POA review - Interrupted by Hurricane Lane

[jenjenjeng]

We arrived Thursday to Honolulu - stayed at a Airbnb across from Hilton, Walked around Waikiki beach took in free Hula show at Kuhio beach - bring a towel as artificial grass not so comfortable to sit on

 

Friday - 7 am - checked online for Pearl Harbor tix and got them for tour at 11. Waikiki beach, surf lesson - gone surfing - excellent, Lunch at Poke Bar (husbands favorite) and walked to Diamond Head. A long boring hot walk - take a bus. We managed to get bus back.

 

Saturday - rented a car thru Turo, so guy dropped car off to us. Drove to Anna Millers for breakfast (popular diner) and went to Pearl Harbor. Arrived before 10 at Pearl Harbor and they were able to get us on 10 am tour. Bought tix to submarine and museum. Spent about 3 hours then, we then went to Aloha Stadium Swap Meet where we bought some souvenirs before heading to boat. Car rental guy dropped us off at boat.

 

Sunday - Maui - we walked off boat and went to little mall across from Harbor. We had a few hours to kill before we had to be at heliport at 11:15 so we decided to walk there. (A little crazy). We had 2 different islanders offer to drive us to heliport. We rejected first one but acc outed the 2nd when we were fairly close but hot and tired. Went on temptation tours Sky Trek. It starts with a helicopter tour of Maui from Blue Hawaiian Helicopters - fabulous. The at airport in Hana, we were met by driver to take Road to Hana in reverse, Driver was knowledgeable and nice but I feel like we might have missed some key places. I am glad to have gone only one way, However, We both thought the Road to Hana did not seem so bad to Drive

 

Monday - Did Molokini snorkel with Norwegian - felt like a herd of elephants. Snorkel conditions weren’t great and we didn’t see much, we left first location because it got choppy. We did not see sea turtles.

 

Tuesday - due to Hurricane Lane, they changed our itinerary. We went next to Kuaui after day at sea. We were supposed to arrive Kauai in evening and leave early morning the day after. We got permission to dock in Kauai earlier on Tues so was able to get off boat at 3:45. We walked to nearby beach and spent afternoon there. The hotel has a pool which we enjoyed as well. We ate at Dukes for dinner - very good fresh fish

 

Wednesday- because of Hurricane, we were told the ship was leavin port at 6 so had to be back on board at 5:30. We got up early to start our day. got a cab to Thrifty at airport because their shuttle was not running. I called many times and was assured it would come every 20 minutes. But when we got there, they said driver does not come in till 8. Luckily we shared cab with another couple and it was $8 each. FYI, hertz, Alamo and enterprise showed up with shuttles and they are a short walking distance to Thrifty/Dollar. We then followed the Shaka guide app to Waimea Canyon. We finished before we needed to return so we drove up to see the falls and valley before returning to car.

One port stops at Hilo and Kona were canceled.

 

Thurs-Sunday: we were taken out to sea. We never felt the hurricane which did break up before hitting Hawaii. Big Island was clobbered with rain but we could’ve stayed in Kauai. However, coast guard closed all ports so it was not NCL.s fault.

 

What NCL did wrong was not give us access to free WiFi to change travel plans. Eventually they gave us a free 1/2 hour and free phone call you could make from shore excursions. They also after a day of complaining widened their bandwidth.

 

I think they should have been more accommodating for WiFi and phone calls. They offered a discount plan. It made everyone angry. And so many were trying to get online, it was impossible.

 

We were stuck at sea for an extra day and didn’t return to port until Sunday.

 

The service was good and staff with exception of internet manager was accommodating and friendly. The food was ok nothing to write home about.

 

I did feel relaxed at the end but we were disappointed with losing half our days on the islands. I could’ve taken a cruise from NY if I wanted to be at sea (not NCLs fault).

 

On Sunday, we rented a car from same person, who met us at port and did circle island Oahu tour with Shaka app before heading to airport.

Edited August 29, 2018 by jenjenjeng
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