POH cruise , Jan. 1-8 , 2007

[Kapuna]

We had a good cruise but marginal weather . This was our second time on the POH and some changes are evident .

 

Perhaps most important , the Papa's Italian and Paniolo restaurants no longer take reservations but are strictly first come first serve basis . This takes pressure off the main dining rooms but makes for long lines at times . The extra cost restaurants still have a reservation system . There were no half price deals for these on our cruise .

 

We felt that the best food was in the buffet ( Lobster AND Prime Rib the same night ! ).

[cruzfiend]

Kapuna: thanks for the info. It's good to know. BTW - did you wear many dresses on this cruise or did most women wear shorts and capris to supper?

[Kapuna]

We did not see any women wearing shorts in the dining rooms , but many wore long pants or pant suits .

However , more people wear shorts at the buffet .

 

My advice for those who want to try the specialty restaurants is to go to the no cost ones on the 1st or 2nd night and , also , make reservations for the extra cost ones as soon as possible for later nights .

[4evrwild]

How bad was the weather? We are sailing on POH 2/5 and I'm wondering if it will be cool. Also, would you happen to know anything about the wine selections or food choices? When you had lobster at the buffet was it up on the Lido deck (I don't know if that's what NCL calls it)?

 

What were your favorite things to see?

 

Thanks so much,

4evrwild;)

[tray]

Just FYI: on the Jewel a couple of weeks ago, my nieces and nephews were turned away from the dining room once and the Teppanyaki restaurant once for wearing shorts. They were jean shorts, so that may have had something to do with it. But I do remember reading 'no tanks or shorts allowed in dining areas'.

[bubiesmom]

Kapuna, sorry I didn't see you in roll call. (Didn't wind up meeting anyone from CC). Oh well, I was on this cruise too. I will write a formal review in a few days. As far as the dining goes, the buffet for lobster and prime rib night was good, Papa's was very good, did this 2x, but service was inconsistent. Blue Lagoon was good, but not good for your cholesterol. Food was very fried, gooey, cheesy and seasoned...We dressed for formal night. I in nice pants, DH in a nice suit, DD in party dress and DH in his tux pants and tie/cumberbund (from school choir). We took some nice formal pictures. By midweek, the resort casual went out the window. We were in Papa's and some people were in shorts and gym shoes....and flipflops..I asked for a grilled cheese in the buffet for lunch and they said they were only making them for the kids. I said "I could be 12", I got no laughs and no grilled cheese...more to follow

I agree with tray, there were no signs about the dress code and I saw no one get turned away.I'm glad I dressed up, I have nice pics and we had a nice dress up night, very few in long gowns and I didn't see any tuxs, but we didn't get into Cagney's or want the french or asian restaurants...the weather....I saw no sunrise or sunset, very cloudy all week. Some sun the first day and on Saturday for a few hours. Not the balmy weather I was looking for, but the staff I talked to said the weather was typical winter in Hawaii

[northwoods2]

We were also on this cruise.

Best restaurants in order of preference:

Jasmines - wish we had eaten hear more than once. By far the best.

Cagney's - very good - we ate here the first night and it was mostly empty.

Teppanyaki - very good chef/performance. Food was good

Le Bistro - excellant service. Food was good but selection wasn't that great for our tastes.

 

Other restaurants we ate at:

Alizar for lobster - somewhat rude service, but you could tell they were really hustling about. Food was good.

Paniolo - no reservations allowed. We ate here on the overnight in Maui. Didn't have any problem getting in. Food was ok. Service was terrible. Water glasses were empty thru most of the meal and were finally filled just as we were about to leave.

Papas - Concierge recommended we arrive 30 minutes prior to the time we want to eat to put our name in. So we arrived at 6:30. We were finally seated at 9:00!!!!! No pagers were used. They told us to come back around 8:00 so we went to a couple other bars and came back just after 8 and then sat at the bar in Papas. Joe the bartender there was great fun. Food was good. Service was ok when we were finally seated. We were the last ones out of the restaurant that night.

Blue Lagooon - for lunch one day. Food and service were bad.

Aloha Nui Buffet - food was quite good for breakfast and lunch. Really liked the pizza. And they had a great hummus that we grabbed for an appetizer that last night.

 

We all decided that it wasn't worth it to eat at any of the non paying restaurants. It was worth it to pay the premimum for the service and food. We wish they would just raise the cruise price and make it all no fee.

 

As far as casual dress. We sat near a woman in Alizar who had on jean shorts for Lobster night. I was quite surprised but by the end of the cruise we were in the free style spirit and didn't want to dress up ourselves. We mostly wore capris and nice shirt.

 

Weather was not the best - but it was still warm most of the time. There were two days that it was too cool coming out of the hot tubs on deck.

 

We had a very adventerous trip with many incidents/accidents - will have to write a trip report later.

[Kapuna]

Depends on what you mean by cool ! Daily high's were about 80F , lows about 70F . Fairly cloudy with sunny periods ; occasional showers .

 

But Feb . could be different ; today we are having mid 80's with lots of sunshine in Honolulu .

 

Yes , the buffet is the Lido on deck 12 with both indoor and outdoor seating areas . Our most pleasant evening was in Nawiliwili when we had a buffet dinner at the aft of deck 12 and watched the sunset .

[wmp2304]

Maybe it was just a fluke, but my DW and I were on the 12/24 departure for POH and were _invited_ to "come on in" for dinner in the main dining room @ 5:30 pm on Lobster night. I was in khaki walking shorts, and a knit polo - my wife was similarly attired. Definately resort casual.

 

I had stopped in to request a 7pm seating or grab a beeper to take while we went upstairs and changed - but the delightful folks at the hostess stand said there was no need to wait if we were ready to eat.

 

I think their enhanced customer service training is sinking in! :)

[mar2c1]

Can you make res.in papas for 12 people

[bubiesmom]

We were also on this cruise.

Best restaurants in order of preference:

Jasmines - wish we had eaten hear more than once. By far the best.

Cagney's - very good - we ate here the first night and it was mostly empty.

Teppanyaki - very good chef/performance. Food was good

Le Bistro - excellant service. Food was good but selection wasn't that great for our tastes.

 

Other restaurants we ate at:

Alizar for lobster - somewhat rude service, but you could tell they were really hustling about. Food was good.

Paniolo - no reservations allowed. We ate here on the overnight in Maui. Didn't have any problem getting in. Food was ok. Service was terrible. Water glasses were empty thru most of the meal and were finally filled just as we were about to leave.

Papas - Concierge recommended we arrive 30 minutes prior to the time we want to eat to put our name in. So we arrived at 6:30. We were finally seated at 9:00!!!!! No pagers were used. They told us to come back around 8:00 so we went to a couple other bars and came back just after 8 and then sat at the bar in Papas. Joe the bartender there was great fun. Food was good. Service was ok when we were finally seated. We were the last ones out of the restaurant that night.

Blue Lagooon - for lunch one day. Food and service were bad.

Aloha Nui Buffet - food was quite good for breakfast and lunch. Really liked the pizza. And they had a great hummus that we grabbed for an appetizer that last night.

 

We all decided that it wasn't worth it to eat at any of the non paying restaurants. It was worth it to pay the premimum for the service and food. We wish they would just raise the cruise price and make it all no fee.

 

As far as casual dress. We sat near a woman in Alizar who had on jean shorts for Lobster night. I was quite surprised but by the end of the cruise we were in the free style spirit and didn't want to dress up ourselves. We mostly wore capris and nice shirt.

 

Weather was not the best - but it was still warm most of the time. There were two days that it was too cool coming out of the hot tubs on deck.

 

We had a very adventerous trip with many incidents/accidents - will have to write a trip report later.

 

Northwoods2, too bad we didn't get to meet on the cruise. It will be interesting to hear about your "incidents/accidents". I've had my share. Did you go to the Molokini crater....