We drove to Los Angeles to fly from LA to Honolulu. Next time we would fly from San Diego to Honolulu to save a couple of hour's time. At the airport we had to ask questions to find the NCL rep who was meeting several of us for the prepaid shuttle to the ship. Once we found her things went pretty quickly. Baggage loaded onto trucks and we sat in full length bus. At the terminal we arrived around 1:30 pm and were on the boat in 15 minutes or so. We went to our cabin on the fourth floor which was right above the third floor entrance where passengers came aboard or disembarked. We had an oceanview window room. We went to eat at the buffet line on the 11th floor and it was always busy. The food was less than average at this inside and outside buffet. Lines were sometimes long and the food taste was average at best. It reminded me of an elephant herd with people running here and there and all over the place trying to fill their plate or find a place to sit. Getting breakfast here was easier to do and we usually found a place to sit and eat. We ate here for Dinner a couple of times and don't recommend doing that. Food is much better in main dining room. We tried eating breakfast the second morning in the main dining room and it took an hour to get our omelet. I asked why so long and waitress said they only had one person doing omelets. So we never ordered omelets again and got our food much quicker the other two times we ate there for breakfast. We ate a couple of dinner meals in the main dining room and the quality of food and service was ok to good. We also ate one time in the Italian specialty restaurant where the food was good but the service was lacking. No scampi with our salad, waiter never brought us soup we ordered and dessert wasn't a choice just what they had left over. The main entrEe was good though.
At least three nights we were awoken by a noise which sounded like a pail hitting the side of the boat which went on for hours. We called once and another cabin called but the noise still went on till the last night when after we called they took care of it. They said it was the water coupler, letting the water out of the ship and they would move the location to another spot. Overall our room and cabin were quiet other than this water coupler. The door squeaked loudly one night due to rougher seas. We went with low expectations as we felt we were using the cruise and boat to see the islands and we were not going to be too fussy about food, room, etc. We took a tour with the boat excursion but found out we could have probably got same tour cheaper if we booked with Roberts of Hawaii tours. NCL uses Polynesian Tours which NCL also owns. We rented a car three days vs. going on other tours and enjoyed the freedom of going to tour, paying lower entrance fee and then having rest of day to go see other sites. NCL has deal with Alamo but I would rent directly with car rental place other than Alamo as the price will be cheaper and no long lines when you go to get your car. Car rentals will send shuttle to pick you up at your terminal and then bring you back. The car rentals are all at the airport which are anywhere from 3-8 miles away from the terminals and boat.
In Kauai I booked a tour with Wings over Kauai which for $100 per person with Minimum of two people will fly you over the island for one hour in a four seat Cessna. The pilot Bruce Coulombe does a nice job in giving personal treatment and tour. He is a good pilot as well. We flew in rough weather, Hurricane was approaching but the flight was a smooth one. You can book a flight with Bruce via Bruce Coulombe, Wings Over Kauai LLC 808-635-0815 and email address of info@wingsoverkauai.com