Rare mking8288 Posted Tuesday at 08:06 PM #126 Share Posted Tuesday at 08:06 PM 3 hours ago, Seas2mountains said: We purchased the Starlink basic WiFi package for the remainder of the cruise as we had remaining on board credit to use. It is a huge mystery as to why Starlink works so well on other cruise lines but has such slow speeds on NCL. 🤷♀️ IMHO, of course - no mystery at all. NCL plainly restrict, throttle and severely limit the allocated bandwidth for use by ship passengers onboard ... and/or, they are subscribed to a lower speed tier available from Starlink-X and therefore, with dynamic caching and shared overall bandwidth - it's barely working ... all other "things" being equal, like hardware & equipment, servers deployed and configured settings tweaked by their I.T. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 12:15 AM Author #127 Share Posted Wednesday at 12:15 AM We tried breakfast at Cadillac Diner which is like the Local or O’Sheehans except the breakfast menu doesn’t have fruit. We had a spectacular visit to beautiful Hawai’i Tropical Botanical Garden. We took an Uber to the airport to get a rental car. I have photos to share for days. It costs $30/person plus we paid $15 for non-toxic mosquito repellent that they make or just sell. Before going to the botanical gardens, we saw the Banyon tree loop with banyon trees dedicated to different people. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 12:18 AM Author #128 Share Posted Wednesday at 12:18 AM Hawai’i Tropical Botanical Garden. It starts and ends with a very steep walkway. We wore athletic shoes and were careful as it was wet in some spots. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 12:20 AM Author #129 Share Posted Wednesday at 12:20 AM 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 12:43 AM Author #130 Share Posted Wednesday at 12:43 AM 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 12:45 AM Author #131 Share Posted Wednesday at 12:45 AM 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 12:47 AM Author #132 Share Posted Wednesday at 12:47 AM 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 12:51 AM Author #133 Share Posted Wednesday at 12:51 AM 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 01:01 AM Author #134 Share Posted Wednesday at 01:01 AM It was super peaceful and not “ Peopley” at all at the botanical garden. We got there at about 9:30am which worked out great as it was getting hotter as we were leaving and as more people were arriving. The steep walkway and stairs would make this difficult for anyone with mobility challenges. The last few miles to and from the botanical garden are on a one lane road at several bridges and there is one spot that is on the edge of the cliff hanging over the ocean. Yes, a little scary. Next, we went to Richardson’s Ocean park hoping to see more green sea turtles and maybe some seals but we didn’t see any. It was still neat to see the black sand beaches and watch the fish and crabs in the ponds. 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 01:06 AM Author #135 Share Posted Wednesday at 01:06 AM We got back on the ship and had a wonderful lunch in Cadillac Diner. The servers worked well together as a team resulting in great service. Our food and my husband’s milkshake were really tasty. Caesar salad not pictured. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 05:34 AM Author #136 Share Posted Wednesday at 05:34 AM We appreciate that NCL honors U.S. active duty military and veterans with a reception that is unique on each ship as the cruise director seems to decide how to conduct each reception. We look forward to attending these with military friends from Canada since I understand this benefit has been extended to them. Hopefully, it will soon include our allies from other nations as was promised. The officers and staff members greeted us. Military people are on time and it’s rare for some to arrive late like happens with the Latitudes party. We kept getting offered drinks and appetizers. We heard touching stories from current NCL employees on POA who served in the military. Then it was time to stand for the National Anthem. While the singer had an amazing voice, she didn’t know the words so she made up words. It wasn’t just a few words but many throughout the song. Ugh. That song can make me cry and it was so disappointing and disrespectful. I thought it was just me but my husband was so frustrated that he wanted to speak to someone to ask for this singer to never be asked to sing it again. I agree. We will put this in our comments. We got together for a grouo photo. Then all veterans were invited to speak. A few did and we had to leave for dinner reservations at La Cucina. Spoon appetizer of mozzarella and tomato with balsamic vinegar and a salmon appetizer. The tray has shredded red cabbage as a garnish that stuck to the spoon 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 05:41 AM Author #137 Share Posted Wednesday at 05:41 AM Dinner at La Cucina. Pretend you see a Caprese salad and a Mixed Green salad with Gorgonzola cheese and pears. Forgot to take photo until after a few bites. Main course. Pizza for my husband and Osso Bucco for me. The staff was constantly in motion getting orders and delivering food and drinks. Everything was delicious. Dessert. Gelato for me and Tiramisu for my husband. No complaints. Service and food were excellent. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 05:43 AM Author #138 Share Posted Wednesday at 05:43 AM Some sail away photos from Hilo. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare YVRteacher Posted Wednesday at 06:37 AM #139 Share Posted Wednesday at 06:37 AM I need a bigger heart emoji to like all your posts and gorgeous photos. Thank you so much for sharing. You are making another cruise on the PoA look tempting! Does the Cadillac diner still have the brownie ice cream dessert? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare PhillyTravelBug Posted Wednesday at 12:05 PM #140 Share Posted Wednesday at 12:05 PM I just got back from a cruise, but why am I looking at all of these beautiful pictures while I’m working? 😂 stunning!!! 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruiseny4life Posted Wednesday at 01:10 PM #141 Share Posted Wednesday at 01:10 PM Just seeing the photos from the botanical garden helped reduce my stress levels. When I saw the pond, I just took a deep breath and reflected. Thanks for sharing and helping me deal with the last couple days of work before my vacation! 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 08:43 PM Author #142 Share Posted Wednesday at 08:43 PM 14 hours ago, YVRteacher said: I need a bigger heart emoji to like all your posts and gorgeous photos. Thank you so much for sharing. You are making another cruise on the PoA look tempting! Does the Cadillac diner still have the brownie ice cream dessert? Aww. Thank you. We are having a great time. I don’t think they have the brownie ice cream dessert unless you mean the brownie cheesecake? They do have the daily milkshake specials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 08:45 PM Author #143 Share Posted Wednesday at 08:45 PM 8 hours ago, PhillyTravelBug said: I just got back from a cruise, but why am I looking at all of these beautiful pictures while I’m working? 😂 stunning!!! Thank you! I hope you had a great cruise. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 08:48 PM Author #144 Share Posted Wednesday at 08:48 PM 7 hours ago, cruiseny4life said: Just seeing the photos from the botanical garden helped reduce my stress levels. When I saw the pond, I just took a deep breath and reflected. Thanks for sharing and helping me deal with the last couple days of work before my vacation! Thank you! I hope you have a great vacation. I could have stayed staring at some of the scenic areas for hours but it was also a little hot, humid and the mosquitos were trying to bite even with mosquito repellant. Land vacation? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 08:51 PM Author #145 Share Posted Wednesday at 08:51 PM Aloha from Kona! I missed catching a sunrise photo. This is the tender port. Tender tickets were needed before 10:30. We are having a leisurely morning as our tour is at 12:15pm. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Wednesday at 09:00 PM Author #146 Share Posted Wednesday at 09:00 PM We had breakfast in Skyline restaurant again. This time, service was fantastic. We arrived at about 8:20an. The dining room was very busy and there was a short wait for a table. We were seated near a window but not at the window. We saw there were three window tables being set so we were one of those annoying people who asked if we could be moved to one of the window tables. Our waiter,Ron, took care of getting it approved and got us coffee, water, juice and specialty coffee for my husband. Then he let us know we would have a different server due to the table change. We ordered and everting was delivered as requested. The food was excellent and it was brought out faster than we expected. We left a little after 9 am. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molokai-Chuck Posted Wednesday at 11:34 PM #147 Share Posted Wednesday at 11:34 PM Seas2mountains... Once again a huge Mahalo for your photos and excellent reporting! Molokai-Chuck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Thursday at 02:40 AM Author #148 Share Posted Thursday at 02:40 AM The tender boat process to get to Kona took about 10-15 minutes and a bit longer coming back as we waited for the tender to be filled. Once we got to Kona, we saw a green sea turtle swimming. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Thursday at 02:45 AM Author #149 Share Posted Thursday at 02:45 AM Our tour and lunch was a walking food and drink tour booked with Kona Tasting Tours. It was a fun way to learn more about Kona from two local tour guides. We were two of fourteen people on the tour. Our first stop was at The Fish Hopper for their famous clam chowder soup paired with a glass of Prosecco. It was really good. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Seas2mountains Posted Thursday at 02:47 AM Author #150 Share Posted Thursday at 02:47 AM The second stop was to hear about the history of Kona while tasting spam with rice and seaweed. I probably wouldn’t have tried this on my own. It wasn’t bad but wasn’t great either. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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