Just back POH 8/20/2007

[kapoho2]

We live on the Big Island and enjoy doing these interisland cruises whenever we can. We have cruised the islands on the Star (including Fanning Island), the Wind 2X (11-nt. to Fanning Island), the POH, the POA, and this last one which was the POH again.

 

Our son and his fiance flew in from Chicago and met us onboard. Their air was purchased from NCL and they were put on the United non-stop to and from Chicago. My husband and I were lucky enough to score our airfare during one of those interisland fare wars....ours was $9.00 each way!!

 

We all arrived at the ship on time and after the muster drill we went up to the Bali Hai bar to meet the folks from these CC boards. It was a lot of fun...and nice to be able to keep in touch with all of them throughout the cruise.

 

We were in an inside cabin on deck 8 aft. No surprises...as we had the same type of cabin on our last POH cruise. The ship looks fantastic...in great repair. This is really a beautiful ship....we love the bright colors and the Hawaiian decor.

 

We only did 2 shore excursions this time. On Maui the guys did "Catch a Wave" (surfing lesson) and us ladies just bought the "Lahaina on your Own" bus tickets and rode along and watched and then did some shopping on Front St. My husband did this same lesson last year...and this time he said that there were WAY too many surfers and students in the water. He did not get as many "rides" and thought the crowds made for dangerous conditions. In fact, one of the instructors out in the water with them quit on the spot...citing that the conditions were too dangerous for him.

 

The other excursion we did was the "Kona Beach Blast"...which was a fun day at the beach. There were plenty of loungers, pedal bikes, kayaks, snorkel equip., etc. to keep everyone happy. The glass bottom boat ride was fun...I took 2 rides on it!! The only disappointment was that when we signed up for this tour it said that lunch was included. This has changed...and lunch must now be purchased separately if you are hungry. We opted to wait until we returned to the ship at approx. 2:30pm as we had a big breakfast before heading off on this tour and were not hungry anyway.

 

We all enjoyed all of the entertainment each evening. We had seen the magician (Scott Alexander) several times before...and enjoyed his shows just as much this time. He is very funny. The production shows were colorful and fun. The Star Seeker Talent show on the last evening started off with a 6-yr. old girl singing....and I am sure only her mother thought she was cute or good. We lost interest immediately and left. Too bad...there should be a separate show where children can perform and the rest of us do not have to endure them.

 

My husband had fun participating in some of the Nintendo Wii competitions in the Medusa Lounge and the main lobby. It is great that adults and kids can compete against each other in these games and everyone has fun.

 

We ate breakfasts and lunches at the buffet. We ate most of our dinners in the main dining rooms...with the exception of one night at Papa's and one night at Paniolo's. Both of the reservations for these specialty restaurants were made the same day mid-afternoon. We had no problem getting reservations for 9 pm. We never had a wait at either of the main dining rooms....but we do tend to dine late...usually between 8:30pm and 9:30 pm. Food was great as usual.

 

Here was one of the biggest surprises for us. In each day's Freestyle Daily there were TWO postings outlining the dress code. "FREESTYLE ATTIRE in RESTAURANTS: Just a reminder that shorts are not allowed in dining areas, except in the Aloha Nui Cafe, and jeans are allowed in ALL dining outlets with the exception of the Grand Pacific Dining Room after 6pm." Despite these postings....I saw men in shorts in EVERY restaurant in the evenings. Nothing was enforced. Also, I know that jeans are allowed now everywhere (except Grand Pacific)...but I was appalled when I saw a couple in DUNGAREES and t-shirts and flip-flops enter the Le Bistro one evening. Our son and his girlfriend thought we were hasseling them when I had outlined the dress code to them before we cruised. Everything I had told them was proven wrong...and they thought I was basically making things up. Too bad....my concern is that next we will see "baseball caps on backwards" in all of the dining venues. I had a feeling that I was dining in Denny's most nights. A very sad thing to be sure.

 

Another disappointment was that there were no fresh flower leis given out on the first day. They used to be given to the ladies upon boarding, then on our last cruise on the POA, they were given out during the sailaway party from Honolulu which was very festive. On this cruise, during sailaway, the staff were only handing out those tacky shell leis. Another sad thing....because nothing says Hawaii more than fresh flower leis.

 

And, I guess there is no more turn down service. We had excellent housekeeping in our cabin...we made sure to turn our dial each day...and our cabin was well attended to. But, even though we turned the dial to request turn-down in the evenings, it never happened. This is not a big deal...but I missed it as it really makes me think that I am on vacation and staying in a more upscale hotel...or nicer cruise line. Oh well.

 

And, my last gripe is that after all of the hype about the new Lattitudes program..I guess this has been suspended also. We never recieved any of the perks that were to be left in the room on certain evenings. We are silver members and on our last cruise, there was a nice travel diary, and snacks left for us on two separate occassions. We could care less about the snacks...but it was nice to be recognized. I guess this is no longer in the budget either. Too bad.

 

Seeing all of these little perks going away is rather alarming. Makes one wonder what is next?????

 

Overall though, we had a wonderful cruise as usual. We had perfect weather and the cruise by the Napali Coast was so beautiful with the low hanging clouds and the rainbows that it brought tears to our eyes.

 

We are huge fans of NCL and NCLA. We purchased the Cruise Rewards Certificate and will give NCL another chance. But, if things keep changing we will have to rethink our loyalties for sure. However, these cruises are a wonderful way to see the islands...even for those of us who live here!!

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[auntweezie]

THanks for the review. It sounds like a wonderful trip. We leave next friday and I'm so excited. I'm a little disappointed about the flower lei's not being given out. Just might have to arrange that on our own I guess.

[CC Help Michell]

I enjoyed your review, Kapaho. :) Glad you had a nice time and found the ship in good condition. I noticed the flower lei thing too -- I still had the one from Paradise Cove luau on Oahu, so we did have that in the cabin... but receiving a fresh one on the ship would have been nice. Your comment about lack of enforcement of the dress code is something I've heard before, across NCL/A -- in fact, "enforce the rules" was one of the top suggestions for NCL's CEO on a thread on the main Norwegian board. It doesn't seem like they intend to do so, though.

 

Thanks again for a balanced review, and I'm glad you had fun with your son and future daughter in law.

[Coolcruise02]

Great review! Thanks for sharing. :)

[RachieLnnn]

Thanks for your review! I cannot wait to come visit your fine state! :D

[pattibacon]

Hey, Kapoho. Mike and I felt the same way about the hats in the dining rooms!!! We really had a great time, though, and enjoyed meeting y'all. Hope to see you again. I put my e-mail address on our board thread so get it. I noticed Linda wrote today with hers, too. We LOVED Scott Alexander. He was funnier than the comedian. Glad to be home but hate getting back to the grind. Less than 4 months till Mike's retirement, so..... Take care and enjoyed your review. Stay in touch.l

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

They were giving out fresh flower leis at the pool party on the embarkation night on POH but they ran out well before I got there. So sad. I think they are so obsessed with the hand sanitizers at all entrances that they decided to stop the lei greetings. Too bad. They really should re-think that plan. As for the dress code thing, I think they should have a couple restaurants that strictly enforce it for those that want to dress up and most of them for casual attire. I for one don't want to bring along fancy duds for both DH & I so we usually ate at the buffet for that reason. Food was good and we could wear what we wanted. We also were dressed nicer than usual for our Cagney's and LeBistro nights and saw people in LeBistro wearing shorts and hats which surprised me. But Cagney's I saw them turning people away at the entrance for their attire.

[kapoho2]

I suppose a lot of it has to do with who the "enforcer" is a the door of a particular restaurant. I have no problem with resort casual attire...and that is as fancy as we get. My only problem is with folks who constantly try to get around the rules. And, the buffet on the NCLA ships is a great dining venue at night. Many times the food is very similar to what is being served in the dining rooms. Wonderful for a buffet!!

[zhwang]

Great posting. We were on the same cruise and enjoyed it.

 

This is probably old news. But there is no happy hour for any of the specialty restaurants on POH. It came as quite a big surprise since I've read so much about the 5:30-6:30pm half price thing and nobody ever mentioned otherwise. Maybe it is half price only for suite guests?

 

About shore excursions. We got fliers from two tour companies before we boarded the ship: Robert's and Gray Line (aka, Polynesian Adventure Tour). They don't offer quite as many excursions as NCL does, but for the same tours, their prices are way cheaper. We canceled our Hilo Volcano National Park tour reservation through NCL ($49/pp) and took the same tour for $20/pp with Gray Line. To our surprise, we ended up on exactly the same bus as other POHers who booked through NCL. It turns out NCL has chosen Gray Line for most of their sightseeing tours. How much NCL makes out of it? You do the maths.

 

If you plan on going to the Waimea Canyon on Kauai, try to be there early during the day. We got there around 5:30 pm. The first sight was breathtaking. But the next second, literally, everything in the canyon was in fog/cloud. The poor family who arrived just a minute after us didn't see a thing!

 

One more thing. In Lahaina and other towns, we saw ads for dirt cheap excursions, like $50 helicopter tours or $19 luau. We were told that you have to sit through some time-share seminar to get those prices. May not sound like a good idea for cruise, since time in port is so precious to us. But maybe someone who has done that could tell us whether it fits into a cruise itinerary. That could be some serious money saved.

 

Best.

[beachchick]

zhwang: The 1/2 off at the upcharge restaurants was between 5:30 and 6:30 for all pax and on all nights on PoH in December. Just one more thing they have done away with in the past few months.

 

About the cheap excursions with a time-share presentation. You have to ask what your time is worth. These things are a minimum of 2 hours and are usually longer. I would never, ever recommend it for cruise pax. We're not interested in doing the time-share thing at all. We wouldn't even consider it on one of our land trips. You have to do the time-share thing on their time schedule and you don't get your tickets for the excursions until after you go to the time-share deal.

 

beachchick