A Photo Trip Report of POA 3/25-4/8/15

After being inspired by all the awesome previous posters and reviewers on this site (especially Miicah!) I decided I had to pay it forward. So here is my very own trip report, including my pre-cruise and post-cruise stay in Hawaii.

A bit of background on me. This isn't my first trip to Hawaii. In fact, I lived on Oahu for several months back in the 90s, and have visited several times, including 3 cruises. The last time was 9 years ago when my husband and I sailed on the Pride of Hawaii. We decided to go back this year to celebrate our ten year anniversary and do the same cruise. Pride of Hawaii doesn't exist anymore (it's been rebranded and I believe is now sailing around Europe somewhere) so we did the next best thing. Same itinerary, same cruise line, just a slightly different ship.

I am glad we did this cruise itinerary again, so we were able to do things we just didn't have time to do last time.

We stayed 3 nights in Waikiki pre-cruise and 3 nights post cruise. This trip report will cover the whole trip, not just the cruise portion.

So, without further adieu, let's get started! I hope you enjoy and please feel free to ask any questions if I can help with your planning in any way.

Aloha and mahalo for following along!

It was a long day of flying and hanging out in airports. One bright spot was the bar/restaurant hidden in the back of a place called Farmers Market in Terminal 6 at LAX. You'll still pay too much, i.e. Airport pricing, but at Loteria Grill, you'll at least have a different view than at the rest of the bars and restaurants at the airport.

When we arrived in Waikiki, we grabbed a taxi to our hotel. With tip it was about $50.

When we finally arrived at our hotel, the Waikiki Beach Marriott, we had a pleasant check in experience with a lovely lady named Lani. We had two separate reservations, one for two nights that we booked directly with the hotel, and the last night booked through NCL. Lani was able to combine our two reservations even though our first two nights were a different category of room, and she upgraded us for the entire stay to an ocean view room. And she gave us extra Mai Tai tickets! (Included with each stay are two Mai tai tickets and two coffee tickets, but she gave us 4 Mai tai tickets and 6 coffee tickets.)

I've included some pics of our room and the view from our first night.

We woke up very early on Thursday morning since we were still on mainland time. I grabbed a slightly lighter pic of our view before heading out to breakfast.

We decided to take a stroll down the main strip in Waikiki and try the Hula Grill for breakfast, which is located on the second floor of the Outrigger Waikiki.

I should add a note here that we found many of these places because of the Revealed series of guidebooks we purchased before our trip. We bought the Kindle versions of Oahu Revealed, Maui Revealed, and The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook. All three were helpful and well used, but I have to give special props to Oahu Revealed which was especially helpful! I do have a kindle but found that I used the kindle app on my iPhone to reference this book while on my vacation daily. I did NOT purchase the revealed apps so I can't comment on those or recommend them. We did not purchase the Big Island guidebook because we knew that we were spending day 1 in the Volcano N.P. and knew the hike we wanted to do, and had purchased an NCL excursion for our second day, so didn't feel we needed it. In hindsight, it may have been helpful for day 2 since NCL cancelled our excursion.

Anyway, back to breakfast. I had the short stack of pancakes with a generous serving of their coconut syrup and a little bit of guava jelly. Brad had the croissant French toast. And we both had the breakfast potatoes and mimosas. I also had coffee and Brad had green tea. All was delicious. The view was also outstanding. Right on the beach with views of the beach, ocean, and Diamond Head. They open at 6:30 a.m. If you get there before 7 a.m. you can be sure to get a table right on the edge of the patio for the best views.

The Outrigger hotel by the way looks really beautiful and I think would be a lovely place to stay. They have this beautiful well cared for outrigger canoe in the lobby. And beautiful murals and paintings on the walls.

After breakfast we took a leisurely stroll back to our hotel and saw some sort of ceremony happening at one of the statues along the way.

Once back at the hotel, we stopped into the NCL office in the lobby to check in. This is the reason for booking the Marriott pre cruise through NCL. So that you can check in to the cruise while at the hotel, they handle your luggage and transportation and you can streamline your boarding experience. In the past this has really helped us avoid that really long line at the pier. However, I have to say that this time, we still wound up waiting in line quite a bit to board the ship so I am not sure it was really worth paying double for that one night we booked through NCL (yes, it was double the price we paid for the other two nights.)

After checking in with NCL, we pretty much spent the day walking up and down the main strip in Waikiki and doing some errands/shopping. We walked all the way to the Ala Moana mall hoping they had some cute little kitschy shops to check out but it was mostly big name stores just like any mall. If you've never been to Hawaii, it might be worth taking a peek in the Hilo Hattie since they give you shell leis just for walking in. We were hoping to check out the International Marketplace which was a cool old place to go shopping on the main strip in Waikiki which was around this huge old tree. Lots of cute little kitschy shops. Unfortunately that marketplace is no more, and they are building a big fancy mall in its place. Right now there is a big barrier set up in front of it, but it appears the old tree has been saved, and I'm guessing they are building the new mall around the tree (I hope.)

I wanted to also add a tip here to travel with zip lock bags. We bring a bunch of quart and gallon size zip locks with us when we travel. They come in handy for all sorts of things. One thing we do is buy a big bag of pretzels, then put some in a quart size bag to have with us when walking, hiking, or driving around throughout the day. Pretzels in a ziplock were our walking lunch for Thursday while on the go.

Around cocktail time, we found ourselves back at our hotel at the poolside bar, Moana Terrace, where we cashed in our Mai Tai tickets. It is not a bad place to spend some time. They also have live music there in the evenings. You may even hear it from your lanai.

After cocktails, we strolled down the main drag again and had dinner at Cheeseburger Waikiki. We had veggie burgers and fries and Brad had a beer in a cute glass.

Then we retired to our room for sunset watching on our lanai while some music wafted up from the pool bar below.

Wine and other refreshments are available for purchase in the ABC store in the Marriott lobby. For those new to Hawaii, ABC stores in Waikiki are like Starbucks in other major cities. No, they aren't baristas. But they are on every corner. Literally. They are convenience/souvenir shops. They also sell water shoes. If you save your receipts each time you shop at an ABC store, you will most likely be able to cash them in before the end of your trip for a small gift.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's trip report including our Diamond head hike!

Very nice! We were in Hawaii 12 years ago on our honeymoon. Would love to return but in the mean time I'll live vicariously thru your review!!!

Very nice! We were in Hawaii 12 years ago on our honeymoon. Would love to return but in the mean time I'll live vicariously thru your review!!!

Thank you for following along! And I hope you do get to go back to Hawaii some day! It is definitely worth another trip! Aloha and mahalo! :)

Following along! Even though we went on the POA over a year ago, I still read the reviews. I love to see it all again through someone else's eyes.

Can't wait to read the rest!:)

Thanks so much for the review! I look forward to the rest of it. We are on the POA in 2 weeks, and seeing your photos of Waikiki make me anxious to get there. We also plan to eat breakfast at the Hula Grill. We did that once before, and you are right -- there is plenty of room at the edge if you get there early. ;)

Thanks for your report so far.

That tiny pink hotel in the last picture is the Royal Hawaiian, where we stayed for the first week of my honeymoon! Glad to see it's still there (20 some odd years later ). Loved Waikiki and Maui.

Looking forward to more.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your detailed trip here. I will be following and am taking notes. It's funny, I just checked the title of the O'ahu book I just bought and it's the same you mentioned in your review. This will be our first trip to Hawaii. We booked POA for January 2016 as our 35th anniversary gift to ourselves. We will also be staying one week in Waikiki prior to cruising. Can't wait to read more of your review.

Loving your review! I will be leaving with family on Tuesday to head to Hawaii and will be getting on the POA a week from tomorrow. I'm so excited I can't wait. I've never been to Hawaii. Thanks for writing this review!

I am so excited to see a new review of the POA...and with photos to boot!! :)

We just booked this cruise and now I have kicked into intense research mode to prepare for our trip in November.

Having never been to Hawaii before, we are calling this our "buffet trip." We will sample a little bit of each island and then plan to make a future trip to get "second helpings" of what we liked most.

It is overwhelming to think of planning for a port EVERY day, PLUS we are spending several days in Waikiki before the cruise. (And figuring everything out is even more difficult with all of the confusing Hawaiian names and words!!) Right now I am just concentrating on what to do pre-cruise so I will be reading your review carefully to get ideas!

Thanks again. And BTW...that is one beautiful sunset photo!!

Hey~~! OMG, I am so excited for your report, it makes me feel like I'm going on vacay again! I'm so honoured that I was able to inspire you!

LOL @ the ABC Stores. Like, seriously, they're everywhere :p But I didn't know they sold water shoes, I wish I had some during my trip. That's a shame about the whole NCL hotel and not being able to skip the lines. You told me about that and I totally want to try it sometime.

Can't wait to read the rest! Loving it so far! :D

So awesome!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this! Already picking up some great tips!!! So glad you had a wonderful time! Your pictures are amazing!!!

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Can't wait to hear (Read) what you thought of the ship. Husband wants to do this trip very much. We went to Hawaii back in 2010 on a 2-week cruise that sailed R/T from LA. Great trip, but not nearly enough time in the islands.

Thank you for your review it will help me wait until our cruise tour begins in less than 2 weeks.

One tip I would like to pass along to others. If you have a Entertainment book you can go on line or get the mobile app. There are a lot of useful coupons for all of Hawaii. I only discovered this yesterday and I already saved $86 for a buy one get one flight with Air Ventures in Kauai

There are also coupons for BOGO at the two restaurants at the Marriott and many others up and down the strip.

We cruise in 98 days, so am excited to see your review!

Thanks for posting and keeping us up on POA; loved your breakfast pic; and the beer glass from dinner

I'm looking forward to more of your review.

Following along! Even though we went on the POA over a year ago, I still read the reviews. I love to see it all again through someone else's eyes.

 

Can't wait to read the rest!:)

Thank you for following along! I love reading along with others too on their journeys. Makes me reminisce about my own... and also makes me want to plan my next adventure! My next day's report will be posted shortly! :)

Thanks so much for the review! I look forward to the rest of it. We are on the POA in 2 weeks, and seeing your photos of Waikiki make me anxious to get there. We also plan to eat breakfast at the Hula Grill. We did that once before, and you are right -- there is plenty of room at the edge if you get there early. ;)

Thank you for reading along! Mmmmm Hula Grill! We loved it so much there, we went back two more times! :)

Thanks for your report so far.

That tiny pink hotel in the last picture is the Royal Hawaiian, where we stayed for the first week of my honeymoon! Glad to see it's still there (20 some odd years later ). Loved Waikiki and Maui.

Looking forward to more.

Thank you for following along! That pink hotel is iconic. I bet it would be so cool to stay there! It was right next door to the Outrigger hotel where we had breakfast at the Hula Grill.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your detailed trip here. I will be following and am taking notes. It's funny, I just checked the title of the O'ahu book I just bought and it's the same you mentioned in your review. This will be our first trip to Hawaii. We booked POA for January 2016 as our 35th anniversary gift to ourselves. We will also be staying one week in Waikiki prior to cruising. Can't wait to read more of your review.

Happy 35th anniversary! Wow! That is awesome! Oahu Revealed was such an awesome resource. We used it every single day we were on Oahu! Other important resources were the Yelp app and Google Maps app on my iphone. :)

Loving your review! I will be leaving with family on Tuesday to head to Hawaii and will be getting on the POA a week from tomorrow. I'm so excited I can't wait. I've never been to Hawaii. Thanks for writing this review!

Thank you for reading! I am so excited for you and your family for your upcoming trip!

I am so excited to see a new review of the POA...and with photos to boot!! :)

 

We just booked this cruise and now I have kicked into intense research mode to prepare for our trip in November.

 

Having never been to Hawaii before, we are calling this our "buffet trip." We will sample a little bit of each island and then plan to make a future trip to get "second helpings" of what we liked most.

 

It is overwhelming to think of planning for a port EVERY day, PLUS we are spending several days in Waikiki before the cruise. (And figuring everything out is even more difficult with all of the confusing Hawaiian names and words!!) Right now I am just concentrating on what to do pre-cruise so I will be reading your review carefully to get ideas!

 

Thanks again. And BTW...that is one beautiful sunset photo!!

Thank you for following along and for the compliment on the photo. It's hard to take a bad photo in Hawaii. I know what you mean about the Hawaiian words ha! I had to take really good notes as i was reading other reviews and books when planning my trip. It seemed like many places' names were similar sounding probably due to the limited alphabet in the Hawaiian language.

Hey~~! OMG, I am so excited for your report, it makes me feel like I'm going on vacay again! I'm so honoured that I was able to inspire you!

 

LOL @ the ABC Stores. Like, seriously, they're everywhere :p But I didn't know they sold water shoes, I wish I had some during my trip. That's a shame about the whole NCL hotel and not being able to skip the lines. You told me about that and I totally want to try it sometime.

 

Can't wait to read the rest! Loving it so far! :D

(((MIICAH))) I feel like we're bosom buddies now after spending so much time "with" you reading through your detailed trip report. Maybe someday we'll meet on the other side of the rainbow in person. Thank you for reading my review! Yours was so awesome. I don't think i took nearly as many helpful and awesome pics as you did though. Hopefully my review won't be too redundant. ;-)

So awesome!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this! Already picking up some great tips!!! So glad you had a wonderful time! Your pictures are amazing!!!

Thank you for reading! And for the compliment on the photos! I am so glad my tips are helpful!

Can't wait to hear (Read) what you thought of the ship. Husband wants to do this trip very much. We went to Hawaii back in 2010 on a 2-week cruise that sailed R/T from LA. Great trip, but not nearly enough time in the islands.

Thank you for reading! I really loved the ship, it was beautiful. I know what you mean about the cruise. I did one once that started in Hawaii and then had several days at sea before ending in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Too many days at sea and not enough on the Islands. However, i do wish we had a couple days at sea on this cruise. We didn't have nearly enough time to enjoy the ship. I think we realized now that both are important for a good cruise for us - days at sea as well as days in port.

Thank you for your review it will help me wait until our cruise tour begins in less than 2 weeks.

One tip I would like to pass along to others. If you have a Entertainment book you can go on line or get the mobile app. There are a lot of useful coupons for all of Hawaii. I only discovered this yesterday and I already saved $86 for a buy one get one flight with Air Ventures in Kauai

There are also coupons for BOGO at the two restaurants at the Marriott and many others up and down the strip.

Thank you for reading. And that's a great tip!

We cruise in 98 days, so am excited to see your review!

Thank you for following along!

Thanks for posting and keeping us up on POA; loved your breakfast pic; and the beer glass from dinner

Thank you for following along and for the compliment on the photos! We loved the cute glasses at Cheeseburger Waikiki/Paradise!

I'm looking forward to more of your review.

Thank you! More coming momentarily! Stay tuned! :)

I thought i would share a few more pics of our room at the Marriott and some schedules they gave us at the front desk that you may find helpful. Not sure if the schedule changes or if it's the same each week.

I didn't take a pic, but one thing we really liked was the very large safe in the closet. It was so big i was able to fit my whole large purse in there along with my ipad, my husband's tablet, phones, wallets, etc. I didn't want to go for long walks with my large purse but felt uncomfortable just leaving it lying around the room either, and by fitting it in the safe i didn't have to go through it and take every thing out that might need to go in the safe.

One thing we did not like about the room was the shower head. It was the kind that you can take down and use as a hand held shower head, but this particular one could not be maneuvered to stay put in a position that faced downward. So whenever it was in its holder, it was just shooting straight at the back wall of the shower. Worst shower head ever. We would have complained but since we got upgraded to an ocean view room for two days that we were supposed to have a city view.... we decided to just deal with it rather than possibly being switched to a city view room. I mean, that lanai... was heavenly!

Friday, March 27

On Friday, we decided to hike Diamond Head. And since we wanted to get an early start, we decided to just get smoothies to go before catching the bus to Diamond Head. The only glitch was that the smoothie place we wanted to try didn't open till 7 a.m. So we were first in line when Tucker & Bevvy opened at 7.

After grabbing our smoothies we walked to the bus stop (after seeing an earlier bus pass us by while waiting for our smoothies). We realized it would be about 30 minutes till the next bus so we decided to just walk to Diamond head since it would be less than a 30 minute walk. By the way, if you want to take the bus, it's #23 that you want.

It is a bit of an uphill walk, and once you're at the bus stop/entrance, you still have a hike up to the main entrance where you pay the entrance fee ($1 for each walker, or $5 per car.) This is a very popular hike and you will not have it to yourself. I would suggest going as early as possible, both to avoid crowds and because it gets super hot up there. Bring water! And it is a climb. Not a super easy hike. I would call it moderate. The view from the top is phenomenal with 360 degree views of Waikiki.

The bus stop at the street entrance to the Diamond Head Park:

Side note: on SATURDAY mornings, across the street from that Diamond Head bus stop, there is a really nice big farmers market at the KCC (Kapiolani Community College) sort of in back of the bus stop on that other side of the street. It CLOSES at 11 a.m. We didn't discover this till after our cruise, and we just caught the last 15 minutes of the market that Saturday. We wound up buying some macadamia nuts there. There is another, smaller farmers market closer to the main drag in Waikiki that i wouldn't recommend. BTW - i don't recommend getting the macadamia nuts still in the shells. My dad says they are pretty much impossible to open without a special device.

The uphill climb from the bus stop to the real entrance to the park:

The tunnel you will have to walk through to get to that main entrance:

Inside that tunnel:

I was a bit worried about walking through that tunnel. There really is no sidewalk in there, just that small little shoulder as you can see in the pic. Going in was not a big deal early in the a.m. when the traffic (car and foot) was light. However, on our way back out, it was a little nerve wracking i have to admit with two way foot traffic trying to share that little shoulder, and big tour buses driving by. But we survived, and i didn't see anyone get hurt thankfully.

Friday, March 27 continued

Once you pay the fee to get into the park proper, then the real hike begins. Yes, it's an uphill hike all the way. And once you think you're at the top, there's still an uphill tunnel, some scary steep stairs, and then finally a winding staircase to the top!

uphill tunnel:

scary steep stairs:

(note on the climb: one girl was jogging up the mountain with her boyfriend and then got to the stairs and was hyperventilating or something. She didn't make it up the stairs. Take it slow even if you think you're in great shape! This is not an easy hike even though seemingly everyone does it!)

The winding staircase right before the top:

Once you're at the top though, it does seem like it's all worth it. Absolutely phenomenal views. Would have been even nicer if it wasn't quite so crowded (there really isn't much room at the top) but still amazing!

Talk about your Million Dollar View. Breathtaking (In so many ways :) not sure I could make the climb)