Die-hard Carnival Fan looking to be convinced - will I like Pride of America?

As you can see from my signature I am a true Carnival fan althouh I have also cruised Disney several times. Once you are familiar with a cruise line and have status, the comfort level and perks are just hard to pass up. Until me and my BFF outraced hurricanes two years in a row in the Caribean on our annual September cruise. We can't change the date due to our work restrictions so we started expanding our research. The 7 day Hawaii cruise on the NCL Pride of America sounds really nice. At face value the cost of the cruise is much higher than we typically pay in a balcony on the Carnival ships and I am trying to figure out what is pay as you go and what is included on NCL that is different than Carnival. I really need help quick so we can lock in those extended cyber Monday airfares! Convince me we will be happy with this choice please!!!!

It will be different. The POA is governed by US regs, since it only sails in the US. As a result, it's mostly an American crew. No other cruise line sails US only cruises. NCL has had problems in the past with service on this ship. From recent reviews it appears to be OK now. Most cruise lines don't want to hire Americans because their work ethic is not the same as most of the cultures they do hire regularly. POA is unique, and really doesn't represent the service that's on all the other NCL ships. Not saying it will be bad. It's just something to consider, due to it's unique situation.

Also - there is no casino on board. That cruise though, is really not like a "normal" cruise. It is more like a place to sleep and eat breakfast and dinner, and shuttle you to the next place. No sea days, 2 overnight stays. We didn't even eat dinner on the ship the first night in Maui.

My opinion - if you want to see the Hawaiian islands in 7 days, perfect way to do it. Research yourself (The Revealed books are great for this , Maui Revealed, Kauai Reveled, etc., and book your own private excursion. (we rented a car at every island and did our own thing. It saved us TONS of money).

If you are looking for this to be a normal cruise, do not book it. It is not. Also, if you do book it, DO NOT make this cruise your example for NCL cruises. It is really not a good example.

You'll be in Hawaii. What's not to like?

It’s not more expensive because it includes more than carnival. If anything POA includes less than the other norwegian ships because most of the fleet offers the beverage package for a small fee with booking - but POA doesn’t. It’s more expensive because it’s registered in the US and subject to US labor laws = more pay for the crew

If you can do a 11 day cruise, carnival has one that repositions in sept from Vancouver to Hawaii for less than a 7 day POA cruise

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You'll be in Hawaii. What's not to like?

Mainly the prices of most everything. As an example, we believe 12 one-liter bottles of water on the POA now run $28.00 plus 18% gratuity. How does that compare with Carnival?

When you deal with prices on POA cruises, you have to take into account that everything, including the bottled water is shipped from the mainland, which is why all prices in Hawaii are high. As well as higher crew costs, there are the higher food and beverage costs, and the higher fuel cost. Ships doing the 11-14 day trips from the West Coast take food, beverages and fuel on the Coast, not in Hawaii, so they pay significantly lower prices.

Also, due to Hawaiian liquor laws, there are no alcoholic beverage packages, and no bottles of spirits as perks for suites.

With all due respect, the price of 12 one-liter bottles of water is $33.04 including gratuity on the POA versus $14.85 including tax at Long's Drugs in Hawaii. That means the POA charges $18.19 more than Long's, and as far as we know Long's has the expense of shipping the water in just as the POA does. The POA has the only game in town though with their beverage rules, so it is whatever the market will bear...

With all due respect, the price of 12 one-liter bottles of water is $33.04 including gratuity on the POA versus $14.85 including tax at Long's Drugs in Hawaii. That means the POA charges $18.19 more than Long's, and as far as we know Long's has the expense of shipping the water in just as the POA does. The POA has the only game in town though with their beverage rules, so it is whatever the market will bear...

So, you should be comparing it to a 7-11 vs. Longs. Unlike Longs, every pound of cargo (i.e. cases of water) cost fuel to haul around the islands. If you look at 7-11, you would see that the cost of 12 bottles of aquafina is comparable to the ship's cost.

If you look at 7-11, you would see that the cost of 12 bottles of aquafina is comparable to the ship's cost.

We aren't surprised, as convenience stores are usually expensive.

As you can see from my signature I am a true Carnival fan althouh I have also cruised Disney several times. Once you are familiar with a cruise line and have status, the comfort level and perks are just hard to pass up. Until me and my BFF outraced hurricanes two years in a row in the Caribean on our annual September cruise. We can't change the date due to our work restrictions so we started expanding our research. The 7 day Hawaii cruise on the NCL Pride of America sounds really nice. At face value the cost of the cruise is much higher than we typically pay in a balcony on the Carnival ships and I am trying to figure out what is pay as you go and what is included on NCL that is different than Carnival. I really need help quick so we can lock in those extended cyber Monday airfares! Convince me we will be happy with this choice please!!!!

LOL I'm in the same boat as you! Just booked (well, it's on hold) Pride Oceanview cabin and I'm a Carnival Balcony cabin person. I'm struggling with this because I'm tired of the Caribbean so Hawaii and Alaska are up next. We can't spend two weeks on a ship to go anywhere else. I'll be interested in the responses because the reviews of this ship are kinda low.

Also - there is no casino on board. That cruise though, is really not like a "normal" cruise. It is more like a place to sleep and eat breakfast and dinner, and shuttle you to the next place. No sea days, 2 overnight stays. We didn't even eat dinner on the ship the first night in Maui.

 

My opinion - if you want to see the Hawaiian islands in 7 days, perfect way to do it. Research yourself (The Revealed books are great for this , Maui Revealed, Kauai Reveled, etc., and book your own private excursion. (we rented a car at every island and did our own thing. It saved us TONS of money).

 

If you are looking for this to be a normal cruise, do not book it. It is not. Also, if you do book it, DO NOT make this cruise your example for NCL cruises. It is really not a good example.

thank you! the one thing i notice everyone agrees on is that a rental car is best and we'll just treat the ship like a motel.

Yes, you treat the ship as a motel. Every day is a port day. Renting a car is a good idea. We did that some days but not all the days. We did take an excursion Haleakala at sunset which was great and my husband and son did a snorkeling excursion. We took it last year because it was the only cruise ship that sails 7 day year round cruises around Hawaii. Its the best way to get a taste of Hawaii which is awesome. Then, you know which islands you like best and can plan a land trip. The ship was fine. it wasnt my favorite ship but it wasnt my least favorite ship either. its fine. You are taking it because it has the best itinerary and most time in Hawaii for a cruise ship. We absolutely loved Hawaii.

It also does this sailby of the Napali coast of kauai which is gorgeous and you can sometimes seems the lava flowing on the Big Island if natures permits.

On the ship, we loved the Great Outdoors Cafe and the diner. There was a woman named China who was the Hawaiian Ambassador. She gave port talks which were very informative. She is great. There also were Hawaiian cultural activities liked Lei Making and Hula lessons.

My two cents. I had started, but never completed a review of our Pride of America cruise from May 2016. I included a lot of pictures, but it grew too exhausting to finish lol. As others have said, it's a very different experience from other NCL cruises, but DH and I made a lot of use of the ship, and found all crew members (yes, even the Americans) very friendly and helpful. You can check out my half finished review if that helps :D

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2363225&highlight=glottal+stop

As mentioned by another poster if you think of POA as a floating hotel to four islands not counting your embarkation/debarkation on Oahu it is not as bad price wise. Just imagine the cost of paying to fly to each of the four islands and then pay for food and lodging. For us, this was a great way to take my DGD on her first cruise and see some of the Hawaiian islands. We booked a balcony so we could sit outside when DGD went to sleep at night. We also booked independent excursions. I am looking forward to NCL water transportation around the islands and not setting any expectations on service from employees.

When I was planning my POA vacation a few years ago I had some of the same reservations, was told that the American staff were different, etc etc. I did not find that to be true - everybody had the same smile and friendly attitude. The ship was nice and I loved the outdoor area at the buffet (we never bothered with the dining rooms because we didn't want to spend the time). Shows were good.

Had an absolutely wonderful time. As others have said, it's port intensive -- if you go on cruises to stay up dancing til the wee hours, this might not be the cruise for you because everybody runs off the ship and then comes back, has dinner, and goes to bed early! For most it's a once or twice in a lifetime trip, so they want to see and do everything they can, and it's exhausting. But happy exhausting!

The POA also had wonderful lei making classes, hula classes, and other cultural activities that I haven't seen on other NCL cruises. I really enjoyed them and wish NCL did similar things on other ships.

I absolutely urge you to go, and get there at least two days earlier if possible to sleep off jetlag if you're coming from multiple time zones away. And see more of the island, of course!

We went in 2011 with 4 other family members, and we all loved every minute of it.

LOL I'm in the same boat as you! Just booked (well, it's on hold) Pride Oceanview cabin and I'm a Carnival Balcony cabin person. I'm struggling with this because I'm tired of the Caribbean so Hawaii and Alaska are up next. We can't spend two weeks on a ship to go anywhere else. I'll be interested in the responses because the reviews of this ship are kinda low.

The ship had a major drydock March 2016 and looks great.

Thank you all for the helpful comments. Absolutely spot on in helping make this decision.

We just got back from POA Thanksgiving week, preceded by a few days in Waikiki and followed by 5 nights at Aulani. I agree POA is not like other cruises, but if you are looking to cruise Hawaii I think its the way to go. I thought the American staff was similar to service you'd get in the US, no worse. We had some really good service in various places (like Cagneys for the suite breakfasts/lunches).

We really enjoyed seeing all the islands and still had enough time to relax a little on the ship. Agree with renting a car, especially for Maui and Kauai. We also used touring apps, Shaka Tours and Gypsy Tours, for GPS-guided narrated tours of the islands. That added more of a touring feel to our drives and we learned a lot we would have otherwise missed. We did hire a tour guide for Hilo, just for a break, and in Kona we went on a snorkeling trip so didn't really drive around at all. Still I felt like we saw a lot and had a lot of flexibility.

The biggest difference in POA: cost, drinks, casino are really specific to Hawaii and didn't make a huge difference for us. In fact our drink bill was way lower than I estimated, probably because we spent a lot of time on land and got the wine package as soon as we boarded so just didn't drink a lot onboard.