my 7/19 cruise

[robinsra]

The six of us me, hubby,14 year old son, 11 year old son, my mom and dad set off on our 13 day vacation. We left Thursady, before cruise. After reading boards everyday sometimes more I thought I would share my experience of Hawaii and POA. We flew from NY through Houston and then Honolulu. That was a long flight. I booked a stretch limo 6 leis and a bottle of champagne with ABC limos. Our flight was 1 1/2 hr late and ABC limo was waiting with leis in hand. We stayed at ResortQuest Waikiki Beach Diamond Head side. Nice hotel no problems Free fairly good breakfast. Nice quiet beach across the street. Ate at Teddy's burger and Lulu's not classy but fun and good. ABC Limos picked us up at 11:00am (sorry 11:10 Melvin called to tell us he would be 10 minutes late.) Arrived at pier 11:40 and got on ship by 12:30. Not bad at all We had a balcony port side. room 8636. The rooms are small. We managed with four but it was tight. Good thing we like eachother. Mom and dad were next door. Ate at Aloha cafe. Got champagne upon entering the ship and had someone bring us to the cafe. Our room wasn't ready but we ate went down and made reservations for the first night at the Liberty 8:30, too early wanted to see more sailaway. Food was good not great but good. Next day was Maui rented from Thrifty blue chip van outside in less then 10 minutes. No problem. Went to Ioa Needle, Laihana, snorkling black beach went north to find dragons teeth and Nakalele blow hole. returned car. Went for 1/2 price beers in Saloon. Look at dailys for times. Ate at Aloha Cafe that night about 8:30 not happy with food they stopped replacing food as it closed at 9:00. But for dessert we went to Cadillac Diner(our favorite place) brownie sundae,yummy, cheese cake and shake. $3.50 for shake big enough to share. We only saw two shows the comdien and magician they were good. Monday we booked Halaukala sunrise with Roberts they pick you up at 3:30am. I highly recomend this it was beautiful. We were back on the ship by 9:00 Cadillac diner for breakfast again good food. Shake again my son loved them no charge this time or another 2 times he ordered them. go figure. We hung around the ship using the pool hot tubs and even all six of us made Kokue nut leis. Dinner was lobster tail make sure you make a reservation this night we did people who did'nt were not happy. Balcony's can make reservations 48 hours in advance I strongly suggest you find a way to do that. Tuesday was Hilo Again Thrifty only my husband and I were able to fit on the bus. The rest were going to catch the next bus, which happened to come right after we left. We hit the road about 9:15 too late we should left earlier We went VNP. Went to Valcano house out the back door to see the steam from the caldera that hasn't seen activity since I think the 40's Went clockwise around since tour buses beat us there. Thursten lava tubes first. Bring good flashlight and explore the dark tube. We had a blast and some followers who did'nt bring lights tagged along. We did chain craters road had lunch we brought with us from the ship's room service the night before. It was raining and windy but we were able to eat before we got wet. We went to end and walked out to were lava is falling into ocean. You only see steam you don't see lava. It was fun climbing on the rocks. We finished up the park and had to head back to ship. We ran out of time spent too much time hiking around. No Paluluu sp. black sand beach for us. We got back to ship no problem. Lava sail by 10:00pm that night starboard side only. We went to deck six with a lot of other passengers. We found a spot by railing omg it was unbelievable. Worth the price of admission. Next day was Kona we decided not to do anything planned we were going to sleep late. Did I mention our rooms were over the life boats? Well at 6:15am we awoke to banging noises and chains we watched as the life boats (tenders ) lowered into the water so much for sleeping late. We had breakfast in the Skyline it was O.K language problem with server but we got through it. We took a tender to town about 10:30 no problem getting on. There was a beach at the dock. Not a nice one. We took a shuttle to International market not much there. I was done back to the ship for us. We should of planned Kona better. We used the pool and hung out it was fun. This is taking longer then I expected I will finish Kaui My favorite Island tomorrow I will try to answer questions if I can Thanks for reading it I know it is long

[robinsra]

Kauai was the most beautiful island the red clay and lush greens were wonderful. We rented again with Thrifty and went to Waimea Canyon. We took one way up and the other one down it was amazing the views. Stayed there for along time seeing the different views of the canyon. The chickens were pretty neet too. Came back down and went to Hanapee to walk across the swinging bridge I don't like heights but I walked across it with some encouragement from my kids laughing at me. Next we had to stop at Costco What would a trip be without Costco. Cool bottle of Vodka but didn't want the hassle of bringing it back to ship. Then on to Wailua Falls pretty waterfall. They have a tribute to a girl who fell or jumped at the falls You can leave your leis on the fence that has her picture. We then went to Lydgate Park. They have a rocked off area the waves weren't too bad there the boys got on their snorkling gear but just a couple of fish. Back to the ship. Tonight we had reservations at the Lazy J Steakhouse. 6:30 we went there with high hopes willing to pay the $20.00 surcharge. $10.00 for my 11 year old anyway we get there and we were told a 5 minute wait No big deal. They came and got us and the resturant was fairly empty did not understand the wait but O.K We ordered and the food came out We shared Big shrimp cocktails crab cakes stuffed mushrooms very good, ceasar salad, same as the main dinnig room and 4 of us ordered the lobster bisque 2 of us got it it was horrible in a red tomatoe sauce. Well the other two soups didn't make it. Our steaks came out 3 t-bones 3 filet mignon one of the filets was done right one was too well done. Our t-bones were small I wouldn't even buy them in the grocery store. When we told waiter 2 soups were missing he took away my steak and the other two t-bones for the soup when the steaks came back they were well done. When it is included in the cruise price it would not of been a big deal but if you are paying for it over and above that is a different story. Well it ruined our dinner by this time. They were nice and didn't charge us and offered us another night free. Can't complain about that. Stand up of them. But we were done with the Lazy J and went to the Cadillac Diner instead. Next day we laughed about it but it wasn't funny the night before. The next day someone on the ship said we could walk to beach near Duke's very nice beach. Needed to be back on ship by 1:30

Sail by at Nap Pali coast we bought a bottle of wine and sat on our balaconies to watch this spectacular sight. Glad I had portside for this.

Spent the day packing and pooling. Had dinner at Skyline it was good had the steak it was very good. Went to cadillac diner last shake and brownie sundae and they did have onion rings.

When you are leaving a couple of days before you pick up luggage tags different colors different times we picked up 9:20 We were stayng 3 days post cruise so figured we would let those who needed to get off early, besides we did not want to leave. We put our luggage out the night before remember to leave out clothes for the next day. We ate breakfast at the Skyline and then off the ship to get our luggage. We rented a mini van with National in Waikiki the bus came and we went to Outrigger Shore Condo. Six of us in two bedroom one bath. It was nice but A LOT of construction going on. Trump is building condos next door. Now we were at the othe end of Waikiki. Did a ton of laundry in the room. Went to beach and hung around. Sunday we got up and went to Denny's for breakfast My son loves Denny's and we don't have them on Long Island. Then headed to Aloha Stadium flea market. That was fun but it was hot go early if you go. Then we went to the Hawaiin Railroad the only active railway in Ohua. My husband loves trains it was cute 90 minute ride in ohua. I wouldn't do it again. We then drove around the North Shore lots of pretty beaches and we stopped at Giovanna's shrimp truck I highly recommend the garlic shrimp we got that and lemon butter The garlic was much better. We went back to Waikiki and stopped at Walmart for souvenirs best prices. For dinner we went to a place called the Yard House. 250 draft beers to choose from and great food. Monday was Polynesian Cultural Center. We had breakfast at Eggs and Things I thought it would be better. 1/2 hour wait and it was 9:30 After breakfast we headed out. It was crowded when we got there and we got to see most of the villages. Home to pack we were leaving Tuesday 9:10pm flight. The hotel held our luggage and we went to the mall and drove around. Flight home was long and it was much better coming then going.

 

Just a few thoughts about the trip

Waikiki is very crowded and even though you have a car you can't park you have to walk anyway. Chinatown was fun and had great cheap food.

There are places to eat cheaply in Waikiki just enjoy the beaches and have fun.

The ship POA is very clean and the American staff were very friendly. Our room steward didn't speak english very well and it took awhile to get what we wanted across to him. The food could be better. We had a great time. The port side has industry views in Maui and Kauai great for Napli Coast they sail by twice but the first time is much closer. Lava flow starboard side only. I really can't say enough about the staff they a great kids and want to talk about were they are from and their experiences in Hawaii. If you treat them nice they will be friendly.

2 years ago we went to Hawaii for a once in a life time trip. Now we did another once in a life time trip. I will be back to Hawaii that much I know.

Thanks for reading this I know it is very long and I left out a ton of stuff and my grammar is bad. So is my spelling so thanks for taking the time to read this if you are going soon Have a great time and don't sweat the small stuff.

[jomc68]

Great Review! I really enjoyed reading your day to day adventures. Did your balcony room have bathrobes?

[robinsra]

Yes Two of them

[rutroe]

Great Review! No need to apologize for grammar or spelling- very easy read. We leave in 2 weeks and I enjoyed your tips!! :D