NCL Wind 8/11 review

I took some time to think before posting, but the overall impression was not good. And I took this exact cruise Christmas 2002 so I am comparing apples to apples. #1 shocker was the hand sanitizers EVERYWHERE and not being allowed on ship(they wouldn't take your card to swipe it unless you sanitized first and the chief security officer would stand there and watch) or in a dining room without using them. Coupled with the notice in every newsletter that it was MANDATORY to report any gastro-intestinal problem immediately, it was a bit unsettling. Does anyone know what the deal was?

Check-in was a breeze with flower leis. Found our cabin - no surprises as it is what we had before except one deck up. However, the furnishings were shabbier than before - sofa ripped and stains on carpet and furniture. First problem - no shore excursion tickets in the cabin although I had ordered them on line. The beds were made up as one and I was traveling with my adult son so I tracked down the room steward and asked to have them switched. We grabbed a bite to eat and went shopping. On return, beds not separated yet (tracked steward down again and reminded her) and still no excursion tickets. We go to the lobby to find 30+ people in line for the excursion desk, figure we need to deal with this now and wait. 4:20pm, they announce that they are closing for the boat drill but we are the only ones left so Derek Baron asks my room # and what tours I wanted (doesn't write this down). When we return to the cabin afterwards, our tickets are waiting and are all correct. Top marks for this service, but the bed still isn't touched. We dine, watch the ship sail, and realize we are exhausted. Bed still isn't separated. I again find the steward, explain sharing a bed with my son is not an option, we got up 3am CA time, and we need this done NOW. 10:30pm, the bed is finally made into 2.

1st day - Hilo. We did the volcano tour last trip and decided to just take taxis and shuttles and shop (1st mistake). POA was also in port ith mobs of pissed-off people and all taxis were engaged. Ugly scene. The newsletter didn't say we would be going by the volcano at night - about 9pm and we found out by accident. So we were in the dining room but luckily seated by a window and didn't miss seeing the lava. Be aware - eat early so you don't miss this.

2 days to Fanning. Not much to tell, typical days at sea. I was pretty tan already, but used 15 sunscreen and burned a bit. We took a CC member's suggestion and went up on deck 9 or 10? at night to see the stars - it is so strange to see different stars.

Fanning - We were on the Napali beach tour - the early one - and it was great. We got chairs in the shade and kayaked and used the floats. It is so beautiful there. I saw a lot of people walking in the water without any foot protection, and also saw a lot of live sea urchins. I didn't hear of anyone stepping on one but be warned urchins are in the beachfront water as per the signs. We shopped a bit on the main beach area but gave the BBQ a miss. Bring single dollar bills as it is difficult to get change for larger bills.

2 days back - We had barely gotten underway when the announcement came - one engine was having problems so our schedule would be changed so as to make all three ports of call. Unfortunately, that meant that all shore excursions were to be rescheduled and many were cancelled. This was done one day at a time so Mr Derek Baron bacame our new best buddy and saw us every day for the rest of the trip and sometimes more often than that. Great guy - if even half the crew had his patience and/or work ethic, NCL would be unstoppable.

Kona - We did the zodiac trip with snorkeling, and had a ball. The water was clear and the diversity of marine life was great. No turtles, but enough else to not matter. We stopped on the way back to look at sea caves and birds and evidence of quakes and such. We didn't regret missing the Body Glove trip at all, although we had done it before and loved it.

Kauai - We were on another zodiac snorkeling trip but it got cancelled due to mechanical problems. By then, there were no excursions left. So we decided to grab a taxi and go it alone. Bad decision. This is where people stopped acting civilized - I guess due to so many frustrations. We were trying to stand in some sort of line, but then people started mobbing cabs and offering money as bribes. One already engaged cab driver actually turned around and waved us over to tell us we had to be aggressive if we wanted to get a cab. I guess he was a bit disgusted by the nasty me-first actions. So I flanked the mob, waved down the next cab, and still had someone try to climb in as I was talking to him. He booted them out and said he would take me no matter how much money they offered. It was very ugly. We went up to Haena and snorkeled from the beach (OK snorkeling but not great) - an interesting drive and our cab driver was great. He told us what it was like to live on Kauai - problems as well as the good things.

Maui - Another tender port and the one with the most problems. I said this in my 2002 review, and I am saying this again. In the afternoon, swells are common, and it is difficult to use a tender. People need to take this into consideration. The tender crew does a fabulous job but you really need to be agile and have both hands available to do it safely. Someone is going to get badly hurt or killed, if they keep taking tiny children, strollers, enough gear to stay a week, wheelchairbound or elderly folk who are unsteady on their feet on flat ground off the ship at this port. There was much complaining about the wild ride, and several people had to be grabbed and thrown to safety when the tender lurched. It can go up or down as much as 3+feet in either direction as well as shifting back and forth, and pushing out and back. That is three different directions of movement. If you wouldn't happily ride the wildest ride at a carnival for any reason, then tendering in Maui is not for you. OK - flame me - It may not be pc but it is the truth. Back to the review. We did the beach break as I wanted to see the Sheraton Black Rock and check out the snorkeling. Both were fabulous. Lahaina is fun to shop and stroll, and we had both lunch and dinner there. However, when dusk falls, the locals come out and they made it clear they resent tourists.

Unfortunately, problems began to multiply and attitudes began to show. This crew could not handle Freestyle dining at all. We tried eating anywhere from 6 to 9pm, and could not escape long waits. One night we were told it would be 1/2 hour and it was nearly 3 hours. When we were finally seated, there were at least 10 empty tables all made up, yet people were still waiting. Once seated, we often did not get what we ordered (leek soup instead of chilled cream of papaya?) or it was brought at odd times and they grabbed dishes even before you put your utensils down. The food was served with little presentation - no swirls of sauces or anything "pretty" and it began to be boring. Butter was not replenished unless you asked. In the buffet lines, you are not allowed to serve yourself. The crew doing the serving were sullen and unhelpful. My son asked for sausage and eggs but got bacon every time. He doesn't like bacon and tried correcting them but it did no good. I would ask for just a little of something but would get a full heaping scoop everytime. In the sports bar in the morning, they would clear tables but not wipe them off so you had to eat with coffee spills etc. from the previous occupants.

Our room steward got in the habit of trying to hustle us out of the cabin in the evening. We usually were out by 6:30 or 7 at the latest, but he would knock or even swipe his card and come in without knocking. The few times I needed to call the front desk, I got rude answers like I was bothering them, and it wasn't their job to answer. One question was simply if they were going to do the $25 for a bag of laundry offer. The deck crew would try to pressure you to give up your chair by 5-6pm, but would leave trays with dirty dishes sitting for hours. One day the entire port side of the ship lost toilet flushing capability for about 2 hours. Even on the last day when it clearly states that you may wait in your room until called, we were being pressured out. We simply refused but had to put up with our stewards barging in every 5-10 minutes for the last two hours.

If it had been only one or two problems, we could have brushed it off. But the cumulative effect was not good.

End conclusion - the POA problems have spilled over to the Wind. The all-american crew are not happy with their wages(too low), the Wind crew are not happy since they are paid less than the POA, and the Wind needs some serious refurbishing both mechanically and surface frills, and the crew needs some attitude adjustment. I may not cruise NCL again, and yet I was one happy camper after the last cruise. I would have told you I would cruise no other line ever. Just my opinions, though, so not to be taken seriously.

 

Sheltiecruiser

NCL Wind 2004

NCL Wind 2002

Carnival Elation 2002

Carnival Destiny 2002

Carnival Fascination 2001

Carnival Jubilee 1999

Thanks for all the info. I have actually changed from POA to the Wind...Maybe I should have just scrapped the whole thing. I must admit though, yours is by far the worst I have read. I appreciate your openness and honesty...

Thanks for the review.

 

One, the hand sanitizers and being served in the buffet is to keep passengers from getting sick on the cruise. Norwalk type viruses can spell disaster for cruise ships. The Wind is doing all they can to keep sickness at bay. In other reviews people mention this as being one of the things they loved about their cruise. It's interesting to see another person's opinion on this.

 

Two, I don't believe the POA has anything to do with the Wind. Just my opinion though. I've been on the Wind four times, three times when it was Freestyle and that ship has never been set up for Freestyle. It doesn't work and it can be frustrating. When I have sailed on the Wind or Dream since Freestyle, I went out of my way to avoid peak dining times because it was always a wait.

 

Anyway...thanks again for your review. None of the things you mentioned seemed to ruin your vacation...is that correct or did I read it wrong? I think the Wind is a great ship and there are a lot of positive reviews. I hope this doesn't turn you off NCL completely. They have some other new ships that may fit better.

We were on the same sailing... I was delighted at the sight of the hand sanitiziers at every corner. My father is an environmental specialist and I consider this an excellent thing to be found on cruise ships...

 

The Maui tender was very rough, that is for sure.

 

We never experienced much of a sining wait, and the crew was exceptional.

 

I must run, but will finish this later.

 

-Brian

I have come to the conclusion that cruising is like choosing your favorite Mexican food restaurant if you live in Texas. Everybody has a favorite and it doesn't necessarily match his friend or neighbor's favorite. It is all a matter of serendepity and what a person is looking for when he says Mexican food. I was on the 8/11 Wind Hawaiian cruise and had a very different experience.

 

The Wind has a 95 of a possible 100 score from the CDC in its last sanitation inspection which is really confidence inspiring when you see the scores of some other ships. The hand sanitizers represent an effort on the part of ncl to curb or prevent an outbreak of the Norwalk like viruses onboard. The buffet where a passenger does not really serve themselves is for the same purpose. The reporting of gastro-intestinal problems is required by the CDC and the Wind is required to report a high ratio of cases if they should occur.

 

Our cabin was in good shape. Our shore excursion tickets were waiting for us in our cabin and were accurate. Our room was made correctly. Our cabin stewards were wonderful and very accomadating. They quickly learned our evening routine and once when I surprised them by coming back at a different time they seemed almost embarrased that they were imposing on me. I understand that at some time I must give access to our cabin if I want it cleaned and the turn down for the night. If I got out and about before my husband in the morning we just put out the do not disturb sign. When my husband got up and went out we put out the please clean sign and it happened like magic. If I had particular needs like ice for my champagne or extra blanket I left a little post it note and they appeared.

 

Dinner was not a problem because we decided to practice the traditional idea of sitting at the same table every night at the same time. After dining the first night we (a group of 6) decided that we had a good waiter and assistant waiter. I came back the next morning to the reservation desk at 8 and reserved our table for 5:30 for the whole cruise. We then waited in line about 5 minutes when the Four Seasons opened each night to get up to the desk and were immediately seated with our faithful and charming waiter that seemed to love his job. He hummed and sang softly most evenings. We even saw him one morning at breakfast singing.

 

Breakfast was another story. The Four Seasons was to be avoided if you did not want to spend 1 1/2 hour eating breakfast. Room service worked great for a continental breakfast and a pot of coffee. It arrived on time, hot, and they called about 5 minutes before delivering it. That worked great for tendering days. I failed for the whole trip in any either the Four Seasons or the Sports Bar to get a pancake that could actually melt the butter that I put on it. But there were other good choices. The fresh fruit flowed freely and was sweet and ripe.

 

I did have my own little shore excursion experience. It seems that we prebooked a shore excursion that said 4 hours and turned out to be listed as 6 hours when we got onboard the ship and didn't notice until the day of the excursion in Maui. The excursion started at 10 am and did not list lunch as provided. I just knew that I was going to starve to death before I saw food again. I whined somewhat to the wonderful and patient people at the shore excursion desk but was reminded that our shore excursion booklets said to be sure and check against the information that comes upon boarding the ship and that snacks were provided with that particular excursion. A Snack! I would surely die of hunger and my little weak body would not be able to endure 6 hours of hiking. The snack was substantial, the road trip was long-not the hike, and I was so glad that I didn't pout my way out of a wonderful shore excursion.

 

We had the engine problem which revamped our port calls upon our return from Fanning Island. Our first stop back from Fanning Island was Kona instead of Kauai. Perhaps someone had taken one of Madame Pele's rocks and it became necessary to return it to the Big Island before continuing on our trip in order to alleviate her rath. Our friends were disappointed when they were bumped from their Kona shore excursion but had a nice day on their own. It was not the first time that we had lost a shore excursion. In Alaska we did not know that the shore excursion wasn't going to be there until we walked off the ship in Juneau. We were fortunate enough to not have lost any of our shore excursions on this trip so we did not find ourselves in any of the every-man-for-himself scrambles described by Sheltiecruiser.

 

The tendering at Maui was kind of painful in several ways. The harbor was exceedingly busy and the tenders were not always allowed in when they were ready or to leave when they were ready. The problem with tendering is that you must be extremely organized and together because if you forget something it can set your day back about 40 minutes while you go back to get whatever you need. Also when you tender and plan several activites and one of them is the beach it becomes a big pain to carry your towel around all day because tendering back to leave it on the ship is too time consuming. We actually saw ncl towels in the trash at Maui. Apparently someone had found it more than they wanted to fool with to carry a towel all day. Perhaps in the ports where tendering is necessary ncl could make it possible to turn your towels back in near the tendering place so that you aren't dragging a towel around all day. We were spared the scary return to the ship because the water was rough. Our timing must have been to our advantage. I did however watch the crew trying to get two people in wheelchairs up the stairs off a tender. It was scary and I wasn't the one that put my life in the hands of strangers. I would not be brave enough to try that more than once.

 

We ate one night at Le Bistro and the staff went out of their way to make it a very special dining experience.

 

There were a variety of things to do on the at sea days. And if you wanted to you could do absolutely nothing. I know that many did not enjoy 4 days at sea. It flew by for me. But I can find sitting in a deck chair watching the sea for hours entertaining.

 

In conclusion you can see that like my original reference to a favorite place to eat out different people have different tastes, experiences, or ideas of what they expect. Your glass can be half full, your glass can be half empty, or someone can walk by and knock your glass over regardless of how much was in it to begin with. Some will have good times in the worst of circumstances, some will have bad times in the best of circumstances, and some circumstances will determine how good a time you do or do not have. It is hard for a person to know if a cruise is a good choice for them unless they can see varied viewpoints and see how they themselves fit the picture. For some of my friends I would recommend the Hawaii trip on the Wind for others I would not. I found it to be a good experience that I would be willing to try again.

VT71....thanks for the review. We're really looking forward to the Wind on 10/2/04. I'm just driving myself nuts trying to figure out our itineraries on each island. There is so much to do. We were only in Hawaii once in 1982 on Waikiki so we want to see as much as possible. Hopefully, we'll then know which islands we want to come back to and do a land vacation.:):)

I was on this sailing too and had an experience very similar to VZ71. However we are nowhere near organized enought to eat at the same time every night. We ate at all the restaurants at all different times and only had one long wait. We arranged for rental cars in ports. It wasn't perfect but it was better than the taxi experience.

 

I was happy to see those hand sanitizers. My DH was very leery of booking a cruise after hearing the virus stories. The ship was very clean. All of our little onboard issues (except the lost excursions) were promptly resolved. I didn't care for all the searches and security but that's life after 9/11.;)

I feel that the hand sanitizers are a great measure and not even an inconvenience to take to lessen chances of disease spread. Any measures any facility uses to try and decrease the spread of bacteria should be greatly appreciated. I was very happy to see that since we will be on the 9/22 sailing. I think this should be in the positive not negative column.

I'm glad to hear that sanitizers are available everywhere. I was planning on taking my own. Let's keep the ship disease free!! Happy Sails. ;)

:) Hello fellow cruisers; We just got home from an 11 day cruise on the wind. I must say the experience was great, We had sailed on the wind last fall,and it was so so.This trip we brought along our 17 year old granddaughter and her freind, Imust say the crew took very good care of us. The hand santizers were a blessing every where, The buffet in Sports Bar was just fine, you were able to serve your self.I was very pleased with the trip. Hope all of you have smooth sailings and if you don't get your expectations to high ,you have a wonderful cruise. In Kona we bought our own bottled water, at 88 cents . The ship wanted 3.00.As for the dinning, WE got there when they opened and was always seated right away, Then we were able to take in the 1st show..RogerM.

WE sailed 8/21 thought 9/1.

RogerM

 

Did the Wind change ports due to a storm or was it due to engine problems? I am glad you had a good trip. We will be on the Wind next Saturday and looking forward to a great trip. It's Hawaii after all. :D

Sounds like a bunch of mixed experiences. We were on the 7/31 Wind sailing and thought that the food in the dining rooms was terrible. We ate in LeBistro 4 times - the food there was great. We had an Owner's Suite and the furniture was all stained, etc. It was a nice cabin, but definitely looked worn. The concierge proved very useful and she was able to give us "priority seating" for dinner each evening so that we did not have to wait. I also hated the fact that they wouldn't let you serve yourself from the buffet. You never got exactly what you wanted with them serving you.

 

The activities and entertainment were good. We knew that the ship was older than we're used to, and they made good use of their limited public space. We chose the cruise due to the itinerary and timing when our teenagers were out of school.

 

We enjoyed the activities, entertainment and ports. We won't be sailing NCL again as we feel that food is an important part of the cruise experience and NCL's food doesn't come close to the food on other mass market cruiselines - Princess and Celebrity are the ones we've cruised frequently.

I won't be cruising Celebrity again, or at least am not in a rush to run back to them. My theory is that they convince you from the moment you embark that they are the best, and that you are a celebrity, and other loads of....

 

I had perfect food in the main dining room, there was no need to use Le Bistro. I think NCL's food was at least equal to, if not better than Celebrity's. One downfall I'll say is that Celebrity runs a photo line through the Chocolate buffet first.. which is nice. They also had more late-night themed food parties on Galaxy.

 

I see the servers in the buffets as a great precautionary measure, like the hand sanitiziers. No, I might not get the precise number of bacon strips that I wanted, but in addition to that they usually give you more than you want, I sure didn't want gastro-intestinal illness, either. I'm not trying to be cruel, but I see it as another good precaution.

 

-Brian

 

Oh, about the ports. Ours was do to engine failure, they told us on the return from Fanning. I wonder what they told the 8/21 cruisers. Shellbelle11 said that it was because of a Huriccane, but I have read in a book by an ex-CD, turned Captain's wife, about an instance where something big happened in the center of the ship, underwater, something that would scare the passengers. So they were supposed to be told that it was a propeller problem. Some men who were in the Navy watched the divers go under in the middle of the ship, and knew it wasn't a propeller issue. So things like that are done, maybe it was a Hurricane, maybe not. They're probably not supposed to advertise that they're sending out a sickly ship...

RogerM

 

Did the Wind change ports due to a storm or was it due to engine problems? I am glad you had a good trip. We will be on the Wind next Saturday and looking forward to a great trip. It's Hawaii after all. :D

Yes the wind changed ports due to the storm. She was able to keep here schedule. Went to Kone 1st then 2 days at sea, Femming Island next, then 2 days at sea. lahina was next, then to kawii, then to mauii. then to hilo and back to Honolulu.George thewaiter in the italian rest. was the best

So the 8/21 itenirary was unchanged?

 

-Brian

The itinerary was changed, Brian. On the 11 day cruises it's the opposite of what we did on the 10 day. Instead of going to Fanning at the beginning like on our 10 day, the 11 day usually goes to Fanning at the end (with Hilo, I believe, being the last stop) and does the other islands first. This past cruise it was very similar to ours. :D

I know it's reversed normally, but Roger's words of "Yes the wind changed ports due to the storm. She was able to keep here schedule." clouded the subject.

 

By schedule, I suppose he means in hours in each port, immeterial of which day of the cruise they visit.

 

-Brian

Thanks for all the feedback. I ran out of room on my original post so it was a bit shorter than I originally wrote. I don't think I went into this cruise with overly high expectations - we had just done this cruise some 20 months ago and had a superb time, and I knew there would be some better points and some worse. I just didn't expect the crew to drop the ball quite so often. Even though our last Wind cruise was a completely full holiday cruise, the dining room staff managed to seat us in less than 45 minutes every time, and when we did have to wait, they gave us a reasonable estimate of the time. This time, we would be told 20 - 30 minutes and wait over an hour (or more). I do understand about the Norwalk virus, but I just think they were so overly paranoid that it became overly intrusive and made me wonder if there were problems (like the virus already loose on the ship) they were concealing. I really prefer to be informed and make choices for myself than have someone "protecting" me. If you will pardon my bringing it up, all those people in the WTC who were told to return to their offices is a perfect example. Sometimes the "authorities" don't have all the answers, and while I understand the concept of working for the common good, I still want to know the truth. I also understand the way room stewards work, but I have never had one so determined to walk in on me. This is my 6th cruise after all, and have always found them willing and able to adjust to my schedule. We like to watch the ship sail and/or the sun set, then clean up for dinner and I have never had a steward not "get it" by the second day. My son and I did have fun over-all, but there were those instances we had to really work at it. And at some point there were just too many times we had to search for some humor in the situation. I know everyone goes into a cruise with different expectations so I am sure some people were perfectly happy. I always appreciate honesty on the reviews so I can make informed choices and I hope everyone who reads this will accept it in view of it being my opinion only.

 

Sheltiecruiser

With WTC... I would equate the sanitizers to be like having emergency ladders out the window or something.... but, whatever you feel is your opinion, which is what you should state.

 

-Brian

I have visited the CDC site concerning norovirus and I think the use of handsanitizers serves two purposes. It protects me by sanitizing my hands from what is already on my hands from who knows where--maybe the handrails while climbing the stairs, maybe pushing the elevator button--and it protects me from what is on someone else's hands when they enter the dining area or return to the ship as well. We live in an age of protection from ourselves as well as others. It is visible in all areas of our lives. Research is even showing that the safety of a person in a car is lessened or increased by the "choice" the others passengers make about wearing a seatbelt. As information becomes available we find ourselves with less personal choice in many matters. Wasn't it great when the world was simpler and everything that we did was not seen as a risk to ourselves or others?

 

Now if you think I am too health and safety conscious welcome to the club. My sister and daughter make fun of the personal precautions that I take during flu season--I hold the pen on the "fake pen" signature into the computer with a tissue, I will not use my charge card at all if I see the person in front of me cough or sneeze and then using a charge card, I push doors open with my forearm or turn the knobs by pulling my sleeve down to cover my hand, I love the self flushing toilets and motion activated faucets for washing my hands. Yet, they both had colds and flu the last two winters and I did not. They continue to find me entertaining. Oh, well. I was pleased to see ncl making a real effort to prevent or control what could be a very unpleasant experience for the passengers or the cruise line.

Thanks for your comments everyone!

 

We are on the April 30th Wind sailing, 11 night. We were on the Wind last fall, so know of some of the dining problems. I did find something on the menu, in the Terrace Dining Room for breakfast, that was a good idea. They have an "express" breakfast, that consists of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. It would come quickly, and that was great for early mornings. It would get tedious, but I'm not a patient waiter, so would mostly have that! It beat trying to get a place to sit in the buffet. In fact, we only went to the buffet for breakfast on the last day, I think. It was better than I thought it'd be!

We just came back from a 9/1-9/11 cruise on the Wind, we enjoyed the cruise very much, I will say not impressed with the shore trip to Fanning Island, but to each his own....the NCL personnel made the trip enjoyable..the food was great, and yes we did enjoy the casual atmosphere...found that you could always find a place to eat..and clean the ship and the dining areas were very clean. the activities on ship were as good as any cruise ship we have been on..the entertainment was excellent as well as the staff of the ship...thinking that all those different countries represented by the staff and they seemed to get along quite well we were very impressed...as far as the shore excurisions go, I believe that is another story and stated this in my comments to the NCL report..not all the shore excurisions are good, but I have already read a response from NCL regarding my comments, that they would review all the excursions. our cabin was excellent, we had two people servicing out cabin and they were great, seemed to be available 24 hours a day, we were on deck 7. Hope this makes some sense, but we were more than satisfied with our cruise and NCL Wind staff. We enjoyed Maui the most. Enjoy any questions please contact us.

Am leaving next week and unfortunately haven't yet decided on any excursions. Could you tell us what to avoid and why. It seems as though you were not happy with the NCL excursions and that was the way we were going. Did you rent a car anywhere? You could email me at vegaspatk@cox.net

 

Thanks

We also just got off the Wind on the 9/1 - 9/11 cruise and had a great time. The engine problems that seemed to have plagued the ship on the cruises before us were taken care of. I have done two cruises on Celebrity and one on NCL and all in all, I found them very similar. The Wind is an older ship and it does show a little wear, but nothing that bothered me. I didn't like Freestyle dining as much as I thought I would. In my past cruises, meeting people and getting to know them was one of my favorite parts, but I found that much harder to do on this cruise. Often we would ask to share a table with others at dinner, but found out that we would have to wait for that, while we could get a seat right away for two of us. So we ended up eating by ourselves most nights and we probably would have preferred to share with others. But these are all minor quibbles. I thought the entertainment and activites were excellent. Our stateroom attendant was very friendly and efficient, maybe the best I've had. We did all ship shore excursions and I wouldn't have changed one of them.

 

One note about Maui, the tender was very rough. On our cruise one individual fell off as she was getting in the boat, ended up in the water and in the hospital. I never heard how bad it was and if she got back on the boat or not. But be careful as you are going to the tender in that port.

We also were on the 9/1 - 9/11 Hawaii cruise on Wind. See the review I just posted in the review section. Bottom line: we loved it, and would recommend it to anyone.