Back from Hawai'i -- pics! :)

[Jessika]

FABULOUS !!!! I've always been dreaming of going to Hawai; guess it will remain a dream...
These pics are wonderfull, you sure have a great camera!! Hey, is the water naturally so green??? Here in our Northsee, the water is gray.... .

Actually it was much bluer; the pics in Fanning make the water look green because we had my camera in Underwater Mode which puts a green filter on to make images underwater more "natural" colored" But above the surface everything else looks green, as you can see. I didn't realize it would do that until I get home haha.

Pics from later in the trip though are more exact

But yeah -- the water was so blue and pristine and CLEAR, everywhere!

[Alysser]

I am amazed at the beauty! Wow gorgeous GORGEOUS pictures. What a wonderful vacation you had. I must ask, since that ship looks familiar. What cruise line was it? I just recently went on Norwegian Cruise Lines and LOVED it! You are SO lucky to have gone to Hawai'i It is something I have always wanted to do. Those pictures were gorgeous!

[Jessika]

I am amazed at the beauty! Wow gorgeous GORGEOUS pictures. What a wonderful vacation you had. I must ask, since that ship looks familiar. What cruise line was it? I just recently went on Norwegian Cruise Lines and LOVED it! You are SO lucky to have gone to Hawai'i It is something I have always wanted to do. Those pictures were gorgeous!

Yeah we were with NCL, our ship was Pride of Aloha. Must say I was not too impressed; the ship looked old and run-down, everything was faded, it needed a new paint job BADLY, the inside of the ship smelled AWFUL, and the outside was rusting badly.

I was also a little upset about their "freestyle cruising, you don't have to dress up if you don't want to unless you don't want to eat good food in which case bring nice clothes". Like, seriously, unless you wanted to eat at the buffet every night you needed nice clothes. And you couldn't wear flip-flops to dinner because it would "ruin the atmosphere". Um, ok. I was asked to leave from Crossings (sit down restaurant) because I was wearing flip-flops (but in a nice dress, I looked much nicer than the other old folks in line with their cotton shorts and screen printed shirts...) so I actually had to buy nice shoes in Maui just to eat a nice dinner. AND when I finally did get in, what did I see but every other person in line in front of me got in... wearing flip-flops...

But otherwise it was good, I just wish their customer service representatives were a little more knowledgeable on the cruise nad the shop and what is and isn't allowed because we called beforehand to ask about a dress code and they said there wasn't one anywhere. =/

[Alysser]

Personally, I think it all depends on the ship you go on. I've never heard of that ship with NCL but I just googled it. I've heard of Pride Of Hawaii, though. Anyway, My parents booked the newest ship NCL just made. In fact, we were on the maiden voyage in North America. It's called the Norwegian Gem. I agree with the dinner "dress-code" though. A women wasn't allowed in the most fancy restraunt on the ship because of her flip flops, and she basically had what I consider an evening gown. I saw some people wearing jeans, but you aren't allowed to wear flip flops? It's a bit stupid. The room we stayed in was really small too, but all cruise ships would be the same I guess.

Anyway, Sorry about your whole experience but I'm glad most of it was okay. I really like the whole idea of "Freestyle Cruising". I am not one for having a set schedule and dressing up so it worked out good for me.

[Jessika]

Oh no, I like the IDEA of "freestyle cruising", but they just need to be more specific about what exactly they mean by "freestyle", you know? Basically the only thing "freestyle" about the cruise was the buffet or breakfast at restaurants like Crossings.

Pride of Aloha was refurbished a few years back, the ship itself is about 10 years old and they bought it before then so it's seen a few years.


My understanding about the Pride of Hawaii is that the cruise it had was it's last cruise (they embarked the same day as us and basically had the same cruise the only difference is they were 7 days, we were 11 because we went to Fanning Island). After last week Pride of Hawaii is being refurbished and renamed the Jade or something like that (Pride of the Jade, NCL's Jade, something like that) and my understanding is that it is going to be a ship cruising like england and that area or something. I can't remember exactly