POA October 10-17 Review

[italynstallyn44]

We just returned from our cruise on the Pride of America in Hawaii. We sailed October 10-17 for our Honeymoon. I will try to keep this as short as possible while hitting all the important stuff. We are 27-28 years old ( I also celebrated my birthday on the cruise) so we are pretty young and adventurous. We did not do any excursion through NCL.

Pre cruise
We flew in from New Jersey on October 6. What a long day/flight. We had a layover in Chicago. If you can afford it I would recommend springing for first class. We spent the first 4 nights of our vacation/honeymoon at Turtle Bay Resort on the north shore of Oahu. I have read a lot of bad reviews about Turtle Bay recently, but I would disregard them unless you are extremely picky. A lot of people said the rooms are outdated. And yes they were a bit on the dated side, but perfectly fine we thought. I mean you are in Hawaii what are you doing in your room unless you are sleeping or showering? Complimentary bottle of champagne was very nice. The grounds at Turtle Bay are just amazing. It was never too crowded. The pool area was very large and had a cool layout. A few different pools and hot tubs, event with a water slide and waterfall. The beach was very nice and never really crowded. Take advantage of the free hour or snorkeling each day which is part of the $20 resort fee. The breakfast buffet at the Palm Terrace is amazing. The couple meals we had a Lei Lei's were also amazing. The other restaurants were a bit pricey. We went into Kahuku one night and ate at a local place called Kahuku Grill, it is a very small shack next to the Sugar Mill. I got a local dish called Loco Moco (Eggs, salisbury steak, gravy, rice) it was very good. We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center one day, that is very cool and I would recommend it.

Emabarking
We got to the ship just before Noon. There was little bit of confusion because we got upgraded the morning of the cruise, so our luggage tags that were on our luggage didn't correspond to our new room. After a couple of minutes it was resolved. they fresh shredded coconut while we waited in line was nice. We were then onto the ship. It is a bit overwhelming when you first walk on because everyone just stands in the main area with their glass of champagne and there are tons of tables set up with vendors so its a bit crowded. Now is a good time to go explore the ship.

Hilo
We rented a car in Hilo and went to Volcano National Park, Black Sand Beach, and attempted to go to the Green Sand Beach. I'm glad we didn't do a tour of VNP. Unless you are really into that sort of thing, the self guided tour with the rental car was perfect. The sights are really amazing there. The black sand beach at Punaluu was absolutely amazing. It is just so different from anything I have ever seen. I would recommend at least making a stop here. Then off to the Green Sand Beach. Good luck finding it. After a long trip on a bumpy road, then off road, we came to where we thought the beach should be. There were many others looking for the same thing. Some of the locals fishing there weren't even sure where it was. We talked to a couple that just came back from the Green Sand Beach and they said it was an hour to and hour and a half hike up the beach to get there. At that time we had to get back to the ship. So for the record once you get the the boat ramp, you have to hike about an hour up the beach to get there.

Maui
Day 1
We rented a car for the two days in Maui. We did the mountain biking down Haleakala. We used Haleakala Bike Co. and did the Express tour. They take you on a van up to about 7000 ft. just before the park. It's a little cold up there, but they give you a jacket, pants, gloves,helmet, and backpack. They ride down the volcano is just awesome. Just remember not to grab the front brake in a panic and go flying over the handlebars. The sights on the way down are awesome. We spent the rest of the day at the beach. Tried to go to Kaanapali but couldn't find parking anywhere. So we went to Honokowai beach park just north of there. Wasn't the greatest beach but we weren't staying long.
Day 2
Today was simply a beach day. We went to Makena Beach. We went to big beach, which was such a pretty beach. It wasn't too crowded because it is so big. Just a small walk over the big rocks is little/small beach. This is the clothing optional beach. It is much more crowded, but seemed to be an older crowd, no offense.

Kona
Today we went snorkeling on the Fairwind II. We caught a taxi after tendering ashore. It was a $27 taxi ride to the Fairwind office. This was an awesome excursion. It is a huge catamaran with two water slides and a high dive. The tour guides are really cool and knowledgeable. The water in Kona is probably the bluest(sp?)water I have ever seen. The snorkeling spot for this tour is Kealakekua Bay(Captain Cook Monument). The water here is so clear. While on the boat sitting in about 30 foot water I could clearly see the bottom. This spot tends to be pretty crowded with tours, but at about 11 AM they seemed to clear out. Also our boat was the only company that could anchor near the cliffs. the snorkeling was awesome because of the clear water. There wasn't an overly huge variety of fish, but there were a lot of them. I also all and black and white spotted eel here. Some people saw a sea turtle. We also saw a huge manta ray, and some flying fish on the ride to and from the Bay. The food they served for lunch was pretty good, and you also got some pastries on the way to the Bay in the morning. The waterslide and high dive were very fun. At the end of the trip the crew did a dive show for us, pretty neat.

Kauai
Day 1
Today was our ziplining tour. This was in the afternoon so we just went to some of the shops and sat on the beach near the Marriott. Not the best beach in the world but we needed to kill some time. We did the Backcountry Zipline tour. That was a $17 taxi ride to the office. From the office they take you to the ziplining course in a pinzgauer. It's a pretty cool ride and our guide Pono was really cool and told stories the whole way. They take you by the field where most of the movie Tropic thunder was filmed. The course is set over a huge valley and is just amazing. It has some of the longest ziplines in the USA. After the course they give you a Subway hoagie and some chips. then if you are daring enough you can take a dip in the river. It's pretty cold.
Day 2
Today was our helicopter tour with Blue Hawaiian. This is a must do excursion in Kauai. There is no way that I can truly explain how amazing the sights are with anything I write here. Just do it. We got the video of our flight which turned out to be only so-so compared to the actual flight.

Disembarking
Getting off the ship was a breeze. We got off at about 9:30, hardly any wait. We had rented a car for they day since we had a late flight. We did the Pearl Harbor tours in the morning, then headed to Waikiki for the rest of the day. I'm so glad we didn't stay in Waikiki before the cruise. It felt like it was in New York City, but with nicer weather. Once we got to the beach it felt like I was in Wildwood, NJ if anyone has ever been, you know what I mean. We tried to hike up Diamond Head, but we got to the park at 5 and the gates close at 6, so no luck. then we headed off to the airport for the long flight back to New Jersey.

Our Thoughts
-Turtle Bay or anywhere on the North Shore is where to stay before or after your cruise.

-We ate at the main dining rooms just about every night on the ship. We were very dissapointed in the food (quality and selection) in the dining rooms. Also our service in the dining rooms was terrible. We were only asked once the entire trip how our meal was. It seemed to us that the Skyline service was much faster than the Liberty. One night we ate at Jeffersons bistro, someone had gotten us the Honeymoon package and it included a dinner there. Once again we were dissapointed with the food and service there. George was our waiter and he didn't pay much attention to us. Also this was my birthday and my wife mentioned it to them so they could do something special, but they did not. We were given our cake promised by the Honeymoon package.

-My wife had also mentioned to the reception desk that it was my birthday on Monday and asked if they could decorate the room. They told her they could not promise it, and they never did. When I cruised with Royal Caribbean during my sisters birthday they decorated the entire room for here birthday. Not sure why this would be so hard. My wife was more upset than I was.

-The one thing that really bothered me was how the gratuity worked on the ship. The gratuity was already included on all drinks that you orddered, which i didn't like but it wasn't that bad. But they automatically bill you $12 per person per day on your on board account for gratuity for the stateroom attendant and wait staff. this really bothered me. While our stateroom attendant was very good and deserved it, the wait staff was terrible. I believe the service was at a lower level because they know they are getting this amount of tip no matter how they perform. I would rather leave an individual tip to the staff after each dinner or at the end of the cruise, like Royal Caribbean allows you to do.

- The comedian and magician were very entertaining. The cruise staff that performed at the shows was not so entertaining. Doug the cruise director did not compare to the cruise directors I have had on Royal Caribbean cruises. The best entertainment on the ship by far was WT Greer playing at Pink's each night. He was one of the best musicians I have seen in person.

Well I think that is it for now.

[flashdog_1]

Thank you for posting your review. What energy! You did lots of homework before you left in order to do what you wanted to do, and accomplished it. Gives us all ideas for our trips.

Tell us about the last minute upgrade. (from what to what? Could this have been because it was your honeymoon and two birthdays? Any comment?) Did it happen at the pier or did they call you on your cell while you were on the North Shore? Had you already checked your baggage with your original cabin # on the luggage tags? I can see where that'd get confusing to track down.

NCL sells some sort of birithday decoration package I've seen in pre-cruise documents, but it is not free.

Again, thanks for sharing. Sorry about the food! Hope you found some good stuff ashore.

[italynstallyn44]

We originally had an ocean view stateroom on deck 7, and were upgraded to a balcony on deck 10. I believe it had something to do with our travel agent mentioning that it was our Honeymoon. The only reason I knew we had been upgraded was i checked NCL's website the morning of the cruise before we left Turtle Bay, and it said we had been upgraded. But they did not notify us at all. So if I had not checked the website that morning I would have never know. So when we were going through security at the pier I mentioned it to the guard because he said our luggage tags were now matching up with our names.

[smrtypnts]

Thank you very much for a great review. I always love it when people come back and do their best to give a review of both the good as well as the bad and don't just bash everybody for 1 problem, like the lack of decorations or hub bub for your birthday. I agree with your wife that it would have been nice, but given the fact that you were upgraded for free, I would take the balcony over the decorations and singing or cake any day!

As another posted noted--NCL has a cabin decoration "gift" that can be purchased, so I'm sure that's the reason your cabin was not decorated. Now, that said--what if you and your wife went back to a beautifully decorated cabin only to discover at the end of your cruise that you were charged for it? I'm sure she would have been even less happy then, so it's probably best that they didn't do anything.

I wasn't planning on doing the bike ride in Maui, but rather only going up early enough to enjoy the sunrise, but your mention of it, made me think, maybe I will do that, as well. Thanks for all the info.

btw, how was your balcony cabin? where were you located?

[italynstallyn44]

Our cabin was in the aft(back), 10654. It was nice being in the back because I think it produces a little less movement. I guess if I wanted to be really picky, I would have liked to be on the "right" side of the ship if facing forward. That way we could have watched the lava flow from our balcony. The original sailby for the lava was on the right side of the ship, and when the captain turned the boat around it wasn't a tight turn, so once our cabin was able to view the lava we were over a mile offshore. Whereas, with the napali coast sailby, the captain did a very tight turn so both sides were close. Not sure if that was just our sailing or if it the norm.

[Oradellian]

Great review. We were on the POA in September. Your words brought back memories of our honeymoon in the Virgin islands, many years ago.

Little Beach was a younger crowd the day we visited but everything is relative! There were some honeymooners from Australia / New Zealand; folks were very friendly, as I had lost my eyeglasses in a huge wave and everyone seemed interested in finding them (no luck though).

[angiejoan]

Originally Posted by Oradellian

Great review. We were on the POA in September. Your words brought back memories of our honeymoon in the Virgin islands, many years ago.

Little Beach was a younger crowd the day we visited but everything is relative! There were some honeymooners from Australia / New Zealand; folks were very friendly, as I had lost my eyeglasses in a huge wave and everyone seemed interested in finding them (no luck though).

Sorry to hear about the complaints But for other readers out there I have to make the following comments...

We enjoyed all the food and restaurants. We love trying new and different things and we were able to find exactly that every night! I enjoyed the unusual selections...I can get the usual any night of the year or at the Cadillac! I agree that sevice was better in the Skyline. However, as a server myself I believe that as anywhere a patron's attitude rubs off on the wait staff...we were having a great time on our trip and enjoyed talking to all the different wait staff during our meals and they were all very nice in return. We checked out the menus when we got back to the ship in the afternoon. There were a couple nights that nothing really stuck out at us so chose something different!

Also, the tipping...in the fine print you'll find that they describe it as "discretionary". I chose to tip the "old fashioned" way according to service and much more personal. On Friday I talked to a very nice girl at the main desk and simply explained that and in two seconds I had signed a piece of paper and it was taken off our bill.

[gmcnulty99]

Thanks for the great review! I am interested in your Kona trip. What time did you get off the ship to get to the office? Was there a cab witing for you? Or did you call ahead? What time did you return? Thanks.

[italynstallyn44]

We got off the ship at around 7:15 I would say. got to shore at about 7:30. There were plenty of Taxi's waiting at the pier. I called ahead and they said no reservation was needed, there would be plenty of taxi's there. We got back to the pier around 1:30 I believe and did some shopping.