Live from the Pride of America - 09/21-09/28/2024 - Hawai'i (Oahu to Maui to Hawai'i to Kaua'i)

[Seas2mountains]

The third location was to the historic Kona Inn to try what is claimed to be the best Mai Taii on the island. 

My husband got to enjoy two as I can’t drink pineapple. He said it was really good. 

We could see the POA in the distance. 

[Seas2mountains]

The fourth stop was to the Pa’akai Deli where delicious Ahi Poke that practically melted in your mouth was served,  It was served with rice with a tasty nut and seaweed  mixture on top with edamame 

We were also given a section of a green skinned orange fruit to try. 

[Seas2mountains]

The fifth location was at a restaurant called Kai. They served a yummy pizza with a super crispy crust. Apparently, the owner travels to Italy to get the sour dough started once per year is what we were told. 
 

The pizza was topped with pork, BBQ sauce and pineapple but they had half of one pizza without pineapple so I could eat it. It was paired with a small glass of Pina Colada. 
 

 

[Seas2mountains]

The sixth food stop was at Fosters Kitchen which was featured in Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. 
 

We were served one small piece of fish and some chips with a taste of the Cole slaw and homemade tartar sauce. It was all tasty. 
 

 

 

[Seas2mountains]

The final stop was at Gypsea Gelato for a tasting of any two types of Gelato we wanted to try. 
 

I had a coconut crunch and a chocolate with coconut gelato. 
 

The food tour started at the pier and ended at the gelato place. It took 15 minutes to walk back to the pier to get on the tenders. 

[Seas2mountains]

We are now sailing away from Kona on our way to our final port of Kawai’i tomorrow and Friday. 

[Seas2mountains]

The balconies have a neat feature - foot stools! 

[Seas2mountains]

We took the risk of sending out our laundry late yesterday morning. It all came back clean and neatly folded or on hangers this afternoon. 
 

Specialty dining update. We canceled one reservation made in error and asked about specialty dining. We were told that POA strictly enforces One appetizer or salad or soup, one entree and one dessert. They don’t allow any substitutions such as an extra appetizer instead of dessert. 
 

 

[cruiseny4life]

16 hours ago, Seas2mountains said:

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?

Unfortunately those little buggers do ruin sticking around to view the scenic points. I'm grateful you were able to see everything and share it with us though!

 

Land vacation - yes, so no live report from me. From CNY to NYC, then off to ND, MT, WY, and back home. All in ten'ish days. 

 

10 hours ago, Seas2mountains said:

You've really been lucky with the turtles! When we went to Hawai'i, way back in February 2019, we saw not one. Wrong time of year though! It just means we must return. 

[Seas2mountains]

Good morning from Kaua’i! 

[Seas2mountains]

5 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Unfortunately those little buggers do ruin sticking around to view the scenic points. I'm grateful you were able to see everything and share it with us though!

 

Land vacation - yes, so no live report from me. From CNY to NYC, then off to ND, MT, WY, and back home. All in ten'ish days. 

 

You've really been lucky with the turtles! When we went to Hawai'i, way back in February 2019, we saw not one. Wrong time of year though! It just means we must return. 

Yes, I think it means you need to come back! 
 

Have a wonderful time and have safe travels. Maybe you can share some photos in some of these CC posts. 

[Maleficent's Dad]

Love the pics entering Nawiliwili Bay.  It's been 30 years or more since I was there, so you bring back good memories!  I actually played that golf course that leads to the lighthouse!  Beautiful place.  Beautiful island!

[Seas2mountains]

Last night was dinner with the officers. We had a great time visiting with the four officers and three other couples at our table. 
 

On this ship, everyone had an opportunity to sign up for this dinner and some of the couples were new to NCL. We met up for the dinner at 6:15pm and walked out of the dining room at 9:05pm. 
 

We enjoyed listening to music in Pink’s Champagne / Martini Bar.  The Glow party was last night and we saw a few people dressed in white. They also had a sock hop with 50’s and 60’s music but we were at the dinner. 

[Seas2mountains]

We went to Skyline for breakfast at 7:30am as we had the Behind the Scenes tour at 8:10am. My husband was concerned about being done with breakfast in time. We asked to be seated in Lou’s section since we had great service from him.  
 

Lou took great care of us as we had all this breakfast food by 7:40am! We never said we were in a hurry but we both ordered the Express Breakfast which was fast. 

[Seas2mountains]

We had the Behind the Scenes tour at 8:10am. 
 

Barbara, the Cruise Next Manager, did a wonderful job with the tour. On POA, the main crew hallway is called Route 66 instead of I95 like other NCL ships. 
 

Laundry area - separated by clean and dirty areas. 

 

Room full of baggage carts. 

Edited Thursday at 07:20 PM by Seas2mountains

[Seas2mountains]

Environmental area where all trash is sorted by type. Some guests don’t ask for a Sharps container for used neddles which is so risky for the crew members to handle when mixed with general trash. 

[Seas2mountains]

Crew Bar. 

[Seas2mountains]

Galley for Liberty and Skyline dining rooms. 

Escalator to take food and items up and down to Liberty which is on floor 6 while the galley is on floor 5. 

Other galley photos while breakfast was being served in Skyline. 

[Seas2mountains]

Barbara said some big changes will be announced soon but she could not say what they were or when they will be announced. 
 

She and one of the officers did mention the dry dock in May will be three weeks long in Portland, Oregon plus the time to get to and from the dry dock. 
 

The Pride of America has been sailing completely full for the past few months. They are at or nearly fully staffed which was a challenge after the cruise restarts. 
 

We are having a great time and strongly recommend considering sailing on POA. It is an older, smaller ship but you will find that 99% of the crew are working hard to give you a great experience. New crew joins the ship on Sundays in Maui and may have their first day on the job on a Monday. 

[Seas2mountains]

We had a wonderful boat ride up the Na Pali coast. Wow!  I’ll update with more photos tomorrow. 
 

Here are a few from this evening. 

[CruisnHallelujahs]

Absolutely stunning!  Enjoying following your trip.  Thanks for doing the live. 😊 

[Seas2mountains]

4 hours ago, CruisnHallelujahs said:

Absolutely stunning!  Enjoying following your trip.  Thanks for doing the live. 😊 

Thank you for your kind words. 😃

[Seas2mountains]

Yesterday morning, we got off the ship to walk around as our boat tour started in the afternoon.  As we were leaving the port, we saw a car rental shuttle van for National. We asked the driver how frequently he picked up guests and he said he would do his last run at 11am. 
 

We walked around the Sonesta resort area along the beach and took the car rental shuttle to the airport to pick up the car. We were able to park the car on the street near the cruise ship port. 

[Seas2mountains]

We got a tasty lunch at the buffet before driving to Captain Andy’s in ‘Ele’ele or Port Allen. 
 

The check-in time was at 1:45pm. At 2pm, we received a text with a link that assigned us to one of three boats by color. I believe each boat held 49 passengers, a captain, chef and two crew  members. 
 

Here is our boat. 

[Seas2mountains]

Seating areas for those who wanted to sit on the sides or back of the boat.   Some people went to the front of the boat and stayed there the entire 4 1/2 hours.