Party of 8 – Our Hawaiian Adventure on the POA (with pics)

[greatlakesgirl]

Thanx for the info - glad you made it home in a piece. Take care.

 

 

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Thanks! Have a great cruise, and if you think of any other questions, feel free to post them here and I'll do my best to answer.

 

 

 

Just about finished with our first day on Kauai. I'll post tomorrow.

[Bomax2]

greatlakesgirl - Thanks for your review, I'm really enjoying it. We leave on Tuesday for a few days in Honolulu before boarding POA on April 5.:D Can't wait! We are flying non-stop United from Houston and I was curious about the food you purchased. Can you tell me what kind of food, ie sandwiches or hot food and how was it? We are trying to make things as easy as possible and if we don't have to carry snacks, all the better. Thanks again for your review and your pictures are really great!

[greatlakesgirl]

greatlakesgirl - Thanks for your review, I'm really enjoying it. We leave on Tuesday for a few days in Honolulu before boarding POA on April 5.:D Can't wait! We are flying non-stop United from Houston and I was curious about the food you purchased. Can you tell me what kind of food, ie sandwiches or hot food and how was it? We are trying to make things as easy as possible and if we don't have to carry snacks, all the better. Thanks again for your review and your pictures are really great!

Thank you so much for your kind words, I appreciate them!

 

They had snack boxes, a roast beef sandwich with cheddar on a sub bun that was ok. It also depends on what time of day you are flying. We purchased our food during the SF to Honolulu leg which was lunch time. In the evening they offer more of a dinner, and I think at breakfast there was breakfast type sandwiches. There will be a menu in the back of your in-flight magazine.

 

On our way home we had a lot more time for our layovers so we were able to get our meals at the airport. Neither option is cheap, but starving isn't much fun, either. lol The beverages, except alcohol, are all complimentary on the flights, so at least there's still that.

 

Enjoy your cruise! It's fun to know so many people are planning their cruise. I'm excited for all of you! :)

[kjcombs89]

I'm really enjoying your review. We are booked on this cruise for the end of October and we are so excited! Every time I read one of these reviews, it makes me ever MORE excited! :) Thank you for taking the time to post all of this.

 

I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind answering! So far your days are exactly as we are planning! Also, we are staying in 7574, very near your cabins.

 

1. What did you do with your camera while you were snorkeling? I was wondering if I'd want to take my nice camera on the Molokini tour, so just wondering what you did.

 

2. Was it worth the drive to go to the black sand beach before you went to Volcanoes in Hilo? We had considered doing that as well.

 

Thank you!

[greatlakesgirl]

I'm really enjoying your review. We are booked on this cruise for the end of October and we are so excited! Every time I read one of these reviews, it makes me ever MORE excited! :) Thank you for taking the time to post all of this.

 

I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind answering! So far your days are exactly as we are planning! Also, we are staying in 7574, very near your cabins.

 

1. What did you do with your camera while you were snorkeling? I was wondering if I'd want to take my nice camera on the Molokini tour, so just wondering what you did.

 

2. Was it worth the drive to go to the black sand beach before you went to Volcanoes in Hilo? We had considered doing that as well.

 

Thank you!

I'm so glad you're enjoying it. Hearing everyone's comments and knowing I'm being helpful makes me happy. :)

 

We LOVED our cabin location. We were right around the corner from the forward stairs and elevators and we heard no noise whatsoever. It was such a convenient location.

 

1. I tucked my camera away in my beach bag and left it upstairs on the upper deck. So did MIL and SIL.

 

2. It was worth it to us, definitely. It's such a beautiful spot. Go out beyond where the restrooms are to the lava flows and walk out on them if you can. You will see little critters like crabs and urchins and maybe even turtles in the wave pools. Also, in doing the black sand beach first, you have a good chance of missing a lot of the big tour buses that go to Volcanoes first thing.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[greatlakesgirl]

Kauai

 

Kauai is amazing. Let’s get that out of the way right now. The other islands are beautiful, too, don’t get me wrong. But Kauai was it for me. I can’t think of enough adjectives to describe it, so I won’t annoy you further trying to.

 

Nawiliwili Harbor is tiny! Docking that ship is a feat unto itself. I didn’t see it, but they must have had tugs assisting. I found this pic in my SIL’s batch of Kauai photos, so yeah, looks like they had help.

 

We all piled in the shuttle and headed to Budget, where they offered to upgrade us to a Chevy Equinox, seventy percent off. Mom was coming with us so we took it. Loved that thing! SIL and her family were heading to Waimea Canyon and we were heading the opposite direction, up to Hanalei with stops at Opaeka’a Falls and the Kilauea Wildlife Refuge at Kilauea Point. So we parted ways and headed off in different directions. This was the first and only day that we didn’t at least start out together. But that’s part of why our trip went so well, our ability to be flexible and do our own things when we wanted. Mom had decided to go with us because SIL and family were going to do some hiking at the canyon and she didn’t really feel up for that. And she was very interested in the wildlife sanctuary.

 

On our way up to Opaeka’a Falls this place caught our eye, so we pulled over and were pleasantly surprise. That’s the beauty of the rental car: when you spot something that looks interesting, you can pull over and check it out.

 

Poli’ahu heiau and the Wailua river overlook. Beautiful place.

[greatlakesgirl]

This place is full of chickens. Heck, everywhere on Kauai is full of chickens. The story is that when Hurricane Iniki hit in 1992 the pens holding everyone’s farm animals were destroyed and so the farm animals were all on the loose. Well, it’s pretty easy to round up pigs, goats, cows, and horses. Not so easy to round up the chickens. And now there are wild chickens roaming everywhere. At least they’re pretty.

 

The kids were obsessed with them. When I downloaded the younger daughter’s pictures onto the computer she had 293 pictures. After I deleted all the chicken ones, she had about 168 left. Yes, I deleted over 100 chicken pictures. I did keep a few for her, I’m not heartless. I haven’t looked at the older daughter’s pics yet, but I’m guessing she took about as many.

 

 

A little further up the road is Opakeka’a Falls. I heard there’s a rough trail down to the base, but we weren’t really up for trying to find it.

 

I'll post the rest of our first day on Kauai in a little while.

[greatlakesgirl]

Kilauea Wildlife Refuge

 

It is so beautiful up here. Several endangered species live in this area included the Nene, which we were lucky enough to see.

Also the Hawaiian monk seal, which we didn’t get to see, but they are very scarce. And several species of native Hawaiian plants, which are gradually being choked out by non-native, invasive plants.

 

You can see far up the coast from here.

 

We spent quite a while here. There’s nice gift shop and a small museum and out back there’s an overlook with beautiful ocean views. We saw lots of whales out there.

 

I was also on a quest to find a nice note card for our stateroom attendant, Gordon. We were planning on giving him a little something extra and wanted to tuck it away in a card with our personal, written thanks. So far I hadn’t found anything.

 

After the refuge we decided to try to find some lunch. We stopped at a little local pizza shop and had the best slice of pizza and salad I’ve had in a very long time! Next door was a shop and in there I found my note card. The designs on the front were hand painted by a local artist and I picked one with a hibiscus.

 

On to Hanalei!

Edited March 28, 2014 by greatlakesgirl

[goaliedb]

Kona

 

 

Part of me now wishes that we had done something other than just walk around the port, but I have to remind myself that we really needed some down time where we didn’t have to set the alarm, didn’t have to hurry off the ship to get our car rentals, just didn’t have to be anywhere at any specific time. And that was really nice.

 

Enjoying your review! We sail in three weeks.

 

Our upcoming cruise will be our third on POA, and we find Kona to be the perfect unwind day! That is our day to unwind and will be the only day we will go to Walmart!

[RetAF98]

Great trip report, thanks. We sail on the POA on 10 May and this just makes us anticipate the trip that much more!

[lcumpire]

We decided not to rent a car at this port so we are using Roberts for a trip to Walamea canyon - plan to walk around town after or the next day/morning as we leave at 2:00. Did you meet anyone that took a Roberts tour and/or did you walk around town?

 

Thanx

 

 

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[lcumpire]

RetAF98 - we are also sailing on May 10 - come join us on our roll call and the meet & greet

 

 

 

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[kjcombs89]

I'm so glad you're enjoying it. Hearing everyone's comments and knowing I'm being helpful makes me happy. :)

 

We LOVED our cabin location. We were right around the corner from the forward stairs and elevators and we heard no noise whatsoever. It was such a convenient location.

 

1. I tucked my camera away in my beach bag and left it upstairs on the upper deck. So did MIL and SIL.

 

2. It was worth it to us, definitely. It's such a beautiful spot. Go out beyond where the restrooms are to the lava flows and walk out on them if you can. You will see little critters like crabs and urchins and maybe even turtles in the wave pools. Also, in doing the black sand beach first, you have a good chance of missing a lot of the big tour buses that go to Volcanoes first thing.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Yes, your review is quite helpful to me, especially since your days mirror almost exactly what we are planning to do ourselves! :)

 

We are also hoping to rent a car on the first day in Kauai, and head North, so I'm anxiously awaiting your review of Hanalei bay! We've never been to Hawaii, so it's so helpful to hear your account.

[greatlakesgirl]

Enjoying your review! We sail in three weeks.

 

Our upcoming cruise will be our third on POA, and we find Kona to be the perfect unwind day! That is our day to unwind and will be the only day we will go to Walmart!

Thank you! Enjoy. What am I saying? Of course you will as you've done it twice already. Lucky! I read your trip report several months ago. Thank you for doing it.

Great trip report, thanks. We sail on the POA on 10 May and this just makes us anticipate the trip that much more!

You're welcome, it's been fun. :) You don't have much longer! It will go fast and you'll be in paradise before you know it!

[greatlakesgirl]

We decided not to rent a car at this port so we are using Roberts for a trip to Walamea canyon - plan to walk around town after or the next day/morning as we leave at 2:00. Did you meet anyone that took a Roberts tour and/or did you walk around town?

 

Thanx

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

I don't know anyone that used Roberts but I've heard lots of good things about them. We did use them for transfers between the hotel and port and then from the port to the airport and they were fine. My MIL spent nine days on Oahu in 2009 and she used them for their tours.

 

We took the free shuttle to town on the second day and walked around. It really isn't a "town", it's more like a two story mall and then across the street is a Marriot, a Duke's restaurant, and some shops and also a nice beach in front of the hotel. It was a good way to kill a few hours.

 

Also, my SIL and BIL went to Waimea. I'll post some of their pics, too.

Yes, your review is quite helpful to me, especially since your days mirror almost exactly what we are planning to do ourselves! :)

 

We are also hoping to rent a car on the first day in Kauai, and head North, so I'm anxiously awaiting your review of Hanalei bay! We've never been to Hawaii, so it's so helpful to hear your account.

I'm going to try to finish up the North Shore this evening, I hope! :)

[greatlakesgirl]

Hanalei

 

We wanted to go to the pier in Hanalei so I printed off a google map before leaving home. Easy to find. Wonderful, picturesque spot. A very local hangout and we felt very much like the tourists that we were, but no one gave us the stink eye. There are restrooms here. We took these pictures from the pier.

 

This is taken from the opposite side of Hanalei bay, looking over at the pier, only you can't really see it. That building on the left is the Princeville Resort.

 

There are a lot of funky shops in Hanalei, and it reminded me a lot of Hale’iwa on Oahu. We didn’t stop in any because, well, you know I’m not a shopper. Mostly, we just enjoyed the scenery. I wanted to stop at the Hanalei Valley overlook to get some pictures of taro fields. Seventy percent of all of the islands’ poi is made from the taro fields on Kauai. I have so many beautiful pictures that I think I’m going need a couple more posts in order to finish this day!

 

 

The wooden one-lane bridges start just before you enter Hanalei. The nice thing about these bridges is that it keeps all the huge tour buses out. The state of Hawaii wanted to replace them with regular two lane steel bridges but the local residents put up such a stink that the project was put off indefinitely. Can’t say I blame them! Hope they never replace those old bridges. We loved them.

[greatlakesgirl]

We also stopped at Lumahai beach of South Pacific fame, and Ha’ena beach. Across from Ha’ena are the dry caves. They are kind of creepy in a fun way. I dared the girls to run all the way to the very back and touch the wall.

 

Lumahai

 

Dry caves

[greatlakesgirl]

The waves were pounding at Ha’ena Beach. See the boogy boarder in the pic? He got hammered by that wave. We saw him later down at Ke’e Beach.

 

We made it all the way to the end of the north shore road at Ke’e Beach! Here is the start of the Kalalau Trail and the soaring Na Pali coast, that we would see the next afternoon from the ship.

 

We began our drive back towards Lihue. The road was getting congested the closer we got to Kapa’a and slowed further nearer Lihue. We decided to bypass Lihue and head out to Poipu beach after deciding it was definitely too late to try and see Waimea. We never made it to Poipu as we got side tracked at the Spouting Horn. It wasn’t really spouting.

 

If I could do it over we would’ve just kept driving and tried to see a little more of the south side of Kauai, but we were completely satisfied with our North Shore trip!

 

We finally made it back to Budget around six, and back to the ship by six-thirty. BIL and family weren’t back yet, so we headed to the Aloha Café for dinner. They showed up maybe ten minutes later. We had a great time talking and comparing notes about our day. I will share some of their Waimea Canyon and Wailua Falls pictures in another post for any of you that may be interested in seeing those places. Unfortunately I don’t think I can answer any specific questions, but I can try.

[lcumpire]

Would love to see Wamea canyon pictures - supposed to be beautiful

 

Thanx

 

 

 

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[greatlakesgirl]

My BIL and SIL and nephew decided to go to Waimea Canyon and do a little hiking. They also wanted to go to Wailua Falls. Here are a few pics of each place. Looks amazing! I hope we can go back someday and see these places.

 

Winding road (down from the canyon, probably)

 

Looking the other way. That is the island of Ni'ihau in the background, also known as the Forbidden Island. It's privately owned by the Robinson family and you must have special permission from them to go there. I was so excited when I saw this picture and noticed the island, as this is closest any of us will ever get to that island.

 

And beautiful Waimea Canyon

 

Wailua Falls coming up.

Edited March 29, 2014 by greatlakesgirl

[greatlakesgirl]

Wailua Falls. They hiked down to the base. BIL said it was the hike of a lifetime; they couldn't say enough about it! Looks pretty amazing to me!

 

 

With my BIL and nephew in the pic, it really puts the size into perspective!

 

I'm planning to do our second half day in Kauai and the Na Pali coast sail-by later today. Then hopefully wrap things up with some of my own thoughts, a few tips, and some things we learned along the way. And there are some miscellaneous pictures, too.:)

[lcumpire]

WOW - beautiful pictures/takes your breath away.

 

 

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[allesonwonderland]

Saturday and the Pride of America!

 

Our staterooms were ready so we headed up to deck seven to rooms 7552, 7554, and 7556. Obstructed ocean views, but with floor to ceiling windows, not obstructed by much. This was our room, 7552:

 

Great review--thanks for sharing! We're in room 7556 in June--can't wait!! Did you click a picture of that room?

[greatlakesgirl]

WOW - beautiful pictures/takes your breath away.

 

 

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Amazing, isn't it? Kauai was my favorite island. Mom's, too.

Great review--thanks for sharing! We're in room 7556 in June--can't wait!! Did you click a picture of that room?

Thanks for the compliment! 7556 was BIL and SIL's cabin. They had a great view, too. Theirs was different than ours in that they had a small sofa against the wall on the left hand side, right near the window. And next to the sofa was the bed - twins pushed together to make a queen. It was a nice room. Small but functional for the three of them. BIL is 6'8" tall and he managed just fine.

 

Oh, I found these! I'd asked if they minded if I post some of their pics and they said fine, just no clear, up-close face shots. That's cool. So I pixelized SIL and nephew. They're very private people.

 

 

Out their window. If you turned to the left a little, there's nothing there. We're in Kona here.

[greatlakesgirl]

Almost forgot our last towel animal! :eek: