We sat sail from Honolulu on Feb 21, 2009. Our rooms were ready and clean. The embarkation was very smooth, except for the security on land who seemed to delight in the fact that we were "caught" with alcohol, when in fact we had talked to the Miami office and were told we could bring on wine if we paid the corkage....which we were prepared to do and did...after insisting that this was legal (in fact on the daily bulletin put in your room, it says on the back that passengers are welcome to bring wine on board and pay corkage and then drink this wine on board. Once we called their bluff, they agreed, and our wine was delivered to our stateroom within 24 hrs with 2 wine glasses! This only applies to wine! Beer and liquor brought on will be held and you may pick it up as you disembark. (we heard of someone who successfully brought a micky of liquor in her luggage...the bottle was plastic with a plastic cap and wrapped in bubble wrap) TIPS for buying ALCOHOL on board. Firstly, it is not economically worth declaring your own wine (we did not see anything good locally for under $8.00)and paying corkage ($15 USD per bottle + tax) We found the NCL wine list had some good wines for $24 and up. Our fav was a Beaujolais Villages for $27. You can have the wine list sent to you. Also once you purchase a bottle, you can carry it around to your cabin, dining room, any bar etc. or leave it in the dining room for the next day. Also from 4:30- 5:30 each day there was 1/2 price beer($2.50) in the Goldrush Saloon, 5:30-6:30 1/2 price martini's ($4.00)in Pink's Bar, and 6:30-7:30 1/2 price wine ($3.00) in the Napa bar. We had our cocktails near the 1/2 hour so we could drink different drinks at 1/2 price and carry them to sit together (they were quite happy to put a martini in a wine glass for easy carrying.) or take them to our balcony. We had a fridge and ice in our cabin. Our routine was to have the 1/2 price drinks for cocktails and take our bottle into dinner.

TIPS for good CABIN SERVICE. Make sure you meet your cabin steward on the first day..use her name and establish a rapport. We had ice, towels twice a day and chocolates etc. no complaints...I would rate the cleanliness as 8 out of 10..but the bathroom was always a 10 out of 10. One night the wind whipped the spray on our balcony and there was salt on everything outside. This was not cleaned...we did it ourselves as we wanted to sit out. Our room was located in midship right beside the elevators...this was great..no noise issue and it was very convenient...also the 2 somewhat rough nights were less bouncy than at front and back. TIPS for DINING: If you are in a hurry (morning tours) or want a varied lunch, go to the ALOHA CAFE(buffet){no extra fee} It is busy and noisy, but you can get scrambled eggs quickly and a complete breakfast. They charge for pop and juice here ($2.50)!, but there is fruit and milk. The milk is in small cartons and we took them back to our fridge for coffee in the cabin and a glass of milk whenever. There was roast beef etc for lunch and a full menu of stir fries etc. A very small and uninspiring salad bar. We did not eat here for dinner as we preferred a more dining-out atmosphere. The SKYLINE and LIBERTY Restaurants {no extra fee} are sit down service. Juice here is free for BKFST!.You must line up for all meals unless you have more than 4 people..in which case you can reserve at whatever time you choose and avoid the line-ups. We found this worked for us. The waiters were all polite etc. The service is slow so think leisurely. The meal portions were small. We ordered 2 appetizers each and the salad and then sometimes an extra dessert to share. They had cappuccino...even decaff. Although there were 1 or 2 changes in the menu, it tended to be repetitive. Be sure to go here lobster night (Tues for us...check as this may change) and order a few extra!

SPECIALTY RESTAURANTS {fee}: This is a tough call. Some oppose the idea in principal to paying when you have food provided in the cost of the cruise elsewhere on the ship. We did cave in. We tried two. We booked into LITTLE ITALY..an intimate dining room with excellent service and a totally different menu. The cost was $10 each. We thought this was good value and we were not rushed. We filled out a form to praise the waiter, but did not leave an extra tip as everyone is paying the $12/day service charge. We also went to JEFFERSON BISTRO on our last night and had an excellent tenderloin and great unrushed service. We had had this waiter before elsewhere and knew his name, and did leave him a tip for excellence.(totally optional) Personally, we felt that if you can stomach the idea of these specialty rests., going twice is perfect for breaking the monotony. I would probably not do this with children...or check the menus outside first. The CADILLAC DINER {no fee}was popular with the fast food crowd (inside and outside seating) You can also go into the Aloha Cafe any time before 3pm when it closes and make a soft ice cream cone. SPA: 2 of our group had pedicures...final tab $98USD! incl tip....over-priced. Although both felt that the foot massage etc was good. TOURS: tours are easy to arrange both through NCL on line or onboard or with independent operators. We took the NCL Road to Hana on Maui and it was all day..in a van of 12 and we circled the island rather than come back the same way. Upside was that we saw more of the island: downside, the road was very, very rough for hours. We also went on Lahaina by Yourself on Maui the 2nd day which was essentially to and from town. What they don't tell you is that you are booked to leave the ship at 8:am or 9:am and there is only one return time at 3:pm.....a long day to fill in if you are just walking around town. The advantage of independent operators on some tours is the size of the group! eg the NCL tour on Kauai to Waimea Canyon is a huge bus with 60 people that can't go to the top lookouts and the group moves as slowly as the slowest passengers! If you are nervous, use the independents on your first day in port or in Hilo where if the absolute worst happened, you could still catch the boat! We used rickytours@yahoo.com (Ricky Banasan) for our drive to the volcano in HIlo...there were only 6 of us and we had a great tour and moved along at the speed we wanted. He has a brother in Maui, Richard Deleon who is excellent as well for small groups. If you arrive in port without a tour booked, there are all kinds of people waiting for your business in the parking lot.(if not fully booked) There are always free shuttles to Hilo Hatties (clever marketing store), and K-mart or Wal-Mart, or some local paza. You can ask the drivers, as some of these at least get you to see the town en route.In Kona, you tender off the ship and there are tiny beach areas off the pier or the whole town to stroll through right at the pier. Also in Kauai, if you want a free swim, take the Anchor Cove free shuttle(every 5 mins) for 5 min drive to the small plaza, walk next door to the free lovely beach which is adjacent to the Marriott beach. You can rent an umbrella and chairs. $14/1 hr or $28/day of just use your towel...not change rooms, but a bar for drinks and snacks. You should walk through the Marriott gardens etc., but you are not welcome to swim and use their guest facilities. All in all, we had a great trip, The weather was very windy this Feb. so we were always layering and swimming only in protected areas, and we had 2 rough nights, but the POA is a big ship and used to it. We highly recommend this trip! Aloha