Aloha~! A Photo Trip Report of the POA - 10/11/14

[Miicah]

 

 

 

[Miicah]

Day 14 – 10/17/14 – Sea Day

 

Since we had such an early departure time, I missed watching our last sail away as I was still sleeping. My mom managed to get up, though, and took these pictures. She told me that for once we didn’t have any pier runners, haha. Don’t think anyone wanted to be left behind with a looming storm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Miicah]

When I woke up, though, I took the usual pictures from our balcony.

 

 

 

We had breakfast at Skyline today, and I wished I knew they served breakfast there as I really enjoyed eating there. I know it’s listed in the dailies but I never really paid attention, haha. Our waiter asked us why we were having breakfast there instead of at Cagney’s, though, like we were eating ‘below our station’ or something haha Well, if that’s how ‘commoners’ eat, count me in!

 

 

 

 

Afterwards we attended the Arts & Crafts: Treasure Boxes class (my mom was very excited about it, haha), and, since it was in the same venue, the Hawaiian Hula Dance class. I had always been meaning to attend one of those, and I was under the assumption that each day was independent of the others.

 

Apparently, though, each day is like a continuation of the last, but Kaulana (the Hawaiian Ambassador on board who teaches the class) went over the past steps for any newcomers and even invited us newbies to the hula graduation up on the pool deck later in the day (you get a certificate and everything, haha). We didn’t go, but I thought that it was cool that you can show off everything you learned to everyone, though some of the regulars were worried because Kaulana wouldn’t be showing them the dance step by step, haha.

 

When we returned to our cabin, we saw our last towel animals! I was going to miss our collection.

 

[Miicah]

Originally we were supposed to miss the Na Pali Coast sail by and reach Honolulu in the afternoon, but they got the green light to go ahead with it (with an evening arrival in Honolulu instead). I was super excited, as I heard great things about it and got a port side suite to see it and stuff

 

The decks above us were packed with people, so I was glad we had our own space, haha. Kaulana does a narration as we go along, but it was a little hard to hear it from where we were.

 

 

 

I believe there’s helicopter tours as well.

 

 

 

[Miicah]

 

 

 

 

 

[Miicah]

 

 

 

 

 

[Miicah]

 

 

 

 

 

[Miicah]

 

 

There were two islands in the distance, but I can't remember which they were, haha.

 

 

 

 

There were a number of boats on this side of the coast, and I wonder if they’re able or allowed to come on land.

 

 

The ship does turn so that the starboard side can also see it, as we turn to head back to Honolulu which is in the opposite direction, though we were going a little faster than the initial sail by. I’ve heard that by this point the sun is coming down, so the starboard people were lucky we were doing this in the morning as they had light to see better, haha.

 

[YOUTUBE]3eO0HWAdVfY[/YOUTUBE]

Edited February 28, 2015 by Miicah

[Miicah]

Afterwards we had lunch at Cagney’s (I so do love eating lunch there).

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Miicah]

Considering my love for them, we attended the Towel Folding Demonstration held in the Capitol Atrium, and I took some pictures of some of the details I didn’t notice before up by the ceiling.

 

 

 

 

Towel folding animals is an art, I tell you! I wish I got some of the animals they made in our room, haha. Some people were complaining that they couldn’t hear the crew talking, and though we sat in the front row and didn’t have that much of a problem, I do agree that they could’ve been given a microphone. I knew they have some since I saw the baking class on TV and they gave the chef a mic, so I thought that it wasn’t nice that they couldn’t also give the crew members a mic as well. At the end they do sell a CD showing some how to make some of them (I bought one but haven’t tried it out yet, haha).

 

 

 

[Miicah]

When we returned to our room I saw we had already reached Oahu.

 

 

 

There’s Diamond Head! Long time no see!

 

 

At night we went to the Farewell Variety Show, where you were allowed to take pictures near the end when the crew gets on stage. It was so sad to know our vacation was ending soon!

 

 

[Miicah]

We had dinner at Aloha Café one last time.

 

 

 

 

Good night Honolulu!

 

 

Debarkation coming up next.

[pizzalady1]

Thanks so much for taking us along with you on your vacation. I really appreciated the Freestyle Dailys.

[Lorey2007]

Miicah again thank you so much for your fantastic review. I was able to get 4 price drops on my aft facing balcony cabin and yesterday for less than the price I originally had booked the balcony for I did a upgrade to a SG suite on deck 11. Now I am freaking out about the butler:eek:. Never had a butler or a suite before don't know that I will use him/her much, what can you tell me about your experience. I have prepaid my service charges but now I suppose I should now consider a additional tipping for the butler or concierge.

[tlw3184]

Thank you so much for this review Miicah! I leave for Hawaii in 43 days and I CAN'T WAIT! I appreciate you taking the time out to give such a detailed review with pictures and freestyle dailies! Your pictures are wonderful and your review has helped me tremendously! I know doing these reviews are very time consuming so thanks again!!!

[bsblindab]

 

 

 

Did you dock on Friday in Honolulu? or did they cut it short due to the storm?

[Miicah]

Thanks so much for taking us along with you on your vacation. I really appreciated the Freestyle Dailys.

 

Thank you so much for coming along for the ride! I'm glad the Dailies were helpful for you.

 

Miicah again thank you so much for your fantastic review. I was able to get 4 price drops on my aft facing balcony cabin and yesterday for less than the price I originally had booked the balcony for I did a upgrade to a SG suite on deck 11. Now I am freaking out about the butler:eek:. Never had a butler or a suite before don't know that I will use him/her much, what can you tell me about your experience. I have prepaid my service charges but now I suppose I should now consider a additional tipping for the butler or concierge.

 

Awn, Lorey, thank you so much for following along the whole way! That's super amazing to get not only one, but four price drops! It was my first time for a butler and a suite (and a cruise :p) so I wasn't even sure what to do with Jose, lol. I know I did a search here on the NCL forums for ideas on what to use your butler for but again, other than the booking of specialty restaurants and the daily treats I never really used Jose. Anything that I needed to be done was usually taken care of by Edwin, our room steward, and he got a bigger tip than our butler or the concierge. Don't stress about it too much!

[Miicah]

Thank you so much for this review Miicah! I leave for Hawaii in 43 days and I CAN'T WAIT! I appreciate you taking the time out to give such a detailed review with pictures and freestyle dailies! Your pictures are wonderful and your review has helped me tremendously! I know doing these reviews are very time consuming so thanks again!!!

 

OMG, yay, I'm so excited for you! I feel bad because the time in between updates got rather long but I'm glad you still enjoyed it! It was nice to be able to relive our vacation and I had fun doing the review :)

 

Did you dock on Friday in Honolulu? or did they cut it short due to the storm?

 

Do you mean did they dock and then leave after everyone left? We were told before that that was the original plan because the coast guard originally wasn't going to allow the ship to stay with the storm coming (and we were worried about the people who were supposed to embark on Saturday, was it going to be canceled for them? And where would we stay?) but we did end up docking overnight on Friday into Saturday.

Edited March 8, 2015 by Miicah

[Miicah]

Day 15 – 10/18/14 – Debarkation

 

Our last morning not only on the POA, but of our vacation as a whole! It was super depressing. After getting ready, I took one last look at our beautiful suite, grabbed our carry-on bags and headed to Skyline for breakfast (I’m still so bummed I found out they served breakfast until late!). I knew we still had enough time that we could’ve left our bags in the room and come back for them before we left, but we didn’t feel the extra trip was necessary.

 

 

 

 

In hindsight I wished we did, though, because we disembarked way too early, haha. We weren’t entirely sure about when we could leave or how long we could stay on board (you had to leave your room at a certain time so they could begin cleaning), plus we had to call GO808EXPRESS an hour or so before our pick up time, which was 9AM. But we saw some of the passengers who were doing a self-carry off of their baggage leaving, so we just went with the flow, haha.

 

I wished we carried our baggage off because we did leave so early that they didn’t even beginning unloading baggage yet. We were lucky that we were suite passengers so our luggage would be unloaded first, but we never actually knew the time of that so we just sat around the check-in area until then. It was so eerie seeing it so empty, haha, and it was bittersweet to know in just a few hours it’ll be bustling with excited new passengers.

 

 

I think it was perhaps 15-20 minutes or so before the baggage started coming in, and after we found ours we exited to the main area where you first come in and called GO808EXPRESS. Another trying conversation with them, but at least they sent someone this time…only we didn’t realize they weren’t going to actually come into the pier area but wait just outside the gates. We waited maybe 20 minutes and called them back twice before we finally got it. Apparently they don’t have permission to come like the taxis do (or they have to pay extra for that or something, I don’t know). Felt kinda awkward pulling our luggage out there but our driver was pleasant at least. My mom and I both agreed that it’d just be a heck of a lot easier to just use a taxi next time.

[Miicah]

A funny thing (or scary? haha) thing happened as we were going through security. So I’m sure you guys know you can’t have drinks in your carry on, and though we emptied what we had in the provided containers, my mom decided to keep one as some sort of test I guess? Haha I think we were kinda skeptical that they were seriously going to take the bottle away. But lo and behold she got pulled aside and they went through her bag and everything LOL. Yeah, won’t be doing that next time, haha.

 

We just walked around, saw this cool statue, and peeked at the shops (bought a super cute neck pillow!). There must’ve been like a whole school grade of children from Japan there on a trip or something because everyone I turned it was just one uniformed kid after another, haha. I wonder if they chartered a plane or something, wow.

 

 

 

[Miicah]

And it’s totally insane how even at the airport, Hawaii has amazing views! That is one beautiful backdrop, man.

 

 

 

 

 

We had lunch and then boarded our plane.

 

 

[Miicah]

I saw the POA docked while we were taking off but I forgot I still had Illustration mode on! You can still make it out though.

 

 

One last look at Waikiki before it all disappeared in the clouds. I’m going to miss you! Hope I get to visit you again someday!

 

 

 

It was another long journey with two layovers, and boy was it cold when we came back, haha. And we saw someone getting arrested as we were waiting for my dad to pick us up. Ah, nothing says welcome back to T.O. like seeing that LOL.

 

 

Thank you all for reading my review, especially with the long periods between updates and the bandwidth issue! It was definitely a pleasure to relive our vacation and I hope it was some help to those of you about to take it as well! It was an amazing first cruise experience.

[Lorey2007]

 

Awn, Lorey, thank you so much for following along the whole way! That's super amazing to get not only one, but four price drops! It was my first time for a butler and a suite (and a cruise :p) so I wasn't even sure what to do with Jose, lol. I know I did a search here on the NCL forums for ideas on what to use your butler for but again, other than the booking of specialty restaurants and the daily treats I never really used Jose. Anything that I needed to be done was usually taken care of by Edwin, our room steward, and he got a bigger tip than our butler or the concierge. Don't stress about it too much!

 

Thanks feel so much better about the Butler now, I have all our specialty reservations already made and excursions booked so not so sure I will need a butler.

 

They now have the photo package to pre book online now a package of 10 plus 1 free for $129. We have $200 OBC and could use that if we purchase once onboard or make purchases in the 3 shops. Did they have have much to purchase? I would most likely be getting a scrapbook for myself and things for my DD's, SIL's and the grandkids. I guess what I'm asking is do you think the photo pkg is a better deal to get now or wait??

 

Are there lots of options to eat lunch at the airport?

Edited March 8, 2015 by Lorey2007

[relic2]

Miicah, thanks for your report. I'll miss you. I saw a young lady in the breakfast area of my hotel last week who looked like you. She had a shirt on with a HAWAII logo and was talking on her cell phone. She said "awn" in regards to the other person's statement, and I nearly went up to her to see if it was you. Didn't think it was likely, but if you were at the airport Residence Inn at Louisville, consider yourself greeted. [emoji4]

Margaret

[Miicah]

Thanks feel so much better about the Butler now, I have all our specialty reservations already made and excursions booked so not so sure I will need a butler.

 

They now have the photo package to pre book online now a package of 10 plus 1 free for $129. We have $200 OBC and could use that if we purchase once onboard or make purchases in the 3 shops. Did they have have much to purchase? I would most likely be getting a scrapbook for myself and things for my DD's, SIL's and the grandkids. I guess what I'm asking is do you think the photo pkg is a better deal to get now or wait??

 

Are there lots of options to eat lunch at the airport?

 

Yay, I'm glad! No need to worry about a butler while on vacation ^_^ I booked our excursions before we got on the ship because I didn't want to risk them selling out but we had so much OBC and I knew the butler could really work some magic so I saved the specialty reservations till we were on board.

 

That's interesting about the photo package! It was an unexpected expense for us but it was no biggie since we had OBC lol There were only three shops on board, not what I was expecting from all the other reviews I read lol One was pure jewelry, the other had mostly clothes and some bags and the other had a lot of nicknacks-- I think you could find the scrapbook in there. As for the photo package in total it cost $134.37 with taxes for ten (plus the free Hawaii ones they added in), so it's not that big of a difference, but I do like that extra free one they're giving you since there were quite a few we had a tough time deciding on, so it's really up to you if you have plans for the OBC or not. I know I wanted to spend mine at the spa, especially with that unexpected sea day, but we never got around to it lol

 

Do you mean Honolulu airport? For sure, there was a whole little food court to get some food, and some random establishments along the way depending on how much you walk around the place.