Just back POH 8/21 (detailed review)

[luvmarley]

We were a group of 6 in 2 cabins on POH sailing 8/21/06. We arrived the day before our cruise and took a limo from the airport. He was waiting for us in the baggage claim area, helped us with the luggage and wisked us away and had cold drinks and a box of chocolate mac nuts for us in the limo ($70 + tip). We stayed at the Marriott Waikiki Beach hotel booked through NCL. When we arrived at the hotel at 2 pm, the NCL representatives had our room keys ready and their bellman took our luggage to the rooms. I had requested the front tower but we were upgraded to Ocean view/Diamond head view rooms in the back tower. Our rooms were great and we didn't think that the walk to beach was far. We were told to go to the NCL office in the lobby area before 8 pm to register. I did this and each passenger had to have a picture taken (including the baby). We gave a credit card for use on the cruise. We booked all of our dinner reservations for the cruise here and when done she told us that this was only a request and that we would have to call and make sure that they were reserved. None of the reservations were made when we arrived on board so we had to make them again. (These were made by the manager in the NCL office!) Also, they were out of spa brochures and they were unable to make any spa appointments from this office. 3 of us booked the Pearl Harbor and citi tour( on our own)early Monday morning. It left from the hotel at 7 am and returned around 11:45am. It was $22 pp. We enjoyed it and felt that it was a good use of our time before the cruise. The other 3 went to the Zoo that morning which is in walking distance of the hotel. We were back in time to get the shuttle to the ship at 1pm. Embarkation was very easy. There was a separate line for Marriott passengers and it took about 15 minutes to get on the ship. The buffet on deck 12 was open for lunch as was the Grand Pacific for sit down service. The pool was open and there was live entertainment playing island music. We went to the buffet for lunch (very good) and then I went to the spa for a tour and to book service for my DIL and myself later that afternoon. When I was in the spa, our deck was called that our cabins were ready (2 pm). The spa is gorgeous. Our group included DH, DS 22yrs, DS 26, DIL 26 and DGS 3 mo. We had 2 cabins on Deck 11 one inside 11141 and one AF minisuite aft 11150. Cabin were beautiful and clean the locations were great and our cabin steward Emily kept the cabins very clean and left towel animals a couple nights. Use the system on the outside of the cabin to let the steward know when to make up the room or turn down the beds. This worked great for us. We did not have a coffee maker in either cabin and were told that they had all had been removed from the rooms. We were given room service request forms to order am coffee if wanted. I sent my son to check on the dinner reservations. He went to Papas and there were 2 or 3 people ahead of him. He made all of the reservations for dinners then and we were able to get the same times as we had requested at the Marriott. We had all different times and places including a 7:30 pm reservation at the Grand Pacific one night. We tried to request a specific server at Grand Pacific but were unable to. The specialty restaurants are open from 5:30 to close daily( I think that the last seating is 9:30 pm). From 5:30 to 6pm they are 1/2 price any night and if you have a Mastercard coupon book, the first night you can buy one get one free at any specialty restaurant. We took advantage of that and went to Cagneys the first night at 8pm. We were not impressed with Cagney's. The service was slow and the food was half and half. The steak and tuna were good as were the shrimp cocktail and crabcakes. The Ceasar salad was horrible and the potaote sides were worse. The baked potatoes were brown inside and tasted boiled, the scalloped potaotes were hard and bland and the vegetables were overcooked. We were there for 2 hrs getting dinner so never got dessert! There was a comedian at 9:15 that night which we missed as we were at dinner until 10. It gets better! We ate in Jasmine, the service here was very good and the food was excellent so much so that we changed and ate here twice. All the food on the menu was great, we tried it all. My DS and DIL went to the sushi one night and loved it. The shabu shabu was available at 2 tables and they had Tepenyaki but it didn't look very busy, my guess is that they didn't have enough cooks as the TV always said it was full but they only seemed to have 1 or 2 cooks performing when we were there. We ate at Papas where the service was great. We are an Italian family so are quite biased and did not care for the pasta sauces. The appetisers and salads were great and the pizza was good. The desserts were great here too. We tried Paniola as a change and found it average. My sons went to UT in Austin, Texas so we were used to the best TexMex and we were not expecting much. It is a fun atmosphere and the service was great. The special of the house was good. It was a grilled skirt steak and grilled pineapple that comes out on a vertical skewer thing. Everyone yells OLE when that is delivered! The salsa was great too. Black beans were much better than the refried ones. Tortillas and chips were lacking and my DIL said the vegetable tostada she got was horrible! Fajitas were marginal. Desserts were good. We liked LeBistro and had the best service here. We ate at 6 pm that night and that may be why as there were only a few tables seated then. The food here is excellent also. The chateaubriand was very good. The salads and soups and desserts were great too. We had a very poor experience at the Grand Pacific. We had made a reservation for Thursday, the optional formal night (which was not the Lobster/ prime rib night that was Tuesday). The hostess (who had only been on the ship a few nights) could not find our table....we were paraded around the entire place with 5 and a stroller twice when my DS finally saw the number on the table. We were seated and after 25 minutes had NO service, not even water. My DS got up to see what the problem was and the assistant Maitre D informed us that we had a new waitress but that we would be served soon. We did not receive our entree until 9pm after being seated at 7:30pm. They had run out of a dessert by the time we ordered. The food was cold when we got it and was average at best. As we had complained, the head Maitre D came and tried to explain that service was an issue and that he was trying to improve the situation. He did make arrangements for us to have the best server in Le Bistro the next night and gave us a free bottle of wine there which we enjoyed very much. The buffet was very good for breakfast, they had made to order omelets and then had either pancakes french toast or waffels. One am they had eggs benedict which was excellent. They have a machine that makes expresso or cappachino in two areas also. We ate at the Blue Lagoon for lunch one day, they had great appetisers and the Fish and Chips was very good. My DS ate at the Blue Lagoon late night and said the pizza was good.

My DS and DIL and other DS enjoyed the comedian and magician in the Spinnaker lounge. We went to the Broadway show with the crew on stage at the end and it was OK nothing special. We thought that the piano player in the bar area was very good. We did not spend much time in the bars but DS said that he had a good time in all bar areas, lots of crew members use this area at night. We found all of the crew very friendly and most were helpful. Some were very inexperienced but did try anyway.

We loved Hawaii as it was our first trip, we rented cars and planned excursions on our own. We were able to do a lot more for less money as there were 5 adults and we were with a baby. On Hilo, we went to Akaka Falls in the morning and were able to do the easy walk with the baby. On the scenic route (4 mile diversion) at mile marker 7, there is a great area that you can walk down to the water. There is a back sand beach and rock area that has a really cool blow hole. We got some really cool pictures of DS on rocks with blowhole. We then went to VNP and the Lava tube. We hoped to be able to explore the unlighted part, even brought our own flashlights but there was a barrier that could not be moved to access that area. The sail by the lava that night at 9:45 is really special! We could see it very well from our balcony, bring binoculars to see upclose! On Maui, we did the Haleakala express downhill($50pp) with Haleakala bike co. in Ha'iku. It was a great trip. If you don't have a car, they will pick up at the pier for $10. We did not see the crater with this trip, they drop off just below the summit. They do have a trip that includes the summit if interested. We had a great time and were able to go at our own pace and stop when we wanted. There are several places to stop on the way down. They rest of our group went to Maui ocean center and really enjoyed that. We ate lunch at Mama's Fish House. It is a beautiful place and the food was the best we had the entire trip! It is pricey though! The other day, we went to Kaanapali beach at the Sheraton/Black rock area. My DS jumped off Black Rock sev. times and we snorkeled too. The current around Black Rock was strong that day and kept pushing us into the coral and we didn't think that snorkeling was that great here. The beaches along the way to Kaanapali looked great for surfers. Lots of waves and great shaded areas. Some had restroom facilities also. We ate lunch at Hard Rock Cafe and stopped in Hilo Hatties in Lahaina. The first afternoon we were in Maui, we had enough time to do an interesting drive. We took the advice of the Maui revealed book and did the drive from Kahului Bay up Route 340 to Hanokohau, stopping at the Olivine pools and the Nakalele blowhole. It is a very narrow, windy road with lots of one lane areas and bridges. My DH loved driving it with a cadilac escalade! Beautiful views of the ocean and mountains. It is compared to the Road to Hana without all the traffic and doesn't take as long. The Olivine pools are a hike down to the ocean but pretty! We also stopped at the Ioa Needle on the way back. It is only 3 miles from the ship! It is so lush and tropical, it was raining when we were there so we didn't stay long but it is beautiful and free.

On Kona, we did not rent a car, we took the Captain Zodiac snorkel trip throught the ship. It was no cheaper to book direct. They leave right from the pier. This is a tender port and we saw spinner dolphin from the tender boats! This was a fun excursion. We saw lots of spinner dolphin some with babies right next to the raft! The snorkeling at Captain Cooks monument was great. Lots of coral, colorful fish and calm waters. We have also snorkeled in Grand Cayman and thought the fish there were larger and more diverse ie rays and sharks. This area is very protected and u will not see rays or sharks. It is a great place for beginners and experienced snorkelers. They had snacks of fresh pineapple, oranges and apples and chips and drinks for the ride back. The water was very calm and the Zodiac ride was not very rough. We returned to the ship by 11:45 to shower and change and then went back to Kona, we went to the Kona Brewing Co. for lunch great Pizza and good beer! Then wandered around the area on Alii dr. Went to the Farmer's market and had shave ice at Scandinavian it was the best we had on the trip!

In Kauai we went to Kipu Falls park in the morning. It is a walk down a muddy path and then climbing over slippery rocks to get there. We could not take the baby so took turns watching him in the car. The boys enjoyed jumping from the waterfall and swinging into the pool from the rope swings. It is pretty buggy so use bugspray! That afternoon it rained and we had booked the mudbug tour through Kipu Ranch. They cancelled it for safety reasons. We were really disappointed and when we tried to book something else ie: ziplines everything was already full or had left. We drove out to Po'ipu beach and spouting horn. Nothing special there. The next day we had helicopter tours with Kauai air. We had to take back to back tours so we could watch the baby. This is a great way to see the entire island. It was a beautiful clear day and we all enjoyed this trip. My sons then rented mopeds for the rest of the day and explored the island. They enjoyed this also. Could rent them at the car park area near the pier. They rented by the hour or day. The car park area by the pier for rental cars is free in Maui but $10 in Kauai. Get the parking pass the first morning or they may be full when u get back that first afternoon. Sailing by the Napali coast at sunset was just gorgeous! You can see it from any deck or restaurant that is on the port side. The sail by starts around 5:30 and is done around 6 or 6:15pm. That night was very clear and we could see the moon and stars on the ocean from our balcony.

We did the easy fly program as we were scheduled to leave at 5 pm Monday($20pp). You fill out form that they leave in the Freestyle daily listing the passangers, number of bags and flight info. They give you the boarding passes and airline luggage tags for the bags about 8 pm Sunday night. Ours were left in the cabin. The bags have to be packed and out in front of the cabin by 10 pm Sunday night. You will need a change of clothes etc. for Monday am. All of our bags arrived with out problems. Baggage numbers are printed on the front page of the boarding tickets.

Monday am we took our time and had a nice last breakfast on board. We left the ship around 9:30 had rented a car for the day and drove out to the North Shore. We took the LikeLike highway across to Rt 83 then up the windward coast. It was a beautiful drive and we stopped at couple beaches along the way. We saw some sea turtles from the beach at turtle beach. We ate lunch in Hale'iwa and then tried Matsumoto's shave ice. It was good too but we thought Scandinavian's was better in Kona. Drve back Rt 99 to H2 to airport and returned rental car. We rented all cars through Hertz( as we are Gold members) on line before we left. Shuttles were at the pier as we called from the ship before we left. We all had Verizon cell service and the phones worked well in port and off and on in ship areas. DH was able to use his computer with work internet card on the ship and in port so we did not buy any internet minutes. The Revealed books were a great resource for us and if you do research before u leave it will be a great trip. We were able to change Specialty restaurant reservations. We just went to the restaurant at 5:30pm when they opened and asked if we could get in that night. We did this for Paniola and were given a 7:15 time for 6 people and again to change from 5:30 to 6:30p at Jasmine the night we sailed past the Napali coast. Do not believe the TV monitors or phone reservation number for the restaurants. If you go to them directly, we found them very accomodating. I will try to answer any questions. We had a wonderful time and would do it again in a heartbeat!

[Zeno]

Excellent detailed review! I think you have provided some very good info on handling the restaurants!

[dwrist]

Thanks, luvmarley for the informative review.

Glad you enjoyed your vacation.

Quick question, did the baby stay in the inside cabin or aft cabin? How did that work out with a pac and play or where the baby slept?

we are hoping to do a family cruise in the future.;)

[newmexicoNita]

good objective review. Thanks again,

 

Nita

[theabteam]

Thanks so much for the detailed review! This is really helpful information, especially regarding the restaurants and reservations and Na Pali coast viewing time.

 

Do you remember what times the shows were? Did they have two identical shows in the evenings, and if so, what were the two times? Want to make sure I plan my restaurant reservations accordingly. Don't want to miss the entertainment. Thanks so much!

[newlywedcruisers]

Wow! Thank you for a well written objective and detailed review of NCLA.

I appreciate you taking the time to write and post!

[woodley]

Very informative review. Were there any onboard activities if you spent time on the ship rather than being on the islands all the time?

[luvmarley]

Glad to be of help. So many people posted here before we cruised and had lots of helpful info. Just trying to do my part! To answer questions:

dwrist: Nico slept in a pak and play supplied by the ship in the inside cabin. He spent alot of time in the minisuite and on the balcony as well. He just slept on the bed in a wedge when in a minisuite. Of course being a proud grandma, I feel that he is an angel baby and was very good. He slept through most dinners and was very good most of the time in the car and indoor excursions.

 

theabsteam: There are usually 2 shows a night in the Stardust theater. 7:30 and 9:30 on Th, Sat nights but 6:30 and 8:30 on Tuesday, 9:15 only on Wednesday and Sunday. There are also shows at the Spinnaker lounge 9:15 M,10:15 Tue, 10 W,8:30 and 10:30 Th, 9:30 Sat and a guest star seeker show Sunday at 4pm. IMO the shows at Spinnaker were better.

 

woodley: We were not on the ship during the day much but there is a full fitness area with very good workout equipment. The spa is great. There is a full size basketball/ soccer court, a putting green and golf swing area, shuffleboard, large size checkers and chess set on deck, ping pong an arcade room. My DS used all of these areas and enjoyed them. There is an art auction, Karoke, pub crawl etc. Every day there are daytime activities listed in the freestyle dailies.

[theabteam]

Thank you so much for the info on the showtimes! You are so helpful! :-)

[sandyneck]

Thanks for the great review. We are a family of four booked in an inside cabin. I know it will be tight, but hoping it wasn't outrageously small. Could you give a brief description how it worked out. Thanks again.

[dwrist]

Thank you for the reply and info. Now to share it with the kids:)

[aucruiser]

Excellent review. You have given me some good ideas for excursions on our own.

 

About how much time did you spend on the drive in Maui from Kahului Bay up Route 340?

 

With the Easy Fly program, do you literally not see your luggage after it is taken from the hallway on the last night until arriving at your home airport? In other words, do you have to claim or identify it upon disembarking the ship before it is transported to the airport?

[cruzfiend]

Thank You for your review, my question is - The coffee makers were removed from the rooms - is this a new policy????????????

[tomluvsaida]

Thanks for that excellent review, especially on the restaurants. You are the first to tell us (that I know of) about being able to reserve the restaurants at the Marriott before boarding. That's an excellent tip!:D

[Cotopaxi]

We are looking at booking this cruise next summer. We have never sailed NCL before. Are all these restaurants free, or do some have a charge? Any info on freestyle dining would be great thanks. Glad to hear you had a great trip! Seems like the perfect way to see all the islands.

[luvmarley]

Sandyneck:

4 people in an inside will be tight. There are different sizes in the indoor category as you have booked 4 per room you should be getting the largest one. They usually have 2 twin beds and then 2 beds that pull down from the wall to sleep two. The room we had was for 3 plus a crib. There were 2 twins a pull down area and room for a pack and play. There was very little leg room and it was very dark inside. The bathrooms are nice size and there is quite a bit of storage so if u don't spend a lot of time in the room it should work, but expect it to be cramped.

aucruiser:

We spent about 2 hours on the drive but didn't spend much time at the pools. The Easy fly is available to those flying out of Honolulu Monday after 12 noon on American, Delta or United. You won't see your luggage again until you arrive at your home airport. It was great!

cruzfiend:

Our cabin steward told us that they had removed the coffee makers from all the rooms a few weeks ago. I bet that the villas and owners suites still have them though.

tomluvsaida:

On the NCL website where they have the info on booking the Marriott, they say that you can book the first night's dinner reservation and book ship excursions and spa treatments at the Marriott before boarding, but as I said the reservations that she made for us at the Marriott never transferred to the ship so it wasn't a useful benefit for us.

cotopaxi:

Several of the restaurants on the ship are free and some have a small fee. The Grand Pacific and Alizar are the main dining rooms and are free and do not require reservations Grand Pacific is open for all 3 meals but Alizar is only open for dinner . The Aloha Nui Cafe is a buffet and is free and open for all 3 meals. The Blue Lagoon is free and is open breakfast, lunch and late night dining(10 pm to 6 am). The Specialty restaurants all require reservations and are only open for dinner. Papas and Paniola are free, LeBristro and Jasmine are $10 pp and Cagney's is $15pp. In Jasmine additionally there is Teppanyaki ($20pp), Shabu Shabu ($10pp) and Sushi ($10pp). According to the Freestyle Dailies, all specialty restaurants are 50% off from 5:30 to 6:30pm. We were not given discounts and had dinner at 6 pm twice and Sushi at 5pm once. I will have to check with NCL about the charges.

[cruzfiend]

Thanks, LUV - I'm really bummed :((((

[Cotopaxi]

Thanks luvmarley for all the great info, that really cleared things up. I am really excited about booking this, hope to do it this weekend.

[sneakerstud]

After all that many bad revievs we have cancelled today our NOV cruise on POH!

[syracr]

what about the car rental on the last day in Honolulu? How did you get to the airport? was there a shutlle?

[Naashtezhi]

Thanks, LUV - I'm really bummed :((((

 

We did breakfast in the room every day last week (08-21 to 08-27). Arrived in 5-10 mins. Ordered the 8-cup pot of coffee if that'll help. Not quite the same as brewing a pot of your favorite blend, but it wasn't too bad.

[sweetkeys]

We are on the 9/18 sailing and can hardly wait. Thanks for taking the time to give such a terrific review. And all the positive info. There have been so many negative postings that I was getting a little nervous. But the more recent reviews have been much more positive. First time for our family of four to go to Hawaii. We plan to rent cars everywhere and do our own thing. Any words of advice on car rentals? We also have another couple traveling with us, so I have reserved mini-vans for the six of us at each port. We are all very adventurous and don't plan to spend a lot of money on over priced excursions. We have booked two mini-suites for our family of four as our children are now 15 and 22 - a quad was fine when they were young, but not any more. And our friends have a mini-suite as well - all three suites next to each other! The hints on the restaurants are great!! It sounds like you had a wonderful, memorable vacation.

[lindajeff]

Sweetkeys - google "Hawaii discount car rentals" and there are several brokers/agencies to choose from. We are going to use Thrifty - with their (free) Blue Chip program and discounthawaiicarrental.com's "corporate" rate, we are getting a great deal AND Thrifty has free pier/Thrifty pier/Thrifty shuttles. Good luck and have a great trip.

Jeff - PoH 9/11

[cruizinwithkids]

After all that many bad revievs we have cancelled today our NOV cruise on POH!

 

????? This review as well as another and I just booked POH.

[sweetkeys]

Sweetkeys - google "Hawaii discount car rentals" and there are several brokers/agencies to choose from. We are going to use Thrifty - with their (free) Blue Chip program and discounthawaiicarrental.com's "corporate" rate, we are getting a great deal AND Thrifty has free pier/Thrifty pier/Thrifty shuttles. Good luck and have a great trip.

Jeff - PoH 9/11

 

I am a blue chip member and have booked all through Thrifty. I'll check out the discount site and see if I can same a few bucks. Thanks for your input.:)