|
I’m about to depart for NCL’s seven day cruise around the Hawaiian islands in an hour. My sister and I bought our parents a wedding anniversary gift and this was part of it. We’ve been in Waikiki since Monday and explored as much of this island as possible. We’ve driven up to north shore, up and down the beaches, walked up Diamond Head, and I ditched them to play a round of golf and go up the Koko Crater Trail. I really don’t want to leave; this place is absolutely beautiful. The only downside of this cruise is there’s no casino on board due to state law prohibiting gambling. I’m sure I can spend time elsewhere on the boat, but as other posters mentioned, poker players are awful on the boat and you can easily pay off the trip by winning other people’s money.
|
#
¿
May 11, 2019 22:04
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 22, 2024 13:01 |
|
|
Finished the 7-Day Hawaiian cruise on Sunday with NCL. I'll steal poolside's template for a review. I previously cruised with Princess to Panama, Royal Caribbean to the Bahamas, Holland America to Alaska, and now this. Our family took it based on pricing and this was the first one where sister and i went with unlimited beverage options. A one-time payment of $185 CAD was more economical than $55 USD/day for Holland. This was also the first cruise where we all had the same room instead of 2 adults per - not ideal, but again, it was cheaper this way. The beverage option included all alcoholic drinks up to $15 and bottled water. For some reason they wouldn't let me use it on an espresso at the coffee bar. We intentionally flew in four days earlier to explore Oahu. My sister met up with an old work colleague, we walked up Diamond Head, went shopping, cruised up to North Shore, and I did my own thing playing a round of golf and hiked up Koko Crater. Our parents' anniversary was May 10 and we took them to Paradise Cove for a luau. Embarking took like 10 minutes, including the photographer poses getting onto the ship. No lineup whatsoever, probably helped that you can get on the boat at 12 pm and doesn't sail until 7-8 pm that day. Muster - same experience as poolside. Paper list instead of swiping your card was kinda weird. Food - we did the buffet dinner at the aloha cafe for the first two nights then had sit down dinners for the rest of the week. We opted not to eat in the restaurants that charged extra, either. The desserts were my least favourite thing on this boat. They were really bland or had some weird texture to it. The other meals like prime rib, breakfast omelets and any seafood dish I ordered were fantastic. I enjoyed the freestyle dining option where we could walk in whenever we wanted instead of the preset time that the other cruise companies made us do. Pools - didn't use any. The hot tubs were inconsistent - one had no heat but the jets worked, another had heat but no jets. Entertainment - consistently good. The magician had some great stage presence and the comedian had me laughing. The cover bands were really good as well. We skipped the white hot party. Shops - walked in them but since we had overnight docks nearby tons of ABC stores (the main convenience store in Hawaii) we never bought any souvenirs on the ship, just walked off and bought whatever we wanted for almost half as much. Ports - we rented a car in Maui and I would've likely used this at the rest of the ports instead of using the bus shuttle or uber. It was just more economical this way. MY favourite activity was playing a round of golf at Kapalua Bay. Such a beautiful place. My favourite souvenir will probably be all the Kona coffee that I'm about to drink at home. We also stopped in Hilo, Kona and Nawiliwili. Each had their own charm, but I'd say Hilo was my least favourite spot out of the four. Disembark - we used the baggage storage service since there we had 10 hours to waste before we could fly back home. it cost $5 per item and we took a cab to Ala Moana mall to waste time. Overall, I'd see myself cruising again with NCL. I thought the value was great and the experience to have more freedom at ports and dinners really separates them from other companies.
|
|
#
¿
May 22, 2019 20:40
|
|
|
Yeah, Pride of America. The Hawaiian ambassador was probably the best guy out there. He led the necklace making classes and spoke a lot about his personal life and extremely knowledgeable about Hawaiian culture. Bartenders were inconsistent. I tipped each time but a few of us complained to one of the cruise directors that we had to wait a while to get service from pink’s champagne bar. Some passenger thanked me for actually getting the bartenders’ attention, then made fun of me for wearing a Winnipeg Jets hat. It felt like our room attendant gave us some priority over the rest of the rooms. It helps when we’re both the same culture  . Our shower drain was clogged upon arrival and he had it cleared by the next morning. We tipped him pretty good. It also felt like they were training a lot of waiting staff at the sit down restaurants. I don’t want to criticize them too much but they were all eager to help one way or another. By day four I was annoyed at the main cruise director ending every announcement with ALOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHAAA! The spa staff were probably the most aggressive to sell. I didn’t go to them for anything because I was turned off by their tactics on the tour that it dissuaded me from booking anything.
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2019 01:26
|
|
|
slidebite posted:
I'm keeping an eye on this, too. We're close to booking The Italy/Greece eastern Med 10-day cruise on Norwegian Getaway this May. The cost has dropped enough that a balcony suite is now the same rate as the interior room when we first started doing our research.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 26, 2020 15:34
|
|
|
Cockashocka posted:The dress code for the Manhattan room on NCL isn't exactly that strict as people say it is, right? I hear people saying "Don't wear shorts" but then my sister says "Just don't come in wearing your bathing suit". I can just go in with something as simple as any long pants and maybe a jacket, right? I was turned away at Jefferson's Bistro on NCL's Pride of America for having Uniqlo dress shorts and a polo shirt, but they let me dine in on the last day because they said the dress code is relaxed because people put their fancy gear packed up ready for departure. I didn't think I would have a reason to bring my suit to Hawaii, so I didn't bother packing any.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 27, 2020 16:06
|
|