Three years ago was our Hawaiian Vacation and since we
are experience freezing temps and a brutal winter, it make me wish I was on
vacation in a warmer climate. I read
over my Hawaiian blog posts and instead of sharing just those again (I shared them last year) I thought I would share with you the three cruises we have been
on. I’m anxious for our fourth cruise in
September 2017 and our first River Cruise in September 2018.
All three cruises (and our fourth booked cruise) have
been with Norwegian Cruise Lines. I have
only been on Norwegian but Kenyon has sailed on Carnival too. What we love most about Norwegian is their
Freestyle Cruising philosophy in that you can eat when you want and wherever
you want. Unlike other cruise lines, Norwegian
isn’t an all-inclusive cruise. There is
at least two sit down restaurants and one buffet included in the cost of your
cruise and also room service. If you
want to dine at some of the other restaurants there is a specialty fee
associated with it. This doesn’t bother
Kenyon and I one bit and we often make do with the free food offered just fine.
2010: Our first cruise was 7-days to Alaska, including
the Inside Passage and Glacier Bay. We
sailed in/out of Seattle, WA with Ports of Call: Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan,
and Victoria, BC. We booked an inside
cabin due to the enormous cost of upgrading to a balcony and I do think this
was the best idea. We didn’t have to
worry about the daylight/sleeping issues and when we wanted to watch the scenery
we just found a place on the community deck somewhere along the ship. Sadly, Kenyon was sick on day two and pretty much
miserable the entire cruise/vacation. I
wasn’t sure if I would ever cruise again but decided to give it another
go. I’m glad I did as I love cruising.
Alaska was the best cruise with the easiest ports to
get around at. You pretty much could walk
off the ship and either be right in town or for just a little farther walk you
could get wherever you needed to go. We
booked an excursion to Zipline that did require a van ride. Other than that we either just walked around the
port and/or paid four our own tours. I
did a lot of trip research and made some calls so it all worked out okay. I had THE BEST homemade black bean veggie
burger at a bar off the side of a hotel in Victoria, BC and I am dying to get back there and have
another.
2012: Our second cruise was to warmer climate and
included an upgrade to a balcony room.
We sailed for 4-days in/out of Miami, FL to the Bahamas. Ports of Call: Freeport, Nassau, and Great Stirrup
Cay (the NCL private island).
We booked a fantastic excursion kayaking down a river
in a National Park in Freeport. There
wasn’t anything to do off the port in Freeport so you did need to book
something for entertainment. In Nassau
we decided to just get off the ship and walk around. There is plenty to do but it is very crowded
and the locals try desperately to get to you take public transportation (included
horse drawn carriages). We booked an
excursion to swim with the sting rays at NCL’s private island but the recent
events of Hurricane Sandy had made them all escape and they didn’t come
back. I was sad we had to miss out but
we were able to spot some fish while we snorkeled.
2014: Our third cruise was a 7-day cruise in/out of
Oahu, HI to all of the Hawaiian Islands.
Ports of Call: Maui (overnight), Kona, Hilo, Kauai (overnight). We booked a balcony upgrade and I highly recommend spending the extra
money to do so. 1) It is warm and 2) It
is fantastic sitting out on the balcony on the overnight stops where you can just
watch the scenery and the people out in the water near the port. It was a great investment.
The one thing I didn’t like about Hawaii that I did
about Alaska is that there just isn’t much to explore right off the ship. The small areas like Hilo and Kona had stuff
right there but you really do have to book an excursion. We booked our excursions with an outside company
called Roberts Hawaii that had a guarantee they would get you to the ship on
time or they would refund your cost of the cruise. It also turns out that Roberts Hawaii runs
the transportation for the NCL booked excursions so we ended up saving a
boatload of money. You never know if you
should take a risk on an outside company but if you do, you will save
money. Just don’t miss the boat!
Our fourth cruise will be in September 2017 for 7-days
in/out of New York City, NY and down the New England coast. We had to re-book from September 2016 and
push it out a year with our new house purchase.
So, I’m even more excited. We are
planning a few days ahead of time in NYC and I had wanted to end the cruise
with a few days in Boston. But, I don’t
think we will try all that. The cost
starts to add up really fast.
Oh vacation…why do you have to be so fun and yet so
far away??
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