Review: Regal Princess 15 day cruise to Hawaiin Islands

[GloriaF]

I have written a review and submitted it to the CC review section, but it may be too long or take a while to be posted, so am posting it here. Hopefully it will help someone with an upcoming cruise. I will be happy to answer any questions also. With our resident Hawaiin natives, there is hardly need for my input, but I did want to share with you.

Part 1 - Regal Princess Review 4/5/04

We had looked forward to this cruise for forever! Our neighbors gave us a Bon Voyage party on 4/2, we packed 4/3, and left for the airport at 4:45 am on 4/4. JAX to DFW to LGB --easy flight; we were in LGB by 2:00 pm. We had reservations at the Hyatt Regency LGB (made thru priceline for $55) but no shuttle service. The fixed rate for a taxi is $17 from airport to hotel, although the meter read close to $25. Hotel was nice (as expected), and as soon as we checked in we headed out to the Harbor for a meal. We ate at Tequila Jack's -- OK Mexican food but the margaritas have very little tequila in them. We walked around this area and window shopped, just killing time. We wnet back to the hotel and checked again with the airport, as our main bag had gone to KC instead of LGB. It came around midnight, so thank goodness we went a day early!

Taxi to the port about 11:30, I think the fare was about $35. A long line had formed, but in true Princess style it did not take too long to embark. Our room, outside B297, was just fine -- our room steward was Micki from Romania. She was headed home after this cruise and her mind wasn't on service, but she did her job. There was a complimentary bottle of wine awaiting us from Kim, as well as 2 comp casual photos. Off we went to explore the ship and have lunch at the buffet (Cafe del Sol).

We found the Regal to be a fine ship, and we never had a moment when we didn't have an activity to entertain us if we so chose. I did not notice the ship's decor to be dated as some have mentioned, but then I prefer traditional to glitz anyway.

We had opted for a large table at late seating, but when we went to dinner we were the only ones at a table for 6, for several nights in a row. Renzo, the maitre d, approached us with a request from the 30-40 Phillipino Americans at the tables close by that we share our table with a couple and a child from their group that did not get seated with them. Renzo offered to move us, but we were quite happy with Dwight's and Daniel's service, so we shared the table. The other 4 absent diners were moved to another table. The Phillipino-American group were active, always having fun with jokes and songs. Whenever anyone in the dining room had a special occasion, they sang too, and by the end of the cruise the entire dining room was singing along. Meeting new people is part of what makes the cruise fun, and we enjoyed our new friends.

We met the Cruise Critic group in The Dome on the first full sea day as arranged previously. Bob-A-Loo, cindiemark, cruzngirl, BalloonDude, and skeptic 24x7 were at the meeting. It was great putting faces to names, and we saw these people thru-out the cruise. We even formed a CC entry for the scrap heap competition, so we met with the CC group quite often.

The seas were rocking & rolling, but not as bad as the cruise before us. We had sunny weather for the most part, and most people did not get seasick. The temperature came as a big surprise to me! I packed as if going to the Caribbean and I should have packed less warm weater clothing and more cool weather things -- like a jacket and long pants. The first 2 sea days out were cool and windy, then day 3 & 4 warmed up and we got a start on our tan.

We did a lot of reading and relaxing, but there were plenty of activities if that is what you wanted. We did a little of both, and finally made it to Afternoon Tea as well. And we spend a great deal of time with Bobbi, Cindie, Mark & Ginger, when they weren't in the casino. Cindie won over $8,000 on a previous cruise.

The shows were good and new to us, so we went to the International Show Lounge each evening for the 10:15 show immediately after dinner. We also dropped in to the kareoke(Princess Idol competition) in the Bengal Lounge, and the trivia games every once in a while. The piano player in the Adagio Lounge sounded good, but too sedate for us.


Part 2 - 5/4 Regal to Hawaii: The Islands

5 different ports in 5 days is not the best arrangement, but I am not complaining! We were aware of the itinerary from the beginning and are glad that we were able to see a glimpse of 5 different ports, 4 different islands. Now if we have the opportunity to visit the Hawaiin islands on a land vacation, we’ll know better where we would like to stay. I would love to go back to Hilo, Honolulu, Kauai & Maui (leave Kona out) for about 4 days with a car at each location …. maybe someday! But back to the cruise:

We started out well-rested from 4.5 days at sea, but by the time the 5th port came around we were a little road weary. Still, it was a spectacular adventure and I would not change anything, or at least only minor things like car rental hassles. I posted under a separate topic that the info I received from the Budget reservationist did not agree with the actuality of shuttle pick ups, and I would definitely call the local agencies to double check that information before leaving on the trip (next time). You know what they say about hindsight.

The first port was Hilo on The Big Island of Hawaii. Hilo is on the rainy, thus lush tropical foliage, side. The guide book said it rains in Hilo 278 days a year. It rained -- poured at times -- the day we were there. We had a rental car thru Budget, expecting a shuttle to pick us up at the pier, but when we arrived at the “pickup place” we were not the only ones waiting -- and no shuttle. After 30-45 mins of checking with the authorities and being told that the van would be here any minute and not to call the agency because we might miss it when it comes, we finally gave up and called anyway. We learned that Budget did not purchase a pass to come thru the gates at the pier and that we would have to walk a short distance outside the gate to be picked up. There had already been a couple of showers, but it wasn’t raining at the moment so we all set out past the gate. The shuttle came in a few minutes, and we all piled in (literally) with kids sitting on people’s laps and 4 to a seat. But we got there and everyone got a car. We had a Ford Focus, and my husband, Bob, said it drove well. We had planned to go to Volcanoes National Park, but at the last minute decided that we had seen volcanoes (not active), craters, steam vents, paint pots, and lava on our western US trip last summer, and headed up to Waipio Valley Overlook on H19, then 240 to the end. It was beautiful with 2 huge waterfalls and green everywhere. At the top was a road closed to rental cars with a 25% grade to the valley. In he valley was farmland and a couple of houses. We met a man that had walked down to the black sand beach (45mins) only to be greeted by 2 unfriendly large black dogs, and hiked back up (1.5 hrs) We ate lunch in a little out of the way town, Honoka’a, close to the canyon overlook that was true Hawaiin (painted bright gren inside) and not too many tourists stop by judging by the looks we received. We ordered mahi burgers for $3 each, which were a filet of mahimahi fried and served on a hamburger bun with tartar sauce, and cokes. The locals were ordering banana cokes, and it looked like it is a squirt of banana snow cone flavoring in a coke. We stopped at a grocery store to stock up on canned diet cokes for the refrigerator, but a 12 pack was $5.56, so we decided not to get them . From there we headed back to Akaka Falls State Park where we saw more waterfalls and lovely foliage -- we wore our plastic parkas when in this park as it was drizzling constantly. In the parking lot we saw a tour, probably from Princess. Before turning the car in, we stopped at Wal-Mart and bought a 24 pack of Diet Coke for $6.00. We loved the lush foliage and waterfalls, and would liked to have had more time to explore further. There was an orchid farm with covered walkways that I had planned to see on Hwy 11, but we just did not have the time.

Kona is on the other (dry) side of The Big Island of Hawaii and was the second port of call. Captain Fabio Amitrano announced that he was not going by the side of the island where we may be able to see the lava flow to the sea because the weather was better to go the other direction. So, we didn’t have the opportunity to see the lava at all. Previous cruisers have reported cloud cover that kept the visibility down anyway, so a smoother ride was preferable. Budget was a no show, and fellow CC cruiser Tom (skeptic 24x7) allowed me to use his cell to make arrangements with Hertz. It cost a bit more ($73 total as opposed to Budget‘s $28 base rate), but it was worth it to have a car. Kona is amazingly different from Hilo!! It is like two different worlds, with Kona having no greenery and nothing but lava fields on either side of the road. A type of Hawaiin “graffiti” is to use white stones and pebbles to spell out names and messages on the lava. We found it quite interesting that, true to the Hawaiin way of life, even the graffiti is thoughtful of nature and ecologically correct. We drove north on Hwy 19 then 270 to an ancient fishing village, Lapahaki State Historical Park, and walked thru it, then found our way back to a beach, Hapuna Beach State Park, for the afternoon. There are no entrance fees to any of the parks. Interesting, and I am glad that we visited, but have no desire to go back to Kona. We turned the car in a little early and went back to the ship.

The 3rd port was Honolulu, Oahu, and we did not have a reserved car. We thought that the driving might be stressful due to many more people and traffic, and we decided to use the public bus system. Our guide book had a map of the bus system, TheBus, and we set out to Waikiki and Diamond Head after a trip downtown and to Chinatown. Bob wanted to visit 2 temples, a Shintu and a Buddhist, in Chinatown. The temples were active and we saw people offering prayers in them. We walked thru the markets, purchased a beautiful orchid lei for $3.50 and a stem of orchids for our room steward, Micki, to put in a vase in her room for $2.50. We went back to the ship to deposit the flowers before bruising them, then headed out on the city bus. Ala Moana Shopping Center is the hub for all buses, and we caught a bus downtown bus to Ala Moana SC), then transferred to #58 to the Diamond Head Crater. TheBus costs $2.00, and you can get 1 transfer. We climbed to the top with some gorgeous views, then down again and on to Waikiki where we waited an hour for the transfer bus to come. Back to the ship about 4 pm for a snack and a shower. The local Honolulu children’s hula school was to perform onboard at 6:30 for the late seating diners, and they were fantastic! After dinner we got off again since the ship was in port until 11 pm that night. We had planned to take the Circle Island Route on the bus system ( #52, then transfer to #55 at Turtle Bay Resort about half-way) but the circle takes 4.5 hours and we were running out of daylight. We satisfied ourselves with shopping in the Aloha Tower and Mall, and people watching until time to board.

Kawai was the fourth port, and we kept our fingers crossed that conditions would be favorable to enter the port. The past cruise was not able to dock due to high winds and seas and a small port, but we made it without any problem. Budget had said that they did not have a shuttle at this port, but when we exited the ship the Budget van was waiting for us. We had a red Mustamg convertible, and never put the top down. It was somewhat rainy, that is why Kawai is known as the Garden Isle. It is beautiful and lush, and this island and Maui were my favorites. We did not have a set plan of action, but just planned to drive and look. We had considered a helicopter tour, but it was rainy and windy and just did not seem like a good idea after all. Bob-A-Loo is very familiar with Kawai as her father lived there for 30 years. We used her posts to loosely fashion a route, stopping by Anini Beach with a coral reef offering protected waters, down to Poipou and the resort towns. We found it very difficult to find places to eat around Poipou since most are resorts and you must go within the resorts to the dining venues, so we ended up having a sandwich at Subway. Even without a plan and eating at the local Subway, it was an exciting day.

Last port was Maui. RCCL was also in port today, as well as yesterday. The RCCL cruise originated in Ensenada, had 2 days in ports, and ended in Honolulu. Lahaina is a tender port, and we did not find our Budget shuttle until we had called and waited 30 minutes. It was 10 am before we got a car, a Chevy Impala this time, and set out. We wanted to drive the road to Hana, but knew that we would not have time to do it all. So, we had decided not to try to push and just go slow and enjoy a little bit of the road to Hana. It’s a good thing, too, because it is incredibly windy and steep, one lane bridges, and very slow. We stopped at a lot of overlooks, and drove to Kahakuloa, a point that we had predetermined earlier. It was the highest peak on that section of the road. There was a portion of the road closed to rental car traffic, marked on the map but not on the actual road, and I have a feeling that we may have gone past that point, because the road was really hard to drive---but the scenery was breathtaking!! Once we were ready to return to the ship, the tender line was a mile long and took an hour to get on a tender.

Ensenada is listed as a port, but that is very misleading. On one itinerary I downloaded from the Princess site, it listed being in port from 7 am to 8 pm -- no way! It is just a formality to satisfy the Jones Act. The ship drops anchor about 6 pm, some Mexican authority boards our vessel, signs papers that we were there, and we leave. Captain Fabio Amitrano did mention at the Captain’s Gala Party that Princess would pay them $20k for the favor. You can look at the land, but there is not much to see. The ship follows the Mexican and Californian coast to San Pedro for the next several hours, arriving at home port around 6 am.

We had a good time in every port. If you have any specific questions, post them and maybe I or one of the other cruisers can answer them.

Gloria

Grand Princess, Eastern, April 2001
Grand Princess, Western,April 2002
Regal to Hawaii, April 5-20, 2004

[spleen93]

Gloria,

Thanks for the review! You know, if you got as far as Kahakuloa on the Road to Hana, that means you almost went all the way around ... would have probably been quicker if you had just gone all the way around. Unless you were going counter-clockwise???

Spleen

<a href="http://www.escati.com/counter98/free_time_codes.htm">
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/logos/time98.gif[/img]</a>
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2004;6;9;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]  until RSSC Navigator - Canada - 6/04

Carnival Conquest - W. Caribbean - 10/03, Celebrity Infinity - Alaska - 6/03, Ocean Princess - Alaska - 7/02

[GloriaF]

spleen,
I would like to think so, but I don't think we went almost all the way around, and have no idea where we actually did get to. The highest peak on that stretch of road was oddly shaped, kind of flat on the sea side and that is where we turned around. (The guy driving the car rental shuttle back to the ship called the shape "like an electric razor"). We passed some cattle guards across the road. It was all so beautiful!! Someday I hope to go again for a longer visit.

Gloria

Grand Princess, Eastern, April 2001
Grand Princess, Western,April 2002
Regal to Hawaii, April 5-20, 2004

[SweetEmi]

Gloria! Thank you for the review, I'm glad you had a good time.

We booked the Sheraton in San Pedro and I believe it says that it is right there at the cruise ship harbor (and they have a shuttle). Did you happen to notice it? Also...I heard about a Mexican restaurant called Acapulco or something like that that has great food, did you see anything like that. Oh...third question, where is the Queen Mary in relation to the cruise ships? I would like to go on her while we are there the day before if possible (I got married on her about 28 years ago!)

Thanks!
Emi

NCL Star-08/31/03 in Hawaii!
NCL Star-11/13/04 to Mexico!
Alaska summer 2005!

[Suebee]

Thanks for reporting back! We always like to see how things went. Welcome back!
Sue

NCL Star 1/04
What's Next? Alaska 2005 - Ask me about an official CC group!

[GloriaF]

Emi,
We stayed at the Sheraton San Pedro post cruise. It is close to the pier, but with luggage you will want to take their shuttle. (We actually walked back down along the harbor and watched the Regal sail away on her next voyage the same day we returned).

And, coincidentally, we also ate at Acapulco. It is on the water, we ate outside, and was very good. The concierge at the Sheraton can give you a business card that allows for a free appetizer with the purchase of an entree. My husband had an entree, I opted for an apetizer plate as my meal (it was huge and I had to share with DH, too).

As for the Queen Mary, it is in Long Beach, so a taxi ride will be required (Sheraton shuttle doesn't go that far -- we asked). The cost of the tour is $24.95, and there is a coupon for 2 for 1 in the local booklet titled Long Beach (in the center). We meant to go to the QM, but with late lunch at Acapulco and wanting to see Regal sail away at 5PM, there just wasn't time.

I am so happy that I could actually give you some advice for a change!! Have a great trip!

Gloria

Grand Princess, Eastern, April 2001
Grand Princess, Western,April 2002
Regal to Hawaii, April 5-20, 2004

[SweetEmi]

Gloria! Wow! Exactly the info I wanted...I wrote that down about the Acapulco business card in my little booklet so I don't forget. Okay...I was confused then about the QM - I thought I saw that it was at the same harbor. However, before I saw that I thought it was in Long Beach - so I guess senility hasn't completely taken over yet...lol! Well, we will have a rental car and maybe we can visit her earlier in the week then.

Oh...how did you like the Sheraton?? I reserved the Club Floor or something like that...but I read some reviews that weren't very favorable. But then I realized they were both from the same person and several people on these boards have recommended it.

Thanks a lot!

Aloha,
Emi

NCL Star-08/31/03 in Hawaii!
NCL Star-11/13/04 to Mexico!
Alaska summer 2005!

[GloriaF]

Emi,
We were supposed to have the club floor(10), too, but since it was post cruise and we arrived at the hotel at 10 AM, we said we'd take first available and ended up with the 3rd floor.

The room was OK, but no one came in an replaced my towel as soon as I had used it or turned the bed down with a chocoloate on the pillow (remember we had just left a cruise). Actually, the Hyatt Regency LGB was nicer, but no shuttle.

We felt uncomfortable (homeless or bum people on the streets) walking back from the Harbor toward evening, so if you are going to the Acapulco for dinner at night, you may want to take your rental car. Lunch is a nice walk - about 3 blocks.

When are you going? Where are you cruising?

Gloria

Grand Princess, Eastern, April 2001
Grand Princess, Western,April 2002
Regal to Hawaii, April 5-20, 2004

[SweetEmi]

I'm going in November on the Star to Mexico. I'm thinking about turning in the rental the day before so I don't have to worry about it cruise day and the shuttle was a very important consideration. We'll only be there for one night before the cruise, so it will be fine as long as it isn't a dump. Did you get a complimentary breakfast with your room?

Maybe we'll do Acapulco for late lunch or maybe early dinner then (since we will be arriving there in the early afternoon I think).

Thanks again!
Emi

NCL Star-08/31/03 in Hawaii!
NCL Star-11/13/04 to Mexico!
Alaska summer 2005!