POA trip report 5/10/14

[puddles99]

Great review - thanks for letting me relive our trip through yours :)

[EllieinNJ]

Before I move onto Saturday, I'd like to clarify some things. I had $25 OBC from NCL and $75 OBC from my TA. I was originally going to use the TA's OBC to pay gratuities but when we talked to the desk after we boarded, they said it was an unrefundable OBC and couldn't be used for gratuities. We don't drink (liquor) much and weren't interested in the specialty restaurants. We had every day accounted for including this Saturday where we had a car rental reservation to do the Oahu Circle by ourselves. So DH and I talked about it and decided to book the ship's Oahu Circle tour instead to use up our OBC. FYI This tour on-line was $99/pp but on the ship it was $109/pp. They said that was for booking on-line only. Now I know many people wait to book excursions on board so they can use their OBC and no one ever mentioned it was more money. He finally gave it to us for the $99/pp.

 

Tell you the truth, we would have rather done it ourselves. We got stuck in the back of a full bus and every stop we had to walk up and down to the back. We didn't stop at the Shinto Temple. We only stopped at the ranch for lunch (buffet lunch included). I would have liked to go on one of the ranches tours. Three stops were shopping places. They left us off at the airport around 5:30pm for our 8:15 flight back to Newark.

 

This was only our third cruise in 47 years of marriage (yes I was a child bride of 19). We usually do driving vacations, even in Europe and one guided tour vacation in Israel. Two of our daughters and grandchildren live in other parts of the country from us so when we visit them I try to plan a drive to somewhere. So unlike seasoned cruisers each cruise we take is new and exciting to us. This was our first on NCL. It was so nice to find little surprises in our cabin every night like chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate covered pineapple, a bottle of wine and, of course, those cute towel animals. One day I needed a scissor and my steward got it for me. My DH needed an extension cord and they provided one. We were invited to the last evening's sailaway on the private deck on deck 7. All these little things will surely make us look to NCL first when we are ready to cruise again.

 

If anyone has anymore questions, I'll be very happy to answer them if I could. Ellie.

[EllieinNJ]

We had the 9:30am flight for Wings Over Kauai. They said to meet them at the ABC store at 9am. They were late. By the time we got to the airport and after being weighed and filling out some forms, we finally got in the air around 10am. There also was another couple and two children on our flight. When we landed after our full hour, the people for the next flight were already to board so if you finish by 12pm you should have no problem returning to the ship.

[azappraiser]

EllieinNJ; a couple more questions if I may...

1. About what time did you return your rental car in Kauai and was a shuttle back to the ship available? We'd also like to check out the lighthouse first, then go back around to the canyon as well. BTW; I'm also following your lead with a flight through Wings Over Kauai on Friday morning before we depart.

 

2. If I read your post correctly, you went to both Lahaina and drove the Road to Hana (all the way around) in one day? And there were no problems with the roads past Hana?

 

Thanks again for posting your review... it's helped me fine tune some of our plans. ;)

[alibabacruisers]

Thank you for your wonderful review! It makes us want to visit the other islands as we have done Oahu a couple of times.

 

And as an OP stated, thank you for breaking up the big paragraphs into smaller ones....it really made reading so much easier!!

[EllieinNJ]

Thank you all for your kind words. I researched all the excursions I would have liked and came up with those mentioned which fit our lifestyle and pocketbook. That is why I gave prices that we paid vs. similar tours at a much higher price.

 

My only regret is that I took a non-stop from Newark to Honolulu. In retrospect I would have done an open-jaw flight and stopped in California on the way back. Going wasn't too bad because they had about 100 free movies you can choose from (saw 4) but coming back seemed so long and tedious, even though it was an hour shorter.

 

In Kauai, the last shuttle back from Thrifty was 7pm on Thursday. I think we made the 6pm shuttle.

 

In Maui we must have taken the back way because we traveled alot on dirt roads. I still don't recommend it.

 

I forgot to mention that Wings Over Kauai will drive you back to the pier.

[lostone65]

Great review! We just got off her Saturday! Wonderful cruise!

[juanita1767]

Kauai is such a beautiful island. We only rented a car for the first day because of the early sailaway on the second day. Also, there is a $20 parking fee at the pier overnight.

 

We drove to the north shore, stopping at many beaches along the way. We also stopped at the lighthouse and guess what? It is a National Park and we again used our senior pass to enter.

 

All the rental car agencies only gave us a booklet for each island with small maps to use. The beaches all had names on the map but they were not named when we drove there so we didn't know which ones we visited except for the last two, Tunnel beach and Kee beach. If you are a good hiker there is a path from Kee beach that will take you to the NaPoli coast, 11 miles. They say you can also see it at 2 miles in. We were not that adventurous. After the drive back it was still early so DH said lets go to Waimea Canyon now so we did. FYI our GPS said to turn right off the main road but there is a big sign there that says the entrance is another three miles so that is what we did. Big mistake. Must have taken an extra half hour that way. The canyon is 11 miles in and we weren't even sure we were on the right road because there were no more signs. Finally got to the overlook and it was spectacular. The next overlook seemed to be around 15 more miles but we chose not to go. They say you can see the NaPoli coast from there as well.

 

Now comes the grand highlight of the trip. On Friday morning we took the shopping shuttle to the ABC store to meet our next excursion Wings Over Kauai. It is a six seater plane that shows you all of Kauai for a full hour for $125pp and was worth every penny. The ride was so smooth and the day was exceptionally clear. We considered a helicopter ride but it was double the price, only lasted for 30-45 minutes and was told it was very jerkey motions. This plane glided like butter. A memory for a lifetime. They gave us a DVD with our picture in front of the plane.

 

The ships pass by the NaPoli coast was very clear as well. We watched it from deck 6 which wasn't too crowded. We could hear the narration very well. Then when it turned to pass on the opposite side, hardly anyone stayed and there was no narration at all.

 

This last night we finally discovered the Cadillac Diner. Wanted our ice cream after the show but the buffet was closed and someone mentioned Cadillac. People said service was slow but we immediately were seated and given two great big sundaes. Wish we knew about it before. Next stop debarkation (disembarkation?). More to come.

 

 

We also did Wings Over Kauai and I have to say it was the highlight of our trip!!!!

[KazAllen]

:confused:Hi Ellie, we are doing this cruise in Sept this year and we are from Australia. What is the Norwegian Card that you mention? Thanks, Karen

[azappraiser]

:confused:Hi Ellie, we are doing this cruise in Sept this year and we are from Australia. What is the Norwegian Card that you mention? Thanks, Karen

 

It's a credit card, issued through Bank of America. Rewards points may be redeemed for On Board Credit.

[punkincc]

:confused:Hi Ellie, we are doing this cruise in Sept this year and we are from Australia. What is the Norwegian Card that you mention? Thanks, Karen

 

Look for flyers in your cabin or notices in the Freestyle Dailey when you cruise. When you sign up on board for the card, you get an immediate on board credit, usually $50. They transfer all your onboard charges to it immediately and you get double points for them. Your first transaction on the card earns you 10,000 points which is redeemable for $100 cash back or $100 on board credit for your next cruise. You sign up with the Cruise Consultant, located in the atrium area of the ship.

[EllieinNJ]

Just FYI we had the Norweigian credit cards before final payment so in addition to using the $100 each for OBC they allowed us to use it for final payment, reducing our price by $200. While we were on board, they had a special where if you applied for the credit cards then you would get an additional $25 in OBC plus the $100 OBC. Ellie