Mahalo Nui Loa, Hawaii! Norwegian Pride of America Review 6/4/2016

[budgetfairytale]

"Mahalo nui loa, Hawaii!" = "Thank you very much, Hawaii!"

 

My husband and I just returned yesterday from the NCL POA Hawaii inter-island sailing on 6/4/2016. I'll be doing a day-by-day review on my personal website which I'll also share here as I write it. But I thought I'd do a quick review for everyone who is sailing soon. I always find the reviews so helpful and there doesn't seem to be much out there for recent POA sailings. If anyone has any specific questions, please leave a comment and I'll try to help.

 

 

Who are we? Mindy and Tim, married thirty-somethings from Los Angeles. This is our fourth cruise, third on NCL. We love NCL!

 

 

Ship - We sailed on the POA in cabin 9612, balcony midship port side. We originally were in cabin 10636. When we got to our room we noticed the balcony had what I consider to be an obstructed view. On deck 10, most of the balconies are right below Deck 11 (obviously) which is the pool deck. There is an overhang that blocks the view when looking up, and there are support structures that block the view on the sides. When I selected this room there was no indication it was an obstructed view. I would not have booked that room if I had known. Having just met the officers at our roll call meet and greet, my husband decided to call and just let them know we weren't happy about the obstructed view. We didn't think anything would come of it. Maybe we would get some OBC, as we complained we wouldn't have paid as much as we did for a balcony room if we had known about the obstructed view. We were told it was a full ship and they would see what they could do for us, perhaps the next day. About 45 minutes later we got a call from guest services that we can take a look at a different cabin. We were brought to cabin 9612 which had the balcony view we were expecting, and we switched rooms. INCREDIBLE customer service from NCL! So be aware, deck 10 has some (what I consider to be) obstructed views but they aren't categorized as such!

 

 

The cabin itself was fine. On par with other balcony cabins on NCL. I did notice our bathroom on Deck 10 looked newly renovated with lovely blue tiles and I think a larger shower entry, while our bathroom on Deck 9 seemed outdated with off-white everything. I will say this is the first time in three NCL cruises that we never had a single issue with our toilet not flushing or getting the occasional whif of sewer smell towards the end of the sailing.

 

With this itinerary being so port intensive, we didn't get to enjoy the ship too much, which is a shame because it is a lovely ship. I certainly noticed all the recent cosmetic upgrades to the ship, such as new carpet and furniture, especially in the atrium. This felt like a new ship, even though I know it's not!

 

Food - We had the UDP and did not eat in the main dining rooms. My favorite meal was Jefferson's Bistro, by far. The Teppenyaki was delightful and the food was delicious. We also ate at Cagney's and La Cucina and they were fine. Not bad but not exceptionally good either. We skipped Moderno as we ate there on the Sun and we were never hungry for THAT much food. We also ate at Cadillac Diner once for lunch and were surprised but grateful for the small portions. I do not eat sushi but my husband tried it for dinner one night and really enjoyed it. For breakfast we did the Aloha Cafe (Moderno) buffet every morning. We love to grab a simple breakfast then take it back to our balcony to eat.

 

 

Activities - We are not huge cruise ship activity people. We never really go to the shows or do the trivia, etc. The only thing we usually do is karaoke. But for this trip we never really adjusted to the time change and we found ourselves falling asleep by 8 or 9pm! So we never even made it to karaoke this time around. We never even made it to the bars or lounges. We were exhausted after every port and just hung out on our balcony before and after dinner.

 

Employees - I had read all the concerns about "rude" or "lazy" employees on the POA. We did not encounter this at all. Everyone we interacted with was happy, professional, and friendly. Service was exceptional. On par with the other NCL sailings we've done.

 

 

Ports:

 

Honolulu - We spent a week at Aulani prior to the sailing. On one day we rented a car and did Diamondhead, Pearl Harbor, and drove towards the North Shore. On disembark day we went straight from the ship to the airport. So, we never actually saw the city of Honolulu or Waikiki.

 

Maui day 1 - We did a tour with Valley Isle Excursions for the Road to Hana and it was incredible. We loved our tour guide Uncle Joe. Long day but highly recommended. We were happy to not have to drive it ourselves but now that we've done it, if we ever go back we would be comfortable renting a car and going at least part of the way.

 

Maui day 2 - We rented a car and drove the west side of the island up to the blowhole. We then drove back and had lunch in Lahaina.

 

Hilo - Volcanoes National Park tour with Marylou's. Another highly recommended tour. VNP is incredible and I wish we had more time to drive around. If we had planned our trip more in advance, I would have loved to do a private tour with Marylou's and spent more time hiking in the VNP area.

 

Kona - Kona was our "take it easy" day. We got off the ship and just walked around the town. It's a bit touristy, but we found some gems, like San Francisco Bay coffee shop and Kona Brewing Company.

 

Kauai day 1 - Morning flight with Wings over Kauai. We had a private Cessna. Our pilot was Bruce, who is also the owner of the company. He was awesome! After that we rented a car and drove around the south side of the island. Our goal was to snorkle but when we arrived there was some kind of surge and the waves were INSANE. We tried to snorkle and did see a few fish, but the waves were making me too nervous and it didn't seem worth it. We ended up sitting on the beach for a while and stopping at an outdoor bar at one of the nearby hotels. We also saw a sea turtle sleeping on the sand at Poipu Beach.

 

Kauai day 2 - Journey to Waimea Canyon with Roberts Hawaii. Great tour; the canyon is beautiful. Our tour guide Kats was fantastic, sharing Hawaiian lore and personal stories of growing up in Hawaii. We then watched the Napali coast from our balcony and it was just breathtaking. We saw two rainbows on this day - one on the tour and another as we approached the Napali coast. A lovely way to say Aloha and Mahalo to Hawaii!

 

 

 

This was our first time in Hawaii and we will defintely be back! I think our favorite spots were Kauai and the North Shore of Oahu.

 

Mahalo for reading this brief recap. I will add more detailed daily reports as I write them.

[odblnt]

From what I've read, the "obstructed view" cabins are those with a lifeboat hanging in front of them, which definitely wasn't what you originally got. (I could be wrong, though, and I'm sure someone will tell me if I am.)

 

Glad it worked out for you, though.

:)

[Nator72]

Kona Brewing Company is the best. I think everyone who gets off the ship in Kona should go there (just not at the same time). 🌺

[mertziek]

We were on POA May 21-28. We also found the staff to be very friendly and especially helpful with tour recommendations as well as things to do in each port.

[greatlakesgirl]

Nice mini review; looking forward to your full-length one.

 

So glad you had a great time in Hawaii and on-board the Pride of America! Our favorites were Oahu's North Shore and Kauai, also. We will definitely be going back.

[Kattus]

Nice synopsis of the cruise, and glad you enjoyed Marylou's, too! Also wish we opted for a private tour with her, bc VNP was so interesting!

 

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

[Cruiseoholic000]

Thank you for taking the time for your mini review. Many of the activities you did I am thinking of doing my self. When you flew on Wings over Kauai did they fly over the ship? For Valley Isle Excursions did you go swimming? I know in HI you are not to leave anything in the car but when you went swimming what did you do with your things? Are Crocs flip flops OK for this trip?

 

 

"Mahalo nui loa, Hawaii!" = "Thank you very much, Hawaii!"

 

My husband and I just returned yesterday from the NCL POA Hawaii inter-island sailing on 6/4/2016. I'll be doing a day-by-day review on my personal website which I'll also share here as I write it. But I thought I'd do a quick review for everyone who is sailing soon. I always find the reviews so helpful and there doesn't seem to be much out there for recent POA sailings. If anyone has any specific questions, please leave a comment and I'll try to help.

 

 

Who are we? Mindy and Tim, married thirty-somethings from Los Angeles. This is our fourth cruise, third on NCL. We love NCL!

 

 

Ship - We sailed on the POA in cabin 9612, balcony midship port side. We originally were in cabin 10636. When we got to our room we noticed the balcony had what I consider to be an obstructed view. On deck 10, most of the balconies are right below Deck 11 (obviously) which is the pool deck. There is an overhang that blocks the view when looking up, and there are support structures that block the view on the sides. When I selected this room there was no indication it was an obstructed view. I would not have booked that room if I had known. Having just met the officers at our roll call meet and greet, my husband decided to call and just let them know we weren't happy about the obstructed view. We didn't think anything would come of it. Maybe we would get some OBC, as we complained we wouldn't have paid as much as we did for a balcony room if we had known about the obstructed view. We were told it was a full ship and they would see what they could do for us, perhaps the next day. About 45 minutes later we got a call from guest services that we can take a look at a different cabin. We were brought to cabin 9612 which had the balcony view we were expecting, and we switched rooms. INCREDIBLE customer service from NCL! So be aware, deck 10 has some (what I consider to be) obstructed views but they aren't categorized as such!

 

 

The cabin itself was fine. On par with other balcony cabins on NCL. I did notice our bathroom on Deck 10 looked newly renovated with lovely blue tiles and I think a larger shower entry, while our bathroom on Deck 9 seemed outdated with off-white everything. I will say this is the first time in three NCL cruises that we never had a single issue with our toilet not flushing or getting the occasional whif of sewer smell towards the end of the sailing.

 

With this itinerary being so port intensive, we didn't get to enjoy the ship too much, which is a shame because it is a lovely ship. I certainly noticed all the recent cosmetic upgrades to the ship, such as new carpet and furniture, especially in the atrium. This felt like a new ship, even though I know it's not!

 

Food - We had the UDP and did not eat in the main dining rooms. My favorite meal was Jefferson's Bistro, by far. The Teppenyaki was delightful and the food was delicious. We also ate at Cagney's and La Cucina and they were fine. Not bad but not exceptionally good either. We skipped Moderno as we ate there on the Sun and we were never hungry for THAT much food. We also ate at Cadillac Diner once for lunch and were surprised but grateful for the small portions. I do not eat sushi but my husband tried it for dinner one night and really enjoyed it. For breakfast we did the Aloha Cafe (Moderno) buffet every morning. We love to grab a simple breakfast then take it back to our balcony to eat.

 

 

Activities - We are not huge cruise ship activity people. We never really go to the shows or do the trivia, etc. The only thing we usually do is karaoke. But for this trip we never really adjusted to the time change and we found ourselves falling asleep by 8 or 9pm! So we never even made it to karaoke this time around. We never even made it to the bars or lounges. We were exhausted after every port and just hung out on our balcony before and after dinner.

 

Employees - I had read all the concerns about "rude" or "lazy" employees on the POA. We did not encounter this at all. Everyone we interacted with was happy, professional, and friendly. Service was exceptional. On par with the other NCL sailings we've done.

 

 

Ports:

 

Honolulu - We spent a week at Aulani prior to the sailing. On one day we rented a car and did Diamondhead, Pearl Harbor, and drove towards the North Shore. On disembark day we went straight from the ship to the airport. So, we never actually saw the city of Honolulu or Waikiki.

 

Maui day 1 - We did a tour with Valley Isle Excursions for the Road to Hana and it was incredible. We loved our tour guide Uncle Joe. Long day but highly recommended. We were happy to not have to drive it ourselves but now that we've done it, if we ever go back we would be comfortable renting a car and going at least part of the way.

 

Maui day 2 - We rented a car and drove the west side of the island up to the blowhole. We then drove back and had lunch in Lahaina.

 

Hilo - Volcanoes National Park tour with Marylou's. Another highly recommended tour. VNP is incredible and I wish we had more time to drive around. If we had planned our trip more in advance, I would have loved to do a private tour with Marylou's and spent more time hiking in the VNP area.

 

Kona - Kona was our "take it easy" day. We got off the ship and just walked around the town. It's a bit touristy, but we found some gems, like San Francisco Bay coffee shop and Kona Brewing Company.

 

Kauai day 1 - Morning flight with Wings over Kauai. We had a private Cessna. Our pilot was Bruce, who is also the owner of the company. He was awesome! After that we rented a car and drove around the south side of the island. Our goal was to snorkle but when we arrived there was some kind of surge and the waves were INSANE. We tried to snorkle and did see a few fish, but the waves were making me too nervous and it didn't seem worth it. We ended up sitting on the beach for a while and stopping at an outdoor bar at one of the nearby hotels. We also saw a sea turtle sleeping on the sand at Poipu Beach.

 

Kauai day 2 - Journey to Waimea Canyon with Roberts Hawaii. Great tour; the canyon is beautiful. Our tour guide Kats was fantastic, sharing Hawaiian lore and personal stories of growing up in Hawaii. We then watched the Napali coast from our balcony and it was just breathtaking. We saw two rainbows on this day - one on the tour and another as we approached the Napali coast. A lovely way to say Aloha and Mahalo to Hawaii!

 

 

 

This was our first time in Hawaii and we will defintely be back! I think our favorite spots were Kauai and the North Shore of Oahu.

 

Mahalo for reading this brief recap. I will add more detailed daily reports as I write them.

[ssaito1]

Aloha,

 

I'm glad to hear you had a great time in our islands! :) Great review with lots of insight for those going on the POA. Sounds like you got most of the "to do" spots. A week at Aulani? That must have been incredible! Come back to Hawaii soon!

 

 

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[budgetfairytale]

Thank you for taking the time for your mini review. Many of the activities you did I am thinking of doing my self. When you flew on Wings over Kauai did they fly over the ship? For Valley Isle Excursions did you go swimming? I know in HI you are not to leave anything in the car but when you went swimming what did you do with your things? Are Crocs flip flops OK for this trip?

 

 

When you flew on Wings over Kauai did they fly over the ship? Not directly but we saw the ship twice, when we took off and when we were coming back to land. The airport is right next to the port.

 

For Valley Isle Excursions did you go swimming? We stopped at the Ohe'o Gultch for about an hour and the black sand beach for 20 minutes or so. At both you can go into the water if you choose. My husband and I were the only ones from our bus that went into the water at Ohe'o Gultch. It was a quick "get in and get out" but I wanted to swim with a waterfall so I was determined.

 

I know in HI you are not to leave anything in the car but when you went swimming what did you do with your things? Whenever we did swimming or snorkeling Hawaii we left our things on a towel on the beach and they were fine. There's so many people around (and doing the same exact thing) so I felt like they were safe.

 

Are Crocs flip flops OK for this trip? I'm not sure what Crocs flip flops are. For this trip I brought - regular flip flops for the pool and beach, more sturdy sandals like Birkenstocks for walking around towns, and hiking shoes for excursions. I used all three many times.

[eatdrinkfly]

oh, i loved my deck 10 balcony with those "obstructions". the solid sides made it feel very private and kept the sun from scorching me while i laid out on it in various states of undress.

[lhowes65]

Thank you for your great review. We will be in Cabin 9600 on our cruise next March. We have also purchased the specialty dining plan for all seven days, so it was great hearing about your reviews for the different specialty restaurants.

 

1) Did you notice if the Pride of America offered bottles of Sake on their wine list? We really enjoy cold sake (especially when we eat at the Teppanyaki restaurant) and am hoping the ship carries at least one bottle on their list.

 

2) For Kona, since it was your "easy" day, were you later in leaving the ship and if so did you still need a tender ticket or were you able to walk right onto a tender boat? I have heard if you disembark after 9am you do not require a tender ticket.

 

3) The itinerary indicates we dock in Kauai at 10am on Thursday. Is that accurate or do we dock 9 (and can disembark) earlier?

 

Thanks.

[budgetfairytale]

Thank you for your great review. We will be in Cabin 9600 on our cruise next March. We have also purchased the specialty dining plan for all seven days, so it was great hearing about your reviews for the different specialty restaurants.

 

1) Did you notice if the Pride of America offered bottles of Sake on their wine list? We really enjoy cold sake (especially when we eat at the Teppanyaki restaurant) and am hoping the ship carries at least one bottle on their list.

 

2) For Kona, since it was your "easy" day, were you later in leaving the ship and if so did you still need a tender ticket or were you able to walk right onto a tender boat? I have heard if you disembark after 9am you do not require a tender ticket.

 

3) The itinerary indicates we dock in Kauai at 10am on Thursday. Is that accurate or do we dock 9 (and can disembark) earlier?

 

Thanks.

 

 

Did you notice if the Pride of America offered bottles of Sake on their wine list? I didn't notice, I'm sorry. I don't drink it. I believe Sake is offered at Teppanyaki but I didn't look into it much further than seeing it offered on a list. I'm not 100% certain on that, though.

 

 

For Kona, since it was your "easy" day, were you later in leaving the ship and if so did you still need a tender ticket or were you able to walk right onto a tender boat? At around 11am there was a ship announcement that tender tickets were no longer needed and you can proceed right to deck 3. We were actually on our way out of our cabin when the announcement was made.

 

 

The itinerary indicates we dock in Kauai at 10am on Thursday. Is that accurate or do we dock 9 (and can disembark) earlier? That is accurate. We were eating breakfast at 9 and still moving into place. However, we went down around 9:50 to see if the doors were open since we had a 10am meeting time with Wings Over Kauai and they were letting people off the ship already.

[budgetfairytale]

oh, i loved my deck 10 balcony with those "obstructions". the solid sides made it feel very private and kept the sun from scorching me while i laid out on it in various states of undress.

 

:cool: To each their own, hehehe :D I expect a 180 degree view from my cruise ship balconies but if you're looking for privacy, you'll certainly get it with some of those Deck 10 rooms. :p

[nisky]

Hi, Mindy and Tim

We concur with your great summary. It was also nice meeting POA officers and managers at our Meet & Greet.

 

We ate exclusively at the Liberty main dining room. I thought it was comparable with other cruise line MDRs with some meals average and some very good (prime rib, beef wellington, rack of lamb). We also had a tough time adjusting to the 6 hr difference from EDT, so we decided to eat early, before things got crowded. We made reservations at the dining desk around the corner from guest services when we boarded (at 11:40 am!) which worked well for us.

 

Our luggage didn't arrive until 5pm though, which was annoying. Fortunately, we were wearing comfortable clothing at boarding.

 

We were just down the hall from you in 9622, port side. We weren't surprised to see that the cabin was small, but there are a lot storage spaces, and we were able to unpack everything we brought with us.

 

At the Na Pali sail-by (approx 5:15 - 6:00 pm), we, too, had a great view from our balcony and would have been able to hear the narration (supposedly on decks 6, 11, & 13) it the narrator would have just spoken louder! The rainbow was a great bonus. This sail-by makes the port side worthwhile, even though at all ports except Nawiliwili, Kauai, you are facing the industrial ports when docked.

 

At Kona, which we, too, toured on our own, we arrived at Pinks Champagne Bar to pick up our tender tickets at 7:45 am, and we were immediately directed to join in to end of the line of an NCL excursion group leaving the ship! I think we were on the 3rd tender out, since we saw two returning on our trip in. We were on shore by 8:10 am.

 

A tip to all future POA cruisers: hang on as you leave the Hollywood Theater (we went to all the shows and liked most of them) and when walking on the upper decks near the loungers, when at sea. We saw two accidents... one person who fell into a theater row when leaving after a show after the ship rolled a bit, and another who fell into a lounger on deck injuring her nose.

 

We, too, will be writing a review soon. Thanks again, Mindy and Tim

[budgetfairytale]

 

 

At the Na Pali sail-by (approx 5:15 - 6:00 pm), we, too, had a great view from our balcony and would have been able to hear the narration (supposedly on decks 6, 11, & 13) it the narrator would have just spoken louder!

 

 

 

Too late for this trip, but for future travelers, the narration also comes through the TV. For this it was on the Bridge channel. We had to turn the volume all the way up, and also pull the TV out and angle the speaker towards the balcony, but we could hear and understand it fine. (Just make sure you remember to turn the volume back down before you change the channel :eek: WRITE A REMINDER NOTE. SERIOUSLY.)

[nisky]

Too late for this trip, but for future travelers, the narration also comes through the TV. For this it was on the Bridge channel. We had to turn the volume all the way up, and also pull the TV out and angle the speaker towards the balcony, but we could hear and understand it fine. (Just make sure you remember to turn the volume back down before you change the channel :eek: WRITE A REMINDER NOTE. SERIOUSLY.)

 

Great point for future cruisers. Embarrassingly, we only learned about this after the sail-by.

[Madam Butterfly Ahoy]

Hi there thank you for sharing your review, would you recommend Waimee Canyon if we have young children. Including toddlers in our group. We are skipping the RH in Maui for this reason, but I have seen mixed reviews about the Canyon..would it be worth it to drive there have a quick look around and continue perhaps to Poipu beach.. I'm trying to plan something doable we have 7 kids with us between 2 families...pls let know your recommendations for Kauai..thank u in advance

 

 

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[budgetfairytale]

Hi there thank you for sharing your review, would you recommend Waimee Canyon if we have young children. Including toddlers in our group. We are skipping the RH in Maui for this reason, but I have seen mixed reviews about the Canyon..would it be worth it to drive there have a quick look around and continue perhaps to Poipu beach.. I'm trying to plan something doable we have 7 kids with us between 2 families...pls let know your recommendations for Kauai..thank u in advance

 

 

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I don't think we had any kids on our tour. To be honest, as much as I enjoyed our tour with Roberts, I think kids would get bored easily. You do spend a lot of time on the bus between stops. I think for kids, renting a car and getting to the canyon quickly for a quick look, then continuing on to Poipu Beach (which we really enjoyed) would be the best route.

[pspercy]

Poipu is good but for younger kids Lydgate Beach Park would likely be better:)

[Clarea]

Appreciate the report.

[Madam Butterfly Ahoy]

Thank u [emoji3]

 

 

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