Aloha~! A Photo Trip Report of the POA - 10/11/14

This was a trip of many firsts—first cruise, first time with NCL, first time in Hawaii—and now my first attempt in trying to write a review for it all! I've been so inspired by the multitude of reviews that I've read on this site, and most of them weren't even about the POA or NCL (I was just really excited that I read anything I could get my hands on, haha), which just further made me want to write this because the Pride of America deserves some love.

Just a warning that this report will include my entire vacation, meaning I will also cover the one-week pre-cruise stay we had in Oahu. I figured most people going on the cruise would spend a few days pre- or post-cruise, and that maybe what I experienced could help others in their planning. So if you're hoping for just the cruise portion you should probably skip to here [insert link when I get there :p].

For some background info, I turned 27 on this trip (the day right before embarkation), travelling with my mom, who's in her 50's, and we're from Canada. As I mentioned before, this was our first cruise, and we haven't had a vacation since 2009, so we were severely overdue on one. We always joked that “this'll be the year we take a vacation”, and though every year passed without us taking one because money was always tight, I was fiercely determined to make it happen this year!

The question now was...where to?

Funnily enough, neither Hawaii nor a cruise was my first choice when I first decided that we would be taking a vacation this year. My first choice was actually Bora Bora, followed by Maui, Hawaii and then Australia, but my mom ruled out the first and last option because my initial research showed that Maui was the cheapest of the bunch. I guess she was having pity on me since I was the one who was going to be paying everything for the both of us, haha. With a destination chosen, I went to the bookstore and bought a couple of travel books in my excitement, and upon reading those my mom learned there were cruises that go to Hawaii. She was so taken with the idea that our land trip was now going to be a sea trip.

Although the book mentioned Carnival, HAL and Princess as cruiselines that travelled to Hawaii, NCL was the only one that started and ended in Hawaii, and since that was what we wanted to focus on, NCL was the cruise line we ended up choosing. It was ironic, because after all was said and done, this route actually ended up costing me more than that trip to Bora Bora would've, haha (though we did somehow jump from it being a one week vacation to two somewhere in all the planning so that might've messed things up a bit :rolleyes:).

That's all I can think of right now, so without further ado, let's get started!

Day 1 – 10/04/14 – Travelling to Hawaii

This was a long, long, day. I had managed to book cheap-ish flights to Honolulu on Delta Airlines (and knowing how expensive everything is in Hawaii, you’d want to save money wherever you can), but the itinerary included two layovers—departing Toronto at 6:15 in the morning and arriving in Honolulu at 5:05PM (which would be 10:05PM Toronto time with the time difference). I only managed to get in a couple of hours of sleep before we headed to the airport.

After bidding farewell to my dad (who wouldn’t be joining us on this trip) we checked in and realized just how much had changed the past five years since we travelled by plane . Namely clearly US Customs while still in Canada (apparently it makes things faster upon arrival) and holding onto our luggage until the very end (we were used to loading them on the conveyer belt right when we checked in with the airline). Since my phone would be on airplane mode for the next two weeks (no massive roaming charges for me, thank you very much), I spammed my network for all it was worth before boarding call.

A cool, rainy morning made us all the more eager to go to Hawaii!

They have an airline now?

So long Toronto, see you in two weeks!

Our first layover was in New York, at JFK. Is that Long Island? I really gotta visit New York someday—I’ve only ever been to Buffalo.

JFK has got to be the most ghetto airport I’ve ever been to—at least the terminal we flew into xD No offense or anything. It’s not even about cosmetics—I mean, we had to walk down steps and walk on ramps and stuff, and that must be a nightmare in the winter. Not sure if the setup is different with snow involved but yeah.

The terminal we flew out of was nicer, haha. Though the weather wasn’t much different from the one we just left.

Our next layover was at LAX. California still looks as beautiful as it did when we were here for our last vacation back in 2009.

We grabbed some lunch here and wanted to call some family that lived nearby but we couldn’t find a payphone anywhere. How can there not be a payphone in the airport?

Our connection here ended up being late by an hour (we never did find out the reason why). We were a little worried because I booked us transportation from the airport with Go 808 Express, and though they said they track our flight I think I remembered reading in their e-mail that they cannot guarantee reservations for flights delayed for an hour or more. I was just relieved I didn’t pre-pay the transportation! Eventually we boarded and only at this final take off did my mom begin to get excited—and I was bouncing around ecstatic since we were heading to Pearson! I think it finally hit her that we were going to Hawaii!

There were really pretty cloud formations! At one point I thought there were ice burgs in the ocean but then I remembered we were going South, not North, and they were clouds! I must’ve been really tired at that point!

Our first glimpse of the islands of Hawaii!

The sun was beginning to set~! We actually ended up circling around in the air a couple of times because there was nowhere for our plane to land.

When we finally got off the plane the humidity really hit you…or maybe that was because we were still wearing our sweaters and jeans from Canada. But the weather was a welcome change!

After collecting our baggage, we called our contact for the condo we had rented and then Go 808 Express. We were so happy to know that we still had a ride to Waikiki. Awesome first impression…if only it stayed that way—but more on that later. I don’t remember the name of our driver (I’m so bad with names!) but he was nice and informative. We saw the Pride of America still docked as we drove by the pier—so excited that we were going to be on her in a week!

We met Kai, our liaison for the condo we were renting, in the lobby of Waikiki Shore, and by the time the tour of the place and the paperwork was finished it was around 8PM Hawaii time.

Our view from our lanai! More information and pictures on our condo the next day, when there’s daylight.

Although it’s been nearly 24 hours since we were awake (it’s so hard to sleep on the plane), we wanted to try and get used to the time difference and stay up a little longer. Since we hadn’t eaten for a while, we decided to walk around until we found somewhere to eat. We passed a Denny’s and wanted to continue exploring, but we came across a creepy worker at the tourist booth that was between Denny’s and the ABC Store and didn’t feel like passing by him again, so we backtracked and ended up eating at Denny’s. It was our first time eating there since there’s no Denny’s in Canada, and it wasn’t that bad. I forgot my camera on this outing so no food porn just yet xD After that we were really starting to feel jet lagged so we headed back to our condo and hit the sack.

Enjoying it so far. Looking forward to more

Standing by for more .....

Good Job!

Great so far keep it coming.:)

Will be subscribing to this. Dying to sail Hawaii again!!

More please!

Oh wow, I didn't think anyone would be following along! Thank you guys! ^^

Enjoying it so far. Looking forward to more

I'm glad you're liking it! I hope you enjoy the rest ^^

Standing by for more .....

 

Good Job!

Thank you! More is on the way!

Great so far keep it coming.:)

Thanks! I won't stop now =) Plus yay for purple! My favourite colour! ^^

Will be subscribing to this. Dying to sail Hawaii again!!

Thanks for subscribing! I want to sail Hawaii again, too, especially since we lost a day in Kauai =(

More please!

More is coming right up! Thank you ^^

Day 2 – 10/05/14 – Ala Moana Center

Wow, what a difference morning makes! The same view from our lanai in the daylight!

So originally I was keeping track of the daily prices of three hotels in the beginning of my research (OCD, I know, haha)—Embassy Suites, Outrigger Waikiki and Outrigger Reef. A city view room was about all I could afford (did I mention Hawaii was expensive?). Then one day I came across VRBO. I’ve read that it’s been hit and miss for some people but I couldn’t walk away from the prices—I got a partial ocean view for much cheaper than I would’ve gotten a plain city view at any one of those hotels on my list. Who can say no to that?

There were two listings I had my sights on—a penthouse in Waikiki Shore and the one we ended up getting in the same building a few floors down on the 11th floor. I really favoured the penthouse because it looked great (and I heard the higher you are the better the view), but the contact was a bit sporadic in her replies. That, and my mom decided she’d take care of the accommodations to help out and the other was cheaper haha It worked out really well for us and I would totally stay there again if my bank account ever bounces back from this trip and I end up going to Oahu again haha

Not only was the building right on the beach (with its own private entrance), it was across from Fort DeRussy, a military museum which was free to enter.

Pretty building art!

A view of the condo from the lanai.

The beds could be combined to be one bed if you so choose.

The kitchen area.

There’s more storage in that white cabinet, along with some extra towels (and beach towels!) if needed.

A keypad safe in the closet.

Our view from outside our door.

Coincidentally, our condo building was right beside the Outrigger Reef, one of the hotels I was considering haha.

Here's the Denny's we ate at last night.

Halekulani, the fancy expensive hotel, was right across from Denny's.

There was literally an ABC Store on like every corner. I thought 7 Eleven was all the rage in the US (or maybe it is and Hawaii is just special).

One of the many little shopping centers in the area.

I saw this in the corner of someone's lanai and thought it was awesome!

I loved IHOP since I first had it on our visit to California five years ago. It’s not common in Canada at all, so I was dying for some IHOP on this vacation. We went here a lot to eat haha

The start of some food porn?

I had some chocolate chip pancakes while my mom went for the original. The portions are huge in America! I don't think I ever finished everything that was on my plate this trip.

Another of the little shopping centers around town. I really liked the architecture.

It’s no surprise Hawaii is a popular wedding destination, and these two were just some of the many we saw having photo shoots around the area.

I have a thing about taking pictures of different licence plates when we visit Niagara Falls (some states have some pretty ones), and since I’ll never see Hawaii there I figured what the heck haha

We were not planning on driving around at all on this trip, so we bought a four-day unlimited bus pass at the ABC Store.

How the bus stops look like.

Of course, the only sane thing to do after flying thousands of miles to paradise is to go shopping haha So we headed to the Ala Moana Center. It’s apparently the world’s largest outdoor mall, with three wings of four floors—and they’re currently constructing a fourth wing. Like, I don’t know what store they don’t have here already haha

Japanese is really big here in Hawaii, as you can see by the kanji in the Old Navy banner below. Hawaii is like a second Okinawa or something because it’s like Japanese is the state’s second language. I see and hear it everywhere. I have nothing against it—in fact, Japan in the country I most want to visit in the world. I hope to take my JLPTs before I go, and it was nice saying a couple of words to the Japanese people I came across.

For all you fellow Filipinos out there, there’s a Jollibee in the mall! Was busy as hell though.

A koi pond in the mall.

Every afternoon at like 1PM or so I think, there’s a Hula Show going on at their centerstage. It’s a nice bit of culture.

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After our shopping trip we visited Waikiki Beach. I’ll be parasailing in a few days!

And there’s Diamond Head, which we also climbed later in the week.

I know it’s been a while since I swam in the ocean, but I don’t recall it being so rocky! I ended up cutting up my leg on the rocks when I went out to swim, though I didn’t even notice until my mom pointed it out to me…then promptly told me to go back into the ocean so that the saltwater will clean my wounds haha

For dinner we went to a Japanese restaurant called Kimukatsu.

I was really taken with the place because Ito Yuna was there! I love her music.

Not sure how legit it was that Brad Pitt was there, but sure haha

And that's the end of our second day in Oahu! Wow, I really spammed the pictures :o The third day to come later on!

Loving your review so far! I'm fortunate enough to live here on Oahu. Can't wait to read and see more pictures!! Thanks for sharing!

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Loving this. Easy flowing writing style and great photos. Can't wait for more. Thanks for taking the time.

Loving your review so far! I'm fortunate enough to live here on Oahu. Can't wait to read and see more pictures!! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you so much! I don't know how you manage it, the cost of living there is so high. You are definitely lucky! I hope I don't get any information messed up, haha. Thanks again for following along!

Loving this. Easy flowing writing style and great photos. Can't wait for more. Thanks for taking the time.

Thank you for taking the time to read it! Hope you continue to enjoy!

Day 3 – 10/06/14 – Waikele Premium Outlets

This was another low key day, mostly because we spent a lot of the time in transit to Waikele Premium Outlets (yes, more shopping! Don’t worry, we start doing some real stuff starting tomorrow), which was about a two-hour bus ride one way.

We “ate in” today, buying some food from the ABC Store. It was nice sitting out on the lanai. Eating out every meal definitely adds up, and we were on vacation so we didn’t want to do any actual cooking using the kitchen, so this was the medium haha There was a supermarket at Ala Moana Center if anyone does want to cook and has the means to do so.

We passed by the University of Hawai’i Honolulu Campus on our way, and I think further along on this street it was like a tent city of some homeless people. It was a reminder that even paradise has its own difficulties just like everywhere else. We didn’t take much pictures on the bus, especially once we hit the transfer station to board the second bus to continue our journey, because we were really mingling with the locals then and didn’t want to look any more like a tourist than we may already have been haha Not to say that it wasn’t safe or anything, we just didn’t want to put any unnecessary targets on our backs.

I didn’t think Waikele Premium Outlets was all the great personally. It was definitely the smallest outlet mall I’ve ever been to, and though there was construction here also it seemed more cosmetic than anything else. But we did some shopping at Kate Spade so it wasn’t a total loss haha

For lunch we went to our first food truck! It was a nice experience, but they definitely need more seating areas around the mall. First time we say those new Coke cans, too!

When we were done on this side we went across the street to Waikele Center, but other than a couple of fast food chains it had even less shops than where we just left.

The place had a beautiful backdrop, though.

And K-Mart still exists! I haven’t seen K-Mart since it left Canada (or at least our area) since more than a decade ago. They had Halloween stuff going on, and if we were on a Halloween cruise I totally would’ve bought a costume to wear haha

When we returned we got off at Ala Moana Center because there’s a lovely park/pier across from that mall.