POA Dec. 31-Jan. 7 Trip Report

[ejw]

Hi Lacy,

 

hope to see your review of day one in kauai soon. would love to see what you did that day. so far your review has been extremely helpful and very well written.

 

some people do a conclusion page with helpful tips. are you planning on doing one as well?

 

thanks, ellen

[Teacher_91]

Hi Lacy,

 

hope to see your review of day one in kauai soon. would love to see what you did that day. so far your review has been extremely helpful and very well written.

 

some people do a conclusion page with helpful tips. are you planning on doing one as well?

 

thanks, ellen

 

 

Count me in as someone dying to read the rest of your review. Adding a conclusion or summary page would be awesome too! ;)

[lacyspring]

I know it's been awhile, but I finally finished the first Kauai blog. I'm finishing my recap of the final day in Oahu, too, and will have that up tomorrow. Then I will post my "wrap up" post on here that some of you requested, going into more depth about the cruise itself and my "glad I did," "wish I did," "wish I hadn't done" lists.

 

Kauai Day 1

[HoopsandYoYo]

I know it's been awhile, but I finally finished the first Kauai blog. I'm finishing my recap of the final day in Oahu, too, and will have that up tomorrow. Then I will post my "wrap up" post on here that some of you requested, going into more depth about the cruise itself and my "glad I did," "wish I did," "wish I hadn't done" lists.

 

Kauai Day 1

Hi Lacy,

Nice to have you back. Looking forward to your posts.

Helga

[hill6]

Love the latest update.

[Teddy Boo]

Love, love , love your posts and checked everyday waiting for your final comments, thoughts and experiences. Thank you, I can't wait to experience the beautiful islands myself. It feels like I have to wait so long but I will have time to reread your reviews/posts several times and plan. We are going in July-August 2013. Waiting for more!

[HoopsandYoYo]

Hi Lacy,

 

I've just finished reading about your Day 1 in Kauai. Loved the photos, and again the depth of detail that you provide.

I was wondering about the stop that you almost missed. It was the waterfall to the left of the road surrounded by the red dirt...do you remember which mile marker to watch for?

I'm so pleased that we have decided to do the brave thing (at least for us) and rent a car instead of booking a tour through the ship, after reading your reviews. The couple that we are travelling with will be joining us as well. We will be in Kauai April 24th, and I will think of you.

 

Thanks, Helga

[Boum]

Hi Lacey,

 

Thank you for your amazing trip review. I have enjoyed reading it and have gotten several ideas from you. I was wondering if you think there is enough time on the second day to drive up to Waimea canyon and do a little of the south shore and still make it to the ship by 1:30? We are early risers and will have a rental car from the day before. Your pictures have inspired us to go there but we already have plans for the first day. Thank you,

Allison

[lacyspring]

Love the latest update.

 

Thanks, Debbie!

 

Love, love , love your posts and checked everyday waiting for your final comments, thoughts and experiences. Thank you, I can't wait to experience the beautiful islands myself. It feels like I have to wait so long but I will have time to reread your reviews/posts several times and plan. We are going in July-August 2013. Waiting for more!

 

Sorry to keep you waiting so long! I'm ALMOST done with the last day post. I'm just waiting to get confirmation on a couple of the beach names and then I'll post it, hopefully in the morning. So glad they've helped you!

[lacyspring]

Hi Lacy,

 

I've just finished reading about your Day 1 in Kauai. Loved the photos, and again the depth of detail that you provide.

I was wondering about the stop that you almost missed. It was the waterfall to the left of the road surrounded by the red dirt...do you remember which mile marker to watch for?

I'm so pleased that we have decided to do the brave thing (at least for us) and rent a car instead of booking a tour through the ship, after reading your reviews. The couple that we are travelling with will be joining us as well. We will be in Kauai April 24th, and I will think of you.

 

Thanks, Helga

 

Helga,

 

I honestly have no clue what mile marker it was near, but it was pretty early on the road, before the roads merge, I believe. The area is really open on the left side of the road (later you are in the forest), so when you see a lot of red clay on the left side of the road, start looking! Don't get too distracted by the canyon views on your right--there will be plenty more of them later! The road right past the falls winds to the left, and there is a long stretch where you can pull off the road right there, probably because people aren't looking for the falls and bypass it and then pull off. If you are on the lookout for it, you shouldn't have a problem seeing it.

 

So glad you decided to go out on your own! You won't be sorry! Kauai is such an easy island to get around (and really all the islands are), and there are so many small, local places a tour would never take you. There's no way we would have seen half of what we saw if we'd been subject to someone else's schedule. We saw so much that day and still we were never rushed. You are going to have a great time! I'm excited for you!

[lacyspring]

Hi Lacey,

 

Thank you for your amazing trip review. I have enjoyed reading it and have gotten several ideas from you. I was wondering if you think there is enough time on the second day to drive up to Waimea canyon and do a little of the south shore and still make it to the ship by 1:30? We are early risers and will have a rental car from the day before. Your pictures have inspired us to go there but we already have plans for the first day. Thank you,

Allison

 

Hi Allison,

 

I think you could definitely do the drive up to Waimea Canyon the second day, but I would leave early, by 7:00 at least, in order to make it all the way to the end of the road (the Na Pali Coast lookouts). You may have time to do some south shore things too, but that will depend on what you want to do. You will pass right through Hanapepe, so anything you want to do there will be reasonable, but Poipu is a little further off the main road and I can't advise you on how long that would take. Based on our experience, I'd say it would be very difficult to do Waimea properly and do Poipu by 1:30, but you could definitely do Waimea and stop by Lappert's for a cone on your way back. ;-)

[HoopsandYoYo]

Hi Allison,

 

I think you could definitely do the drive up to Waimea Canyon the second day, but I would leave early, by 7:00 at least, in order to make it all the way to the end of the road (the Na Pali Coast lookouts). You may have time to do some south shore things too, but that will depend on what you want to do. You will pass right through Hanapepe, so anything you want to do there will be reasonable, but Poipu is a little further off the main road and I can't advise you on how long that would take. Based on our experience, I'd say it would be very difficult to do Waimea properly and do Poipu by 1:30, but you could definitely do Waimea and stop by Lappert's for a cone on your way back. ;-)

Hi Allison,

 

In addition to Lacy's recommendations about doing Waimea Canyon in a short amount of time, I also have some advice to pass on from someone on these boards.

 

He said: Drive all the way to the very top of Waimei Canyon. As tempting as it is to stop, go to the top. Then work your way back, stopping at view points. That way you will be more in control of your time.

 

That's what we will do when we are in Kauai. Hope this helps!!

 

Helga

[lacyspring]

Hi Allison,

 

In addition to Lacy's recommendations about doing Waimea Canyon in a short amount of time, I also have some advice to pass on from someone on these boards.

 

He said: Drive all the way to the very top of Waimei Canyon. As tempting as it is to stop, go to the top. Then work your way back, stopping at view points. That way you will be more in control of your time.

 

That's what we will do when we are in Kauai. Hope this helps!!

 

Helga

 

Allison and Helga,

 

The only reason I'm a bit wary of this advice is because in the long run it might be more time-consuming, plus it guarantees that the more popular spots will be more crowded when you get there. All of the stops (with the exception of Kalalau Valley Lookout) are on the right side of the road, which means that if you wait to do the stops on the way back, you will be crossing traffic every time. The road isn't THAT busy, but the signs tend to be more directed at incoming traffic than outgoing, so it will make it harder to see the stops. Plus you will be going downhill almost the entire time, which makes it harder to stop quickly, and the road is super curvy, so crossing even one lane of traffic can be nerve-wracking when you can't see what's coming around the corner.

 

The first couple of Waimea Canyon lookouts are also the most popular, especially with the tour groups, which don't seem to go past them. The later you wait to stop at these lookouts the more you will have to vie for space or wait on other people to take their pictures so you can get a clear view.

 

In the long run, I just feel that you are MORE likely to miss stops if you do them on the way down. We did all the main stops on the way up and a few more, plus had plenty of time to stop at a few more that appealed to us on the way down, when you sometimes see different pull-offs than on the way up. Other than the four "real" lookouts (which have bathrooms, signs, and parking lots), all of the other pull-offs are really just that--a little piece of dirt carved off of the side of the road where one or two cars can pull over and see the view. These can be difficult to see or stop in time for on the way down. Also, the red dirt waterfall would be pretty much impossible to see on the way down. It faces incoming traffic, so unless you were watching your rearview mirror the whole time, you'd miss it.

[lacyspring]

Final blog! Here's what we did in our last day in Hawaii:

 

Day 10: Oahu

 

I'll be back soon with my wrap-up.

[HoopsandYoYo]

Lacy,

 

I appreciate your added information about Waimea Canyon and will keep your post with our itinerary for that day.

I'm glad that this came up, would hate to waste the day missing all the great stops because of traffic and stress.

 

:) Helga

[lacyspring]

Here are the links to all the Hawaii blogs so that you don't have to go looking all through this thread for them:

 

Day 1 & 2: Oahu

Day 3: Oahu and Embarkation

Day 4: Maui

Day 5: Maui

Day 6: Hilo

Day 7: Kona

Day 8: Kauai

Day 9: Kauai/Na Pali Sail-by

Day 10: Oahu/Last Day

 

I'm not sure what kind of "Final Thoughts/Conclusion" page people wanted, but I'm going to split it into two parts: the cruise and the vacation.

 

The Cruise

 

My blog was more about what we did on this vacation than what we did on the cruise, but since this is a cruise forum, I thought I would provide a little more detail about POA and our cruise experience.

 

The Food:

The food on POA was some of the best we've had cruising recently. We never had a bad meal. That's not to say we had any meals that were breathtaking or even particularly memorable, but we were always full and satisfied.

 

Although we spent much of our cruise off ship, we ate in three specialty restaurants (East Meets West, Jefferson's Bistro, and Lazy J). Loved the service at East Meets West, the atmosphere at Jefferson's Bistro, and steak at Lazy J. We enjoyed all three meals.

 

We only ate dinner in Skyline once (very good), and we had lunch there on the day of the Na Pali Sail-by. I think we enjoyed lunch even more, and its amazing how the atmosphere in that restaurant changes from night to day! This was one of the better main dining rooms we've experienced on a cruise ship.

 

We had dinner or late night snacks at Cadillac Diner three nights. It was usually easy to get a table and was a nice, relaxing environment when you don't feel like getting all dressed up for dinner. I know you don't HAVE to dress up to go to dinner at Skyline, but I always feel weird having dinner in a formal dining room when I haven't dressed the part, whereas I had no problem heading to Cadillac in my shorts and t-shirt. This is a good place for fried, greasy, American-style cuisine--hamburgers, onion rings, milkshakes. We enjoyed every meal we had here.

 

We ate breakfast at the buffet every morning, which is unusual for us. Usually on cruises we order room service every morning and enjoy breakfast on the balcony, but the room service menu on this ship (and maybe all NCL ships; I'm not sure) didn't offer much. We actually only ordered room service once the whole time (the awful turkey sandwiches for Hilo). The breakfast buffet was very good, though, if a bit repetitive, and our favorite thing to eat was the granola/yogurt/cranberry bowls.

 

We were a bit disappointed that our only drink option for most buffet meals was water (no juice and fruit punch for lunch and dinner like on some other cruise lines), but it didn't end up being that big a deal because we almost always ate lunch off ship and kept our mini-fridge stocked with water and soda we bought in Honolulu.

 

The Shows:

We only went to one show the whole cruise. Usually we go every night, but we were just too exhausted this trip and none of the shows looked interesting enough to inspire us to go. The one show we went to was the magician, which a lot of people on here seem to like. I have to say I was disappointed because I've seen some pretty amazing, Las Vegas-style magic shows on cruise ships before, but this was more of a slight-of-hand, audience-participation-style show. I didn't really care for the magician (he was a bit of a creepster, leering at the female participants and making inappropriate comments about them), but the audience members selected were hilarious and made the show. I assume they are pre-selected or planted because I don't know how else you could end up with such all-around witty, good-humored participants.

 

The Decor/Layout:

I actually liked the decor on POA (other than the staterooms) and thought it was more tasteful than the other ships I've been on. The layout of this ship was very different from what I'm used to, but I thought it worked well at creating lots of spaces where you can relax. There are lots of bars and lounges, each with their own vibe, so there's truly a place for everyone. The ship never felt crowded, even though it was full. With the exception of breakfast the last day, we never had trouble finding a table at the buffet or getting seated at the restaurants, and the few bars/lounges we went to were rarely busy (other than the pool bar).

 

The Service:

Other than issues with our cabin steward and with the pool bartenders (which I've previously mentioned in my blog), the staff of POA was courteous, friendly, and efficient. We enjoyed our wait staff at every restaurant, loved their recommendations and enjoyed bantering with them, and everyone else we encountered, from the photography staff to the busboys in the buffet, was friendly and professional.

 

Conclusion:

Am I glad I did this cruise? Yes and no. I think the cruise was a great introduction to the Hawaiian islands for a first-time visitor, but I'm not sure it was worth it for the price. Now that I know the islands better I don't think I'd do a cruise there again, but if you're going to cruise Hawaii and want to get the most from the experience, this itinerary can't be beat. It ensures you will have the most land time possible.

 

We paid for a balcony room because we always get balcony rooms, but the balcony was pretty superfluous on this trip. We only used it once, for the Na Pali Coast sail-by, so that ended up being a pretty expensive hour! If we were on the starboard side I would have been really annoyed because we'd never have used it! If I were to do it over again, I'd probably save the money and just get an oceanview room. Other than our first day on the ship, we enjoyed our experience with NCL and would sail with them again (if the ship has good cleanliness reviews--we don't want another room issue like we had on POA).

 

If I didn't cover something and you have questions, feel free to ask!

[Tyskie]

Here are the links to all the Hawaii blogs so that you don't have to go looking all through this thread for them:

 

Day 1 & 2: Oahu

Day 3: Oahu and Embarkation

Day 4: Maui

Day 5: Maui

Day 6: Hilo

Day 7: Kona

Day 8: Kauai

Day 9: Kauai/Na Pali Sail-by

Day 10: Oahu/Last Day

 

I'm not sure what kind of "Final Thoughts/Conclusion" page people wanted, but I'm going to split it into two parts: the cruise and the vacation.

 

 

Lacy, how thoughtful of you to put all your links on your final post ! We just arrived back in NY after spending the winter in FL. I'm trying to get organized and catch up on your posts..............I'm hoping you'll check back in a few days/week...................just in case ! You have been so helpful in our planning, thank you, thank you ! :)

[HoopsandYoYo]

Hi Lacy,

 

We will be leaving on our Hawaiian trip on the 16th:D:D. Please contact me by email at: jake and helga at hotmail dot com I just want to confirm that you are still interested in the Mango Macadamia Nut Pancake and Waffle Mix.

 

Helga

[planningdiva]

Hi Lacy,

 

 

:o I know it's been a while since anyone has been on here, But we are in the process of finishing out budget for hawaii and had a few questions about tipping.

 

 

We are doing the Mountain Riders Sunrise tour, and wanted to know if you tipped both the van driver and the guide or just the guide? :o and how much did you tip? (just an idea, I know that everyone is different)

 

 

We are also doing the doors off helicopter tour and wanted to know if you tipped the pilot or was there a general place to leave tips? :o and again how much?

[lacyspring]

Hi Lacy,

 

 

:o I know it's been a while since anyone has been on here, But we are in the process of finishing out budget for hawaii and had a few questions about tipping.

 

 

We are doing the Mountain Riders Sunrise tour, and wanted to know if you tipped both the van driver and the guide or just the guide? :o and how much did you tip? (just an idea, I know that everyone is different)

 

 

We are also doing the doors off helicopter tour and wanted to know if you tipped the pilot or was there a general place to leave tips? :o and again how much?

 

Sorry for just now getting back to you! I'm not sure if you'll see this, but I had to ask my husband, as he was the one who did the tipping. I think he tipped the Mountain Riders guide and driver $20 each and the helicopter pilot $40 ($20 for each of us). He gave the Mountain Riders people their tips directly, and Mauna Loa helicopters had a tip jar in the van (that shuttles you from office to airport) for you to leave your pilot tip in.

[Tyskie]

Hi Lacy..................Just got back from our trip. I can't thank you enough for your extensive review. It helped so much with all our planning! We did the Feast at Lele, fantastic! Rented cars on Maui, Ohau & Kauai. We saw the sunrise (but didn't bike)c-o-l-d even though we were dressed warmly, very high winds that day. Did Wings over Kauai instead of helicopter, loved it. I could go on and on..............oh yes, we found the "glass beach" and "red dirt falls" ! Our only regret was we really didn't have time to relax, we just wanted to see all we could see !