A couple of Australians in Hawaii – our trip report

[Raison]

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!

 

We downloaded ours each day from our cameras to the netbook computer we took with us. Then I also copied them to a portable storage device just in case the netbook crashed and we lost the copies on there.

 

Copying the photos into daily folders sure made them easier to name and remember where they were taken when we got home!:)

[heart286]

We downloaded ours each day from our cameras to the netbook computer we took with us. Then I also copied them to a portable storage device just in case the netbook crashed and we lost the copies on there.

 

Copying the photos into daily folders sure made them easier to name and remember where they were taken when we got home!:)

 

We were planning on doing that too! We are bringing my netbook, and will have a portable drive with some movies on it for the flight with us too!

:D!

[brunolvr]

I greatly enjoyed your review and pictures, Raison! Thanks for taking the time to share your trip with us.:)

Can you tell me about how much the taxi was from the ship to the airport after disembarkation?

Thanks again!

[Raison]

I greatly enjoyed your review and pictures, Raison! Thanks for taking the time to share your trip with us.:)

Can you tell me about how much the taxi was from the ship to the airport after disembarkation?

Thanks again!

 

From memory, we think it was around $25.00 for the taxi.

[snedwar]

Raison,

Thanks so much for posting such a wonderful review. It was great to read and so helpful as we start to plan for our trip in Sept. And coming from an Aussie point of view was an added bonus for us.

[Raison]

Raison,

Thanks so much for posting such a wonderful review. It was great to read and so helpful as we start to plan for our trip in Sept. And coming from an Aussie point of view was an added bonus for us.

 

You are welcome! If you have any questions, please ask. Lucky you heading off in Sept! Have a great time.

[stki]

Have just finished reading your report, its fantastic. We are off to Hawaii in Sept with 6 of our friends & I also like private tours. Its such a coincidence, but I have booked Ricky in Hilo, Valley Isle tour in Maui & Mark for our transfers in Honolulu. Glad to hear your good reports for them.

 

We also have decided to hire a van for Kauai. My DH has driven in the US before, but 2 of his friends want to give it a go:confused:

 

We are having a week in Honolulu after the cruise, so have got some great ideas from you, as I havent started this research yet.

 

Thanks

 

Tanya (Aussie too:))

[Raison]

Have just finished reading your report, its fantastic. We are off to Hawaii in Sept with 6 of our friends & I also like private tours. Its such a coincidence, but I have booked Ricky in Hilo, Valley Isle tour in Maui & Mark for our transfers in Honolulu. Glad to hear your good reports for them.

 

We also have decided to hire a van for Kauai. My DH has driven in the US before, but 2 of his friends want to give it a go:confused:

 

We are having a week in Honolulu after the cruise, so have got some great ideas from you, as I havent started this research yet.

 

Thanks

 

Tanya (Aussie too:))

 

Glad you enjoyed it! We had a fabulous time in Hawaii. Happy to answer any questions you may have. You are really spoilt for choice in Hawaii, so much to see and do.

[heart286]

Have just finished reading your report, its fantastic. We are off to Hawaii in Sept with 6 of our friends & I also like private tours. Its such a coincidence, but I have booked Ricky in Hilo, Valley Isle tour in Maui & Mark for our transfers in Honolulu. Glad to hear your good reports for them.

 

We also have decided to hire a van for Kauai. My DH has driven in the US before, but 2 of his friends want to give it a go:confused:

 

We are having a week in Honolulu after the cruise, so have got some great ideas from you, as I havent started this research yet.

 

Thanks

 

Tanya (Aussie too:))

 

Great choice to stay a week after the cruise! We were so busy trying to see everything we could that we were exhausted when the cruise was done! Enjoy your trip! We planned our days and stops mostly through this review! You can't go wrong! Thanks again to Raison!

[Pinkleanne]

Thanks for a really inspiring review. We are also from the land of Oz and heading to Hawaii in early October. I have a question in regard to mobile phones - Did you purchase a prepaid card when you got there to use in your phone from home or did you just purchase a whole phone? My husband and myself have iphones and could use international roaming but am not sure how expensive this will be. We would probably only use the phones to find each other etc.......Only 39 sleeps to go, can't wait!!!

[Raison]

Thanks for a really inspiring review. We are also from the land of Oz and heading to Hawaii in early October. I have a question in regard to mobile phones - Did you purchase a prepaid card when you got there to use in your phone from home or did you just purchase a whole phone? My husband and myself have iphones and could use international roaming but am not sure how expensive this will be. We would probably only use the phones to find each other etc.......Only 39 sleeps to go, can't wait!!!

 

We also have iphones and I did a lot of research before leaving. We had been caught out using our iphones overseas the previous year - we came home to a $1000 bill:eek:, that was in New Zealand.

 

We thought we would be able to buy a prepaid SIM card for our iphones, but it seems that it is not that easy as all iphones in the US are locked to one network. Maybe this has changed in the interim. From what I read in the internet you can make adjustments to your phone to be able to use the iphones with prepaid cards, but we didn't want to bother with doing that for the amount of usage we were expecting to have over there.

So we made the decision to buy a prepaid card and phone when we got to Honolulu. It was very cheap (about $40 including credit) and we had just enough credit for our usage while we were there.

 

I hope you have a fabulous trip!

[Pinkleanne]

We also have iphones and I did a lot of research before leaving. We had been caught out using our iphones overseas the previous year - we came home to a $1000 bill:eek:, that was in New Zealand.

 

We thought we would be able to buy a prepaid SIM card for our iphones, but it seems that it is not that easy as all iphones in the US are locked to one network. Maybe this has changed in the interim. From what I read in the internet you can make adjustments to your phone to be able to use the iphones with prepaid cards, but we didn't want to bother with doing that for the amount of usage we were expecting to have over there.

So we made the decision to buy a prepaid card and phone when we got to Honolulu. It was very cheap (about $40 including credit) and we had just enough credit for our usage while we were there.

 

I hope you have a fabulous trip!

Thanks for your fast reply, if we have half the trip you had I will be happy!! :)

[Raison]

Just bumping this up for someone who is looking for it.

[cedar41]

Just bumping this up for someone who is looking for it.

 

We are headed to Hawaii this Friday. Found your reviews just in time.

 

We are going on B2B on the Radiance out of Sydney Jan 29th/Feb.12.

 

Do you have any other ship reviews for Australia and New Zealand.

 

Are there pre paid phones to buy for Australia that work in new Zealand also.

 

I would appreciate any information you could share on the phones

 

TIA Lana

[sprez]

Just bumping this up for someone who is looking for it.

 

I was wondering how I had missed your fantastic review until now- must have been hidden!

 

We fly to Hawaii on the 20th of March and sail on the Celebrity Century for 7 days around the islands and then 6 sea days back to SanDiego. I thought this would be a good rest after trying to fit in all we want to see on the islands.

 

I am a little worried that our hotel, the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel in Waikiki is more toward Diamond Head. Will we be too far from a lot of the things you were able to walk and see? We are staying there 3 nights and hope to recover from our all day plane trip on the 20th.

 

Any thoughts you or others have please let me know.

 

Thank you so much for this great review.

[cccole]

I think the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel is in a great location. It is towards the Diamond Head end of Waikiki but with so many things to easily walk to, including beaches, the international marketplace, Kapiolani Park, and a lot of other hotels and restaurants. You will not be able to walk to the Ala Moana Shopping Center but that may not be something you will be wanting to do. There are beach services at the beach across the street from you where you can rent chairs, umbrellas, etc., or you can walk down to the Outrigger Waikiki and rent these items on the beach. Don't worry. Cherie

[Raison]

We are headed to Hawaii this Friday. Found your reviews just in time.

 

We are going on B2B on the Radiance out of Sydney Jan 29th/Feb.12.

 

Do you have any other ship reviews for Australia and New Zealand.

 

Are there pre paid phones to buy for Australia that work in new Zealand also.

 

I would appreciate any information you could share on the phones

 

TIA Lana

 

I don't have any other reviews. There is a lot of info about the ships that sail down under on the Australia nad New Zealand boards, come on over and say G'day!

There are a couple of threads about phones on the Australia and New Zealand Cruisers Boards. I think Vodaphone is one provider that is able to be used in both Aust & NZ, but I would check their website to be sure.

 

Enjoy Hawaii, I know we did!

[Raison]

I was wondering how I had missed your fantastic review until now- must have been hidden!

 

We fly to Hawaii on the 20th of March and sail on the Celebrity Century for 7 days around the islands and then 6 sea days back to SanDiego. I thought this would be a good rest after trying to fit in all we want to see on the islands.

 

I am a little worried that our hotel, the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel in Waikiki is more toward Diamond Head. Will we be too far from a lot of the things you were able to walk and see? We are staying there 3 nights and hope to recover from our all day plane trip on the 20th.

 

Any thoughts you or others have please let me know.

 

Thank you so much for this great review.

 

I think this is a great location!

 

The Bus is so easy to use if you want to travel anywhere and don't want to walk the distance.

[Zeno]

Wonderful detailed review!

[Raison]

We are headed to Hawaii this Friday. Found your reviews just in time.

 

We are going on B2B on the Radiance out of Sydney Jan 29th/Feb.12.

 

Do you have any other ship reviews for Australia and New Zealand.

 

Are there pre paid phones to buy for Australia that work in new Zealand also.

 

I would appreciate any information you could share on the phones

 

TIA Lana

 

Here is a link to one of the phone threads...

 

http://http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1508179