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POA review 7/29 sailing.

luv2gonow

By luv2gonow,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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luv2gonow

luv2gonow

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Hi,

Can't believe home over 2 weeks from an amazing vacation. This trip consisted of a 3 night DL stop (Grand Californian, 5 nights Aulani (Disney resort), 1 night Waikiki followed by the cruise. We are DVC members so stopping at California from East Coast and then relaxing at Aulani was amazing. Any questions from that part of trip just ask.

 

Ok I booked the NCL package that included 1 night at the Marriot Waikiki and transfers to airport. No beverage package in Hawaii:( We flew Jet blue to California, then Hawaiian Airlines from LAX to HNL, then direct from HNL to JFK. Flights were fine but my big gripe on Hawaiian is that they do NOT have the individual air nozzle above each seat. Now folks I know some people are grossed out by that germ air but for this claustrophobic can't sit still hate flying kinda girl, that air is priceless!. Not to mention I am always hot.

 

On Friday noon time we checked into the Marriot Waikiki. We had 2 rooms booked and they were both ready:hearteyes:

I had tried to call and upgrade to an Oceanview room, much to my chagrin they would not. So I was very pleasantly surprised to have a very good partial ocean view. My mom had a corner room which was even better. Room was spacious and very comfy bed. AC worked very well. Location is across from beach. It was a great location I thought. Right there was nice shaded benches by beach to watch surfers. Also there was a pier that jutted out which gave great view of coast. We were all hungry so set out for the road along beach to find a restaurant to have lunch. To the right we stopped at 1st big open air place. I think the name had burger in it. (cheeseburger paradise?) Open air beautiful view of beach. I am only mentioning it because I had he best Ahi tuna oriental salad EVER!! OMG it was so good.

Just want to mention that checkin was very easy they gave us NCL luggage tags that were the peel kind so no stapler needed. They said our pickup time was I think 10:45 next morning for ship.

After lunch we walked the strip, there is so much expensive shopping on this strip the further you walk down.

We just walked around, hung out on beach and just enjoyed the area. Waikiki is very busy, I was surprised how narrow the beach is also. So cool to just watch the surfers. The area reminded me slightly of Ft. Lauderdale beach vibe but it was much better.

 

Next morning we were all packed up and ready to start our cruise. No breakfast as we want to be hungry for our 1st lunch after boarding. I was a little nervous about our bags. They had us leave the bags inside rooms and they would come and collect them. I was like INSIDE and they looked at me like I'm crazy and said yea someone might steal them. I was asking because in Italy on a NCL land tour before med cruise they had us leave bags outside our rooms for pickup. Anyway very well organized met in lobby area, checked in and told them how many bags we left and off to the bus we were.

 

Check in at port was super quick and easy. I was in boarding group 2. They had a little aloha show in terminal with the ships performers which was awesome. Very quickly we were boarding and off to the buffet.

Being we were boarding so early and I figured most people would board later, I wore my bathing suit under clothes. Hubby wasn't hungry yet so I sent him to find a shady spot by pool.

Buffet area is different on this ship. I am used to the buffet having a line on port and starboard side mostly repeated. This buffet is set in the middle only. It seemed smaller maybe because it was so condensed but I didn't seem to be missing anything so I was happy with it. Food I thought was very good and the temps seemed to be spot on. Before I forget I think on day 2 don't remember lunch or dinner they had a tomato salad. Now I am picky about my tomato salads but this was amazing. Perfect tomatoes that had been soakin in the vinegar just the right amount of time with thin purple onions. So good just like my Italian aunt used to make and I have been disappointed since. I was hoping this was a daily thing but no....they didn't appear till day 6 again and I think it was same batch because it was super vinegary.

 

Anyway we enjoyed our lunch and headed over to the pool to relax till rooms were ready. This was the 1st time I ever hung at pool specifically on boarding day and I have to say I loved it. They had music playing pool was pretty empty and it was heaven. Was rocking out to the music doing water aerobics:cool: in between cocktails.

Oh that brings me to the next conundrum, no beverage package:loudcry:

Now I drink absolute baybreezes, the juice is just for color folks. I like em strong. So my bartender makes me a double and at 25 bucks I'm like this is not gonna work all week. So I say that to bartender ,he says.....well you tip me cash and I take care of you. Well folks. Its old school, yes tip your bartender well in cash on this ship and you will do just fine with the beverages...enough on that:-) I pretty much used same bartender all week.

 

Cabin. They announce by floors. We were on deck 9 and decks 11 and 9 were 1st I believe. We had a standard balcony and an inside, room was fine. Shower seemed to be smaller than usual but Ok. I like my room cold and AC never was cold enough for me. Maintenance came and blah blah, cold as can get blah blah. Last 2 trips we had 1 balcony and 1 inside. Inside room always colder and I am almost ready to switch back because of that. I keep blinds closed so I;m thinking whats the point LOL. Steward was fine didn't see him much, which was fine...we didn't need much.

 

Muster was your standard muster drill and everyone happy to have that over with.

I think we had dinner at the buffet that night. Walked around ship, had some drinks, watched some of the Welcome show and wrapped the night up.

 

Next up Maui

Kerri

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luv2gonow

luv2gonow

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Just a few words about ship 1st. Not a fan of some decks that are not walk thru's but no biggie lots of ships have that. I love the promenade deck goes all the way around. I think having more loungers on the deck would have been nice. Nice bar on back of ship but being that we were in port so much it was kind of hot there with not much moving air. I loved that the shops were always open in port. I did not miss the casino as lately I have been using that money in the spa.

 

Ok Maui....Just realized didnt' tell you our crew. Myself, my husband, mom and daughter 15 was on this trip.

My mom and I booked the Haleakala sunset tour. My husband and daughter booked the Segway tour. They loved the Segway tour and my husband wants to build one LOL. I was worried about the crater tour because I am not a fan of winding roads in the dark. This tour was in a full size tour bus which was kind of scary when you see these roads. We stopped at the visitors center on the way up which was closed. Apparently not enough people to run it or not enough money. This was basically a 20 min bathroom and photo stop.

We then proceed to top. Well about 9,600 feet. Bus can't go to tippy top which is another half mile? uphill

Guide says starting January they will not let the big tour buses in any more and they will switch to the smaller buses. This is bad for the companies many will lose jobs. But it will provide a better experience for guests.

Now my problem with tours is I am always paranoid about bathroom breaks. So when we stopped at the "visitors center" he kept saying that at the top of the mountain there are only 5 port o potties. I asked if we are stopping on the way back and he says no it will be dark . So now I am in a panic that we have many hours left in this tour with no bathroom break. Turns out there was a very nice bathroom and the port o potties must have been at tippy top that you had to hike to. So that was very unnecessary stress for myself and mom.

Ok so tour picks up at ship at like 3:30, we must have been on top by 5:15-5;30. Sunset is 7:10.

I was not hiking up to top so this was way to much time for me to be there.

Don't get me wrong it was beautiful and we had perfect weather. Not to cold or windy and the sunset was spectacular. But.....when cars started skidding in 20 min before sunset I was like yes that is how you do it!!!

Ride down pretty terrifying and you are happy there is a line of cars going slow.

 

We got back to ship just in time to skid into the show. Which was the best one all week. The "aloha" show with Polynesian dancers and such. It was very good and I really enjoyed seeing the different dances. I was starving after show it was like 10 so I ran to Cadillac diner for a snack. Tomato soup and chicken wings...Not bad!!

Then I went to buffet to grab a cup of tea and noticed they had snacks. lil sandwiches, one hot dish and dessert. Which I thought was great to have a late night snack option.

Enjoyed my tea on balcony and called it a night. I must say I love staying overnight in the port for more time but I don't like not sailing at night if that makes any sense:confused:

Next up day 2 Maui

Keri

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lauracruises

lauracruises

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We are doing something similar next May. We are also DVC members, so are doing 4 nights Aulani then the cruise. We are renting a car. Why did you go to Marriott? We are going to drive from Aulani to the port and dropping off the car there. Do you know how long/far the drive will be?Thanks

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luv2gonow

luv2gonow

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We are doing something similar next May. We are also DVC members, so are doing 4 nights Aulani then the cruise. We are renting a car. Why did you go to Marriott? We are going to drive from Aulani to the port and dropping off the car there. Do you know how long/far the drive will be?Thanks

 

Thanks for following everyone:-)

 

We stayed in Waikiki the night before the cruise before because it was included with the NCL promo. In Hawaii they only give you one promo and they don't have the beverage package there. So we picked the hotel it included a shuttle to port. Waikiki is close to port.

From Aulani to Waikiki was about 40 min no traffic but it could be a lot of traffic so do not go during rush hour. We took a taxi, he gave us rate of $95 meter was more. Aulani is closer to airport than cruise port so a little further.

 

I will be doing the next installment soon I apologize for taking so long!!

Kerri

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