Suedonym3

Sailed POA Dec 2017 and it was a lot of motion...I had thought it might be less since we were in port so much but by the end I think I said please stop the rocking. I use Bonine and Seabands, which help. We had one day they cancelled Hilo due to wind and waves, which was reportedly rare, so it may have been time of year/ weather issue,

I did the one way from Vancouver on NCL Sun and it was a great cruise, one of my favorites. We did an add on that was actually through the Alaskan rail system. I loved what we did and I think I did a review so you can get more detail from that. I am an NCL fan, but I know Princess has a great Alaska land sea pkg that friends have enjoyed,

I have suffered from this in the past...but I seem to have gotten over it...now if only the same were true for my sea sickness! I take Bonine and use acupressure bands for my sea sickness and the last time this happened, I kept taking the Bonine for about a week after I got off the boat and it helped. Hope you are back to normal soon!

Called yesterday and made the change without issue. There was a slight increase for the UBP taxes/gratuities to my overall cost but a much better value for me than the cruise excursion credit. Thanks for the help all!

Randomly looking at old replies and lol just came across this..for anyone who does not know, Alaska has months where the sun does not set, from May 10 until August 2nd, I did not think this would bother me because I always use a sleep makes for sleep. But it really did! My quote when I got back was how much I missed stars! And night. This was a great trip and I loved Alaska...but 24 hours of daylight will mess with your head.

 

Or to put it another way:

 

Formal wear on an Alaskan cruise is a long sleeve plaid lumberjack shirt - jeans - and logging boots.

The Titanic 4th class formal was tux & tails cumberbum and all that malarkey.

This is not a Mediterranean Caribbean cruise where you have to dress up slightly better - Smart Cruise Casual !

Don't be planning on dining with the Captain if you can't past dress code muster ! LOL !

 

 

Suedonym3

 

What kind of light was keeping you awake - the small table lights have switches in the base or on the wall.

Maybe you didn't find the switch behind the curtains - you could have contacted the cabin attendant for

assistance.

I turn down all the lights except for the one in the bathroom and close the door to just a crack - that's all I

need for finding my way around the cabin - you could mute the sound on the in cabin TV and adjust the

channel to say the bow camera showing the black of night on the bow deck. Don't tune the TV to the

"You Are Here" channel (the bright BLUE screen) is not recommended by sleep people !

The bow camera is best as there is very little if any flickering like with the other channels.

Question about the Director's Cut tour on Kauai - where does this stop at and specifically did this stop at Waimea Canyon? We are thinking of doing it the 2nd day so we'd be sure to get back on time. We're renting a car the day before, and didn't want to hit the same places twice if possible!

We're sailing POA Sept 1 and this would actually be our only NCL excursion (so far). Renting a car in Maui for Ka'anapali beach, OLL, part of RTH, Mama's Fish House etc., then Mary Lou both days on the big island 😁

yes, the director's cut has a stop with a view of Wailua falls. It is just a photo op I thought it sounded like a neat tour, but I found myself frustrated as we drove to beautiful sites, watched 15 min of clips and had 5-10 min for pics. Would I do it again, prob not...but then again, I have a gorgeous photo I am hanging in my living room of Hanalei bay that I took on the tour...so maybe it was worth it...

Thanks for the responses. Will let you know how it goes...

Booked a trip on the Getaway during a sail away promo. Had UDP/UBP and onboard credit. A second promo came up and decided to book a 2nd cabin for family...but although I thought I booked the same, I just discovered I have excursion credit instead of UBP on that room...so...can anything be done? It looks like there is a current promo on...so could I rebook the room...any info on the corks and caps program if not possible? Or the viva vino? Thanks to any who can help...

Responding to the original question, enjoyed POA. Have never been on Spirit. POA is a pretty ship with plenty to do that you will never get to because HAWAII! That said, here are my recommendations for excursions in Hawaii, Oahu Photography Tours. They take you lots of places and teach you how to use your cell as an awesome camera. Mary Lou for Kona/Hilo. Kawaii...I don’t recommend the tours I took, they were fine..but not recommendation worthy. Maui, I did the Molokini crater snorkel, fun,,,cold,,, difficult...and the whale watch. Have a great time whatever you decide!

Just off POA and did mostly ship excursions. The one exception was Kona, where we went with Mary Lou, she is fabulous and will definitely make sure you get back to the ship on time. Her son runs Island Wide and we met his group at many of our spots and waved at them while they were snorkeling. He worked with her for years before she encouraged him to start his own business so while he was the tour next door, I would trust him to get me back to the ship. Now to the important stuff-the NCL Tours.

Molokini Crater Snorkel. Awesome. Loved it. My favorite excursion. That said, I am a strong swimmer, a former lifeguard who swims 2 hours every week. I thought the water was rough, my 73 year old mother got in the water and quickly back out...it was cold too. There were lifeguards in the water with us and one lady said she could not swim, but still stayed in the whole 2 hours. Although the water was rough, I felt very safe. Another warning, we did not snorkel molokini, it was too rough, but the spot nearby had sea turtles so I was happy!

Maui Day 2- Whale watch. Same group that ran the snorkel. Another great excursion. Saw many whales even though not fully Whale season yet.

Hilo-unexpected sea day

Kona-Mary Lou

Kauai-Luau Manor House experience. Totally worth the extra money. We were escorted onto the train first, taken to dinner, where we had authentic Hawaiian music and our own hula dancer, dinner was plated and brought to us- and it was good! We were then given time in the gift shops while everyone else ate. We then got front row seats to the Luau show itself. The best part was we got escorted back to the bus and got to leave before everyone else. I looked into doing the luau experience somewhere else, but this was truly the easiest way to do it.

Kauai. Director’s Cut tour. I wanted to like this, but I got very annoyed very quickly. Our bus driver would drive us to beautiful spots. Where he would then show us about 10 min worth of clips filmed in that spot and give us 10 min for pictures. I did not understand why the clips could not be shown before we reached the spots so we could have more time for pictures and to soak in the scenery.

Honolulu. North Shore and airport drop off. From the east coast with a flight after 5pm. This tour was to kill time but I really wanted to see the north shore, there is no food stop, so our first stop was Dole Plantation, which is just terrible, total tourist trap. But it has clean bathrooms and you could pick up something to eat for the rest of the tour, The rich people of the North Shore have banned tour buses from stopping so it was neat to see, but all my pics are taken from the bus window. A stop at a macadamia nut outlet and the Byodo In temple rounded out the trip before airport drop off. Ok if you need to kill time. Happy to answer questions and planning to do a full report once I get my pics downloaded.

Also just back from the 12/2 sailing and can answer the gym shower question. There are no showers in the gym. If you want to shower in the spa, which is next door, you have to buy a day pass which costs $20 per day.

I was on POA last week. Before we left Maui, the Captain came on and announced due to expected wind and anticipated swells that could be up to 30 ft, he did not feel it was safe to dock at Hilo, so we had an unexpected sea day. I spent the day at the spa but heard from others we stayed close to Maui. Our tour operator at Kona actually lives in Hilo and agreed it was crazy weather that day. Also said it was very rare for POA to miss a port. I googled like crazy and could not find a prior instance.

Hi! Also just off the POA and I suffer from motion sickness. I have learned what works for me-unfortunately I forgot my seabands and I got dizzy as soon as I got on board- before we left port. Luckily the sundry shop had seabands and other supplies. Personally I like Bonine, which they had available. Last week was a rough week on the POA. As previously stated, the first night was rough and there were several other nights where the waves kept me awake. Also the loud bumps which I heard someone refer to as all the whales we were hitting. We also skipped Hilo as there were 30 ft. Swells expected and the Captain announced it would not be safe. Later learned it is extremely rare they skip a port on this ship. So it may have been that we lucked into the bad weather. With all that, I never actually got sick by using my seabands and taking my meds- take them before you need them. I was also really really glad to get off the boat on Sat to stop the rocking!

Uber works great in Hawaii. Just off the POA and used Uber all around Honolulu. While I was there the drivers were excited as they have just been allowed to begin airport pickups/drop offs. There is also Lyft. I had a late flight so we did the North Shore excursion with airport drop off, which worked great. Drop off was at 2pm and it was designed for flights after 5pm. There were other tours with earlier drop offs and their may have been a simple airport transfer. If all you need is a ride- I would go with Uber,

I just got back and did the excursion through NCL...price was $119 per person. It was a great excursion done through PAC Whale Foundation. It was my 2nd excursion with them, I thought they did both very well. Transport was easy from POA to the pier- it was a quick drive, maybe 20 min. We were 2 weeks early for true whale season but saw more than I saw previously in Alaska and the whales were much more playful. After the ride, you are dropped at the PAC Whale Foundation store to pick up your “free”gift...it is a poster- but the store is cool with some neat gifts.

Thanks for the positive review. I am doing the same cruise in Dec so am eager to find some love for the POA...poor old girl...

I found the bed comfy- but the constant light was an issue for me. Take a sleep mask! There was a dress up night, but you don't have to. We ate in specialty restaurants every night- had the UDP so my group was dressier, but that was collared shirts and khakis (teenage boys)

Just booked my excursions for our upcoming POA- cost was about $1800 or $900 per person. We are not doing anything super expensive like helicopter rides, but we do have something in every port and a mix of ship/ non ship tours. You can save money doing tours on your own but I was interested in doing things the easy way. Drinks on board- I am budgeting about $200-$300 for the week. So that would be in line with your planned budget

Usually lasts about a week for me.

On Epic and the Sun, they had them anytime after 4 pm...not sure how to describe where to find them...the place was the waffle station in the morning...

Had a solo cabin on Epic. Chose my cabin based on ease of getting out of the solo area because my family were on board in balconies and wanted them to be able to reach me...but would not recomend that outer location to others as it was next to lounge and the outer door noise was pretty constant. I loved my little cabin otherwise though. Very comfortable and plenty of storage for just me.

The meal with Cirque is terrible. The show is fun, but plan to eat elsewhere before or after or both...I agree with others...last time I sailed NCL we had the UDP and it was nice. We only ate in main dining for breakfast or lunch and that was enough for me. Before that the prices were reasonable to pay a little upcharge...but looking at the a la carte prices, nope. I am trying to estimate how many meals we will likely want in specialty, my guess is at least 3 but probably 4 because we all have our favorites. Looking at the package cost about $20 per meal depending on how many you choose, it is a better value to buy the plan