Take a Glottal Stop around the Hawaiian Islands with me on the Pride of America!

[Kattus]

Following along, thanks for the great review so far! We are booked on the POA Sept 3. How was the Roberts Pearl Harbor and Honoluu tour? We have it booked the day of disembarkation?

I liked it a lot, provided a nice overview of the city and its history, and glad we decided to go to Pearl Harbor on our trip. I forgot our driver's name, but they all refer to themselves as "Cousin." If I remember the name, I'll edit this post lol

 

Since we did it as a hotel pick-up/drop-off, it was 9am to about 3pm (we stopped off for a quick lunch break at a hot dog cart around Iolani Palace and the office buildings so this could have contributed to the later time). Do you have an early flight on disembarkation day?

 

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[Kattus]

I liked it a lot, provided a nice overview of the city and its history, and glad we decided to go to Pearl Harbor on our trip. I forgot our driver's name, but they all refer to themselves as "Cousin." If I remember the name, I'll edit this post lol

 

Since we did it as a hotel pick-up/drop-off, it was 9am to about 3pm (we stopped off for a quick lunch break at a hot dog cart around Iolani Palace and the office buildings so this could have contributed to the later time). Do you have an early flight on disembarkation day?

 

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Since I'm unable to edit the day old post, I'll just update the information here. My wonderful husband remembered our Roberts Hawaii Pearl Harbor/Honolulu City Tour driver's name as Cousin Dorothy. Like many inhabitants of the islands, Cousin Dorothy is made up of many fabrics weaved together to form a unique identity: she has Hawaiian, Filipino, Russian and Chinese blood. She joked "Hey my sister is the one who looks more Russian, she's lighter!" :D:D

[Kattus]

 

"We're off to see Hana!" (pronounced Hannah as a joke) I said to my husband on our first morning in Maui, an overcast, rainy, miserable day. Neither of us were too keen on sitting in a van for 6-7 hours, but this tour was spoken of so highly, my interest was piqued. We chose Valley Isle as our tour company for this long journey on winding and rocky roads based on a few reviews here on CC and their visually appealing website.:)

 

The rain alternated between a light drizzle to a downpour, but luckily for us,it was heavy only when we were driving in the van. However, it put the proverbial damper on our time in Maui and I know that we would have been able to see more of the beauty of the island with better weather conditions.

 

 

Whether or not the rain played a role, a tree fell onto Hana Highway during our journey, and we were forced to wait until it was cleared, which was at least 45 to 60 minutes. Our driver Cousin Debra warned that we might have to turn back around if the situation didn't improve. Tourists got out of their cars and walked up to the site in the road to inspect and offer assistance, and Debra turned this into a comic routine. At one point, an SUV tried cutting ahead of the line of vehicles and she hollered out her window "What are you doing, you're gonna mess everything up!" It wasn't too long after this that the road was cleared

 

The tree's new home in the creek

[Kattus]

Before this trip, I thought the Big Island was the only one to have black sand beaches, but one of our stops during the overcast portion of our day was at Wainapanapa State Park's Pa'iloa Beach (thank you Google images info!).

 

 

 

 

 

A nice lady offered to take a photo of us but it came out blurry. Tried to fix it up as best as I could.

 

Cousin Debra announced that our next stop would be for lunch in Hana,at this cute country store that sells flower arrangements and tourist shirts that read "I survived the Road to Hana." On our way, the sun pushed away the cloud coverage and wished us a late good morning.

 

 

 

After lunch we made a few more stops to see waterfalls, Haleakala State Park and Charles Lindbergh's tombstone next to Palapala Ho'omau Congregational Church. While the sun's strength increased, so did the winds, and swimming was not permitted at Oheo Gulch while we were at the state park.

 

[Kattus]

We also stopped at this quaint church, Palapala Ho'omau that was adjacent to Charles Lindbergh's grave.

 

 

There are several Catholic churches on Maui, and Mass is often performed by the same one or two priests upon parishoners' request. My husband found this along the side of the valley

 

 

I mentioned earlier that due to the earlier inclement weather, swimming was not permitted in the waterfalls, and as we entered Upcountry Maui, the storm clouds rolled back in. When we gained elevation and turned in the Northeast direction, you could make out the Molokini crater, where we were due to snorkel the following morning (but the weather would change our plans as you'll soon read). While some people took this last stop to purchase coffee, I walked up a hill and saw the uninhabited island of Kaho'olawe in the distance.

 

[2new2cruisin2]

I liked it a lot, provided a nice overview of the city and its history, and glad we decided to go to Pearl Harbor on our trip. I forgot our driver's name, but they all refer to themselves as "Cousin." If I remember the name, I'll edit this post lol

 

Since we did it as a hotel pick-up/drop-off, it was 9am to about 3pm (we stopped off for a quick lunch break at a hot dog cart around Iolani Palace and the office buildings so this could have contributed to the later time). Do you have an early flight on disembarkation day?

 

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We don't fly out that day. We fly on Monday evening. We will rent a car on Sunday and return it Monday afternoon. Our plan is to go to the North shore on Sunday.

[Kattus]

Dinner that evening was at Moderno's Churrascaria , our favorite NCL specialty restaurant for our love of meat, and as usual it did not disappoint! Since I informed my PCC upon booking that it would be our anniversary on this trip, there was a card for us to give to the maitre'd on a chosen night to celebrate, and we planned on using it at Cagney's. However, while having our dessert that evening, our main server Mercy and the assistant servers came out with cake and song, so I assume that the first specialty dinner is the one where they include the cake and it's not actually up to the guests.

 

The next morning, stuffed from the overabundance of meats and dessert from the night before, we put on our swimwear and met up on the only NCL excursion booked for this trip: Molokini Express. As of this write-up, there are zero reviews for this excursion, and all I knew about it was that it stopped at just one location, and was run by Pacific Whale Foundation, a non-profit group focused on advocacy to preserve and protect whales, dolphins and other sea life and their habitat. The weather matched the previous day's dreariness, and a few people on our bus to Kihei where we would board our catamaran were doubtful about getting to go in the water. However, also in the previous day's case, the clouds started to separate, and we were blessed with clear views and sun! "Don't Stop Believin'" came on the radio, and a few of us started singing:D:

 

Our ride. Excuse the clouds, they were trying to sneak in for the picture

 

 

Our PWF neighbor catamaran

 

 

 

 

My husband is not a swimmer, so despite the fact that they had floating noodles and flotation belts, opted not to go in the water. He spent his time taking videos of me and taking advantage of unlimited soft drinks while enjoying the weather. I mentioned it in my Hana post, but we never made it out to the Molokini crater due to weather conditions, so the spot they took us was closer to shore and lacking in the underwater wildlife department. I took my GoPro, but in all honesty, there's nothing to see in the photos. As I was about to ascend the stairs to get back on the boat, I overheard someone say there was a reef shark at the bottom, but unfortunately it didn't come out in photos.

 

Fortunately the BBQ was good, and I enjoyed the 2 free drinks and didn't mind paying for a third. The drinks were strong! Here I am greeting my Blue Hawaiian

 

 

On the way back to the shore, they sped up to make up for time, so everything got soaked. The two of us sat in the back of the cat with our towels covering our faces to avoid the stinging water, which felt like nails, laughing maniacally. It was a lot of fun!

 

 

[Kattus]

Dinner that night was at Cadillac Diner, and despite not expecting anything spectacular, it was very bland. If I could make changes to our trip, one would be purchasing a 7 meal SDP instead of the 4 meal plan that we had on this cruise. While I agree that giving guests the option of purchasing items a la carte or the number of meals/days covered with specialty dining aligns with NCL's Freestyle concept, when specialty meals were covered under the Ultimate Dining Package for the number of cruise days (7, 10, 14 etc) there was more freedom. For example, in the past if you loved Moderno's but preferred dessert at Cagney's, you could essentially go to both one night. The new SDP convinced me to save money and try the food in one or more of the main dining rooms, and in all honesty, the main dining room food was better on other NCL ships we've been on (Breakaway and Gem)

 

I'd like to also take a moment to talk about some of the activities on this cruise. On previous NCL cruises, there was a ton of trivia, and the popular Progressive Trivia where questions grew more difficult each day and points were tallied on the final round, usually the last day of the cruise. The Pride of America had some trivia, but usually in the morning when people were off exploring. The port intensive nature of this cruise doesn't provide the variety of activities that I've come to expect from NCL's product, but there were areas that they excelled in, such as the cultural activities hosted by the two Hawaiian Ambassadors, Kaulana and China. The were 3 lei making classes, and I took part of the first one to make my own kukui nut lei. As the Cruise Director Malu joked "there's not much free, but this is a free souvenir!" I wore mine every day, and when I got home, I shortened it a little to make it more like a regular necklace. It's a nice piece of Hawaiian culture and history, and brings back all of the wonderful memories of the Aloha state.

 

Wearing my kukui nut lei at Cadillac Diner. Yes, that red streak is the crazy sunburn I received that afternoon

[Kattus]

While Maui had some disappointing weather, the remainder of the cruise was sunny and pleasant. I went out on my balcony and saw this shortly before pulling into Hilo

 

 

And the first rainbow I saw in Hawai'i!

 

 

Ironic, as I heard people say it's usually rainy on this side of the Big Island, whereas we had rain for the past two days and finally had some dry weather! Hilo was one of my favorite ports, and also my favorite tour in Marylou's Big Island Tours. I must have read dozens of reviews praising Marylou and her husband Ken, the latter whom we met when his small tour group and ours with Marylou visited Volcanoes National Park. Marylou met us at the pier with the others who were in our small group, two couples from Ohio who were also friends, one of the couples recognizing me from our roll call. Marylou and the others introduced themselves with friendly smiles and handshakes, and as we walked out into the warm, sunny morning, I knew this was going to be a great day.

[Kattus]

Hi all,

 

 

I apologize for the hiatus, been hectic around here lately and I now have to quickly prepare something for a potential job on Friday morning😮.'ll try to add more over the weekend.

 

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[NutsAboutGolf]

Really great review, looking forward to the rest of it!

I told my husband that we HAD to be at the pier before noon since we were in a suite and I had read on these boards that the concierge escorts suite guests on the ship for lunch at Cagney's at this time. Later on, we learned that the concierge makes multiple trips to pick up and escort guests onto the ship, latest time being after 1pm.

 

Could you elaborate on the differences? What would be different if I boarded at noon vs 4pm?

[Kattus]

Really great review, looking forward to the rest of it!

 

Could you elaborate on the differences? What would be different if I boarded at noon vs 4pm?

 

I think it's worth your while to board at noon, especially if you're in a suite so you can have a nice leisurely lunch at Cagney's; I think they stop the suite lunch art 2 or 3pm. There is also a mandatory muster drill at 4:45, so boarding around 4 would leave you very little time drop off your things in your room and relax.

[NutsAboutGolf]

I think it's worth your while to board at noon, especially if you're in a suite so you can have a nice leisurely lunch at Cagney's; I think they stop the suite lunch art 2 or 3pm. There is also a mandatory muster drill at 4:45, so boarding around 4 would leave you very little time drop off your things in your room and relax.

 

Thanks, we arrived at 1:05pm and it was a huge line with seemingly the staff caught off gaurd by the masses at that time...the crew that was walking around was being pestered but there wasn't anyone directing people either to the baggage tag desk or to the luggage check...People just basically walked in and join the post luggage drop off line with their luggage as there wasn't anyone telling them to do otherwise unless a nice passenger spoke up

[pe4all]

Looking forward to hear how the MaryLou's tour was. Just booked this last week - but will be taking the private tour, as there are 4 of us, and it would have been pretty much the same price as taking the larger van's tour!

[cincicruisers]

Great review. Looking forward to the rest.