kjcombs89

[quote name='Funbobby68']Hey all here to dip into the pool of knowledge, were sailing out in May back to vancouver on RCL , any way want to fly in a day early so I was thinking about renting a car , but I I'm wondering if there is a rental company near the pier that I can drop the car off the next morning , also need a hotel , nothing too fancy just nice and clean for a nights sleep , it will be our first time in Hawaii , is there any one thing I should not miss in our short time there [/QUOTE]

There are no rental drop offs at the pier, unfortunately.

If it were ME...I'd take a taxi to Waikiki, stay at a nice hotel with a nice pool and spend the afternoon and evening walking around. There are so many shops and things to see just in Waikiki! You can have a great dinner, and soak in the beauty. Don't try renting a car for one day...IMHO. :)

If you want to go to Pearl Harbor, you really need an entire day to really appreciate what's there.

We hiked Diamond Head on the morning before our cruise. We went super early, got back to our hotel in time to shower, check out and get ready to cruise! You can take a taxi there, or the bus (which lets you out on the road, but you can walk up to the entrance to DH). We did a shuttle there, which we reserved ahead of time through this company: [url]http://www.hawaiiactivities.com/en/hawaii/oahu/a/15841[/url]

It's a little more $$ than the bus, but since we were wanting to go at a specific time, it was worth it. They picked us up at our hotel and brought us back afterward.

If ur on the pride of America u have an overnight in Kauai. So it really doesn't matter what the traffic is like on the north shore since you don't have to worry about making it back to the ship at a certain time. We did the canyon then went all the way north. We stopped everywhere, had plenty of time, and stayed at one of the beaches on north shore till sunset. Had no trouble with traffic on way back. You're on island time! Enjoy!!

 

We did the canyon on our second, short day in Kauai with plenty of time to go all the way to the top and back. BUT, it was rainy that day, and we decided to take the chance that it 'might' clear up when we got up to the top...yeah, nope. Totally cloudy and raining at the top. My husband loves driving on windy, curvy roads...so we enjoyed the drive anyway. We saw some spectacular views at some of the lower viewpoints on the way back down so the trip was a success in our minds!

 

So, is it worth it to go all the way to the top? Everyone that I got advice from said YES...go early, go all the way up, and it's worth it.

 

We also drove all the way to the end of the road at the north (Ke'e Beach), turned around (b/c there was no place to park...too crowded) and drove all the way back around...then all the way down to Poipu on our first day. Again, plenty of time. We stopped at Tunnels Beach, the dry caves, Kilauea Lighthouse, had coffee at Java Kai in Kapaa, then headed south. We stopped at Koloa Rum, went to Poipu to see the Spouting Horn...plus the coffee plantation. We kept our rental car overnight; parked at Anchor Cove and took the little shuttle back to the ship...in time for a late dinner. Full day, but very enjoyable! Since it was raining off and on, we didn't plan to just hang on a beach.

 

It really all depends on how much and what you want to see. :)

Excellent. I'll be sure to give him a call. Thanks for your help and I hope you enjoyed your cruise!

 

We used Johnny Cab on our trip too. Super nice guy, reasonable rates and he was always right on time!

Awesome review, we are cruising this September 2015 on POA. How can I buy on-ship credit before we sail? Do I just go to the website? Thanks so much, we are only second time cruisers:)

 

Hi there! I know you'll enjoy the cruise...we loved it and still talk about it all the time...and we are already planning a return trip! ;)

 

As far as on-board credit, you can buy that ahead of time through your account on their website but I believe you will still have to give them a credit card for your account. We have never purchased credits ahead of time (although we HAVE had our TA gift them to us). We have always just put everything on the CC and paid for it in full after we are home.

 

If you don't use what you put on yourself, I'm pretty sure you can get them refunded to you (back to your CC). Same goes with pre-paid excursions. If they are canceled by the ship (due to weather) they will put the money onto your ship account, but if you don't use it up by the end of the cruise, they will credit your CC.

 

The only exception to this is the gift of on-board credit by a TA. You can't get that back...use it or lose it. At least that's my understanding. :)

 

Have a fabulous time!!!

are trying outrigger reef for 2 days in feb. Depends on your budget and what you are looking for in location, amenities, etc.

 

We stayed at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach in October. It was really nice! They have a nice pool, a restaurant and a bar area, easy beach access and it's close to walk to the heart of Waikiki. We would stay there again!

As the access to the Missouri is through the Pearl Harbor Memorial, all of the many threads about taxi and bus to Pearl Harbor apply to getting to the Missouri. Take one of the more advanced tours of the Missouri- it is worth it.

 

Yes, I second this! The "Heart of the Missouri" tour is well worth the extra money!! And yes, you have to go through Pearl Harbor to get to the Mighty Mo. It's on the active base, and only the shuttles and military personnel can get in there.

Hello! We are going to Hawaii in March and I am thinking about using the discount hawaii car rental this time. Last trip we used Thrifty and since we are blue chip members it worked out great as we were able to get in a much shorter line than everyone else when picking up our car. Anyone who has used discount, are you still able to do that? Meaning if I use discount and get Avis, can I use my membership and get in the short line? Just wondering. thanks!!

 

Yes, we used DHCR and our rental company memberships were honored, no problem. We went with Budget in all of the ports except for Honolulu, where we used Thrifty. Every single location was fairly quick and easy!

I believe the problem is taking flowers and fruits INTO Hawaii, not taking them out. I have bought leis and taken them on the plane to give to friends on the mainland many times. No problem.

 

You can buy leis inside the airport terminal, AFTER you go through security. Those may be able to be carried on the plane. I did see people having to surrender fruits and flowers at the security check though (even apples and bananas).

During our cruising adventures in other areas, we have found that some ports seem to have a number of local tours on offer at the wharf - while others do not. We are doing a POA cruise of the Hawaiaan Islands in April - and wondering which of the ports ( if any) have local tours on offer where the ship berths.

 

Thanks for any advice

 

Kona had some tour opportunities b/c you tender right into the town area. But the other ports did not (not that we saw).

Thank you so much for a wonderful review. Just wondering in Maui port, did you happen to notice any shuttles to the Queen Ka'ahumanu Shopping centre? And if so was it free or was there a cost?

 

Sorry, I didn't notice as we were only hunting for our rental car shuttle. That shopping center is about a mile away though from the pier, so if you are physically able it's definitely close enough to walk.

 

If you search CC for that shopping center, you'll come up with info.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/search/results.cfm

Thanks for the quick reply. It is just me and my husband travelling this time which makes the van cost for two unrealistic. I will check into NCL's excursion offerings. Thanks so much for your help. I really enjoyed your review, one of the best I have read on the POA. How did you get pictures to insert with your review?

 

Aw thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

 

To add photos...there's a little paperclip at the top of the text box when you write a message. If you click on that it gives you the option of adding photos.

 

And just FYI...NCL doesn't offer the same Trilogy Excursion. I believe the NCL offered Molokini tour is through the Pacific Whale Foundation. I'm sure it will be good...I hope you have the same crystal clear water that we had! It was amazing!!! :)

In helping with planning for our Hawaii cruise, would you be able to list the names and maybe addresses of each port that POA stops at. I did check into the Discover Molokini tour suggested and she asked what port POA docks at. I couldn't answer her for sure but she estimated a cost of $490!!! for an 11-person van to transport between the tour and port. I replied asking if the cost was a typo as I see it's less than 10 miles between the two. We don't want to rent a car so guess this tour is out. Disappointed as the tour sounded like lots of fun.

 

Yikes! It's really easy to rent a car and return it, and if you go through Discount Hawaii Car Rental it's very inexpensive. But if you have a huge group, it might be more difficult.

 

The ports are Kahului, Mahi; Hilo, Hawaii, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii (tender) and Nawiliwili Harbor in Lihue, Kauai.

 

There are ship sponsored Molokini Tours that provide transportation. You might be better off checking into one of those for a larger group.

We have a aft facing stateroom will we be able to enjoy the Napali Coast sailby from our balcony?

Our flight isn't until 4pm do you know if we will be able to go right to airport and check in our bags?

 

Aft facing...you probably can see it as you pass by, but if you are closer to the starboard side you may want to go out on deck somewhere for the best view.

 

As far as the airport goes, I don't know. You'll be off the ship by 9am, so you may be able to go to the airport that early, but that's a long time to sit in the airport. You might want to check out the tours offered through the ship for that day. I'm pretty sure they will hold your luggage while you are on a tour, and they may even offer transportation to the airport.

And am wondering if our port-side balcony room will be facing land or water while docked??

 

You had a starboard balcony...were you facing land or water while docked at the ports?

 

I love sitting on the balcony in the am with coffee or in the evening with a glass of wine....but I don't want my view to be a noisy industrial port!

Any advice?

Thanks!

 

Pretty much ALL of the ports are industrial areas, with the exception of Kona where you tender.

 

In Honolulu, before leaving, our starboard cabin faced the dock (port side faced the water and land, and when the ship leaves, we faced the open sea. Port side faced the city.

 

In Maui, while docked, both sides face a dock. If you look on maps.google. and type in Kahului, you can see the slip where the ship pulls in. There is a dock on BOTH sides, but the ship pulls straight in. You exit on the port side, so that's where the dock would be closest.

 

In Hilo, we faced the dock, b/c I think this was where they turned the ship around and backed it in. My husband took my photo from the dock (I was on our balcony). I remember thinking that was odd b/c on the maps.google photo it shows the ship pulled in forward. So maybe they aren't consistent there.

 

In Kona, you tender so everyone gets a nice view. But it seemed like every time I spotted the ship from shore, starboard side was facing land and that's the side that the tenders were coming and going from. So port side would be facing open ocean there.

 

In Nawiliwili Harbor (Kauai) starboard side faced the dock. Again, if you look on maps.google at the harbor, it's odd b/c the ship pulls into this little opening and then sort of "sidles up" to the dock on the starboard side. Port side would face a little bit of mountains that is on the other side of the harbor.

 

I think the huge benefit of port side would be the Napali Coast sailby. We sort of like watching the activity on the docks too, and we viewing the land as we pulled into port for Maui and Hilo. That was one benefit of starboard side b/c port side faced open ocean in Maui and Hilo.

 

Hope that helps! Have fun planning!!:)

Thanks for the review. I'm planning on sailing POA over my birthday in 2015 and taking my mom who is also glutton intolerant. It's good to know she won't have a problem even though I already know she's going to worry all the time about it!

 

You can actually request gluten free food, however I am used to finding what I need on menus so I opted not to do that. :) It's hard to know ingredients sometimes, and the servers don't usually know what's in stuff. If you stick to the simple foods (like grilled meats and vegetables) she'll be fine.

 

And the buffet has lots of choices as well.

I loved that photo of you in the water at your beach house on Oahu...and under the rainbow!!!!! Well, guess that may not be you....but anyway...nice looking place for sure.

 

Life is good.

 

Chuck

 

haha! No Chuck, that's not me...that's the owner of the property that we rented there. :)

Week two - OAHU

 

We spent a second week on Oahu. I won't go day by day, but instead list some of the things we did and places we visited.

 

We rented our car through DHCR and Thrifty. They were fine, we were in our car quickly and on our way. When we dropped off a week later, they were quick to check us in. They have shuttles that run to and from the airport very 15/20 minutes. Most of the car rental places do NOT have shuttles to the cruise pier from the airport in Honolulu.

 

Costco - buy your Mac nut gifts there AND your gas! Best prices.

 

We stayed on the windward side in a VRBO rental in a little town called Ka'a'awa. http://www.vrbo.com/426950#ownerprofile It was awesome and private; away from the busy-ness of Waikiki, which is just what we wanted.

 

We visited Pearl Harbor and saw the USS Arizona, USS Bowfin and USS Missouri. My husband was in the Navy, so he especially enjoyed our day here. We spent the extra $25/person to do the "Heart of the Missouri" tour, which was totally worth the money. They only take up to 8 or 10 people on that tour, and it just happened that we were the only ones in our time slot. We had a private tour, and it truly was worth it. We also briefly visited the Pacific Aviation Museum, but weren't super impressed by it. It's pretty small. However it was neat to see the bullet holes in the glass of the hangar that are from Japanese planes on December 7, 1941! Pearl Harbor can be a short day, if you choose to only do the Arizona Memorial. OR you can spend all day there, like we did, and see everything.

 

We also spent a whole day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We did the day pass, plus the Ali'i Luau and the HA show. All were very good; the Luau was fun; you sit with 6 other people (8 people per table) and it's served as a buffet. The evening show was fabulous!

 

We hiked Diamond Head on our first day there (see the first post) and we also did the Makapu'u Lighthouse Hike, which is on the southeastern side of the island. That was all uphill to the lighthouse lookout, but a fantastic view. Go early and wear a hat/sunscreen b/c you are in full sun most of the hike. On the way back, it's mostly all downhill.

 

Waimea Valley Botanical Garden and Waterfall - north shore, beautiful gardens. $15/person for a self guided hike, well marked trails. There's a waterfall that you can walk to (also of Lost fame) and you can also swim in it when the conditions are right. They'll tell you at the entrance if you can swim that day or not. You must wear a life jacket to swim in the pond/under the falls.

 

Haleiwa - cute little town on the north shore, Matsumoto's Shave Ice is here. Shopping and quirky fun.

 

Aloha Stadium Swap Meet - $1/person to get in, all sorts of souvenirs, clothing, crafts, jewelry, luggage etc. Fun!

 

Farmer's Market at Windward Mall - Sunday and Wednesday - great produce!

 

We ate at Giovanni's Shrimp Truck and yes it IS that good. Highly recommended!

 

We also ate at Uncle Bobo's in Ka'a'awa, also very good BBQ.

 

 

 

We visited the following beaches:

 

1. Lanikai Beach - beautiful beach with a narrow band of sand. Parking is in a neighborhood. Not great for snorkeling, but pretty to sit and enjoy the view and swim. No lifeguard there and no bathrooms that we saw.

 

2. Kuilima Cove - to the right of Turtle Bay Resort. Small, protected cove with a nice beach. You can park to the right of the resort for free. Not super crowded, and fairly good snorkeling. You can rent lounge chairs there as well. There is a small restaurant outside, and bathrooms.

 

3. Sunset Beach - very crowded, north shore beach. There was a surf competition going on, so no swimming. Parking is along the road if you can find it.

 

4. Mokuleia Beach Park (of Lost fame) - north shore, almost all the way to the end of the road. Parking and bathrooms. Also, if you are a Lost fan, a little bit further down the road you can see the "Others" Camp on the Mauka (mountain) side of the road. It's really a YMCA camp, but the yellow cottages are what were in the TV show Lost. We thought it was cool to see! :)

 

5. Another beach, that I think is part of Mokuleia, but it's further west along Farrington Hwy, past Mokuleia's parking. We just parked along the road, and stepped into the sand. Really nice, totally empty beach. No lifeguards or facilities, but there was another couple there and they said the snorkeling was pretty good. We unfortunately did not have our Snorkel Gear with us that day. We wanted to go back, but never had time.

 

6. Ka'a'awa Beach Park - right by our rental, super quiet nice beach. Bathrooms...lots of locals hang out there. It's right off the road, so parking is an issue.

 

We used the Hawaii Revealed books for all of the islands, and the Franko Maps. Tons of info there.

 

I can't think of anything else right now. We had a fabulous vacation and can't wait to go back. Please feel free to ask any questions.

Make sure you visit Donkey Balls (http://www.alohahawaiianstore.com/) for Kona coffee

 

Just realized I put the wrong link for Donkey Balls in Kona. Should be THIS ONE: http://www.donkeyballskona.com/

We stayed in that hotel way back in 2003 for our 25th anniversary. They also upgraded us to an ocean view and I took this picture. Looks like we were close to your room. :)

 

Yep, sure looks similar! We enjoyed our short stay there, and would totally stay there again!

Thanks for taking the time to write a review, I'm reliving our cruise through you. :D

 

So glad you had a good time in Hawaii and enjoyed the POA! :)

 

Greatlakesgirl...it was YOUR review that encouraged us to go to that black sand beach, and you are right! It was totally worth the time! Thank you for your review, that helped me so much while we were planning!

 

I have loved cruise critic...so much fun to read other people's cruise stories! :D

Day SEVEN - Disembarking in Honolu

 

We chose to carry off all of our luggage, which means that you can basically leave when you want to (as long as it's by 9am). We left at about 8:30am, after personally tipping and thanking Karl (our room steward, who was awesome). POA doesn't provide you with envelopes to give extra tips to those that you may want to, which while it's nice to not have the pressure to give more (or not), it's sort of awkward to know what to do if you DO want to give your room steward a cash gratuity. Thankfully we saw him in the hallway and just handed it to him and thanked him in person, which was nice.

 

We walked off the ship, and there were taxis out front, all over the place. There were also NCL employees helping with getting people into taxis, so we were in a taxi basically immediately after we walked out. Our taxi driver took us to the Thrifty office near the Honolulu airport, as we got to spend a second entire week on Oahu after the cruise. More on that later!

 

 

Some things that we were so glad we took with us:

 

-those clip/hooks that I mentioned back at the beginning were invaluable. We used them every single day on our balcony. It's so humid there that it helped to just leave our wet swimsuits out in the wind at night to dry.

 

-bug spray...if you are prone to bug bites, which I am, take it. I still got bites.

 

-benedryl and hydrocortisone cream, for when the bug spray fails

 

-small binoculars...we used ours a lot, especially at Volcanoes National Park, Diamond Head, at the Lighthouse and more. We bought these on a recommendation from someone here on CC, and they are great: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002SCT2K2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

-suncreen of course! Our goal was to never get a sunburn, and we were faithful to use our sunscreen (my husband used spf50 and I used spf30). No sunburn! Just a nice tan!

 

-UV/rash guard shirts. We wore these while snorkeling. Very helpful to avoid burning the back AND for extra warmth in the water.

 

-Ginger Lozenges - these work really well when you get a mouth full of salt water while snorkeling (and yes I did have that happen...felt like I was going to throw up and these helped immensely). We got these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004BH15K2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

-a light sweater for the ship; very cool in the public areas (like the dining rooms and the Hollywood Theater). I also used it in Kauai.

 

-plastic rain ponchos (the emergency, throwaway type)

 

-mini hand sanitizer bottles

 

-my tiny Bagallini crossbody purse; perfect for carrying ID, ship card, cash and phone!

 

 

A few other last thoughts on the ship:

 

You CAN take the beach towels off the ship to use in port. However, if you lose it, they'll charge you $25.

 

They will take any alcohol that you purchase in port and give it back to you at the end of the cruise. You CAN take wine on the ship, but they will charge you $15 corkage fee per bottle, even if you drink it in your room.

 

There is a small coffee maker in the room, with single serve packets that you can make (also mugs, half and half and sweetners). The coffee in the room was better than the coffee in the dining room. We asked Karl for extra coffee packets, and he always remembered to leave us extras each day.

 

For the Newlywed or NOT Game, they are going to pick the couple that's been married the longest from the audience. So, if you have been married 60 years, and you DON'T want to play, stay quiet when they start asking the audience for all those married longer than 50 years! :)

 

They also picked people from the audience during the Magician's show (if he's a regular).

 

You can make a reservation for the dining room and yes you CAN ask for a window table for two. We did that every night that we ate in the dining rooms.

 

The safe in the cabin is quite small. Don't expect to put a ton of stuff in it. we left cameras in our room, just in a drawer and they were fine.

 

The seas were rough on the first night of the cruise and the last night. If you are prone to sea sickness, we heard that the last night is often rough.

 

I'll write more on Oahu later...thanks for reading! I'm enjoying re-living our trip this way!

Thanks everyone, for the comments! I'm happy to be able to share our experiences and please feel free to ask any questions. I found this forum to be of immense help when we were planning so it's fun to 'give back.' ;)

 

Days FIVE and SIX - Kauai

 

Our starboard facing cabin was on the east facing side when pulling into Nawilwili Harbor, so we got to see an amazing sunrise from our balcony. As we pulled in, it was raining lightly...and that proved to be the case for our entire time in Kauai. This was the port where none of what we planned to do came to fruition, but we had fun anyway. :) And yes, it's true what everyone says about the chickens in Kauai. They really ARE everywhere!

 

Once again, we waited a little bit before disembarking, and picked up the car rental shuttle right away on the pier. We went to the airport and picked up our rental car (again with Budget) and were on our way. This Budget office was our least favorite; not as personal and our car had an ant issue. Yes, insects. But it wasn't enough to make us want to go back and waste any precious time so we killed an ant or two once in a while. Weird!

 

We headed to the north shore, as we really wanted to see Ke'e Beach (which is the one at the end of the road) as well as Tunnels Beach and the Dry Caves there. We hoped to snorkel at either Ke'e or Tunnels. We did drive all the way to Ke'e, only to find it completely crowded with no parking to be found. The road getting out there is very narrow with several one lane bridges so it would have been difficult to try to wait. We did look for parking back down the road, but it was also raining and so we decided to head back to Tunnels beach. The drive is pretty, so we were glad we went all the way out.

 

Tunnels Beach was less crowded, and after we parked and got out of the car we saw why...orange flags all along the beach. BIG surf warning. And it was indeed BIG SURF. Wow...being from California, we have seen some big surf, but nothing like that. We walked down the beach for a bit and then crossed the street to visit the Dry Caves. Those are pretty neat, and worth the visit if you have time. You can park at Tunnels Beach and just run across the street (narrow road, no big deal to cross). Take a flashlight if you have one, and go all the way to the back.

 

Since snorkeling was obviously out for this area, we decided to go back to Kilauea Point Lighthouse and Wildlife Refuge. $5/person. We got there around 11am, and stayed for maybe an hour and a half. Beautiful views of the lighthouse, lots of cool birds (I like birds) and we saw several Nene and one baby Nene. It started to rain again while we were there, but it was a short, passing storm. You can't go up in the lighthouse, but there were some park rangers there to answer questions. There's also a new blowhole out on the rocks at the end that they were showing us.

 

From here we drove back down south to Kapa'a. We visited Java Kai for coffee (yummy...and they had gluten free treats there too) and my husband bought a hat at Island Hemp Wear in Kapa'a. Cool little town to shop in. Again, we got rained on.

 

At this point, it was only about 2pm so we decided to just head south for Poipu to see the Spouting Horn. Our snorkeling options were out b/c of the weather, so we decided to just drive and see what we wanted to see. On the way down, we spotted Koloa Rum. If you like rum, stop here! They have free tasting (you have to sign up for a time slot) and their coconut rum is SO good!! (http://www.koloarum.com/). There are also a few other little shops around this area, and a restaurant.

 

After Koloa Rum, we ate our packed lunch in the parking lot and drove to Poipu. The Spouting Horn was indeed spouting, so we enjoyed watching that for a while. We also drove further around (toward the west) past the turnoff for Waimea Canyon to Salt Pond Beach. That was a nice looking beach, with picnic tables etc. Lots of locals there. We stayed there for a little bit, until it started to rain again. At that point it was about 5pm or so, and we opted to head back for the ship. We parked at Anchor Cove Shopping Center and paid the $20 to park overnight. I'm not sure how it works if you get back there so late that the businesses aren't open? Anyway, we took the shuttle back to the pier. I know the shuttle only runs to a certain hour (probably until the businesses close). It doesn't run 24 hours a day. If you got there late, you'd have to walk back to the ship. It isn't that far, we did it the next morning. We also had to hand over the rum we had purchased at Koloa, but we got it back on Friday night.

 

 

Day SIX

 

We got up early b/c we planned to head up to Waimea Canyon and wanted to give ourselves plenty of time. The Anchor Cove shuttle doesn't start up until 8am, so we had to walk back over to get our car. It was about a 10 minute walk; pretty easy. There are two roads that will take you up to the top lookout. We took the first road, Waimea Canyon Road (or 550). It's less crowded as many of the tour buses take the second route (Kokee Road). They meet up after a little while, so you all end up in the same place.

 

We were advised to go all the way to the top...don't stop at the bottom first! In hindsight, we wish we would have stopped at ONE of the lower lookout points along the way, because when we did finally get up to the top lookout (where the road ends) it was raining and cloudy and we never got to see any of it. If we had stopped at the lower lookouts on our way up, I think we could have seen some of the canyon. But, we actually waited at the top parking lot for about an hour, hoping that the rain would let up, but it never did. :(

 

As we were driving back down, the very first lookout was filled with tour buses, so we stopped to see if we could see anything. Thankfully we did get to see a little bit of the canyon from there, despite the rain. So, I guess we're just going to have to go back to Kauai so we can see Waimea Canyon. :)

 

We stopped at Kauai Coffee Company on our way back to drop off the rental car. They have tons of coffees that you can sample, plus a gift shop, a little snack bar and a self guided tour through their coffee field. But, guess what? It rained there too. We saw lots of rainbows in Kauai! ;) We bought gas at Costco, took the car back to the rental car office, caught the shuttle and went back to the ship. Traffic was rather thick around Costco, but we did all of that and made it back without any problem.

 

The ship pulled out of port right at 2pm, and headed north to do the Napali Coast sailby. It was really raining and stormy, so we weren't even sure that we would be able to see it. The seas were also looking pretty rough, and the ship pool was actually closed b/c the water was sloshing out of it due to the ship movement! We found a spot out on the 12th deck, along the railing (standing) and hoped for a glimpse. It was interesting to see how the ship's captain sailed the ship through and around storm clouds.

 

As we got around to the beautiful Napali Coast, it was as if God smiled down upon us...the clouds opened up, the sun shone through and a rainbow appeared. Magical. The Napali Coast is like nothing I have ever seen; words cannot describe how majestic and breathtaking it is. Pictures don't even do it justice. Anyway, since our cabin was on the starboard side, and it's the port side that faces the coast, we stayed outside the whole time to watch the sailby. Worth getting a little wet. :)

Yes I was going to suggest a light sweater as well. The ship is chilly especially in the Hollywood Theater'

 

 

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Day Four - Hilo

 

We rented a car here as well. Again, we waited until about a half hour after the gangway was open to disembark. The waiting area for rental cars here at the pier was in the full sun (no shade) so bring a hat! We waited here for about 10 minutes for the shuttle to return to take us to the airport to pickup our car. The rental counters at Hilo airport are tiny; just a desk with one or two people working at them. We waited a little bit here too, but not too long. The clerk at the desk here told us to be very mindful of the speed limit b/c the police officers in Hilo use their personal vehicles and they are hard to spot. Good to know! :)

 

We were in our car by 9am and on our way toward Volcanoes National Park. However we had decided to take the time to drive PAST VNP to go down to Punalu'u Black Sand Beach b/c I really wanted to see black sand! If you are inclined to do this, it's well worth your time. That was probably the most beautiful thing we saw on the trip. Truly amazing and picture perfect. We spent about 45 minutes here, walking and looking (turtles!) at the beauty. I would love to go back and spend part of day just sitting on that beach.

 

We drove back up to VNP, and decided to use our time on the Chain of Craters Road. We did not visit the museum, but we did go to the lookout at the Jagger Museum. We also made a quick stop to walk through the Thurston Lava Tube on our way to Chain of Craters Road. We drove that all the way to the end, where the Sea Arch is...awesome drive. I've never seen lava fields like that, so we stopped on occasion just to look. There was never any flowing lava to see. We also made a quick stop on the way back to the airport at the Macadamia Nut Farm to get some of the Hershey Kisses that they only sell in Hawaii. However, we later saw them at Costco in Honolulu too! We bought gas near the airport, and were back on board the ship with a few minutes to spare.

 

Day Five - Kona

 

We did our one and only ship excursion in Kona. We did the Big Island Snorkel, run by Body Glove. You tender in Kona, so you have to meet up with your tour group in the Hollywood Theater first and they take you as a group to the tender. The tender ride is fairly short (maybe 5 minutes or so) and they were running 4-6 boats during the day.

 

The snorkel excursion was fun, though I must say that I was not as good as Molokini. If you have to choose one, do Molokini! The boat ride was about 45 minutes to the snorkel site, and we had about 2 hours there. The boat had plenty of crew to help out, noodles for flotation, paddle boards, view boards, a big slide, a high dive and all of the gear. NO free alcohol (and I forgot to mention that the Trilogy excursion had NO free alcohol). They serve breakfast and lunch, and the lunch on this one was better than Trilogy (burgers grilled on board, fruit, taro chips). We saw dolphins and lots of fish, but the visibility was not as good here as it was at Molokini. Still a fun day though and we were glad we did it. They have you back to the harbor at around 12:30-ish...I can't remember the exact time. We had plenty of time to walk around town and do a little shopping. Make sure you visit Donkey Balls (http://www.alohahawaiianstore.com/) for Kona coffee...delicious; super nice people, and we met the coffee grower who talked with us for a while. We also purchased a beautiful carved necklace from a local seller (https://www.makaunui.com/). He was so nice, and we special ordered an anklet for me which he made and sent before we even got home!

 

We also had a late lunch at the Fish Hopper right by the pier; great fish tacos! We went back to the ship at around 3:30pm and used the pool on board again. The line for the return tenders was quite long; I think we waited about 20 minutes.

 

I'll do Kauai and Oahu tomorrow (hopefully)... :)

Days Two and Three - Maui

 

We reserved a rental car through Discount Hawaii Car Rental (in fact, all of our rentals were through DHCR, so I won't mention that every single time). We used Budget for Maui, Hilo and Kauai and Thrifty for Oahu.

 

We disembarked in Maui at around 8:30am, after the first wave of passengers had gotten off. There was no line for the car rental shuttle, which came less than 5 minutes after we got out to the waiting area. We picked up our car at the Budget office near the airport (again, no line...quick and easy) and we were on our way fairly quickly. Our first stop was the Iao Needle; very pretty and worth the $5 admission per car. Our plans after that were to find a beach to enjoy and snorkel (we own snorkel gear so we took it with us). We drove west across the island and went all the up north to a little snorkel spot that some friends had told us about (Honolua Bay). Unfortunately when we got there, we met some people coming out of the water who told us that it wasn't worth the time...poor visibility that day. So, we went back down and found a place to park near Napili Bay (I think we parked on Napili Place) and walked down a short path to the beach. Beach access is fairly well marked everywhere on the islands. We spent some time there, and then later moved to Kapalua Bay (which is the next Bay if you go north). We left our car where it was and walked to Kapalua Bay. Jackpot here on the snorkeling! We saw turtles and tons of fish. Great spot and not as crowded as Napili. We spent most of the day here. There is a bathroom with a shower near Kapalua Bay, which we used to clean up.

 

We headed back to Lahaina at around 3:30pm and had our first Shave Ice at Ululani's on Front Street (we parked on Front Street). That was the best Shave Ice of the whole trip! We walked down to the Banyan Tree (very cool) and walked through the little open air market there. Lots of fun stuff to look at. We had reservations at Kimo's for 5:30pm, and we ate dinner there. EXCELLENT dinner! We went a little early and asked for a table "on the rail" and we were seated with a great view of the sunset. Very nice and affordable. Kimo's is owned by the same company that owns Duke's, so they have Hula Pie, if you are so inclined. We were back on board the ship by about 8pm. The parking for rentals cars in Maui is convenient. We were back too late to get a spot in the close lot, but the overflow lot is not far, well lit and has a guard shack. There is a special walkway for cruise ship passengers so you aren't walking out on the streets to get back to the ship. It's about a 5 minute walk or so.

 

Day Three Maui - we were up early and walked out to our car to head over to Ma'alea Harbor and our Molokini Snorkel Tour! We did not book with the ship. After much research we decided to go with Trilogy and their Molokini Snorkel Tour (https://www.sailtrilogy.com/tour/molokini). This was probably the best thing we did on our entire trip. We went on the 8am sailing, and it was just fantastic. We stayed out at Molokini the whole time b/c there were Tiger Shark sitings at the second location, although we did see Reef Sharks out at Molokini. We have snorkeled in the Caribbean AND Mexico, and Molokini by far surpassed those experiences. Super clear water, lots of fish and amazing visibility. The Trilogy staff was great, helpful and friendly. They also served breakfast and lunch, put up the sails going back in and they treated everyone like family. We would use them again if (when) we go back. We were back at the harbor by 2pm, and we were tired so we went back to the ship to swim in the pool. Dropping off the rental car was no problem, easy shuttle ride back. The ship left port at the scheduled time (in every port this was true).