We chose this cruise not only because we hadn't cruised to Hawaii before, but also to find out what it was like to be at sea for two 5 day periods while taking a 5 day break in the middle to explore the Hawaiian Islands. And then to top it off, we got an upsell to a Neptune Suite which allowed us to determine if the additional cost was worth the upgrade.

The two 5 day periods at sea: Let me first say, we do not sit around the pool all day or read books on a cruise. What WE like to do when there is down time and have a DVD player in the room is watch Dallas and we watched 2+ seasons while on this cruise. That should tell you there really wasn't a lot of fun "game-like" things to do during the day. Our days, besides eating and walking 2 miles around the promenade, included going to the 10 am and 2 pm lectures. Then we would go back to our room and watch a few episodes of Dallas. Afterwards, we would see if there was anything going on that interested us before going to dinner at 5:30. After dinner, we learned quickly that if you wanted to get a good seat for the early show, you'd better get there at least 45 minutes in advance. After the show, we would head back to the room, watch a couple more episodes and then it was time for bed. Now, for some of you partiers, that might sound like a boring day, but for us it was very peaceful and relaxing and have come to the conclusion that we will have no problem with longer transpacific and transatlantic cruises. Now, if there isn't a DVD player in the room on any of those longer cruises, we'll figure out something to pass the time. The main thing we're taking away from the 5 sea days in-a-row experience is that it's very relaxing and something to look forward to.

The Hawaiian Islands: Had a lot of fun, went on a bunch of "around the island" excursions, and can now say we've been to the Hawaiian Islands. I wouldn't say it was better than cruising the Galapagos, Alaska or Australia and New Zealand, but we had fun and that's the main thing. Read more