Posted at 11:39 am by taryngirl, on October 3, 2024
8/3/24
After our morning tour, the bus dropped us off directly at the port around 2:45 p.m. The check in process was very easy. There wasn’t really a line at all to check in or get through security. Everyone received a shell lei. We were on the ship within minutes!
Here’s the Freestyle Daily for Day 1. This included everything for the day…dining options, entertainment, etc.
Because we were boarding later in the day, our cabin was ready and we were able to go directly there to unload our carry-ons. We were staying in an Inside Cabin. There were four of us, so two pullmans and two twin beds on the bottom. With this layout, it did not give us the option to have one queen bed on the bottom…probably because of banging heads!
One side of the cabin:
You can see two deep drawers here. The safe is up top behind that small door, and there’s a big shelf on top of that.
This is the other side:
Two deep drawers here, as well as a few shelves. The door at the top was our beverage cooler.
The huge closet:
There were shelves on both sides of the closet.
Overall, we were super happy with the room size! Compared to an Inside on RCCL, we felt we had way more storage and space. I would 100% book this same cabin type again on this ship.
Here’s a video tour of the cabin:
We decided to explore the ship some. We weren’t really hungry since we had a good lunch. These ship maps were near each elevator.
Once up on deck, my girls headed directly to the pool to find seats.
There really was no shortage of chairs on this ship.
After a spin around the outside decks, I checked out the Key West Bar & Grill, which had a small buffet set up. It was perfect for an afternoon snack while at the pool.
Next, we went inside to explore a little bit.
This is Deck 6, Pink’s Champagne Bar. This was a hot spot throughout the week, hosting musicians, trivia, and other activities.
Next I went to the library. This place was AMAZING! And huge! This is only one part of it! There was a whole other section bigger than this one.
The card/game room:
We spent every night in here after dinner doing the daily Sodoku that they had! A lot of people used this room for cards and other games. There were always other people in there when we were.
The Mardi Gras…a lounge and night club:
We also spent some evenings here for dance parties.
The Hollywood Theater…where we watched the shows in the evenings:
So Norwegian Cruise Line has a “dine when you want” policy. There are no set dining times, and no seat assignments. The Main Dining Room was open from 5:00-9:00 p.m. each evening. I’ve been on tons of cruises. I LOVE having a set dining time with a set wait staff. They get to know you and what you like, and they learn your pace. We went to dinner around 6:00 p.m. We didn’t have a wait at all. There are two Main Dining Rooms….Skyline Restaurant, and Liberty Restaurant. We went to the Skyline on the first night.
For some reason I did not take a photo of the menu! Gahhhh, I always take a photo so I can remember what I had. Our wait staff was very nice. It did take FOREVER to get our food. There was hardly anyone in the restaurant, so I have no idea what took so long.
This was my dinner:
I honestly don’t remember what it was. It was okay, but it wasn’t great except for the baked potato! We left feeling underwhelmed.
From there we went outside for the sunset. It was absolutely gorgeous!
Posted at 2:52 pm by taryngirl, on September 23, 2024
8/3/24
Our day started very early again. The bus was pulling out at 7:00 a.m. and we had to be all packed up and checked out of the hotel because we were going directly from a tour to the ship. Because this was a Cruisetour, NCL gave us luggage tags to attach to our baggage. We had to leave the suitcases by the door of our hotel room, inside the room. That luggage was then transported directly from the hotel to the cruise ship. We were only allowed to bring a small carry on with us on the tour bus. Most people just had a backpack. It was dropping us off at the cruise port directly after the morning tours.
The itinerary for today:
Scenic South Shore
Byodo-In Temple
Kualoa Ranch
Punchbowl Crater
Drop off at the cruise port
The tour started with a drive through the scenic South Shore, Diamond Head area. So many beautiful houses with a gorgeous view! I didn’t get any pictures because I wanted to enjoy the drive. This part was just a drive through tour with narration from our driver. He pointed out where several celebrities live/lived. There were so many surfers in this area!
Our first stop was the Halona Blowhole. The drive to get here was just gorgeous! The coastline was amazing!
Here you can see the tiny blowhole.
We got back onto the bus and Gar had DELICIOUS malasada donuts for us! This thing was amazing, and I’m sad I couldn’t have more than one.
We continued our drive up the eastern shore. Our next stop was Byodo-In Temple.
The views in Hawaii are absolutely BREATHTAKING everywhere!
Taken from the wesbite: The Byodo-In Temple, located at the foot of the Ko’olau Mountains in Valley of the Temples Memorial Park, welcomes people of all faiths to worship, meditate or simply appreciate its beauty and history as a non-practicing Buddhist temple. Built in 1963, the Byodo-In Temple is a Hawaii state landmark and one of the states’s best kept secrets.
Everyone (almost everyone) lined up to ring the bell. This was supposed to clear the mind of negativity, etc.
Everyone had to remove their shoes before entering the temple.
There was a Koi Pond, and there were so many koi fish!
The grounds were just beautiful!
We also saw this little guy crossing the path to get into the pond.
We also saw a peacock but I didn’t get a photo.
This part of the cemetery was for the people of Japan. It was so interesting to see the different tomb markers.
We continued on with our tour, and stopped at a macadamia nut farm. We were able to sample all of the flavors of those and different coffees.
From there we continued on to Kualoa Ranch. Kualoa is known as the “backlot of Hawaii.” We were dropped off right near the entrance and walked to a special tent area for our lunch.
We had a little bit of an education session and introduction to the ranch, as well as a little bit of Hawaiian dancing by Sonny. After that we had lunch before beginning the tour. We had preordered what we wanted, so distribution was fast and easy. Our tour guide/bus driver had previously given us this little sheet to complete and hand in a few days before this tour.
It came box lunch style.
We each ordered something different!
Chicken Pesto Wrap:
This was my favorite of them all!
Smoked Ham and Cheese:
Smoked Turkey and Cheese:
Those were both standard sandwiches.
Mediterranean Vegetable Wrap:
This was my second favorite!
The lunch also came with bottled water, chips, fresh pineapple, a homemade brownie, condiments and cutlery. They did announce that if you had anything that was unopened that they would collect it back and then donate it. They also were big on recycling everything that could be.
Overall, we were very happy and full! They gave us some time to go to the restroom, and then we started loading up on the buses for the tour. They used two different buses for our entire group.
We had the best, friendliest, most enthusiastic tour guide/driver. He was very knowledgeable about the entire ranch. Our first “site” was this gate that was seen in Jurassic World. He stopped here and showed us the scene on his iPad!
Even the views on the ranch were amazing!
We saw so many different types of tours going on…horseback, ATVs, specific Jurassic Tours, etc.
All of these are locations that were in either a movie(s) or television show(s).
(taken from the website)
Some of the many productions that have utilized Kualoa locations include:
FILM
Mister Roberts (1955)
In Harm’s Way (1965)
Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966)
The Karate Kid II (1986)
Revealing Evidence: Stalking the Honolulu Strangler (1990)
Jurassic Park (1993)
A Very Brady Sequel (1996)
Escape From Atlantis (1996)
George of the Jungle (1997)
Mighty Joe Young (1998)
Krippendorf’s Tribe (1998)
Godzilla (2000)
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Windtalkers (2002)
Tears of the Sun (2003)
Along Came Polly (2004)
Fifty First Dates (2004)
You, Me & Dupree (2006)
Tyrannosaurus Azteca (2007)
Heatstroke (2008)
You May Not Kiss the Bride (2011)
Soul Surfer (2011)
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)
Battleship (2012)
Jurassic World (2015)
Snowden (2016)
Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Snatched (2017)
Jumanji – Welcome to the Jungle , early 2018
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
TELEVISION
Tales of the Gold Monkey (1982)
Hart to Hart (1984)
Hawaiian Heat (1984)
Island Sons (1986)
Blood & Orchids (1986)
Dolly – My Hawaii (1988)
Raven (1992)
The Byrds of Paradise (1994)
E.R. (2002)
Warriors, Episode 10 Islands of Blood (2009)
Off the Map (2011)
Last Resort (2012)
Amazing Race (2012)
Amazing Race France (2012)
The Biggest Loser, Episode 1312 (2012)
Amazing Race Israel (2017)
Hawaii Five-0 (1968-1980)
Magnum P.I. (1980-1988)
Tour of Duty (1987-1988)
Jake and the Fatman (1988-1992)
Island Son (1989-1990)
One West Waikiki (1994-1996)
Fantasy Island (1998-1999)
North Shore (2004-2005)
LOST (2004-2010)
Hawaii Five-0 (2010-present)
CONCERTS & MUSIC VIDEOS
The Big Mele Festival (1993)
Carlos Santana: Far East & Hawaii Tour (1994)
The Big Mele Festival (1996)
The Big Mele Festival (1998)
Surf & Roots Festival (2007)
Nicki Minaj – Starships (2012)
Halsey – New Americana (2015)
We also drove past Battery Cooper Bunker.
Taken from the website: Following Japan’s infamous attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States military mobilized to fortify O’ahu in the event of another ambush. With particular concern for the Hawaiian island’s windward coast, the military rented prime coastal land from the family-owned Kualoa Ranch, a now eighth-generation cattle ranch, nature reserve, and recreation center located approximately 25 miles from O’ahu’s capital of Honolulu.
Built in 1944 to overlook and protect O’ahu’s Kāne’ohe Bay, Battery Cooper Bunker, named after an Avery J. Cooper, served for five years as one of three local defenses. Strategically positioned within a soft volcanic cliff face, the bunker’s 150-foot concrete tunnels were relatively easy and cost-effective to construct.
Overall, this was a fun tour. It was neat to see where some very popular movies were filmed, and you could tell the staff was excited about Hawaii, and sharing it with others.
We headed back to the bus to get ready to go to our next drive-by location, Punchbowl Crater. Punchbowl Crater is an extinct volcanic cone in Honolulu, that is the home of the National Memorial Cemetary of the Pacific.
From here, we headed to the port so we could board our cruise on Norwegian’s Pride of America!
Posted at 11:33 pm by taryngirl, on August 12, 2024
8/1/24
We last left off with our Dole Whip at the Dole Plantation. When we boarded the bus at the plantation, Gar had some information about the Polynesian Cultural Center on our seat. Here is the map and then smaller bits of the map closer up. This is where we were headed next.
Up close, you can see each village had cultural presentations and exhibits, and hands on activities.
On the way we learned that almost all of the employees at the PCC were college students at Brigham Young University in Hawaii.
We arrived around 11:15 a.m. and the “park” didn’t open until 12:30 p.m. So we spent some time going through the shops and then having a snack. There are several food trucks right near the entrance.
My mom and kids shared this:
Fish and Chips! And it was really good! The fish was HUGE! It was plenty for multiple people to share.
We actually felt like we were rope dropping at Disney. We got to the gates waiting for them to open! There was a bag/security check.
Did I mention yet that it was realllllly hot today? It was! Our plan was to immediately get into the South Canoe and head to the North Canoe stop.
We were some of the first people there!
We were the second boat to leave the dock!
The canoe ride was SO HOT! Everyone was melting. When we got off at the launch, there was a little hot dog stand. My daughter was hungry so we got one of those. He was grilling them up fresh on a little grill. She ate the whole thing, so I’m assuming it was good!
The first village we visited was Tahiti.
The girls tried spear throwing:
And we all got tattoos:
Next up was Tonga:
We learned how to weave with palm leaves and made little windmills that spun in the breeze.
My daughter also learned how to juggle.
Everyone in this village was so friendly and helpful!
Now I was getting hungry! So we made our way across the bridge to Aotearoa. I had scouted out food locations ahead of time, so I knew what was served where. I had my eye on something here.
This is chicken teriyaki and it was delicious!
Our last stop was Samoa. It was hopping over here! Lots of activity going on.
My daughter wanted to try more weaving and this time made a fish.
After this, we went to their cultural presentation, The Tree of Life. We were a few minutes late, but I think this was the Chief. He was very entertaining!
They showed how to start a fire, husk a coconut, and more!
The grand finale was watching someone climb a coconut tree.
We were so hot and tired! We still had an hour and a half until we had to be back on the bus to return to the resort. We decided to head to the front of the park and just sit in the shade somewhere and get a snack. My mom had back surgery less than a year ago, and she has arthritis. We wanted to make sure she was comfortable and could walk. She refused to let us get a wheelchair to push her around here!
I cannot get over the scenery in Hawaii! It’s just beautiful everywhere we go!
There is a cutie little ukelele shop.
These are the doors to a gigantic buffet. But they made for a perfect backdrop!
Once we were back on the bus, we headed to downtown Honolulu for a drive through tour on the way back to the resort.
We were back to our resort by 6:30 p.m. Our plan was to just buy dinner in the ABC Store. They DO have a microwave that they will use for you if you buy something that needs to be heated up (like my daughter did)!
A worker took this to use their break room microwave. There is a sign posted by the food offering this.
She actually loved this.
I got potstickers that were in their warming server.
These were okay. I’ve had way better!
It was time to head out to see the sunset, and my girls were dying to step foot into the ocean.
THIS SKY!
It was packed! There were people everywhere. We were lucky to find a tiny spot in the sand to put a towel for me to sit on. That stuff you see in the photo below is not mine. It’s in front of where I’m sitting!
As a result of going to bed at 6:00 p.m. the night before, we were wide awake around 4:30 a.m. We stayed in bed for awhile and then decided to get up and go to the beach for sunrise. The resort was SO QUIET! This was 6:00 a.m.:
There were some people who had the same idea as us.
Although it was cloudy, and we wouldn’t be able to see the actual sunrise from where we were, the sky was BEAUTIFUL!
Behind us was where you could see the sunrise:
There is no filter on this! It’s like a painting!
It was 6:27 a.m. and we were hungry! We had to meet the tour operator at 8:00 a.m. ish, so we had plenty of time to grab something from the coffee shop in our resort.
We decided to share a wrap and acai bowl.
The acai bowl was realllyyyyyy good! I have never had one before!
The breakfast wrap with meat:
This was also really good! We were happy with our choices.
My youngest walked to the ABC Store to get some fruit and a cinnamon roll.
And finally, we could not resist the carton of POG juice! If you have not had this, it’s the most amazing juice ever! (You can get this in Disney at Animal Kingdom Lodge too!)
(Here’s a quick little tour through the ABC Store!)
It was time to meet our tour group! We were supposed to leave at 8:30 a.m., so we were in the meeting area at 8:00 a.m. I hate being late!
We were instructed to meet by the escalators near the Ewu Tower, however, that escalator is under construction and blocked off. They still were gathering in that area, we just had to go down a different way. We checked in with one person and they advised us to just hang around the area until 8:30 a.m. They would line us up and hand out name tags (of our bus driver) and load us up. We had two buses.
The buses were amazing! Charging ports, adjustable seat, adjustable foot rest, seat belts, personal air flow and light, and storage above.
As we boarded, we were handed a packet. Inside this packet would be everything we would need for the next few days.
The boxed lunch selection sheet for our tour on Saturday:
The intro sheet:
This sheet was slightly modified from the information given to us in our online packets with our reservation confirmation.
Today’s tour was the Dole Plantation, and the Polynesian Cultural Center.
We began our drive, and arrived at the Dole Plantation. Gar was our bus driver/tour guide. He told us facts and information the entire time he was driving. There was not a moment of silence for the entire 3 days!We did learn a ton from him, but we also were exhausted at some points and just wanted some peace.
He dropped us off and we had about 45 minutes to walk around here. We did not do any kind of organized tour of the plantation. There was a train ride, a maze, and a huge shop. Of course we shopped!
The store was giant!
Guess what they had…DOLE WHIP! Both inside and then outside there was a food truck with it as well.
Yes! We got some for all of us to share!
Up next…the Polynesian Cultural Center and Sunset!
I was so excited to be going on this trip of a lifetime with my mom and two daughters. It was upon her request, as it’s something she has always wanted to do. The CruiseTour consisted of a land portion from July 31-August 3, and then a cruise from August 3-August 10. The land portion had tours to the following: Dole Plantation and Polynesian Cultural Center, Pearl Harbor and Downtown, and Scenic South Shore and Kualoa Ranch. The cruise departed from Honolulu, with stops in Maui, Hilo, Kona, and Kauai.
I found really good flight pricing through Southwest leaving from Baltimore. We flew to Los Angeles the day before the CruiseTour started and stayed over night. My hope was to ease the 6 hour time change to Hawaii (LA would be 3 hours), and then catch an early morning flight to Honolulu from LAX on July 31.
I am my own worst client when it comes to booking legs of trips. I scrutinize every single hotel and read every possible review. I settled on the Fairfield Inn and Suites Los Angeles LAX/El Segundo. It was great! I felt 100% confident once I saw several different pilots and flight attendants board our shuttle to the hotel.
Once we got our luggage, we went towards hotel ground transportation. There was a special area for this. I did call the hotel to let them know we were there and she said we should wait no more than 15 minutes for a shuttle. It arrived, and we drove about 5-8 minutes until we reached the hotel. It was very close!
Photo of the shuttle:
The front desk staff was super helpful and friendly. Our room was on the first floor which was fine with us because we had 5 suitcases! About the room itself…it was on the small side. But it was clean and we were only sleeping there a few hours, so it was fine! Across the street is a shopping complex with several food options. We knew we were headed to In N Out!
Our flight was departing LAX at 8:05 a.m. Free breakfast was at 6:00 a.m. I was so scared of not getting to our gate in time! The free shuttle left the hotel on the hour and half hour. I felt we needed to get on the 6:00 a.m. shuttle, so we breezed through to see what was ready and grabbed whole fruit and threw it in our carry ons. It was good we did, because we only had 45 minutes once we finally got through security. They only had one lane open.
The flight to Honolulu (on Southwest) was about 6 hours. Instead of the normal two snacks, they gave us these snack packs:
Wheat thins with cheese dip, fruit snacks and a snack mix.
Upon landing in Honolulu, we were advised (through our NCL CruiseTour paperwork) to just head to baggage claim, get our baggage, and then look for the NCL staff member. We looked and looked, and looked, and could not find one anywhere! I even stopped anyone that had a badge on and asked. Several of them told me that they should be walking around shouting out. We saw no one! I even walked the entire length of the baggage claim. Finally after about 30-45 minutes, someone arrived. She checked us off a list and then passed us along to someone else. No one helped us with our luggage. They took us outside to sit and wait for the shuttle. We had four other people on the shuttle with us. Two were dropped at a different hotel, and the rest of us continued on to the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa. This is the hotel NCL uses for the CruiseTour.
Our driver dropped us, and we had to drag our suitcases up some stairs because they were not allowed to drop us off in the front where the bellman are because it’s too busy.
I found this in the hotel!
We made our way to the front desk. Our room was ready, but it was a king. That would not work because there were four of us! She disappeared and returned and had a room with 2 queens for us.
These were some things happening around the resort:
And she also gave me this handout:
The resort was HUGE! There were two or three?? floors of shops and dining locations. The time now was 2:45 p.m. (8:45 p.m. east coast time) and we were really hungry.
Looking back at our resort from the beach:
(We LOVED having this ABC Store right in our resort!)
We decided to check out the beach quickly, and then Door Dash dinner.
It was extremely busy and crowded!
For dinner, my oldest and I went with Hawaiian BBQ and my youngest and mom went with a good old cheese pizza.
We also Door Dashed some peanut butter, jelly, and marshmallow to make sandwiches for when we were touring or needed an emergency snack!
We went to bed at 6:00 p.m. and slept until about 4:30 a.m.! None of us could stay awake any longer.
Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures 