Land and cruise on POA - August 2010

[CH_ca]

Came back from the August 2010 cruise, thanks to everyone’s precious info, I was able to find and do many things I otherwise would not be able to. The trip was still not without stress with regards to planning, finding our way, and sometimes long driving, but after all it’s still worth it. Everyone had a good time.

 

Friday - We arrived in Honolulu a day before the cruise on Pride of America. We rented a car from National at the airport. Since we joined the Emerald Club, the whole process was a breeze comparing to the long line ups at regular windows (from any car rental booths). We went directly to Costco, had lunch there and browsed through the warehouse to see what we could buy before we head home after the cruise. The Hershey Kisses are a definite buy because we couldn’t find the macadamia nut ones back home. Make sure you buy just before you go to the airport, or at least make sure they won’t melt in your luggage due to the high heat during the day. After that we went to a local supermarket to pick up some water and drinks (Costco only sells by case and it’s too much to bring onboard). We then checked into our hotel and went for a walk in Waikiki, along the beaches and window shopping. We had Japanese ramen (Ezogiku) for dinner at the Royal Hawaiian Center’s food court and they were delicious and authentic. There are fireworks at Hilton Hawaiian Village on Friday nights (maybe some other nights as well, we’re not sure). Just walk all the way to the lagoon. The fireworks begin at 8:45pm on the west side of the lagoon.

 

Saturday (Day 1 cruise) – We took it easy this morning because we had a very early flight the day before. After checking out of the hotel, we headed to the pier and dropped off our luggage just in case there were too many people needing shuttle and not enough room. We then refuelled the car on our way and returned it at the National’s Ala Moana location. They gave us a ride to the pier. We arrived around noon. Embarkation was easy. We didn’t even need the Latitude member line because the other line was practically empty. There were orchid flowers with wooden sticks for the ladies to put on their hair. We got onboard and had lunch in Aloha Café. The place was busy but manageable. The food was really below par though. Our cabins were ready around 2pm. We explored the ship a bit and went to the muster drill. You don’t need to wear or carry your life jacket along any more. Just go and watch and listen. The teen passport selling for $35/20 drinks is NO LONGER available. I asked several crew members and they all said that it was discontinued around end of July. So not only I could not buy more passports, the left over coupons I had became garbage. Anyway we read through the Freestyle Daily and decided to explore the ship, go for dinner and then to the show. It was the comedy show, quite funny.

 

Sunday (Day 2 cruise) – Maui

We rented a car from National. Again, short line up and spacious shuttle comparing to Thrifty’s and some other ones, but they did check our names before they let us on. There were many other shuttles from other car rental companies. You don’t need to call ahead because they all run continuously for a period of time. Just ask before you get off when is the last shuttle back to the ship. We drove the Road to Hana. It was a long and tiring drive. There were two (at least that’s all I found) food stands on our way. Be sure to try the freshly squeezed sugar cane juice (very good!), coconut candy (actually it should be called candied coconut), and maybe fresh young coconut (someone from California said they have better ones back home). The road in the second half was very windy (curves) with many single lane bridges. The kids were mostly sleeping during the drive except when we stopped at lookout points. It was an experience but it’s something I would only do once in my life. By the time we headed back to the ship, it was around 6pm and the closest parking lot was full. We drove to the overflow parking lot and there were about less than ten spaces left. I guess the ones who returned late would just double park and block your way. You might want to back in when you park, so you could come out easier if someone did double park leaving you with just enough space to drive out. Tonight’s show was Beatles Salute. It was so good that it received stand up ovation at the end.

 

Monday (Day 3 cruise) – Maui

Today we drove to the Ka’anapali Beach. On our way, we visited the Banyan Tree Park to see the one big Banyan Tree and grew over the entire park. It was interesting. We went to The Whalers at Ka’anapali Beach just before Sheraton and parked there. If you buy something or have meals there, the merchants will validate your parking stub and you get 3 hours free and a cheaper hourly rate after that. The parking was around $30. We bought some nuts at ABC store (minimum $15 for validation) and we stayed for less than 3 hours. The beach was beautiful but very windy. So windy that when you walked to the water, the sand got blown up and people who were sunbathing had to turn their face to avoid getting sand in their eyes. Therefore, please walk gently and carefully. After that, we returned our car and got a ride back to the ship.

 

Tueday (Day 4 cruise) – Hilo

We rented a car from Thrifty just for a change. We were totally not satisfied because the shuttle was way too crowded. We couldn’t get on the first shuttle we saw both ways. They too checked your name before letting you on. The line at the Blue Chip counter was shorter than the regular one, but the lady was very slow. It took us a total of one hour from the pier to when we sat in our rental car. We headed to Rainbow Falls but it wasn’t too spectacular. Then we went to the Boiling Pots. Due to the lack of water at Rainbow Falls, the pots were not really “boiling” either. One special thing we had was we met some local palm tree trimming people. They had some cut down coconuts on their truck and offered us to try the baby coconut juice for free. I was amazed at how efficient they opened the top of the coconut to put a straw in it. When we finished the juice, they cut out some pieces of the hard outer shell to use as scoops and then cut opened the coconut for us to enjoy the meat. We scooped out the meat to eat. It was like jelly, soft and tasty! That was the first highlight of the day. We then headed to Volcanoes National Park. We allowed ourselves 3 hours but it was still not enough. If you really want to look at everything and walk some short trails, you’ll need more time. Be sure to bring a flashlight or two for the unlit part of the lava tube. The park ranger said there was no section unlit but don’t listen to him. There was and we went with a family trailing us behind because their flashlight went out of batteries. We stopped going further when we got to a drop down point because we didn’t want to climb in the dark. It was fun anyway. According to our waiter, there should be another unlit lava tube in the park where you could go in much further. We headed back to the ship and stopped by the Moana Loa Macadamia Nut Farm Visitor Centre. We wanted to get back to the ship for the lei class so we just went to the gift shop, tried a few samples, and bought some garlic and onion flavour nuts. We later found out that the shop at Kona actually sells cheaper than them! You thought buying direct would mean lower price?! Anyway, we headed back to Thrifty’s and again struggled to get on a shuttle. The driver was rude and wouldn’t allow any more people to get on after all seats were filled (that part she was just doing her job). We, the ones who got on, saw that the line waiting to get on was so long, all volunteered to squeeze out more room for a few more people. The lady didn’t say anything, so we got back to the ship on an extremely packed shuttle but everyone was happy. We were 15 minutes late for the flower lei class, but there were still enough flowers left for us to make our leis. We had dinner and watched the show after that. It was lobster night. NCL got away with a whole lobster tail and gave only half a tail with a piece of fish as filler instead. Our waiter was nice enough to give us double lobster on one order instead of us ordering twice and not being able to finish the veggies and stuff.

The Lava Sail-by was around 9:45pm on Deck 6 Starboard Side. The view was nice and the flow was great. I wish we could get a bit closer. We were SO far away that even with binoculars, we could only see small blobs of orange glow burning. There was a ship/boat way closer to the lava and I bet they must have a wonderful view there.

 

Wednesday (Day 5 cruise) – Kona

Today we went snorkelling with Captain Zodiac. We booked directly with them. Since we needed to tender in with no priority like the ones booked through NCL, we got up really early to line up. We got on the first tender and were at the green tent waiting around 7:20am. People eventually showed up and we were off (along with those booked through NCL, on the same raft) to the snorkelling site. On our way there, we saw many dolphins. The captain even made waves by turning the raft left and right and the dolphins happily leaped up into the air. It was spectacular! He also made many sharp turns to give us some thrills. He said he normally wouldn’t do it if the passengers were scared but we totally enjoyed it. The snorkelling site was great but not big. We saw many different kinds of fish. Dh and I even saw a green turtle. It swam by us so close that we had to try so hard not to touch it! When we got back onto the boat, we were served fresh pineapple, orange, snacks and drinks. One thing I’d like to point out though. If you’re going with Captain Zodiac, be sure to go in the morning. There were four to five boats going at the same time. That’s 60 to 75 people in the water snorkelling in one small area. By the time the morning groups finished snorkelling, the water wouldn’t be as fresh or clear. I don’t want to be gross, but I know that people actually use the sea as washrooms! After that we tendered back to the ship to freshen up and had lunch onboard. We then went to stroll along the one street town. We bought some Mauna Loa macadamia nuts at very good price at the first store close to the pier. It was even cheaper than buying direct at the Mauna Loa Visitor Centre in Hilo. There was not much to see or buy in the town. Dd bought some random bracelets. We headed back to the ship and it was almost time for dinner.

 

Thursday (Day 6 cruise) – Kaua’i

We rented once again from National. There was no line up for the shuttle. They did however check our names before we got on. Picking up a car was easy and in no time. We drove to Waimea Canyon. It was beautiful and fun for the kids because there were places where you could climb up some red soil hills. The views were spectacular although not as grand as Grand Canyon. We tried to go to the last part for the “best” view as suggested by others but turned back half way due to the severely pot-holed road. Some pot holes were SO big, if you accidentally drove over them, you wouldn’t be able to come back out. We didn’t want to risk our rental car and didn’t want to have to call for help in the middle of nowhere, so we turned back and carefully drove through all the pot holes we passed. On our way back to the pier, we saw a sign for a coffee farm. We followed the sign and arrived at their visitor centre. Wow, the drive was WAY longer than the sign indicated, but it was well worth it. There wasn’t much of an introduction in their so called museum but they offered many different kinds of coffee for you to sample. We tried almost all of them and boy they were good! The whole family voted on the Peaberry and the Macadamia Nut Vanilla ones. We bought some coffee, returned the car and got a ride back to the ship.

 

Friday (Day 7 cruise) – Kaua’i

Today we did not rent a car but decided to go to the beach just next to the Anchore Cove Shopping Centre. Anchore Cove is just a small strip plaza with small shops. We looked at the Del-Sol store and again find it disappointing that their T-shirts, although expensive, still use the ordinary cotton that other cheap few dollar T-shirts use. I bought a Del-Sol T-shirt while I was in the Caribbean few years ago. The colour and pattern were nice but the cutting and material had yet to improve. I wish they could start using Cotton/Spandex or some better material to give their T-shirts a better feel. We walked to the beach after we took the free shuttle to the mall. The beach was really nice. It was situated in front of a resort, so it was beautifully maintained. I was told that there was a nice indoor botanical garden in the resort that you could go in for free. We spent so much time at the beach, there was not enough time for us to explore. The water there was nice. The place was not as windy as the Ka’anapali Beach in Maui. It’s nice that the ship docked so close to a nice beach that you didn’t need to drive to find one. When we were done, we walked back to the ship because the line for the free shuttle was so long. We ended up arriving at the same time as the first batch of people waiting for shuttles. After lunch, we went to Deck 13 Port side to watch the Na Pali Coast Sail-by and listened to the narration. The narration was kind of muffled on other decks but it was quite boring anyway in my opinion. It was our final night onboard so we started packing our luggage. We went to Liberty for dinner as usual, and asked for the same waiter/waitress pair as usual. Our waiter was so nice to us that he brought all appetizers on the menu for us to try. At the end the pair came to say goodbye and gave us some Style Cards hoping that we’d fill them out to comment on their performance. We were all pleased and impressed with their professional and caring service that we were going to fill those cards out even if they didn’t ask. We also gave them extra tips at the end.

 

Saturday (Day 8) – Honolulu

We disembarked after breakfast and carried our own luggage out. There was a shuttle bus from National waiting (we did not call ahead of time). After we picked up the car, we went to Diamond Head and part of the East Shore. After checking into our hotel, we had lunch, did some shopping in Waikiki and headed to Waikele Outlet Mall. It was quite disappointing as the prices there were not nearly as good as Las Vegas, Portland, or Seattle. They also ran out of a lot of sizes too. I don’t think I will shop there again at least not during holiday.

 

Sunday – Honolulu

Today we did the North Shore drive heading to the Stadium Flea Market. On our way, we decided to try Pearl Harbor to see if they had any tickets left. To our surprise, we arrived at after 10:00am and got tickets for 12:15pm. It worked out very well for us because we could use the time to shop at the Flea Market. Things were really cheap there. We bought some oversized beach towels for $10 each. The smaller ones (still very big) sold for 5 for $25! There were also many goody snacks to buy and don’t forget to try the malasadas. They are Portuguese donuts made fresh and served either plain or filled with delectable filling (such as passion fruit custard). The truck at the flea market only had plain sugar and cinnamon sugar but they were still very delicious. We went back to Pearl Harbor and headed to the Arizona Memorial. We didn’t stay too long but decided we will next time we go back to Hawaii. Then we drove to the North Shore heading to Laniakea Beach hoping to see some turtles. We passed by a shrimp truck and had a meal there before we arrive to the beach. Giovanni's Shrimp Truck is very famous but I heard that they use frozen shrimp. Macky's Kahuku Sweet Shrimp was supposed to be the new best. Unfortunately they had moved and so we tried the one on its old site. The shrimp dish from that truck was still very delicious that I’d recommend everyone to try if you see one. We also passed by the Matsumoto Shave Ice. The line was so long that people were lining up all the way out to the street! We decided to pass. By the way, there is a place in Royal Hawaiian Centre upstairs in Waikiki that serves really good shave ice too, especially the ones with milk ice. Anyway, when we got to Laniakea Beach, we were lucky to see one sea turtle sunbathing. We took a lot of pictures of it and returned to Waikiki. We had Korean BBQ that night at the basement food court across from Royal Hawaiian Centre. It was so good that it tasted like the ones we had at a good Korean restaurant!

 

Monday – Honolulu

Today we drove the North Shore route again to Dole Plantation because we didn’t have enough time yesterday. Knowing it is a tourist trap, we still had a wonderful time there. We started off at the gift shop lining up to buy Dole Whips with a buy one get one free coupon from the Entertainment book (you could buy 2 and get 4). The lines were long but we were so happy to be surrounded by all the pineapple goodies that it didn’t bother us. The kids were in such high spirit at the Maze (another buy one get one free coupon from our rental car company’s free drive guide), walking and searching under the hot Hawaiian sun without complaining. We also got on the Pineapple Express (again a tourist trap, but we were happy to get on). There were so many different kinds of fruits and vegetables along the track. After that we headed back to the gift shop skipping the garden (because that was the biggest tourist trap of all as I heard) and had some more Dole Whip and fresh pineapple. Be sure to wait and watch the pineapple demonstration (every half hour). I never knew pineapple was so easy to cut and I’ve been buying pineapple back home now ever since! They told you how to pick and cut pineapples that you never thought of. After several hours there, we headed back to Waikiki and shopped at Wal-Mart and Costco for some last minute nuts, coffee and chocolates. We then had dinner in the Ala Moana Shopping Center. Again the food quality in their food court really amazes you. After eating so much on the ship, it’s nice to have something light but still tasty for a change.

 

After all, the trip was great. The were stressful moments when driving in Waikiki because there were so many lanes and our Garmin GPS, the latest and state-of-the-art with lane assist, could not give lane assist in Waikiki (maybe the whole Hawaii). For example, it told us to “turn left and then go on ramp” when there were 3 left turn lanes. It turned out we should have stayed on the second left lane instead of the farthest left. Luckily drivers there are courteous although fast. They usually would let you change lane if you happened to pick the wrong one. It was still very confusing. The food was great in Waikiki and so was shopping and strolling there. We did so much that we didn’t even have time for a swim in the famous Waikiki Beach. We did stroll along there though.

 

As for the cruise, the shows onboard were all better than expected except maybe one that I found kind of boring. The food was sub-par in the buffet but very acceptable in the dining room. The service was better in Liberty than Skyline. We tried to have the same waiter for all nights because the waiter who served us on Day 1 was really solemn. He did the job but you could tell that he genuinely hated it. We met our favourite waiter on our second night and we asked for him every night after that. It was unfortunate that a family who sat beside our table every night when we were there (obviously also asked for him every night) did not show up on the last night. The waiter was so nice to them, especially to their little girl. He brought her specially made pasta or other food when she refused to eat what she ordered. He also played with her when he was at their table. They left earlier than us every night, and we never saw them do anything extra to award him. Disappearing on the last night was quite disappointing. I surely hope they had made arrangements somehow to recognize a job well done by their waiter. The crew in general was friendly and polite maybe except a few I met in the buffet and around the ship. Our cabin steward’s English was not very good and so it was hard to communicate with him sometimes. He also just did the minimum as far as cleaning the cabin is concerned. Just remember to set your expectation a little lower, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

[GypRasc]

We drove the Road to Hana. It was a long and tiring drive.

The road in the second half was very windy (curves) with many single lane bridges. By the time we headed back to the ship, it was around 6pm and the closest parking lot was full.

 

Thank you so much for the review. As far as the Road to Hana goes can you tell me if you did the full loop or just went as far as Hana and then turned around. Since you considered it quite long is there a certain point that you would say you wished you had turned around to forego the remainder of the trip? Also, where you made your stops did you find them busy with other tourists or just a few others there besides yourself.

 

We wanted to get back to the ship for the lei class.

 

What time was the orchid making class?

[CH_ca]

Thank you so much for the review. As far as the Road to Hana goes can you tell me if you did the full loop or just went as far as Hana and then turned around. Since you considered it quite long is there a certain point that you would say you wished you had turned around to forego the remainder of the trip? Also, where you made your stops did you find them busy with other tourists or just a few others there besides yourself.

 

 

 

What time was the orchid making class?

 

We turned around after we reached Hana. I guess the drive could be better if we weren't so tired from the 6am flight on Friday (sleeping only 3 hours the night before and not being able to sleep on the plane). We were not 100% recovered from that. In any case, we didn't consider turning around at any point. We actually cheered when we got to Hana. Most of the stops we did were not busy just the same group of cars driving the same direction. Maybe we didn't start at the same time as the tour buses. We were able to find a parking spot easily at every stop. We eventually smiled and said hi to those we saw on the way because it was the same group of people. I forgot to mention, the Garden of Eden was worth seeing. They are putting it up for sale at $8 million. Unless you are going to buy it, better go quick before they closed down. :D

 

The orchid lei class was at 4:30pm in the main theater. Very popular.

[GypRasc]

We turned around after we reached Hana. I guess the drive could be better if we weren't so tired from the 6am flight on Friday (sleeping only 3 hours the night before and not being able to sleep on the plane). We were not 100% recovered from that. In any case, we didn't consider turning around at any point. We actually cheered when we got to Hana. Most of the stops we did were not busy just the same group of cars driving the same direction. Maybe we didn't start at the same time as the tour buses. We were able to find a parking spot easily at every stop. We eventually smiled and said hi to those we saw on the way because it was the same group of people. I forgot to mention, the Garden of Eden was worth seeing. They are putting it up for sale at $8 million. Unless you are going to buy it, better go quick before they closed down. :D

 

The orchid lei class was at 4:30pm in the main theater. Very popular.

 

Thanks so much for the info. We will have 1 extra day in Waikiki to try and acclimate to the time difference but since we're coming from the East Coast I'm sure we'll still feel the affects of lack of sleep. Especially since I can never fall asleep on a plane. Ugh!

[sue402001]

Thanks for your review of your trip CH_ca.

Did it seem different being on the same boat for the Captain Zodiak tour as NCL? Just curious if anything was said. We're thinking about booking directly too to save money.

[CH_ca]

Thanks for your review of your trip CH_ca.

Did it seem different being on the same boat for the Captain Zodiak tour as NCL? Just curious if anything was said. We're thinking about booking directly too to save money.

 

 

But one gentleman took a peek at our credit card receipt (it was given to us by the Zodiac people when we told her our names). He didn't say anything. Maybe he didn't do the math.:p If you book directly, make sure you book online to get the extra $15 off per person now.

[kwbound]

.... It was unfortunate that a family who sat beside our table every night when we were there (obviously also asked for him every night) did not show up on the last night. The waiter was so nice to them, especially to their little girl. He brought her specially made pasta or other food when she refused to eat what she ordered. He also played with her when he was at their table. They left earlier than us every night, and we never saw them do anything extra to award him. Disappearing on the last night was quite disappointing. I surely hope they had made arrangements somehow to recognize a job well done by their waiter.

 

 

How do you know they didn't show up the last night? Isn't this "Freestyle"? Could they not have dined sometime before or after you. Honestly, if I thought the people at the next table were paying so much attention to me that they would actually write about me in a trip report, I'd probably find another time and place to dine too. It was the end of the cruise, they were traveling with a small child, maybe they were just too tired to come to the dining room that night. Or maybe they went to another venue where their fellow diners might not be so judgmental.

[GypRasc]

How do you know they didn't show up the last night? Isn't this "Freestyle"? Could they not have dined sometime before or after you. Honestly, if I thought the people at the next table were paying so much attention to me that they would actually write about me in a trip report, I'd probably find another time and place to dine too. It was the end of the cruise, they were traveling with a small child, maybe they were just too tired to come to the dining room that night. Or maybe they went to another venue where their fellow diners might not be so judgmental.

 

Wow! Did somebody get up on the wrong side of the bed? Ok, I also realize there could be a hundred different reasons why the poster didn't see these other guests at the dining hall on this night but I really don't think it's necessary to bash someone for making a comment. This is one sure fire way to keep people from wanting to write their reviews/comments. Take it easy on folks and just take things that are said with a grain of salt.

[kwbound]

Wow! Did somebody get up on the wrong side of the bed? Ok, I also realize there could be a hundred different reasons why the poster didn't see these other guests at the dining hall on this night but I really don't think it's necessary to bash someone for making a comment. This is one sure fire way to keep people from wanting to write their reviews/comments. Take it easy on folks and just take things that are said with a grain of salt.

 

You know, you are absolutely right. I must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed and I should have kept my opinion off the boards. My bashing the OP was just as bad as what I was bashing her for. And I did appreciate the rest of the trip report.

[CH_ca]

Wow! Did somebody get up on the wrong side of the bed? Ok, I also realize there could be a hundred different reasons why the poster didn't see these other guests at the dining hall on this night but I really don't think it's necessary to bash someone for making a comment. This is one sure fire way to keep people from wanting to write their reviews/comments. Take it easy on folks and just take things that are said with a grain of salt.

 

 

Thanks GypRasc. Yes, last night I did doubt if it was wise for me to post my review here. But after receiving so much information provided by the fellow board members, I felt obligated to contribute back to this forum no matter how busy I was, squeezing in hours of work in-between to finish this review.

 

I didn't mean to talk about those people sitting next to us in detail. That's why no description of any kind was given except they had a little girl. It's just something I noticed and as I said I did not see whether they did or did not do anything to recognize their waiter's excellent service, be it in monetary form or just simply filling out a Style card. I just hoped that they did, that's all. It's hard not to notice people who sat next to you every night at the same time when the two tables were placed side by side with no one person sitting back to back with another. It's hard not to notice them when the parent let the 4 or 5-year-old girl get down from her chair during dinner in a more formal dining room to walk around their table and ours while the the parent and the other adult just continued talking and eating. It's hard not to notice them when my dd, who loves kids, smiled and waved at the little girl when she was at our table and the parent just glanced and looked away without a smile...

 

Gratuities used to be voluntary on cruise ships many years ago. Guests used to receive empty envelopes on the 2nd last night to put money in and to give them out on the last night to the people who served them, the cabin steward, the matre'd, the wine waiter, the waiter and the bus boy. Somehow there would be quite a few empty tables on the last night of the cruise. Maybe the passengers were too busy and tired packing their belongings and decided to have dinner in the buffet instead? Anyway, years later, gratuities are now automatically charged to your onboard account so that no one will need to give out the envelopes themselves. Those people who sat next to us obviously had paid their share of service charge. They didn't owe anyone anything maybe except a thank you to the ones who provided a more than regular job. Again, maybe they already did.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thank you for the review. I enjoyed it immensely.:)

[riofriotex]

You know, you are absolutely right. I must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed and I should have kept my opinion off the boards. My bashing the OP was just as bad as what I was bashing her for. And I did appreciate the rest of the trip report.

 

I'm sorry, I'm with you, kwbound, on this one. I also think it was unnecessary to make the remarks about the other family in the dining room. Yet another reason why I'm very reluctant to do anything BUT freestyle cruising; I don't want to have to eat in the same place every dinner with the same (judgmental?) people.

[CH_ca]

Thank you for the review. I enjoyed it immensely.:)

 

Thanks everyone for reading. I'm sorry if the part about the dining room experience got blown out of proportion by fellow members' comments. What seemed to be just part of the dining memory when the waiter was being mentioned really got magnified. In fact, the experience was forgotten until when I got to the very end of writing the review. All the details written after were refreshed by the responses rather. So I hope everybody enjoyed reading the rest of the review and I hope those who are going in the future will find it useful and have a good trip! After all this forum is meant to be helpful to the ones seeking information and I hope I had made my contribution that way. :)

[FloatYourBoatSince2003]

last night I did doubt if it was wise for me to post my review here

 

I really like it when people post their review on the forum part - it allows me to ask questions about things they did that I'm interested in. I really appreciate that you did.

[CruisingGoddess]

Tueday (Day 4 cruise) – Hilo

It was lobster night. NCL got away with a whole lobster tail and gave only half a tail with a piece of fish as filler instead. Our waiter was nice enough to give us double lobster on one order instead of us ordering twice and not being able to finish the veggies and stuff.

The Lava Sail-by was around 9:45pm on Deck 6 Starboard Side. The view was nice and the flow was great. I wish we could get a bit closer. We were SO far away that even with binoculars, we could only see small blobs of orange glow burning. There was a ship/boat way closer to the lava and I bet they must have a wonderful view there.

 

Are you sure lobster night was on Tuesday? Others have reported it to be on Wednesday (Kona) night. I'd like to know for sure to make sure we eat in the MDR that night.

 

Thanks also for the notes about how crowded the Thrifty shuttle was. I may go and get quotes from other rental companies but I'm pretty sure Thrifty was the cheapest the last time I checked. Either way, it's good to know that the shuttles are crowded so I can plan ahead of time.

[CH_ca]

Are you sure lobster night was on Tuesday? Others have reported it to be on Wednesday (Kona) night. I'd like to know for sure to make sure we eat in the MDR that night.

 

Thanks also for the notes about how crowded the Thrifty shuttle was. I may go and get quotes from other rental companies but I'm pretty sure Thrifty was the cheapest the last time I checked. Either way, it's good to know that the shuttles are crowded so I can plan ahead of time.

 

Yes lobster night was on Wednesday (Kona) night. My memory had started to fade since I was writing that review bit by bit at different times after I came back piled by tons of work. Just checked with dh, and he confirmed that it was Wednesday not Tuesday. Sorry!

[CruisingGoddess]

Yes lobster night was on Wednesday (Kona) night. My memory had started to fade since I was writing that review bit by bit at different times after I came back piled by tons of work. Just checked with dh, and he confirmed that it was Wednesday not Tuesday. Sorry!

 

Thanks for the quick response! Want to make sure we don't miss it! :D

[riofriotex]

Thanks also for the notes about how crowded the Thrifty shuttle was. I may go and get quotes from other rental companies but I'm pretty sure Thrifty was the cheapest the last time I checked. Either way, it's good to know that the shuttles are crowded so I can plan ahead of time.

 

Rebecca, they were crowded and/or had long lines (and in Hilo, were exceedingly small) - probably because Thrifty IS such a good deal otherwise! I hate to wait in lines, so I took taxis to the Thrifty office in Hilo and Kauai. Yes, it was a little expensive, but that way I also got 1) some tips from local drivers, particularly on where to find the cheapest gas, and 2) a business card so I could call a taxi if running late when returning the rental car, to get back to the ship on time!

 

And CH_ca, I did appreciate your review. Probably a bit sensitive here, because I don't like the feeling that others are watching and commenting on me, which was triggered by your dining room observations. Thank you for taking the time to write and post a review.

[CruisingGoddess]

Rebecca, they were crowded and/or had long lines (and in Hilo, were exceedingly small) - probably because Thrifty IS such a good deal otherwise! I hate to wait in lines, so I took taxis to the Thrifty office in Hilo and Kauai. Yes, it was a little expensive, but that way I also got 1) some tips from local drivers, particularly on where to find the cheapest gas, and 2) a business card so I could call a taxi if running late when returning the rental car, to get back to the ship on time!

 

Great idea!! How much would you say taking a taxi costs to/from the rental car office on average?

[CH_ca]

And CH_ca, I did appreciate your review. Probably a bit sensitive here, because I don't like the feeling that others are watching and commenting on me, which was triggered by your dining room observations. Thank you for taking the time to write and post a review.

 

I don't know what got to me either. I normally don't comment on other passengers. I wouldn't even notice them if it wasn't for the little girl wandering around our table and at times refused to eat. Like I said, I'd totally forgotten about them until I wrote about our waiter. I guess we appreciated our waiter so much that I think he deserves more.

[riofriotex]

How much would you say taking a taxi costs to/from the rental car office on average?

 

I really didn't pay attention and I paid cash, but I am thinking it was around $15 with a tip - definitely under $20. Sorry I can't be more specific; maybe someone else will chime in with some more accurate numbers.