Poa 9/15/2012 review

[scordovi]

A little about us.....We're both from New Jersey in our late 30's and traveled with our 23 month old son. This is our first cruise with NCL, we've cruised twice before on Royal Caribbean. We are very frugal so you'll see some money saving tips throughout my review.

Day 1

We arrived in Honolulu on 09/11/2012 around 4:30 pm. We arranged for Lei greeting thru bookit.com for $15 each. The Leis were so beautiful and fragrant, definitely worth the money. Hotel transfer was booked with Robert's Hawaii for $12 per person; they were waiting for us and took us promptly to our hotel, the Courtyard Marriot. One day late at night I was surfing on bookit.com and snatched the hotel for $87 a night. The room was really small, but we like to explore so it was fine just to shower and sleep, so I suggest getting the deluxe room. What I did love about the hotel was the location. It was right in the middle of all the action......restaurants, shopping, beach, international place, etc..... After checking in we walked around for a bit to see what was around us. Bought some souvenirs at ABC stores and International Market.

Day 2

Today we did Pearl Harbor/City Tour with Robert's Hawaii. Prior to our trip I bought the Entertainment Book Hawaii Edition so we only paid $31 for the 2 of us (lap children are free) because of the buy one get one free coupon inside the book. Pearl Harbor is a must see. The day we went we got to meet 3 survivors. We were there for a couple of hours, and then our driver took us on a city tour. He pointed out many historical points of interest, Chinatown, financial district, etc..... He was very informative and knowledgeable. We got back to the hotel around 1pm. We went to the pool for a bit before getting ready to go to Germaine's Luau. There was a coupon for 25% off in the entertainment book so we only paid $54 each. It was an amazing and entertaining show and the food was really good.

Day 3

Today we did a Circle Island tour with Robert's Hawaii (buy one get one free coupon in entertainment book). We started off passing by Diamond Head, and these beautiful estates which one of them belongs to Bill Gates. Then headed to different beaches, lookouts, macadamia nut farm, and Byodo Temple before stopping off for lunch at Kualoa ranch. Kualoa ranch is an excursion thru Robert's all on its own, there's so much to do there from horseback riding, movie site tour, hula lessons, and much more. After lunch we headed to the north shore and to the dole plantation. Do not leave the dole plantation without trying the whip it was so good. After the tour we played down for nap before dinner and never woke up until the next morning

Day 4

We were well rested since we slept like 14 hours so we headed to the beach for a couple of hours. After changing we hopped on the Aloha Bus ($14 each on groupon.com) and took my son to the Honolulu zoo. We then hopped back on and went to Ala Moana shopping center did some browsing, shopping, ate dinner, and headed back to get ready for embarkation day.....

[hill6]

Can't wait to read more. You can't beat the deal you got on the hotel.

 

Who did you take your flights with? We are flying out of Newark in a few weeks.

[scordovi]

Can't wait to read more. You can't beat the deal you got on the hotel.

 

Who did you take your flights with? We are flying out of Newark in a few weeks.

 

We used American Airlines only because we used miles to purchase the tickets, if not I would've done Continental.

[hill6]

We used American Airlines only because we used miles to purchase the tickets, if not I would've done Continental.

 

We used miles for Continental/United

[scordovi]

We arranged for pick up with Roberts for $7 per person. The earliest pick up time was 12:15, they picked us up by 12:30. We made 2 other stops before heading to the pier. We arrived around 1:30. When we arrived there was a long line. Luckily we got a porter that took us right in with our luggage, we then proceeded thru security. Once we got in we were greeted with leis and took our picture. The line to check in and get our key cards was long. For once I was happy my son was fussing around because it got us to a shorter line. Once we boarded the ship we headed straight to the Aloha Cafe to eat. Once our deck was ready we headed to the room to check it out. We were in inside stateroom 9005. I thought it was pretty roomy for an inside stateroom with a lot of storage space. The stewardess put the bed against the wall and was able to fit a pack n play for my son. We walked around the ship to familiarize ourselves with everything before heading to the sail-a-way party. After the party we ate dinner at the main dining room since they were serving lobster. The food was really good, but the service was slow, probably because it was the first night. This is my first "freestyle" experience and I'm not sure I like it. When we got to the dining room we waited about 20 minutes to get in. You can make reservations if your party is 5 or more. After dinner we headed back to the room to unpack and get some rest for Road to Hana.....

 

Suggestion: Arrange to arrive at the pier by 11 am

[sjn911]

Going great..really enjoying your review of our Hawaii ship and first day tours...thanks for effort, will be watching..

[vivavegas]

Really enjoying your review! Looking forward to reading more!:)

[scordovi]

For day 1 we decided to do the Road to Hana excursion. When doing my research I kept going back and forth between valley isles and Roberts. We ended up going with Roberts because the only difference I can see between the two was price and lunch. Roberts was $99 and Valley isles was $121, Roberts offered a boxed sandwich lunch vs Valley isles picnic lunch. Road to Hana was a love/hate excursion. Our driver was very informative and knowledgeable, there were many pretty waterfalls, lookouts, beaches, etc.... At one of the stops we bought some shave ice and enjoyed freshly baked banana bread. The lunch stop was made at Wainapanapa State Park where they gave us a sandwhich, drink, fruit, & a cookie. I had called Roberts a couple of days in advance to request if possible whole wheat bread and they had it. Although we did enjoy ourselves it was a very long day, I think I would've preferred to have done something better with our time in Maui. On our way to Hana we passed by a little cute town named Paia that would've been nice to explore or try a very famous restaurant named Big Mama's Fish house. We got back to the ship around 5:30. For dinner we ended up going to the buffet which was ok. After that we didnt do much because we were so exhausted :(

 

Suggestion: Look into other excursions besides Road to Hana, and if you do decide to do the Road to Hana, Robert's was great and they have combo deals. We purchased Road to Hana, Volcano national park, & North Shore tour for $179 per person!

[conandrob240]

Thanks for the review. In my experience, the Road to hana is not a tour or attraction, it is an experience. if you aren't going to drive it, stopping at whim to see what interests you, take a swim, grab a bite, talk to a local at a cute little shop, then it really isn't worth doing.

[Ilovesailing]

Good review. We have used Roberts both for land and shore excursions three times now and find their drivers/guides very knowledgeable.

[scordovi]

Thanks for the review. In my experience, the Road to hana is not a tour or attraction, it is an experience. if you aren't going to drive it, stopping at whim to see what interests you, take a swim, grab a bite, talk to a local at a cute little shop, then it really isn't worth doing.

 

I agree, we spent more time in the bus driving around than out and about. The problem with driving is the driver doesn't get to enjoy and the roads are kind of dangerous.

[saffy22]

Looking forward to reading more, of your great review. Yes, my hubby and I self drove RTH last trip. This year we are whale watching, spending more time in Lahaina, and getting up for sunrise on Halekaela.

Even tho my kids are in their 20's I think RTH would be miserable with them in the car. (they didnt come last time)

[scordovi]

For our 2nd day in Maui we did the Lahaina on your own thru the ship. It was $29 each. Basically it's just a bus ride to Lahaina. You can bring your bathing suits and towels and go to the beach either right in Lahaina or you can take the free shuttle in front of the Banyan tree (behind the cinema) to Whaler's Mall and go to the beach/boardwalk right outside the mall. Lahaina was a very cute town with lots of shops, restaurants, a couple of little museums. The bus starts loading at 9:30 AM and departs Lahaina at 3:00 PM. That night we had reservations to eat at Lazy J's for dinner. We really enjoyed our meal and service that night.