On POA Now any ?'s

[sandm]

This is our 9th cruise but first on NCL. We are in an AE penthouse. We are myself, DH, DS age 15 and DD age 13. We stayed at HHV for 2 nights pre cruise then took a $15 cab ride to the pier. We arrived at 12noon and had a 30 minute wait. While in security a women had a bottle of wine taken and was offered to leave it and pick it up after the cruise, pay a corkage fee or donate it (not sure to who but she chose to donate it). After check in a butler introduced us to a few of the details about meeting on the 13th floor for concierge business. We were not escorted on the ship but I did notice some people were. There were people with trays of OJ, champagne, or mamosas offering to the guests. Since we are in a penthouse we were instructed to have lunch in the Lazy J restaurant. It was a nice quiet lunch. Guest in penthouse and higher may eat breakfast and lunch all week in the Lazy J. The room has two comfortable robes, a bottle of sparkling wine and water on ice. The entire staff we've met so far has been very friendly and offering a friendly Aloha. We ate in Jefferson's Bistro and was pleased. The kids enjoyed the lobster and my DH and I had Filets. It was half price cover charge and we didn't see it in the Daily. Happy to answer any ?s. Aloha!

[KTG UK]

This is our 9th cruise but first on NCL. We are in an AE penthouse. We are myself, DH, DS age 15 and DD age 13. We stayed at HHV for 2 nights pre cruise then took a $15 cab ride to the pier. We arrived at 12noon and had a 30 minute wait. While in security a women had a bottle of wine taken and was offered to leave it and pick it up after the cruise, pay a corkage fee or donate it (not sure to who but she chose to donate it). After check in a butler introduced us to a few of the details about meeting on the 13th floor for concierge business. We were not escorted on the ship but I did notice some people were. There were people with trays of OJ, champagne, or mamosas offering to the guests. Since we are in a penthouse we were instructed to have lunch in the Lazy J restaurant. It was a nice quiet lunch. Guest in penthouse and higher may eat breakfast and lunch all week in the Lazy J. The room has two comfortable robes, a bottle of sparkling wine and water on ice. The entire staff we've met so far has been very friendly and offering a friendly Aloha. We ate in Jefferson's Bistro and was pleased. The kids enjoyed the lobster and my DH and I had Filets. It was half price cover charge and we didn't see it in the Daily. Happy to answer any ?s. Aloha!

 

 

Hi, we are sailing POAM in Aug.

 

Please can you see if the stories are true about a beer card?

 

I have heard as part of 2.0 they are offering unlimited coors light and another beer brand for $150 PP/PD.

 

Thanks

[TreasureQuest]

Aloha, Sandm! I hope you have a wonderful cruise. And I wish you wonderful weather.

 

Can you tell us if they are offering the teen drink pass for the smoothies and virgin drinks. Also please let us know if the famous brownie sundae can be ordered in the Cadillac Diner.

 

Also be sure and post about the lava sail-by. I know these ended for awhile early this year because the lava wasn't flowing into the sea --so I hope Madame Pele will continue to offer the show long enough for us to get there (we sail on July 19).

 

Do you have any special tips to offer on the HHV? We will be staying there 3 days pre-cruise.

[The 4 of Us]

We are booked in an AE penthouse next April 2009 with our 2 children (13 and 10 at the time). I was wondering how you found the room for the 4 of you in your family. We originally booked an AF but upgraded to an AE for the perks but we are hoping the bigger one room suite AE would work out OK compared the the smaller but multi-room AF. Does the AE work well for a family?

[Caroldoll]

We are in AA, BC, Two of the AC suites and one A2. You say you got lunch or something at Lazy J. Is this like Cagneys? I guess the kids in B2 don't get it there, but there were too many for the family suite (believe it or not). Do the other suites get breakfast?

 

What other suite perks are there?

 

I am also interested in the beer card and the coke card. There are a LOT of us.

[sandm]

I will have to ask about the beer card. There was not a table when we walked on the ship like there was for the coke card. My kids have the coke pass. It is actually a sticker put on their cards. We have not yet heard about the lava flow yet. I will keep you posted.

The AE is fine for us. It is a bit smaller than the Carnival cat 12 but a little bigger than a RCCL Junior Suite. We found it had less storage than both of the mentioned cabins. We are on deck 12 and this is a wonderful location. It is quiet yet just steps from the pool. the balcony is huge and we use it alot in the morning and evening.

[sandm]

My son just checked on the TV menu for Cadalac Diner and they DID have the brownie sundae listed. We will check later tonight if it really is there. We are usually so tired at night and alseep by 9pm.

I forgot to mention in the AE the extra sofa bed is HARD and not very comfortable to sleep on. Unfortunately they do not have roll away cots as they do on other cruise lines but we really are so tired at night we still manage to sleep. My kids noted we were not offered a pillow menu when we arrived but it seems you can order anything from the TV. It is nice to have teens when I am so technically challenged.

Saturdays Daily advertises The "Wine me and Dine me" and the "7 Day soda package" there is no mention of any other offers. There is a Pub Crawl tonight for $20. 5 bars 5 drinks. All the staff really are very friendly. The service at the specialty restaurants has been very good. The dinners do take about 1 1/2 hours but nicely paced. We have left a cash tip each time but will likely request the same servers when we return to a restaurant.

My DH has noted that sometimes when a bartneder sees his coke sticker they ignore him but the kids aren't afraid to make themselves known. I will ask about the beer card and the brownie sundae and will be happy to answer any other questions. I am up early running on deck 6 at 4:30am then have a few minutes before the kids wake up...so ask away.

[sandm]

I am sorry I forgot talk about HHV. We had Melvin from ABC Limo pick us up at the airports. He did a great job waiting but the luggage with a sign with our name then gave many details during the whole ride. He even pointed out the very spot the SS Minnow and its 5 passengers set sail that day for a 3 hour tour....a 3 hour tour. The HHV is a city in itself. Many stores and restaurants but most are expensive. We ate breakfast at the breakfast house across the street from the HHV. We got eggs, bacon and all the pancakes ;you can eat for $7.95 where at the HHV pancakes were at least $20. Breakfast prices at the hotel were crazy. Honolulu is like many other big cities with traffic and people. We rented a car and found it was stressful to drive in traffic esp since we weren't sure where we were going. We are quite used to traffic since we live and work in Chicago and feel comfortable driving there. The highways on Oahua seem to change numbers frequently. Aloha!

[sandm]

Asked 2 bartenders and James our concierge about the beer card. Not one has heard of it so it doesn't look good.but ask when you get on board. My DD was able to get a brownie sundae last night in Cadallac Diner I was too full from dinner to go.

James also told us that tonight (Kona) we will be cruising past the shore and will be able to see Lava flow. It should be about 10pm. He recommended to go to deck 6 about 9:30 since a Hawaiian Naturalist will tell us a story about Pele. We are off to Volcano National Park today. Aloha!

[sandm]

Asked 2 bartenders and James our concierge about the beer card. Not one has heard of it so it doesn't look good.but ask when you get on board. My DD was able to get a brownie sundae last night in Cadallac Diner I was too full from dinner to go.

James also told us that tonight (Kona) we will be cruising past the shore and will be able to see Lava flow. It should be about 10pm. He recommended to go to deck 6 about 9:30 since a Hawaiian Naturalist will tell us a story about Pele. We are off to Volcano National Park today. Aloha!

[TreasureQuest]

Thank you the great information! I figure on splurging on nice dinners for the three post-cruise evenings in Honlulu, but I'm going to be a bit more frugal about breakfasts and lunches. I'll check out that diner for breakfast.

 

I hope you had a great day at VNP. You'll find you didn't have enough time. I was only there once, but I would have liked to have spent more time. I can't wait to go back.

 

But lava flowing into the sea is something I will only get one chance to see -- three weeks from now! I hope it's still flowing.

 

Now I have to skip my evening snack tonight ... my reward will be that brownie sundae that has my name on it.

[sandm]

Asked 2 bartenders and James our concierge about the beer card. Not one has heard of it so it doesn't look good.but ask when you get on board. My DD was able to get a brownie sundae last night in Cadallac Diner I was too full from dinner to go.

James also told us that tonight (Kona) we will be cruising past the shore and will be able to see Lava flow. It should be about 10pm. He recommended to go to deck 6 about 9:30 since a Hawaiian Naturalist will tell us a story about Pele. We are off to Volcano National Park today. Aloha!

[clvrcrmsn]

Hope you enjoyed your volcano day :)

Can you tell me what are drink prices? Beer, wine, well drinks (e.g. cosmo, martini, vodka-cran), soda/pop, juice? Also any chance you can give me a quick run-down on the restaraunt hours and what the on-board shows, etc. are like?

Haven't been able to find that information anywhere? Though haven't looked too hard :) Please n' thanks!

[ND23]

Also any chance you can give me a quick run-down on the restaraunt hours and what the on-board shows, etc. are like?

Haven't been able to find that information anywhere? Though haven't looked too hard :) Please n' thanks!

 

clvrcrmsn, this might help with some of your questions regarding restaurant hours and shows...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=789482

[Cruiser7]

ND23's post with the scan of the dailies is great! Thanks!

 

It would take alot of effort, but if the something similiar could be done with the menu's that would also be a great help in deciding on which restaurant to pick each night! I am only putting it out there as a suggestion if someone feels really ambitious (It is too much to ask or expect). :D I am not sure if NCL would part with the Menu's either.:confused:

[radtech]

sandm - We are cruising in November, do you feel a overnight stay at the HHV is worth it?We are in between that hotel and the Marriott Waikiki....:confused: Did you book a Luau? If so which one...:)

 

Radtech :)

[SBJB8184]

Bayo Babe asked about excursion times. On the NCL web-site under excursion details you can see how long the tour takes. If you hit the button that says purchase this excursion, it will then list the times that the tours start. Using these two pieces of information, you should be able to determine how many tours in a day you can take. Hope this helps.

[ND23]

ND23's post with the scan of the dailies is great! Thanks!

 

It would take alot of effort, but if the something similiar could be done with the menu's that would also be a great help in deciding on which restaurant to pick each night! I am only putting it out there as a suggestion if someone feels really ambitious (It is too much to ask or expect). :D I am not sure if NCL would part with the Menu's either.:confused:

 

No need to swipe 'em... just take a picture of them!

[sandm]

sandm - We are cruising in November, do you feel a overnight stay at the HHV is worth it?We are in between that hotel and the Marriott Waikiki....:confused: Did you book a Luau? If so which one...:)

 

Radtech :)

 

We enjoyed the HHV. We did not see the Marriott. We did not book a Luau either. The Luau is tonight and there are hundreds of people lining up to go and it sounds like fun. We did a Helicopter Tour over Kaua'i with Blue Hawaii and it was spectular. We saw parts of the island that only accessable by helicopter. Our pilot took us inside of the Mt Waialeale creater that has 5000 foot high walls, and flew us along the Na Pali Coast and over and inside the Waimea Canyon. It was an amazing experience! My DS and I are going to try to get pictures of menus tonight.

[ohioNCLcruiser]

We enjoyed the HHV. We did not see the Marriott. We did not book a Luau either. The Luau is tonight and there are hundreds of people lining up to go and it sounds like fun. We did a Helicopter Tour over Kaua'i with Blue Hawaii and it was spectular. We saw parts of the island that only accessable by helicopter. Our pilot took us inside of the Mt Waialeale creater that has 5000 foot high walls, and flew us along the Na Pali Coast and over and inside the Waimea Canyon. It was an amazing experience! My DS and I are going to try to get pictures of menus tonight.

 

 

Just under 1000 people left!

 

Glad you enjoyed the chopter! Come over to the front desk and say hello!

[MRENEE]

What Time Was Your Helicopter Tour? Did You Do Any Other Tours On This Day?

 

 

Have A Wonderful Trip And Thanks This Is Great.

[sandm]

We are home and a little sleepy. James I am sorry I did not get a chance to stop by to say hi but I must tell you that every staff member we had contact with was terrific. Everyone was so friendly and had a smile and Aloha. We had outstanding servers in the specialty restaurants every night. We often requested the same ones.

Our helicopter ride was through the ship on Blue Hawaii. It was the Mokihana Heli ride. We met in the Terminal building at 8:20 and were finished by 11:30. We returned to the ship for lunch at Lazy J then to the beach which was in walking distance.

We rented boogie boards and body surfed all afternoon and had a wonderful day.

[DASA]

Do you remember if the in-room refrigerators have a freezer section? If so, how big is the freezer?

[DASA]

Do you remember if the in-room refrigerators have a freezer section? If so how big is the freezer?