Poh 10/30-11/6

[snorkelsue]

I sailed on the POH 10/30-11/06. I had been reading all the reviews so I was not expecting a whole lot. I was also prepared to speak out about it. I was pleasantly surprised from the moment we boarded the ship until we left. I was traveling with my friend who is also a travel agent. She booked a room for us through NCL at the Marriott on Waikiki Beach for Sat/Sun. I would highly recommend this, especially for people who must fly for several hours to get to Oahu. I only flew from Phoenix, about 6 hours, but even at that, it was great to have time to unwind. The plus side to this is you get on the ship early so you have plenty of time to pick out restaurants, if that’s your thing. I was under the impression you only had to have reservations for the restaurants that have a surcharge. I did not know, nor was I told, to book restaurants like Papas and Paniolos, or the main dining room for that matter. The only time I ate in the Grand Pacific was lobster night, and yes, as you would expect, there was a wait. My friend did not want lobster, nor did she want to wait for an hour, but I did. I went and had a couple of drinks and when they buzzed me I ate with some other very nice people. The service was great. I have no complaint other than the fact I had to ask for melted butter, and what I got was not melted butter, kind of a “glob” of semi-soft butter. I suppose I could have complained but everything else was wonderful so I made do.

I highly suggest Teppenyaki for one of their dinner “shows”. The show was nothing spectacular but the food was wonderful. In my opinion, well worth the $20 cover charge. I ate there two nights. I had a wonderful meal at Cagneys. The filet and lobster, for an extra charge, was great. I guess I look at it like I’m on vacation, I am going to splurge a little. We also ate at Papas, the food was not as seasoned as I like, but I guess they play it safe. Antipasto bar was great, as was the bread. I did not have a reservation, but showed up at 6:00. The hostess was not the brightest bulb in the pack, as I said we did not have reservations, and she said they were booked until 9:30. Looking inside, I saw several empty tables, and she said they give people a 15 minute leeway before giving away their table. I asked to get on a waiting list, she said they did not have one. Kept repeating the 15 minute rule…another group of 4 came up and talked to another person, asked to be put on a list and she promptly did that. I said we were there first, so she put us on the “non-exsisting” list. We were seated about 6:30, still several tables empty. I don’t know when it became acceptable to show up for reservations late, and expect to have a table held for you, but whatever…Service was good, and we were only a party of 2, so we never had a problem getting seated anywhere, except for lobster night, and I guess you just have to expect that.

We ate at Paniolos, and again, reviews were not good on that restaurant, but we were pleasantly surprised. Everything was wonderful. It was never very crowded, so that restaurant was always an option. I have to wonder what people expected at this place. It was not like the Mexican food restaurant I frequent, but was still very good.

The cabin was always clean and neat when we returned to it daily. Our steward Monique was always promptly responsive to any request we had, for example, extra towels, glasses, whatever. She was great. I had room service every morning for coffee and toast, and it was always delivered on time by friendly people. Even though it is not required, and some say “not expected”, I always tipped them $2-3 as it was a luxury for me not to have to get dressed and go get my coffee. I cannot imagine anyone not tipping for that service. Yes, it is free, but show a little class. A couple of dollars was nothing to me, but to people who work in this industry, union or not, it means a lot. I saw people routinely get up from tables and not leave so much as a couple of dollars. I am a big tipper, I admit, but I have had family and friends who work in restaurants and I know how much it means to them. Everyone was most appreciative of that. Maybe they should do away with the $10 charge every day, but then again, some cheaper people probably would never tip, figuring it was included in the cost of the cruise.

We did the snorkeling at Molokini, it was fabulous. I would highly recommend this excursion. We also did the Warren and Annabell show on Maui. This was $125 and though it seems a little steep, dinner and 2 drinks were included. I am not a big fan of magicians, but Warren should not be missed. The Annabell part was a little lame, a ghost playing the piano, but you are eating dinner then, so it wasn’t too bad. Warren is also a comedian, and the show was very funny. It took about 45 mins to get there from the ship, to Lahina, in a taxi which the ship apparently contracts with, so I guess that is why it was so much. The show itself with no dinner and drinks was $49, so I guess if you want to save some money, you could do that, however not having a rental car this was the way to go. I also like to book through the cruise line, because if something happens and you run late, the ship will wait if it was booked through them. If not, aloha baby. The ship won’t wait unless it is an extraordinary circumstance. I was glad we booked Warren and Annabell instead of the luaus, as they were cancelled due to the rain. Apparently about 700 people were eating on the ship that night instead of the luau, I don’t really know how that played out.

If you use the spa, beware the hidden charges. My friend and I booked a pedicure first night, 15% off if you did it after 9:00. The charge slip presented to me and the one that appeared on my shipboard account was about $8 different. I asked the reception desk about it and was told the spa adds on the cost for whatever treatment you get because the spa person needs to be paid!!! I would have thought that would be included with the $45 they charge for the pedicure!!!I still am not sure how they justify that, but did not feel like doing battle with Ying and Yang over $8, but you might want to ask what the WHOLE TOTAL AMOUNT will be. They are very hard sell, also, and of course, they want you to have all these expensive treatments, and there were people booking them, so my little pedicure was nothing to them. Even with the pedicure, they were trying to sell me all kinds of lotions and potions. Just beware.

This was my first trip to Hawaii, and an excellent way to see the different islands. You don’t have to unpack all the time, and all in all, I had no complaints about the ship. I never went to any of the shows, that’s just not my thing, but heard good reviews about most of them. The virus thing did not come about until Wednesday, and in addition to the sanitizing balls all over the ship, they started spraying our hands when we came back on board the ship. Common sense tells you that’s a little different. I never ate in the buffet, but did go there for some cookies I read about!!!! Saran wrap also came out about that time, and again, I figured something was going on. I just used the sanitizer when I could, and fortunately, I did not get sick. When you stop to consider how many people and staff are on board, you almost have to expect something like this. I don’t know what good having the staff running around like Chicken Little would do. It probably happens on every cruise, you just don’t know about it.

I guess we are all different in what we expect from a cruise. I have only been on a cruise twice, the other being a Princess cruise to Alaska. I have not cruised 29 times…can’t even imagine that. The bathroom was huge on POH compared to the one on Princess, and laid out very well. The cabin was also bigger. We did not have a balcony, only a window view, but the window was huge with a nice deep area to put stuff. Plenty of drawer and closet space for two people. It was always clean, which is my “thing” whether at a hotel or on a ship. Although this cruise was not cheap, it fit my budget. I do not need a balcony or mini-suite, I was perfectly happy with our cabin. I guess if you pay extra for a butler and whatever else, you have a lot more money to burn that I do. I think I received the same service as the ones who did have those amenities. I was not on the ship all that much and quite frankly did not see probably 1/3 of it. I am no Pollyanna, and if I had a problem, I would not hesitate to let someone know about it. If cabins were not clean, or had blood on pillowcases, which I doubt, you can bet I would have been complaining to someone. Our cabin was vacuumed every day. I find it hard to believe things fell so much apart one day after we got off the ship. I really do not know how full the ship was, but I never encountered crowds of any kind anywhere on the ship, except for getting off at the various ports, and of course, lobster night. As in all walks of life, some people see the glass as either half empty or half full. And lets face it, some people like to complain, or are looking for some freebies for their “inconvenience”. All in all, I think it was a wonderful cruise and a wonderful way for first timers to Hawaii to see what they have to offer. I would not hesitate to take this cruise again. Hope this helps other first timers to NCL POH to relax. If you go looking for problems, you will probably find them. Isn’t that the way with just about anything?

[tomluvsaida]

We were on the exact same ship at the exact same time and are pleased to read your review. :) We also had a very pleasant cruise. We were in a mini-suite and Jenny our stewardess gave us excellent service as well. We had the prime rib and lobster in Alizar at 6pm because I read here on Cruise Critic it gave better service than Grand Pacific, also getting there when it opened helped. We also ate at Jasmine, Cagney's, Papa's and Le Bistro. We had excellent service and food in all of them. We only ate in the buffet for breakfast and once for lunch when the ship left early at 2pm. The buffet always had lots of food, lots of variety and it tasted good both before and after the cellophane. The precautions with the cellophane did slow things down a bit but it wasn't anything like what some of the complainers on the 11/6 made it out to be. I too find it hard to believe that the ship fell apart in one day as some of the 11/6 posters would have us believe.:rolleyes:

I'm glad we both had a great cruise!:D

[dancintomusic]

tomluvsaida, I have been visiting CC and posting after cruises for years now, and many of my cruises have been with NCL (at least 8 have been with NCL). In fact, my HI cruises on the Star (Hi Hobbes! Wasn't our fantastic experience on Fanning Island an experience that will stay with you for the rest of your life?!!)and than again a year later on the Wind were excellent cruises. I believe that every review I have ever posted prior to the 11/6 POH cruise was positive. My cruise on the POH (11/6-11/13) was an exception. As I said in my POH report, much of the cruise was very good, and we would go on the POH again. The negative aspects of my report, however, (refusal of the officers and of some of the other staff to admit that norovirus was on the ship (and the fact that they actually lied to me about it) and extremely slow service in all but two restaurants) happened.

 

You may have been on the ship a week before we were, but your cruise was a different cruise than ours was. You don't know how many crew left the ship before our ship began, you don't know how many crew members who may have been in the restaurants on your cruise were pulled from the restaurants to work in cafe or do the extra cleaning/sanitizing throughout the ship on our cruise--in fact, you were NOT on our cruise, so you don't know anything at all first hand about our cruise.

 

You were on your honeymoon on your cruise, and you said you and your new spouse had a positive cruise in every way. I don't doubt your word.

 

Everything I have stated in my report, however, is accurate and reflects my experience with the true conditions on the POH cruise from 11/6 to 11/13.

[mbisson]

I sailed on the POH 10/30-11/06.

 

Thanks for posting this review. Sounds like a wonderful cruise!

 

-Monte

[ferris wheeler]

Everything I have stated in my report, however, is accurate and reflects my experience with the true conditions on the POH cruise from 11/6 to 11/13.

 

I can vouch for these experiences since I WAS on the cruise. I wonder why some choose not to believe what we say? Unfortunately, I don't have any previous experience with CC to back myself up.

 

Many things CAN change in one day. And not everyone's experience on the same ship same week will be the same. That's what makes cruising fun. Even this one was fun. A cruise can be disappointing AND fun, can't it?

 

If I had to guess why one day made a difference, it would be the 60+ crew sick and the massive number of crew in the cafe caused many shortages in other places. This was probably the first time this crew had experienced this problem and was far from prepared. That is/was a NCL issue and for their sake, I hope it was limited to our cruise week. We need the competition in the industry.