Quick Review of POA 9/10-9/17/22

[BURNSMN]

Just back from POA Cruise ending 9/17/22 folowed by five day land vacation on Maui.

There has not been much info on Cruise Critic about these sailings since they returned earlier this year so I thought I would give a current report.

This was our second voyage on POA, our first being ten years ago.

We spent one night at the Outrigger Wakiki prior to boarding.

 

POA

 

 WHAT'S OPEN:

Restaurants: Cagney's 5:30-9p, Jefferson's Bistro 5:30-9p, Teppanyaki (Just reopened, not listed at all in Freestyle), Skyline 5:30-9p, Aloha Cafe (Continental Breakfast 6-6:30a, Breakfast 6:30-10a, Lunch 12-2:30p, Snack 2:30-3:30p, Dinner 5-9p) Cadillac Diner 24 hours.

 

Bars: John Adams Deck 5 (6:30a-9:30p), Mardi Gras Lounge Deck 6 (7:30p-2a), Napa Wine Deck 6 (5-9p), Ocean Drive Deck 11 (8:30a-6p), Pink's Champagne Deck 6 (5p-Midnite).

 

Entertainament: Hollywood Theater (One show per night, most nights 7:30p, exceptions Aloha Polynesian Maui first night at 7p and Kauai first night show at 9:30p).

Mardi Gras (One or two shows, parties, or DJ a night). Pink's (Various performers nightly). Atrium (Hawaiian performers at various times throughout the week).

 

Misc: All shops were open along with Kids and Teen Clubs with limited hours. Gym 24 hours and pools from 8a-8p. 

 

OUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ABOVE:

Restaurants:

We ate at all the restaurants other than Teppanyaki. Made all specialty reservations when we got on the ship. Just walked up to Skyline for main dining.

No problem getting any specialty times (had two Platinum dinners and one with booking special). Only had to wait once at Skyline. Aloha Buffet was only crowded before first morning at ports. We thought the food and service were excellent at specialty, better than expected at main, and ok at buffet.

 

Bars:

This was the most annoying area of sailing with reduced capacity and staff. Having only one pool bar with limited staff and closing at 6p was unacceptable.

If you want a drink during busy times be prepared to wait. They also had very limited staff serving the areas around the pool. There is a small drink area in the buffet where you could get limited beer and wine offerings. The lower level bars were also very busy during dinner hours.

 

Entertainment:

The Hollywood Theater was never crowded for any of the shows. Most nights it was less than half full even with only one performance. This cruise is about  Hawaii not shows. We did go most nights and saw Vince Acevedo (comedian), Aloha Polynesian ( local performers), Three Guys Worldwide (singers), ICONS (production show), and Jassen Allen (singer). We did not go to the magician and the last night was supposed to have been another production show but was changed to Jassen Allen with no reason given. We were happy to see that the Aloha Polynesian show and production shows have returned to the ship. We enjoyed all the shows and also attended many others in Mardi Gras and Pinks. The Hawaiian performers are also a nice touch.

 

GENERAL:

The weather was beautiful for this trip with highs normally in the 80's, warm breezes, and little rain.

We bid on and received a balcony cabin upgrade which was on Deck 10 midship portside.  Great location, good for viewing and suprisingly quiet.

The ship staff began the week with a lot of mask wearing but by the end of the week NCL rules for employees changed and most were no longer wearing them.

They seemed to be quite happy about the decision and for the first day was being discussed by them all over the ship.  

We did the following shore excursions:

Maui: Road to Hana (Independent) and Grand Wailea Beach Day (NCL)

Hilo: Volcano Safari Aftermath of Last Eruption (Independent)

Kona: Captain Zodiac (NCL)

Kauai: Royal Sonesta Day Pass (Independent)

 

SUMMARY:

This was our second cruise post pandemic and it felt almost back to normal.

Reduced capacity and service are evident but this was a great cruise overall.

We knew what to expect from our research and had a wonderful time in Hawaii.

We finished our vacation in Maui staying at Kaanapali Beach Hotel in a beachfront room.

We can't wait till our next cruise and are so happy to be travelling again.

Happy to answer any questions.

 

[Gracelyn]

Great review! I’ve  been waiting for someone to post, so thank you. 
did you notice many wearing masks? Or hand sanitizers scattered. 
congrats on bid win! Great location. 
 

how long, generally did the specialty dinner take? 
thanks

Gracelyn 

[Linsuesue]

Thanks for the great information! We will be onboard in a little over a week. The long bar lines seem to negate the benefits of having a drink package. I love the Teppanyaki best, so that is great news for me!

[Paula_MacFan]

Thanks for the review! We're going in January.

Any comments on the Kona zodiac? We are considering that excursion and welcome any feedback. 

[BURNSMN]

1 hour ago, Gracelyn said:

Great review! I’ve  been waiting for someone to post, so thank you. 
did you notice many wearing masks? Or hand sanitizers scattered. 
congrats on bid win! Great location. 
 

how long, generally did the specialty dinner take? 
thanks

Gracelyn 

Thank you.

This was the week when most of the crew quit wearing masks.

Also, very few of of the passengers were wearing them (5-10%).

There were hand sanitizers scattered throughout the ship, but we were one of a few using them.

Pre pandemic NCL had staff paying attention to hand cleaning but now you are on you own.

Specialty dinners took between 75-90 minutes.

 

 

[Linsuesue]

Since the POA is in port most of the daylight hours, did you get charged a port tax for every drink you ordered while in each port?

[BURNSMN]

53 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

Thanks for the review! We're going in January.

Any comments on the Kona zodiac? We are considering that excursion and welcome any feedback. 

We love Captain Zodiac and snorkeling by the Captain Cook monument.

It is a very intense ride, sitting on the side of an inflatable boat at high speed while holding on tightly.

The snorkeling site is excellent and on the return trip you will zoom by the rock shoreline and slightly enter some sea caves.

We have now doen this twice, the first time booked independently and this time through NCL.

Tried to book it on our own again but had to go through NCL.

A great time if you can handle the boat ride!

[BURNSMN]

1 minute ago, Linsuesue said:

Since the POA is in port most of the daylight hours, did you get charged a port tax for every drink you ordered while in each port?

Yes you do get charged tax on every drink while in port.

[Linsuesue]

Just now, BURNSMN said:

Yes you do get charged tax on every drink while in port.

Oh my!

[Jones234]

On 9/23/2022 at 11:08 PM, BURNSMN said:

We love Captain Zodiac and snorkeling by the Captain Cook monument.

It is a very intense ride, sitting on the side of an inflatable boat at high speed while holding on tightly.

The snorkeling site is excellent and on the return trip you will zoom by the rock shoreline and slightly enter some sea caves.

We have now doen this twice, the first time booked independently and this time through NCL.

Tried to book it on our own again but had to go through NCL.

A great time if you can handle the boat ride!

Thank you for this. I'm also trying to decide on an excursion in Kona. Wondering if we should go for the longer one--includes a tour of a coffee farm--or just the zodiac. I'm trying to drill down into various PoA conversations on here to get some intel. The NCL site doesn't have many reviews posted for the excursions.

 

Thank you again.

Edited October 3, 2022 by Jones234
typo

[georgiacat]

Thank you for the review.  I have been looking for some information about POA as we go in May.

[fabby50]

We are going in December and it will be our third time doing this cruise.  With all the port time, we kind of thought of the ship as a floating hotel rather than a cruising experience.  The best cruising part was the Napoli coast.  I'm looking forward to a great time, thanks for the updates!

[whitsmom]

Thanks for the review!  We will be POA mid-January.  I was able to make our specialty dining reservations with our NCL travel agent.  I emailed him just to ask to see if it was possible or not and he called me and we got it booked.  This will be our first time in Hawaii and have all our excursions booked.  I suppose we are as ready as possible. 

[teamwanderer]

2 hours ago, fabby50 said:

We are going in December and it will be our third time doing this cruise.  With all the port time, we kind of thought of the ship as a floating hotel rather than a cruising experience.  The best cruising part was the Napoli coast.  I'm looking forward to a great time, thanks for the updates!

Fabby50,  see this is your 3rd POA cruise.  Any suggestion for 2nd day in Maui.  We've completed many cruises, but this is our 1st to Hawaii and 1st on NCL.  Our sail date is December 3rd. 

[teamwanderer]

Thank you Burnsmn. 

[georgiacat]

What excursions (POA and independent) have you done or plan to do?  This is the stage I am at.  I have Honolulu planned (not bought), and they want a helicopter ride.

[fabby50]

17 hours ago, teamwanderer said:

Fabby50,  see this is your 3rd POA cruise.  Any suggestion for 2nd day in Maui.  We've completed many cruises, but this is our 1st to Hawaii and 1st on NCL.  Our sail date is December 3rd. 

I can tell you what we're doing this trip - taking the local bus over to the aquarium.  Excursions are expensive on any of the islands and if you find something you'd like to do using local transport, it significantly reduces the cost as does pre-purchasing tickets through the websites.  We go to Kauai frequently, for example, and never do excursions through the ship there as we're most familiar with that island.

[teamwanderer]

Thank you