Sail the Island Princess with CruiseMates LA/Hawaii/LA

[Kuki]

http://www.cruisemates.com/articles/...incess2006.cfm

The link above will take you to all the info about our CruiseMates Group Cruise on the Island Princess... Let's Get Lei'd - Version 3.0.--- sailing Jan.6/06

Our first two "Get Lei'd" group cruises were fabulous fun...and now to do one where flying to or from Hawaii is unnecessary is sure to make the trip even more pleasant.

We've already got a great bunch of people booked, and are going to arrange some golf times for the golfers in the crowd, and some optional tours for others.

Hope you consider joining an already great group of folks!!!

TERRIFIC pricing and ammenities on this 15 day sailing

[Harry Martin]

Kuki, looking forward to hearing about the tours. Don't have a clue right now, but going to do what Pamda taught me, and get together a book of info before we set sail.

Harry

[Kuki]

Harry... unless you want to do a heli tour in Maui, or Kuaui, the islands are very easy to do on your own with rental cars.

Last trip we did a convoy of cruisemates to the Volcano National Park on Hilo, and that was fun... other than hitting a bit of a rainy day.

I am working on a couple of other "more adventerous" tours, and will post info as soon as we have something in place.

[Harry Martin]

Sounds great ... I plan on getting a Fodors Guide too

Harry

Kuki, we did the first Island Princess to Hawaii last Sept. 21st. This was our 20th. cruise and was by far the best. The ship was fabulous and we love Hawaii, so the itinerary was perfect. We enjoy the sea days and don't care to fly, so this cruise was just what we were looking for. We're booked for the Feb. 5th. '06 cruise, but after looking at your pricing, we're considering switching. We have a travel agent we've used for years and he has also become a good friend. Do you know if it's possible to still use him and switch to your date and pricing? We have a group of ten so far. Just let us know. Thanks, Mike

[Kuki]

Mike.. We'd of course like for you to join us! Fun group booked already, so besides the great pricing, and amenities... it's going to fun because of the group.

Though, it would not be possible to share some events with you... like the complimentary cocktail party, or the shipboard credit... certainly you'd be welcome at many other CruiseMates events.


I'd suggest contacting your TA, and allow them to match the price, shipboard credit, etc. that the TA handling our group is offering. If they aren't able to offer you the same "deal", then you should be able to book with the CM TA with a clear conscience, and take part in all the benefits. Under those circumstances I'm sure your TA would understand you booking elsewhere.

Kuki,
I've been looking at golf on Kaui that Princess offers. If you come up with something else, let me know.
Jim

Thanks Kuki, we're checking into it. Can't wait to get on board again. We did the golf trip thru Princess at Kauai Lagoons. It was actually a better deal than what the course itself offered. Beautiful course and we plan on playing again when we go back.

[Kuki]

Last May when we sailed Hawaii I was able to contact the golf courses, and get a significant discount for the golfers with us, and we played the top courses. I'm hoping to be able to do the same thing again this time.

From the sounds of things we may be able to put together at least 3 foursomes from those who have booked already. So, we may be able to work out a little bit of an island tournament, to mix and mingle foursomes, and come up with some prizes etc.

[Franknca]

There was one aspect lacking on this cruise when we took it in December - there are no lectures or talks on Hawaii as one gets when they go to Alaska or European ports. You folks may want to lobby Princess in advance if you want this for your cruise. I think it would be quite interesting for passengers to know the history of the islands and the Polynesian culture. And there is a lot of time to do this in the 5 days crossing over to the islands.
Frank-in-CA

I was one of the golfer that hooked up with Kuki last May. Kuki got us to some of the best courses I've ever seen. I've been watching the Golf Channel and saw the same course that we had played on. I'm not a good golfer but I had a great time. If anyone else is like me, bring extra balls. The islands have a way of eating them up! Kuki, I've been getting better, I hope! I can hardly wait, the only problem I'll have again is Kelly will be out with her best friend VISA !!!!!!

[Kuki]

Harpo.. . Think there was one hole where the 4 of us lost about 11 balls total. The good thing was we didn't have to pack them for the trip home <G>

Hey Kuki,
We're all signed up and ready to go. We have a group of 12 so far, with a chance of more to join. Everyone's excited about the price and the fact that we now leave a month earlier than we had planned. We have several so called golfers in our group, so we'll be interested in your golf outings. We also donated quite a few balls when we played in Kauai. Come on Jan.!!! Aloha!!

[Kuki]

Mike...

GREAT news! In a twisted way I'm delighted to hear your TA couldn't match our group price. Means I'm doing my job.

As we get closer we'll get a list of all those who want to golf, and I'll go to work on deals and tee times. It already looks like we could have 4- 5 foursomes.

Here's a link to an article I wrote about golf in the islands, from our cruise last May, that should get some of the golfers juices flowing <G>.
http://www.cruisemates.com/articles/...HawaiiGolf.cfm

Looking forward to meeting your whole "crew". Tell them, not to be shy, and pop onto the message boards to "meet" some of the others going.

Sandee and Bill from Seattle just signed up with Nancy. We cruised with them on the Diamond New Year and they are great fun!!! I asked them to start watching these boards...so hopefully they'll be lurking.

Shar

[Harry Martin]

Wow, great news all the way around!

Harry

[Kuki]

Shar.. GREAT! More new cruisemates for me to play with <G> Hope Sandy and Bill will join us on the boards.

Plus once we get closer we'll be organizing some "Get Lei'd" live online chats to, for everyone to "meet".

Not too many cabins left now in our alloted space.

Any lurkers who're thinking about joining us.. GET BOOKED before the cabins are gone.

15 nights with this group is going to be FUN!!

Kuki,
Do most of the players take their own clubs?

Jim

We've always rented ours. Each time was Calloway. Nice clubs, but is still didn't improve my game. Great views though.

[Kuki]

Whether to drag along your own clubs or not, is really an individual choice.... and , in my mind, depends on how many times you are planning to golf.

Last May I think with a couple of pre cruise rounds, we golfed 5 times, so I took my clubs. In Nov. I golfed twice on a cruise, so I just rented... and as Mike said, the club rentals are normally good quality. The balls are always just rentals!

Think this trip we'll try and set up options for 3 rounds of golf. Kauai, Ohau, and Maui.

We're going to have lots of stuff set up for those who don't want to golf as well.

My brother in law, and sister in law just booked this cruise today (luckily the ones I get along well with <G>), so cabin choices are getting narrowed down. If anyone has friends who are "fence sitting" give em a push. ... or we may end up running out of cabins before they decide.

I played with Kuki last May and I rented the clubs, at about $50.00 average . Yes top of the line clubs in every case. Was nice playing with different clubs for a whole game. I've been looking for a new set and this help narrow things down. Don't rent the balls! Looking forward to seeing what Kuki can line up this time!

Renting clubs provides an excuse. You tell the guys at home you were'nt playing with your own set.

Jim

[Kuki]

Funny... I was just checking cruise prices, as I do every once in awhile, to double check to see if they went down.

Travelocity's pricing for this cruise is $600 per person MORE than ours for inside cabins.. and up to $1200 MORE per person on the mini suites.
And we've got the shipboard credit on top of that, AND the complimentary cocktail party!!

Considering that... not surprised our cabins are going so quickly!

[Rob M.]

Hey everyone, I just booked on the Cruise Mates Cruise to Hawaii.

Deposits have been reduced to $200 per cabin!!! This week only!

Call Nancy for more info.

Can't wait til January!

[Kuki]

Hey Rob.... Welcome to the PARTY!

Just got that e-mail from Nancy this morning. Only a $100 deposit makes this great deal, even better.

Congrats to Kuki and Nancy for getting this deal!!! Sure hope we hear from more CMers.

Shar

[Rob M.]

Clarification, the deposit is $100 per person.

Hey Kuki
Hope you plan some golf in Kona. There is a great shoe store waiting for the golf widows. We had so much fun last time!!Or unless you boys want to carry our bags.

Kelly

[Harry Martin]

Hi all, just wanted to let everyone know Rob and his BF will be joining us but see he already posted ... sounds like we have a great group in the works!

Harry