It all started back in May of '07, after just returning from the STAR, Mexican Rivera... We found a great deal on a Hawaii cruise on the NCL site and booked it, then after looking at airfares thought WOW, it was nearly as expensive to fly over there. After all was said and done, the airfare was cheap, the ship was great and the Hawaiian Islands, truly one of the trips of a lifetime! We flew DELTA, nonstop from Atlanta, after originally paying a high fare, over $1800 we listed with YAPTA and they notified me about a month before leaving, DELTA had lowered their fares about $600 so I called and got the reduced fare, and got a $400 voucher from them for a future flight, I'll take that! We flew out on New Years day, got into Honolulu about 3:00 PM, those nonstops are long, we had a head wind and it took us nearly 10 hours, and let me add this, to those of you who fussed and "fumed" over the odors on the Pride of Aloha, believe me, the odors on the ship were nothing compared to odors on that aircraft, and you're sealed in it, it was a full flight they fed us lunch shortly after take off, I need say no more! We had booked that first night at the Waikiki Marriott, so we caught a shuttle bus, checked in with the NCL desk there, and made sure we had a pre-cruise excursion to Pearl Harbor the next day. Being they did the pre-cruise check in at the hotel, we left our luggage in the room the next morning, caught a tour bus at 6:00 AM, and enjoyed a great tour of Pearl Harbor, Punch Bowl and the USS Missouri, then the bus dropped us off at the ship about 3:00. Our luggage started showing up about 4:00, but we weren't too concerned, we were off exploring and enjoying the balcony on the stern. Let me say this, any of you who haven't enjoyed a balcony room on the stern, need to try it, it's a very unique experience! We spent the night in port that evening and enjoyed a great dinner at the Crossings, food was good and the service was great. I could tell right away a lot of the servers were American, but it never affected their attitude or manners. The next morning we caught a cab and went back over to Waikiki Beach just to enjoy the scenery and walk the stores, it was nice, real nice and the weather was just beautiful! That afternoon we went up topside to see if we could spot any of the CC'ers group we communicated with on the roll call, didn't spot a one, I really think you need to wear something, a color shirt, a hat, a pin or something. We kind of got messed up, as the Sail Away was to take place right after the muster, but they did the muster the first day, instead of just as we were leaving port. Oh well, it worked out well any way, that evening we went down to the Crossings restaurant and low and behold, 16 of us showed up for dinner! One piece of advice, if you are going to do one of these Sail Away dinners, make the reservations early on and request the Captains table if available, it seats about 18, they had to seat us at 2 tables adjacent to each other. The dinner, once again, was good, the service was good and the fellowship was fantastic! I think each one of us enjoyed putting names with faces...

First stop Maui, we had booked an excursion on Atlantis Submarine, and it was a blast. They bused us over to Old Town Lahaina, where the harbor is and we were pleased with Sub. I will have to admit, it's pretty neat 140 foot down under, we even saw and old submerged ship. We got back to land and toured Old Town Lahaina and the shops, got a little bite to eat, caught the tour bus and back to the ship we went. That night we ate at the buffet, it was good, pretty typical, just a buffet, there is usually something we can find to eat. Next Stop Kona, that morning we discovered the "outside" aft buffet and the omelets, those folks make a mean Spanish omelet, needless to say, this was the breakfast stop for the rest of the cruise! We booked an excursion called Historic Kona, and it was a blast, we had the best driver you could ask for, he educated us all about Kona and the Big Island of Hawaii, he even sang the old Arthur Godfrey song to us, and sang a solo of Hang Loose, he was a true blast and literally made the excursion. He took us by a small church near his home, one of the first missions in Hawaii, I complemented him on how explained it and told of how the missionaries worked with the Hawaiians, I felt he was pretty brave to stand in front of all of us, you could just feel there were those amongst us, who didn't like being told about the scriptures, I tipped him well… We got some great pictures, had some good KONA Coffee and back to the ship we went. That evening we ate at the midship restaurant, The Palisades, the menu was the same as the Crossings, so the rest of the cruise we ate at Crossings, it was nice, the food was OK and we enjoyed talking with the servers and some of the people we met. Let me say, we have met some of the neatest people on these "freestyle" cruises, just ask to be seated at any open table, there are always some neat folks on a ship. Next stop Nawiliwili, Kauai… After having one of those Omelets, we had booked a tour of Waimea Canyon, after several stops along the way and a very good driver, he was very blunt and truthful about the island, you could tell this was an island for the rich and famous, nice place, very laid back and very pristine, and very expensive, several movie stars live on this island. The canyon was really a beautiful place, got lots of pictures and saw the "blow hole", a very nice excursion, you just learn so much from these tour bus drivers about the region and the lives of these people. I mean let's face it, you can't expect to go to place for 8 to 12 hours and learn and see everything about it, but when you ride with these folks who have lived there most of their life, you can sure get a feel for it. The ship stayed in port overnight pulling out the next day and sailing the Napali Coast, now that was an experience, you could almost see the film makers working, several movies were filmed here, that coast line is something to behold, beautiful waterfalls and whales, several whales jumping all around the ship, sometimes I almost felt the ship tilt as people ran from side to side taking pictures (just joking), but it was funny watching everyone, the ship got "buzzed" by some of those motorized hang gliders, I would just guess it made the Captain a little nervous, they came quite close to the ship a time or two. It was back to the Crossings that evening for dinner with discussions with the English folks about our American Election process, it was a real hoot!

Next day was a "sea day", we sailed the Coast of Molokai, it was nice and peaceful, we had near perfect weather this cruise, hardly any rain at all, although the fog, or "Vog" as they call it, kept us from getting some of pictures as clear as I wanted, again saw several whales along the way, some quite close to the ship. Next day, back to Maui, on the Lahaina side this time, only there for about 6 hours, but being they had bussed us over there the first stop to Maui, it wasn't a big deal, we got to get some more pictures and look in some more of the shops. Left out of there about 2:00 PM headed for Hilo. Next day Hilo, it is on the opposite side of the Big Island than Kona, but WOW what a difference, we took the Volcano National Park tour and enjoyed it very much, what a desolate part of the islands, you can understand how these islands were formed and see the richness of their heritage, We were not able to see the actual lava flowing, it was closed off to the public, several houses had burnt up, but going to the park, although the Volcano was not erupting you could see steam and smell the sulfur seeping from the cracks in the earth, the guide told us we were very lucky as we got to see 2 of the State Birds, the Nene, there on the rim of the crater. We walked the Thurston Lava Tube and what amazed us the most, less than ½ mile from the desolate area of the crater, there existed a Rain Forrest around this "Tube", with birds chirping, all kinds of plants and wildlife, beautiful, just an amazing site. Our excursion also took us to Rainbow falls, it was OK, but located in a very populated commercial area and not anything big, maybe if the sun had been shining we might have seen a rainbow… The next morning we were back in Honolulu and the cruise was over, a very fast and exhilarating way to visit Hawaii in just 11 days! We had planned a post cruise stay over in Maui for a week, I am sure glad we did, it gave us time to reflect back on what we had just experienced and do some further tours on Maui, including some snorkeling, beach walking, enjoy the folk lore and Survive the Road to Hana, that was an experience in itself! About the waterfalls, a lot of the falls are located on people's private property, and are now posted, No Trespassing, the signs in fact are asking you to write your legislature to get laws passed to protect these landowners from liability lawsuits, Lawyers hard at work! Would we do it again, you bet, it was probably one of the best cruises we have taken, one must understand, NCL caters to the masses and in doing so there are lots of different people you run into on their ships. The ship is well cared for, it's clean, the service was good, the entertainment was good and the food was good. For those of you who like to be pampered, and made over, you probably will hear complaints, those people might as well get used to it, I have read even Holland is going to a "freestyle" concept. As far as the "odors" I have read about, you will catch some, every now and then, it's a ship built in the early 90's, a gigantic camper or motor home, if you get my jest, what did you expect? Those folks need to get over it and enjoy the cruise. I will say this about the staff, I could tell with my conversations with some of the American staff, some have learned (the hard way), what it means to WORK, I do mean WORK, 7 days a week, for however many months they agreed to. They get sent for training, they get free boarding, food, certain medicines and NCL takes as good a care of them as you could expect, just in the American "entitlement society", some of them sure get disheartened… Our cabin steward was from the Philippine's, and he was a great guy, always called me "boss", and took care of all of our needs, we tipped him well! Go enjoy the islands, you won't regret it!