This was our 5th trip to Hawaii, third NCL cruise and 10th cruise overall. This was a family vacation in celebration of a high school graduation, with 8 folks ages 10-70. We got three penthouse suites (12508, 12510, and 12512) for this trip. We arrived three days ahead of time and stayed at the Hale Koa on Waikiki. We arrived at the ship about 1:00pm on Saturday, had lunch, and settled into our cabins. These are large with a king bed, sofa, two chairs and coffee table, separate dressing room, and a good sized bathroom. The balcony is huge with two chaise lounges and a table with four chairs. These cabins have butler service, and Marc was a pleasure, very friendly and professional. The ship itself is lovely, decorated in vintage cruise and Hawaiian items, very clean, and well kept up. All the staff were friendly and for the most part efficient.

We got the ultimate dining plan and made reservations ahead of time since we had either 6 or 8 for dinner. The children sometimes joined the adults for dinner or went to Splash Academy that they loved. We liked all the restaurants, the food was good to very good, but the service was uneven. Eating in Cagney's was an adventure: drinks were wrong or forgotten, dinners had the wrong sides, but the desserts were great. The Bistro was about the same; we asked for sparkling water that must have been on the mainland since it took so long to arrive. If you are a Starbucks fan, you have to try the cafe americana in the buffet--it is the best free coffee we have ever had on a cruise ship.

Except for one snorkeling trip on Maui, we arranged all our shore excursions including rental cars that were pretty inexpensive. We drove to Haleakala on Maui, to the volcanos from Hilo, and to a tubing adventure and Waimea Canyon on Kauai. As other reviews have mentioned, it was easy to book our own trips, and we saved considerable money. The weather was warm in the 80's but pleasant with the trade winds. Everyone had a wonderful time and would do it again.