Pride of America Dec. 3-10, 2011 Review

After spending months researching and reading every review I could about Hawaii and cruising on the POA….our trip was finally here! Here is our cruise review…hope people find it helpful and enjoy reading! I will try and add as much as possible about the cruise. This review will mainly be about Hawaii and the things we did at the different ports. We didn’t spend a lot of time on the ship, but will add what we experienced there as well.

Pre-Cruise (Friday Dec. 2nd, 2011):

My husband and I travelled to Hawaii on the POA with his twin brother, Greg, and his wife, Jill, and their parents, George and Sharon. We actually met the parents in Hawaii as they cam in on a different flight.

We flew out of St. Louis at 9:05 am Friday, Dec. 2nd. We first flew to Dallas where we were meeting my husband’s brother and his wife. Together, we then flew into LA and from LA to Honolulu. We arrived around 8:05pm in Honolulu. We wore jeans, a sweater, and lightweight jacket on the plane….well, at least I did. I am always cold so it was nice on the plane to have the layers. Believe me…when we arrived in Honolulu, I was peeling the layers off!! Even though it was evening, it was still warm and beautiful outside.

We had arranged for transportation pick up with Mark from Hawaii23 transportation. He had told me previously in an email to call after our plane landed although he would be monitoring our flight. I called and he was very aware of our flight and times and told me he was waiting just outside the baggage claim area. There were 4 of us and it cost $29 to transport us to our hotel, Ohana Waikiki East. Mark was very friendly and pointed out various places of interest on our way to the hotel.

After arriving at the hotel and checking in, we met up with George and Sharon who had flown in earlier that day and also had arranged transportation to the hotel with Mark at Hawaii23 transportation. Their travel arrangements had also gone very smoothly and they were pleased with who picked them up…although it was not Mark.

The hotel was comfortable enough and about two blocks from the beach. We had a king sized bed and a small balcony. We took pictures from the balcony and was able to see the water if you looked hard enough. We were all tired so went to bed fairly early. We didn’t really have any set plans for the next day other than we had arranged with Mark again to pick us all up at the hotel at 1:30pm to take us to the pier.

View from our hotel balcony.

View from our hotel balcony. This was some kind of small shopping center.

View of Waikiki Beach

Banyan tree on Waikiki beach.

Day 1 (Saturday Dec. 3rd, 2011):

We had decided with our family that we would meet up around 8am and find some place to go for breakfast. We had thought about going to Diamond Head and hiking it in the morning, but decided we would just relax, stroll around, and shop a little and take it easy before we went to the pier.

We found a little eating place on the corner just next to our hotel for breakfast. We were given a little coupon booklet at our hotel and there was a coupon in it for $3.50 and you got scrambled eggs, pancakes, and bacon. I decided to do this…gave my eggs to my husband as I don’t like them. The others in our group either had the same thing or something very similar. It was a good breakfast and fast service. This was enough to start our day.

We were all wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt as the weather was beautiful…..maybe low 70’s at that point as it was early in the day. It didn’t take long however, for the sun to start shining on us and the temp probably hit in the low 80’s. The beach was beautiful and we took some pictures and walked along watching surfers, swimmers, and various other water sports along the way. There were several places right on the beach you could rent surf boards or other things to take into the water.

We walked along the beach all the way to the zoo and almost to the base of Diamond Head before we crossed the street and walked along the shops in front of the beach. We strolled in and out of shops taking our time and picking up a few trinkets along the way. One of my favorite purchases was at an ABC store (yes, there literally are several of these on each street!). I actually didn’t know it was an ABC store as it wasn’t marked that way outside on the sign.

They had these really cute tote bags…the one I got was a yellow color with the Islands of Hawaii on it. They had others in a pretty blue or mauve color with flowers on them. The bag zipped and the sign advertised them for $8.99 each or 2 for $16.00. It also said it was the lowest price in town for the bag. I thought this was some kind of trick to get you to buy it there…but it wasn’t! It really was the cheapest place to buy it as I saw them in a bunch of other ABC stores for $13.99 each. This store was just down the street from Cheeseburger in Paradise….where we eventually had lunch.

We ended up walking back to the hotel and freshening up a bit before we checked out and had the hotel store our bags for us. We would later pick them up and give them a tip for storing them.

We ended up having a small lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise. All the couples shared a meal which was plenty and we also knew we would eat once we boarded the ship. We walked back to our hotel and got our bags that they had stored earlier for us and it wasn’t long before Mark from Hawaii23 transport was there to pick us up and take us to the pier.

We arrived at the pier around 1:50pm and the line wasn’t too long although it did take us quite a while to get through it. They gave us all a fresh flower lei which was beautiful and we had our pictures taken with some beautiful people dressed in Hawaii clothing….grass skirt etc.

We finally made it through the check in line and was able to board the ship. We found out the buffet was only open until 4pm that day as the life boat drill was at 4:30 and everything would be closed for it since they wanted us all to attend it. We decided to go see our room and then get a small bite to eat in the buffet before it closed. It was around 3:30pm at this time.

When we boarded the ship for the first time, we kind of looked around and tried to figure out where to find our room, the buffet, or anything really. We noticed immediately that they had NOT given us a map of the ship’s interior. We located a cruise employee, which was not hard to find as they were standing around everywhere that first day, and asked them if there was a map. They located one for us which was very helpful as we had no idea where to go. This was one thing I brought up later to the hotel manager of the cruise, Dallas, and was told that we should have received one with our check in material. He wasn’t sure why we didn’t receive it, but he made a note of the fact that we didn’t get one.

We went to our room and noticed immediately that the 2 twin beds were not put together into one bed for my husband and myself. The room was neat, clean, and small, like we expected. We found the room steward in the hallway and asked him to put our beds together and to empty the fridge of the contents as we would be putting our own drinks there that week. He said he would take care of it and when we came back later…it was all taken care of which we appreciated. Our room was a partially blocked view with a life boat in front of the window. We could still see over the top of the boat and see water and was no big deal to us.

We met our family members in the buffet which was pretty crowded. We ended up sitting in the back where we found a seat. The food was decent and a nice variety. I wouldn’t say it was great food but it certainly wasn’t bad. We ate there several times and always found something good to eat. The workers were always very helpful and several times during the week someone came around and offered to fill our drinks, get us cookies, or whatever we needed.

We attended the life boat drill at 4:30 which was efficient and thankfully didn’t last long. Several of our bags had already been delivered to our room so we unpacked before the cruise critic meet and greet and dinner.

We all attended the scheduled cruise critic meet and greet at 5:30pm. We were met at the door with a yummy mai tai which I really enjoyed although thought it was a bit strong. There were several cruise critic people in attendance and was neat to put some faces to the people we had been chatting with for months! The main officers of the cruise ship was there including the captain and they all introduced themselves and expressed their gratitude that we were there and willingness to help out with any problems that we might encounter on the cruise. It was a nice introduction and we were all glad we went.

For dinner we headed to the Skyline. We didn’t have to wait at all before we were seated and enjoyed sitting at the large table together. We found the food selection to be nice and the food itself was good. My father-in-law had lobster, I believe, and he said it was OK, but not great. The service was good although it took quite a while to get our food. We found this to be the case everywhere we ate, although we did not eat in any of the specialty places that required an extra fee.

We went to the opening show that evening and found it enjoyable. The cruise staff, who we had already met during the cruise critic meet and greet, were all introduced and we enjoyed a nice variety type show with music and dancing.

By this time the ship had begun moving and we could all really feel the movement. I felt it all week and thought it moved quite a bit really. I have only been on one other cruise, but do not remember feeling the movement that much.

We made our way back to our rooms and were ready for bed. It had been a very long day and we knew the week ahead would be filled as well. The next day we were renting a van on our own and going to Lahaina for a whale watching excursion and luau later that evening.

Let me say here that for the rest of the week, the places we ate and the shows we saw are kind of a haze. I don’t remember for sure what night each show was and which place we ate dinner. I tried to group these 2 the best I could remember but I am sure it isn’t absolutely correct. However, it is correct when I say the food was good, service slow, or show great. Sorry…should have saved my daily papers that told me when stuff was!

The only shows my husband and I attended were the first night opening show, the comedian Bud Anderson (fabulous!), and part of the magic show (good, but didn’t see it all). My other family did see a husband and wife music show that did a Motown review and another quartet that did the songs of Frankie Valli….and said it was good.

Happily waiting for the rest of the review! Thanks for detailing all this.

Thanks for taking the time to do a detailed review....looking forward to the next installment :)

Thanks for the review, looking forward to the next piece. Hawaii is a very beautiful place.

Day 2, Maui (Sunday Dec. 4th, 2011):

We had reserved a mini van for the day from Thrifty using their blue chip program which allows you to get into their faster line. We decided that just my husband and I would go to the Thrifty office on their shuttle and come back to the pier to pick up the others. We did this because we had read that they don’t like the entire group to go on the shuttle as it takes up all the room and others can’t go pick up their vehicles. I guess we were the only ones who read this as entire families were boarding the shuttle…in fact we had to wait for the next one. I think there may have been a family reunion on the shuttle before us…hahaha.

The line, when we got to the office, was not long and we were glad we had the blue chip as it was definitely shorter than the regular line. We had brought out own GPS from home and had already typed in some of our destinations which was very helpful. We made our way back to the ship to pick up our other family members and were on our way.

We drove to Lahaina which we were told to allow for up to an hours driving time as traffic could be pretty slow. We were leaving around 9:30 and it only took around 30-40 minutes to get there so wasn’t too bad. We had pre-booked a tour with the Pacific Whale Foundation to take us on a whale watching excursion at 11:30 and had to check in with them around 10:45. We had already decided to find a pay lot and pay for the day to park and not worry about timed parking etc. Finding a lot was easy and we leisurely walked to the PWF check in office on Front street which was located directly across the street from the big banyan tree.

Kelly and Randy in front of Banyan Tree

Randy, the Dad, George, and Randy's twin brother Greg...hahah, had to add this one.

After checking in, we strolled around the banyan tree which had several little tables set up with people selling their crafts. We had a little time before our whale trip. The boat for the whale trip was pretty much directly behind the banyan tree and a bit to the right. There was a big sign in front of it and when we arrived…about 15 minutes before boarding, there was already a pretty large line formed to board. Not to worry though as the ship holds over a hundred people and it was undersold.

One nice thing the PWF did while we were standing in line was pass around a large bottle of sunscreen for anyone who needed it. I thought that was a nice gesture. We set sail right on schedule and the person who narrated while we were on the boat did an EXCELLENT job at telling us all about whales, the mating season, and anything and everything you ever wanted to know about humpback whales. Dec. is the beginning of the season and they had already been seeing whales. The PWF guarantees you will see whales on the trip or will give you a return ticket to do the trip again with them. Too bad they didn’t include a plane ticket to Hawaii and lodging as well as that is what we would have needed to go back!

We were on the boat maybe 45 minutes when we finally saw a whale. We saw the water come out of the blowhole and then maybe part of the whales back. We were pretty excited as we had been on the boat quite a while already. In fact, I was beginning to really wish we were done with the whole thing and I was off that boat! We ended up seeing a pair of humpback whales a few different times. Towards the end of the 2 hour trip, randomly one of the whales lurched out of the water. We didn’t see the entire body but it was a lot of it and was huge! It made a huge splash when it went back down into the water. There was no warning at all when that happened and everyone including the guide, was pretty excited! That was definitely the highlight of this particular trip!

After the whale watching trip, we decided to have a little lunch and one of our party ( I won’t mention any names but he looks just like my husband…haha) felt pretty sea sick. A nice little break is just what we all needed. We ate on the upper deck of a place called the Cove Cat Café…it was kind of like a 60’s diner and was pretty good.

We spent the next few hours shopping in Lahaina and went into several cute shops and purchased a few gift items. Eventually the guys went back to where the van was parked and picked us up to take us the evening’s event…the Old Lahaina Luau.

We had them drop us off at the front of this as well, while they found parking. There were already a lot of people there and while we waited in line to go in, they handed out mai tais or fruit punch drinks and explained how the food line and free bar etc worked. After being shown to our table, we walked around and watched as local people made leis, baskets, etc. and had pictures taken in various spots.

Greg, Jill, George, Sharon, Kelly, and Randy at luau.

Beautiful sunset at luau

Dancers at luau. Pics didn't turn out that great since they were moving so fast!!

Our server was very attentive and brought us anything we needed. They had each table go up to the buffet line when our server told us it was our turn. Everyone was free to go back and get more food but we had taken so much the first time, it wasn’t necessary. I did try poi…and in my opinion, it was horrible! I wanted to try it though just to say that I had tasted it! The show following dinner was great and they told a story with each part of the show. When it was over, we tried to hurry out as we needed to get the van back to the airport before the last Thrifty shuttle which was at 9:30pm. We made it just in time!! Another long day for us. We soon went to bed as we were tired and had an early morning the next day….the Road to Hana.

Thank you very much for your review !!

Thanks for the review, looking forward to the next piece. Hawaii is a very beautiful place.

I am enjoying reliving the cruise through the review!! Yes, it is very beautiful!

Thank you very much for your review !!

No problem..it has been a lot of fun and I read a lot of reviews and appreciated the people who wrote them!

Happily waiting for the rest of the review! Thanks for detailing all this.

Sometimes I wonder if I have too many details!! Seems to be pretty long and run on sometimes!

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. I like how you describe what you're wearing in terms of how the weather dictates this. As it's now winter of course, it's difficult for us to imagine that it really will be warm and humid in Hawaii.

I'm glad you got to see whales on the tour.

Please keep writing!

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. I like how you describe what you're wearing in terms of how the weather dictates this. As it's now winter of course, it's difficult for us to imagine that it really will be warm and humid in Hawaii.

 

I'm glad you got to see whales on the tour.

 

Please keep writing!

We were so excited about seeing the whales!! It was warm the first week of December...but NOT humid. That was the joy of it...was warm outside and very pleasant although at times got hot in the sun....but overall just wonderful and not humid to the point of sweating a lot.

Not sure when you are going....but from what the guides told us...the weather doesn't vary that much....a but warmer in the summer and not as much rain but still not uncomfortable. That is what they told us anyway...I haven't been there other than in Dec.

Day 3, Maui (Monday Dec. 5th, 2011):

Today we started bright and early with a cruise ship tour that took us on the Road to Hana. We opted to do this excursion through the cruise line as we did not want to be late for the ship as we left Maui that day. I know a LOT of people say that there is no need to worry and other operators will get us back in time, but we felt we would be more comfortable with this decision for our group. We had to meet out at the pier at 6:45am.

It was a small tour bus and one of the first things the tour guide did, was go over the fact that the road was very twisty and windy and if you were prone to be car sick, this may not be the best tour for you. They asked if anyone needed motion sickness medicine, did anyone have any extra. I had brought along my entire bottle of it just in case so passed it around. I think a couple of people took one. I will mention that one person on this trip did get sick pretty early on in the day. The driver as well as all the passengers reacted pretty well to this and felt bad for her. I know she had a miserable day unfortunately.

The tour guide was Fabulous!! She really seemed to enjoy her job and was a wealth of information concerning everything we were seeing and going to see. The road was very twisty and she couldn’t drive very fast which is why this tour takes all day. We stopped at many waterfalls and pretty places and really enjoyed the views. We had packed our own lunch (from the Aloha Buffet) and brought it along. When we reached Hana, we had a little picnic lunch. There was a place to get a sandwich if you didn’t bring your own lunch along. Hana is a very small town and had a couple of little shops where we stopped but not much.

Banana Tree on Road to Hana

Had to capture a picture of the Hana welcome sign!

One of the beautiful waterfalls we saw.

Tree that looked like it was painted...eucalyptus tree I believe.

Black sand beach

Lava tube on black sand beach

The last several miles of this trip were very bumpy as the road gets really rough. We stopped at a winery where you could taste the wines, but our group wasn’t really interested in that so we browsed another little shop and relaxed until it was time to leave. We got back to the ship on time and we were again tired.

One thing I will mention is that although everything was beautiful on this excursion and everywhere in Hawaii…it is winter there and while the weather was great and flowers were abundant and beautiful…I think it is even more pretty during spring and summer. The tour guide commented that several things were not blooming because of the time of year.

Tonight we had dinner in the Skyline. The food was pretty good but service slow again. After dinner, we went to see the comedian show. His name was Bud Anderson and we really enjoyed this show. He had us laughing the entire time! This was probably the best show we saw all week…although we didn’t go to all of them! Time for bed for us as the next day we were going to be in Hilo and go to Volcano National Park!

I am enjoying your detailed review and the pictures. Thank you for taking the time to post.:)

Really enjoying all the details!

There have been very conflicting reviews about the condition and the service provided on the POA. What is your take?

There have been very conflicting reviews about the condition and the service provided on the POA. What is your take?

I thought the conditions were fine as well as the service. I have only been on 1 other cruise and it was several years ago with Carnival so I don't have much to compare it to. Our room was clean and our room steward was great. I left him a couple of notes a couple of days asking for something...one day it was another pool towel, and the other was to replace the tissue box in the restroom as it was empty. Both things were done when we got back to our room.

The first day he emptied the fridge and also put our beds together when asked. Every day when we got back to the ship there was ice in our bucket....when we went to dinner and/or show there was fresh ice when we got back which was always nice.

I thought everyone we came into contact with was polite and tried to do whatever they could to make us happy.

The srvice in the Cadillac was the worst....just slow. Server was polite and everything, he just disappeared so we had to wait to get anything. The service in Skyline was pretty slow in getting our food and also was slow in the Liberty. The food was good though when we did get it.

Both eof those places were very pretty as far as decor. The ship overall was pretty as well but certainly not fancy. Honestly we didn't spend a lot of time walking around the ship or going to a lot of different places so I can't really comment on anything aside from the basic stuff.

I imagine if someone is wanting extra stuff or some amount of luxory or pampering, then this ship is not for them. This ship is comfortable and good for the cruise it is associated with....and that is a very port intensive cruise. I cannot imagine going on this cruise if we were interested in staying on the ship and seeing what it has to offer.

If that is the experience people are looking for...they should probably loook somehwre else.

Other than that...I was comfortable and we had everything we needed or wanted for that matter. Hope that helps....

Thanks for the review.

It does help. Thanks!!

Day 2, Maui (Sunday Dec. 4th, 2011):

 

We had reserved a mini van for the day from Thrifty using their blue chip program which allows you to get into their faster line. We decided that just my husband and I would go to the Thrifty office on their shuttle and come back to the pier to pick up the others. We did this because we had read that they don’t like the entire group to go on the shuttle as it takes up all the room and others can’t go pick up their vehicles. I guess we were the only ones who read this as entire families were boarding the shuttle…in fact we had to wait for the next one. I think there may have been a family reunion on the shuttle before us…hahaha.

 

The line, when we got to the office, was not long and we were glad we had the blue chip as it was definitely shorter than the regular line. We had brought out own GPS from home and had already typed in some of our destinations which was very helpful. We made our way back to the ship to pick up our other family members and were on our way.

 

We drove to Lahaina which we were told to allow for up to an hours driving time as traffic could be pretty slow. We were leaving around 9:30 and it only took around 30-40 minutes to get there so wasn’t too bad. We had pre-booked a tour with the Pacific Whale Foundation to take us on a whale watching excursion at 11:30 and had to check in with them around 10:45. We had already decided to find a pay lot and pay for the day to park and not worry about timed parking etc. Finding a lot was easy and we leisurely walked to the PWF check in office on Front street which was located directly across the street from the big banyan tree.

 

Kelly and Randy in front of Banyan Tree

 

Randy, the Dad, George, and Randy's twin brother Greg...hahah, had to add this one.

 

After checking in, we strolled around the banyan tree which had several little tables set up with people selling their crafts. We had a little time before our whale trip. The boat for the whale trip was pretty much directly behind the banyan tree and a bit to the right. There was a big sign in front of it and when we arrived…about 15 minutes before boarding, there was already a pretty large line formed to board. Not to worry though as the ship holds over a hundred people and it was undersold.

 

One nice thing the PWF did while we were standing in line was pass around a large bottle of sunscreen for anyone who needed it. I thought that was a nice gesture. We set sail right on schedule and the person who narrated while we were on the boat did an EXCELLENT job at telling us all about whales, the mating season, and anything and everything you ever wanted to know about humpback whales. Dec. is the beginning of the season and they had already been seeing whales. The PWF guarantees you will see whales on the trip or will give you a return ticket to do the trip again with them. Too bad they didn’t include a plane ticket to Hawaii and lodging as well as that is what we would have needed to go back!

 

We were on the boat maybe 45 minutes when we finally saw a whale. We saw the water come out of the blowhole and then maybe part of the whales back. We were pretty excited as we had been on the boat quite a while already. In fact, I was beginning to really wish we were done with the whole thing and I was off that boat! We ended up seeing a pair of humpback whales a few different times. Towards the end of the 2 hour trip, randomly one of the whales lurched out of the water. We didn’t see the entire body but it was a lot of it and was huge! It made a huge splash when it went back down into the water. There was no warning at all when that happened and everyone including the guide, was pretty excited! That was definitely the highlight of this particular trip!

 

After the whale watching trip, we decided to have a little lunch and one of our party ( I won’t mention any names but he looks just like my husband…haha) felt pretty sea sick. A nice little break is just what we all needed. We ate on the upper deck of a place called the Cove Cat Café…it was kind of like a 60’s diner and was pretty good.

 

We spent the next few hours shopping in Lahaina and went into several cute shops and purchased a few gift items. Eventually the guys went back to where the van was parked and picked us up to take us the evening’s event…the Old Lahaina Luau.

 

We had them drop us off at the front of this as well, while they found parking. There were already a lot of people there and while we waited in line to go in, they handed out mai tais or fruit punch drinks and explained how the food line and free bar etc worked. After being shown to our table, we walked around and watched as local people made leis, baskets, etc. and had pictures taken in various spots.

 

Greg, Jill, George, Sharon, Kelly, and Randy at luau.

 

Beautiful sunset at luau

 

Dancers at luau. Pics didn't turn out that great since they were moving so fast!!

 

Our server was very attentive and brought us anything we needed. They had each table go up to the buffet line when our server told us it was our turn. Everyone was free to go back and get more food but we had taken so much the first time, it wasn’t necessary. I did try poi…and in my opinion, it was horrible! I wanted to try it though just to say that I had tasted it! The show following dinner was great and they told a story with each part of the show. When it was over, we tried to hurry out as we needed to get the van back to the airport before the last Thrifty shuttle which was at 9:30pm. We made it just in time!! Another long day for us. We soon went to bed as we were tired and had an early morning the next day….the Road to Hana.

Excellent Review!!! What time did you Luau end?

Thanks!!! I will finish it in a few days....with Christmas and travelling it is hard! The luau ended around 8:15 and we didn't stick around real long afterwards....if you go to the luau, when they say for people celebrating anniversaries etc to come up on stage and dance...that is the end. We wanted to get to the van and back to rental place so we could get on the last shuttle to pier!

Thanks!!! I will finish it in a few days....with Christmas and travelling it is hard! The luau ended around 8:15 and we didn't stick around real long afterwards....if you go to the luau, when they say for people celebrating anniversaries etc to come up on stage and dance...that is the end. We wanted to get to the van and back to rental place so we could get on the last shuttle to pier!

Yikes! Our Luau is scheduled to end at 9 pm!! :eek:

Thanks! I really appreciate your review and pictures. Also the little details like the blue chip line. Very helpful!

Great review. Can't wait to read the rest. We are doing the luau followed by the ship's tour the next day.

Did you bring a cooler with drinks and snacks with you for the Hana Tour?

Great review. Can't wait to read the rest. We are doing the luau followed by the ship's tour the next day.

 

Did you bring a cooler with drinks and snacks with you for the Hana Tour?

Yes, we did take a cooler with lunch and some snacks for the Hana tour. I am glad we did as there was only one place to eat on this tour. Hana is very small. We stopped at a little place that had a place to grab a sandwich or you could eat inside at a sit down place. There were a couple of little gift shops you could browse around but didn't take long at all.

There was a little pavillion area where you could sit and have a picnic lunch. If we had ordered food, we would have spent all our time waiting for lunch and then eating. I was glad we brought something to eat so we didn't waste all out time waiting for our food!

There wasn't much to look at but we did browse through the little shop and then went down to a gas station on the corner to get a diet coke for the afternoon.

There are several stops along the way to get pictures etc...but no place to buy a drink aside from the banaba bread stand, the lunch stop, and the last winery stop.

Hope you have a great time! If you are prone to getting car sick...definitely take medicine that morning....and I brought along my bottle and passed it around for anyone else who might need it!