Pride of America activities/entertainment

[karen327]

We will be sailing on the POA in Feb and considering the fact that this ship is in port everyday and two nights, we were wondering how the entertainment is compared to other NCL ships. Without any sea days, do they have CC meet and greets? NCU classes? do very many people find time to attend the evening theater shows, dances, etc.? Any Hawaian themed shows? Or do they have the Jean Ryan shows like other ships.

 

Also, is it true that people dress more casual on the POA? Do people dress up for dinner at night? Would love to have more of an idea of what to pack and expect for this upcoming cruise.

[LJH1]

We will be sailing on the POA in Feb and considering the fact that this ship is in port everyday and two nights, we were wondering how the entertainment is compared to other NCL ships. Without any sea days, do they have CC meet and greets? NCU classes? do very many people find time to attend the evening theater shows, dances, etc.? Any Hawaian themed shows? Or do they have the Jean Ryan shows like other ships.

 

Also, is it true that people dress more casual on the POA? Do people dress up for dinner at night? Would love to have more of an idea of what to pack and expect for this upcoming cruise.

 

For starters go to this link and read some of the recent reviews

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=349

It was our experience in 2008 on Pride of Hawaii (now the Jade) that the entertainment was lacking, one example was that they didn't have JAR dancers.

As for meet & greets you need to go to the roll call section and lok for your sail date and see if one has been set up.

Don't know what NCU classes are.

In general people seem to go to bed earlier because Hawaii is so port intensive which makes for long days and early morning starts. We found that the bars and entertainment wrapped up earlier than on other ship for the same reason.

 

As for dress some would say that its a little more resort casual but I wouldn't say that you would notice much of a difference from caribbean ports.

The big difference may be in the service in that the crew is mostly american and unionized, they work maybe 8 hour days and 5 days a week.

In summing up I would say that the POA is most popular because there are no sea days, therefore you get to see more of the islands, especially when it's an expensive vacation for most.

 

Our cruise in 2010 is not coming fast enough.

[jame_g]

This cruise is very port intensive, plus there is a significant time change for most travelers. On most of our excursions we were busy the entire day in port. After dinner and the show, most people head to bed. There is not a lot of late night activity.

 

Because of the distance and the destination, this cruise is very different than most. People are there to see the islands, it is a destination cruise. The cruise is the smaller part of the experience, but it is a great way to see the various islands at an affordable price in a short time frame. (if you have to pack up and fly to the different islands it's going to take you longer to see as much and it will likely be more expensive)

 

The ship itself is beautiful. But the experience is different. No casino, not much night life, which is not the fault of the ship, just not many people out and doing things very late. I don't remember any hawaiian themed shows. Probably better to attend a luau for that. People do dress more casually, shorts and hawaiian shirts. Although we did see people dressing up too. I think a lot of people celebrate special occassions aboard this ship. (we did)

 

We thoroughly enjoyed this cruise and would like to do it again in a couple years.

[flashdog_1]

Our upcoming Hawaii cruise has an active roll call, but we are organizing time(s) to meet by ourselves since embarkation day (or on land prior) seems to be the only possible day. We just picked a bar and will meet after Muster Drill. Even finding times to go to dinner together has been impossible because there's so much going on the first day/night that no two schedules match.

 

From what I've read there are 2 Hawaiian consultants aboard. Embarkation day has several hula shows. Then during the week there are hula lessons and an end of the cruise "show" with the passengers participating or presenting the show with the consultants. There are also lei making classes.

 

Different from the NCL ships, this NCLA ship ends its dinner service an hour earlier (that must reflect how tired everyone is from their shore experiences).

 

Also be aware that the main dining rooms are NOT open for lunch on embarkation day or any day, for that matter. There's just the buffet, the 24 hour diner, and Cagney's for suites. Do not know if any specialty restaurants are open for lunch. I understand this is because 95% of the passengers are not on the ship at lunch time.

 

People on our roll call have spoken about pacing themselves so they are not totally wiped out at the end of each day. See as much as you can, both on land and aboard ship, but realize you cannot possibly see/do it all, so just pick your favorites and come back to the ship to chill.

 

And definitely plan on getting a hotel room before the cruise (and possibly after if you want to explore Oahu in depth). Some have even taken a day room at the Hawaii Hilton Village just to recoup from the cruise before a later night flight. We ourselves are taking an NCL excursion of the North Shore which drops us at the airport for our 6 p.m. flight. We wanted to do a Circle Island tour but they say your flight must be later in the evening. They keep your luggage under the bus while you tour. Pick you up at the dock on disembarkation day.

 

Hey, the planning is half the fun!

[smrtypnts]

The NCU classes you refer to I think are called NCL-U. They do have them. They have them every single day for different things. One is a Martini tasting, beer tasting, Mojito tasting. I think the hula and lei making classes are considered NCLU. Most of these classes are between 3:30 & 5, therefore many people are still out and about exploring. (Bear in mind--2 nights the ship stays in port.) While I plan to attend as many of these classes as possible, I understand why many people would not, on this particular cruise.;)

[karen327]

Thank you everyone for the information, now I have a better idea as to how to pack and what to expect.

[Budget Queen]

I have been on this sailing twice. In my opinion, people may be better off, looking at this as a "hotel, transportation, meals" and little else. Neither time, did I attend any "ship" activies. Hawaii is just so loaded with stuff to do. I used rental cars, every port. Simple to go plan excellent itineraries, since so much of Hawaii is natural beauty, you just drive to.