A couple of Australians in Hawaii – our trip report

[FunCruiser56]

Hi Bev

 

I have been locating all the places that everyone is talking about and putting them in a file on My Favorites - here is what I have

 

http://www.tourmaui.com/

http://www.robertshawaii.com/activities-attractions.php

http://www.temptationtours.com/c-9-hana-picnic.aspx

http://www.marylousbigislandguidedtours.com/destinationslist.html

http://www.kauaiedentours.com/EKomoMai_Welcome_to_Eden.php

http://www.rickystours.com/index.html

 

These are just a few that I have saved....HTH:D I love these boards...I have gotten so much information from everyone on here

 

Wow Shannon! Thanks so much just what I was looking for! My file is getting huge but I know I want this information when we get down to the real planning-

Bev

[vbmom87]

Great Review. I remember following all your planning. I am glad you had a wonderful cruise. Loved reading about your Road to Hana tour with Valley Isles. We felt the same way and were so glad we booked with them.

 

I see you asked about posting larger sized photos. When I needed to learn how to do that, I found this thread. Post number 10 in this thread was especially helpful to me. I hope it helps you. It may be too late for this review, but you may want to bookmark it for future help.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=610576&highlight=test

[Raison]

Thursday April 5 2011

 

A busy day was planned today so we left the ship as soon as we could. Jumped on the shuttle to the Dollar Rental car office and we were driving our the gate 15 minutes later. How fast was that? :)

 

We set off northwards bound. I have been anticipating this day for months, looking forward to seeing the sites on the north shore. Due to the reschedule of our helicopter flight from last week, we had a bit less time than when we were planning so we decided to go as far north as we could and work our way back.

 

Our first stop was in to Kilauea, we were a bit early so decided to call back in on the way back to Lihue. The lighthouse doesn't open until 10 am.

 

We drove in to Anini Beach park and were absolutely blown away by the beauty of this place. It looks like a heavenly place to spend a quiet week or two. The longest piece of reef protects the beach and it was just lovely. The swimming would be very safe here I think.

 

 

There are some lovely homes and I bet it costs a fortune to buy a house here. We drove right to the end of the road and also saw vacation rental signs, so we took photos of the signs for further research when we get home. I was really impressed with this place!

 

Back in the car we continued driving till we hit the end of the road at Ke'e Beach. There was rain today so we saw many waterfalls on the drive.

 

We stopped for a few photo ops along the way and I walked into the dry cave at Ha'ena Beach park.

 

Our plan was to hike along the Kalalau trail a bit so off we went! It was wet underfoot, but luckily the rain held off while we were on the trail. We got to the Ke'e Beach lookout and enjoyed the view.We decided to continue on a bit, but it was pretty wet underfoot. When we got to a section where the water was running over the rocks we needed to climb up, we decided that it would not be wise to continue on.

 

I am really happy that we got to hike a bit of this trail, I would have loved to get to the beach, but with our tightened schedule for today this was not going to happen if we were to make our chopper flight. The trail is hard going, climbing over the rocks etc, but the views are great down over Ke'e Beach and the ocean.

 

 

As we got back to the car, the rain started to come down fairly heavy. Lucky for us! We drove back towards Hanalei and he rain was really heavy on places, I was wondering if we would be able to do our chopper flight later in the day.

 

We drove in to Hanalei to check out the bay and pier. It was raining on and off and the drops were so big! We got wet really quickly while at the pier, the clouds and rain were also stopping us from getting a good view so we retreated to the car before we were soaked through.

 

We stopped in at the lighthouse again and took some photos of the red-footed boobies nesting there. We didn't go all the way in to the lighthouse because we decided the view from outside was enough for us. Besides we didn't want to rush a visit there.

 

 

The little shopping centre in Kilauea is worth a look around too, there are some nice craft shops - there is a nice bakery here too!

 

The north shore area is sooo beautiful, even on a rainy day.

 

We headed back to Lihue, with a couple more stops along the way. There are some lovely areas along this stretch of coast.

 

We decided to drop our rental car off before the flight, time was tight and there was a queue at the gas station!

We got to the airport and the nice shuttle driver jumped in and took us straight back. He was nice enough to drop us at the Harbour Mall where Blue Hawaiian office is.

 

We made our check in time and before we knew it we were headed back to the airport for our chopper flight.:):D:):D Excited!!

 

The flight was incredible. The canyon looked awesome from the air, the colours and size of this place! We had some rain during the flight, but that didn't impeded the views for long.

 

Flying along the Na Pali cost was beautiful, a really terrific experience. The absolute highlight for me though was when we flew into the crater of Wai'ale'ale. I was very moved by the beauty of this place - waterfalls everywhere we looked falling 3000 feet straight down. Spectacular!

 

Even though we got wet this morning on the north shore, I was thankful for the rain because it made some magnificent waterfalls.

 

Kauai is a truly beautiful place and it was a fabulous experience to fly over it. We were with a family of 4, the kids were in their late teens and looked quite bored with the whole thing! I hope they were just playing it cool.:cool:

 

We waited for the DVD of our flight when we returned to the Blue Hawaiian office and then we walked back to the ship. It was about 5.30 by this time. All up we neded a fair bit of time for our 1 hour flight - 45 minutes pre flight, the flight itself, the time to be shuttled back to the BH office and 30 minutes or so for the production of the DVD and to collect your gear.So allow enough time for all this if you are planning a flight. Also, the only items that can be taken on the chopper are a camera, sunglasses and a bottle of water. They will store your bags securely at the office.

 

We spent a relaxing evening enjoying some of the music in the Napa Wine bar and Pink's Champagne Bar.

 

We were pretty tired today, having fun is hard work! It was a great day today.

[Raison]

Here is a few more photos from our great day in Kauai...

 

 

 

 

 

 

So beautiful!!

[GypRasc]

Raison so glad you were able to do the heli flight your 2nd wk. I still cringe over our missed flight & when we went to BIL for Easter he was still very ticked off. I still say this is my reason for having to go back.:D

[misha1]

3 weeks later and I can still live in the moment due to your excellent review. So many memories. Beautiful photos. I have just started to organize my photos on shutterfly. TaTa for now and many safe travels and awesome adventures. Perhaps our paths will meet again. Julie

[Raison]

Raison so glad you were able to do the heli flight your 2nd wk. I still cringe over our missed flight & when we went to BIL for Easter he was still very ticked off. I still say this is my reason for having to go back.:D

 

I was glad to get on that flight too! If we had missed out 2 weeks in a row I would be very disappointed!

 

Glad you have a reason to go back, it would be worth it!

[Raison]

3 weeks later and I can still live in the moment due to your excellent review. So many memories. Beautiful photos. I have just started to organize my photos on shutterfly. TaTa for now and many safe travels and awesome adventures. Perhaps our paths will meet again. Julie

 

Hi Julie

 

I am re- living our trip by writing the report. :)

 

Organising the photos is the next job after the report is finished.

 

I have not used online photo storage before, and I want one where I can put my photos in albums and maybe do some online scrapbooking and then send all the family and friends links to go and have a look.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Try picaboo.com, shutterfly.com or picasa.com. I also use webshots for posting in forums but it isn't as flexible as the others.

 

They allow you to create picture albums, post pics on forums, etc.

[misha1]

Hi Julie

 

I am re- living our trip by writing the report. :)

 

Organising the photos is the next job after the report is finished.

 

I have not used online photo storage before, and I want one where I can put my photos in albums and maybe do some online scrapbooking and then send all the family and friends links to go and have a look.

 

Yup...using Shutterfly. Took me (computer challenged) a little time to figure it out, and I fear the end cost, but I have seen a finished product from a coworker and it was beautiful.

[lv2bgoofy]

Yeah for getting to do the helicopter ride.....this was the first excursion I booked and hopefully the weather will co-operate.....your pictures are stunning....thanks for sharing....

[Raison]

Yeah for getting to do the helicopter ride.....this was the first excursion I booked and hopefully the weather will co-operate.....your pictures are stunning....thanks for sharing....

 

I hope the weather is kind too, it is a fantastic flight to take!

[Raison]

Friday April 8 2011

 

An early start for DH this morning, 6.30 am - another golf day planned through NCL. The course today is Puakea golf course. He enjoyed the golf game again, and said the course was very pretty.

 

 

I also had an excursion booked with NCL today - the Wailua River and Fern Grotto experience. I do not normally like large group excursions, but thought this one might fill in the morning nicely while DH was golfing.

 

My meeting time was a more respectable 8.30 am. The meeting point for excursions in Kauai is on the dock in the large shed that is the exit point. I was surprised that they don't check off the names of people who booked on the various excursions to make sure everyone is present.

 

Our bus was loaded up and headed off only to be contacted and asked to return to pick up a couple of people who were late for the excursion. Hmmm, a whole bus load of people held up because 2 people couldn't be on time. Maybe this is the reason I don't normally do large group excursions!

 

Anyway, the latecomers boarded, and got a few black looks from those already on the bus. Away we went, for the second time.

 

Our first stop was at Ahukini Landing, this was the original deep water port of Kauai. The waves were rolling in here and there were some nice views.

 

From here we headed to Wailua where we went to the Smith Family property and boarded one of their long flat boats for the ride up the river. This is a pretty ride up the river, it only takes about 20 minutes. There was some music and singing as we went up river and commentary on what we were seeing as well.

 

On arrival at the Fern Grotto, we had to wait while the group in front of us completed their walk to the grotto. When we got off, we went on a short walk through a bushy area to the fern grotto where we were told its history and entertained with some music.

 

 

The grotto was a nice area, lots of mossies around and I was pleased I had remembered the bug spray today.

 

Back on the boat for the trip back. More entertainment on the way back including some dancing this time and the group participation number!!

 

Next stop was Opaekaa Falls where we stopped for about 15 minutes, time to wander up and take photos. Across the road there is lovely view of the river and valley, worthwhile crossing over for and there is a cross walk so it is nice and safe.:)

 

 

We were dropped back at the ship around 12.15. So, the excursion was nice, laid back and low key. But it also reinforced for me why I don't like large group tours - the loading and unloading of large buses and boats and the waiting for people. Still a pleasant morning.

 

I had a bit of quiet time until DH arrived back from golf. He and the other people he had played golf with this week had arranged a get together at 2 pm in Owners Suite 10502. This was a lovely place to enjoy the sail away from Kauai, and the company was good fun too.

 

About 3.30, we returned to our cabin and packed up most of our gear (oh no, we have to go home).

 

I went up on deck to watch the Na Pali coast sailby this week as I wanted to listen to the narration. I must say it was a bit hard to hear properly even up on deck.

 

Once again the sail-by was awesome.The colours were a bit more defined this week as there was more sun and less cloud than last week. There were also many whales around and we saw lots of their frolicking this afternoon. I stayed up on deck soaking in as much of the view as I could!

 

 

 

7 pm saw us at the variety show - this was a bit of each of the entertainers from throughout the week. Lots of laughs and we enjoyed the crew farewell also. It was mentioned that the cruise director Douglas Dunnell would be going on vacation for 2 months. The assistant cruise director Sarah would be taking over for the time he is away.

 

A final dinner at Skyline and our cruise was just about over:eek:

[GypRasc]

Friday April 8 2011

The colours were a bit more defined this week as there was more sun and less cloud than last week. There were also many whales around and we saw lots of their frolicking this afternoon. I stayed up on deck soaking in as much of the view as I could!

 

Ok you got me beat.:) Sounds like I should have booked the cruise for 1 wk later so I could have made the heli trip & been able to see the NaPali coast in brighter shades & frolicking whales.lol You just can't predict mother nature.:D

 

BTW I am working on my digital photo album right now (my 1st one) using mixbook.com. It's very easy and wow, what a time saver over doing it by hand. Loving it & can't wait until it's done. I was actually waiting until after Easter to do it as I wanted to get my SIL's photos to work with as well. You're not going to believe this but my SIL, who is not very tech savvy, deleted all but maybe 20 photos by accident.:eek: She is just devastated as she is a real photo buff & took over 1,000 photos so I guess we have to rely on my photos now.:(

[Raison]

Saturday April 9 2011

 

POA was welcomed back in to Honolulu by a couple of whales this morning. I was watching them very early form our balcony.

 

We disembarked at about 8am, found our luggage - all our items were together and at the front of the lines of luggage. How convenient!

 

Jumped in a taxi and headed to the airport. We were earlier than we needed to be, but you can never be sure how long things will take! And we prefer to be early than stress about getting there on time. We needed 3 hours before our flight, but ended up with about 4.

 

We had a coffee and I logged onto the internet and caught up on some emails and other bits and pieces and a bit of Cruise Critic before it was time for our plane to board.

 

The plane departed on time and we were on our way home to Sydney where we will overnight before driving to our home. Why do people think it is ok to get on a plane and remove their smelly shoes:confused:

We also lost that day we gained on the way over and arrived back in Sydney Sunday night at about 7.30 pm.

 

Comments on Pride of America and other random thoughts

I may have already mentioned some of the things below...sorry if I have repeated myself!!

 

The staff that we encountered were polite and helpful, with one exception we had no complaints about them at all. The exception would be the young man at the front desk who sent us away one day when we had trouble getting in to our cabin. Neither if our cards would work, his explanation was that they were having trouble with "the system" and many people were currently unable to get into their cabins. His advice was to come back in about 15 minutes and we would then be issued new cabin cards.

When DH went back, he was told there was no problem with the system at all. It seems the other gentleman told us a lie, why would he do that?? We don’t know for sure, but think it could have been close to his finishing time and he didn’t want to handle the problem. Honestly, he must have known we would find out he had not been truthful. Unfortunately, we didn’t notice his name and so were unable to tell the next person who did help us resolve the problem who had told us the wrong information.

 

We thought POA is a nice ship and she is being looked after by the crew. Cleanliness was good although as mentioned way back in this review, our cabin had a few issues when we first arrived. Nothing that a few sanitising wipes couldn’t fix though.

 

Food – we ate at a variety of places and had no problem finding food to eat that we liked. Of course there were things we didn’t like, but we didn’t travel to Hawaii for the food! It was interesting to try some American things that we don’t have at home – for instance, biscuits and gravy at breakfast.

 

We also enjoyed trying Hawaiian foods and would have liked to see more Hawaiian foods on the ship.

 

The Aloha Cafe can be very busy and a bit of a cattle herd at times, mainly breakfast. If you can, pick a time to eat there that is a bit out of the ordinary meal times and it is not as crowded.

 

Breakfast on the back deck of the Aloha Cafe is nice and it is good to listen to the Hawaiian ambassadors at 7.30 am as you are having breakfast. If you get back to the ship after the Aloha Cafe has closed at 3 pm, but would like something to eat then the back deck has food available until the main part of the Cafe opens again at 6 pm.

 

We had some nice food in the Aloha Cafe, my main problem with the food here is that I did not find it hot enough. Most of the time, by the time we got our food and got to our seats it was lukewarm at best. This was particularly true at breakfast.

 

We also ate at the Cadillac Diner for a late lunch one day and breakfast as well. DH enjoyed his breakfasts here as his cooked items arrived hotter and more to his taste than at the Aloha Cafe.

 

We had several dinners at Skyline restaurant. This was a very nice place to relax and enjoy the company of others.

 

We did not find the service slow in the Skyline as has been mentioned on CC in the past. Most nights our dinners there took around an hour, for a 3 course meal I thought this was good. Our food was lovely and we met some nice folks to chat with when we opted to share our table. The wait staff were helpful and pleasant as well.

 

We also had breakfast a few times at Skyline and found this a relaxing way to start the day. You do need a bit more time for this than going to the Aloha Cafe.

 

We had dinner at Lazy J Steakhouse on embarkation night of cruise 2. This was lovely. We didn't eat at any of the other specialty restaurants.

 

The “NCL Daily” onboard news sheet changed format from cruise 1 to cruise 2. The new version is easier to read and has a more modern, cleaner look. I think it is a big improvement.

 

We also noticed in cruise 2 that there was more Hawaiian music being played all over the ship. In the Aloha Cafe during cruise 1, the music played was contemporary tunes, but not so during cruise 2. I very much enjoyed listening to the Hawaiian music there during cruise 2.

 

We didn’t see much entertainment during cruise 1 – we were tired after busy days and DH was still struggling with a cold. He visited the doctor on Tuesday afternoon and got drugs to help.

 

During cruise 2 we saw the Aloha Polynesia show which was most enjoyable. Also the Frankie Valli tribute group called “Oh What a Night” were terrific entertainment. I also enjoyed the music around the pool and in Pinks Champagne bar and the Napa Wine Bar of an evening.

 

Driving on the opposite side of the road was an experience, and caused a few white knuckle moments. You would think that it wouldn’t be that hard to drive the other way around, and on the whole it isn’t, but when you have to make turns into driveways and at traffic lights, you have to think about what you are doing and it is the complete opposite of what we would do automatically at home.

 

Would I do anything differently if I was planning this again? Yes – I would have split our time in Honolulu to have some time before the cruises and after the cruises. I probably knew this would have been a better option before we left, but due to our flight schedules it didn’t work out that way.

 

Was there anything I didn’t do and wish I had? Yes – there is always something!

 

We didn’t get to hike Diamond Head as we both caught head colds while in Honolulu and we didn’t feel up to it. This was one of the things I would have really liked to do.

 

Also, more snorkeling – especially in Maui and Kona.

 

We would have liked to see active lava flow too, but Madame Pele had other ideas!

 

I would have liked to do more hiking, but you really need more than a port day to do that comfortably. So it seems we will have to return to an island for a longer stay.

 

Honestly, there are so many activities and things to see on the islands you have to make choices because you just can't do it all!

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip, lovely weather, beautiful places to visit and a lovely cruise ship.

 

Hawaii, we loved visiting your shores! Aloha!

[Raison]

Ok you got me beat.:) Sounds like I should have booked the cruise for 1 wk later so I could have made the heli trip & been able to see the NaPali coast in brighter shades & frolicking whales.lol You just can't predict mother nature.:D

 

BTW I am working on my digital photo album right now (my 1st one) using mixbook.com. It's very easy and wow, what a time saver over doing it by hand. Loving it & can't wait until it's done. I was actually waiting until after Easter to do it as I wanted to get my SIL's photos to work with as well. You're not going to believe this but my SIL, who is not very tech savvy, deleted all but maybe 20 photos by accident.:eek: She is just devastated as she is a real photo buff & took over 1,000 photos so I guess we have to rely on my photos now.:(

 

Mother nature can be a difficult lady that's for sure! We were lucky to be on b2b and have a second go at some things. Oh and don't forget that beautiful rainbow at the Na Pali coast we had on the first week. You wouldn't have seen that if you had gone a week later:D

 

OMG if we lost our photos I would be kicking myself. I currently have 3 copies of them - on each of our computers and on a back up drive too. Your SIL must be upset, but it could be a good reason to book another trip to Hawaii. I really feel for her uurrrggghh, makes me shudder thinking about loosing them!

 

I have finished the report now, so will be able to start on the photos. I will check Mixbook out as well as the other programmes recommended.

[TSUmom]

Thank you so much for your wonderful review!!!! I can't wait to go again, I only wish DH and I had enough vacation days to do a back to back...so much to see and do and not enough time. I have had the pleasure of doing this cruise 3 times and still have so much I want to see and do and DH will be there for the first time...Guess that means we will have to make more trips to the islands because I am sure once he has a sample of what they have to offer he will want to go back!!:D

[bigtoeswim'n]

Try picaboo.com, shutterfly.com or picasa.com. I also use webshots for posting in forums but it isn't as flexible as the others.

 

They allow you to create picture albums, post pics on forums, etc.

 

Here's a dumb blonde question. When you upload pic to one of these online photo places, do you then not have them on the original device, i.e. memory card or computer hard drive??? Is it copies of the pics that are being uploaded??? I sure would hate to lose the ability of seeing our pics on our laptop/computer if I had them uploaded into cyberspace somewhere. I'm trying to figure all this online pic stuff out.

[Allis154]

Ok You're not going to believe this but my SIL, who is not very tech savvy, deleted all but maybe 20 photos by accident.:eek: She is just devastated as she is a real photo buff & took over 1,000 photos so I guess we have to rely on my photos now.:(

 

 

I did this with our first digital camera...was lucky enough that on the ship the photo crew was able to retrieve the photos from the SD card. I also took the card to my local camera shop and had them recover the SD card as well...ended up with 2 somewhat different sets of photos. Didn't get all of the photos, but probaly 90% of them (maybe more).

 

She may want to try that before she puts more pics on her camera.

[Allis154]

Great review!

 

Lots of info; made me remember my last trip there...and more ideas for our next visit!

[andianna]

Thank you so much ofr your review. It was very helpful and made me even more anxious for our time to come. Hope you will return and do the hikes and other things you missed this trip.

[heart286]

Ok you got me beat.:) Sounds like I should have booked the cruise for 1 wk later so I could have made the heli trip & been able to see the NaPali coast in brighter shades & frolicking whales.lol You just can't predict mother nature.:D

 

BTW I am working on my digital photo album right now (my 1st one) using mixbook.com. It's very easy and wow, what a time saver over doing it by hand. Loving it & can't wait until it's done. I was actually waiting until after Easter to do it as I wanted to get my SIL's photos to work with as well. You're not going to believe this but my SIL, who is not very tech savvy, deleted all but maybe 20 photos by accident.:eek: She is just devastated as she is a real photo buff & took over 1,000 photos so I guess we have to rely on my photos now.:(

 

Gyprasc, Have your SIL look into a photo restoration program! If she is not tech savy, tell her to find someone who is! You can recover those deleted pictures! My husband has done it for us and for my SIL whe she deleted pictures! He researched online and just downloaded a program and restored the pictures on the SD card!:D

[heart286]

Raison, thank you so much for your review! We are going in a couple weeks and reading a few extended reviews has really helped us plan our trip and make notes! We really appreciate the time you have put into your review!

 

Thank you!

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Here's a dumb blonde question. When you upload pic to one of these online photo places' date=' do you then not have them on the original device, i.e. memory card or computer hard drive??? Is it copies of the pics that are being uploaded??? I sure would hate to lose the ability of seeing our pics on our laptop/computer if I had them uploaded into cyberspace somewhere. I'm trying to figure all this online pic stuff out.[/quote']

 

All the files remain in the original location you had them (SD card, your computer hard drive or whatever). A copy is uploaded on a website and can also be considered a backup of your pecious photos. I have all my cruise photos uploaded and also some precious stuff like my DD's prom & graduation photos etc. Plus, once they are uploaded, you can easily make a hard cover photo album using specific photos with captions. I will make one for my Hawaii trip.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I try to upload my photos on my computer every night. It does give me a little reassurance. That way I also have them automatically divided by day.

 

I have also read that your photos are still there once you delete them. Just be sure not to put any more new photos over them!