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New Years thru this weekend are some of the busiest of the year with several added flight. We inevitably get some people who call in sick with post NYE hangovers so mgmt helps out with backfill.
I only do day trips to Molokai and don't leave the airport but do enjoy staying in Lanai - although bring a decent jacket for Lanai City this time of the year. The residents are much more upbeat nowadays with all the investment from Larry.
I have a great view of it as I sit down for breakfast at Splashers in Kona.....
Ah, but you're not here today, with temps below zero and lots of beautiful snow on the ground!
I'm very much interested in the Pride of America cruise. I like that it stays in some ports for two days so that there's time to explore the islands.
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Ah, but you're not here today, with temps below zero and lots of beautiful snow on the ground!
Yes I'm not, and there's a darned good reason for that!
Quote:
I'm very much interested in the Pride of America cruise. I like that it stays in some ports for two days so that there's time to explore the islands.
Here's my take on these cruises... I think they are like wine tasting. You get to try a little bit of several different flavors, to help you focus in on what you might like to later explore more fully than your little taster sample allows. For first time visitors the convenience of sleeping in the same bed for their entire vacation, and not having to pack and unpack and get on and off airplanes to get around to taste different islands is a definite benefit.
After one trip, however, I don't see the point. In many parts of Hawai'i, sleeping on a cruise ship would be a distant second choice to throwing open the windows and feeling the balmy breezes blow, or walking on the beach at midnight, or sitting in a rocking chair on a lanai at a B&B near the volcano enjoying the pink glow in the sky, or a million other things people love about Hawai'i.
We have a long, long list of places to visit on future vacations and this trip may be the only time we get to go to Hawaii. Since this may be our only chance to see Hawaii, I was looking for a good way to see as much of Hawaii, including some of the different islands in one 7 or 8 day trip. Hence the interest in the cruise. We have cruised with Norwegian on the Epic in the past and enjoyed the experience, so thought the combination of this cruise with the stops on the different islands would be a good choice.
The volcano and the Arizona are sites I think are automatic, but there is a long list of other "official" excursions. On our cruise on the Epic, we enjoyed the planned excursions but really enjoyed doing our own thing as well.
I was hoping for some local insight on what might we might be able to see on our own.
We just did that NCL Pride of America cruise for Thanksgiving. It was lovely. We had never been to HI before and we appreciated the "overview" as we might not have known what to do on our own. We did a variety of Roberts HI excursions, NCL excursions and some rental car drive on our own time. If you have specific questions, please feel free to message me!
How'd it go with the driving? Was it reasonably easy to find your way around? What's the traffic like in HI?
I'm very interested in the Pride of America cruise. Unlike the two previous cruises I've been on (both NCL), the ship stays overnight in some ports, so guests aren't limited to just half a day or several hours exploring off-ship. Depending on the cost, we could squeeze in more excursions this way.
.
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My husband and my dad did the driving, but there was really no problem. When we were in Honolulu, it was difficult, because my hubby decided we didn't need the GPS and we'd use our Google Maps. It was that day that we learned that with all the vowels, but only a few consenants that a lot of the names sound very much alike, especially if you haven't driven there before and are trying to decide where to turn!
We liked the cruise a lot. And I know a previous poster commented on my willingness to share by private message.... So I'll try to post my response to the original poster here.
So, ok. I'll start with we are a family of five with 3 kids ages 7-12 and my parents in their mid to late 60's were also with us.
When we looked at cruises for Thanksgiving week, the intent was to do a Disney cruise, but the cost for a 5 day Disney to the Carribean was going to be more for a 7 day to Hawaii. A 7 day to Hawaii in a suite.
So my thoughts on the boat were that we had a GREAT room! And that was in large part due to our newly renovated suite with large balcony. It was very comfortable for our family of 5. I saw my parent's room which was a regular room with a balcony on the 7th floor, and I wasn't terribly impressed. It was ok-ish. Nothing fancy.
And I am using a recent Carnival Cruise and a recent Disney Cruise as a frame of reference.
To us, Kid Club was important and our kids younger kids liked it nearly as well as the Disney cruise. The oldest wouldn't go.
Eating on a cruise is always good stuff. With a party of 7 it was important to have a reservation, as we were hard to seat easily. With that said, we had 2 meals, 1 each, in the main dining rooms. We weren't so impressed. The food was good, not great. The service was nice not exceptional. The variety was fair. It was all a bit better than ok. Now, we did chose to pay the upcharges to eat in Cagney's (it was so wonderful that we had dinner there twice), the Brazilian Steak house (if you've been to one, you've been to 'em all and this was great not excellent), the Japanese Steak House (if you've been to one, you've been to 'em all, and while the waiter was a smartass, the chef was a delight and the food was the best hibachi we've ever had) and the French restaurant (which none of us particularly cared for). I think if we went again, we would still chose to pay the upcharges and eat in the nicer, less crowded, more personalized restaurants. As suite level guests were were afforded the opportunity to eat our breakfasts and lunches also at Cagney's and we were VERY VERY pleased with the menu (though it didn't change at all), the quality of the food and most importantly the servers. When my kids have mentioned Lynn weeks after the cruise and wondered how she was, you know she made an impact. We were also befriended by Harry, the restaurant manager and he was a hoot!
As for activities on the ship, if you are going to take advantage of the ports, than you probably won't take much advantage of the on-board activities. We opted for the ports. There was trivia, but it was nothing special. Carnival did a better job than this cruise-- which more variety and more interesting topics. We didn't really go to the shows much, as the time change really kicked our butts. The 1 show we tried to go to, I fell soundly asleep within the first 10 minutes. There is a lounge singer lady Laurie, who, to us, could have been a skit on Saturday Night Live. She played well and sang ok, but had so much, fluffy, cheesey, lounge lizardy antics, that we didn't even like to walk thru when she was performing. On the other hand, there was a guitarist, Tim Dion, who had such wonderful sets that we made sure to catch him every night-- from a picky, grumpy Papa to a tween, Tim was perfect for all of us! And we got to hang out with him after and he was one cool dude! We didn't do any wine, martini or mojito tastings, but would have liked to if the schedule had worked out better.
So tours.... We did a Roberts Hawaii tour of Pearl Harbor before we left. It was fine. Not knowing exactly what to expect, it was fine. In Maui, we were going to do the cruise sponsored Road to Hanna, but didn't sign up quickly enough. So per the advice of our butler (Yup another perk of the suites was a personal butler, whom I can't say enough nice things about!!!) we rented cars and tried to do it ourselves. The cars were cheap-- less than $100 for the day for a convertible-- and the GPS worth it. We saved tons on our party of 7 renting 2 cars than for paying for the excursion. The Road to Hanna is beautiful, but very curvey and if you are at all prone to motion sickness, this might not be the trip for you. And aside, from the beauty and the time in a convertible, the trip is very long, somewhat tedious and eventually a bit monotonous. We made it past the half way point, but decided not to go all the way, as I was getting very barfy from the curves. We cut out loses turned around and headed to the Ocean Center, which was a great little aquarium. Everyone had fun and was reasonably priced. We took our bulter's advice and stopped and picked up non-alcoholic drinks and snacks to have in our room. The next day in Maui, we did the Molokini Crater and Turtle Town snorkel-- just my family of 5-- and that was a mistake on Papa and Amma's part. it was AWESOME!!! Catamaran, nice crew, they fed you twice, great snorkel opportunities and a comfortable easy ride. We hung out with sea turtles-- which was the only request that the 7 year old made for the whole trip. We got to watch a yearling humpback whale playing for about 20 minutes. It was AWESOME!!! Now with that said, the recent shark attack that occurred the day we were traveling home occurred in the waters between Molokini Crater and Turtle Town. So there's that. It's the ocean after all.
The next day we were off to Volcanoes National Park. I didn't like that excursion. We had a hippie bus driver lady and I slept most of the way there and back. It was cool, and I think you kind of need to do it to see the volcano (which there isn't much to see) and the lava flows. It was ok. We did the Captain Zodiak Tour in Kona and I would never do it again. Ever. It was FAR to bumpy. It felt out of control. You are in an inflateable Zodiak Raft in the open ocean and it beat us all to hell. I did NOT love it. The snorkeling was great-- which I liked even better than at Molokini Crater. But it just was too much. I think that that was about it for excursions.
Hey IamMichigander. We are going on poa in July 2015. We are a family of five too. We are debating the 2 becroom large balcony family cabin v. a balcony for us and an interior for the kids. (11, 14, 16 at that point. ) Which you recommend based on your trip?
QUOTE=ImaMichigander;33128233]So, ok. I'll start with we are a family of five with 3 kids ages 7-12 and my parents in their mid to late 60's were also with us.
When we looked at cruises for Thanksgiving week, the intent was to do a Disney cruise, but the cost for a 5 day Disney to the Carribean was going to be more for a 7 day to Hawaii. A 7 day to Hawaii in a suite.
So my thoughts on the boat were that we had a GREAT room! And that was in large part due to our newly renovated suite with large balcony. It was very comfortable for our family of 5. I saw my parent's room which was a regular room with a balcony on the 7th floor, and I wasn't terribly impressed. It was ok-ish. Nothing fancy.
And I am using a recent Carnival Cruise and a recent Disney Cruise as a frame of reference.
To us, Kid Club was important and our kids younger kids liked it nearly as well as the Disney cruise. The oldest wouldn't go.
Eating on a cruise is always good stuff. With a party of 7 it was important to have a reservation, as we were hard to seat easily. With that said, we had 2 meals, 1 each, in the main dining rooms. We weren't so impressed. The food was good, not great. The service was nice not exceptional. The variety was fair. It was all a bit better than ok. Now, we did chose to pay the upcharges to eat in Cagney's (it was so wonderful that we had dinner there twice), the Brazilian Steak house (if you've been to one, you've been to 'em all and this was great not excellent), the Japanese Steak House (if you've been to one, you've been to 'em all, and while the waiter was a smartass, the chef was a delight and the food was the best hibachi we've ever had) and the French restaurant (which none of us particularly cared for). I think if we went again, we would still chose to pay the upcharges and eat in the nicer, less crowded, more personalized restaurants. As suite level guests were were afforded the opportunity to eat our breakfasts and lunches also at Cagney's and we were VERY VERY pleased with the menu (though it didn't change at all), the quality of the food and most importantly the servers. When my kids have mentioned Lynn weeks after the cruise and wondered how she was, you know she made an impact. We were also befriended by Harry, the restaurant manager and he was a hoot!
As for activities on the ship, if you are going to take advantage of the ports, than you probably won't take much advantage of the on-board activities. We opted for the ports. There was trivia, but it was nothing special. Carnival did a better job than this cruise-- which more variety and more interesting topics. We didn't really go to the shows much, as the time change really kicked our butts. The 1 show we tried to go to, I fell soundly asleep within the first 10 minutes. There is a lounge singer lady Laurie, who, to us, could have been a skit on Saturday Night Live. She played well and sang ok, but had so much, fluffy, cheesey, lounge lizardy antics, that we didn't even like to walk thru when she was performing. On the other hand, there was a guitarist, Tim Dion, who had such wonderful sets that we made sure to catch him every night-- from a picky, grumpy Papa to a tween, Tim was perfect for all of us! And we got to hang out with him after and he was one cool dude! We didn't do any wine, martini or mojito tastings, but would have liked to if the schedule had worked out better.
So tours.... We did a Roberts Hawaii tour of Pearl Harbor before we left. It was fine. Not knowing exactly what to expect, it was fine. In Maui, we were going to do the cruise sponsored Road to Hanna, but didn't sign up quickly enough. So per the advice of our butler (Yup another perk of the suites was a personal butler, whom I can't say enough nice things about!!!) we rented cars and tried to do it ourselves. The cars were cheap-- less than $100 for the day for a convertible-- and the GPS worth it. We saved tons on our party of 7 renting 2 cars than for paying for the excursion. The Road to Hanna is beautiful, but very curvey and if you are at all prone to motion sickness, this might not be the trip for you. And aside, from the beauty and the time in a convertible, the trip is very long, somewhat tedious and eventually a bit monotonous. We made it past the half way point, but decided not to go all the way, as I was getting very barfy from the curves. We cut out loses turned around and headed to the Ocean Center, which was a great little aquarium. Everyone had fun and was reasonably priced. We took our bulter's advice and stopped and picked up non-alcoholic drinks and snacks to have in our room. The next day in Maui, we did the Molokini Crater and Turtle Town snorkel-- just my family of 5-- and that was a mistake on Papa and Amma's part. it was AWESOME!!! Catamaran, nice crew, they fed you twice, great snorkel opportunities and a comfortable easy ride. We hung out with sea turtles-- which was the only request that the 7 year old made for the whole trip. We got to watch a yearling humpback whale playing for about 20 minutes. It was AWESOME!!! Now with that said, the recent shark attack that occurred the day we were traveling home occurred in the waters between Molokini Crater and Turtle Town. So there's that. It's the ocean after all.
The next day we were off to Volcanoes National Park. I didn't like that excursion. We had a hippie bus driver lady and I slept most of the way there and back. It was cool, and I think you kind of need to do it to see the volcano (which there isn't much to see) and the lava flows. It was ok. We did the Captain Zodiak Tour in Kona and I would never do it again. Ever. It was FAR to bumpy. It felt out of control. You are in an inflateable Zodiak Raft in the open ocean and it beat us all to hell. I did NOT love it. The snorkeling was great-- which I liked even better than at Molokini Crater. But it just was too much. I think that that was about it for excursions.[/quote]
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