We picked this cruise since we didn't want to spend days on a ship sailing from the west coast. The itinerary was amazing. Some general tips to help make your trip more enjoyable. Daily drink specials save you money on your alcohol bill, getting the bottled water delivered to your room is a big time saver, nix the transportation package. You can get a uber, lyft or taxi for a few bucks and save yourself time and money. Unless you are a foodie, don't bother with the dining package but it would be worth it if you are, since the restaurants are fabulous, especially Cagney's. Pro tip, even if you are eating in the main dining room (on floor 5), make reservations, it eliminates a wait, you can do this on the first day at guest services on floor 5. The breakfast buffet is good, it gets very crowded after 8am, if you want an omelet go early. I read some reviews that the employees were rude and unprofessional, that wasn't our experience at all. If you treat people with respect they will treat you with respect in return. Regarding going ashore; we booked rental cars in each port to explorer the islands on our own. Since you have to go to the airport to pick up your car, make sure your rental company offers transportation to and from the cruise ship, this saves you $15-20 on taxi/uber each way. Spend the money to rent a Jeep Wrangler. You are going up mountains, driving on sand and some of the most amazing spots are hard to get to in a regular car. Plus you can make your own parking spots in some of the more tourist heavy locations. If your goal is to stay on the ship and not enjoy the islands the isn't the cruise for you. The ship is smaller without all the bells and whistle of the larger ships. But it is clean and fit our needs perfectly. Also, make sure to stay on the Port side. Each port of call is just an industrial park so the view isn't worth it, looking out into the water would be. Plus sailing along the Napali Coast, you would need to be on the port side. Unlike some reviews I read, maybe for our cruise he went the opposite way, but I was disappointed I couldn't enjoy the coast from my balcony. I always get a balcony when I sail, but we would have been ok without one, since you are in port every day. We got the internet package, which was over $200 per person, per device. It was nice in the evening to have access to the ship's wifi, but since you are in port everyday, we really didn't need it (or could have just gotten it on one device). I can't stress enough how amazing it was to see all of the islands. As a first time traveling to Hawaii, this was the ultimate vacation. Now I know what islands I would come back to (Kauai and Maui) and what islands I would skip (big island of Hawaii and Oahu).