CruisinKikster

Just checked in for my POA cruise, and the health and safety video is not captioned. They have autocaptions in there, but that's not the same as having actual captions with punctuation and capitalization (and correct words). Kinda unpleasantly surprised to see this from a large company, especially in 2022.

I'm on the Sept 17 sailing and haven't been cut (yet). We are booked in the obstructed oceanview so fully expected we would be among the first to be given the boot. We booked air separately (in fact, had that before we decided on the cruise), and we booked maybe 5 months ago. Not the earliest, not the latest. We also have requested disability accommodations onboard, and communications with the accessibility office indicate we are still a go. If we get canceled, I have a plan B ready. But I really don't want to have to deal with interisland flights right now. The HI airports seem to be a hot mess.

Thank you for this! Some of these didn't even come up in my searches. My husband does have some tiki mugs, and if he likes one, he'll pick it up. I'll check to see if he wants to get one from Geckoz.

I definitely have my HWAK rezzie already. To confirm, Duke's isn't a tiki bar specifically, right? It didn't strike me as one when I looked it up.

I am looking for a fun tiki place, because we like to go to tiki bars everywhere we go... not just Hawaii. (If you are ever in DC, I can name 3 or 4 tiki bars to visit. And my recs wouldn't come with a lecture on how it's not real DC culture or where tiki originated.) I already have HWAK on the agenda for our visit so we can get some "authentic" vibes. But I also want to check out tiki bars. It's not an either/or for us - it's and.

Have you been to Skull and Crown yet? From what I can see, it's a traditional style tiki bar. I can't say for sure until we get there, but looking forward to it. Which one is Rundgren's restaurant? Neither of the ones from the blog seemed to be real tiki bars - Tahiti Nui or Tiki Iniki. They seem to be more restaurants with some tropical decorations.

La Mariana just opened like a month ago I think. Reviews are mixed, but we'd like to go anyway to check it out!

Thank you! I somehow didn't come across that in my googling. (Or it got lost in the 400 tabs I have open)

Ahh - you could have stated that up front. I didn't state I was only wanting old-style tiki bars, and further, I specifically said we'd be going to Skull & Crown which is a new tiki bar. I just wondered if there were any I didn't see in my research. Without qualification because then I can make a decision about what I want to do.

Out of curiosity... Does knowing or not knowing that history negate my question?

Yes, I'm aware of tiki history. I look for tiki bars generally when we travel.

I'm looking for some quality tiki bars along the way. We will be going to Skull & Crown in Honolulu, and I hope to make La Mariana (which just re-opened). Are there any other go-to places for tiki drinks and tiki culture? We'll be on NCL POA so stopping in Maui, Hawaii (Hilo & Kona), and Kauai. We are also open to other options on Oahu that maybe haven't come up in our searches. Thanks!

When I travel for extended periods of time (including my upcoming cruise and trip to Hawaii), I use solid laundry soap to wash clothes in the sink. I have a travel clothesline that I then use to hang dry my clothes on. It's a really compact way to do laundry and doesn't require a lot of time or effort on my part.

Thank you for this review! I enjoyed looking at the pictures and reading about your experience. I also have a dining plan, but now I'm wondering if I should book Eden separately, because I really want to eat there!

That's a shame. Ours was wonderful and went above and beyond. I think we did the restaurant reservation requests in the Retreat area with the lounge concierge, because that just seemed to make more sense for us. I didn't think to ask the Host. Were there Retreat concierges on the Apex?

I would have just said "Oh I didn't ask him." That's not getting anyone into trouble. Your host doesn't know what you need unless you ask, and there's no reason to feel guilty. On my last cruise, the coffee took about 30-40 minutes to arrive, so I just ordered it when I woke up and by the time I was ready for it, it arrived. (I was in the Retreat on the Reflection.)

I'm curious about this too. Or do the companies offer shipping of the pineapple back to the mainland? I'd love to have some fresh pineapple when I get home (and am already planning to gorge myself on it in HI)

Did you ever find out the answer to this question? I'm booked with Thrifty at the Hilo airport.