Nice ship, clean and new, rooms were much bigger than I anticipated.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Italian restaurant and Grand Pacific were top notch. The Mexican restaurant had slow, distracted servers and mediocre food and servings. The 'anytime cafe' was great, except they held my favorite fish (Ono - Wahoo) for only the last night of the cruise. Mediocre repetitive fish the other nights. Nice morning blintzes every day! A practice of hiding the milk in the kitchen under lock and key. Coffee was OK, but the self serve lattee machine made up for that.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Shows were good. Broadway one great. Magician OK but when he did his comedy act he was better. I would have liked to see a better variety. Maybe a concert type show thrown into the mix. But overall good. The bands by the pool were fine. The Don Ho lookalike in the main central bar was OK.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Exceptional except for a snippy girl at the main desk who when I pointed out things in the huge guide you get on how to do everything said "we don't do that, or we took those out, etc." Our phone would not call room service. It took 3 days to get someone to finally give us an alternate secret way of doing it. There is a form on your TV that lets you report things that need fixing but no comment area so all I could do was check "phone doesn't work". Of course it did but when the reparman came we weren't there and he just left a note saying it worked. The Hawaiian Ambassador was superb, starting with him being in line with us as we first boarded, narrations as we passed things (volcano - wow!), Hula Lessons, etc. I suggested ukulele lessons for future cruises.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Super. Too bad you can't get out on the bow and watch the dolphins or scream "I'm the king of the world".
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Spotless, clean, our guy Andrzej was the best, attending to everything. (He brings the ice!) Much bigger than I thought it would be. The only bad part is the toilet room is built for munchkins but there's public rooms down the hall if need be. Shower amazingly big and roomy made up for it.
Kauai is other worldly. Port location is great. Lots to do close and far. And the afternoon cruise around the island when you leave is amazing. Makes you want to do it again. (I guess that's why they do this last instead of Hilo). A warning though, don't walk the streets at night.
If you aren't taking an onshore excursion, don't bother getting off the port in this smelly industrial section. You can ride the bus to Hilo Hatties or into town (terrible). Otherwise spend your first day on the near empty boat working on your tan!
You need to take a lifeboat to shore but there is the cool old town right there to explore. And a great mall building with chairs and a perfect breeze you can relax in and watch the wave.
Pros: food anytime, shows every night, traveling at night for different morning islands.
Cons: Hilo port is a DUMP, if you don't book an excursion, stay on the boat! Also minor things: Checking in on a hot Hawaii afternoon and no apparent way to get ice in the room (warm bathroom sink water - ugh), and having to find and ask a busperson or waiter every time we wanted milk in the cafe.
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