Hawaii POA - Sandwich Makings Avail in Port?

Seems like a silly question to be asking but I'm throwing it out there anyway. We are booked on the POA and are wondering if they offer the makings of sandwiches that you can take with you when you are in port. We are considering bringing a soft cooler for the purpose of taking lunch off the ship with us. We think we have read in other reviews that people have done this and POA provides enough options to make a sandwich to take. Any previous cruisers know if this is true? We don't want to haul the cooler with us unnecessarily.

We asked and were told that the Hawaiian authorities do not allow any food or plants off the ship. At the same time, we never saw anyone checking either.

Burt

The pickings were pretty slim in the Aloha Cafe for making sandwiches. They must have gotten wise to what people were doing.

Hmmmmm......might be buying a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter in port! LOL ;)

We asked and were told that the Hawaiian authorities do not allow any food or plants off the ship. At the same time, we never saw anyone checking either.

 

Burt

As you said it's not allowed & once in awhile I've seen dogs checking and to me I prefer to follow the regulations as they strive to protect their environment. :)

Hmmmmm......might be buying a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter in port! LOL ;)

Have you considered enjoying an ono-licious Hawaiian plate lunch such as teriyaki beef/chicken or kalua pork instead? ;)

You can always have PB&J at home or at least try it on some tasty Hawaiian sweet bread which was introduced to Hawaii by Portuguese immigrants.

Have you considered enjoying an ono-licious Hawaiian plate lunch such as teriyaki beef/chicken or kalua pork instead? ;)

 

You can always have PB&J at home or at least try it on some tasty Hawaiian sweet bread which was introduced to Hawaii by Portuguese immigrants.

Yes - definitely planning to try the local flavor! Just have some days that we will be on the go and need a quick lunch. Want to make sure we have an option for a fast lunch on the go so we can make the most of our time. :)

No food or drink was allowed off the ship when we sailed with POA in December. I had an orange from our stateroom fruit basket and it was confiscated.

Yes - definitely planning to try the local flavor! Just have some days that we will be on the go and need a quick lunch. Want to make sure we have an option for a fast lunch on the go so we can make the most of our time. :)

Yes, so many things to experience with relatively so little time. :eek:

Unlike Princess who we sail with from LA, the POA has overnight stays to enjoy more of each port. For us it's not as important having spent enough time on each island particularly on Maui.

Some less developed beaches have food trucks that prepare food but I don't know if you could count on them being there. I've never had problems taking pre-packaged (not merely wrapped) foods off the ship that we bring onboard with us. Things like granola bars, chips, crackers or candy haven't been a problem when we don't have plans to eat in port. These aren't necessarily health foods but it can help us get by when trying to see so much without sitting down to eat. Most markets have a deli to get some fresh food to go...including local-style grindz! :D

Honeymooner27 says this in their review: Awesome ride! We rode all the way back to Paia and stopped at the beach for lunch. We called room service when we got up and asked them to deliver some sandwiches for us. We went and had breakfast and got back to our room just in time for delivery so that worked out perfectly! A few sandwiches and some chips and a cookie and we were good for lunch!

So that might be an option. They were on the Pride of America April 6-13.

Honeymooner27 says this in their review: Awesome ride! We rode all the way back to Paia and stopped at the beach for lunch. We called room service when we got up and asked them to deliver some sandwiches for us. We went and had breakfast and got back to our room just in time for delivery so that worked out perfectly! A few sandwiches and some chips and a cookie and we were good for lunch!

 

So that might be an option. They were on the Pride of America April 6-13.

Thanks & since POA only goes interisland then they may have differerent regulations than ships originating elsewhere.

I searched for Hawaii regulations & even from the US the rules are more lenient and said:

FOOD PRODUCTS

In general, foods that are cooked, canned, frozen or commercially processed and/or packaged are allowed to be transported to Hawaii, as long as the product is arriving from within the U.S.

Frozen or chilled meats are also allowed to be transported to Hawaii as long as the meat originated from within the U.S.

Manufactured food products are not required to be declared or inspected.

http://hdoa.hawaii.gov/pi/pq/travel-shipping-information/traveling-from-the-u-s-mainland-to-hawai%ca%bbi/

I don't know if each inspector is completely aware of the exact wording of the regulation but I would feel confident that on POA who sails exclusively within Hawaii then they should know the regulations & guess I learned something new today. :)

Great info - thanks! I think we will try the room service/sandwich option.

Great info - thanks! I think we will try the room service/sandwich option.

If you do, please come back and let us know how it went. I'm going with my family next February and would like to know how it works out. We thought we might do this at one or two ports. Thanks! :)

Yes we took sandwiches to go from room service twice. Not sure if it was allowed but that's what we did since we weren't told otherwise. They only had 3 or maybe 4 sandwiches to choose from so it's probably not a popular option but it worked for us for the two days we wanted a quick lunch while exploring on our busiest days.

Yes we took sandwiches to go from room service twice. Not sure if it was allowed but that's what we did since we weren't told otherwise. They only had 3 or maybe 4 sandwiches to choose from so it's probably not a popular option but it worked for us for the two days we wanted a quick lunch while exploring on our busiest days.

Great! Were they standard size sandwiches or were they on specialty (like hoagie style, etc.) bread? I'm trying to determine if I can get 4 sandwiches and some ice in an insulated lunch bag rather than bringing a full size soft cooler.

Great! Were they standard size sandwiches or were they on specialty (like hoagie style, etc.) bread? I'm trying to determine if I can get 4 sandwiches and some ice in an insulated lunch bag rather than bringing a full size soft cooler.

We had 3 kinds and two were on sub rolls and one was on regular bread. We brought extra baggies with us for toiletries and things like that so we used them to put the sandwiches and chips in. We had a small soft insulated bag that we used to keep drinks cold most days so we used that. We took some ice in a baggie from the Aloha Cafe at breakfast one of the days because we knew we'd be having a later lunch. You just put ice in a cup and then pour the cup into your bag and no one seemed to mind. It's the same if you want to fill your own drink containers. Just get a cup of whatever you want and pour it into your container.

We had 3 kinds and two were on sub rolls and one was on regular bread. We brought extra baggies with us for toiletries and things like that so we used them to put the sandwiches and chips in. We had a small soft insulated bag that we used to keep drinks cold most days so we used that. We took some ice in a baggie from the Aloha Cafe at breakfast one of the days because we knew we'd be having a later lunch. You just put ice in a cup and then pour the cup into your bag and no one seemed to mind. It's the same if you want to fill your own drink containers. Just get a cup of whatever you want and pour it into your container.

Sounds great! Thanks for the info. I bought a collapsible, insulated cooler the other day in preparation (ok, so we aren't going for, like, nine months :o lol) and I'm so hoping we can use it.:)

Seems like a silly question to be asking but I'm throwing it out there anyway. We are booked on the POA and are wondering if they offer the makings of sandwiches that you can take with you when you are in port. We are considering bringing a soft cooler for the purpose of taking lunch off the ship with us. We think we have read in other reviews that people have done this and POA provides enough options to make a sandwich to take. Any previous cruisers know if this is true? We don't want to haul the cooler with us unnecessarily.

Why not just support their local economy.

Why not just support their local economy.

There are plenty of ways to 'support the local economy'. There's nothing wrong with grabbing a sandwich to take along to eat on the run.

There are plenty of ways to 'support the local economy'. There's nothing wrong with grabbing a sandwich to take along to eat on the run.

I agree. Because we took two sandwiches to go in the 16 days we were in Hawaii you'd like to say that we didn't support the local economy? I find that silly and out of line. Since we grabbed a sandwich we were able to purchase more activities that cost far more than a sandwich from local companies.

Why not respect their rules, regardless of what you can 'get away with'?

Why not respect their rules, regardless of what you can 'get away with'?

It's not being suggested to ignore their rules but the discussion has been about the rules for a ship sailing exclusively within Hawaii. I've only sailed to Hawaii from LA with a required non-USA stop in Ensenada so those rules may be different than for the POA.

The State of Hawaii rules appears to allow food to be removed from a ship sailing exclusively within Hawaii. And I'm confident that the POA knows the rules better than any of us & wouldn't risk violating Hawaii rules by improperly allowing passengers to remove prohibited items.

I think it may be different for the POA because, unlike other ships that call at Hawaii's ports, the POA actually provisions in Hawaii, so all the passengers are doing is essentially bringing food on-shore that's already been inspected by the agricultural division of the Hawaiian government.

Why not respect their rules, regardless of what you can 'get away with'?

If Pride of America's rules stated, "You must not bring food off the ship", then I wouldn't, and I'm sure Honeymooner wouldn't have, either. ;)

Further to that, if my little sandwich is confiscated when I try to leave with it, I'll gladly hand it over with a smile. :D

I've never had a single issue brining food off the PoA.

There are plenty of ways to 'support the local economy'. There's nothing wrong with grabbing a sandwich to take along to eat on the run.

Good thing the ship doesn't have serving trays.