great trip, especially if you really want to get a taste of Hawaii.  I recommend renting a car at each port.

 

[carohs]

28 minutes ago, UnbridledEnthusiasm said:

I downloaded all the dailies you posted! Thank you for your photos and for uploading whatever you could for us. Just have a couple questions if you see this if you wouldn't mind answering!

 

1. I'm a bit confused with drink packages. Is there only one package on the Pride of America which includes alcohol? I know when I was on the Gem in Europe over the summer you had 2 packages that included  alcohol...the standard FAS and the premium plus. Randomly I then found online a few minutes ago a "Hawaiian Beverage Package" so I'm lost. 

 

2. Was there only 1 comedian for 2 nights?

 

3. What time did people debark the ship? 7-9?

 

Thank you!

1. Yes the HBP is the only package you can get. No FAS+ or premium. The differences are the flow waters are included and capuchinos too in the MDR only. You also pay vat on drinks while in port. We wouldn't have looked to upgrade anyway considering our plans off the ship and time spent on board. 

 

2. Yes we only had the one comedian. Strangely he was more entertaining in the karaoke lounge. Pg-13 was alright but the 2nd night his jokes weren't landing as well. 

 

3. Most days we were off the ship by 8:10 am. It was really quick off the gangway once the all clear was given. We were also trying to get early starts. Ymmv. Last morning in Honolulu I couldn't say. We were purposely trying to take our time getting off the ship not having plans til the afternoon and still deboarded around 9am. You should have an easy enough time leaving earlier. They had facial recognition for getting off/on the ship in ports and also for debarkation morning which helped move the lines along at a quick pace. 

 

[Lisa1]

Thank you for this thorough review!  I will be on the POA with a couple friends in a few weeks, so all the info you provided was very helpful.

 

Just one question, do you know if one of the main dining rooms was open for lunch on embarkation day?  We'd prefer to sit down and be waited on rather than fight the crowd in the buffet!

[carohs]

2 hours ago, Lisa1 said:

Thank you for this thorough review!  I will be on the POA with a couple friends in a few weeks, so all the info you provided was very helpful.

 

Just one question, do you know if one of the main dining rooms was open for lunch on embarkation day?  We'd prefer to sit down and be waited on rather than fight the crowd in the buffet!

I honestly can't remember. I think Skyline was. What I can tell you is that the buffet was surprisingly not busy. Not at all the crowds you normally see, and we boarded at 1 ish. 

[turbulentwaters]

When we went in late October we ate at the main restaurant once we embarked and it was not busy at all.