Tips for experienced cruiser on the Pride for first NCL cruise?

[uncletr21]

I've poked around a little and searched on "new to NCL" but thought there might be things you know off the top of your head. Familiar with Disney, RCCL and Carnival (limited) to give a point of reference.

 

We booked a summer cruise for family with teens on the Pride (by far most expensive cruise ever booked) so tips specific to Pride and Hawaii, and families traveling in Hawaii for the first time, would be appreciated. I can't see us going again anytime soon (maybe never), too long of a flight from FL and too expensive, so would want to do the 'best' excursions even if pricy.

 

I've learned about freestyle dining and how you can be casual except no shorts after 6pm in dining rooms. I assume you can go to the steakhouse and other fee-based restaurants in jeans although I caught a reference to some of these places having a "formal" night and I'm not sure how you find out about that in advance to make sure not booking that night. (We aren't bringing anything formal to Hawaii.)

 

Thank you for any info and tips you have handy!

[MissMet]

Hawaii as a whole has a much more relaxed feel when it comes to dress code. Usually on NCL there is one formal night, it's optional & it's held in one of the two main dining rooms. So if you don't want to take part, eat in the other main dining room or the many specialty restaurants. When in NCL, I always go to the specialty restaurants. At 45 days out you can pre-book the restaurants & they offer a deal if you book three of them you save something like $15 per person. You will have to pay the service charge at time of booking, the same goes for booking excursions- you must pay when you book. You can also choose to pre-pay your tips, which I like to do.

 

DCL & NCL are polar opposites (also my two favorite lines). I don't think I remember seeing a single person in "DCL style" formal wear on the POA. On the other NCL ships I've sailed, yes, but still very few in comparison to DCL. You will be fine in "dressy jeans" in any of the restaurants. The french restaurant is the most formal & you can wear jeans in there as well.

 

As for excursions. I would rent a car at each port. When I did the POA the first time I did all excursions & it definitely is a waste of time & money.

http://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com/index.shtml - very popular, established website that will save you a lot. If renting a car is out, we used Roberts for all our excursions. They offer all the same excursions as NCL but almost half the price. They are very well known, so much so that POA blocks their website onboard. http://www.gorabbitgo.com The Revealed books are also very good for planning, especially if you're going at it on your own.

 

We are heading to Hawaii & the POA in May. We've rented cars on each Island except one, where we'll be doing a snorkeling excursion.

 

Just keep in mind that a cruise on the POA is VERY different from any other cruise you'll ever go on. It's more a floating hotel. With the east coast jetlag & port intensive itinerary, you'll be in bed by 9pm every night. That's what happened to us & we spent a week on Oahu beforehand to get used to the time change. Didn't matter. :)

 

Hope that helped a little. :) I'm posting a pre-trip report on my blog with all our plans if you'd like to get some ideas. I usually read everyone's trip reports to see what we'd want to do & that's what helps me. Try searching POA trip reports on the NCL & Hawaii boards.

[uncletr21]

Thanks MissMet, really appreciate it!

[tigger89]

We are also first timers to hawaii and looking to get as many tips as possible as we probably won't get back anytime soon.

 

Uncletr21 when do you cruise.

 

There are also lots of tips over on Hawaii ports of call thread.

Judith

[hazeleyez3]

We did the cruise back in 2007.

 

There is a series of books "Hawaii Revealed". There is one for each island, and they are written by Hawaii residents. We used them along with a rental car, and with the exception of one excursion, did our own thing. Much more enjoyable for us not to mention it being cheaper.

 

The excursion we did book was the sunrise one atop Haleakala in Maui.

 

Remember that all crew members are American and sadly to say, not always as happy as non-American crew you might find on other ships.

 

Since everything is freestyle, you won't have waiters remembering that you want an iced tea at dinner (as an example).

[deladypilot]

We did the POA in 2009. Loved every minute of it. We too came from the east coast and only went out the day before. I would not recommend doing that. At least 2 days before. The long flight along with the time difference is a killer.

 

As for formal night, it is a bit more relaxed in Hawaii but they still do a "Dress up or Not" night. As mentioned above, if you do not with to join in, you can go to one of the other main dining room or one of our favorites was the Cadillac Resturant. It is a free resturant done up in a 50s theme. The food was great and the service was wonderful. It was mostly homestyle cooking.

 

I do agree that that renting a car would be great and most likely cheaper. We did the luau and it was fun. Food was served buffet style and the show was great, but after researching more myself after my cruise, I think there are probably better luau's to go to. I can tell you that about 2/3rds of the ship will leave on that one excursions and it is in the evening, so you could stay and have the ship to yourself.

 

I would check out the hawaii boards for more private tours.

 

Have fun. It is a great place

[Florissouri]

Rent a car in every port, especially in Maui and Kauai. Rental cars are inexpensive in Hawaii and a no-brainer with a family. Make sure you reserve in advance because every car agency will be sold out by the time you get into port.

 

If you don't have a GPS already, invest in one. Do your research ahead of time, plan out where you want to go, punch in the address and go.

 

I rented from Advantage when we were in Maui. They're located between the port and the airport, but will do a courtesy pickup if you give them a call when you're ready to go, then walk outside the port to meet them. There's a strip mall across from the port entrance so it's pretty simple and a short walk.

 

In Maui there's a very small, free parking lot at the port and it's first come, first served. If you come back to the ship late the spaces will be filled up, but there's 3 or 4 spaces that are reserved for loading and unloading. One of the port employees told me to go ahead and park there because they're not monitored so I did.

 

We got to Honolulu a couple of days before the cruise and rented then as well. The port is small, right in the middle of a business district and has a metered parking lot right at the gate to the ship. Since the cruise doesn't leave until 7:00 PM we decided to check-in, drop our luggage, have lunch and then go back out in Honolulu for a while. When we were directed into the parking lot the attendant directing traffic told me not to bother to put any money in the meter because no one ever monitors the lot. That made it easy to get on and off the ship and back out for the afternoon in Honolulu.

 

Of course you have to do a luau while you're there...

 

http://gohawaii.about.com/od/luau/tp/best_luau_in_hawaii.htm

 

http://traveltips.usatoday.com/luaus-maui-19062.html

[uncletr21]

We are also first timers to hawaii and looking to get as many tips as possible as we probably won't get back anytime soon.

 

Uncletr21 when do you cruise.

 

There are also lots of tips over on Hawaii ports of call thread.

Judith

 

We cruise in June, before you. I do need to hit the ports area in cruise critic. Does anyone know which excursions are "might as well do thru the ship" if there are any? As well as, "book this early b/c it fills up excursions"?

 

I think renting a car sounds good but also want to do a helicpoter ride so if anyone knows which port is "best" for this and other things geared toward families with teens, that would be great.

 

I was reading about horseback riding in Kona that sounded good but thought that might be the port for the helicopter ride but then read about it on Kawai too somewhere, very new to Hawaii planning and booked this sort of last minute by my normal standards so feel behind in learning what I need to do. Half the reason I picked a cruise was b/c I didn't think I could figure everything about the islands and flights in 4 months to do a land vacation. Seemed easier, albeit, pricy.

 

Thank you for your posts and help.

[genealogyfan]

no need to spend extra through the cruise unless they have something you want

 

Roberts Hawaii is a well known recommend excursion operator - easy page as you plug in your ship and date and they show you all the excursions that you can take with you dates and islands

 

We took a Road To Hana tour with Valley Isle Excursions -highly recommend

 

We used Roberts for the luau in Kauai - they used Smith Family luau when we were there last year, recommend. That evening I watched about 6 or 8 huge buses of passengers being taken to the cruise excursion luau.

 

We also booked another private excursion in Kauai - a photography tour. We rented a car for the 2nd day in Maui, and for Hilo. In Kona we took the tram/bus and just walked around

 

Because each port is so intensive, we didn't do much on the ship itself - no shows, when I was at the spa, my friend took the lei making class

[Travelicious]

If you are interested in road to Hana, which I understand is an all day drive, you might consider a company that drives you one way and the other way is by helicopter. Seems like it was about $350 per person when I last checked.

[spacepotatoes]

We cruise in June, before you. I do need to hit the ports area in cruise critic. Does anyone know which excursions are "might as well do thru the ship" if there are any? As well as, "book this early b/c it fills up excursions"?

 

I think renting a car sounds good but also want to do a helicpoter ride so if anyone knows which port is "best" for this and other things geared toward families with teens, that would be great.

 

<snip>

 

 

We booked the Road to Hana excursion through NCL. We were hesitant to drive it ourselves since there are several areas where there are single lane bridges and blind turns. There's also a portion that rental companies don't allow you to drive over because that area is pretty rough from a rockslide. Doing so voids the rental agreement. If you follow that rule, you can't actually make the complete drive. We looked into independent options but at the time (July 2009) the timing didn't work for us.

 

As for a helicopter tour, I'd recommend doing that on Kauai. You can't drive all the way around that island because of the mountains. That also means that there is a large portion of the island that you'd never get to see if only traveling by car. That's where a helicopter tour is most worthwhile, I think.

[TSUmom]

We have driven the road to Hana and have also taken the tour with Valley Isle Excursions. We enjoyed the tour with Valley Isle much better because the driver actually is so busy watching the road and driving he missed so much. Be prepared for a very long day though if you do The Road to Hana.

 

We have also done helicopter tours on both The Big Island and Kauai. Both were awesome, flying over the volcano was really great but the beauty of Kauai was my favorite.

 

I agree with previous posters, rent a car - it is inexpensive and very easy to drive around the islands, except maybe Honolulu and Waikiki.

 

Also the Old Lahaina Luau in Maui is a wonderful experience.

[mfinster007]

Depending on the ages of your children, I highly recommend ZIP N DIP PRINCEVILLE RANCH in Kaui. A wonderful adventure for the entire family. I've been to many a Luau's in Hawaii and most of them have felt like a rather large cattle call. The one offerend on POA has many, many, many people from the ship attending. If you would like something more intimate, check out Polynesian Village Luau on Maui. This is definitely a family affair and the price is somewhat resonable. Both of these activities will require you to have your own transportation. I know of Roberts tours, very well known and established. I used 'adventureinhawaii'. I was able to book all more tours for the entire trip plus rental cars. There instructions and details were very helpful for cruise passengers as well. You will enjoy your trip to Hawaii and I'm sure you'll be back again.

[Cubechick]

Definitely get on your roll call and go to the Meet and Greet. It's held on embarkation day after the muster drill. I've never met officers who care more about their ship and your feedback (we had a follow up meeting the last day of the cruise too!).

 

Also I disagree with the comment that the American crew wasn't as friendly as non-American crews. But that poster sailed in 2007 and I sailed in 2011 after NCLA over came the growing pains of having an American crew.

 

All of the crew we met were fantastic, friendly, had been on the America for at least two years and really knew their stuff.

[Zeno]

I've poked around a little and searched on "new to NCL" but thought there might be things you know off the top of your head. Familiar with Disney, RCCL and Carnival (limited) to give a point of reference.

 

We booked a summer cruise for family with teens on the Pride (by far most expensive cruise ever booked) so tips specific to Pride and Hawaii, and families traveling in Hawaii for the first time, would be appreciated. I can't see us going again anytime soon (maybe never), too long of a flight from FL and too expensive, so would want to do the 'best' excursions even if pricy.

 

I've learned about freestyle dining and how you can be casual except no shorts after 6pm in dining rooms. I assume you can go to the steakhouse and other fee-based restaurants in jeans although I caught a reference to some of these places having a "formal" night and I'm not sure how you find out about that in advance to make sure not booking that night. (We aren't bringing anything formal to Hawaii.)

 

Thank you for any info and tips you have handy!

 

Welcome to NCL. You will LOVE Hawaii. We did this cruise in Sept 2012 and had a great time.

You have already received some great recommendations - first I will just 2nd a couple of them.

1. we used discounthawaiicarrental to book our rental cars (every port but Kona where we had a snorkeling excursion booked. We were extremely pleased with the rental rates we got. BOOK YOUR CARS EARLY - rates go UP as you near the dates. If you change your mind, you can always cancel with NO penalty. RENT a car at least on some of the islands - you have freedom and will see so much more. we had NO difficulty with parking close to the cruiseship docks (free on Maui, small charge at nearby shopping centre on Kauai)

2. Excursions - if you decide to book any excursions - book them privately - so MUCH cheaper than with the cruiseline. We did only one excursion - Fairwind Snorkeling at Kona ( well organized, safety conscious and very suitable for all ages. It is however a bit pricey but worth it.)

 

More advice:

If at all possible arrive a few days early (preferred - to get over jet lag) or stay a few days after the cruise. We spent 6 days on Oahu and would not have done it any other way. It gave us ample opportunity to see some of the major sights on Oahu without being rushed. NOTE: on Oahu unless you plan a trip to the North Shore do not bother renting a car (parking is expensive and rare in Honolulu and traffic in Honolulu is awful). The local transit system (The Bus) can get you to nearly all major sights. We only rented a car for one day to drive up to the North Shore.

 

Let me know if you intend to arrive a few days early and I will give you more Oahu advice.

 

Check out the Hawaii board here - lots of good advice about the islands and various excursions.

 

On-Board the POA: it really is mostly your floating hotel but try to catch a couple of shows - the Hawaiian one is pretty decent and while we were on board they had an excellent rock group - Toby Beau. The crew are friendly and helpful but don't expect over-the-top service. We ended up eating mostly in the buffet because we were too tired after our busy days to bother with the restaurants or dining rooms. The buffet is really pretty good. NOTE: at busy times (breakfast is especially busy - since everyone is rushing to get going and off the ship) there is overflow seating in the Western style bar next door to the buffet - you are a bit further from the food but we found it pleasant and quieter than the main area. You can also sit outside at the back of the ship.

The atmosphere is VERY informal - no need for anything ressembling formal wear even in the dining rooms and restaurants. BTW a good time to dine in the dining room is on check-in day for lunch (The buffet will be very busy and the one dining room that will be open will be half empty. we had a very comfortable relaxed lunch there.)

 

Any other questions - just ask. We found it a great experience.

 

Just thought of a couple more POA advice bits:

When to be on deck:

1. departure from Oahu - the night views of Honolulu are lovely and the spinning the ship around to get out of port is fascinating

2. departure from Kauai - another interesting navigational feat

3. The Napali coast - after Kauai departure (last afternoon of cruise) - find a good viewing spot on deck (preferably left side) and be prepared to take pictures - lovely.

[hazeleyez3]

We cruise in June, before you. I do need to hit the ports area in cruise critic. Does anyone know which excursions are "might as well do thru the ship" if there are any? As well as, "book this early b/c it fills up excursions"?

 

I think renting a car sounds good but also want to do a helicpoter ride so if anyone knows which port is "best" for this and other things geared toward families with teens, that would be great.

 

I was reading about horseback riding in Kona that sounded good but thought that might be the port for the helicopter ride but then read about it on Kawai too somewhere, very new to Hawaii planning and booked this sort of last minute by my normal standards so feel behind in learning what I need to do. Half the reason I picked a cruise was b/c I didn't think I could figure everything about the islands and flights in 4 months to do a land vacation. Seemed easier, albeit, pricy.

 

Thank you for your posts and help.

 

We did the helicopter ride in Kauai. Absolutley breathtaking.

 

If you want to do the sunrise at Haleakala, I'd suggest a tour. Between the darkness and the roads up to the volcano, we thought it best to have someone else do the driving.

 

 

Ah yes, Road to Hana. It's very curvy, many blind spots, and single lanes. It can sometimes be difficult to find a place to park and take pictures. If you are a "camera happy" person like my husband, you might not get that far. It was never something that interested me, but my parents wanted to go many years ago, and my hubby wanted to go when we were on the cruise....I still have yet to get close to Hana. Still not that interested, but after two times going for others and not getting there, my bucket list now includes reaching the city (or stopping point).

[DaisyGoldberg]

I too recommend Valley Isle Road to Hana tour. Very comfortable seats (a typical van would be really uncomfortable for that length of time). Sit on the left, lots to see. It is a long day, but not as long as if you were doing it yourself and dealing with the stress!

 

If you do it the first day you can do something less time intensive the second day!

 

I would urge you to get into Hawaii at least 24 hours ahead of the cruise (if you plan on doing nothing else), or two days, if you want to see things in Oahu. We gave ourselves four days and were really impaired the first two. It's such an intensive cruise that it would be a shame to have to sleep more than necessary!

[uncletr21]

Went away for long weekend Presidents day and sort of forgot about CC and trip planning so just now reading some posts. THANKS EVERYBODY for all the great info!

[oz61]

We cruised over the Christmas holidays with grown up kids. We had an SH suite and it was fantastic - massive corner balcony. About the same price as 2 balconies but with suite privileges. Plenty of room for everyone.

 

We all enjoyed the more "active" excursions - ziplining in Maui (we hired a car and booked privately with Skyline Kaanapali.)

In Kona we did the Zodiac Snorkel through the cruise ship and everyone had a great time. We saw dolphins, a whale, the snorkeling was great and the crew gave everyone a fun ride and a good time.

 

Avoid the big bus tours - too much time spent waiting for people to get back on bus at stops of little interest.

 

Great cruise - enjoy!

[cruisin07family]

Have a blast!! I'm very jealous as my son is a crew member and I'd love to go but too much $ for us.

[mcmomny]

Loved the POA and her crew, all young kids who didn't seem interested at first but just saying hi and having simple converstion they all opened up and seemed to enjoy us showing them some attention and in return they remembered us and always said hi!

 

We went in 3 days earlier from the east coast and still had jet lag all week! And we stayed a day after so with travel time we were gone two full weeks and it took us a week to recover once we got home!

 

We rented cars thru Thrifty on each island and they were fantastic, even mailed us thank you cards!

 

We booked online Valley Isle Excursions for Road to Hana and they were wonderful and our driver was great, includes a lovely lunch and soda or water

 

The second day on Maui we drove around the other side of the island and stopped at many beaches and saw tons of whales!

 

We booked Smith's lula on Kauai ourselves online as we had a car but instead we opted to use the shuttle as we knew we would be drinking. Don't remember the price but it wasn't much. The show and food was very good and the grounds were lovely. It did rain something crazy thru the whole show but they never stopped performing!

 

We booked for our second day on Kauai a helicoptor tour that had to be cancelled because of weather so book for the first day so if it gets cancelled you might be able to go the second day. (I was secretly releived as I am scared to death of flying let alone going up in a helicopter but I was kinda disappointed to not see the amazing views) So instead we got in our rental car and drove to see the canyon, still pouring rain but beautiful

 

The Big Island we drove to Volcano and hiked alot, saw the steam vents, the lava tunnel, we did not do the sunrise or the bike ride. Many say they are a must but we didn't, we really enjoyed driving around the National Park and stopping when we wanted to stop

 

Balcony room was great, wonderful views but no narative when cruising past the volcano or Napali, had to crank up the TV to hear it. We had been in Alaska on the Pearl and they broadcasted the narative of Glacier Bay thru out the ship so we could hear it from our balcony and had made the assumption that it would be the same on the POA but no.

 

I bought and used as my carry on for the plane an foldable insulted big bag to bring our water bottles and snacks and towels with us. Also tons of ziplock bags to but ice in for my bag. Worked great for our beach trips and keeping our drinks cold. Also brought refillable water bottles, small bags of nuts for snacks plus every where we went on the islands someone was selling dried fruit which made for great snacks!

 

Yes the ship provides beach towels everyday! Maps of the Islands each day and a quick narative of what to see and do

 

I also bought online frankomaps .com of Hawaii so we could plan before hand and they were a great resource for us. You can find them on the island but we like to pre plan alot so I just ordered them, not too expensive

 

Our goal was to drive around each island and see as many beaches as we could, we often took the road less traveled and always found something neat and exciting!

 

We planned on eating all lunches off ship which is pricey so be prepared for that!

 

As for clothes, light wieght rain jacket, water sandles or shoes like Keans or cheap brands work just as fine, shorts, tshirts, bathing suits. Sneakers get wet and won't dry quick enough.

 

I bring one pair of slacks for my husband and one skirt for me and we try not to spill on oursleves for our dinner attire along with a shirt or blouse of course! But I don't bring a different dinner outfit for every night, I pack light and roomy so I can bring back tons of stuff!

 

I do bring a power strip to plug all chargeables in one place so one isn't forgoten plus there is only one outlet.

 

I also bring an sd card for each day, little ziplock baggie to put it in with a note as to which island and sites seen to help remind me when I get home, as one beach looks like the other after seeing several of them! Same with waterfalls!

 

We had breakfast every morning at the buffett but head right out the back and sat outside by the back deck bar, great views and nice to be outside

 

Food overall was very good, only did one upcharge and it was the Japanese which was ok but we both agreed it wasn't worth the upcharge and we stayed with the included places the rest of the time

 

Our cabin was clean and well apointed, ship was showing some age but still lots to see and do and it was kept very clean.

 

We did the Pub Crawl which was fun and a great way to see the ship!

 

Check out the Hawaii boards here and on trip Advisor, tons of ideas and suggestions

 

We really want to go back and do this cruise again, every time we watch Hawaii50 we say to each other what a great trip it was and that this cruise is a great way to see so many things on one trip there!

 

Have agreat time!

[AZKEN2MUCH]

Hello, all! Research tells me that starboard is best for balcony viewing of volcano on Big Island; however, mapping tells me differently (even a call to NCL said "starboard").

 

experienced/veteran POA cruisers input, please... Mahalo~ (sailing 01.18.14)

[sonarboy]

No, I don't think that it's necessary to tip the senior cruisers on the ship. A hearty handshake and a "Well done!" is probably all the thanks they need.

[uncletr21]

Thanks Mcmommy and everyone else! Lots to think about!

 

The kids and I like to zipline and I've done it from cruises were we can do something with dad in the morning and an afternoon zipline session thru cruiseship with just the kids and I (dad will not zip). Zip & Dip sounded nice but pretty long to leave dad hanging out in rental car playing with his phone. Are there any that are pretty efficient about getting you up and zipping and done in 2 hours?

 

I remember when booking helicopter ride in Alaska, I came up with good "backup" plans if it was canceled. Are there good "backup" plans for either a tour in Kauai or Kona (volcano)? Backup plan needs to be something I could book last minute I guess.

 

I think I want to book many of the "fee" meals. Are they something that needs to get booked way in advance? Will this open up to do online after I make final payment?

[DaisyGoldberg]

As I recall, the only fee restaurant on the POA that was consistently full (going by the electronic bulletin board that indicates what restaurants have what level of waits) was the teppanyaki. So if that's a high priority for you for a specific day/time, I'd book that one.