Pride of Aloha--Falling behind again??

[picruiser]

I have friends who recently returned from their 7 night cruise on

Pride of Aloha. They said that the stops were great, the ship was great, but the service left much to be desired. Service was slow; they asked for coffee after dinner, and were told that there were no more cups!! Hope this is an isloated incident. Does anyone have feedback from recent sailings? I'm sailing in November. Hope they're not falling behind again. Sonia

[PattiPerf]

Hi Soniamc, my husband and 16 other family members just returned on April 25th from the POA cruise in Hawaii. We loved it very much. The ship was beautiful and we had a great time. Some of problems of the past are not perfected but they have reached a much better level than in the past. Some of the complaints I heard from people were that they did not like the layout of the ship and the somewhat chaotic lines at the buffet. The staff however, in my opinion, bent over backwards to make sure you were having a good time. My theory is that you pretty much get back what you give. The people who had long faces and looked for problems usually found them. I smiled a lot and made the best of everything and I feel I had a great vacation. Was it perfect without flaw, no, but I was not going to have a bad time. Some of the complaints I heard, which did not bother me, but seemed to bother others were: 1) no butter expect for in the dining rooms (only margarine at the buffet). 2) service took too long (but then again, the motto there is "hang loose". 3) staterooms were too small (hey, I only slept there, the rest of the time, I was out and about! I would probably guess what happened to your friends was an isolated incident. I will be writing a full editorial on my exprerience and will include photos of the ship. Aloha! :D

[picruiser]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm looking forward to the cruise. Can't wait to get away. If no cups for coffee is the "big" thing to complain about, then we'll be happy. I usually have to search my house for a clean cup. I guess I can put up with it in paradise. Sonia

[sundial]

We were on the 4/17 Pride of Aloha sailing along with five other couples. We felt that the size of the rooms and more particularly the bathrooms were smaller than what we have experienced on other cruise lines, but we knew that when we booked and as stated by others we didn't spend much time there. The cleaning staff for the rooms was great though. I will say that the service in the main dining rooms could still use some work, but it wasn't a major problem. Also experienced a wait in the salon before my manicure and pedicure, but again not a major crisis. Most of the staff was very friendly and helpful and the lady who takes care of the golf program is outstanding! We all enjoyed our trip and of course the islands are simply wonderful. We also did a pre-cruise stay through NCL at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental and it was absolutely fabulous!!!

[Host CMLA]

Does anyone have feedback from recent sailings? I'm sailing in November. Hope they're not falling behind again. Sonia

Here are some recent reviews. Maybe this will help some. If I find any others, I'll link them in. Pride of Aloha Reviews

[cnmiranda]

There are a lot of recent reviews on various cruise or travel agency websites. Seems like things are starting to fall again as of last month, and I'm guessing that is because staff is leaving for the new ship.

[scrmom]

My husband and I are cruising for the 1st time this June. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Anyone else booked then? We don't want to do shore excursions with ship want to book things on our own. Any suggestions for each port. We love snorkeling, and seeing the local sites off the tourist trail. We are booked on Deck 7 any problems with that deck? Are the two main dining rooms buffet only? Any help would be greatly apprecaited.:confused:

[TrinaLC]

My husband and I are cruising for the 1st time this June. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Anyone else booked then? We don't want to do shore excursions with ship want to book things on our own. Any suggestions for each port. We love snorkeling, and seeing the local sites off the tourist trail. We are booked on Deck 7 any problems with that deck? Are the two main dining rooms buffet only? Any help would be greatly apprecaited.:confused:

 

scrmom - your best bet is to spend a few minutes familiarizing yourself with this site and reading all that has already been posted. Got to the front page, and click to the review of the ship. Read the official review, but more importantly, look for the link to passenger reviews - there are many. Also, go to the ports of call link for information on what to do in port. Finally, go to the search function, and search for Pride - you'll get more info than you can possible absorb!

[bluenosers]

We cruised on the POA on March 27thour first time with NCL and the freestyle experience. I must admit on the POA at least this style of cruising was not for us. The vessel certainly does have issues mainly with the service. For the most part the service in the main diningrooms is well below par and the food itself would be average at best with a repetative menu. The line ups at the diningrooms was probably caused by the vessel not being specifically built for freestyle with too many large tables and a lot of people who would rather not share a table thus a diningroom with all the tables in use but half the chairs empty.

Being on a 7 day cruise while the maintenance staff has the main pool closed from Sunday to Thursday for maintenance and painting which is normally done in refit, is hardly a selling point. If the pool was available it was difficult to find towels by afternoon which we found strange since the vessel is in Port all days.

Don't get me wrong the vessel does have some very good points. The veranda aft of the buffet was quite large with lots of tables which was quite nice to have breakfast or lunch since the vessel was in port every day.

Capt. Cooke's Bar was another nice touch as was the entertainer W.T. Greer who entertained and mingled until about 11pm.

The shore excursions were very good and the staff at Guest Relations and The Shore Excursion desk were very pilot and efficient.

Embarkation and Disembarkation went very well which is not always the case on any cruise.

Movement throughout the vessel would be less conjested and simpilar if there was a central staircase and elevator bank at the forward end of the buffet/ aft end of the pool deck. You would get less traffic through the buffet area.

From this one cruise I could not recommend this cruise to a friend but in all fairness the vessel was designed for another trade and the issues above could have been for the most part a one time problem, as someone stated some of the crew were probably going to the Pride of America. As far as the cabin size anyone can read the brochures and see the sizes, to me this is something you know before you go.

Thank you.