Spirit 15 Days~Hawaii: A Review

[halos]

So how did the cruise make up for u not stopping at Ensenada? Did u stay longer at another port?:)

 

Ensenada was our last stop on our way to San Diego and let's face it, it was just a 'formality' due to the fact that by law we had to stop at a foreign port. I doubt anyone shed any tears over missing out on it. We were given port fee/tax refund of $13.15 on our account. Hey, that's a couple free drinks :) It's all good.

 

It was weird waking up one morning...my dh looking at the ship route map on the TV...seeing us headed in the wrong direction, going out on the balcony and wondering why the sun was on the wrong side of the ship...:p

Finally they made the announcment that during the night they had to make the decision to turn around due to a medical emergency....I am sure that everyone's thoughts were on the passenger (at least I'd like to think so).

 

 

Uh Oh Halos will start carrying her Carnival pompoms again

 

 

 

Glad you had a great time and looking forward to the rest of your review

 

 

 

 

 

No, as wonderful as this cruise was, it didn't change our minds. I would never say I'd never sail CCL again because I don't do that...but we still prefer NCL and as great as this cruise was, it still wasn't as good as our last few NCL cruises were.

 

Now, nothing is constant and things change so we'll see how we feel after our next booked NCL cruises, but for now, we are NCL fans but carry NO pom-poms for any line.

Edited May 2, 2012 by halos

[golfpccc]

Great review Angel--enjoyed meeting you & Bill at Embarkation & talking several other times.

 

I might add that CCL also had a Naturalist on board that gave daily lectures about the different islands. She was very informative.

 

We were also disappointed in the weather--still rockin & rollin! So agree that the crew & Captain were the best ever. We found the menus a little strange at times but over all food was pretty good.

Edited May 2, 2012 by golfpccc

[halos]

[halos]

I already resized these photos to 40%...I think I need to do them smaller :eek:

[halos]

Tour guide explaining all the plant life...

 

[halos]

We stopped at a nursery/souvenier store....gorgeous plants and flowers...the smell as a bit overwhelming!!!

 

 

 

[halos]

 

[vanislandcruisers]

Very much enjoying your Review!!!!...so Happy you got to meet Anna and Jeff (CruisefromNY) and Happy for them that they got to meet you...Love them!!!:)

[halos]

We also stopped at the Mauna Loa Nut factory....we tried lots of samples. My BIL was excited to try the SPAM flavored Macadamia nuts.... Yes, he's a bit insane, they were gross. :p

 

These photos were taken through a window that's why they're 'foggy'

 

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2012 by halos

[halos]

On the way to the volcano, we stopped to get a look at the crators & steam vents. The elevation was pretty high and it was SO freaking cold & windy!!!!!! :eek:

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2012 by halos

[halos]

Seeing this volcano during the day is nothing compared to seeing it at night when you can see the red glow coming from it (so we were told), however it was still something to behold....

I am sure helicopter tours over it were amazing.

(We saved our helicopter tour for Kaui and I'm happy we did :) )

 

[CruisefromNY]

 

 

 

These are gorgeous!!

[jonbgd]

but carry NO pom-poms for any line.

Im am right there with you on that.... I cruise the one that best fits me @ the time. ;)

We did NCL POA for our Hawaii cruise and thought NCL was good product, which is why we booked the Epic.

 

While i enjoy everyones review whether good or bad I so appreciatte the reviews of someone that has experienced other cruiselines

[CruisefromNY]

Very much enjoying your Review!!!!...so Happy you got to meet Anna and Jeff (CruisefromNY) and Happy for them that they got to meet you...Love them!!!:)

 

 

Gee...thank you:o

right back at you!!:)

[Texarribean Chick]

Thank you so very much Halos, for your sharing your thoughts and experiences. I am so looking forward to more - DH and I are booking this tour for October 2013 for our 10th wedding anniversary.

I love the comments about the crew - being Plat. ourselves, I have really missed the past couple of voyages being recognized and greeted with "welcome back Mrs. Link" -

Keep up the good work and thank you again!

 

Oh, can you please elaborate a little more on the music/bands? We so enjoy live music and having a dance or two. Now, I realize by the time Oct. 2013 comes around, things will have changed; but would like to know about dance bands. :D

[halos]

The BEST and coolest part of this day was walking through a lava tube....It was HUGE (which was a good thing...I suspect if it had been narrow it may have made one feel claustrophobic)

 

 

[halos]

 

 

[djwood24]

Halos....great review...as you promised you would do one

Thanks...this is on my list!!

[halos]

Right outside the viewing area for the volcano was a museum and it had very intresting pictures and information in there...including all the insanely cool stuff they use to measure earthquakes.

 

 

 

 

 

[halos]

Oh, can you please elaborate a little more on the music/bands? We so enjoy live music and having a dance or two. Now, I realize by the time Oct. 2013 comes around, things will have changed; but would like to know about dance bands. :D

 

Music:

 

There were three solo singers. One Hawaiian guy (Guy) who was very good. One guy who was excellent and always played in the atrium bar (Scott) and one other guy who was just so-so. (Doug, I think)

There was a band that played in one of the small clubs. (HI-Lux) They always seemed to have a packed house and I wonder why Carnival never chose to have them play out on the deck. It made no sense. They would have drawn the entire ship out. Instead they were crammed into the lounge and there was just not enough room for everyone. There was ample opportunity for a party atmosphere outside and they just never decided to go for it, instead they would occasionally stick the so-so solo guy outside and he just didn't cut it....we requested several songs and he couldn't or wouldn't play them.

The other opportunity where they dropped the ball was the disco was empty at all times. The ship was full of middle aged people and seniors for the most part....having a 60's or 70's and 80's themed nights or at least music from those decades would have been better than the stuff they played in there that was totally geared toward people in their teens.

This was just utter stupidity.

 

This is one of the ways I find NCL does a better job, they don't have anything set in stone. They go with the flow and create a cruise based on the passengers on board and each one is different

Edited May 2, 2012 by halos

[halos]

Next Up tomorrow, Kahului :)

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review, awesome pictures thanks for posting.

[halos]

OK….HERE is the Hawaii that I envisioned in my mind. I feel like I have finally arrived!!

Today was our whale watch/luau day.

We originally booked a morning whale watch (9:45) through Lahaina Cruise Co. A few days prior to leaving Maine, I received a call from the tour operator telling me that the 9:45 whale watch was chartered out from under us and would we mind going on the one at 12:00 instead?? After calling/contacting the other 8 people that were along for this tour with us, it was pretty much OK with everyone so we happily switched.

We took our time getting off the ship and then grabbed taxis for the long drive to Lahaina from the port of Kahului. We arrived early and decided to explore a bit. Lahaina is a great area…lots of restaurants and shops. The Golden Princess was out there tendering passengers off for their day in Lahaina so there were a lot of people milling about. We had time to kill before getting on our whale watching boat so we grabbed a drink and enjoyed what was to be an absolutely perfect day as far as weather goes…we had waited a LONG time for this and we were enjoying the blue skies so much more than you can imagine.

When we saw out boat coming in, we excitedly got in line to board. We knew that we weren’t going to see many whales as they had already all nearly deserted Maui for their migration, but were hoping to see something…and fortunately we did. We got to see a Momma whale with her pretty new calf….the naturalist on the boat said the calf was very young which is why Momma hadn’t started her trip north as yet. She had to wait for her baby to be ready.

There was no breaching or any exciting action, just a mommy with her baby…I have no spectacular photos (I heard the best time for whales is Jan/Feb in Hawaii) but this is what I did get.

Even though it wasn’t ‘spectacular’ it was still amazing….simply amazing.

We do at least one whale watch per year up here at home and it never gets old.

 

 

Arriving in Maui

 

 

 

[halos]

 

[halos]

I bought bracelets made from the wood from a coconut tree for my daughters from this man who then carved their names into the bracelets