Just returned from POA - review and recommendations

[chkesh96]

We just returned from our POA cruise with our 3 children (in an extended family group of 14). We found a great deal of helpful information on these forums and thought I would try and return the favor!

 

Pre-Cruise - we came in Thursday and stayed at the Hyatt Place. It is directly across the street from the NCL contracted Marriott....much more reasonable and has free breakfast. They directed me to Charley's Taxi for a prearranged ride from the airport - 29$ plus tip for my family of 5. Great service.

 

Friday - we had a nice beach walk through Waikiki, made the first of 100 runs to an ABC store and took a short nap. Changed hotels at noon (walked our bags to the Marriott). Rooms weren't ready, but left bags with the bell service. Went to eat at Me BBQ (Korean BBQ a few blocks away). AMAZING. HUGE portions, excellent food. Highly recommend. Spent several hours on the beach (we brought snorkel gear from home - highly recommend doing this! No fins, but having gear meant my kids could snorkel anywhere we stopped!). Lovely beach day! Went to our room around 4:30 to get everyone ready for supper. Had reservations at Tiki's Grill (at the Aston). The food was meh, but the sunset view was BEAUTIFUL.

Walked to the Queen's beach to view the Hilton fireworks. Wonderful start to our trip! Picked up cheerios, fruit and milk at the ABC for breakfast because our Pearl Harbor tour started at 6:45 am Saturday.

 

Saturday - Pearl Harbor - booked through the cruise with the entire extended family. We had a terrific bus guide. The memorial experience was powerful for my children, I am so glad we went. Also viewed Punchbowl Cemetery en route to the ship. Boarding process was smooth. Rooms took longer to be ready than on other cruises, but there was plenty to do and eat.

We ate supper at East Meets West. We just walked in and later on realized how lucky we were. Some of our family tried the rest of the week and could never get in. So consider it on the first day! It was good.

 

 

Cruise cabin - we had a family balcony stateroom. One of my children was technically in another cabin with family, but we kept all his things in our room and he frequently stayed with us overnight. It's not spacious, but we made it work. Highly recommend the over-the-door shoe storage for all toiletries. We kept clothes in suitcases under the bed (aside from hanging clothes) and it worked. It required staying very organized. Very.

 

Sunday - Car rental through discounthawaiicarrental.com. We went to Kmart after picking up the car and purchased 2 cases of water, and let each child get a soda 8pack of their choice. We did this in lieu of the ship soda package. Also got snacks and headed down the road to Hana. (We intended to get sandwich supplies to eat but decided to "find something interesting" on the way. MISTAKE. Lots of things you pass were closed as it was a Sunday. We ended up eating in Hana at the Hana Ranch Restaurant. Overpriced and bland. Bring your lunch) After lunch we spent hours at Waianapanapa State Park. Too amazing for words. Gorgeous black sand beach. Kids snorkeled.

Stopped at a waterfall on the way home. Swam in the pool below, kids could climb halfway up and slide down. It was too beautiful to describe.

The drive is long, but the scenery is worth it!

 

Monday - Maui. Our only individual family ship booked excursion. We did the Molokini eco Express snorkel. It was wonderful! We were going to do the longer excursion, but it was booked out. This turned out to be ideal length. The snorkeling was very good. We were pleased.

I visited the spa for a facial this afternoon. Very nice treatment with Tina, no hard upsell.

Had supper in the Skyline with the large family group.

 

Tuesday - Hilo. Car rental again with discounthawaiicarrental.com. The process here was less smooth as they weren't enforcing the "driver only on shuttle" rule so the shuttles were getting full too quickly. Oh well. Drove straight to VNP and started at the Lava Tube. We then did the 4 mile crater hike. VERY COOL. We packed our sandwiches this day, so we ate after the hike. Quick stop to the visitors center and we were ready to find a beach for the afternoon. We went to Carlsmith Beach Park. It's very close to the ship. http://www.lovebigisland.com/big-island-beaches/carlsmith-four-miles/

It was breathtaking and my kids were swimming with sea turtles - for free! Again, so glad we brought our own snorkel gear and water shoes (those are a must for the rocky shorelines). This lagoon was unbelievable and we were the only cruise passengers amongst a large number of locals. A wonderful afternoon. Easy to return the family to the boat and then quickly return the car.

 

Wednesday - Kona. We made no plans in Kona as we knew (or thought we knew) it was walkable. It was hot. Like, painfully hot and we are from the south. There was a nice farmers market and LOTS of shopping. After walking around for a while, we called a taxi to take us to Turtle beach aka Kahaluu Beach Park. 16$ for our family of 5. There is a shuttle called Clarks that is 10$pp round trip, but taxis are more reasonable for our family. Again, glad we had our snorkel gear! Excellent fish viewing and more turtles!!! This beach is relatively crowded and we were warned by our driver about keeping your things safe. We kept someone with our towels and just took turns in the water. This was a lovely inexpensive day! We took a cab back to do a little shopping. Stopped at the Kona Canoe club for the view and a beer and the kids ran back and forth from the shops telling us their wish lists. (This was our first souvenir shopping stop of the trip) After some tiki masks, ukuleles, henna tattoos and coffee purchases, we made our way back to the ship. The day started hot and without direction, but ended up with everyone happy. The turtles make the day, I promise.

 

Thursday - beautiful Kauai! As we steamed in at 6:30am, the view from our balcony was of a double rainbow over this gorgeous island! A lifetime memory! We had a plane flight booked on our own with Air Ventures. They sent a shuttle to pick us up from the ABC store (quick 10 minute walk) at 9:15am and by 10am we were in the air! I'm SO glad we did this! It was more reasonably priced than a helicopter for our family, and worth EVERY penny. Words cannot describe the beauty of Kauai. AirVentures was excellent to travel with. I highly recommend!

We had brought our suits with us so afterwards we spent a few hours on Kalapaki beach after our flight. No snorkeling here, just body surfing. There are paddle boards and canoes for rent as well. We just swam and relaxed a bit before heading to the ship to prepare for the luau.

We did NOT do the ship arranged luau, instead we booked 3rd party with Smith's Family Luau with our extended family. The food was DELICIOUS!! Beautiful grounds and a very good show. A great time!

 

Friday - We took it easy on this last day. Walked off the ship and stopped by Kauai Bound (in the ABC shopping center) to rent 3 boogie boards and a beach chair for the day. You have to be back on board at 1:30 so there was not time for any ambitious activities! Very relaxing way to end the trip!

After that we did the sail away party and a final family meal in the Skyline.

 

We did not set our luggage out Friday night - we just walked off with out ourselves. Worked much better for us and allowed us to enjoy Friday night and not scrambling to pack.

 

OVERALL -

The stops were AMAZING. What a great way to see all the islands! I had previously only been to Oahu. Now I want to return to Kauai and Maui. I will not do this cruise again, though.

 

Ship - it's in desperate need of a drydock and overhaul. It's tired. It's not incredibly clean. There are plumbing issues. Our room a/c did not work the first few days. And we were overwhelmed with sewer gas smell on the 4th night - powerful enough to cause one of my children to be ill. So we slept with the balcony door open. Things go wrong, but you cannot allow it to ruin the beauty of where you are. Guest services worked to improve the situation. We were gone most of the time aside from sleeping, so it was all fine. I can say if we had a cruise with sea days on this boat, I would have been more frustrated. Luckily, we spent the days in lovely Hawaii.

 

We are frequent cruisers on Disney and RCCL. I think the "freestyle" approach leads to less remarkable service from dining and room stewards, but if you have not cruised with other lines, you might not notice this. It wasn't BAD, but it wasn't AS GOOD as we have had.

 

Food - was just fine. Not bad, not amazing. Just fine.

 

I'm SO glad we went on this trip! It was wonderful! I'm not an NCL convert for other cruise destinations, but I'm pleased that they offer this itinerary. It was a good way to spend time with extended family as well.

[jenmouse]

Thanks for sharing - our PoA cruise will be here soon. We also have a group - nine people between 12 and 70+. I am disappointed to hear the ship is not looking too sharp - I was hoping that the 2013 dry dock would have "held up". I guess it has just been too long. We booked this cruise because of the limited Hawaii options with other lines in the summer, plus we wanted a few nights on Waikiki Beach.

 

Although it looks like we won't have much overlap in what we do - both family balcony stateroom, and ABC Stores, for sure, though - I appreciate you giving me an idea of the experience. We plan to focus on the islands, and treat the ship as a bed and a meal.

 

RCCL is also our preferred line. DCL was fine (and we are big Disney fans), but we feel that RCCL offers more, for a lower price, most of the time. Based on everything I am hearing on the boards, I have a feeling that this will be our only NCL cruise. I am going into it with an open mind, but so far, it has been stressful, to say the least.

Edited July 20, 2015 by jenmouse

[Ilovesailing]

chkesh96 thanks for you detailed review. Can you tell us what cabin you were in please?

 

POA is planned for drydock Feb 20 and March 14, 2016 so hopefully some of you issue will get fixed.

[chkesh96]

Cabin was 7656

I have a few photos to share but am not having luck thus far.....

 

I did not hear anything from the sundeck, but we were not up that high. We were above the walking track.