Our Hawaii Trip on POH (Very LONG)

[momof5js]

Here is a long post about our Hawaii trip. I'm copying & pasting from the email I sent our family & friends. There is a link to our pictures at the end.

 

Our Hawaii Trip

Here is the long detailed account for all those that wanted details. Hope I don’t bore any of you. I tried to remember all I could. And I’ll post a link for pictures at the end of this post.

Thursday July 19th We left for Indianapolis around 7:00 pm. Mark had booked us a room at the Radison Hotel by the airport. He booked a “Romance Suit” that was a two room suite that came with a bottle of champaign, breakfast the next morning & free parking. Well a couple of days before we were to leave he decided he didn’t want to leave our vehicle parked for two weeks. So we decided to have Jessica take us over. She decided her & Codey wanted to spend the night. So we ended up sharing our bottle of champaign with them, they slept on the sleeper sofa & we let them have our free breakfast. (So much for our romance package………..lol)

Friday July 20th We woke up at 2:00 am because we were too excited to sleep. We had Jessica & Codey take us to the airport at 4:30 for our 6:00 am flight. We flew first to Atlanta, which was a 1 ½ hour flight. Then we flew to Honolulu which was an 8 ½ hour flight. I had never flew first class before and I thought this was really neat. I liked how they greeted you by name. And before each meal (we got 2 on board) they pass out hot scented towels for you to wash your hands on. Plus we got all the alcoholic drinks and snacks we wanted.

We got to Honolulu at 7:30 Indiana time/1:30 Honolulu time. We went to the rental car place & got our Ford Mustang convertible. We put the top down & headed for our hotel on Waikiki beach. We stayed at the Marriot Beach Resort. This was such a beautiful hotel with an open atrium with beautiful Hawaiian flowers all thru it. And the smell throughout the hotel was just wonderful. We later learned it was a piped in tropical smell. One guy we meet on the bus to the cruise ship said he thought it was an aromatic smell designed to relax you and make you want to spend money.

We spent the rest of the day just enjoying the view from our balcony. We had an ocean view room that looked down Waikiki beach. We also went swimming in the ocean & in our hotel pool. And we did some walking around at all the various shops.

We finally went to bed at 9:00, which meant we had been up for 24 hours.

Saturday July 21st Our body clocks were still off & we woke up at 5:00 in the morning. We got up and headed out to Pearl Harbor. I had read you needed to get there early. We got there at 7:20 and had to wait in line for over an hour. The movie and trip out to the monument were both very moving. It was amazing to see the ship underneath you and still see the oil bubbling up.

After Pearl Harbor we headed out on a drive to North shore that is famous for surfing. We made a stop at the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We were surprised to learn that pineapple grew on the ground. We both thought it grew on trees. We got to sample some of the best pineapple we had ever ate. It just melted in your mouth.

We drove on up the coast and stopped for lunch at a little seaside boardwalk town. Later that day we again hung out on the beach and at the pool. Plus we walked around that night & people watched. Waikiki beach turned into a hot spot at night with street performers and lots of interesting people.

Sunday July 22nd We got up and headed out to Diamond Head Mountain. This is an old volcano that has a hiking trail to the top. To get to the top you hike a ¾ mile trail that is winding, curving and very steep. It includes 3 caves and 271 steps to the top. We saw 2 people who had to turn around because they couldn’t make it. It was a tough hike but the views were well worth it. It was breath taking.

After Diamond Head we headed out to explore the city. We went to Punch Bowl National Cemetery. We wanted to go visit Ernie Pyle’s grave since he is from Dana. We were very surprised to learn that they had a whole wall dedicated to him with pictures and stories.

We then went to visit the royal palace. We wanted to go in, but it was closed.

We then went to visit King Kamahamaha’s statue.

Monday July 23rd Jessica called and woke us up at 6:00 am. I was alittle upset about that, but then when we looked out our balcony, we saw our cruise ship “The Pride Of Hawaii” coming into port. That was exciting to see it & know we’d be sailing on it in a few short hours.

Part of our NCL package included transportation for our bags from out hotel to the ship. The instructions said to have your bags tagged & ready to go by 8:00 am. At 8:10 a cruise represenative was knocking on our door to collect our bags.

Our package also included shuttle bus service for us from the hotel to the ship. We boarded the bus at 11:15 and were on the ship at noon. When you arrive at the ship they first take you into a terminal building. There they take your photo for a keepsake and issue your on board identification cards. These cards are like a credit card for all your on board purchases. Plus it serves as your id. Whenever you got off the ship they would scan it. And when you return to the ship in port you had to go thru metal detectors. When the cards were scanned they showed up your picture so they could identify that you were who the card said.

Our room wasn’t ready when we first got on the ship, so we went for lunch at the buffet. And then we headed out to explore the ship. The ship was huge & we got turned around several times. We were constantly having to consult our pocket size ship map.

Our room was finally ready around 3:00. We were so excited to get checked into our room. Our room was a suite & it was so nice. We had a king size bed, living room area, dining room area, flat screen tv, walk in closet, vanity area with lighted makeup mirror and a full size bathroom with tub. The bathroom even had a digital scale in it. Mark joked that they really did customize the room for me (since I weigh myself twice a day). Our room also had a private balcony with 2 chairs and a chase lounge.

We also had a basket of fresh fruit, fresh flowers and chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us in our room.

We weren’t even in our room 15 minutes when Ryan our personal butler came to introduce himself. We told him we were thirsty & he produced a pitcher of tea and chips and salsa to snack on. He was such a nice young man and he really did a great job taking care of us. By the end of the trip he knew we wanted a pitcher of tea and snacks every afternoon. He knew Mark took his coffee black & I took mine with cream and sweetner. On the second day Mark asked Ryan to get him a cigar from on the ship. Ryan explained they couldn’t sell cigars on board, but that he would gladly pick Mark up one in port the next day. When we got back the next day there were 3 cigars waiting for Mark on our bed.

Tuesday July 24th We slept like babies on Monday night. We both said ship sleep is the best sleep we have ever had in our lives. Our room had real thick blinds to pull over our balcony doors. And thick curtains that you pulled all around your bed. So our room was totally dark. And with the ship moving at night you feel like you’re being rocked to sleep. We didn’t bother to call for a wake up call for Tuesday morning since we’d gotten up in Hawaii everyday by 6-6:30. We didn’t anticipate such a good nights sleep & when I rolled over to look at the clock, it was 8:20! We had to be ready for our first excursion at 8:50. We quickly called Ryan and he brought us breakfast to eat before we left.

We made it to our excursion and had a great time. The excursion was to Rainbow Falls, the Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory and to Volcano National Park. The falls were very pretty the way it formed a rainbow at the bottom. And the Volcano Park was interesting to get to walk on actual ashen volcanic ground. We also drove thru and stopped at a Rain Forest.

Since we were in a suite we were invited to a VIP reception with the captain of the ship. We really enjoyed this & felt like we were something. Never in our lives had we been served champagne and hors d’oeuvres on silver trays by a fully suited wait staff.

When we got back to our room we had towel swans, a little towel dog (that was wearing my sunglasses and reading my book) and fresh mints waiting on our bed.

Wednesday July 25th Our excursion during the day was to rent a car & drive Maui on our own. We went to a shipping town called Laihana. It was a very quaint town with lots of shopping, a board walk and neat historical places to visit. We had lunch at Bubba Gump’s shrimp house overlooking the water. And then at the suggestion of the waiter we drove around the West side of the island. This drive had magnificent views, but was up the side of the mountain. And a lot of the time the road was only one lane. You’d come to a turn & there would be a sign that read “Honk before proceeding” this was so two cars didn’t try to go thru at the same time. We did have a couple of cars pass us & you could have literally reached out & shook hands with the person. We both agreed this made us alittle nervous.

That night we did a sunset cocktail cruise. The weather was very windy & we had a rough ride. The crew kept apologizing for how rough the sea was. Despite the weather we had a good time. They had great appetizers on board & all the beer & Mai Tai’s that you could drink. And then when the sun finally went down, it took your breath away at how beautiful it was.

When we got back to our room that night we found a towel rabbit smoking 3 of Mark’s cigars.

Thursday July 26th We decided not to plan any excursions for this day as we wanted a day to just enjoy the ship. So we just hung around the ship in the afternoon enjoying the pool and soaking up the sun. Part of our Romance Package included two massages. Mark didn’t want a massage, so they let me use the credit towards another service. I headed to the spa at 3:00 and had an hour long massage, a pedicure and my hair fixed for formal night.

We did formal night & got several pictures taken. I’ll try to post a link to them at the end of this post, if I can.

After formal night we had hors d’ oeuvres and a bottle of chilled champagne waiting on us. These we enjoyed on our private balcony.

Friday July 27th We were on the island of Kona. In the morning we just went shopping and sight seeing in the port. In the afternoon we did a submarine ride on the Atlantis submarine. This was really neat. We had to board a boat and take it out to the middle of the ocean where the sub was located. We then boarded the sub & it went down below the sea. At the deepest point we were 108 feet below sea level. The sights like seeing the fish and reefs were just amazing. Mark saw an eel and we saw lots of different fish.

This night was our anniversary, as part of our romance package we attended a cake & champagne party. It was hosted on ship for all honeymooners and people celebrating anniversaries. The party just happened to be this night.

We then went to dinner at a French restaurant called Le Bistro. This was also part of the romance package & included a bottle of wine with dinner. We felt so out of place here. We asked for ice tea with our meal & the waiter thought we were crazy. He told Mark “surely you don’t want tea, it will ruin your wine pallate!”. Mark started laughing & looked at me & said “What the hell are we doing here?” They came out periodically & would scrape the crumbs from your table. The food and atmosphere was so out of our league. They actually wouldn’t allow young children under 12 in there restaurant. Mark said he’d never eat at someplace like that in our everyday life. The only neat thing was that since it was our anniversary, they brought us out a special dessert & they serenaded us with “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”

For a surprise for Mark I had my wedding dress cut down to fit me to wear this night. When we got married my dress was a size 20. I had it cut down to a size 10 & it probably could have been made into an 8. Mark was shocked & kept telling me how beautiful I looked in my dress. I was pretty proud of it.

Saturday July 28th We did a really fun excursion called “Tubing the ditch”. What it was, is riding in an intertube down an old irrigation system on an old sugar plantation. It is a 5 mile ride thru 5 caves and over rapids. It was so much fun. We had to wear hard hats with lights for the caves. Shoes on our feet & gloves on our hands to keep from getting cut on the rocks. We had a blast.

That night we attended an authentic Hawaiian luau complete with hula girls and fire dancers. The show was great, but the food wasn’t so good. We ended going back on ship & eating a late dinner.

 

Sunday July 29th Since this was our last day on the cruise we didn’t want to plan anything extra. We wanted to just hang out on the boat & relax, which is what we did. On the last day we cruised by Napoli coastline which is just breathtaking. It is a beautiful island & is where several Hollywood movies were filmed. Jurassic Park, King Kong, Hawaii Five O, Magnum PI, 7 Days and 6 nights plus lots of others. Also that night the sun setting off our balcony was just amazing.

Monday July 30th We woke up early & went down for breakfast on the ship. We usually had breakfast served to us on our deck, but there was no room service on the last day.

We left the boat around 10:00 and checked back into the Marriot hotel on Waikiki beach. We again got a deluxe ocean view room that had spectacular views of the beach. We went & bought a $2.00 raft & spent the afternoon floating in the ocean. We went out for dinner at Cheese Cake Factory & finished up souviener shopping for everyone.

Tuesday July 31st We woke up at 6:00 am so we could enjoy the last day in Waikiki. We headed out early for the ocean and were in the water by 9:00 am. We then packed up our stuff, ate lunch and headed to the airport. Our flight back home was at 5:00 Honolulu time/11:00 Indiana time. We arrived back in Atlanta at 7:30 am on Wednesday. And then arrived back in Indianapolis at noon. Jessica meet us at the airport with the boys. They were so adorable & glad to see us. Mark had said on the plane “What if they don’t remember us?” But as soon as they saw us they started screaming “Mom/Dad……Dad/Mom” and were smiling from ear to ear.

We got home about 3:00 & spent the rest of the evening playing with the boys. By the time we finally go to bed, we had been up for over 36 hours. We were so exhausted. But we had the time of our lives.

 

Here is the link to our pictures:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ljhm02/album?.dir=9102re2&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

You should just be able to click on it. Let me know if you have trouble.

Thanks to everyone for letting us share our wonderful trip with you.

[travelin okies]

What a lovely recap of an incredible trip and beautiful pictures. Congratulations on your anniversary. We are leaving in late Sept. for our first-ever trip to Hawaii and first cruise and you have made it even more exciting to anticipate.

[knsky]

Thanks for the great review. Sound like you guys had a great time.

 

We will be sailing in October for our 10th anniversary and I was worry about leaving my 2 little ones (7 and 1 Yr olds) at home too. Your description of how excited your boys were to see you both made me feel so much better and even a bit less guilty. :)

 

Congrats on your weight lost. It has always been a struggle for me.

 

Welcome back.

 

KNSKY

[RachieLnnn]

Thank you for your review!!! Sounds like you had a great time. I can't wait to go to Hawaii!

[lvcruises]

Thank you for you wonderful review. I have a question about your suite, which one did you have? It sounds like an owners suite, if so which one. Ryan sounds like a great butler, maybe he will be ours. We are in 10504.

[momof5js]

We had a romance suite. Room 10166. It was directly on the back of the ship. With it's location and private balcony we felt like we were the only ones on the ship.

[momof5js]

Thanks for the great review. Sound like you guys had a great time.

 

We will be sailing in October for our 10th anniversary and I was worry about leaving my 2 little ones (7 and 1 Yr olds) at home too. Your description of how excited your boys were to see you both made me feel so much better and even a bit less guilty. :)

 

Congrats on your weight lost. It has always been a struggle for me.

 

Welcome back.

 

KNSKY

 

Our boys are 2 & 1. My mother in law kept them for us. I would have never planned such a long trip away from them. But my husband planned every detail & surprised me with it as a gift. So I really couldn't complain.

 

We talked to the boys everyday on the phone. And I bought magnetic copy paper & took a picture of us. I also copied a picture of the ship. I put the pictures on the fridge. My mother in law said the boys would go look at them everyday. When she'd ask them "Where's mommy & daddy?" Jacob would point to the boat picture & say "boat".

 

The boys did fine without us. I think it was harder on us then it was on them.

 

I'm sure you're kids will be fine. Goodluck.

[SweetpeaOne]

Thank you very much for sharing your wonderful review.

[CC Help Michell]

What a wonderful trip you had! :) I liked your detailed review, and I loved the humor in your description of Le Bistro -- some of our best Hawaii memories are when we would just both start giggling at stuff others probably didn't even notice. Your memories will last a lifetime!

[electricron]

Thanks for taking the time to post your photos, and writing your review.

[judyf]

Great review. Congrats on the weight lost that is great! What did you do? I'm having a hard time with just trying to drop the first 10-20 pounds, LOL.

 

Tubing the ditch sounds like fiun, we have that booked too.

 

Thanks for sharing

[momof5js]

Great review. Congrats on the weight lost that is great! What did you do? I'm having a hard time with just trying to drop the first 10-20 pounds, LOL.

 

Tubing the ditch sounds like fiun, we have that booked too.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

After years of struggling with my weight, I had bariatric weight loss surgery last Oct. I weighed 264 on the day of my surgery. I'm now at goal of 150. I hope to maintain my goal & possibly lose alittle more. But I'm thrilled with the new me for now.

[judyf]

That is so great. That's some weight lost you should be very thrilled.

[misgnomer]

I just have to say, I love the towel "creatures", especially the book-reading dog. :) Thanks for sharing and I am looking forward so much to our cruise on the same ship, end of October.

 

Happy Anniversary. :)

 

Naomi

[KKCruisers]

I really enjoyed your review and it is making me more excited,if that's possible, about being in Hawaii in 3 days. We cruise the POH on 8/27.

I absolutely love the picture of you sitting on the balcony with the sun setting in the background. If your husband took that, he could enter that into a contest and win! You are very lucky to have a husband like yours, who planned everything out and surprised you with it. I'm sure you already know that, but I think that was outstanding. I've been planning our whole trip and I know how much he went through, it's a lot of work, but I'm sure well worth it. This is my husbands retirement cruise and I want it to be a memory he won't forget because he deserves it.

 

How did you like the ship in general, it sure looks beautiful? Did they do a drive by to see the volcano or have they stopped doing that?

 

The pictures of the tubing the ditch look like you had a blast. I was a little afraid of that because I have a bad back and I can't jar it or it goes out on me. Did you get bumped around a lot?

 

I am all packed and ready to go and waiting patiently!!! Saturday won't come soon enough for me.

 

Mahalo for your review, and congrats on your weight loss.

 

Kat

[Don Haynes]

A ship doesn't drive by a volcano, a ship sails by a volcano. Unfortunately, the volcano's lava is not reaching the sea and thus not a prretty site. Therefore no lava flow, thus NCLA is not sailing by.

 

The PoH is one of the soon to be six Star class vesssels, the newest in NCL's fleet. Another new ship is of her own class, PoAm.

[CruzFamleof6]

A ship doesn't drive by a volcano, a ship sails by a volcano. Unfortunately, the volcano's lava is not reaching the sea and thus not a prretty site. Therefore no lava flow, thus NCLA is not sailing by.

 

The PoH is one of the soon to be six Star class vesssels, the newest in NCL's fleet. Another new ship is of her own class, PoAm.

 

I don't see where your comments pertain to anything that the LOVELY hearted poster described in her reivew, unless you were refferring to her visit to the Volcano National Park...which in essence SHE DID DRIVE THROUGH as they were not on the ship but on a shore excursion! Maybe you posted on the wrong thread??

 

Hummmm??? :D

 

OP...wonderful review! Thanks for letting us share your great cruise with you....what a precious couple you are!

[lvcruises]

A ship doesn't drive by a volcano, a ship sails by a volcano. Unfortunately, the volcano's lava is not reaching the sea and thus not a prretty site. Therefore no lava flow, thus NCLA is not sailing by.

 

I think Don Haynes was answering KKCruises question

 

How did you like the ship in general, it sure looks beautiful? Did they do a drive by to see the volcano or have they stopped doing that? .

[teacherone]

Wow, I didn't realize that was your wedding dress when I saw you at the anniversary reception. You looked beautiful in it! Too bad we didn't go to LeBistro on the same night. Brian and I just had water to drink with our dinners! We aren't wine drinkers, but were able to get a bottle of Asti (sweet and bubbly) to bring back to our room for another night.

[momof5js]

Wow, I didn't realize that was your wedding dress when I saw you at the anniversary reception. You looked beautiful in it! Too bad we didn't go to LeBistro on the same night. Brian and I just had water to drink with our dinners! We aren't wine drinkers, but were able to get a bottle of Asti (sweet and bubbly) to bring back to our room for another night.

 

Thanks for the comment. I wanted to wear it so badly, but felt alittle overdressed & out of place in it. Like you & me discussed, we were greatly disappointed in the lack of a dress code policy on the ship. That is probably one of the biggest reasons that we won't do a Norweigian cruise lines next. We want something were we can dress up & enjoy ourselves.

 

It was really nice getting to meet you.

 

Kat, It is a beautiful ship & I'm sure you'll have a great time. We did have some disappointments with the service & food. But nothing that we let ruin our trip.

 

If you have any room in your bags, you can smuggle me on board :D

 

They no longer cruise by the volcano becuase the lava isn't flowing into the ocean. But they added a cruise by the Napoli coast with a really good naration over the speakers. The coast was beautiful.

 

Thank you for your comments on my husband. He really is a wonderful guy.

[momof5js]

Kat,

 

I forgot to comment on the "tubing the ditch" and jarring you. It really didn't jar you. But a lady on the trip complained sitting in the inner tube hurt her back. She got out of the tube & hung onto it for the last part of the trip.

 

We really loved tubing the ditch & thought the tour guides were really funny. It was just a fun, relaxing & entertaining excursion.

[electricron]

Kat,

 

I forgot to comment on the "tubing the ditch" and jarring you. It really didn't jar you. But a lady on the trip complained sitting in the inner tube hurt her back. She got out of the tube & hung onto it for the last part of the trip.

 

We really loved tubing the ditch & thought the tour guides were really funny. It was just a fun, relaxing & entertaining excursion.

 

There are battle axes everywhere. I pity the lady where a soft inner tube hurts her back.

[jjduck]

Hi Laura,

 

Another happy tourist.....I love it! So glad you and Mark had fun in Hawaii. It's a beautiful place, but YOUR pictures make it look really beautiful. Good job!

 

I enjoyed the sunset series. Were you able to see the green flash? It's that quick flash just as the sun disappears.

 

And huge congrats on your weight loss. That is really fantastic. Loved the picture of you in the wedding dress. Mark must've really been surprised. How lovely!

 

Take care and thanks for sharing your trip.

 

Aloha,

Noreen

[CC Help Michell]

There are battle axes everywhere. I pity the lady where a soft inner tube hurts her back.

 

She may have a back problem (arthritis, sciatica, compressed disk, etc) and the position of sitting in the inner tube may have been painful -- at least that's how I read it!! For instance, I'm not a battle axe, but I can't sit on tall "bar stool" seating because having my legs dangle like that seems to aggravate my sciatica. It sounds like the lady on OP's excursion found another position that was more comfortable.

[momof5js]

Since, you've all been so kind & interested in our cruise. I thought I'd share more photos with you.

 

Hi all. I finally managed to get into Kinko's & copy our professional cruise pictures to disk so I could share them.

The funniest photo is of Mark & me on the staircase. We had been thru the 1st formal picture line, then thru the captain's formal line & finally to the stair case photo line. When we got to the staircase picture the photographer told Mark "Put your arm around her. I don't care where your hand goes or grabs. I just don't want to see it. And look deep into her eyes & says something romantic." So my dear husband, looks deep into my eyes & says "I hate this ****"..........lol..... I just cracked up. So much for romance.

Anyway, I know I promised these to several of you. So enjoy.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ljhm02/album?.dir=/e53are2&.src=ph&.tok=phbqHRHB86t9qH6k