An Exhaustive Review of Our Exhausting Hawaiian Adventure

[swe9742]

Just wanted to say how much I loved your review. You are a very good writer. It was full of lots of good information that we will use April 2012 when we cruise Hawaii on Radiance of the Seas.

 

Thanks again:D:D:D

[yaletownboy]

We are cruising on the POA in October, so your extensive review is so much appreciated. None of the four of us has ever been in Hawaii, so your tips are most welcome!

I'm concerned about the quality of the food based on all the negative posts, but as most people have stated, we're there for the scenery, not the food.

 

We have cruised on both Carnival and Celebrity and enjoyed both. I would think NCL would want to provide the very best experience for cruisers, even if htere is no competition on this route, simply becuase poor service and food would discourage people such as us from booking a future NCL cruise!

 

Food is nothing to write home about. Aloha Cafe (buffet) is the fastest place to eat. The Crepes are to die for! I had a bad experience at home but the woman who makes them on NCL is awesome.

 

Ship is US Based and that determines HR staffing which explains the poor service and standards. Our cabin had no beach towels when we arrived and items missing from the mini-fridge before we asked for it to be removed. We mentioned this to NCL guest services but all the crew did was put the items on the top shelf in the cabin. Of course, now there's a charge on credit card 8 days after we disembarked.

 

We'll likely never sail NCL again.

[kwbound]

Just wanted to say how much I loved your review. You are a very good writer. It was full of lots of good information that we will use April 2012 when we cruise Hawaii on Radiance of the Seas.

 

Thanks again:D:D:D

 

Sandy & Del - Thanks for the kind words. I'm sure you will have a wonderful trip in April. Please post a review when you return.

 

Donna

[kwbound]

Food is nothing to write home about. Aloha Cafe (buffet) is the fastest place to eat. The Crepes are to die for! I had a bad experience at home but the woman who makes them on NCL is awesome.

 

Ship is US Based and that determines HR staffing which explains the poor service and standards. Our cabin had no beach towels when we arrived and items missing from the mini-fridge before we asked for it to be removed. We mentioned this to NCL guest services but all the crew did was put the items on the top shelf in the cabin. Of course, now there's a charge on credit card 8 days after we disembarked.

 

We'll likely never sail NCL again.

 

We weren't thrilled with with the ship/services either, but we would take this trip again because of the ports and we may try another NCL ship sometime just to compare an American crewed ship to a regular crewed ship. That being said, we just booked a Carnival cruise out of New Orleans for this Dec, and truth be told we didn't even look at NCL cruises, even tho they do sail out of that port.

[mrsbuddha123]

KW/Donna

I wanted to thank you for continuing to answer questions for posters a year after you completed your POA Hawaiian Cruise. I am going to cut and paste many of you ideas. I am not traveling on POA until 8/26/2012 but your planning is organized much like my own and your review cut out some of my leg work.

 

I purchased my copy of Frommer's Hawaii before reading your review. LOL could have saved a few bucks.

 

Thanks Tracey

[kwbound]

KW/Donna

I wanted to thank you for continuing to answer questions for posters a year after you completed your POA Hawaiian Cruise. I am going to cut and paste many of you ideas. I am not traveling on POA until 8/26/2012 but your planning is organized much like my own and your review cut out some of my leg work.

 

I purchased my copy of Frommer's Hawaii before reading your review. LOL could have saved a few bucks.

 

Thanks Tracey

 

Tracey - I'm so glad you've found my review useful. I've gotten so many good suggestions from these boards, and I just want to give back when I can. I will continue to answer the questions I can as long as people keep asking them. You are going to have a wonderful time I'm sure. Please post a review when you return. I love to read all the reviews.

 

Donna

[mrsbuddha123]

Tracey - I'm so glad you've found my review useful. I've gotten so many good suggestions from these boards, and I just want to give back when I can. I will continue to answer the questions I can as long as people keep asking them. You are going to have a wonderful time I'm sure. Please post a review when you return. I love to read all the reviews.

 

Donna

 

I have some plans and I will let you know the true outcomes. I will post upon my return Sep 2012. Thanks again Tracey.

[funshipcruise]

Donna I wanted to say thank you so very much for your review. I'm in the process of planning our Hawaii trip (March 2012) and I've found your information to be so useful. We do plan to implement several of your ideas and suggestions. I even ordered the shoes you mentioned as I was trying to find an "all purpose" shoe! ha ha! I know several people have told you already, and I know there are TONS more who don't--but I really have appreciated the tips and experiences. It's nice to also see there are so many others like us who are ultra PLANNERS!! lol! I do plan to write my own review, so hopefully I can give back a little too. Thanks again.

[kwbound]

Donna I wanted to say thank you so very much for your review. I'm in the process of planning our Hawaii trip (March 2012) and I've found your information to be so useful. We do plan to implement several of your ideas and suggestions. I even ordered the shoes you mentioned as I was trying to find an "all purpose" shoe! ha ha! I know several people have told you already, and I know there are TONS more who don't--but I really have appreciated the tips and experiences. It's nice to also see there are so many others like us who are ultra PLANNERS!! lol! I do plan to write my own review, so hopefully I can give back a little too. Thanks again.

 

I'm so glad people are still finding my review helpful. I'm sure you will have a wonderful time. I'm looking forward to going back in a couple of years.

 

Aloha,

 

Donna

[Just4You]

WOW, almost 60,000 views! I think your review beat the record! Your review is awesome. I've read it several times because I refuse to come down from the high of magical Hawaii from my recent Dec 2011 trip. Re-reading your review keeps that high going. Thanks!

 

By the way, I made the mistake of posting my review on NCL boards instead of Hawaii Ports of Call. Anyone know how I can move it to this area?

[kwbound]

WOW, almost 60,000 views! I think your review beat the record! Your review is awesome. I've read it several times because I refuse to come down from the high of magical Hawaii from my recent Dec 2011 trip. Re-reading your review keeps that high going. Thanks!

 

By the way, I made the mistake of posting my review on NCL boards instead of Hawaii Ports of Call. Anyone know how I can move it to this area?

 

Thanks! I'm glad people are still enjoying my review. I would love to read yours. Idk how to move it over here. Maybe one of the moderators can help, or maybe you can just post a link here to the review.

 

Aloha!

Donna

[Sunny AZ Girl]

WOW, almost 60,000 views! I think your review beat the record! Your review is awesome. I've read it several times because I refuse to come down from the high of magical Hawaii from my recent Dec 2011 trip. Re-reading your review keeps that high going. Thanks!

 

By the way, I made the mistake of posting my review on NCL boards instead of Hawaii Ports of Call. Anyone know how I can move it to this area?

 

As suggested the moderators can move it over, if you ask them. Another thing you can do is to copy and paste it over here. That way it will be on both boards, not a bad thing.

[Just4You]

As suggested the moderators can move it over, if you ask them. Another thing you can do is to copy and paste it over here. That way it will be on both boards, not a bad thing.

 

Thanks for the idea, I made a new thread, but only copied the link, hope it works. I don't know how to copy the entire review since it's on several pages.

 

I asked the cruise critic administration, but they said it should stay on NCL board. The only problem is that it will be dropped if it doesn't get any posts and gets to the last page, and there are only 10 pages on the NCL board. At least here on Hawaii:Ports of Call there are hundreds of pages, and if activity stops or slows down it will still be around, just on a later page. Even with this new link it will be dropped once it gets to the end of the 10th page as long as it stays on the NCL site.

[JZenkow]

bump

[albajessica860]

 

I have gotten SO much good information from these boards, but Im afraid that I have been derelict in return the favor and posting complete reviews of my trips when I return. I am not going to do that this time. My goal is to make this as complete a review as possible, with times, prices, locations, pictures, opinions, tips, etc in the hope that some readers will find something that will help

[PonyPair]

Love all the info here. Great review and comments.

[Just4You]

Hey Donna,

If you're out there, I got a permanent tattoo on my leg of your henna tattoo. I liked yours so much I copied your picture and took to my tattoo artist and he did a similar black & gray tattoo on my leg.

[Just4You]

Hey Donna,

If you're out there, I got a permanent tattoo on my leg of your henna tattoo. I liked yours so much I copied your picture and took to my tattoo artist and he did a similar black & gray tattoo on my leg.

 

Here are some pics of it. Excuse the white leg, haven't used the fake tanning lotion yet for our upcoming trip to Hawaii Nov 2012:

Edited September 18, 2012 by Just4You
My tattoo

[Just4You]

Here's the pics of your henna tattoo to compare to mine:

 

 

[stefanny28]

Hi Donna;

 

Great review .

Thank you so much for posting it. We are going to Hawaii next July and thanks to you review, it gave me tons of ideas and tips.

 

Just one quick question: the corporate code that you used for car rental at Thrifty, do we need to show any corporate ID?

 

Thanks

Stefanny

[stefanny28]

Bump

[WildRed]

I'm so glad people are still finding my review helpful. I'm sure you will have a wonderful time. I'm looking forward to going back in a couple of years.

 

Aloha,

 

Donna

 

Hi Donna --

 

We've been reading your amazing review -- thank you so much for taking the time and effort to write it all down! We're leaving Wednesday to travel to San Diego & will be taking our very first cruise (!!!) We'll be sailing to Hawaii and visiting Honolulu, Lahaina, and Hilo, and I've really been enjoying all of the specifics you've provided!

 

I have two questions: When you spent the last day on the beach by Fort de Russy were you closer to the end by the HHV or the other (east?) end? Also, do you remember if there were any lockers available to secure belongings? We'd like to get into the water, but aren't sure what to do with our stuff. I'm guessing towel rentals are available, but didn't know about lockers. We're also planning on finding those burgers you mentioned!

 

Thanks again for all of the info -- the review has kept me captivated (and up waaaay too late)!

 

PS -- I'm new to Cruise Critic, and boards in general, so I'm not exactly sure how I'll see your reply if you're able to post one (I just clicked on one of your posts to be able to send this -- not sure if I can find it again). If you think this will be a problem you can email me directly at jkoplin@email.com . Thanks! Janet

[Aussiegirl58]

I have enjoyed reading your review immensely. I will be taking this cruise May next year with hubby and friends. So much helpful info and beautiful pictures. I have taken notes from your review that will be very useful. Thankyou for the effort you put into this .:):)

[pwilliams1952]

My DS and I will be going on 15 day next October. I am a planner as well and wanted to say thank you for so your great review. The tips and information you offered were such a help to me. I now have a great starting point for my planning.

[kwbound]

Here are some pics of it. Excuse the white leg, haven't used the fake tanning lotion yet for our upcoming trip to Hawaii Nov 2012:

 

That is AWESOME!!!! It looks great! Hope you had (are having) a wonderful trip!