Pride of Aloha Cruising – Beware

[WareCruisin]

Thanks for the detailed reply.

 

Any preference between the Palace or Crossings?

 

My mother is also going with us on this cruise. She's used to dressing up every night for dinner, but I keep telling her I think this cruise is more casual. Am I right?

 

 

 

We ate in Crossings most nights because it was closer to our room. Both restaurants offer the same menu, so it doesn't matter which you go to.

 

I wore skirts to dinner, although most people were in more casual attire. Even formal might was probably only about 50% formal. Yes, this cruise is casual. Pretty much anything goes, but no jeans or shorts in the dining rooms at night.

[Host CMLA]

Sorry maybe I read your post wrong. I was not trying to attack you so please forgive me. I just thought that you along with some others were discounting the legitimate complaints of the original poster by claiming this and that is subjective.

 

Again .. sorry if I offended you.

Thank you for posting again. But I really think you read my post wrong. I did say to the OP that food was a subjective thing but if it wasn't to his/her taste, I can see how that would affect your whole cruise. Second, I may have misunderstood the OP but I thought he/she was talking mostly about the size and that's something you should know ahead of time. And I did sympathize with how the rooms went from bad to worse. And third, I did disagree with the assessment of entertainment and how it compared to RCI but again, entertainment is subjective too. I ended my post with being sorry that the POA wasn't what he/she expected. I don't think I was defending NCL at all. I responded directly to the OP but never said he/she was wrong.

 

A lot of things about cruising are subjective. Food quality, entertainment, staff attitude, cleanliness of ship...all of these things are open to the interpretation of the person giving their opinion. In the first days of the POA, everyone agreed that service was terrible. I don't think one person said anything positive about it. But as time has gone on, some say it's great; other say it still sucks. Who's right? It's the opinion of the person experiencing it. Because two people can disagree on the exact same experience, it's obvious that it's subjective.

 

On these types of boards, it's important for all sides of an issue to come out. One person gives a review and other people agree or disagree with what that person said. That's how people researching their future cruises can get accurate information. If I didn't say that you should know the room size before you go, how would a new cruiser know that they can find out room dimentions before choosing a room?

 

Thank you again for responding back and letting me know how you interpreted my posting.

[Retired not Expired]

Last year I talked three other couples into booking the Jan16th cruise on POA. When the complaints started coming in from those first cruises, believe me, I heard from the others. I told them to settle down, it would get better. After the cruise, every one of them told me the only thing wrong was the cruise was too short. BUT, I did make sure at booking that we were in an area of the ship that would not have a lot of noise. I also knew the cabins were small and made the others aware of it. But that small cabin on a ship in Hawaii was much better than my master bedroom in Missouri in January.

 

Anyway, the size of the cabin don't mean that much to me anyway. Can I get my luggage in? Is there a place to shave, shower, and, uh, uh, do the other things I need to do, and is there a place to sleep quietly? If the answer is yes, then I'm happy. Inside, outside, as long as they don't put me over the side.

 

I've sailed this ship as the Sky and as the POA and loved it both times. They took good care of me. I really think that if whoever booked the OP's cruise would have made sure they were not in an area where there was noise, then the other few problems they had would not have seemed so bad.

 

I'm sorry for the problems you had but next time, whether it's you or someone doing the booking for you, make sure of the cabin location before you book. And food, they tell me to try new things. If I do and don't like it, they've always replaced it with something else. And the crew. Sure they're American but I think have gotten a bum rap because of the start up fiasco. They always did what I asked of them and I couldn't walk anywhere on the ship without having them say hello with a smile.

[cuppy]

I have not been on the POA but I did sail when it was the Sky. Unfortunately it was my very first cruise - and it was a nightmare :eek:

 

We had problem after problem in our cabin with the cabin being flooded and having a wet carpet for 4 days, no air conditioning, broken tv and so on. Our room I thought at the time was very small (superior inside) but after sailing other ships, I think it is more the layout that makes it appear smaller.

 

Personally I enjoyed how Carnival layed out their cabins with the bed against the wall with the window so you have more walking space in the middle of the cabin. As for storage I always bring with me those plastic pieces you can attach to hangers so you can hang more pieces going down. Got that tip on an old thread back in 2002.

 

We did enjoy the food very much in the dining room (the buffett was ok) and the spa service was good. As for entertainment it was ok, but our ship did not have much for back drops or props. I heard this is not always the case.

 

I will be honest we were ready to give up cruising all together after our experience (we had very rude service from the guest relations and customer service as well), but luckily we did not. We did still enjoy Alaska and decided not to let it ruin our time in ports.

 

Anyway, we are going back on NCL again in May on the Wind to Hawaii. I was hesitant at first after looking at some reviews, but we are going with an open mind and the belief that this trip will be wonderful. I'm gonna be in Hawaii for 2 weeks what could be better. Someone posted on one of these threads that one person can be having a trip from hell while your having the time of your life.

 

I would not let the reviews discourage you from booking NCL, take everything with a grain of salt and know what to expect and what you may want to avoid if you know that is a big issue for you. I am going to goto all the shows and enjoy them, go late to Freestyle dining so I don't have to wait, take hula lessons, and book all excursions through the ship (and call to make sure they have my reservation) and I will be back righting a positive review :D about what I did enjoy and posting lots of pictures.

 

Sorry so long :o

[mthayer295]

We just returned from 2.5 weeks in Hawaii and we took the 2/27 POA cruise. I will post a full review but let me say we have had a wonderful time. We are experienced cruisers. This is our 8th cruise in 6 years and we have done several multi week cruises all over the world. We have cruised one previous time with Norweigan. The ship isn't the best we have been on, nor was the food the best. Both were very in line with our other Norweigan experience. Overall it was a fine trip and we found the staff to be some of the friendliest we have encountered. Shore excursion options were super. Speciality restaurants were very good.

[mthayer295]

We just returned home from 2.5 weeks in beautiful Hawaii. We sailed the POA on 2/27. We are experienced cruisers with this being our 8th cruise in 6 years. We have done several multi week cruises and have cruised once before with Norweigan in Europe so we had experience with freestyle dining. We were with another family and a single person and we all had a great time. Now the details

 

PreCruise - We stayed for 4 nights at the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort on the Western side of Oahu. I was an absoluletly fabulous resort - Breathtakingly beautiful with great ameneties. We got there via Star Limo which was recommended on this site. He was prompt, curteous and helpful and we would recommend as well. The Marriott is a giant place. You really feel like you are way out there. For those of you familiar with the Paradise Cove Luau, it is right next to that place and in fact it appears to be part of the same property. Rooms are enormous, almost mini suites, with large dressing rooms and bathrooms the size of a cruise cabin. Our only criticism of JW Marriott is the restaurant selections and prices. Extremely expensive food that was only mediocre. You are so far out that you really end up eating there quite a bit. First day we hung around at the resort, on Friday we did Pearl Harbor which was super crowded as a Princess ship was in town, Saturday we went to the Sea Life park and swam with the dolphins. Great experience and a really cute little place. This place is small, like a mini sea world in an extremely picturesque location. Drove home via North Shore.

 

Cruise Day 1 - Star Limo took us from hotel to pier. Embarkation was the best we have experienced. It is clean and organized. We were staying in a Penthouse suite and so were our friends so Patrick Muir the concierge actually met us at the check in desk. Patrick was terrific and really helped to make our cruise a good experience. We were in our cabin by 1pm. We headed to the buffet which was good. We so enjoyed our sail away drinks that we all stayed out by the pool bar and nibbled on the barbecue for dinner. Not what we typically do but hey...it was Hawaii.

 

Kaui Day 2 - We hit the buffet and headed out for an 8 hour day on the Napali Explorer. This is an excursion that is not for the faint of heart. Exhilirating is a word I would use to describe it. You take a fairly long 45 min to 1 hour van ride to get to the zodiac boat. Getting out of the harbor was our first thrill. The captain put us all in the back of the boat and told us to hold on. He wanted the front light to go over the waves. He said he would wait for his best opportunity and then hit it. WOW! We all screamed as we jumped over the waves. We spent the first 4 hours going down the Napali coast. We stopped intermittently to whale watch and play around with dolphins and one lone sea turtle. We saw tons of whales and a very large school of spinner dolphins. They put on a good show jumping out of the water and showing us why they are called spinners. Seas were very rough so we couldn't go into sea caves but got close enough to satisfy us. We were served a deli lunch and then started back. An hour or so into that we stopped for a little snorkeling. Seas were rough so it wasn't particularly good snorkeling. We then headed back. It was at this point in the trip that folks started to feel a bit queasy. Banging around now for over 6 hours and traveling at fairly high speeds, the ride was similar to a roller coaster feeling. Overall we really enjoyed it and have already had many laughs looking back at it and thinking of how wet we all got and moments when we thought one of us was about to go overboard. That night we went to the Kahlia Specialty Restaurant. It was the formal night so we were decked in tuxes and gowns. Saw a few other tuxes but not a lot. It was very good and we vowed to come back again before the end of the week.

 

Kaui Day 3- This was a half day as ship sails at 1pm. We lounged a bit in morning and headed to Hilo Haties via their free shuttle. Back on board we went to work out. We found the athletic facilities to be spacious, with good equipment, and very sparsely used. Our friends had a suite on 10 aft port side which turned out to be a perfect spot to watch the Napali coast. We saw lots of whales from the ship. We couldn't get a reasonable time for a reservation at a specialty restaurant so we went to the Crossings. It was OK but certainly not what we had experienced in Kahlia. The wait staff was very enjoyable and the chef even came out to our table twice to discuss one of the menu options. This staff is really trying to make this a good experience.

 

Hilo Day 4 - We took a Circle of Fire Helicopter ride. It was amazing to see all the lava. A sight I will remember all my life. We never get motion sick but both my husband and daughter felt a bit sick towards the end of the flight. He does a lot of circles and dipping. Seas are really quite rough in this part of the Pacific so there were lots of folks with patches behind their ears. We were not bothered by the seas but heard others saying that they were. This night we went to the Pacific Rim Restaurant....I think the name is Pacific Heights. The cover charge here is less than the other two - only $12.50 and we could see why. It was better than the dining room but not as good as Kahlia. Menu is also a bit limited. Our waitress was super attentive and concerned about how we were enjoying the food. Let me take this opportunity to say that during the course of the week we drank the ship out of several of their good wines. Seems they have limited quantities of higher end bottles which was a bit disappointing. One other thing that I should mention is that from the first day of the cruise we had found a great afternoon spot to hang out. This would be Longboards which was aft deck 11. They serve pub style food starting at 3:30 and they have sports trivia every day at 4:30. Our party won the sports trivia every day we were able to attend which was fun. Food there is very good. Try the fish and chips. This is the night that you see the lava. As soon as you get out of the show it starts. Since our suite was forward and starboard on deck 8 we had views from about 10:30 pm.

 

Kona Day 5 - This is a tender port and the tender ride is bumpy. We saw dolphins from the tender. We took a scuba lesson which was right on the beach at the dock. At first I wondered how good it would be. It was fabulous. It was only my husband, daughter and I in the class. The water was clear and there was a great reef there so we saw lots of stuff. We walked around the town a bit which is right there at the end of the pier. Actually this was our first non-industrial pier area. Lots of little shops to hang around in. This night we headed to Palm Bistro. We found the food and experience to be equivalent to Kahlia. All had a good time.

 

Maui Day 6 - We took the day trip to Lanai via the Trilogy Catarmaran. One thing is that you no longer get to drive jeeps over there but they have reduced the priced accordingly. This was really one of the nicest excursions we have ever been on. The crew on the Trilogy is great and they do everything. We were given hot homemade cinnamon buns with pineapple juice shortly after departure. We spent about 2 hours sailing to Lanai. We saw lots of whales some were only 100 yards from our Catamaran. One of the crew is a naturalist and provides a lot of narration. A deli lunch was served on board. When we got to Lanai which is a mostly a private island we were greated with vans to take a short distance to one of the most secluded beautiful beaches you will ever visit. It is a marine preserve so the snorkeling was primo. They same crew taught you how to snorkel, or scuba (for an additional fee). Their is a nice resort on the island on cliffs overlooking the beach and we walked up there and had a drink. You could take a tour of the island or choose more time on the beach. We stayed on the beach and went snorkeling again. They had chips, salsa, drinks, and fresh water showers. At about 3 they picked us up in vans and took us to this outside pavillion where the same crew cooked a chicken barbecue. The food was great and everyone seemed ravenous which was hard to imagine since they fed us all day. They had a giant wok where they stir fried veggies and noodles. We boarded the Catamaran around 4ish and set sail. We took our time, doing more whale watching. The crew served up ice cream sundaes. When those were done they started popping bottles of champagne. We hit the town of Lahaina which is where the Catarmaran sails from around 6:30. We had an hour to enjoy this town before getting the bus back to the ship. Some of our party had gone to the Ualena show in Maui so we all did our own thing for dinner. My husband and I just grabbed a small bite at the buffet.

 

Maui Day 7 - We decided to just do the Lahaina on your own. After seeing how cute the town was the day before we were happy to have some time to explore. We all bought some nice things there and ate lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise which is fun and good. We headed back with our 2pm bus tickets and saw many folks with 4pm bus tickets that wished they had 2pm tickets. 4 hours there was enough and we knew we had to pack. This night we chose to return to Kahlia and we were happy we did. We all bought lots of photos throughout the trip. They even have a $199 for everything package. Never seen that before but it is great.

 

Disembarkation and a few other things - As i mentioned earlier Patrick the concierge was great. He handled all our dinner reservations and numerous changes on shore excursion tickets. If you left him a voice mail, he returned your call promptly day or night. This was really one of the best benefits of the penthouse suite. On the other hand we never saw the butler. We were not around much to need him but it did seem strange that we never even met him. Tipping is another issue. There was no resort charge. This left you unclear about tipping. In the speciality restaurants you were tipping on the service charge and the wine which is served by the wait staff. So that was more clear. We tipped in the dining room for breakfast and the one dinner we had there but we did not see anyone else tipping. The staff told us they are paid twice as much as those on other ships and almost indicated that they didn't expect it. At the end of the week we tipped Patrick and our cabin steward but there were no envelopes provided. You had to hunt down envelopes at the front desk. Disembarkation was a breeze, especially if you are in a suite. You can leave whenever you want and your bags are in a very small group of suite folks at the bottom of the escalator. Cabs were readily available.

 

Hilton Hawaiian Village - We stayed 4 more nights after the cruise at the HHV. This is like a small city with over 100 shops and restaurants in the complex. A bit too busy at times but you certainly you won't be bored. The italian restaurant there is quite good.

[RenieRaider]

Thank you everyone for your input.

I am a Diamond Member on RCCL. My past experience on the Dawn from New York makes me VERY excited to be onboard an NCL ship again and to Hawaii!

I too was planning on the POAmerica and will now be sailing the POAloha instead. Yes, she is and updated yet older ship but I am well aware of that. I am ALSO aware of the fact that this is the ONLY American flagged ship sailing 7 days RT during the time I can sail So ... I am THRILLED!

After much research and reading of the CC Boards I feel I KNOW what to expect. This is going to be an AWESOME cruise!

 

sns and mcpix ----- I believe they TRY to keep the number of diners, at any given time, down to a minimum.....to help keep the experience special. I believe they try to keep the diner/staff ratio at a level that truly makes you "feel" the difference. It's much quieter than the usual cattling of guests to dinner. Personnaly, I do not like the Freestlying dining in the Major Dining rooms. Too much coming and going for us. Love everything else about freestlye thou!

ALOHA!

Please keep those reviews coming!

[cruiseslave82]

My travel companion and I, who slept in separate beds, had about 1 foot of clearance between the beds themselves and foot of our beds and the wall in the balcony room. One person barely fit. Worse still, there was only one nightstand, which was even smaller than the other room’s. We couldn’t fully unpack in room 0010. And there were two narrow, straight backed chairs and a small table on the balcony. It wasn't confortable enough to spend any time out there.

 

 

 

I find it amazing that you can complain about an upgrade to a balcony room. Are you out of your mind? Do you not realize the lies that people will stoop to in order to get that kind of free upgrade? It's virtually unheard of to recieve an upgrade to a balcony, and for free! And then to whine about the room not being big enough, jeez...

[Kaylas Mom]

Can anyone who has sailed Pride of Aloha comment on the kids club for a 10 year old girl?

 

We sailed the NCL Star two year's ago at Easter and I was very disappointed with the kids' club. It seemed like all they did was park the kids in front of movies. I was told by a lot of people that usually the kids program is better, but we sailed in teh fnal days of the Star in Hawaii and staff were "tired" and "ready to move on." (you're telling me!)

 

Anyway, I swore at the time I wouldn't book another NCL cruise, but those all Hawaii itineraries are just too tempting. Can someone tell me good news about the kids' club? (or honest news if that is all there is?)

[4myfamily]

Ok, just had to add my 2 cents here. My family of 4 (including two adult sized teenage boys) sailed on the 2/20/05 POA. I must say WE LOVED IT! Being in Hawaii had a lot to do with it but the ship wasn't nearly as bad as these message boards had led me to believe.

 

We didn't try the specialty restaurants and only had dinner in the Palace and Crossings once each (same menu in both - only a dinner special changes nightly - strange but true). The buffets were great. Generally decent food at proper temperatures. The ribs on the "Sail away BBQ" were actually quite delicious. We had soda cards and smoothie coupons for the kids - great idea! The breakfast buffets had a waffle station and omelet station which were quite nice. These were the only 2 places we had to wait in line - short at that.

 

We combined some ship sponsored shore excursions with some "do your own thing" for a great expereince as first time Hawaii visitors.

 

The on-board golf program was wonderful! Kristin in the golf shop went out of her way to make sure my 3 golfers had a great time. They golfed twice and had the time of their lives. The golf clubs are Callaway Big Berthas (for $35 a set) so don't bring your own!

 

The teen program was just the right mix of scheduled activities and "hanging out time". My 13 year old was never in the cabin before 11 or 12 pm.

 

As for the cabin, we had an inside room, right next to the ice machine (although this did not turn out badly as the stewards generally load ice chests twice a day and we did not hear them) The only thing which disturbed us was the lowering of the anchor in Kona - the spot where you have to tender over to the island - and even the people in the owner suites complained about that as it was at 6:20 AM! Yes, the cabins are small. Bring some plastic hangers - we utilized these and left them for the next occupants. You can also use the nightstands as quasi-dressers. We had a difficult time getting to the bathroom on the first two nights as we had to literally climb over my 15 year old. This was remedied by our cabin steward who rearranged the furniture herself after we mentioned it. We saw a lot of her and felt she did a great job. The beds are hard, so ask for an egg-crate topper. We did after the first night and got them immediately - much better!

 

As for shore excursions, I reccommend Captian Zodiac in Kona (snorkeling) and the golf (of course). You can get cheaper transportation to Lahaina than the ship offers although we just rented a convertible for two days on Maui - AWESOME! You can just park the car by the dock for the overnight. We arranged our own helocopter flight with Jack Harter Helicopters in Kauai and I highly reccommend them. They pick you up at the pier just like the sponsored trip and offer a discount online which makes it cheaper. We actually did this on our 1/2 day in Kauai and got back in plenty of time.

 

Captain Cook's Cigar Bar and Longboard's Sports Bar were our favorite places to "hang loose". Longboards serves pub food (including french fries and buffalo wings) until 3:30 AM. The pizza onboard was excellent and we ordered it from Longboards as well as room service (24 hours - no charge)

 

The tipping service charge of $10 per day per person was waived for our trip so we just tipped like we would at home. This gave us a great opportunity to teach our kids about tipping in regards to the service rendered. Unlike other cruises (we've been on 3), you may have to seek out a waitress rather than having them vie for your business - but for me, this was a plus as I drank less and felt able to relax with my hubby without someone hovering constantly. You can always find the waitress when you need one.

 

Overall, we had expected the POA to be a "floating hotel" for Hawaii and nothing more. We were pleasantly surprised. We enjoyed the golf driving range, the basketball court, the massages, the hot tubs and the pools (a little cold though) Hawaii was beautiful and the POA was a great way to see it. We'd actually do it again and try different shore excursion ideas for variety. I think I'd get my kids their own room next time though!

 

For those of you who had a bad experience, I'm sorry for you. Please, though, take your issues to NCL and try to refrain from bringing up old bad news here. As a recent cruiser of the POA, I highly reccommend it and hope others have as nice an experience as I did!:)

[LynnH]

LynnH, best of luck on your second shot on NCL. Let us know what you think when you return.

 

Dalwhitt, thanks...we are back and we had a wonderful time. I posted a review and we are looking forward to taking another NCL cruise somewhere next Spring. I'm hooked! :D