Take a Glottal Stop around the Hawaiian Islands with me on the Pride of America!

I'm not one to write trip reviews, but since this was a much anticipated vacation, I feel it deserves a pictorial write-up. Let me preface the review with this: I was supposed to go to Hawai'i with my parents and sister when I was a kid. My Dad worked for Pan Am airlines, took various trips to the islands before he met my Mom, and then when my sister was old enough, took her while my grandparents babysat me back in New York. When it came time to start planning another family trip, Pan Am went bankrupt and my Dad lost his job.

My desire to visit the Aloha state grew with every trip report I read, so DH and I, both NCL fans, knew that a cruise on Pride of America would be ideal to sample the main islands and find a "favorite" to return to many years down the line when our finances were better :D

Looking forward to your review! Thanks for taking the time to do it. :)

I chose the 5/7/16 sail date in conjunction with our 4 year wedding anniversary (5/6/12) and the fact that we were out of the rainy season, which ends in March. We took a direct flight from JFK on Hawaiian Airlines on May 4th at 10am, and arrived at HNL around 2:30pm local time (8:30 East Coast time...yipes!)

We took a cab service to Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, and received an upgrade to an Oceanfront Select room, facing the beach on a high floor. What a great start to our trip!

Sidenote: I tried uploading the full size of the picture and also added it as an attachment, so apologies if things look a little strange.

What's a Glottal Stop?

What's a Glottal Stop?

Hawaiian is full of glottal stops, such as in the word Hawai'i, it's a release of air after closing this small opening in your larynx. A lot of British people use it too when words like 'butter' are pronounced 'bu-uh.' I know a lot of my fellow New Yorkers make the sound when saying words like 'button' or 'Manhattan.' Hope that helps!

After dropping off our bags, we had dinner at the lobby restaurant Tiki's, which was really good. Tip: if you plan on eating at Tiki's pre or post-cruise, make sure you check-in with Yelp to get this free pot stick appetizer.

We walked around Waikiki Beach after eating and took some pictures, still in disbelief that we were actually in paradise (the weather was still overcast so that could have contributed to the disbelief).

The next morning we did a tour with Roberts Hawaii, the USS Arizona and Honolulu City Tour, which covered the USS Arizona memorial as well as some of the other exhibits at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center. We were debating whether or not we should go, but ultimately decided that Pearl Harbor was a "must do" while on Oahu.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing at Waikiki Beach and enjoying the sun and water, and then a leisurely walk along Kalakaua Avenue (the street that runs parallel to the beach) on our way back from dinner.

It looks like our heads are on fire, but those were just some of the torches lit up along the beach. We're two zany kids in our 30's :D

Friday, May 6th was our four year wedding anniversary, and I started the day off with a 6:30 am run down Kalakaua since my body was still on East Coast time and I needed to get in my exercise!

On my return route, I went onto the beach to take a look at some of the beachfront real estate since our hotel was located on the opposite end of Waikiki.

View of Diamondhead from the other end

The beautiful and historical Royal Hawaiian facing the beach. We wanted to stay here, but it would have been a costly 3 nights!

I really wanted to do a luau before leaving Hawaii. Since we didn't want to have to wait for a shuttle bus and risk being caught in city traffic on the way to the luau, I opted for the Diamond Head luau which was a short walk from Aston Waikiki Beach at the Honolulu Aquarium. Between the travel convenience and the Groupon we had purchased for a VIP package, I thought I'd made a wise decision. Unfortunately, this luau left a lot to be desired. While the performers were excellent, especially the accompanying musicians, the food was lukewarm, and not very good (except for the chicken, that was yummy!) As VIP, we were also supposed to get the best view of the show-ending fire dancer, but instead the performer did his routine on the side of us, so we couldn't get the best pictures or video.

Zooming in to catch the fire dancer in action.

The food and my first drink, which was a Lava Flow and very good (although not sure of the ingredients lol)

Thank you for this review! We are going "back" to Hawaii this Christmas with our whole family after honey-mooning there 33 years ago! Also wanted to do a luau on Oahu - was the one you went to the "Big Kahuna" one? Looking forward to reading about the rest of your adventures.

Can't wait to read more! I just love that Aloha state! We have been twice and are currently saving for a trip next summer. We are undecided if we will try a new island or go back to our beloved Maui :) If you are ever back on the island, I recommend Old Lahaina Luau. It was a great show. Hubby said the drinks were watered down though...lol. I've always thought a cruise would be a great was to visit the islands and get a taste of each. Thanks for taking the time to post a review!!

Hawaiian is full of glottal stops, such as in the word Hawai'i, it's a release of air after closing this small opening in your larynx. A lot of British people use it too when words like 'butter' are pronounced 'bu-uh.' I know a lot of my fellow New Yorkers make the sound when saying words like 'button' or 'Manhattan.' Hope that helps!

Um I guess that helps

But I don't understand why you used the term in the thread title

It must be me. Lol

Beautiful pictures. Thank you very much!

thank you . Great Pictures

Um I guess that helps

 

But I don't understand why you used the term in the thread title

 

It must be me. Lol

Being on the islands, a lot of their Hawaiian words use the glottal stop, so I started trying to pronounce them this way to seem like a local lol. Like I'd always said "Hawaii" but they pronounce it like "Havaaaaaiii-eeeee." [emoji3]

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We checked out of Aston Waikiki Beach a little before 10:30, and waited for our cab to drop us off at the pier. We used Hawaii23 because they only charged $16 for the two of us to get to the pier, whereas Roberts charged $7 pp, involved multiple hotels and first shuttle to book was at noon. I told my husband that we HAD to be at the pier before noon since we were in a suite and I had read on these boards that the concierge escorts suite guests on the ship for lunch at Cagney's at this time. Later on, we learned that the concierge makes multiple trips to pick up and escort guests onto the ship, latest time being after 1pm. If you are in a suite, you DO NOT have to worry about getting to the pier before noon. Relax, and enjoy your final morning at your respective hotel. I'm glad I cleared that up for a lot of travelers :)

I didn't take any pictures inside the building, but there's a lot of entertainment for passengers waiting to board, hula lessons, crafts, and the contagious Aloha spirit. After checking in, we were promptly escorted to the ship by the concierge James, whose middle name should be Professional, because he was very friendly and professional the entire week. My husband said that the way he walked reminded him of Iron Man, so we referred to him as Iron Man when he was checking up on his suite guests during dinner every night lol

Posing with our leis outside of Cagney's

After lunch, we went to the cushioned seats on Deck 13 midship that were in front of Key West bar to people watch. I pointed out our cabin across Deck 13 on the port (lefthand) side of the ship. We were anxious for our rooms to be ready so that we could drop off our carry-ons and check out our suite.

We were in 13516, a category SH penthouse suite. It was a lot smaller than anticipated, as I had seen pictures from similar suites that looked (or maybe were) bigger. This particular room's bed faced the window, which probably made the space seem smaller, who knows.

The balcony, on the other hand, was massive, and fit two cushioned loungers and this table with four chairs. Although the cruise is port intensive (and I think both of us said that 1,000 times during our trip) we enjoyed our balcony in the morning and at night, and had the best view of the Na'Pali sailby

Looking forward to reading the rest of your review. We have a Aft Balcony booked in October, have a couple of excursions planned but alot up in the air. There isnt a ultimate beverage package available yet, was that available?

Love the pics...can't wait to read more about your vacation.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your review. We have a Aft Balcony booked in October, have a couple of excursions planned but alot up in the air. There isnt a ultimate beverage package available yet, was that available?

 

Love the pics...can't wait to read more about your vacation.

If I could do this cruise again, I'd book an aft balcony for the 360 views, so you've made a good choice!😉

Due to Hawaiian liquor law, there is no Ultimate Beverage Package, but you're not on the ship that much to enjoy too many drinks to make it worthwhile lol If you have onboard credit, buying individual drinks isn't too much of a dent on your final bill.

I'll try to post more later, thanks for reading!

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You're right, we are going to be off the ship every day so the drink card wouldn't be feasible. I heard you can take soda on the ship free of charge, what about bottled water?

Is the Teppanyaki Special Restaurant like Benihanas? I love that style where the chef makes everything in front of you...I think we will be buying the 3 day package. I've been making notes and if you book Cagneys on Kona nite you can get lobster :)

Thank you for your help...love this site!!

Wow you where lucky as most flights I see get in at 4:30PM or so.

I chose the 5/7/16 sail date in conjunction with our 4 year wedding anniversary (5/6/12) and the fact that we were out of the rainy season, which ends in March. We took a direct flight from JFK on Hawaiian Airlines on May 4th at 10am, and arrived at HNL around 2:30pm local time (8:30 East Coast time...yipes!)

 

We took a cab service to Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, and received an upgrade to an Oceanfront Select room, facing the beach on a high floor. What a great start to our trip!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sidenote: I tried uploading the full size of the picture and also added it as an attachment, so apologies if things look a little strange.

You're right, we are going to be off the ship every day so the drink card wouldn't be feasible. I heard you can take soda on the ship free of charge, what about bottled water?

 

Is the Teppanyaki Special Restaurant like Benihanas? I love that style where the chef makes everything in front of you...I think we will be buying the 3 day package. I've been making notes and if you book Cagneys on Kona nite you can get lobster :)

 

Thank you for your help...love this site!!

Yes you can take bottled water. We flew in on the Wednesday before sailing and bought a case at a local supermarket the day before. I had printed a couple of luggage tags on label paper , just stuck it on the shrink wrap & dropped it off with the rest of my luggage.

Teppanyaki is like Benihana, but better. We actually ate at Benihana in Waikiki the night before the cruise and at Teppanyaki the first night. The food is better & the show by the chef is better.

We ate at Cagney's twice (we had the old UDP) and lobster was available both nights. I don't know about the new menu though.

Great review so far! The POA was my favorite cruise so far. Trying to plan a repeat in 2018.

Thank you tempus123! Great info :)

Thanks everyone for reading along!

We didn't really do much on the first night because a lot of the activities didn't appeal to us; I'll try to attach the Dailies to give you an idea of what's offered on the sailing. I will, however say I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more trivia being offered like on other NCL ships (Progressive Trivia being a highlight as questions get more difficult each day and points are tallied on last day to determine winner). One trivia that I would have been interested in was a Golden Girls trivia, but it was on the morning of the day we were in Kona [emoji20]

Around the time of sailaway, we enjoyed a nice dinner at Liberty Dining Room, and the two waitstaff at our table were VERY NICE. This was the first of many times my husband and I asked each other "what WERE people talking about?!" in regards to previous folks saying the American staff are rude.

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Following along, thanks for the great review so far! We are booked on the POA Sept 3. How was the Roberts Pearl Harbor and Honoluu tour? We have it booked the day of disembarkation?