Just Back from POA October 20 -27

We have returned from our Hawaiian Adventure. A little about us, we are in our upper 40's. This is our first trip to Hawaii and our first time cruising NCL.

I will admit, after reading some of the older reviews, I was second guessing our choice to cruise on the POA. No need to second guess. The POA was great. The ship was in great condition. I wondered why it was going into drydock, as I really didn't see much wear and tear. The staff was friendly, food was fine. We really didn't sample too much of the entertainment, but I will say, get to the theater at least 15 minutes early if you want a seat. It gets packed. I would also use the left entrance, as there was generally more seating available closer to show time, than if you used the right side.

We took a slightly different approach to our vacation than what you've probably read in other reviews. As both our jobs are very stressful, we agreed to only plan activities every other day and play it by ear for the other days. Unconventional, yes, especially since this may be our only trip to Hawaii, but it worked for us.

We did a mix of NCL tours and tours on our own.

Since we live on the East Coast, we decided to fly out a couple days ahead of time to get used to the time change. We flew out the Wednesday before the cruise. I highly recommend if you live on the East Coast, to fly out a few days before. We stayed in Waikiki at the Halekulani. Pricey, yes, but since this trip was for our anniversary, we decided to treat ourselves. A wonderful place to stay. Very quiet, the calm among the hustle and bustle of Waikiki. The House Without a Key restaurant was wonderful. Every night they have Hawaiian music playing and a Hula dancer to accompany them. You can choose to just have a drink or dinner. They have very little beach in front of the hotel, but the pool area is very inviting and you can see the ocean from there.

We didn't have much planned for Thursday, just getting used to the time change. We did attend the Hilton Hawaiian Village Luau on Thursday night. I knew I had to attend a luau since we were in Hawaii. I'd never forgive myself if I didn't try. But, I also knew DH doesn't have the patience to attend the PCC or one of the other luau's that were offered. I thought this was the best compromise for us. I had a great time. I didn't feel cheated in the least. It was a nice show.

On Friday, we went to Pearl Harbor on our own. We took a taxi from the hotel. Note, there are not taxi's waiting for you to return to Waikiki. Our driver gave us his cell phone number, told us to call about a half hour before we were ready to go and he'd be back to get us. We did just that and had no issues. We probably spent about 5 hours

there and didn't get to see all of it. We did see the Arizona Memerial, BowFin and the Mighty Moe. We didn't get to the Aviation Museum. If you can tour on your own, I think it may be a better option. I think you may be rushed if you're part of a tour.

On Saturday, we stayed at the hotel until checkout time, Noon. We took a cab to Port to check in. The boarding process was probably the worst I've seen and had me second guessing our choice for the cruise, even before it started. We arrived around 12:30, along with what seemed to be half the ship. I was surprised there wasn't any signage outside the Terminal. We went to the end of the long line of people outside the terminal. We really didn't have an idea if we were in the right line or not. There was no signage. Once inside the terminal, we were told we would break into two lines and we had to inform them of liquor in our luggage or if we had any other items, like scissors that shouldn't be onboard. I think people would have benefited from signage ahead of time. Not everyone is a member of Cruise Critic and maybe they didn't know they couldn't bring alcohol onboard. There was plenty of time to empty your suitcase while waiting in line outside the terminal and things may have moved quicker.

Once inside the terminal and past the inspection point, things went much smoother. Check-in was a breeze and my earlier fears were relieved. Even though there was a long line of people outside, it seemed to even out when you went to check-in. We were in an Owner's Suite, 8000 forward. After we were checked in, we were escorted onto the

ship by one of the Butler's. We were escorted to the Lanai Lounge, where we meet the Concierge, got our Butler's name, meet with the Spa folks, Excursion Desk folks, and Restuarant folks. We were able to make reservations at that time if we needed. When were were done, we could go to the Lazy J for lunch. Throughout the week, we could

have breakfast and lunch in there as well. A suite perk we really enjoyed. We booked a Suite for the space, the perks that came along with it, were just an added bonus. Breakfast at Lazy J was great. With the exception of one morning, we ate breakfast there the whole time. On the last day, it was very nice to have a relaxing breakfast and wait there until it was time to disembark the ship. We didn't really use the service of the Concierge or the Butler, so I can't give too much of a review. We don't drink, we told our Butler we just needed ice the bucket full, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Ginger Ale. We never ran out. The Concierge was in Lazy J every morning, so if you needed anything, he was there. The Suite was awesome. I will try to post some photos later.

Can't wait to read more of your review especially any tours you may have taken. My hubby and I will be doing this cruise in May with our best friends and are eagerly counting down the days till we go. Have been reading everyones reviews who have recently returned.:)

I am enjoying your trip report and look forward to reading more.

Keith

Thanks so much for sharing your experience - I look forward to reading more!

Disney1992... looking forward to more postings.....

Mahalo, Chuck

As I mentioned earlier, we only planned a few excursions. Day 1, Maui we took NCL's Hana Picnic. This was the smaller tour offered by NCL. It was in Limo vans that only held 8 people. I'm glad we decided to take this tour. After surviving the 1,200 plus curves, I knew there was no way we could have driven this ourselves and made it to our 21st anniversary. I liked the smaller group. We got to know each other a little more. Since we were a smaller group, we were able to manage the stops at our own pace. We never felt rushed. We had plenty of time and our driver was awesome. He told us lots of stuff about Hawaii. I would recommend doing this tour/drive on Day 1. We probably never felt rushed, because we knew we didn't have to get back to the ship that night. We arrived back about an hour and a half later than we were supposed to. With all this being said, I'm not really sure the Road to Hana was worth it. It's an awful long ride, lots of blind curves and not many places to stop to enjoy the views. We did see a lot of stuff, but there were many places where our driver just stopped if no one way behind us, took our cameras and took the photos for us. I'm glad we did it, but if I ever get back to Hawaii, I wouldn't do it

again. If you are prone to motion sickness. Take precautions. I loaded up on the Bonine. One of the ladies on our trip did get sick and she never had motion sickness before.

Day 2, Maui. This was a bum around day. We never really got to explore the ship on Saturday or Sunday, so we took Monday to wander around and see all the ship offered.

Day 3, Hilo. We took the NCL Rainbow Falls and Volcano tour through NCL. In hindsight, I wished we tried to rent a car on our own. This was a big bus tour, so our stops were limited. Rainbow Falls was a bust. Not much Falls to see. Actually, we had this issue with a lot of the waterfalls. Mother Nature was not cooperating according to many of our guides. Hawaii was experiencing a drought of sorts, so no rain to flow into the falls. It was misting all day in Hilo and chilly, so bring a raincoat. I really would have liked to see more of the Jagger Musuem, but since we were on the tour, we just ran through it.

On the bright side, the Lava is flowing again, all be it very tiny. We did sail by the flow. It looked a lot like campfires burning in the distance. It was not bright enough to be picked up by our cameras. You'll be able to view it from Starboard side cabins and front cabins. The Captain "parked" the ship in front of the flow for about a half hour.

DaY 4, Kona. This was a scheduled bum around day. We slept in, had breakfast in Lazy J and started to head to Kona @10. This appears to be the popular time to leave the ship. The Concierge put us on a tender, but I would venture to guess if we waited for a tender ticket, we probably wouldn't be leaving until 10:30 - 11:00. Once on shore, we just walked around the town, stopped for some shaved ice.

Day 5, Kauai Day 1. Today was our photo tour with Kauai Photo Tours. Hands down, this was the best "excursion" we did. They limit their tours to 6 people per van. It looks like they have 3 vans, so they can do multiple tours in a day. The photographers took you around various spots on the island, told you the best place to stand to take your shots. If you had any questions regarding working your camera, they help with that as well. You can also rent a SLR camera from them if you don't want to haul all your gear.

Day 6, Kauai Day 2. Since we were leaving Port at 2:00pm, we decided this would be a lazy day as well. We spent the day wandering the ship and getting our bags ready to go home.

Last day, since our flight was leaving at 4:30pm, we decided to take the NCL North Shore of Oahu tour that would drop us off at the airport. It was nice not having to worry about our luggage, as it was on the bus with us. We were dropped off at the airport by 2:00pm.

Wonderful review!

Great input to help us prepare for our trip! Thank you so much!

Food is probably the hardest thing to review. Everyone's taste is different. I thought the food was fine. We didn't starve, but nothing really knocked our socks off either. I will admit, this being our first time on NCL, I had a hard time adjusting to the Freestyle Dining. I really missed the "relationship" you form with your servers. For frame of reference, we've sailed Disney and Holland American before. I did like that you didn't have to dress

up each evening.

We tried a variety of places to eat. We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the Aloha Cafe. There was plenty to choose from, very nice variety. We never had an issue finding a seat. We also had dinner at the Italian Restuarant, seeing how I can't even remember the name, that tells you how memorable the meal was. We also had lunch in the Cadillac Diner. There is outdoor seating if you wish to try that. We had dinner twice in Lazy J. I

think we gravitated towards the Lazy J, because we knew most of the servers and that seemed to fill the void of not knowing your Server. We had dinner three times in Skyline. We got a seat right away each time.

I did find out at our Cruise Critic Wrap Up Meeting, at the end of the cruise, that you can request a recurring dining time, even table at the Skyline. Had I known that in advance, I think we probably would have set something up and than just notified the staff if we were going to eat at one of the other restaurants, so the table could be used for someone else.

This concludes my review. I will try to answer any questions if you have any. Would I do the cruise again, yes. Would I do anything different, yes, probably try to rent a car in Hilo, maybe even Maui. I would also try the standing dining reservation.

Do join your Cruise Critic Meet 'n Greet. You'll meet some nice folks and I truly believe the Ship's Officiers want to know what you think. I brought up the signage issue at our wrap-up meeting and they did say they were going to try to add some more signage. If I didn't attend the wrap-up, I might never have learned you could make the standing dining reservation.

I do have the Dailies. I need to unearth them from the suitcase and see if I can post them. It will be a few days for that.

Hope everyone enjoys their upcoming cruises!

Thanks so much for the great review. I can't believe that we will be onboard in just 17 days! We are also planning "bum" days - after all, it is a vacation.

Did you go to any of the shows? Any you would highly recommend?

Also, I would love to see the dailies when you have time.

Thanks for a very informative review. I like your approach to the cruise, opting to plan some "down" time as well as tours. We do the same. No sense is loading it up to the point of being too tired to enjoy what you're doing!

I've read more reviews about the Road to Hana and how most folks are glad they did it but wouldn't do it again. I think we are going to skip it and rent a car instead and explore other parts of Maui. We have reservations at the Feast of Lele that evening, so I think a fun, leisurely day is in order, looking forward to a wonderful meal and show.

Happy belated anniversary!

Jennifer

Great review! I'm booked on the photo tour and I'm glad you enjoyed it, they seem like really nice people :)

Nice to re-live experiences. Reading and writing reviews extends the pleasure of the cruise. We immersed ourselves into the Hawaiian culture as much as we could. Did the ship still have "ambasadors" who spoke on language and culture. Making a lei and learning to hula were highpoints of our shipboard experience.

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Thank you so much for sharing your cruise with us. I have considered the photo tour. Could you tell us more about it, please. They advertise taking you to sites that are not on most tours. Did you do this? Did both of you have cameras? Did you feel that you saw areas you would not have seen on your own?

The photo tour definitely takes you places where an organized tour wouldn't. For the most part, the stops were at the end of residential streets. There were probably some beaches that might be in a guide book, but I didn't research that angle.

They have different guides and I think they all don't go to the same places. They each have their own places. Our guide gave us some history of the island. She also pointed out places where various movies and shows were filmed as we passed by.

The lunch stop is at a local place, most likely one of the lunch trucks. We stopped at a Mexican one. Our guide mentioned that the usual place was closed while the owners were away. The food was good.

We each had our own cameras, a Nikon D70 and a Nikon J1. We had the telephoto lens on the SLR and the standard J1 lens.

There are several threads about Kauai Photo Tours if you to search for them. I found lots of good info from them.