My Overdue POAm Review

[Tatertot]

This board was sooooo helpful in planning what turned out to be the just about absolute perfect vacation, I had to post my review to give back some of the info I got here. Despite the perfect vacation, I came back to an imperfect life -- within 10 days of our return, nephew was in car accident and has traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. I got sidetracked but ready now to relive the Hawaii experience and honestly need the diversion.

 

Background -- This was my mom's 75th b-day celebration. It was me (51) DS (47 and mom of the above nephew) and DNiece (23 and sister of the above nephew). We had 11 days of pure heaven. None of us had ever been to Hawaii.

 

Flights -- Flew Continental from Tulsa to Houston and Houston to Honolulu. Flight from Houston to Honolulu was delayed by an hour so we missed the first sunset on the beach, arriving after 5:30 p.m. The free food was microwave convenience store stuff but who cared -- we were going to Hawaii. Return flight was rough from Houston to Tulsa because of weather but otherwise on time and uneventful except that the headsets you had to purchase for $1 never worked (funny, there were free going to Hawaii but had to pay for them coming back?:confused: )

 

Pre-Cruise -- We arrived on Thursday, Feb. 28. Melvin Kim with ABC Limo picked us up. Highly recommend. Met us at luggage carousel with gorgeous leis. He had luggage carts and all we had to do was point at the lugguage and he loaded it. Then he went to retrieve what I told everyone was the "mini-van" and came back with a beautiful brand new limo. A bottle of chilled champagne and a box of chocolate covered mac nuts were a welcomed snack and Melvin gave us a tour on the way to our hotel, Marriott Waikiki. MW was perfect for us. I managed to snag the "Family Room" -- two double beds and two twin beds in a large room. The view faced Diamond Head and to the right was the beach. I think the rate was $315 with AARP discount and well worth it for everyone to have their own beds after long flight. Changed out of our cold weather clothes and walked along beach to Duke's. By this time, it was nearly 8 p.m. so a couple of appetizers (crab-mac wontons are a must) and some tropical drinks (mai tais but the Lava Flows were the favs) and off to bed. Now I'll break this up into touring days.

 

Oahu Pre-Cruise -- On Friday, we picked up the Hertz car from the office off the lobby. Quick and easy but the car was pretty junkie. A Taurus that had seen it's better days. First stop was Leonard's for masaladas (sp) then to Punchbowl Cemetary. Then H3 to the Northshore. We took our time and drove all the way around to the Bonzi Pipeline area, stopping at Giovanni's Shrimp truck for lunch around 11 a.m. Excellent!! Then we back-tracked to Polynesian Cultural Center and got there about 12:30 p.m. I splurged on the Super Ambassador package and it was well worth it to us. Cousin Mike was our tour guide and he was awesome. We didn't have to worry about missing anything and had priority seating everywhere. Luau was great, food was great, Horizons Show exceptional. Was probably DM's favorite part of the trip. Long drive back though. We got back to hotel around 10 p.m. and hit the sack. Up early Saturday for Pearl Harbor. I only rented the car for Friday. By the time I added extra day rental and the $25 to park the car at MW, I decided it was worth the little bit of extra money to have ABC Limo pick us up again. Melvin picked us up at 6 a.m. and we were at Pearl Harbor before 6:30. We were about 10th in line and on the first tour. Awesome. Could have spent more time but also wanted to see the Mighty Mo and the USS Oklahoma Memorial. You get the tickets for Mighty Mo right by Peral Harbor and board a bus. We were back to PH in time for 11 a.m. pickup by Melvin (If I had it to do over, I would have had Melvin pick us up at noon but it still worked out great). Melvin took us back to MW and waited while we did the final packing and sent the luggage down with bellman. Melvin loaded us up again, dropped us off at pier, and made sure we had our own personal luggage handler. Off to board the Pride of America!! Security line was a little long but probably still took only about 30 to 45 minutes. NCL line was a breeze and we were onboard in no time. And then ...

 

On board -- We sent to the lanai outside the Aloha Cafe. Great CC Tip!! Not many folks had found it yet and it was an awesome place to eat. Food was great. Lots of variety, hot stuff hot, cold stuff cold. I think it was about 3 or 4 p.m. when they announced our deck. Here starts the only bad part of the trip and it wasn't awful, just a nuisance.

 

Family Suite AF 9128 -- As we made our way to our room, we passed part of our luggage being hauled the other direction. Guy said we had the wrong room number on our luggage because there was no such number as 9128. I told him NCL put the number on there but he said it was wrong. About then, another guy comes up and says, yes there is a 9128 and sure enough there was. Don't know how 1st guy missed it but, we found it. All luggage was there by 6 or so. At first appearance room was really nice. Great size for the 4 of us and the aft baclony was to die for. It appeared clean until we started unpacking and found other people's clothes left in closets and under beds. No biggie -- throw them in trash. Room Steward Dinero came by and introduced himself. Never saw him again. Trash emptied every few days. One day no towels, one day no coffee. Two of the beds were sleeper sofas and after they put them down, they didn't put them back up, making it difficult to move around in the room. Nearly daily calls to housekeeping would rectify that day's problem and then there would be another one the next day. I finally figured out on Wednesday I didn't think the sheets on the main bed had been changed so I discreetly marked them and sure enuf, not changed. It was Friday before I got clean sheets. But, I wasn't going to let it ruin the trip and we weren't in the room that much. But you would think just the daily stuff would not be something you would have to call about, and in a suite no less. Bottom line tho, if you have a family, this aft suite is great. Views are great but there is a trade-off for being next to the dock loading stuff.

 

Hilo -- Probably the most memorable part of the trip because of the Lava Tubes but I'm getting ahead of myself. Rented from Thrift. Great service, Dodge Magnum. Drive straight to VNP. This was on 3/2 and most of roads were closed. Lots of steam and limited visibility but still awesome. The view from Volcano House was awesome and again, not known to all the tourists. Park at the visitor center, listen to a park ranger talk (very informative) walk across the road to Volcano House, go into lobby and hang a left (hang a right and you get a tour of the hallway leading to the rooms:o ). Back to the car, we drove as far as we could and then went to the Lava Tubes. Do not stop at the first parking lot that says Lava Tubes unless you want about a half mile hike. It was a very easy hike and beautiful but not something I should have taken my 75 yr old mom on. Easy enuf but she needed her energy for the Lava Tubes. Again I'm getting ahead of myself. At the end of the hike through the rain forest you come across the parking lot that is RIGHT THERE at the lava tubes. We went thru the first lighted ones -- smooth walkway, plenty of light, very cool. Then, I whipped out the tiny mag lights, offered to let mom sit on the bench and wait while we toured the unlighted tubes, but she wanted to go and off we went. I little tricky getting in, a few steps a little steep for short legged people, but we pressed on. Footing got increasingly rugged, but we were determined to get to the end because --- Dummy me thought the tube went all the way thru. Not! :eek: You go in 1,000 yards then turn around and come back. After you've been in a few hundred feet, it's all pretty much the same so save your strength and your time. After the Lava Tube adventure, we went on Chain of Crater Road as far as we could then doubled back and hit the mac nut farm. Sample here, buy at Wal-Mart.

 

Maui -- Loved this island. Thrifty again, convertible this time. Drove to Lahaina and got there about 9 a.m. Did some shopping then did the Pacfic Whale Foundation whale watch about 10 and it was perfect. Lots of whales and spinner dolphins. Pay the extra if you can to become a PWF member and you get priority boarding. There is probably not a bad seat on the boat and people do a lot of standing after you get to sea but there is a really cool table at the front on the second level that instead of having chairs on both sides, has them only on one so you're not facing someone and the person across isn't riding backwards. After whale watch, drove to Whaler's Village for lunch, shopping and some beach time. Back to ship early evening and parked by the seawall, no problems. Roberts Haleakala Sunrise tour the next day. Absolutley perfect. Very spiritual, awe-inspiring and cold. We Okies were used to 30 and 40 degree weather before we went but this seemed colder. And we're certainly used to wind but this cold and wind was kinda miserable. But the tour guide is great about telling you exactly when the sun will rise so you can stay in the bus until the last minute. Back to sea level, I had planned to do an Upcountry Drive but discovered by sister was a shopaholic so we went to some strange little town that's like the first stop on the Road to Hana and actually had a great time. Sorry, can't remember the name right now -- Paihia:confused: . We also hit the Maui Ocean Center and Iao Needle then back to the ship after returning rental car.

 

Kona -- Here's the only time we split up for long. DN and I went on Fairwinds snorkel tour. Excellent and I am a truly novice snorkeler and weak swimmer. I stressed over the rental from King Kam and worried I would not have enuf time since rental office didn't open until 8 a.m. Got one of the first tenders and grabbed a cab. Ricky took us straught to FW ($20) and offered to pick us back up at 1:30 p.m. He did and it was worth $40. DM and DS shopped. Took the shuttle to Wal-Mart and picked up Kona coffee.

 

Kaui -- Absolute hands down favorite island. And that's saying a lot since I am scared to death of chickens. They're everywhere!! Thrifty car again and another convertible. Drove to Waimea Canyon then all the way around to Hanalei Bay. Stopped at the Lighthouse and it was great. Hit the waterfalls and a beach or two. Pretty leisure sightseeing day and it was great. Returned the rental and next day took shopping shuttle to Harbor Mall (it's really walking distance) and had a 10 a.m. Blue Hawaiian helicopter tour with Pilot Kurt. Probably the highlight of the trip for me and I was the most apprehensive beforehand. Not a cloud in the sky, even at the top, unusual according to Pilot Kurt (who also was awesome). Back to ship for Napali sailby, a little time by the pool and in the hot tub.

 

Post-cruise -- The original plan was to rent an SUV (luggage issues!) from Thrifty and do some more touring on Oahu (Dole, Bishop) but learned shopping and beachtime were priorities for others and I appreciated the down time from being tour director. So I called Melvin at ABC the day before and there he was at 9 a.m. waiting for us. Took us to Moana Surfrider, my post-cruise splurge. But it turned out to be rather economical by Waikiki standards. They let us check in at 9:30 a.m. Saturday and check out at 4 p.m. Sunday for an extra $50. Greeted us with flower leis, lemongrass tea and cool washcloths. Room on 20th floor had perfect, I mean I can't stress uenuf perfect view of the sunset over the beach. If you can swing this location, I highly recommend it. High dollar room but right across from the international market for cheap souvenirs.:cool: And with all the hustle and bustle on the street out front, there is a veranda in the back and a beautiful banyan tree that makes you think you're the only one there. Sign up the day before for beach chairs. Melvin picked us up Sunday at 4 p.m. for 6 p.m. flight back home. Sigh!:(

 

Ship Stuff -- We liked the food. Good to excellent. Ate at the Aloha Cafe every morning. Lunch off the ship every day. Did pack some fruit, bagels stuff a couple of days but found we wanted to eat lunch on the islands. Dinner at Skyline, Liberty, Cadillac Diner, Little Italy. All great but Little Italy least impressive, food and service wise. Went on the pub crawl, that was fun for me and DN. 5 bars for $20 with one drink in each but lots of games and lots of fun. Could not stay awake for any evening entertainment.

 

Would I Do It Again? -- Ready to go back to Hawaii in a heartbeat. Only place I've been that I've wanted to go back. I'm usually an "Okay, saw that, where we goin' next?" kinda gal. But I think it will be a land vacation, not a cruise. But cruise was the absolutely perfect way to get to see the islands and pick the one (or two) for the return trip.

 

Thanks to all for the great help in planning this vacation. It truly was perfect. Even the parts that weren't so perfect were great memory makers and some of our best laughs.

 

I could give greater detail but my fingers are tired and this is soooo long anyway. Fire away your questions. I'll try to answer them.

 

Deb