POH 1/29 review

[caserko]

I just submitted this to the Member Review page also. Will also post on Hawaii forum. Will try to answer questions if I don't crash from this jet lag!

 

We are late 20-somethings married for a couple years and went on this cruise to experience Hawaii. The crowd was definitely older than us, I'd say the majority in their 40's to 60's.

 

Pre-cruise: We flew direct from Houston and stayed one night pre-cruise at the Waikiki Circle Hotel. The room was tiny and the hotel is definitely on the older side, but very cute/unique (it's circular) and in a good location and good price. Worked fine for our purposes. The taxi to the pier was $22 (and was a stretch limo to our surprise--it's what the hotel called for us--hey we won't complain, we arrived in style)!

 

Embarkation: We arrived around 11:45 and were on board in about 30 minutes. Some people were confused as to where to go first, i.e. get your room tags, go through security, THEN get in the real line. They could have better signs for that. We went right to Deck 8 to book restaurant reservations and got everything we wanted with a little variation on times. Another CC member had suggested that Cagney's or Le Bistro would be good on the first night with less crowds, but we did this and I would NOT recommend it unless you want to walk into Le Bistro in the grungy clothes you come on ship with. Our bags didn't arrive by our 6:30 reservation, but they WERE there when we got back to our room around 8.

 

Stateroom: So we were in an inside stateroom which is, yes, SMALL. But ours was in a good location--midship on deck 9 is good b/c everything is pretty close. We used the stairs a lot because the wait for the elevators was long. There are built-in shelves that help maximize space all over the room, so if you're organized the whole week it doesn't feel claustrophobic. The bed was comfortable except you really can feel the ridge between the two beds that were pushed together. The shower is great--the head is adjustable up and down (good since I'm short and my husband is tall). One thing about not having a balcony if you need the internet--you don't get signal. My husband had to check in with work a lot and he had to go up to the pool area or in another public space to use his cell phone for the internet. If we'd had a balcony this would have been easier--just something to think about if you unfortuately have to have internet access. Those plans are ridiculously expensive.

 

Meals: All in all the food was mediocre. I read the boards extensively before so I knew it wasn't 5-star dining and I was prepared not to be upset, so I wasn't. But really, the quality could be better. Everyone seems to LOVE Papa's...I actually thought it was the worst specialty restaurant (hey, it IS the free one). My lasagna tasted like Chef Boyardee and what is it with the caesar salads absolutely SWIMMING in dressing? Ask for it on the side. Sushi was really good, and Jasmine Gardens was really good (which surprised me--I don't typically like Chinese). Cagney's was okay--the bananas foster was really good. Do NOT get the lobster bisque--that was the strangest soup I've ever tasted--with some pumpkin puree in it?? In fact, I never had a good soup on the ship--even though they had totally different names, strangely enough they all tasted like they were in the same blender...

 

Le Bistro, again, was okay. Nothing to write home about, but good service and nice atmomsphere. The only meal that made me mad was "lobster night." We ate at Alizar (waited 1 hr at 7) and it was just packed, so the service was slow. They couldn't find bread. But what made me mad was the actual lobster--it was the puniest tail I've ever seen and completely overcooked. If I had to do it over again, I'd just order the whole lobster for the extra $10 at Cagney's. Didn't eat at Paniolo's. The Aloha Nui Buffet on Deck 12 was okay for breakfast. Same stuff every single morning--they could be a lot more inventive--I mean they have everything (omlettes, pancakes, sausage, etc.) but they could do these differently from day to day, like "macadamia nut pancakes" or something like that.

 

Excursions/Activities: We had some extremely strong winds in the beginning of the week up through Kona. We were able to tender, the first ship after 3 before us that couldn't even do that. But we got up all early and excited about Captain Zodiac and tendered to the pier, only to have them cancel it at the last minute due to high surf. That was a real bummer. We rented cars in Hilo, on Maui, and Kauai. Had so much fun exploring VNP (did bring flashlights and go in the dark part of the lava tunnel--very cool) and Akaka Falls--GET THE REVEALED BOOK!!!! In Maui we went to Lahaina on the first day, which was cute. The HUMONGOUS banyan tree park was cool. Had good pizza at BJ's (or something like that, it was Chicago-style) and some good shopping. Went to the South side on the 2nd day in Wailua which was nice--the waves were crazy big. On Kona since our tour was cancelled we just walked around the town, which I thought was adorable. Better shopping in my opinion than Lahaina. They have a little store on the far end of the main street where this woman makes clay orchids and they are really unique and cute. Her son runs the "business" while she makes the art. It's reasonably priced and we brought one home, though it did get a little bent so I might recommend shipping it.

 

Kauai was the BEST!! We had great weather. First we did Airventures on our own, a small plane tour (1 hr for $99) over the whole island--I'm telling you it was breathtaking. Thor, our guide, was really informative but didn't talk TOO much. Then we drove to the south side to Poipu Beach, where there was a huge monk seal just lounging on the beach, very cool. Watching the teenagers body surf and boogie board was amusing. We didn't snorkel, but others who rented gear saw a lot of fish right off the beach. We walked around Koloa which was quite cute.

 

Second day on Kauai we did the Kauai Canopy Zipline Tour. There are a few zipline tours and the NCL ppl at the shore excursion desk were really unhelpful in choosing one--none of them have been on any of the tours and couldn't answer any specific questions. We found this throughout the week, which I think really needs to be addressed. One guy told a couple on our zipline tour that they weren't allowed to bring a camera, which was totally wrong. Anyway the tour was really really fun. The guides were great. The last thing we did was the Grand Circle Island Tour on debarkation day. What can I say? My husband and I were the youngest on the tour by about 40 years and again, the shore excursion desk was not helpful--if we had known what it was we wouldn't have done it. Seriously, driving around a beautiful island on a bus for 8 hours--how frustrating. I thought it was just going to take us places and let us get off and explore on our own, but they let us off at several places for 5 minutes to take pictures and get back on. We also had pointless stops at run-down tourist traps that sold the same thing you saw everywhere. Again, frustrating. We did it only b/c we didn't feel like messing with a rental car on the last day and we didn't have the Revealed book...so we took the lazy route. Our bad. :)

 

One note on Thrifty--we had no problems whatsoever and got convertibles each time because of Blue Chip--I highly recommend joining it. Coming back from Hilo the shuttle took forever to take us back to the ship, but we just jumped on Hertz after awhile. Other shuttles went smoothly.

 

NCL staff: Our steward, Wayne, was so sweet and always said a friendly hello and asked what we needed. For some reason our room was not made up at all the first two days and when I called around 5PM on the second day, they said only the "turn down" crew was around and they couldn't change sheets or clean the bathroom. Okay. Anyway it was fixed by the third day and we never had a problem after that. (And yes, we knew about the dials on the outside of the room). I found almost everyone to be helpful and friendly and accomodating, with the exception of the shore excursion staff. Then there was a debaucle at debarkation. They took a candle I had bought in Kauai when we were reboarding--you have to go through security each time and they said they don't allow candles b/c they don't want you burning them in the room (even though it was a gift). They gave me a receipt and said I could get it when we debarked. Well, when I asked about it no one seemed to know where to get it back and the security ppl took my ship card and the receipt and disappeared. Meanwhile the tour bus loaded up and the ENTIRE bus was waiting for me and my stupid candle. I told them that I really had to go and they just looked confused. I started getting mad and just asked for my ship card and receipt back, but then they didn't know who took it and where that person was, so I just had to leave it. I called NCL today and I have to fax or mail a letter for them to "investigate." All that for a $16 candle. But still, there were other ppl whose stuff was confiscated and they should've been more organized about it, bottom line.

 

We didn't do ANY of the shows--ate rather late and then just crashed.

 

I'm sure I forgot stuff but all in all it was a FANTASTIC trip. I say use the ship as a floating hotel and explore Hawaii--it's like nowhere else I've ever seen.

[hcs81m]

Very informative. Thank you for posting.

[ljmil]

Enjoyed your review. We are scheduled to go on the POH 2/19. What is the revealed book? Did you rent your cars ahead or through the ship? Are the rental cars right at the pier?

 

Thanks.

 

ljmil

[cruzfiend]

Great review, Caserko.

We were on this sailing also and agree w/everything.

We rented our cars ahead of time thru Thrifty, and we never had any problems.

I will say - Our group of six thought the "Freestyle" sure needs some organization. I didn't like it at all.

[Browezilla]

Enjoyed your review. We are scheduled to go on the POH 2/19. What is the revealed book? Did you rent your cars ahead or through the ship? Are the rental cars right at the pier?

 

Thanks.

 

ljmil

Hey ljmil, I put some info over on our 2/19 roll call earlier. The best price is via http://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com/index.htm, and the rental companies pick you up in shuttles to take you to the airport (in most cases) to pick up the car. They also return you to the port at the end of your rental. I'm renting on all of the islands with Thrifty through the site above.

 

The "* Revealed" books are books title something similar to "Maui Revealed". Their pretty good, especially because of the pictures, but my favorite is still Fodors Hawaii.

[caserko]

I would definitey recommend renting ahead of time from Thrifty--on at least one day (I think it was in Kauai) there were ppl who just got off the ship wanting to rent and the shuttle driver said they were all booked. We did it through the hawaiidiscountcarrental.com.

 

And yes, the "Revealed" book is actually part of the "Revealed" series--they have one for each island. Fabulous guide books with out of the way sites, good maps, and accurate info as far as we could find.