Aloha Hawaii...the Back Story.

This trip to Hawaii has been in the planning stages for almost a year...and discussed for even longer with our friends, Kent & Laurel. Our friendship goes back 40 years to our college days in Illinois when Laurel was my roommate and Kent and Bob were roommates. After graduation we moved to Minnesota...they stayed in Illinois...but the friendship survived. Our travels together started in 2004 when we took a cruise to the western Caribbean. Since that time we have also cruised to the southern Caribbean and Alaska together.  

Last spring we decided it was finally time to plan a vacation to Hawaii...something that we had been talking about for some time. We debated about a land-only trip, but eventually decided on a cruise on Norwegian's Pride of America (POA) that visits four islands during seven days. The cruise was booked for mid-November and we also found a VRBO condo in Waikiki where we would spend a few days prior to the cruise.

As summer rolled around, various issues caused us to re-think the plans and we decided November just wasn't going to work. About the same time, I discovered that the POA would be going into drydock in San Francisco in February and there would be a one-time 11-day cruise as the ship sailed back to the islands.

For the November cruise we had each booked connecting obstructed view cabins. (The windows were blocked by a lifeboat.) For several hundred dollars LESS, we were able to re-book on the longer cruise out of SF in March AND get a free upgrade to a balcony cabin! Surprising to us, we were also able to keep the senior discount and free gratuities that had been included on the first booking. What a deal on a cruise that is notoriously expensive! 

Here is the itinerary for our cruise which was scheduled to sail on Tuesday, March 15:

Laurel and I usually co-plan our trips, spending hours and hours on the phone discussing every possible detail. However, this time she had family obligations that kept her occupied so I took care of most of the planning myself. Since we were leaving from San Francisco, the plans to spend a few days in Honolulu were moved to the back end of the cruise. The condo that we had reserved in November was not available for March but we were able to find affordable (for Hawaii!) hotel rooms with kitchenettes instead. 

Hopefully the posts that follow will be helpful to anyone planning a similar trip...or at the very least somewhat entertaining and enjoyable to read!

Please leave any comments or questions and I will be happy to respond. If you like, you can also sign up to receive email notifications whenever this blog is updated.

Mahalo! (Hawaiian thank-you!)