We flew in a five days earlier. We were 8 when we arrived (with luggage) so we pre-booked a lei greeting pickup with a large limo, which would hold all of us and our luggage. We used LeiGreeting.com and it was a really nice way to start the trip. Our flight was 1/2 hour early getting in and our greeter and limo were there waiting for us. The greeter and our driver were really nice, the greeter took some pictures for us and the lei's were just gorgeous. It was a nice relaxing drive to the hotel after a very long day.
Our pre-cruise hotel was the New Otani Beach Hotel. It is located on Sans Souci beach near Diamond head. The hotel was small, very comfortable, on a nice beach, had a great open-air beach-side restaurant under a large tree, and was only a ten minute walk through Kapiolani Park to the busier parts of Waikiki.
We all loved the cruise, and most of us had cruised a fair bit. We had four balcony staterooms, forward on deck 11, with larger balconies, which was nice because the rooms were smaller than any other balcony staterooms that we have ever stayed in. We had rooms on both sides of the ship. The room was a bit small for three but we fit everyone and everything in. Our room was clean and our room steward was excellent (there was always ice in the bucket when we got back from excursions and the room was always made up at a good time.)
11524 and 11526, great location near elevators, huge balcony.