Review POA 5/27

[kmbic]

POA 5/27/07

Day One: Arrived in Hawaii around 8:00 pm from NY. A long flight but wasn’t too tired. We stayed at the Marriott Waikiki for the night, booked it ourselves. We hired our own transportation (VIP transportation 1-866-836-0317) to pick up us from the airport and to take us to the Ship the next day.

We arrived at the port around 1:30 pm, everything moved really well. Once on the ship they announced that our cabins were ready. When we arrived to our cabin it was what we expected, since we were only using this as a floating hotel. One BIG problem was that we had NO AC! It got hotter and hotter with NO air flow, since we had an inside room. We went to the front desk and they assured us that it would be fixed. Still at 5 pm they were still assuring us that it would get fixed. Well guess what the next thing we knew the boat was leaving and NO AC. That night we ate at Pacific heights, which we thought was pretty good. Tried to go to bed but it must have been 100 degrees in the room. After calling several times with them saying they will put a work order in and nothing happened, I went down stairs to guest registration. Come to find out many people were down there with the same problems. The assistant Hotel director was there not giving any answers and lying to us. Would only accommodate us with a few bottles of water and an answer to find some where on the ship that is cool and go sleep there. So we decided to go to the pool deck. By now it was 11:30 and there were 2 people in the hot tub and others trying to sleep up there. We went down to the reg. desk again to ask if they could please turn the music off on the deck, the person in charge was really nasty. She said they couldn’t turn it off until 12:00 because it would inconvenience the customers on board. Had no sympathy for the people trying to sleep up there being inconvenienced with no AC, this made us even more up set. Finally we went back to the deck and were woken up around 1:30 am and were told our ac was working. We went back to the room and it seemed like it was working a little. It then went out again by the am and we never got it again until Sat. night around 9 pm. So more or less we had no ac for the whole trip. The customer service was terrible and no one new how to handle the situation properly. That’s what made us so upset. We finally got a fan Thursday night which at least helped the air to circulate. All in the entire trip was fantastic if you put NCL aside from everything else.

Day 2: Arrived in Kauai it is so beautiful there! Rented a car from national, purchased an over night parking ticket at the shopping center. We headed up the North shore and stopped at Opacka Falls, Kilauea light house (which was closed because of Mem. Day). We drove up past Hanalei bay stopping at several sights. It was breath taking one sight better than the other. We then headed back down to Po’ipu to see the Blow hole, spouting horn, and to see Wailua Falls. We stopped at Po’ipu Beach Broiler which was pretty good. We than went back to the ship and ate dinner at Crossings, food ok :/.

Day2: Got up early and drove to Port Allen for a helicopter ride by Inter Island (1-808-335-5567) was wonderful!!!!! What and experience going on the helicopter with no doors. It was one of the best excursions we planned. We stopped at a remote falls and were able to swim there if we wanted. I would recommend this ride to everyone! We then went back to the ship and went to the spa since I purchased an Anniversary package which included a massage for both of us. I felt I was in heaven except they had little air there also. We then had dinner at the Royal Palm for our 25th ann. Dinner. The food was ok but the service was great, our waiter even sang to us! The ship went past the Napoli coast line that night, it was nice but our helicopter ride around it was the best!

Day 3: Arrived in Hilo went into the village and walked around. We then took the Circle of Fire helicopter ride excursion put on by NCL. We both thought it was nothing compared to the ride we had in Kauai (would NOT recommend it) since we went on that we didn’t get up to NVP which I was truly disappointed by. That night the ship went by the flowing lava which was really nice. Get on deck 11 in the front of the ship, this area is great for taking pictures.

Day 4 Arrived in Kona, went on the Captain Zodiac snorkel tour, if you get sea sick go early in the am when the waters are calmer. This was wonderful also! Highly recommend it. We then went to the village and walked around had lunch at a nice place but can’t recall the name of it. Once you tender to dock, go out to the main street cross over to the other side go right and cross over the first street its on the corner with a really nice direct view of the bay. Until we needed to go back on the ship. Make sure you bring underwater cameras and plenty of sun screen if you do the snorkel trip. While on the snorkel trip they took us past volcano tubes, blow holes, looked for spinner Dolphins and plenty of other areas. We had Chad and his helper, crazy but really fun!

Day 5: Arrived in Maui, rented car from Thrifty. We drove the Hanna highway stopped at Puohokamoa falls, while taking the short walk back to it there was a local make beautiful necklaces and bracelets. Expensive but well worth the purchase. Unfortunately there hadn’t been much rain so the waterfalls weren’t very good, some better than others. The ride was wonderful stopping along several spots along the way. Ate at Mamma’s Fish House Restaurant (would highly recommend it! Expensive but worth every penny!) Need to make reservations, ask to be seated on the porch area because the view is wonderful. During the ride you can observe wind surfers, Waterfalls, cliff jumpers, lava tunnels, black sand beaches.

Day 6: Got up and out at 2:45 am for the sunrise bike tour up to Haleakala. Another excursion by NCL (would recommend this to anyone that can ride a bike!) Ask for the tour with Shane and (Uncle Rus…he’s a real trip). After we arrived back at the ship around 11:30 am we headed over to Lahaina and drove the coastline stopping along to admire all the beautiful sights, one being better than the other.

After our trip we stay in Waikiki for 6 nights. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. We did the Shark Encounter on the northern shore. This was great, saw 2 giant tiger sharks http://www.hawaiisharkencounters.com. We had the BEST garlic shrimp at BIG Wave Shrimp it was so good we went there 3 times to eat. We made friends with the owners Kawita and Michael and son Chris. You really need to stop there on the north shore in Haleiwa. My husband tried surfing all though the waves were very small with Sunset Susie which was in the movie Blue Crush. Also there’s a beach between Waimea Bay and Haleiwa known as Turtle beach. If you go there in the afternoon between 12-3 you will see the sea turtles on the beach sun bathing. The snorkeling at Hanauma Bay is wonderful but would suggest going early in the am when less crowded, before 8 am because by 9-930 it starts to get really crowded. We spent most of our time around the North and East shores. We went to Germaine’s Luau which we found was pretty good. The food was just ok but the entertainment made up for it. You also got 3 drink coupons there.

We had a wonderful trip and are ready to go back. But we will never do the cruise again around the islands at least with NCL. We are not demanding people at all and like I said we didn't have big expectations about the trip, food or activities, but the way we were treated and lied to there's NO excuses! Hawaii has great food and great fish dishes and Drinks! Try the fish taco when you get a chance. This was the best trip that we have ever been on and will treasure it forever! One good thing that was really fun on the ship was the Bar crawl. I'm not much of a drinker but really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun.

One word of advise before you go on the POA make sure your room has AC! :)

[FB]

Great review, Thanks

 

What room number were you in.

 

Our current room assignment is mid ship on the 10th floor. I'm sure the problem will be fixed by August.

 

I was really interested in the Shark adventure. How was it. Was it worth the money.

 

Thanks

[kmbic]

We were in 8129 but it effected a whole section of the ship. I hope its fixed by then also :). The shark encounter was really great! I get motion sickness so we choose to take the earliest excurssion out (7am) because they say the waters can get ruff. The price was $100.00 per person and was worth every penny. I guess last year they had a great white there. They take you out about 3 miles off shore, put no more than 6 people in the cage at once and your in the cage for about 1/2. We only had 4 in our cage which was great! Really good pictures on the boat and in the water. HAve fun!

[joyce155]

why did you not like the circle of fire tour was the helicopter by blue hawaiian?

[kmbic]

Yes it was by BH. After the helicopter ride from inter island in Kauai, I don't think anything could beat that. Also Being in the middle seat in the back wasn't good. I hardly had any room, it was hot, hard to take pictures ( all my picture have reflections of heads or something else in it)and The pilot kept repeating himself. We bought the video tape and the sound isn't working. I guess I would have decided to drive up to VNP instead of doing that tour because I was disappointed. When we went by the Orange glowing holes on top of the volcano he went by so fast that I hardly even saw it. I guess if someone never went on a helpicoter before they might have liked it better. It was the least like thing we did on our whole 2 week trip.

[joyce155]

thanks for the info

[Duffys wife 1957]

Thanks for the great review...I certainly would be unhappy if I didn't have any AC. Did they compensate you for our inconvience? On The Captain Zodiac tour did you see many fish, and was the water a little cool? We have heard rave reviews about Captian Zodiac and we are thinking of taking it also.. :D

[MommyJamiex4]

I am so glad to hear that you liked the shark encounter. Dh booked us on one in Nov. Ours is at 9. Should we switch to the 7am one?

[carmel]

Great review.

 

One question - on Kauai you mentioned purchasing a shopping mall parking ticket. What shopping mall are you talking about and is it within walking distance to the ship or do you need to take a taxi from your parking spot back to the ship.

 

THANKS!!!

[umwife11]

Oh no...I'm so sorry you were on that sailing! I've been reading POA reviews that mention AC problems going back to the 5/7 sailing and I just saw a post from someone just off the ship who was without AC six of the seven days.

 

Here's a link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=571090

 

I will say this though--it sounds like you all had a wonderful time in all the ports and made the most of it. Glad that part--if only that part--were great.

 

Welcome home!

[kmbic]

Carmel the shopping mall is within walking distance from the ship. As you come out the road from the ship its a small shop on the left hand side. There may be a sign out front. Just go in and tell them you want to purchase the over night parking pass.

 

MommyJamiex4 I would change the time if you get motion sickness. In Nov. they say the waters are much worst. I also would recommend the motion sickness wrist bands and even taking some type of med. Call them and ask them what they think. You will love it!

 

duffy's wife The captain zodiac trip was amazing! The water was really nice when we went (end of May) only wore bathing suits. We saw alot of fish, they were so beautiful and so many different kinds and colors. I would def. book this tour again!

[judyf]

We hired our own transportation (VIP transportation 1-866-836-0317) to pick up us from the airport and to take us to the Ship the next day.

 

I just started reading you review and I already have a question. How much was this service? There will be 4 of us and not sure if we will all fit in a rental with our luggage. I'm looking for other options to see what will work best for us.

 

Thanks, back to reading.

 

Another queation. when you talk about the different waterfalls on the drives, did you have to hike a lot to see them? I'm wondering what falls we can see without long hikes. One in our group can't hike too far.

[Glamourgal]

Thanks for the review. I'm so sorry to hear about the AC problem. I think I would probably have been most mad at the fact that customer service was not up front about the problem. Everyone know that things like that can happen but when they make up stories and tell you it will be fixed by a certain time that is just poor customer service. I really do not understand that.:(

 

I am happy to see you did make the most of your vacation. I have a question for you regarding Kauai. You mentioned that you went to the north shore. Did you make it to Kee's beach? We are going to have a rental car for the first day that we are there. We would also like to drive to the North Shore in the morning and then maybe try to make it back to Wainea Canyon on the way back. It sounds like this is what you did. I just wasn't sure if this was possible to do in one day. On the second day that we are there we are doing Jungle Falls Kayak and we do not have a car that day.

[kmbic]

JudyF, The total for the 2 of us from airport to hotel then hotel to pier was 85.41 thats with lei's given to us at the airport. It would have been cheaper if I didn't have the lei's, maybe 30.00 less???? You can go on line and sign up and it will give you the price. They are waiting for you down by the bageage area with signs. This is a shared ride but all the hotels we stopped at were so close to one another. As for the water falls, we did not hike to any water falls except for the one on the highway to hana where I mentioned buying a necklace. That hike was only a couple of minutes. Theres sooooo many water falls to see even without hiking. I bought the Revealed guidebooks for every island and as we drove followed them step buy step and saw alot. We didn't stop where we had to hike a ways because we want to cover alot on our first trip to Hawaii.

[judyf]

JudyF, The total for the 2 of us from airport to hotel then hotel to pier was 85.41 thats with lei's given to us at the airport. It would have been cheaper if I didn't have the lei's, maybe 30.00 less???? You can go on line and sign up and it will give you the price. They are waiting for you down by the bageage area with signs. This is a shared ride but all the hotels we stopped at were so close to one another. As for the water falls, we did not hike to any water falls except for the one on the highway to hana where I mentioned buying a necklace. That hike was only a couple of minutes. Theres sooooo many water falls to see even without hiking. I bought the Revealed guidebooks for every island and as we drove followed them step buy step and saw alot. We didn't stop where we had to hike a ways because we want to cover alot on our first trip to Hawaii.

 

Great! That's what Iw as hoping!!!!! Sounds like a nice day.