DH and I took a two-week trip to Hawaii to celebrate our fifth anniversary. I am 32 and he is 46. We have previously sailed on one other cruise, which was a Princess cruise to Alaska several years ago, so that is what we have to compare to. We spent five nights pre-cruise in Honolulu/Waikiki area. I won't go into too much detail about those days since this is a cruise review, but I will mention a few things of interest regarding Honolulu.
Honolulu pre-cruise:
We stayed at the Shoreline Hotel Waikiki. This hotel was about half the price of the big name hotels and only two blocks further from the beach. It was a clean, basic, hotel with extremely friendly and helpful staff. Valet parking was $28 per day which seems typical for the region. If you don't need all of the extra amenities in a hotel such as a restaurant, spa, etc., I would highly recommend the Shoreline. We were able to walk to Waikiki Beach every day, enjoyed breakfast in some of the other resort's restaurants, walked to the Royal Hawaiian shopping center.
We stayed in cabin 9700, which is an aft balcony. I originally booked a regular balcony, but when prices dropped after final payment, I called and was given an upgrade to the aft. The aft balcony is quite spacious. Photos online make it look like a long tunnel, but it's really not. It's more like a big square shape. We found the room to be roomy and comfortable. There was more than enough storage space for all of our belongings, and in fact, we enjoyed spreading out. There were ample drawers and shelves everywhere. Arnold, our cabin steward, was fantastic. He was very attentive, and when we asked for a foam topper for the bed, it was on the bed the same night. All in all, we found the cabin to be quite comfortable and I was quite pleased that it did not live up to the bad reviews I have read.