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

[Miicah]

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

 

Awn, Margaret, thank you so much for reading my report all the way through! I'll miss you too! *huggles* I might just write another report for our upcoming cruise? lol What are your future plans?

 

And OMG, someone who looks like me and says 'awn'? My long lost twin? :eek: Unfortunately it wasn't me, but if you did say hi to that lady I'm sure it must've brightened up her day! Thank you so much!

[relic2]

Miicah, my next cruise will be the one you took. My "bonus son" (my son's best friend from HS, who lived with us for awhile) is currently stationed on Oahu, so we will visit a few days pre cruise next January. We have 5 other couples booked with us. Should be a blast. I may use your pre-cruise apartment idea. Unless I can amass 150,000 Marriott Rewards points before then. I'm well on the way, but need to keep it up.

 

When and where is your next cruise? Post your review here if you can. I always write a journal, but have yet to do a review. I like to re-read them after a few years.

 

M

[Eriksgarden]

Such an awesome review. Thank you for sharing so many wonderful photos and details. My husband and I are going in August with my parents. Can't wait!!!

[Miicah]

Miicah, my next cruise will be the one you took. My "bonus son" (my son's best friend from HS, who lived with us for awhile) is currently stationed on Oahu, so we will visit a few days pre cruise next January. We have 5 other couples booked with us. Should be a blast. I may use your pre-cruise apartment idea. Unless I can amass 150,000 Marriott Rewards points before then. I'm well on the way, but need to keep it up.

 

When and where is your next cruise? Post your review here if you can. I always write a journal, but have yet to do a review. I like to re-read them after a few years.

 

M

 

Oh gosh, did you mention that before? I'm sorry, I should've figured you'd be going on this cruise lol But yeah, renting a condo is definitely an option to keep open! I just recently learned about a Hilton MVP discount thing that I wish I knew about before lol, but it's not Marriott (I think? What do I know about which hotels are chained together). I was able to use it for my upcoming pre-cruise stay though!

 

My next cruise is in November, a 10-day Caribbean medley on Princess~! I know everyone and their mother's has been there but it's new territory for me so I'm excited! Definitely hoping to write a review for that one as well. I think I should get into doing a physical journal, at least just for some notes until I get on a computer. If you ever do a review I'd love to read it!

[Miicah]

Such an awesome review. Thank you for sharing so many wonderful photos and details. My husband and I are going in August with my parents. Can't wait!!!

 

Thank you so much for reading it! You and your family will have an awesome time! :D

[Lorey2007]

My next cruise is in November, a 10-day Caribbean medley on Princess~! I know everyone and their mother's has been there but it's new territory for me so I'm excited! Definitely hoping to write a review for that one as well. I think I should get into doing a physical journal, at least just for some notes until I get on a computer. If you ever do a review I'd love to read it!

 

I'll be sure to watch for your review this November. What ship will you be on?

I was thrilled to get a complimentary upgrade to a SE suite and I was able to get the same suite you had 13508. I have been drooling over your photo's of it. Any thing I should know about the suite or the location would be so appreciated. I'm so excited only 5 more weeks to wait.

[Diver2014]

Loved your review and your photos! POA has been on my list of 'to do's' someday since hubby has not been on a cruise in Hawaii. I sailed on the old SS Independence back in the 80's and vowed to do a 7 day sail around the islands again someday, which is now limited to POA, which is fine by me!

I stayed at the Outrigger Reef back then and it is so convenient to everything! Looking at some of the photos took me right back - oh, the nostalgia! Got me excited about going again! When I lived in California, we use to alternate going to Hawaii or Mexico for vacation every year because both were so close (and cheap compared to now!!!) Thank you!

[hannibal54]

Thanks for the review. We went on the POA on Feb. 28, 2015, we had a great time.

[Miicah]

I'll be sure to watch for your review this November. What ship will you be on?

I was thrilled to get a complimentary upgrade to a SE suite and I was able to get the same suite you had 13508. I have been drooling over your photo's of it. Any thing I should know about the suite or the location would be so appreciated. I'm so excited only 5 more weeks to wait.

 

Haha, yay, at least I know I'll have one person reading my review in November ^^ I'll be on the Royal Princess.

 

And OMG, you got my room! Congrats! I guess they really do have trouble selling those suites, eh? But all the better for us, heehee. Hmm, well I already mentioned about the whole elevator issue. The suite isn't that far from it, just around the corner and down the hall. There is a short hallway connecting port and starboard nearby that I often see the stewards leave their carts, but it was never an issue for me-- plus, if I ever needed a steward that'd be the first place I check, haha. I'm not sure if it's because someone spilled something or if they were pretty diligent on the cleaning, but I could often hear a fan blowing the carpet dry. You can't hear it form inside, but it'll hit you hard when you open the door. That's something else I really liked about the cabin-- how soundproof it seemed. I'm not sure if that's for all the rooms but I never heard a peep from my neighbours-- I wasn't even sure I had any until I saw everyone out on the balcony for the Na Pali Coast lol And one of my neighbours had kids who were loud, so yeah :)

 

OMG, I'm so excited for you! Just over a month left, eh? Will you be doing a review yourself?

[Miicah]

Loved your review and your photos! POA has been on my list of 'to do's' someday since hubby has not been on a cruise in Hawaii. I sailed on the old SS Independence back in the 80's and vowed to do a 7 day sail around the islands again someday, which is now limited to POA, which is fine by me!

I stayed at the Outrigger Reef back then and it is so convenient to everything! Looking at some of the photos took me right back - oh, the nostalgia! Got me excited about going again! When I lived in California, we use to alternate going to Hawaii or Mexico for vacation every year because both were so close (and cheap compared to now!!!) Thank you!

 

Aw, thank you so much for reading! I'm glad you enjoyed it and that it brought back so many memories!

 

Haha, omg, the Outrigger Reef! I still can't believe the chances of staying in the condo right beside it, haha. How is it there? But it really is in a nice location. Man, just thinking about it again makes me want to go back, haha. At least you were able to take advantage of visiting Hawaii and cruising the islands when it was cheap!

[Miicah]

Thanks for the review. We went on the POA on Feb. 28, 2015, we had a great time.

 

Thank you so much for reading! I'm sorry I wasn't able to finish it before you left for it, but I'm happy you had a great time on your cruise!

[Lorey2007]

Haha, yay, at least I know I'll have one person reading my review in November ^^ I'll be on the Royal Princess.

 

And OMG, you got my room! Congrats! I guess they really do have trouble selling those suites, eh? But all the better for us, heehee. Hmm, well I already mentioned about the whole elevator issue. The suite isn't that far from it, just around the corner and down the hall. There is a short hallway connecting port and starboard nearby that I often see the stewards leave their carts, but it was never an issue for me-- plus, if I ever needed a steward that'd be the first place I check, haha. I'm not sure if it's because someone spilled something or if they were pretty diligent on the cleaning, but I could often hear a fan blowing the carpet dry. You can't hear it form inside, but it'll hit you hard when you open the door. That's something else I really liked about the cabin-- how soundproof it seemed. I'm not sure if that's for all the rooms but I never heard a peep from my neighbours-- I wasn't even sure I had any until I saw everyone out on the balcony for the Na Pali Coast lol And one of my neighbours had kids who were loud, so yeah :)

 

OMG, I'm so excited for you! Just over a month left, eh? Will you be doing a review yourself?

 

Oh please refresh my memory about the elevator issue was it that we should only use the forward elevator? I'm thinking we could walk down to deck 11 and walk to the aft to get to the buffet. Was there a separate vanity area in the walk in closet, I read that somewhere that there was in some suites. If so is that were the hair dryer is, if not where is it, I suppose the desk could be used as a vanity if there's a plug there. Do you remember if there are any outlets in the bathroom? So sorry for the 20 questions I'm so glad I got your suite so you could answer all my silly questions. HAHA.

[gmazz]

We were not in that suite but in a SF #13518 and there were outlets by the vanity/desk area in the cabin as well as on each of the night stands. The 4 of us had no problems with charging phones all week and my daughter used her straightener at the vanity in the room. It even has a nice light for it that was perfect to get ready there while the bathroom was in use. We had s different bathroom layout but had no vanity in the changing area outside the bathroom. I did keep the light on at night in that hallway with the beautiful frosted glass sliding door closed for a nightlight when the boat was moving. If it was not closed it would move open and shut while the boat moved making noise. It was the perfect amount of light. On nights we stayed in ports I used the light around the bathroom vanity for a night light with the bathroom door partially closed. The suites are beautiful and boy were we spoiled with all that space. Gonna be hard to adjust to a balcony cabin on the Breakaway this June! We have separate a room for our girls next door do we have more space.

 

Micah thanks so much for your review, it was great to relive our trip of a lifetime through you. We had blah weather and not much sunshine our time in Hawaii so your pictures showed us how much more beautiful it really is there. Some day I hope to ho back but we have a few other trips on our bucket list to get to first!

 

Sent from my XT1080 using Forums mobile app

[BnAv10]

Just spent a good portion of my day reading through your very thorough trip report. Thank you so much for all the details! I love details! It really is helpful to the rest of us planning ahead.

 

I am headed to the POA in just a couple weeks, and am so excited I just can't wait! I've booked a few nights in hotels pre and post cruise because like you, I always get that depressed feeling when leaving the ship so I like to ease out of it. And I'm firmly against flying into port same day as embarkation. Better safe than sorry, and also like to rest up and get over jet lag before starting the cruise!

 

What a great tip to look for condo rentals through VRBO! I will definitely do that next time around. Looked like a great spot you had.

 

Pre-cruise we are booked at the Marriott simply because of the advantage of checking into the cruise at hotel, the hotel to ship transfer, and bypassing that huge line at the port. I think waiting in that line is the worst part of cruising so we do pay a premium to book that hotel through NCL to get that special deal. However, it sounds like if you book a suite you get to bypass that line too... might have to try to swing that for next time.

 

Thanks again and you have inspired me to keep a detailed journal of my trip and do a trip report when I return as well. I think the dailies and the restaurant menus are super helpful. I don't know why the cruise line doesn't post those on their site.

 

Until next time, aloha and mahalo!:)

[kgymn]

Just spent a good portion of my day reading through your very thorough trip report. Thank you so much for all the details! I love details! It really is helpful to the rest of us planning ahead.

 

I am headed to the POA in just a couple weeks, and am so excited I just can't wait! I've booked a few nights in hotels pre and post cruise because like you, I always get that depressed feeling when leaving the ship so I like to ease out of it. And I'm firmly against flying into port same day as embarkation. Better safe than sorry, and also like to rest up and get over jet lag before starting the cruise!

 

What a great tip to look for condo rentals through VRBO! I will definitely do that next time around. Looked like a great spot you had.

 

Pre-cruise we are booked at the Marriott simply because of the advantage of checking into the cruise at hotel, the hotel to ship transfer, and bypassing that huge line at the port. I think waiting in that line is the worst part of cruising so we do pay a premium to book that hotel through NCL to get that special deal. However, it sounds like if you book a suite you get to bypass that line too... might have to try to swing that for next time.

 

Thanks again and you have inspired me to keep a detailed journal of my trip and do a trip report when I return as well. I think the dailies and the restaurant menus are super helpful. I don't know why the cruise line doesn't post those on their site.

 

Until next time, aloha and mahalo!:)

 

Which sailing are you on? My husband and I are on the Apr 4th sailing. Can't wait!

 

~Katy

[Miicah]

Oh please refresh my memory about the elevator issue was it that we should only use the forward elevator? I'm thinking we could walk down to deck 11 and walk to the aft to get to the buffet. Was there a separate vanity area in the walk in closet, I read that somewhere that there was in some suites. If so is that were the hair dryer is, if not where is it, I suppose the desk could be used as a vanity if there's a plug there. Do you remember if there are any outlets in the bathroom? So sorry for the 20 questions I'm so glad I got your suite so you could answer all my silly questions. HAHA.

 

Yes, that's right, only use the forward elevator to reach the suite. It isn't a walk in closet, haha, but there are two closets in its own hallway leading to the washroom (one of which has a full-length mirror on the doors), so there isn't a space for a vanity area there. That desk is the vanity area, and as gmazz mentioned the mirror does have a light around it. There are plugs in this area, and pretty much everywhere else all over the room. Plugs was not hard to come by here haha As for the hair dryer, I don't think I ever remember seeing one, which is strange. I just went back and looked at the video I shot of the cabin since I thought there was one in the bathroom, but no, nothing. Maybe it was hidden in a drawer there and I don't remember. There are plugs in the bathroom-- one underneath the sinks by the trash can (which I think is one of those European ones since it was circular) and one above the circular magnifying mirror by the door. And no problem about the questions, haha.

Edited March 22, 2015 by Miicah

[Miicah]

We were not in that suite but in a SF #13518 and there were outlets by the vanity/desk area in the cabin as well as on each of the night stands. The 4 of us had no problems with charging phones all week and my daughter used her straightener at the vanity in the room. It even has a nice light for it that was perfect to get ready there while the bathroom was in use. We had s different bathroom layout but had no vanity in the changing area outside the bathroom. I did keep the light on at night in that hallway with the beautiful frosted glass sliding door closed for a nightlight when the boat was moving. If it was not closed it would move open and shut while the boat moved making noise. It was the perfect amount of light. On nights we stayed in ports I used the light around the bathroom vanity for a night light with the bathroom door partially closed. The suites are beautiful and boy were we spoiled with all that space. Gonna be hard to adjust to a balcony cabin on the Breakaway this June! We have separate a room for our girls next door do we have more space.

 

Micah thanks so much for your review, it was great to relive our trip of a lifetime through you. We had blah weather and not much sunshine our time in Hawaii so your pictures showed us how much more beautiful it really is there. Some day I hope to ho back but we have a few other trips on our bucket list to get to first!

 

Sent from my XT1080 using Forums mobile app

 

Hiya there gmazz, thanks so much for fielding a question lol And you are certainly right about being spoiled with all the space, especially that balcony, holy crap. I've read the reviews about the balcony cabins on my upcoming cruise and it's just gonna be an adjustment lol

 

Thank you so much for reading! I'm glad you were able to go down memory lane and that my pictures was able to show you a different kind of Hawaii. That's too bad you didn't have good weather during your stay :( That's the same for me, wanting to go back to tackle the things I missed but have a long list of places to visit before that, haha.

[Miicah]

Just spent a good portion of my day reading through your very thorough trip report. Thank you so much for all the details! I love details! It really is helpful to the rest of us planning ahead.

 

I am headed to the POA in just a couple weeks, and am so excited I just can't wait! I've booked a few nights in hotels pre and post cruise because like you, I always get that depressed feeling when leaving the ship so I like to ease out of it. And I'm firmly against flying into port same day as embarkation. Better safe than sorry, and also like to rest up and get over jet lag before starting the cruise!

 

What a great tip to look for condo rentals through VRBO! I will definitely do that next time around. Looked like a great spot you had.

 

Pre-cruise we are booked at the Marriott simply because of the advantage of checking into the cruise at hotel, the hotel to ship transfer, and bypassing that huge line at the port. I think waiting in that line is the worst part of cruising so we do pay a premium to book that hotel through NCL to get that special deal. However, it sounds like if you book a suite you get to bypass that line too... might have to try to swing that for next time.

 

Thanks again and you have inspired me to keep a detailed journal of my trip and do a trip report when I return as well. I think the dailies and the restaurant menus are super helpful. I don't know why the cruise line doesn't post those on their site.

 

Until next time, aloha and mahalo!:)

 

Aloha and mahalo for reading my review! I'm glad it was able to help you! I'm pretty OCD about planning (it's part of the fun for me!) and I figured if I was gonna do a report I might as well do it right and just cram all the information I can in it.

 

And yay, happy for you going on this cruise soon! I wanted to do a post-cruise stay as well but my mom didn't see the logic in staying in a hotel/condo twice so she shot that down :rolleyes: But I enjoyed the week pre-cruise. Yeah, I heard horror stories about flying in on embarkation day, and if we had the delayed flight that we had coming in a week earlier I'd hate to think if it happened when we were flying on the day of :eek: That's not the kind of stress I need before a relaxing vacation lol

 

And yeah, VRBO is definitely my go-to now if I'm going to have long land vacations or long pre-cruise stays, and just do hotels for those one or two days (plus since I learned about that whole Hilton MVP code thing I can also save if I go the hotel route to, which is nice). Though I've read some horror stories about VRBO, too, though, so I'm glad it worked out for us. Definitely was an amazing rental.

 

And OMG, I never thought that booking a hotel through the cruise line could get you pass that insanely long check-in line at the port. That's interesting...definitely something I might look into now, especially since I'm not sure if and when I'll be in a suite again to bypass the line that way lol :p But yes, one of the perks of being in a suite on NCL is that you do get to jump that line (and have a nice reception area while you wait to check in too ^^)

 

And awn, yay for inspiration! I'm looking forward to reading your trip report now :D And I wish I had taken more pictures of the menus but sometimes you just get lost in the moment, haha.

 

Thanks again, and have a safe and amazing trip!

[yogi636]

Thank you for such a wonderful review. Having grown up on Oahu I can tell you really covered a lot of the island. We were there in Oct and stayed a week at my brothers place in Makaha then did the Pride of America. We had such a great time. Thanks again for all of the great pictures I really enjoyed them.

[Lorey2007]

Hi Miicah it's me again:o. I recall you said you had wished you had discovered Skyline for breakfast sooner, was it that much better than Cagneys, a different menu or the atmosphere?

Did you have the mini fridge emptied and did it go a good job of keeping water or soda cold...not just cool?

One more for now, the lovely photo of you, your mom and the captain, when and where was that taken?

I'm getting giddy with excitement I started on the clothing thing and have our summer clothes all over the place.:eek:

Edited March 25, 2015 by Lorey2007

[chet the jet]

I loved the review and the pictures. We went on this cruise in Dec 2010 and had a blast. We spent the first 2 1/2 days on the island. You can see my photos below. Your detail of the cruise makes me want to go back. Thanks for taking your time to do this review

[jenmouse]

Great so far keep it coming.:)

 

A little off-topic, but Lorey, I am from Woodhaven, too. Small world!

[Lorey2007]

A little off-topic, but Lorey, I am from Woodhaven, too. Small world!

 

 

It is a small world, on our Oasis cruise we met a couple from Allen Park who we met before the cruise, while on the cruise it came up that he worked for DH's uncle when he was younger. On another cruise I met someone that worked for the same company I worked for but at a location in the south. We also have cruised with others that we have cruised with before but was not planned.

Hope your cruising soon.

[jenmouse]

It is a small world, on our Oasis cruise we met a couple from Allen Park who we met before the cruise, while on the cruise it came up that he worked for DH's uncle when he was younger. On another cruise I met someone that worked for the same company I worked for but at a location in the south. We also have cruised with others that we have cruised with before but was not planned.

Hope your cruising soon.

 

We had so many trips to Walt Disney World in a row where we ran into people we knew that it became a joke - who were we going to see next? :D

 

Our sailing on Pride is 149 days away; we are spending three nights at the Outrigger Waikiki before the cruise. We have been planning this for four or five years, so I can't believe it is almost here! We have nine family members going together, so we are really looking forward to it.

 

Miicah, thank you so much for this; it is exactly what I was looking for, and I spent a big chunk of my day reading it. The housework I missed will still be there tomorrow. ;)

[relic2]

Jenmouse, housework never does itself, so I'm sure it will wait for you.

I logged onto NCL yesterday and checked in for my cruise 296 days away. How will I wait?! Guess I can re-read this great report.