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Aloha. We are a family of 4 with two kids (ages 7 and 4) who traveled with my husband's family on Pride of America. We stayed at the Grand Waikikian timeshare section of Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki for 6 nights pre-cruise. We loved our accommodations at GW (we got upgraded to a penthouse) and the island of Oahu, though did not particularly love Waikiki. We were glad we rented a car and explored the island. Highlights and favorites on Oahu were the North Shore, driving around the east coast, hiking Diamond Head (where my 4 year old was the first to the top), Hanauma Bay and a romantic 10 year anniversary celebration dinner at Halekulani, Lapperts coffee and ice cream, and the Avanti Hawaiian shirt store . My kids loved the water slides at the HHV pool while I could have done without the mobs and mobs of people. Also disliked the HHV lagoon "beach" (felt like concrete covered by a thin layer of very rough sand). The Friday night hula and fireworks show was lots of fun. We did not care for the section of Waikiki beach in front of HHV. Would go back to Oahu again and explore more of the island. We really enjoyed all it had to offer beyond Waikiki.
This was our seventh cruise overall and fourth on NCL. We like freestyle cruising and NCL suite perks. We boarded the Pride of America on 8/15. We had booked an AE suite for my husband and I and a connecting BA for our kids. Our other relatives had connecting AE suites. Check in started shortly after noon. We immediately went to the concierge lounge where James, the excellent concierge, helped us with dinner and spa reservations as well as shore excursions. Then we headed to Lazy J's steakhouse for lunch, an excellent suite perk. We ate there for most breakfasts as well as a couple lunches. This was some of the better food onboard.
The ship is a little differently laid out than the other NCL ships we've cruised (Dawn and Pearl) and it was definitely not our favorite ship. The layout seemed confusing and it took til the end of the cruise to easily find my was around. Our AE suite was lovely and the balcony was amazingly huge, the largest balcony we've ever seen. The kids BA room was adequate but definitely one of the more compact balcony rooms I have seen. We were on the port side of the ship which has the best views of the Na Pali sail by by. Our other relatives were starboard which has the best views of the lava sail by and the better views in port. Our butler, Bhas, was one of the best butlers we've ever had. He was always available to us and was very helpful in our requests.
We found the food on this cruise to be disappointing overall. The food quality in the main dining room was the worst of any cruise I have ever been on. The specialty restaurants were better. We ate at Lazy J's and the Asian Fusion place. The Asian Fusion was our favorite meal by far- good food, fun atmosphere and a great waiter. Our relatives also tried Cadillac Diner (which they said was horrible) and Jefferson's Bistro (which they said was so-so). The buffet had good variety, but we found the food to be below the quality of food on our other NCL cruises. The desserts were probably one of the weaker links. The cookies and soft serve ice cream were the best choices.
There were some things we loved about PoA. Overall, I found the service to be very good. We had one night of terrible service in the Skyline but otherwise found service to be just as good and in some cases better than on other cruises. Our cabin steward was very good as well as the spa employees. Hendrick from the food department went out of his way to help out with my daughter's food allergies. PoA often gets knocked for service but we were pleasantly surprised. Among our very favorite staff were the Hawaiian ambassadors, Kekai and Malu. My kids and I really enjoyed the hula lessons (and hula graduation show) as well as the lei making. The Hawaiian programs were terrific. The cruise is so port intensive that the kids never got around to trying the kids club and we did not do many other shipboard activities.
The highlight of this cruise is, of course, the itinerary!
Maui day 1: The first day we booked the Maui Tropical Plantation, Iao Valley and Maui Ocean Center Tour through Robert's. This was a great tour for the whole family. We enjoyed all the stops. My husband and I then returned to the ship and left the kids with the grandparents as we went on the Haleakala sunset tour, also with Robert's. This was an absolute highlight of the week. The views of the sunset above the clouds at 10,000 feet are just amazing. It is CHILLY up there so dress warmly. (I had no jeans, a fleece pullover, a light down vest and gloves and was not at all overdressed). The ride is on very curvy roads, so keep that in mind if you are prone to car sickness or afraid of heights. I felt queasy on the was back.
Maui day 2: We booked a Molokini snorkel and dolphin adventure through NCL. Not sure why the dolphin adventure was in the name- no sighting or mention of dolphins as all. Unfortunately, the seas did not cooperate that day. Conditions were way too rough at molokini crater that day so all the boats were diverted to coral gardens, which was actually very calm and beautiful. Hope to get back to Maui and molokini crater someday.
Hilo: We booked a private tour with Ricky on Hilo. We had an air conditioned van and cold water provided for the 9 of us. We saw most of the major sites: Rainbow Falls, Orchid garden, Volcanoes National Park (including Jagger Museum, steam vents, lava tunnel and another stop whose name escapes me) and a back sand beach. The tour was a longer than we'd expected, so, in retrospect, we wish we'd asked for a lunch stop. We were starving when we got back to the ship close to 2 pm. It was nice to have a private tour and Ricky was very good.
Be sure to be the starboard side at 9:45 pm for the lava flow sail by. Absolutely spectacular sight! Once in a lifetime experience. We made sure to wake up our kids.
Kona: My husband and a couple of the guys did the NCL eruption of flavor tour where they toured a coffee plantation (or processing facility?), a vanilla bean and a cocoa plantation I think. They all enjoyed it though it was a very long day. They were one of the first tours off the ship and last back. The gals and kids in our group did the Kona Dolphin cruise which was lovely. It was a short two hour or so trip on a very large, comfortable boat. We saw tons of dolphins the the crystal clear water as well as the beautiful coast. There are also two glass bottom viewing windows to look at the sea life. Snacks are provided and on the way back there is a hula performance on the lower deck. Then we headed back to the ship for lunch and then went back into Kona afterwards. We shopped a bit and then swam at the very calm, small beach right next to the pier.
Kauai day 1: We booked the Wailua River and Fern Grotto excursion through NCL. This was our only rainy day of the whole trip, and even then it was clear by the afternoon. The fern grotto itself was nothing special but the walk through the lush foliage to get there was amazing. There are also Hawaiian musicians and a hula dancer onboard the boat for entertainment. A nice, short, excursion. O the bus ride back, there was also a brief top at a waterfall. In the afternoon, we took the complimentary shuttle over to the shops and beach by the Marriott. (One can also walk there from the ship in about 10 minutes.)The beach was really nice. We rented chairs and an umbrella from a vendor on the beach. It looked like a good surfing beach. It was too rough that day for my kids to swim but they had a blast playing in the sand.
Kauai day 2: We booked Waimea Canyon through NCL. This was my least favorite excursion of the bunch because so much time was spent on the bus. There were three stops: the first was a shopping stop which was the longest stop of all, unfortunately. Then the canyon, which was lovely and then a rocky beach with a blowhole viewing stop. Also lovely. But the ratio of bus time to stop time was not good. I would not do this tour again. The Na Pali sail by was spectacular. Our extra large balcony was a perfect viewing spot.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES: One thing we loved about coming back to the ship was that NCL always had cool water coolers and cups provided at the docks. I don't remember this on any other cruise. It was much appreciated after a day in the heat. The hand sanitizing stations were everywhere, but the enforcement was much laxer on PoA than on Pearl last summer. On Pearl then had someone stationed at every port to make you use the sanitizer when coming back to shore. On PoA they only had a sanitizer crew stationed on the embarkation day. After that, sanitizer use was optional. There are no laundry specials onboard and laundry prices were outrageous. Photo prices were high too, with no specials.
Disembarkation was a breeze. I think NCL does this best.
This cruise was a terrific way for us to get our first taste of Hawaii. We will definitely be back, though probably would do a land only trip to one or two islands next time. There is so much to see and do on every island. I am really glad we got a taste of each island on this cruise.
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