Not Your Dad's Pride of America! 4-9-11 review!

[oncruisecontrol]

Your photos are very beautiful. Thanks for posting.

[SFO-F/A]

What breathtaking photos! We aren't sailing POA, however I am loving your review and those outstanding photos! :D

[Cubechick]

Thank you everyone! Onward!

 

Day Four Hilo

 

The arrival in Hilo was stunning. Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea loomed above us, shrouded in clouds.

 

 

We’d been warned that Hilo is generally rainy and packed a bag for our excursion with rain jackets just in case. I also brought some granola bars as this was a 6-hour excursion and they only provided snacks, not lunch. When we booked this trip we knew that Volcanoes National Park was a must. The excursion we chose was the Kilauea Volcano Biking. We figured it was a good way to get some exercise and see the park up close.

 

This was an excellent tour. We were in a small group of eight (the bus only holds 13 so you’d never be in a group larger than that). The riding part of the tour wasn’t particularly challenging, except for a couple of hills (and one fun downhill!), but you should expect to be in at least average shape. If you’re not or you haven’t ridden a bike in a while, you can always hop off your bike at any time and get in the chase van. You’ll still stop at all of the same places as the group, but from the comfort of the van. Our driver was Ferlin and our bike guide Daniel and both excellent guides. Ferlin, in particular imparted his knowledge with humor.

 

The tour started at the Jaggar Museum where you can learn a lot about volcanoes and see seismographs at work monitoring movement of the earth. We then picked up the bikes and after a safety lesson we were off. This was truly great. All riding (except for one very small portion) was on the road. We were taken to many overlooks, through a rainforest, through a lava tube (we walked that part) and to lava itself (not the glowing kind!) I didn’t expect a rainforest on this tour...I’d pictured a pretty barren place, which some of it was, but it is amazing what will grow on the lava and we learned an incredible amount of information about Hawaii’s eco-system. For example did you know that Hawaii’s mint doesn’t taste like mint? Also, their nettles don’t have nettles on them and their stinkbugs don’t stink. In Hawaii there are no natural predators to these plants and animals, therefore they didn’t develop defense mechanisms (like sharp tastes and scents). Cool, huh? (It was to us at any rate!)

 

 

The scenery was amazing and it was great to ride past the tour buses on our mountain bikes. The lava tube was very cool,

 

 

but I really liked walking on the lava (from a flow in the 1970’s). It was amazing to see all of the colors in the lava and to see little o’hia trees taking root (the o’hia is the first plant that will grow on the lava).

 

 

 

Oh, have to mention, despite being prepared for rain we caught the briefest misting and that was it. The sun was out for most of our journey to the delight of our guides. They kept saying that their shoes were usually “squishing” 20 minutes into the ride.

 

All tours must stop at a store it seems. At least this tour went to a candy store with free samples!

 

Back on the ship we were walking around deck 13 we spotted a whale off in the distance. We rushed to the stern of the ship for a better view and realized we’d have a better view from our balcony. I don’t know why, but that whale (turned out to be whales) frolicked in the bay just beyond the harbor all afternoon and we just hung out watching them. We knew it was nearing the end of whale season in Hawaii and were grateful to see even a couple (I neglected to mention that one was spotted on our crater snorkel also).

 

During sailaway we went to the Napa Wine Bar because they have outdoor seating on the promenade deck. They also have Happy Hour between 6:00 and 7:00 and offer a red, a white, and a sparkling wine for $4.50. We were able to procure a table and enjoyed a nice glass of wine as we sailed from Hilo…and had a final sighting of the whales while we were at it!

 

 

The Asian restaurants on NCL ships are always a favorite, so tonight’s dinner was at East Meets West. I usually go for the sweet and sour pork (so much better than what I can get at home) or the Kung Pao chicken. Tonight though I thought I should go for lighter fare to combat the inevitable cruise weight (we had nearly another week of vacation to go once we left the PoA). So I opted for the vegetarian dish, which was a stir-fry of vegetables with silken tofu and a sauce that was absolutely phenomenal. If I hadn’t been in a restaurant I probably would have licked my plate clean!

 

After dinner we went to check out the magician Murray. The cruise director Sarah Hammel kept mentioning that he’d been on America’s Got Talent (which I don’t watch) so I figured he had to be good. He was very talented and I really enjoyed the interaction between him and his seemingly surly assistant Will. My only negative was that there seemed to be more time spent on banter (admittedly funny) and self-promotion than magic. What tricks Murray did perform were very good and he would be doing a close-up magic show later in the week.

 

Tomorrow was Kona and our first afternoon excursion of the trip. I’d booked them that way on purpose thinking that at the beginning of the cruise we’d be getting up early, still on east coast time. By now we were looking forward to being able to sleep in a bit the last days of the cruise!

[mbisson]

I'm loving it Aimee. Bringing back loads of memories-btw, we've started packing for our cruise :)

[Cubechick]

I'm loving it Aimee. Bringing back loads of memories-btw, we've started packing for our cruise :)

 

Glad you're enjoying my little review!

 

When do you leave for the Star? Can't wait to hear all about it, especially since that's our next ship!

[mbisson]

Glad you're enjoying my little review!

 

When do you leave for the Star? Can't wait to hear all about it, especially since that's our next ship!

 

We leave home Friday and sail Saturday! Not a suite-but we have an aft balcony.

BTW-it appears we'll be doing B2B on the Dawn in Dec 2012

 

Oh, BTW-about the review of yours...we rented a car in about every port. Only booked an excursion to Volcanoes Natl Park-GUESS WHICH WAS THE ONLY PORT WE COULDN'T GET INTO BECAUSE OF THE WIND... grrrrrr (but now I have a great excuse to go back-and we also want to do a week in Maui-hopefully Lahaina)

[Cubechick]

We leave home Friday and sail Saturday! Not a suite-but we have an aft balcony.

BTW-it appears we'll be doing B2B on the Dawn in Dec 2012

 

Oh, BTW-about the review of yours...we rented a car in about every port. Only booked an excursion to Volcanoes Natl Park-GUESS WHICH WAS THE ONLY PORT WE COULDN'T GET INTO BECAUSE OF THE WIND... grrrrrr (but now I have a great excuse to go back-and we also want to do a week in Maui-hopefully Lahaina)

 

I knew you'd book the Dawn, but didn't know about the B2B. Cool! (I think doing a B2B on the PoA would be awesome, and am tossing that around...)

 

Have a blast on the Star.

 

Yes you do have an excuse to go back! At least it isn't too far for you two to fly! :)

[welove2cruise232]

Aimee I am sooo enjoying your review! This cruise is definitely on my bucket list!

 

See, this is why I don't bother doing reviews -- yours puts everyone else to shame...;)

[Cubechick]

Day Five, Kona

 

Ah, it was so nice to sleep in and enjoy a leisurely breakfast before our excursion. We figured we’d take our time leaving the ship and still give ourselves a couple of hours to walk around Kona. We walked down to the promenade deck so we could check out the tender operation (we’d only tendered once before). As the crew of the PoA does this every week, four lifeboats motored between the ship and the pier with Swiss clock efficiency. There’s a nice, sturdy platform that the lifeboats moor to making for an easy transition from the ship to the bobbing tender.

 

 

We stopped at the buffet to grab some sandwich fixings before we went ashore. This was another “snacks provided” excursion and since we’d be snorkeling we thought it smart to bring some extra fuel along. We probably waited in line for about 20 minutes before we got on a tender. I realized later we could have used our VIP tender tickets (received for being Platinum) but we weren’t in a hurry.

 

Kona was lovely. We enjoyed walking around the town thoroughly and were amazed at how quickly the businesses had opened after being struck by the tsunami in March. We heard of one woman who was open within a week after kind neighbors brought back her wares as they were found strewn about the island. DH and I agreed that the Big Island was our favorite island thus far (which shocked all crew members that we mentioned this to!). The majesty of Volcanoes National Park and the quaintness of Kona appealed to us. Wonder what the real estate prices are like?

 

Our excursion today was the Captain Zodiac snorkel, which research showed to be very popular. This was a far different experience than the Molokini Crater snorkel. Instead of a large comfortable boat, we were perched on the edge of the zodiac with our feet tucked under rope bolted to the floor of the vessel that the captain referred to as “feet belts”. The thrill of whizzing over the water and having the captain whip the boat into tight donuts (we also buzzed a parasailor who had just been launched into the air) is as much part of the experience as the snorkeling. But it is not a comfortable ride (there were a couple of “wedgie breaks”) and isn’t for the faint of heart! On the other hand there were 16 snorkelers in our group, not 100!

 

The snorkeling was in the beautiful Kealakekua Bay, the only marine life sanctuary in on the Big Island. This is also where the Captain Cook Monument is.

 

 

The captain called us wusses when we slipped into our wetsuits, but despite his insistence that the water was around 78 degrees, we can assure you it was maybe 2 degrees warmer than Molokini and we were again grateful for the insulation. The water at the bay wasn’t as clear as Molokini but the variety of fish much greater.

 

 

There was also a thirty-foot drop off where we were told there was a chance to spot manta rays. That didn’t happen, but I did come uncomfortably close to a white-mouthed moray eel!

 

 

I was glad we’d had our sandwiches. As we were the first in and last out of the water there was no food left for us (in this instance just bags of chips and cookies). At least the other snorkel trip wouldn’t allow people to have seconds until everyone had been served.

 

On the way back to the harbor we checked out lava tubes and caves that were only accessible from the water, which was pretty neat.

 

 

Before we knew it we were back at the ship and sailing away. Since we’d been anchored, we kind of looked up at one point and realized that Kona was getting smaller!

 

 

Dinner tonight was at Lazy J’s Steakhouse (which I kept calling Cagney’s no matter how hard I tried not to). We both stuck with steaks (although as it was lobster night they were offering a prime rib somehow incrusted with lobster and scallops if I recall the description correctly!). Whatever you choose to call the steakhouse, it has become a favorite place to dine.

 

Tonight was the famous White Hot Party (at the Mardi Gras Lounge) and we’d been told that it was definitely worth a peek, just to check out Tim Kaminski if nothing else. Sure enough, Tim was there all in white…including a short white skirt, serving cocktails! (I heard that he made a couple of hundred in tips the first time he did it!) He stopped by and encouraged us to go to the Waikiki bar later. There was a large group of Australians on board who were helping to make this a happening spot.

 

Tim is quite the ambassador for NCL. We had seen him all over the ship this week and we’d been told he’d come up with the idea of a special lunch at Jefferson’s Bistro where you’d be served a special menu and get to dine and mingle with the ship’s entertainers. All of the Cruise Critics who were at the meet and greet had been invited to attend to check out the launch of this concept and give our feedback. I don’t know that I would have gone without that invitation but gave Tim and the PoA crew props for coming up with new ideas!

 

We did stop by the Waikiki bar, but the party hadn’t started yet and we now had to make it an early night. Our afternoon excursion in Kauai had been cancelled due to lack of participation and we had been rescheduled to the morning. Ugh!

[coka]

Hi Aimee! Awesome review and pictures! What are you doing to me? I always thought I would not sail the POA and now I want to. Your reviews and pictures always get me to go where you went. Stop it! No, don't! I will show your pics to Mr. Coka and see if he is interested too. I finally have him on NCL again next Feb...his first balcony ever on a cruise ship...in the bow penthouse!

 

Looking forward to reading about the rest of the trip. Oh...I saw Tim K. on the Sky a few summers ago. I also thought he was a unique talent. His show was very family friendly and I too remember laughing out loud!

 

coka

[Lena B]

Great review, Aimee! I'm glad that you had such a wonderful time.

[TSUmom]

I love Kona too! It is one of my favorites to just walk around. Thank you for the info on the Zodiac snorkle as this is one of the things we have planned and I will definately bring along something to snack on. After snorkling we tend to come back a bit hungry and like you we are usually the last to board.:)

[Cubechick]

Hi Aimee! Awesome review and pictures! What are you doing to me? I always thought I would not sail the POA and now I want to. Your reviews and pictures always get me to go where you went. Stop it! No, don't! I will show your pics to Mr. Coka and see if he is interested too. I finally have him on NCL again next Feb...his first balcony ever on a cruise ship...in the bow penthouse!

 

Looking forward to reading about the rest of the trip. Oh...I saw Tim K. on the Sky a few summers ago. I also thought he was a unique talent. His show was very family friendly and I too remember laughing out loud!

 

coka

 

Coka, thanks for the praise, and I have to say you must go! I was reluctant myself at first because Hawaii's just so far for us New Englanders!!! But once I'd gotten the logistics worked out I started to look forward to it, and then my research started getting me excited! It far exceeded my dreams and DH and I are seriously just dreaming of going back (I started pricing it yesterday! :o).

 

Wow, Mr. Coka's first balcony is going to be a suite! You may never sail solo again! :D

 

Great review, Aimee! I'm glad that you had such a wonderful time.

 

Thanks Lena! Hope we have just as wonderful a time in February!

 

I love Kona too! It is one of my favorites to just walk around. Thank you for the info on the Zodiac snorkle as this is one of the things we have planned and I will definately bring along something to snack on. After snorkling we tend to come back a bit hungry and like you we are usually the last to board.:)

 

Glad I could help. :) I realized that we didn't take any pictures of Kona while we walked around. Another reason to go back!

[bigtoeswim'n]

Hi Cubechick: Just love your review. I was just wondering about your bio background. If you don't mind, could you give some basic, like age and how many cruises you have been on. DH and I are booked for on POA for this Dec 2011.

 

I like your idea of only doing one excursion at each port so that you can relax some. Dh and I are suvivors of a POC intensive New England/Canada tour last 10/2010. We found ourselves soooo dang tired all the time. We are in our mid to late 50s and in pretty good shape, but dang if we were not TIRED all the time after POCs. Don't know if that was bc of the very steep hills or if that is just how it is after 50s???

 

So, for Hawaii, I think we will have to settle for one excursion and then beach time so that we don't come back soooo dang tired. LOL

 

btw: Do you have a planned luau in the works? I'm thinking that we will skip this event bc they seem to run later in the evening than we care to stay up for. Just curious.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post. Have a great day.

[Cubechick]

Hi Cubechick: Just love your review. I was just wondering about your bio background. If you don't mind' date=' could you give some basic, like age and how many cruises you have been on. DH and I are booked for on POA for this Dec 2011.

 

I like your idea of only doing one excursion at each port so that you can relax some. Dh and I are suvivors of a POC intensive New England/Canada tour last 10/2010. We found ourselves soooo dang tired all the time. We are in our mid to late 50s and in pretty good shape, but dang if we were not TIRED all the time after POCs. Don't know if that was bc of the very steep hills or if that is just how it is after 50s???

 

So, for Hawaii, I think we will have to settle for one excursion and then beach time so that we don't come back soooo dang tired. LOL

 

btw: Do you have a planned luau in the works? I'm thinking that we will skip this event bc they seem to run later in the evening than we care to stay up for. Just curious.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post. Have a great day.[/quote']

 

This was our 17th cruise, all with NCL. We just crossed the line into our mid-forties I guess I have to say. :eek:

 

We did not schedule a luau. Honestly just didn't sound like our thing...

[Cubechick]

Aimee I am sooo enjoying your review! This cruise is definitely on my bucket list!

 

See, this is why I don't bother doing reviews -- yours puts everyone else to shame...;)

 

Thanks Peggy! You're too kind! :)

[Cubechick]

Day six, Kauai

 

Up at 7:00, breakfast at the buffet and off the ship to meet up with our Kayak and Waterfalls tour. This was my least favorite tour. It was a mercifully short van ride to the river that we would kayak down. I say merciful, as we were packed into the van at full capacity like sardines. Now the kayak part was nice. Two thumbs up there. It was a lazy 2 and ½ mile paddle up the calm and picturesque river, which I enjoyed.

 

 

I’d read reviews complaining that the kayaking part was too short, but for someone who’d never kayaked before I thought it was about right. There was a super short hike through a rain forest…the description on the NCL website says a half a mile, but I think that was generous. We then drove to the area where we’d have lunch, overlooking hills where the intro to MASH was filmed.

 

 

From there we walked down a steep hill to the two waterfalls that we would visit. The decent was long with stairs built into the earth (there would be a lot of complaining about the climb back up!).

 

I’m sure that part of my boredom with this trip was that we’d already seen great waterfalls in Maui and plenty of rainforests in both Maui and Hilo. But I think the main thing was that the guides were just boring. They barely spoke and although one of them did impart some information about the flora that we were seeing the other trudged along nearly mute. Anyway after the climb back up to the top we did have a picnic lunch with a selection of robust sandwiches and chips. After that it was a 10-minute ride back to the ship. Honestly I would have rather been brought back to the ship for lunch since it was so close. The provided lunch just seemed an excuse to charge more money for the excursion.

 

Once we’d cleaned up we walked from the pier to Kalapaki beach (take a right out of the terminal and walk for about 10 minutes). Along the way we poked into some shops then arrived at the beach. I was pleased that it was a lovely beach (located at the Marriott) and already knew that Duke’s Kauai was there. As we’d had a fantastic dinner at Duke’s Waikiki we wanted to stop at this one at least for a cocktail. Wouldn’t you know we arrived in time for happy hour? We grabbed a table close to the beach, and sat back listening to the band that was performing. The sun was shining, a light breeze danced in from the water and green mountains looked down on us.

 

 

What a lovely setting for a couple of Duke’s Mai-tai’s (made with dark rum and far better than any Mai-tai I’ve ever had) and crab meat and mac nut wontons. Ah, this is the life!

 

 

 

 

Later on dinner would be at the buffet. I bring this up for only one reason. The crepe station. Yes dinner was delicious, but I kept looking over at that station and finally walked up to the chef and asked what the selection of fillings were. He listed off what you’d expect; blueberries, pineapple, applesauce, and then he got interesting. He said they had cheesecake banana (hmm, intriguing…) and the “smear”. Okay, I bite, and ask what is the “smear”. He smiles and says that it is basically the filling that goes into cinnamon buns. “If you want my recommendation,” he continued, “go with the banana cheesecake AND the smear.” Who am I to argue with an expert?? I drizzled this creation with a little hot fudge and a dollop of whipped cream. I took one bite and I think my eyes rolled into the back of my head. OMG, was this fantastic!!! Ridiculously so. In fact one of the best desserts I have ever had. Anywhere. I have no idea if this combination is available on other ships, but I’ll be making a beeline for the crepe station on the Star my next cruise to find out! The chef had been watching for my reaction. I gave him a big thumbs up and he gave me a huge grin in return.

 

We took advantage of being docked overnight to walk back to Duke’s. Only one night left on our wonderful vacation! Little did I know how great it would be!

[russianmom]

Aimee- loving the review! I'm so jealous and counting the days until April 2013!

[Zimomiller]

"Only one night left on our wonderful vacation! Little did I know how great it would be! "

 

Oh what a tease......hurry up and post the next installment!

[lv2bgoofy]

Oh you are killing us......I'm loving reading this.....and I will definitely try the crepe station......YUM

[rockabutzer]

OMG!!!

 

I love the review and makes me wish that my DW and I were going sooner than January 2013 (15th Anniversary cruise).

 

I booked an aft cabin (9202) and your pictures are just great. They really gave me a perspective of what to expect.

 

Thanks again for the review.

[Cubechick]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

[hill6]

Great picture. Thanks for posting them. Loving the review.

[Cubechick]

I hope you're ready...this may be my longest post ever!

 

 

Day Seven – Kauai and NaPali Coast

 

Today was the only time that Mother Nature really interfered with our plans. It had been our intention to spend the morning at Kalapaki beach. Just laze around and take it easy until we needed to be back on the ship. Standing on our balcony, DH saw the black rain clouds moving in and decided it had been a good thing that we’d gotten a late start that morning. It poured off and on all morning until we finally saw a break that looked like it would last long enough for us to do some shopping. We dashed off of the ship and I picked up a t-shirt that I’d spied the day before and some water at the ABC Store (they truly are everywhere!). We thought about walking to the beach, but saw the clouds rolling in again and booked it back to the ship.

 

Back to the cabin to drop our things off and we noticed a note in the holder by the door. It was advertising a special to order drinks for your cabin for the NaPali Coast sail by. They had different levels of champagne from sparkling wine on up (all came with chocolate covered strawberries), and of course fruity drinks served in pineapples. All orders waived the normal delivery charge. I thought it was a pretty neat idea, especially if you were on the port side in a balcony cabin where you would have the best view of the coast.

 

All aboard was 1:30 and sailaway at 2:00. However we had lunch with the entertainers to attend. We arrived outside of Jefferson’s Bistro just before 1:00 and saw there were plenty of other people waiting in the hall for the doors to open. Shortly thereafter we were let into the restaurant. We were escorted to a booth where tomato salads were already waiting at each place setting. After a few moments we were joined by two crewmembers that worked in reception. I hadn’t expected this, and thought it a nice surprise. I’m always interested in talking to the crew, but had found it especially interesting on the Pride of America. We spent a few moments chatting before Tim Kaminski joined us at our table. We felt like we’d won the PoA celebrity lottery. Throughout the meal the five of us had a really nice conversation. All of us talking about cruise life and different things we’d experienced. Being that it was Tim, he also had some extremely funny stories to share.

 

Once we’d finished our entrees (a delicious and juicy pork with roasted potatoes), Tim got up to mingle and other performers either stopped by or joined us. We had a really nice chat with Peter, one of the singers from “Oh, What a Night”. And talked briefly with Pamala Stanley, who’d just joined the America and Murray the magician.

 

After dessert (a luscious black forest cake) the entertainers stood and introduced themselves to the room. They took questions, one lady drawing a big laugh when she asked Murray about his time on American Idol (he was on America’s Got Talent). Everyone was very personable and open and I enjoyed the entire experience more than I thought I would. At the end of the event, the HD, Cary, announced that the luncheon was on the house for everyone, as they really just wanted our feedback.

 

We didn’t have a lot of time before we had to go to the follow-up Cruise Critic meeting. I was again impressed by the turn out of the officers. The Captain and Hotel Director were there. Along with the Executive Chef , who’d been promoted to Food and Beverage manager, the assistant F&B manager, the bar manager, etc. I was initially a little appalled as there were only 4 of us Cruise Critics there, but thankfully a few more showed up and balanced out the numbers. There were boardroom style tables arranged in a circle and we all sat in a very friendly and open manner.

 

I cannot emphasize how impressed I was with this. People are always coming back from Cruise Critic meetings on NCL blown-away by the turnout of officers at the meet and greets compared to other cruise lines, but this takes it to an entirely new level. They so sincerely want to know what you think and to have the opportunity to address any issues that I felt badly for not having anything to complain about! I did mention that I’d initially been concerned that the service might be a little slow due to chatting (This drew knowing smiles from the officers and Cary said, “The good news is the crew speaks English. The bad news is that the crew speaks English.”) But told them that I was wrong and in fact found the crew to be refreshing and inviting. Everyone present had mostly positive experiences to report. The minor items that could be addressed were (the Cruise Critic who complained about the ships décor would have to go home unsatisfied though!).

 

From here we had to rush upstairs for the NaPali Coast sail by. We chose to go to the Waikiki bar and secured a table out back on the port side. This was an amazing experience that I can only compare to sailing Glacier Bay in Alaska. One of the Hawaiian ambassadors spoke over the ships speakers, telling us about the history of the coast and humpback whales (we did see a couple while we were here!) as we ever so slowly made our way up the coast. The view became more magnificent the further we progressed. The cliffs begin covered in beautiful shades of green before adding stunning rusts and browns to their craggy features.

 

 

 

It is one of those things where a picture is worth a thousand words, yet pictures don’t do them justice. After 45 minutes or so the ship turned and picked up speed as we headed away from the coast. You really do need to be on the port side to get the full effect of this experience. Although we did have a really lovely view of our departure after we ran down to our stern balcony!

 

 

Busy, busy, busy. Now it was time to begin packing (boo!) and get ready for dinner at the Bistro. We had to be more organized with packing since we’d be boarding a plane instead of flinging bags in a car for a drive home, our normal routine. So packing was taking a bit longer than usual. Finally we stacked the suitcases on the couch and headed to dinner. We both had the French onion soup. In my opinion the cream of mushroom soup just isn’t as good as the days when it was all creamy and rich and served in a bread bowl. Of course I had the filet again as I had to have my last chance at those potatoes, and DH had the duck two-ways, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

 

It is at this point on the cruise that I usually peter out. My enthusiasm wanes as post cruise depression begins to sink in (I know! So soon!). Well, the crew on the PoA gave me no chance to give into moping. For the first time in my seventeen cruises I actually attended the farewell show! Murray kicked things off with some clever magic and banter. Tim came out and made us laugh ‘til we cried. The guys from Oh What A Night did a few numbers (not my cuppa, but they’re very talented). Then the crew came out for the farewell number that I had previously only experienced on YouTube. It was a really nice way to wrap up the evening…or so I thought.

 

 

After the show we headed up to the Waikiki Bar where the party was only beginning. Tim was there as was the Aussie contingent we’d heard so much about. The music was pumping (never thought I’d hear Ozzy Osbourne on a cruise!), drinks were flowing and the enthusiasm of everyone around us was contagious. More crewmembers joined in the fun, included David the Art Director, aka Tim’s partner in crime.

 

Tim and David

 

Finally, we just HAD to get back to our cabin. Our bags needed to be out in 15 minutes (not that I think it’d matter if they were a little late) and we hadn’t finished packing yet!

 

I have never had so much fun my last night of a cruise. Thank you Pride of America!

[Cubechick]

Final morning…

 

Alas, the time has come to say farewell. We had VIP disembarkation tags courtesy of Linda the Latitudes rep. This was a very laid back system as there was no customs to clear (this was our first trip in 9 years that we didn’t need a passport!). So instead of meeting the concierge for an escort off of the ship, we were told that we could pretty much leave any time after 7:45

 

We took our time getting off of the ship and were probably in the baggage area around 8:45. Can you believe it? This was the only snag we hit the entire cruise. One of our pieces of luggage was missing! First time in all of our cruises that this has ever happened! DH and I both combed the rows upon rows of luggage to no avail. After 45 minutes of fruitless searching we finally gave up and put in a lost baggage claim. We consoled ourselves that the bag had contained nothing important. It was just our snorkel gear and if one of our bags had to go missing that would be the one we’d choose. DH kept saying that he bet that our bag had been put with the Easy Jet bags in error.

 

Ultimately that was exactly what had happened. We had gotten a cab and were a mile from the cruise terminal when my cell phone rang. They had found our bag (why couldn’t they have found it 5 minutes sooner?). We asked the cab driver to turn around and back at the pier, DH ran in to get our bag. That was no easy feat as everyone kept trying to get DH to go back through security. He finally found someone who would listen to what was going on and would help him. In the meantime, outside, my driver was forced to leave and circle the block because we were impeding traffic. As we entered the drop off area again, there was DH at the curb with our bag. Thank goodness our flight wasn’t until 12:30!!

 

We finally arrived at the airport with a $40 fare instead of the $20 it should have cost, but hey, cheaper than replacing our gear!

 

So that was our one snag of the whole trip. Not too bad.

 

The Pride of America still carries a bad reputation from her early days when NCLA was still experiencing growing pains. It amazed me even before the cruise how many posts I’d see about this even though her recent reviews are overwhelming positive. It’s so hard to shake off the negative. But this is not your Dad’s PoA! From the moment stepped into the waiting area, we knew this was going to be a great experience. The Hawaiian dancers and singers would have done that but having Tim there talking to the guests, the Cruise Director mingling and greeting people, and even the HD walking through checking things out, well, this was a new level of detail for us. During the cruise, most of the crew we spoke with had been with the ship an average of 4 years, so they knew what shipboard life was all about and they enjoyed their jobs. That enjoyment was evident in the way they treated the guests and went out of their way to make you feel welcome. Even the crew we never really talked to always greeted us with a smile and an Aloha!

 

This was really one of our best cruises with a special thanks to Captain Buz, Hotel Director Cary Turecamo, the wonderful crew, the entertainers, and the fantastic destination that is Hawaii.

 

Mahalo, PoA!