Boarding and Cruise Basics

Our Cruise's Itinerary

It was an easy and very short Uber ride from the hotel to the cruise pier, which was ironically located directly across from the Aloha Tower, where we'd attended our luau the night before.  Check-in and boarding were the fastest we've ever had on a cruise.  When I checked in on-line a few weeks earlier, they had offered us a "Preferred Access Package," which included priority embarkation and disembarkation.  I was dubious at the time, but as I wanted some added cushion, should we have encountered any issues with our driving tour or returning the rental car, I went ahead and did it.  In hindsight, it was definitely worth it, and it wasn't very expensive at all.  This allowed us to essentially skip the line and we were onboard in under 10 minutes, from Uber to our stateroom.  Not too shabby.

Our cabin was a balcony, on the 10th deck.  It was nice, standard cruise ship fare.  We were both, however, impressed by how much storage they had built in, and we had tons of unused areas throughout the trip, which came in handy as our purchases multiplied.  The ship itself is older, originally built in 2000 as part of a pilot project to build a U.S. flagged cruise ship in a U.S. shipyard.  The goal of the subsidized project was to invigorate the U.S. shipbuilding industry with heavy government subsidies, but the project ultimately failed.  The company formed to build the ship, originally dubbed the USS America, filed for bankruptcy.  Norwegian Cruise Lines purchased the unfinished hull, which was towed to Germany, where it was completed in 2005.  It was flagged in the United States, and was the first such cruise ship since 1958 to be so.  From the outset, Norwegian planned to station the ship in Hawaii, and that is where it's been ever since.  Despite being completed in a German shipyard, the ship did qualify to be flagged in the United States, as a majority of its material was manufactured in the States.  It was refurbished in 2020, but remains small compared to most modern cruise ships.  It holds a maximum capacity of 2,500 guests.  Since Covid, they continue to operate with reduced capacity -- adhering to recommendations from the CDC -- so our sailing was only about 75% full.  Being so small and without a full contingent of cruisers, it was very easy to navigate.  It also does not have a casino, given that it never leaves U.S. territorial waters.

Breaking In Our Balcony

Our Cabin

This was my third time sailing with Norwegian, and K's second, though it has been years since we'd been on the line.  They are different from other cruise lines, in that they have a "freestyle" concept, meaning you are not assigned a dining time and table.  There are about a dozen restaurants on the ship and you can essentially show up when you want.  You can request a table for as many as you like, based on your party size, and you're not seated with others, unless you all request that.  You can make advance reservations in any of the restaurants, too, if you want to be sure you don't have to wait.  They also have three "up-charge" restaurants, which are higher end, in which you pay a service fee to eat.  As part of our booking (and the majority of most on the ship), guests get a certain number of "free" specialty restaurant visits.  In our case, we got three, so we made reservations in their Italian, French, and Steakhouse restaurants for during the week.  On the other nights, we went to one of the two main dining rooms, where we never had a wait for a table.  We really enjoyed our server on this first night, and requested to return to one of her tables for two other nights of the cruise.  I'll admit, as well, that my expectations for service on the cruise were quiet low.  I was used to the over-the-top service on most of our other cruises, usually from very deferential foreign staff, and I expected to encounter surly service on POA.  I'm extremely happy to say that we encountered the exact opposite.  Everyone with whom we interacted was so friendly, and the service was outstanding.  Over the top, really.  Most of the staff, we later learned sign six- or 12-month contracts.  Some sign over and over, as they love the lifestyle, whereas others do it to sock away savings and/or get experience in the hotel and/or food service industry.  

Welcome Aboard Toast!

Unlike other cruises, too, I'll admit that we got an unlimited drink package as part of our fare.  We both scoffed at this initially, thinking we'd never take advantage of it, but in hindsight now, it was a real treat.  We never thought twice about drinks with dinner, at the pool, or just in one of the clubs during the week.  As another example of how this differed from other cruises, however, is that we took advantage of almost none of the onboard activities.  Normally we would see the show every evening, and usually attended trivia and/or enrichment activities.  Aside from two comedy shows, however, we did none of that on this cruise.  Every single day of the trip was spent in a port, so we were invariably moving from sunrise to sunset.  With the time change, too, we never really acclimated, so we were usually in bed by 8:00pm each night, before most of the activities even began.  This reality highlights what many others have written about the POA sailing, in that it is less of a cruise, and more of a "means to an end."  In other words, it provides you transportation between islands, as well as lodging and food.  As I'm sure I'll write about later, too, the extremely high prices in Hawaii help also explain why using the cruise ship in this manner is actually quite reasonable and economical.  

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