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Cruisin' Like a Hawaiian - Pride of America 05.04.2013 Review


puddles99
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Come along on our fantastic journey - I'll do my best to answer any questions folks have and will be embedding pictures along the way. I hope my fellow CC'ers find this at least a little helpful!

 

The Cast of Characters:

 

My husband (DH) and I are both 37 years old and recently celebrated our 15th anniversary. As has become our tradition, we planned to get away to celebrate another 5-year milestone and this year set our sights on Hawaii. Initially, I planned to bring our daughters with us - because I didn’t want them to miss out on what I was sure would be the experience of a lifetime - but after much discussion, DH was able to convince me to leave the girls home and splurge on a posh adventure for just the two of us. My in laws graciously agreed to stay with the girls and our menagerie of pets while we were away (which resulted in them chaperoning a field trip, attending two school concerts, and getting the girls to Girl Scout meetings and miscellaneous other activities). We owe them a huge debt for truly “taking one for the team.”

 

The Preamble:

 

This is my third, and DH’s second, cruise with Norwegian. The “Freestyle” experience is a good match for our travel preferences and we are addicted to the Norwegian Suite Life. We booked this cruise one year in advance which allowed us to secure the exact cabin we wanted (after significant research) at what we felt was a reasonable price. We then sat back and watched the prices go up over the months leading up to the cruise. We also took advantage of an AMEX offer for $500 in OBC for booking a suite at least 9-months in advance with an AMEX card. After initially booking direct with NCL, we transferred our booking to a Travel Agent (TA) who has been absolutely fantastic to work with and offered additional OBC on our booking.

 

I am a researcher by profession and poured those skills into planning for this adventure. I checked out every book on Hawaii that I could find in our local library (and even had some transferred in from other libraries in our county). My top recommendations for Hawaiian research are the Hawaii Revealed series and Lonely Planet’s Hawaii Travel Guide. Through these books and extensive online reading, I selected our various “excursions” for before, during, and after our cruise.

 

At first, DH wasn’t very engaged in planning - his only request was to take a helicopter tour on one of the islands. After narrowing our options to four different tours, I gave him the links and told him the decision was his. Finally, he started to get excited and happily made the selection (more on that in the review to follow). His selection set us up with a weight loss challenge because instead of a per-person weight limit, this particular operator had a “per couple” weight limit. As a team, we were faced with needing to collectively lose more than 50lbs before the cruise! We started Weight Watchers together on January 1st and I am pleased to report that we were comfortably below the maximum weight by the time we departed for the islands.

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Chapter 1: Traveling to the Islands

 

We knew we wanted to arrive a few days in advance of the cruise to give ourselves time to explore Oahu and begin adjusting to the time change. We booked flights on USAirways from Philadelphia to Honolulu via Phoenix on Wednesday, May 1st. We initially booked Coach Class tickets and then I was persistent in calling for “mileage” upgrades to be released. Using frequent flier miles (and paying the required fees) I was able to upgrade us to First Class on both legs of our outbound flights.

 

We arranged for car service to the Philadelphia (PHL) airport through Medallion Transportation (http://www.medalliontransportation.com/) - departing our home at 5:00am (yawn). We made it to PHL in good time, checked our bags, and headed for security. Lucky us - they needed to reboot the x-ray machines in our line so we waited a few minutes. Then after DH went through the body scanner, they rebooted that too - while I waited. I think he must have broken something. After we sat down at our gate, I started to put my ID back in my wallet and asked DH if he'd done the same. He looked at me, paused for a beat, and said "I left my license and boarding pass at security." I hoped this wasn't a sign of how this entire trip is going to go! He jogged back to security, was able to retrieve his stuff, and returned to the gate with time to spare.

 

We spent most of the first flight sleeping & reading and were pleasantly surprised when we landed in Phoenix (PHX) more than 30-minutes early. This gave us time to wander to a different terminal to find Starbucks and grab some pizza before boarding the second half of the flight. During this flight, we watched two movies, read a bit, and then started taking some pictures of the islands as they came into sight. We again found ourselves landing 30-minutes early.

 

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I had enough Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Starpoints available to allow us to stay for free at the historic Moana Surfrider (http://www.moana-surfrider.com), which is a Westin property and known as "The First Lady of Waikiki". Based on reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor, we were careful not to book a room in the historic wing which has a reputation for small accommodations and poor sound barriers. We also took advantage of the hotel’s arrangement with Roberts Hawaii to provide airport transfers which were supposed to include a floral lei greeting. However, our greeter from Roberts had run out of flowers and gave us each a nut lei - which was fine with us. After proceeding to baggage claim, meeting other Robert's customers, and loading up their mini bus, we were on our way.

 

The check-in at the Moana Surfrider was simple. They upgraded our free room from a city view to a water view but moved us back to the historic wing. I was a little concerned, but the room was spacious, well-appointed, and while the hallway was a bit loud during the day, it was fine at night and we slept quite well. In the morning, we could hear the staff setting up for breakfast in the Banyan Courtyard, but we were early risers so it wasn't a huge deal to us.

 

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Chapter 2: Pre-Cruise Adventures on Oahu

 

After pausing for a few moments to settle into our room, we decided to talk a stroll through the International Marketplace (across the street from the hotel) and then headed to Duke's for a Mai Tai and an early dinner. We shared the Chicken Summer Rolls for an appetizer and then DH had a fish entree while I enjoyed the tenderloin. Both were quite good. We then tackled our very first Hula Pie for dessert. It was delicious! We strolled back to the hotel on the beach.

 

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Waking up for the first time in Hawaii was a bit surreal - especially since my body had no idea what time it actually was. For our first Hawaiian adventure, we chose to snorkel in Hanauma Bay where I couldn’t wait to take my new Canon D20 waterproof camera for a test drive. We pre-booked transportation to/from our hotel via Hanauma Bay Snorkel Adventures for $18pp (paid in advance via PayPal) + $7.50pp park entrance fee (paid that day).

 

We had a local (originally from CA, but has lived in Hawaii for quite some time) driver named Ike who regaled us with tall tales of the islands - the price of real estate, how you could tell if someone was rich, where the million- and billionaires lived, etc. He was quite a character. He also provided some basic instructions about the best places to snorkel in the bay and provided the rental gear to anyone who needed it (included in the cost). He dropped us off at a lookout and another driver actually took us into the park. We then descended the mountain and first drank in the amazing views of Hanuama Bay.

 

I was a little nervous about snorkeling because I hadn't had wholly positive experiences in the past, but DH absolutely loves it and really, really wanted me to join him - which I am glad I did! We saw many different kinds of fish and got some fantastic underwater pictures. I'm now feeling a little bit better about our two other snorkeling stops during the trip!

 

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Chapter 2: Pre-Cruise Adventures on Oahu (continued)

 

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We were picked up promptly at 11:50am and returned to Ike at the lookout to begin our journey back to Waikiki. His stories were starting to get a bit exhausting, but he returned us to our hotel in good time.

 

We freshened up and headed over to Roy's for a late lunch. Roy's doesn't offer a full lunch menu, but we sampled four different appetizers and sipped delicious pineapple martinis, which were great!

 

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Chapter 2: Pre-Cruise Adventures on Oahu (continued)

 

We took the opportunity to wander through some shops and buy a few souveniers for our kids before heading to meet the bus at the Hyatt Regency Hotel for our luau. We had originally planned to go to the Paradise Cove luau in Oahu but after reading the Hawaii Revealed books, we switched plans and booked Germaine's Luau (http://www.germainesluau.com/) for $72pp paid in advance via PayPal.

 

From the moment the bus pulled out of Waikiki, the fun began! Our escort was named Kale and he was a ton of fun. He made sure everyone knew how the evening would go, where we could find him, what the various foods would be, and took it upon himself to make sure we all had fun. There was a great selection of foods and we definitely ate our fill. We also thoroughly enjoyed the show and watching others participate. The show included dance from around the Pacific islands and the MC did a gret job telling the stories. We would definitely attend again!

 

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Enjoying your review. Considering this trip so will be interested in more.

 

Let me know if you have any questions! I'll do my best to answer anything I can. We already miss the islands terribly; the 11 days we spent there weren't nearly enough!

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Chapter 2: Pre-Cruise Adventures on Oahu (continued)

 

On Friday morning, we planned to visit Pearl Harbor. When I began planning, I had no idea how difficult it would be to get from Waikiki to Pearl Harbor. As it turns out, very few transportation and taxi companies make the trip because of restrictions about where passengers can be dropped off. Most people seem to recommend renting a car, but we just didn’t want to do that. In the end, we booked VIP Transportation's (http://www.viptrans.com/) round trip shuttle from our hotel for $9.99pp - that was a mistake. More on that in a moment.

 

We made reservations to tour the USS Arizona Memorial (via http://www.recreation.gov) & the USS Missouri (via http://www.ussmissouri.org) in advance. One thing we had read is that we needed to pick up the USS Arizona tickets at least one hour in advance so on Friday morning, we took the 8:00am VIP Transportation shuttle which arrived at 8:15am and was not direct to PH, stopping instead to drop three different parties at three different terminals on the airport. But we did get to the memorial sites safely and we figured if pit stops at the airport were the worst of it, that wasn't too bad.

 

We picked up our tickets and wandered the museums and memorial sites before lining up at 10:05 for the movie and transport to the USS Arizona memorial. The day was solemn and moving. But a friendly reminder to all - much of the memorials and sites at Pearl Harbor are outdoors. Wear sunscreen. Trust me. From there, we boarded the shuttle to the USS Missouri, taking a moment to detour around the back of the bus as we were dropped off to pause and pay our respects at the USS Oklahoma memorial. The little-celebrated Oklahoma suffered the send largest loss of life that fateful morning and in command was DH's distant cousin. We then toured the Missouri, grabbed a bite to eat, and visited the gift shops before returning to the shuttle pick-up location around 1:30pm in expectation of the scheduled 2pm shuttle.

 

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Chapter 2: Pre-Cruise Adventures on Oahu (continued)

 

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Back to the transportation story and where things went awry with VIP Transportation . . . a relatively small, 14-passenger van arrived at 2pm and found that there were 22 of us waiting. The driver assured us that he'd already radio'd headquarters and another transport was on its way "shortly" for the eight of us who were left behind. At 2:20, one of the women we were waiting with placed the first call and was told someone would be there in "15-30 minutes". At 2:50, another woman called and was told that the driver had come by and we must have not been paying attention. You can imagine how she reacted to that. Another woman called and was told "10-12 minutes". And another was hung up on - twice. Finally at 3:30pm, the original driver who had left us stranded 90-minutes earlier returned and was baffled that we were still there. He pushed the limits to get us all back to Waikiki as quickly as possible, but for me the message remains the same - DO NOT USE VIP TRANSPORTATION!

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Chapter 2: Pre-Cruise Adventures on Oahu (continued)

 

We arrived back in Waikiki in the pouring rain and ran into our hotel. We relaxed and freshened up for our planned dinner date at La Mer. Luckily, the sun came out in time for us to walk the several blocks to the restaurant and spend some time wandering around the beautiful Halukani hotel before dinner. We were pleased to receive a window table that allowed us to look out over House Without A Key, Waikiki, and Diamond Head and had a leisurely and decadent three course meal. It was absolutely fantastic and yet I couldn't really tell you what we ate because I couldn't pronounce anything on the menu!

 

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Chapter 3: Embarkation & First Impressions

 

We had planned to use Hawaii23 for transportation to the pier, but after providing a cost estimate in late 2012, they stopped replying to emails for some reason. We moved on to our back-up plan - Johnny Cab Hawaii (https://www.johnnycabhi.com/). John quickly confirmed our reservation request via email the day we made it and asked that we reconfirm via email or text one week in advance. In the weeks leading up to our trip, we made arrangements to share the ride to port with a friend from our Roll Call (deedz98) which worked out quite well. By sharing the ride, the price dropped to $15 per couple (plus tip, of course). John was quite pleasant and timely and I would absolutely use him again.

 

Upon arrival at the pier, we dropped off our bags & went through security. One thing we learned that is different about boarding an American-flagged ship is that some TSA rules for banned carry-on items are in effect, even in checked luggage. In other words, DH could not board the ship with his pocket knife packed in his checked luggage. Instead it needed to be checked in with TSA and was available to be reclaimed at the end of the cruise. This isn’t really a big deal, but not something we had considered.

 

After security and embarkation pictures, we asked someone to direct us to the Suite Check-in and we were escorted aside and completed the check-in & boarding process quite quickly. Here we met briefly with Nikki from Group Events to confirm the details of the Meet & Greet and met our fantastic butler George (more on him in a bit!). We were welcomed into the Napa Wine bar with a glass of champagne and met the Concierge James. I was actually quite impressed with some aspects to this greeting - the word had gotten to the spa (via the pre-cruise concierge) that we wanted to book massages for Monday afternoon and the representative was there to confirm the times with us. We also were able to book the Chef’s Table at this time (again, it was noted that I ha informed the pre-cruise concierge of our interest).

 

We then proceeded into Cagney’s for lunch and I have to admit that I was unimpressed. The service was ridiculously s-l-o-w and we hoped this wasn’t a sign of how things would be for entire cruise but unfortunately it was. Our lunch was good, but unremarkable and would be our last lunch in Cagney’s for the week. After lunch, we quickly headed to our cabin to drop off our carry-ons so I could deliver invitations / reminders for the Meet & Greet. While I absolutely love to sail in an aft suite, DH specifically wanted a hot tub for our anniversary, sans kids, adventure so I did a ton of research online and finally selected Deluxe Penthouse 10000 [Note: When the new suites for POA launch in September 2013, this cabin will become an Owner’s Suite]. This suite is forward, right under the bridge and was absolutely beautiful.

 

Our Meet & Greet was planned for 4:00pm in Shuffles Card Room and a total of 45 CC members had RSVP’d. In the end we had right around 40 join us (plus two party crashers who thought it was a Latitudes event they had stumbled on and were quite confused about what this “Cruise Critic” thing was - LOL!). Cruise Director Silas Cook and several other members of the senior team joined us, introduced themselves, and offered to be of service. It was so much fun to begin putting names with faces and attempt to keep track of who was who as many of us would cross paths on various excursions and activities throughout the week.

 

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During the Meet & Greet, we were convinced to join some fellow CC’ers at the Pub Crawl, so off we went. I choose to simply sip from DH’s drinks and not fully commit - which turned out to be a really good call. The Pub Crawl was advertised as 5 drinks at 5 bars, but in reality it was 5 drinks in 4 bars because we hit the Gold Rush Saloon twice. It was a raucous bunch and everyone played along with some of the slightly “inappropriate” games and innuendo. DH got tapped to compete in a “Manliest Man” contest and I am both proud and somewhat embarrassed to admit he won with his fantastic Tarzan yell. I promised him the video would not make its way onto the internet, so you will all just have to use your imagination!

 

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At the advice (no real arm-twisting required) of George, we headed to Jefferson’s Bistro for dinner after sail-away. We ordered a bottle of my favorite wine and toasted the beginning of our cruise through paradise. We also shared the Ribeye for Two, which was quite good, along with a mushroom soup, a French Onion soup, and creme brulee and an apple tart for dessert. The only thing that disappointed was the apple tart which just wasn't what I thought I was ordering.

 

From there we went to the Hollywood Theater for the Welcome Aboard show which included an introduction of officers, the fantastically funny “Fountains”, and performances by the production cast. However, the bulk of the show was from the cast of “Oh What a Night!” and I think DH and I were the only ones who didn’t truly enjoy their performance. As it turned out, this would be the only show we saw all week as we ate dinners at odd times and turned in at somewhat early hours each evening.

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Very interesting to read another view point so soon after our own wonderful Hawaiian vacation and cruise. Loving all the detail, planning ahead of time and photos.

 

So far my only questions are 1) who was the Hotel Director, since Cary T. was just starting his well-deserved own vacation 5/4, and 2) really curious to know what Ike, your driver to Hanauma Bay, felt were the ways you could spot a wealthy person/tourist :cool:

 

As always, thanks so much for sharing :D

Edited by kcfoxy
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I see my dad in your meet n greet picture. Love it! And really enjoying your report. My parents will be arriving here on Saturday (after wintering in AZ and vacationing in Hawaii). I will be asking them about their VIP Pearl Harbor transport. I believe they had a good experience - with them even taking them to the port instead of having to go back to the hotel and catching a separate shuttle. But I want to confirm that it went well.

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So excited to see your review - great start! Thank you so much for doing this. :)

 

Of course - it's so fun to re-live this :D

 

So far my only questions are 1) who was the Hotel Director, since Cary T. was just starting his well-deserved own vacation 5/4, and

 

Anton (Tony) Winkler is the Hotel Director now and he was great - very personable and visible.

 

2) really curious to know what Ike, your driver to Hanauma Bay, felt were the ways you could spot a wealthy person/tourist :cool:

 

Well if they have one little dog, they have money, but if a person has multiple little dogs, they have a lot of money. The one hole in this theory is that dog walkers seem rich. :D

Edited by puddles99
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I see my dad in your meet n greet picture. Love it! And really enjoying your report. My parents will be arriving here on Saturday (after wintering in AZ and vacationing in Hawaii). I will be asking them about their VIP Pearl Harbor transport. I believe they had a good experience - with them even taking them to the port instead of having to go back to the hotel and catching a separate shuttle. But I want to confirm that it went well.

 

For their sake, I hope it worked out better for them than it did for us! Your parents were also with us on the Road to Hana tour, but they chapter may have to wait for tomorrow!

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Sounds great so far-I am looking forward to reading about your Road to Hana tour -which tour company was it you used? Did you make reservations at Duke's or were you able to just walk in? It is in our hotel and I was hoping on our first night we would be able to just walk in as I am unsure what time we will arrive from the airport that night

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Sounds great so far-I am looking forward to reading about your Road to Hana tour -which tour company was it you used? Did you make reservations at Duke's or were you able to just walk in? It is in our hotel and I was hoping on our first night we would be able to just walk in as I am unsure what time we will arrive from the airport that night

 

We used Valley Isle Tours - and they were great. I'll include some details as I proceed (just need to get more pics uploaded today so I can proceed).

 

Duke's was crowded, but we arrived before dinner service actually started because our stomachs were still on East Coast time so they just put us on the list and buzzed us when they started seating. In the meantime, we enjoyed our Mai Tais and listened to the live music on their back deck.

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Enjoying your review!

 

Hard to believe it was only last week. Already seems like it's been ages ago

 

I know! Where does the time go? I'm so sorry we never had a chance to meet on board - Congrats again to you and your new spouse! :)

 

Great review. Thank you for taking the time to do it. Can't wait for the next installment!

 

I should be able to get the next installment or two posted later today - stay tuned!

 

Enjoying your review! Hoping to go on this cruise someday.

 

It's an amazing time and I highly recommend it to all. I would suggest some pre-planning though since it's so port-intensive you don't have built in down time. Of course, you don't need to be nearly as anal retentive as I was - LOL! :D

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