Our family consisted of myself, husband and 23 year old daughter. Visiting Hawaii has been on our bucket list for over ten years. To say, I have been planning for this trip is an understatement- so our expectations for this trip were really high. I am pleased to say that even with high expectations, it exceeded it in every way!

First we arrived in Honolulu on Thursday before our departure on Saturday, which worked out great. We spent Thursday getting a rental settled into our hotel, Hyatt Place, Waikiki Beach and going out to dinner. Friday was spent taking surfing lessons on the North Shore, the Iolani palace downtown. Saturday we spent at Pearl Harbor before board the ship around 3 pm.

Boarding was a complete breeze, it appeared that most had already boarded so we went through the process in about 15 minutes. The advice we received to go a bit later was perfect. We went to our cabin, dropped off our bags and went to explore the ship. We booked a balcony room. It has been updated with new furnishings and tv. Yes, it was smaller than some of the balcony rooms we have stayed in before, but we had plenty of storage space for all of our stuff, which was a lot. We did not expect to stay in the room other than to sleep. Having the balcony helped to make the cabin seem larger. We were on the 10th floor which was perfect, we were one floor down from the pools and buffet, 4 floors above the dining rooms. We were a bit aft but was not an issue. My only complaint is that the shower is a bit small, but you are on a ship! Read more