My Pride of America Review -

Pre-stay

My dh and ds (16) and I went on this cruise. We arrived in Oahu around noon on Thursday. I had arranged with ABC limo to pick us up at the airport. It was only $10 more for the limo vs the sedan so I splurged and got the limo. They sent me a confirmation email and they were waiting for us when we arrived at baggage claim. I would highly recommend them. We were staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Ali’i Tower. It was very nice. We had an ocean view room that overlooked the ocean and Diamond Head. We were in a 06 room that had a side balcony with a chaise lounge that directly faced the gulf and overlooked the Ali’i pool. Very nice.

Friday we got up early and went to Pearl Harbor. We went to the main lobby where it was very easy to get a taxi. The hotel contracts with Charlie’s Taxies and there is always a line of them waiting. You just tell the bell captain you want a taxi, he blows his whistle, and voila! The taxis are all very nice new model cars, mostly Lincolns, vans, and a few limos. They can get pricey but with heavy traffic, high parking fees, and rental car fees we felt it was the easiest way. We thought about the Bus or the Trolley but with all the stops they make we felt it would be the best use of our time to take the taxi. We arrived around 8 and got tickets for the 4th group. We explored the museum, gift shops, and grounds. I got the $5 audio headset because history was never my favorite subject and thought I would enjoy the added information. DH and DS opted out as they are history nuts. I think either was is fine. I didn’t listen to all of the tracts but enjoyed the ones I did listen to. The film and trip to the Arizona is very somber but a definite must see IMO. We opted out of the Missouri and Bowfin tours because we have a battleship and submarine here in Alabama that we have toured, my boys even did a Boy Scout sleep-over in the battleship. We were interested in touring but felt we really didn’t have the time. We got a taxi back to the hotel.

That afternoon we took a taxi to Diamond Head. We made the climb to the top and thought the view was worth it. I am still recovering from the 100 very steep steps but very proud that I did it! There were no taxis waiting when we were through but the ticket lady called us one and he was there in less than 5 minutes. I was sitting on a bench and breathing so the wait was fine.LOL. The lady at the hotel and all the guide books said to take my own water because there was none at the park and if there was it would be $5 a bottle. When we were there, there was a snack trailer selling all kinds of things and $1 bottles of water. There is also a bathroom at the bottom but that is it until you come back down again. On a side note, while we are on the subject of bathrooms, I was very impressed with Hawaii and their public bathrooms. Almost all of the large public beaches have bathrooms that were very decent for public bathrooms and all had toilet paper.

That evening we ate dinner at the hotel and watched the fireworks. We missed the show because we were eating dinner (we missed lunch). We did hear a lot of it because we ate on the Rainbow Lanai.

The next morning we walked the beach down to Royal Hawaiian area and back before we left for the ship. Wish we had brought our money and we would have eaten breakfast at Duke’s but we were in our swimsuits and had only brought a few bucks. I had really debated which hotel to book so I wanted to get a good look at all of them. For the price and amenities of Ali’i Tower, I was very pleased with my choice. As I had also booked it for the return, I gave my boys a chance for input to see if they wanted to stay anywhere else but they thought the Hilton was fine. I had wanted to leave the hotel around 11:30 or 12 for the ship and we left at 11:45. We took a taxi from the hotel to the pier. Very easy. A porter came and helped us with our luggage; we followed him and had to show our ship ticket to security for him to take our luggage through for check-in. We tipped him and then went to stand in line to get on the ship. It seemed like it might be long but I think that was because it had not started to move yet. As soon as we were in line, it started moving and actually moved very fast. They give the ladies very pretty fresh flower leis and the guys get shell leis. Check-in was very fast and efficient.

The ship is very beautiful. As you have seen and read, it has an American theme. I love themes and thought it was done very well. The main lobby is beautiful! I asked where I could make all my dinner reservations. I was told they are now making them at each individual restaurant. We had decided to eat at East meets West the first night hoping that it was ½ price night. East meets West is in the main lobby so in I went. I had no problem making a reservation. My name was not in the computer yet but she put her name in for us. Then I saw the excursion line was not long and I wanted to see if I could get the kayak excursion for the second day in Kauai. I had tried to book it ahead of time and it was full. I was able to book it. I wanted the Hidden Falls or the Jungle Falls. I had picked Hidden Falls but the excursion person said he thought the Jungle one was best and we would probably enjoy it more. We went for it! Our cabin was on the 9th floor and only the 12th and 11th were ready so we went to the Aloha Café Buffet to eat while we waited. I spotted Little Italy and while boys started to eat and I went ahead to make our reservations for there. We wanted to eat there twice. The lady here was very nice. We made our reservations and she also was able to make all our other reservations for us. I made all our reservations for 7 to make it easier to remember. I was on vacation and didn’t want to have to consult my calendar for a different dinner time each evening. If I had to do it all over again, I would make reservations twice for Little Italy, once or twice for East meets West, and the rest I would eat at Cadillac Diner or the Aloha Buffet. More on this later. Just as we were finished eating, they announced that the 9th floor was ready. We had an aft balcony cabin. The cabin is small compared to other balcony cabins I have stayed in but very efficient. The balcony was very nice being about double that of regular balconies. We are not sure how it happened but we were between parties traveling together which did not make for any quiet time on the balcony. They also wondered how we got between them. From listening to all their conversations through the walls and over the balcony, they were able to smuggle quite a bit of booze on board. The cruise book did not show our room as being a connecting room but it was. My dh and ds left the ship and looked all around the Aloha Tower Shopping Area. I had asked for them to bring back bottled water but they couldn’t find any around the area. Apparantly this is the only area in a Hawaiian tourist area without an ABC store on every block. Our luggage came and I was able to unpack my stuff while they were gone because there really was not enough space for more that one person to unpack at a time. On the last night my ds had to pack on the balcony and leave his bag out there while we went to dinner or the steward would not have been able to make his bed. My boys also enjoyed the 4 -6 free games in the video arcade. This was not advertised but was listed in the daily they gave you. We would have probably missed it had I not already read about it on the boards.

Our room steward did a very good job. Our room was clean, we always had ice, and he always made our room up and always turned down our room. He was very quick and efficient. We hardly ever saw him but everything was done. I had left a note asking if he could get us some robes to use but never heard anything. The lady steward next to us was very nice and seemed to be out in the hall all the time. I don’t know if she was less efficient or did a more thorough job. There is a dial right outside your door that when they have made up your room is on welcome. When you leave in the morning you are to turn it to “Please make up our room.” When you leave at night you are to turn it to “Please turn down our room.” There is also a “do not disturb” on the dial. It could be that some cabins are not clean because people forget to turn their dial off “Do not disturb” when they leave.

We ate at East meets West that night for dinner. It was not a ½ price night. The service was excellent and the food was really good. We ate in the regular part of this restaurant. I went to bed early but my boys (dh and ds) did more exploring of the ship. I think the boys might have checked out the show or played ping pong but I was ready for bed. The time difference really played a number on me. I have done the Europe thing and even the Thailand thing where the time differences are 8 and 12 hours ahead but for some reason the 4 hours behind were harder for me.

We were planning on renting a car on Hilo and touring the Volcano National Park so I hung out the breakfast menu on the door requesting service between 7 – 7:30. It arrived at 6:54. *****ADVICE**** Eat a bigger breakfast on this day than a sweet roll and coffee. Plan to take food with you. My wardrobe every day in Hawaii was about the same. I have the swimsuit tankini where the bottoms are sports shorts from L.L. Bean and Land’s End. They look like shorts and a top or like a bathing suit with shorts over them. With it being the rainy season this worked very well. If it rained, I dried off really well because I was in a bathing suit. If I wanted to get in the water, I did not have to change clothes and I did not have to lug around a spare set of clothes. I might not have been a fashion statement but it was very easy and practical. I also had ordered a pair of board capris from L.L. Bean when I wanted something more on my legs and this went over my short bottoms and they also were water proof.

Day One – Hilo - We were one of the first off the ship. We had rented with Hertz and a man was waiting with a sign. He only had a 15 passenger van which was not enough for all that was waiting and he had to come back. It was quite confusing. One party got split up in the loading of the van. I would probably not recommend Hertz at this port for this reason. Everything went fine. Budget and Thrifty had the bigger buses here. Budget looked the least busy. The weather changes very rapidly. I had dressed in my usual bathing with the capris added and brought my wind jacket and had my rain poncho in my backpack. My boys had on their bathing suits and a t-shirt. It was raining when we arrived in Hilo and that is why we wore our bathing suits not because we were going swimming. When we arrived at the Visitors Center (high elevation) it was quite cold and my boys were quickly putting on their rain jackets thinking they did not have enough clothes. We made our first stop at the steam vents, the sun came out and we were hot. Then it rained and we were cold. This is how it went all day. We made it all the way around the crater rim road stopping often, (maybe too often b/c we were running short of time near the end of the day.) We then drove down to where you can hike to see lave hitting the ocean. This is a very pretty drive and a nice hike. This left us just enough time to fill up with gas, buy my bottled water, and return the rental car. Again, we had quite a wait for the van to take us back to the ship. The driver told us one of the drivers had to leave early. Both the drivers were very nice just needed more drivers and vans. The people on our van had done the crater rim road, the orchid farm, the black sand beach and the Mona Loa factory gift shop (the factory is closed on Sunday.) We were amazed that they were able to do all that.

That night our reservation was for Little Italy at 7. This was probably our favorite restaurant. I had pasta, ds had the lasagna, and dh had the chicken Parmesan. The service was excellent as was the food. More on this later as we ate here twice.

Tonight was the lava viewing. It is scheduled for around ten. It was awesome. I had booked the aft cabin thinking I would be able to see if for both viewings but somehow we couldn’t see it the first run by it but had a great view and they turned the ship around. This is an awesome site to see. The daily news say they narrate it by the pool and I think this would have been nice although I loved the privacy of the balcony.

Day 2 & 3 – Maui – After missing lunch the day before, we decided to make it to the breakfast buffet. We went to the aft section where they make the omelets and this was our breakfast everyday. These were the only two days I had not pre-planned. I had rented us a Ford Mustang Convertible with Hertz and that was the only plan I had. Hertz was very easy at this port. I told my dh that one of the highlights was the Road to Hana but I did not think we could do it. The drive was hard and long. Well, that was all it took (I learned a big lesson,”never say we can’t”). He thought it would be fine and off we went. We stopped at the Shell station for the CD guide($20). This was nice. I also tried to keep up with my Revealed Book but since I had not highlighted because I thought we were not going to do this it was very hard to keep up. By the time I had read and found out about a site we might have wanted to stop and have a look, Mario Andretti in his Ford Mustang had already passed the site. The places we tried to stop that the revealed book mentioned were usually posted with “Keep Out, No Trespassing, and even a Go Home.” Most of the great places without a lot of hiking were included on the CD or you could tell by the pull-off or the cars stopped. Since we were in our element we took a ride on the wild side, broke our rental agreement and drove all the way around. After the 7 Sacred Pools it is quite adventurous for a while. Unpaved and one lane roads for quite a while. We took the advice of the Revealed book and ate burgers at Tu-tus. If this is a recommended place, I would have hated to eat at the non-recommended places. It was edible but I would not go so far as enjoyable. For this day and the Hilo day, I would pack food or you might go hungry. To my surprise, both my dh and ds thought the trip was great and would do it again. Not to my surprise, I did not enjoy the drive and I would not want to do it again. I saw many beautiful waterfalls in Kauai without the all day drive on a very curvy road. It took us all of the day. We drove back to the pier where the small lot in front of the entrance to the ship lot was full so we drove down and parked on the street. There was not a charge to park. I had made reservations for the Skyline (main dining room) for this night because more than half the ship was at the ship Luau. When I made the reservation they told me Liberty was closed because of the Luau. But when we walked by it did not look closed. This was my least favorite meal. The staff was very nice and friendly but had way too many tables to do a decent job. My dh ordered the steak and was told by the waiter he might want to order something else. He stayed with his order and said it was fine. The waiter had told him he could get something else if he didn’t like it (must have had many complaints about the steak.) My ds had the special of the night which was the ribs and said they were excellent. I had the teriyaki chicken from the “Always available” menu and it was ok. I have had better from mainline chains like Applebee’s, O’Charlies, etc. I alos ordered the Kona coffee cheesecake that I was very excited about. They didn’t have any. Very sad! Had this been a restaurant at home I would not have gone back. I had made reservations for the Liberty for the next two nights which we later decided to ditch.

Day 3 – Maui – We planned to take our time this morning, but still adjusting to the time difference, we were out and on the road by 9. We drove to Lahaina and parked in a pay lot right off Front Street. My ds wanted to surf but the waves just weren’t cooperating. I had wanted to do a whale watch. The Pacific Foundation was booked solid. There was a booth at the pier called Ultimate Whale Watch(they guarantee a whale sighting). They had a 1:30, 2 hour tour available which would cut us close getting back to the pier but we went for it. What a great decision!!!!!!!!! This was the highlight of our whole trip!!!!!!!! They use the small zodiac type boats with only 18 people. We saw whales within the first 5 minutes. Within the first 20 minutes we went to where 2 other zodiac were watching a whale. The whale (a female) came right over to the boats. We had to turn off our engine. We were mugged (meaning we could not go anywhere because she was within a 100 ft of us). It is against the law to get within 100ft but if the whale comes to you, you can’t move. She played between the three boats for almost an hour. She swam under and all around the boats. She rolled around, waved her fins at us, swam and did a breach(jumped in the air), and did several tail slaps. It was amazing!!!! My ds even got the breach on film. They put a hydrophone (water microphone) in the water and we heard the sounds she made. Just as we thought we might not make it back to the ship, a male whale came singing his huge heart out to our female and the show was over. She quickly left as the male approached. The captain of our boat told us if this was our first whale watch we might not want to go on another because they do not get any better than this. This was very unusual. Wow! What a day!!!!

As I said earlier, we had made reservations for the Liberty tonight and went by to check out the menu. There was nothing we really wanted to eat so decided to eat at the Cadillac Diner. It was never busy at night. This was one of our favorite meals. We ordered onion rings as an appetizer. I had the pork chops and they were wonderful. There were two huge chops with a wonderful sauce on them. My dh husband had the meatloaf which he enjoyed. He also had the Chicken Pot Pie Soup. Wow! This was great. It was a real thick chicken stew with pastry crust baked over the bowl. My ds had the turkey club, a root beer float, and fries. We all had salad. The service here was excellent and very fast. We wanted to eat here again for the burgers but ran out of time. This might be more crowded with the summer crowd but with the older crowd it was never busy. We went to the shops while I tried to make it for the show but once again I went back to the room. I think this was the comedy night and my boys went to it and said it was ok.

Day 4 – Kona – After reading all the rave reviews on the boards we booked the Captain Zodiac Snorkel tour. It loads right from the dock where the ship tenders in to port. Because we were on the early tour the tender out was very easy. We enjoyed this tour. The snorkeling was great. The coral here was prettier than in Belize (the 2nd largest coral reef in the world.) We saw a few whales and some spinner dolphins but no turtles. I am sure this was exciting but after yesterday the excitement factor just wasn’t the same for us. They served us fresh pineapples, Maui chips and Famous Amos cookies after our snorkel. We still had plenty of time to explore the area around Kona after the snorkel. There is a Hilo Hatties(Hawaiian clothes and souvenirs) at every port with free shuttles. There was also a Wal-mart very close here and I think a free shuttle also. We just walked around the town. I bought some Kona coffee and we walked all the way toward the end of the shopping where there was a Bubba Gump’s and we ate a great lunch here. Yes, I went in my bathing suit/short which was dry by this time and didn’t feel out of place at all. We were pretty much done by around 2:30 and decided to go back to the ship and enjoy the pool and relax. BIG MISTAKE. This just happened to be the time everybody wanted to go back to the ship because of the Chocolate Buffet. The line for the tender was long and in the sun. In hind sight, I would have laid out on the beach right at the pier until the line diminished. I didn’t realize at the time the line was because of the Buffet. Found this out when walking to the aft elevators on the 5th floor and the line to the buffet went all the way down the hallway. I would have liked to have gone but wasn’t interested in another line. Meant to go back after the line died down but was out at the pool by this time enjoying the sun and my book. The gyroscope was open most afternoons from 4-5. My dh and ds both tried it and said it was ok. The trampoline thing was never opened and I asked about it and they said it was broke and would have to be fixed. This night was another night we had reservations for the Liberty main dining room. We again looked at the menu and decided we would rather eat at the Buffet or the Cadillac Diner. I remember reading that it was Mexican Night at the Buffet so we thought we would give it a look. Every night had a different theme menu which was listed in the daily paper. FYI- They have a neat kid section here with a separate buffet at their level with real kid friendly food and small tables and chairs.

We enjoyed our meal here. It was really quite good. They had quesadillas at the pizza bar along with the pizzas. They had made to order fajitas, a taco bar, nacho makings including the melted cheese and chili. We noticed a lot of the crew (spa, art, etc.) eating here. We usually do not enjoy buffets and my ds hates them but he really enjoyed the Aloha Café.

Day 5 & 6 – Kauai – For the first day I had planned to do the Hollywood Tour and my boys had signed up for the Deep Sea Fishing. We boarded the ship there was a note in our excursion envelope that the Deep Sea Fishing had been cancelled. They ended up renting a car, another Ford Mustang convertible and touring the island. They were hunting for a place for my son to surf but it was pouring down rain all morning. I enjoyed my Hollywood tour. It was raining which made it a little rough but much of it was done in the van so it was ok. You get to see a good bit of the island on this tour and it has many bathroom breaks at lovely beaches. It goes to Hanalei Bay/town, the Coco Palms where Blue Hawaii was filmed, and the famous pier to Bali Hi from South Pacific. When I got back from the tour, I could not reach my boys by cell phone and there was a Hilo Hatties shuttle at the pier and since they had not been interested in going to Hilo Hatties earlier in the week, I jumped on the shuttle. I was busy buying my souvenirs when I get a call from by boys. They wanted to rub in the fact that they had stopped by Hilo Hatties and I was missing it. LOL. We were in the same store at the same time. I ended up riding back to the ship with them. We returned the rental car. They had used Hertz once again and it was very easy. If you rent with the same company, you end up seeing the same people in the shuttles. It’s nice to see a familiar face. This is Thursday night and I had booked the Lazy J steak house because the Japanese Steak dining was already full. We thought about canceling because it had such a high surcharge and the reviews had been iffy but our daily news had said that all specialty restaurants were ½ price this evening so we decided to give it a go. I was still not sure it would be ½ because when the first night was ½ price the Lazy J was not included but it was. Our waitress said this was the first week they had tried this for Thursday night. I figure it was because it was lobster night in the dining rooms. My husband and I had got in the habit of having a pre-dinner drink at the Napa Valley Wine Bar every night while our ds got ready. It’s right in front of the Lazy J. It was a nice, quite place for a drink and they have a cheese and cracker tray available for no charge. My ds(16) was excited because he could wear his jeans in the Lazy J. Our food was very good here. The steaks were great and our service was excellent. A large group came in and we were worried that our great service was about to end but it didn’t despite the fact that our waiter and assistant were helping with the large group.

The second day in Kauai was our Kayak/Waterfall tour. My boys had really wanted to do a kayak tour and we picked the one on the second day of Kauai because of all the reports of different times departing Kauai the second day. We figured if we were on a ship excursion we wouldn’t have a problem. We did the Jungle Fall Kayak tour and it was great. It is a nice leisurely kayak trip down the river, then a short hike to the vans. Then we drove to private property that the tour company leased. They have very nice Porto Potties here. Then we hiked down, around, and up(swithbacks) to 2 beautiful waterfalls. You can get in the water here and even play under the waterfalls. It is very cold but definitely a Kodak moment. The hike to the waterfall was not that difficult but the hike back out is a very good cardiac workout. They have a nice deli lunch waiting for you after the hike. They had us choose our meat and condiments before the kayak part of the trip. We got back right before the all aboard. It was very hard to get a deck chair as this was really the only day at sea. It was so windy this day that they closed the pool because it was like a wave pool. It was so windy and the water so cold it didn’t seem to bother anybody. We took about as much of the wind as we could and then went back to the room. We grabbed a snack from the grill and ice cream machine on the way. The sun on our balcony was great without the wind (aft.) The Napali Coast viewing doesn’t start until 5. Again, they narrated from the pool area according to the daily but we stayed on our balcony. Did I mention that the people next door managed to get 14 people on their balcony every evening for happy hour? They had chairs from everywhere even some bar stools. We had reservations at Little Italy. We had a little wait because some people had made reservations that were lost and making quite a spectacle of themselves. It was eventually handled but I felt very sorry for the hostess. It wasn’t her fault. They had made the reservations at lobby reception desk and I don’t think it was ever put in the system. The restaurant was full but again we had great service and great food. I had pasta and the filet. This was the best steak I think I have ever had. You could cut it with your fork. It had a wonderful sauce with it. I also had pasta with a spicy tomato sauce. It had a great kick to it. The soup and salad were also great. This is a nice restaurant with a great hostess and dining room manager. The fact that there is not an extra charge is wonderful!

Now, the hard part was upon us. Packing up. Our room was very tight with space. When the sofa was made up for bed there was no walking room at all. There was no more than six inches between our bed and the sofa bed. To get to the balcony with the sofa made out you literally had to crawl/walk on top of the beds. My husband and I got a real good relay going to pass our coffees across the beds.

The morning disembarkation is the part where I really liked the free-style cruising. We were staying an extra day in Waikiki so were not in a real hurry to get off the ship. We got up, got our showers, and decided to try the dining room for our last breakfast. Again, wrong choice. They had a limited menu due to the fact it was the last morning. We would have done just as well at the buffet. The waiters fix your plate from a buffet on their serving tables that were not on warmers. We would have had warmer food from the buffet and quicker service (ours.) Our color was called pretty early while we were headed back to the room from breakfast. We went back to the room, freshened up, and headed off the ship. By the time we were off, most of our color had already gone so our luggage was easy to find. There was a group of taxis waiting right outside from where we got our luggage. Our porter took us straight to a taxi and loaded our luggage for us.

When we got to the Hilton our room was ready. We rented a car (Hertz is at the Hilton) and drove to the North Shore to watch the surfers and drive around the south end of the island. The surf was not really up at the North Shore was that was a little disappointing. We hung out around the resort the rest of the afternoon and then ate at Benihana’s. It was good but not really enough food for my 16yo ds. The next morning my son rented a surf board at the hotel beach and went beyond the jetties (right where the ESPN announcers are set up for this week’s ProBowl.) to surf. The surf still wasn’t much to talk about it but he had a few good runs. I ran to Business Center and purchased a box, came back to the room and stuffed as much of my summer clothes, swimsuits, water shoes, etc, in the box and took it and mailed it back home to me at the slowest, cheapest rate I could obtain. This made packing much easier so I put on my swimsuit I had left out and went and laid out by the nice pool at Ali’i with the padded loungers covered with terry coverlets with padded pillows. Our plane was to leave at 2 so we left the hotel around noon. The return airline trip was a nightmare with a cancelled connection we found out about at check-in but that is another story. ( Three pages worth to Delta.) We ended up taking the 5:40 out of Honolulu instead of the 2:00 flight which ended up o.k. We ate at the bar/grill in the main section of the terminal and had great burgers and watched the Super Bowl which I thought we were going to miss. I booked this trip without realizing we would be flying during the Super Bowl. My ds was not happy about it, so this part of the flight change was a good thing. Spending the next day in the Atlanta airport was not.

If you are still with me - sorry for the long review. I am a detail person.

Overall view of the cruise - We booked the cruise to see as much of the islands in the easiest way possible. We had decided we did not want to pack and unpack and go through airport security to change islands. We did not go with a cruise mentality but with a Hawaiian island adventure mentality. We planned to get up and out and see as much of the islands as we could. This is cruise is perfect for this. We did hear a good bit of complaining as we would walk through the ship but it seemed to be from the older crowd that didn’t get off the ship and wanted a real cruise experience. When we would get back on the ship everyday we would walk by the Skyline to get to the aft elevators and there would be a line waiting for the dining room to open. Make dinner reservations the first day or plan to eat in the Buffet or the Cadillac Diner and you will do fine. Again, when I read that people ate in the Buffet and were happy about it I couldn’t believe it but now I understand it. The food really is good. You are usually worn out and hungry and you can go in your casual clothes. The Cadillac Diner is good and the service was excellent. We had a great cabin steward but the first day I saw someone looking for the ice machine. While sitting in the hot tub, I did hear that several people had toilet trouble. I don’t think this was a ship error but maybe people putting things in the toilet that should not go in there. I read in the daily paper that if you did that it could affect 50 cabins. All the staff were very personable and helpful. We we didn’t get good service it wasn’t because they were not trying just overworked. We had a great time and would do it again as a first timer to the Islands. Although, now that I know the islands better, I would probably choose one or two islands and relax more, slow down and enjoy the beautiful islands and the hang loose attitude.

I forgot to incude that my dh and ds were very impressed with the fitness center. Except for the fact that many first timers were in the way they loved it. It was very hard to try to fit time in to get their workouts in but they loved the center. They actually got scared a couple of times that the first - timers were really going to injure themselves or have a heart attack. Once when the manager was there she actually told someone they needed to stop.

I had a lomi-lomi massage the first night after dinner(it was a special that day.) it was very nice. I did the tour that afternoon and it was really nice, they were giving demonstrations of the different treaments. I understand if you go early you might get picked to be one of the demo people.

Thank you so much for such a detailed review.

Right now I'm actually surrounding myself in books, trying to decide between cruising Alaska or Hawaii in '07!

It was a great trip!

I might have been a little long winded on the review, though.:D

Lovely detailed review!

Your review was informative and touched on everything we were wondering about for our cruise 0n 06/03.

Wow, thanks so much for the great review. Your family sounds so similar to ours so I got so much out of it! We will be on the PoAM next month. Me, DH and DS who is also 16. We had an aft room on the 9th deck and recently upgraded to a suite because I was concerned about the space (and my sanity!). All three of us are tall so after reading your review I am glad we switched. Food is very important to DS so thanks for being so detailed. Very much appreciate the time you took to post.

Sincerely,

Jo

Thanks for the interesting review. No need to apologize for details - I think the details are what makes it interesting. I am on the 3/4 sailing and from what you say, this cruise will be a perfect fit for us. It's been very interesting reading everyone's opinion of this cruise.

wowwwwwwww! thanks so much for the review! We are staying at Alii also pre and post and with your confirmation, we will be happy. We are also bringing a l4, almost 15 yr. old with, thanks for the input. One question, did your sons do any teenage connection activities? The info about Kona chocolaholic buffet was truly helpful. will make sure we get back by noon to enjoy lunch and chocolate. Little Italy, despite my husband's dislike for Italian will be on our list (thanks for the info. about the filet), he's a steak man. Yours was the most detailed review, thank you very much, not at all long winded. i'm detailed oriented also, but it sounded like you wrote a journal. that's great...looking forward to 3/25. thanks again.

Thanks for the review, I still need more time to read it all, but will do so soon! I see lots of info I want to add to my list of things to remember!:D

We were also on this ship, two weeks before you. I never even saw a dial that you had to turn to get your room cleaned! Our cabin attendant was great anyway, so it didn`t matter. We didn`t like the Skyline dining room either. The food was not very good. Like you we did like the Cadillac grill. We had the pork chops too! We also went back a couple of times and had the burgers, which were really good. We thought the buffet was even better than the dining room. We tried to make reservations at the specialty restaurants, but we were too late. We wanted to give the dining room a try first. Won`t let that happen again. it was raining in Hilo when we were there too. In fact, most days were cloudy, but not cold. We came back without tans! I thought the ship was beautiful too, but I hope they can iron out some of their problems, like slow service and better food in the dining room. We also asked for and got robes and feather pillows when we first got on. We liked the fact that the rooms had coffee pots. You could drink your coffee in your robe on the balcony and watch the world go by. I can`t imagine getting more than 4 people on that little balcony. Maybe the people you were talking about had a suite? We did all private tours, and liked that very much.

Thanks so much for your detailed review. You really touched on details that others have not discussed. BTW, the Italian restaurant onboard sounds just like the one on the Dawn, and we really enjoyed it. I guess we'll make reservations for all the restaurants on the first day. Also, you really didn't miss much at the Chocoholics buffet; did it twice on the Dawn and will take your advice and stay in Kona until the crowds clear. Is there really a beach right near the pier? Sounds like a good alternative.

We're 3 couples going in Oct. and can't wait. Thanks again.

I can`t imagine getting more than 4 people on that little balcony. Maybe the people you were talking about had a suite?

Margaret, thanks too, for all your input .... I've been following the PoAm reviews very closely.

There's a little secret that most have not been writing about lately.. Some of the balcony cabins have balconies that are much larger (2x or more) than the standard and at no additional charge; these include the aft balconies and the very forward. We were lucky enough to get 3 of these cabins in a row, for our group. Hopefully it will make up for the very small cabin size.

Thanks for one of the most informative reviews I have seen anywhere on this whole site...

We are on the 2/18 PoAM trip, with our two sons, ages 15 and 10. Were there many other young adults this age on your trip?

I will try to answer as many questions as I can remember. Thanks for all the nice comments!

There were 33 total children including teenagers on our cruise. Heard it from a younge mom on one of the car shuttles. We did not see many of the 33. On the last day some one told my son there were two cute Australian girls on the cruise. Oh well! He went by the teen room that first night to see if they might be giving out free internet time but I think that was the only time he darkened the door. I am not sure they had many to participate. I am sure it will be different during spring break time and summer. The little kid area looked really neat. They have their own indoor little hot tub with little lounges outside, just their size. We really weren't on the ship very much and he plays football and works out regularly so that took up most of his free time on the ship. Very surprisingly to me, our night owl at home was pretty ready for bed at might too. All his friends at home were already in bed so no need to do the internet chat. I think he sent out some emails and things.

Hey Beechparty-

We are from Alabama, too and will be on the POAM in June on the CC cruise. I was going to book the Captain Zodiac tour in Kona, but my Hawaii Revealed Book didn't recommend it. You thought it was pretty good, huh? Were there any problems? Also, can you take food off the ship for picnics. That's what I would like to do in Hilo when we go to Volcano Nat'l Park. Also, did you hike to the lava at the park. When I went 5 years ago it was really too far away to hike there.

Thanks for the review-BTW, I'm in Birmingham.

Darth tater - love the name

I did love the Captian Zodiac. I would take the early run. After we were there for a while a huge snorkel boat came and I don't think I would have liked that as well. This is a beautiful bay to snorkel. I'ts a protected marine preserve. That really makes a different. The coral was alive and beautiful. We saw a lot of fish. Some in our group saw a turtle but we missed it. My opinion was a little scewed because of the awesome time we had the day before.

We had some whiners on our boat which also took away some of the fun. I think ours was the exception.

I'm sorry I didn't answer your Hilo questions. I don't know if you are allowed to take off food but they don't search anything going off the ship only coming back on the ship. There are several fast foods as you start your journey to the park and even a Wal-mart but nothing past the first five minutes.

To see the lava -

We drove to where the road is closed and hiked for 3/4 mile out to the point where you can see the steam hitting the water. I am not sure where you would hike to see the red lava. I talked to someone on the boat who took the excursion to see it and they didn't see any. We saw lots of tours buses where we took our hike so I am not sure what they saw that we didn't or how much further they went. I saw one group instead of hiking on the paved road up to the point where it stops like we did, take a path closer by the ocean back to the cars.

Hope this helps