Pride of America (is that even an NCL ship??) Review with PICS!

[gregnjen1]

Such a great report, thank you for all the details and the photos!

[froggykat]

Great review - We are taking this cruise in August and haven't booked any excursions yet so interested to hear what you have too say about the NCL tours. Congratulations on the baby - wishing you all happy and healthy.

[willowvacay]

I am really enjoying this thread - thanks!

 

Can anyone help with a way to view the posts and photos without having to scroll and scroll right to see everything?

 

Thanks for reading. I don't know how to fix the scrolling thing...one day I was on here typing and I was having to scroll and then the next day I didn't. It was like the website was updating or something. I wish I had a better answer for you.

[willowvacay]

Thanks for the review! Looking forward to reading the rest. We will be on POA in May. Curious about the cost of the taxi to the airport in Kona to pick up the rental car. Thanks!

 

I wish I had a for sure answer about the taxi ride to the airport in Kona. I was thinking 30$ with tip and I texted my husband and he came up with the same answer. In some ports (Maui and Kauai) there is a rental shuttle service available in the port but in Kona I am unaware if this is available. It may be possible to arrange a pickup with the rental company but since we rented last minute while standing outside the tender we definitely didn't have a pickup arranged.

[willowvacay]

Such a great report, thank you for all the details and the photos!

 

Thank you for following along!

[willowvacay]

Great review - We are taking this cruise in August and haven't booked any excursions yet so interested to hear what you have too say about the NCL tours. Congratulations on the baby - wishing you all happy and healthy.

 

I hope you have a great trip! After renting a car in the last two ports I would say that is the best way to go. The beach excursion with NCL in Maui was great and easy to do. The first day going to Lahaina would have likely been a break even with a rental car since we paid so much in taxi fare from port to lahaina. The volcanoes national park tour with NCL was ok. We got to see several things but you might get to see more if you book a private tour on your own (less time waiting for the rest of the bus to come back from the bathroom or wherever they are hiding until time to get back on the bus). I think the NCL tours are good if you are uncomfortable going out on your own or have a short time to plan. However these ports are easy to get around and the driving signs are familiar to US residents so I would totally advocate for getting your own car and sightseeing on your own if possible! Hope that all makes sense.

[willowvacay]

The next day we were on to another Island: Kauai. Neither one of us had been here and we had big plans to check it out. We rented a car and planned to drive to see part of the island and then return to a Resort For a Day.

 

The ship doesn't arrive in Kauai until around 10am so we did the usual that morning. We went to the gym, back-of-the-ship-breakfast, and then got ready to head into port.

 

Sitting on the balcony waiting to get to Kaui after breakfast:

 

Kauai

 

Once we came into port we got off the ship ASAP hoping to make the first rental car shuttle. Kauai is set up awesome for car rentals. You walk out of the port building and they have a place marked on the ground where you should line up to get a rental car shuttle. It is so so easy. On the shuttle we were near another couple who stated they had been to Kauai before and it had chickens everywhere. We thought that was a strange thing to remember, but they were 100% right. They were EVERYWHERE.

 

 

We got our rental car easily and headed on our way. We turned left out of the airport and headed north to check out some sights in the northern part of the island. We ended up in a place called Hanalei. It has a beautiful mountainous landscape.

 

 

We stopped at a juice store for some fresh squeezed juice and it was wonderful!

 

Some more of Kauai

[willowvacay]

We had a great time driving with the top down and checking out the scenery.

 

After we drove around for a while we stopped off at the place we had rented through Resort for a Day. If you are unfamiliar with this company it is a website that sells day passes to resorts at different cruise ports. The website is of the same name. They have locations at several ports of call. We have used them in St. Thomas, Grand Cayman, and now Kauai. I would be happy to use them in any port they have a site. What resort amenities you can use depends upon the resort but the "pass" provided by the website spells it out in great detail. One of the drawbacks to Resort for a Day is that at some locations the person at the front desk of the resort is confused and has to ask someone else (manager) if that is a real thing. Once they get it figured out though, you are free to use whatever amenities available to the pass. At this resort (Aqua Kauai Beach Resort) you can use the pools, beach, you have towel usage (don't have to bring cruise towels) and a 30$pp food credit. This credit cannot go toward alcohol but you can get lunch. Also, the front desk told us we were allowed to stay and use the amenities until the pool closed. It as 79$pp for the pass, but 30$ of that was toward food so its a pretty good deal at this resort. It is easy to find and not that far from the port if you decided to take a cab here instead of renting a car. The pools are very nice and had good chairs to sit in and it was very un-crowded. We felt like we were almost alone there. We ate lunch and it was very good AND covered 100% by the credit!

 

lunch at the pool

 

the food was good too!

 

 

The chickens/roosters were here too!

 

The resort:

[willowvacay]

Another pool at the resort

 

 

 

[willowvacay]

Beach at the resort

 

Looking back at the resort

 

We stayed there until probably 530pm and then decided to head back toward the port. We wanted to go to Duke's again, so we headed to the Marriott where Dukes is located. They have valet parking you can use at the resort and there is valet down at the restaurant itself (it is really close to the port).

 

Inside Dukes

 

View from Dukes

 

We headed back to the ship full of Hula Pie

[willowvacay]

We rented the car overnight. What does one do with a rental car overnight when staying on a cruise ship? Luckily there are several places nearby set up for that. Very close to the port (walking distance) there is space on the street to park for free. I was worried about doing this but when we pulled up several other families and couples were parking their rental cars in this location. Here is a daytime picture of that to help you visualize it.

 

The large shoulder on the right between the road and the sidewalk is an acceptable place to park. The shuttle driver told us this and also we left the car there and it survived!

 

There are also two shopping centers near by that are less than a mile or 2 but also offer a shuttle back to the port. They charged 20$ for overnight cruise parking.

Anchor Cove

 

Harbor Mall (you can see the sign through the winshield of the car).

[punkincc]

Thanks for the review! Looking forward to reading the rest. We will be on POA in May. Curious about the cost of the taxi to the airport in Kona to pick up the rental car. Thanks!

 

As a matter of fact, there was a car rental office in the very hotel where the OP initially went to the beach in Kona. I don't know if the OP was aware of this, or they may have been sold out. Although the rental price is a little higher over the airport prices, you will generally see it recommended over renting from the airport as it is walking distance from the tender pier and gets you on the road ( and back to the tender ) sooner. Do book well in advance.

 

If you do rent from the airport, no need to take a taxi. The shuttles run from the pier.

[willowvacay]

As a matter of fact, there was a car rental office in the very hotel where the OP initially went to the beach in Kona. I don't know if the OP was aware of this, or they may have been sold out. Although the rental price is a little higher over the airport prices, you will generally see it recommended over renting from the airport as it is walking distance from the tender pier and gets you on the road ( and back to the tender ) sooner. Do book well in advance.

 

 

 

If you do rent from the airport, no need to take a taxi. The shuttles run from the pier.

 

 

Haha we totally didn't know the courtyard had car rentals. Shows you what short term planning and last minute changes do to your plans! Duly noted for next trip!

 

 

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[pattyj 1204]

Thanks again for doing all this posting. Making me so very excited about our upcoming cruise. So much fun.

[handbellplayer]

Thanks for reading. I don't know how to fix the scrolling thing...one day I was on here typing and I was having to scroll and then the next day I didn't. It was like the website was updating or something. I wish I had a better answer for you.

 

The new format of the Boards seems to have fixed the problem! Yay!

[trvl_fanatic]

Great review - We are taking this cruise in August and haven't booked any excursions yet so interested to hear what you have too say about the NCL tours. Congratulations on the baby - wishing you all happy and healthy.

 

Enjoying this review as well. I did an itinerary similar to this years ago the NCL Star used to do the Hawaiian itinerary (but since it wasn't an American flagged ship, it had had to go to a foreign port as well. Forgot the name of the island).

 

It was very enjoyable and had a day or two at sea, since there were no overnight ports. Looking forward to the overnights, especially Maui. Will be going this August as well - FroggyKat - saw your signature, we are on the same cruise as you.

[willowvacay]

The next morning we got up and walked out after breakfast hoping our rental car was still there parked on the shoulder. Good news...it was! We hopped in the car and headed out in the opposite direction from yesterday. We were going to Waimea Canyon. We followed the directions on the phone GPS and it took us up a long and winding scenic road. It was a nice drive. If you like the wind in your hair a jeep or convertible is the way to go to enjoy the great weather and the breeze.

 

 

 

 

A gentleman standing at the lookout talking about Hawaii History

 

[willowvacay]

The drive on the way back from the canyon

 

It was so beautiful near Waimea Canyon and we are glad we got up early to check it out. We had to head back to the rental car place relatively early because the ship left in the early afternoon. We headed to the rental place, turned in the car and took the shuttle back to the ship. Then we boarded the ship the last time. We decided it was lunch time so we tried the Cadillac restaurant. It is supposed to be similar to O'sheehans on the other Norwegian ships and has a relatively similar menu. We both felt like it wasn't quite as good as the normal Osheehans. It has a 50's diner type theme. It did have outdoor seating so we appreciated that.

 

After lunch, we went to the room to get started on one of our least favorite ship activities: packing to go home. We like to get it done early so the rest of the afternoon and evening is free. This afternoon we had plans. There was a latitudes event on the bow of the ship before the Napali coast line sail-by.

 

At the appointed time we grabbed our tickets (they do check these) and headed to the front of the ship. We have never been on the bow of the ship so we were pretty pumped. It was a nice party. Not too crowded and they had champagne and mimosas. I was able to get one of the servers to get me a cup of just orange juice.

 

 

pool on the front of the ship:

 

 

 

 

leaving port

[willowvacay]

 

 

 

[willowvacay]

For the Napali cost sailing we stayed on our balcony because it was port side. There is narration which can be heard on deck 6 or on the stateroom TV. Our TV was on an arm that allowed it to be pulled out onto the balcony and we could hear the narration from there.

 

 

you can see a whale spout on the right close to the ship

 

 

 

We originally had Jefferson's Bistro booked for tonight but we decided we didn't want to go there again. We couldn't get a reservation at Cagneys so we decided to try our luck at the MDR. We headed to Skyline and got a seat by the window. We ended up having a fabulous dinner! Our waiter was really good and he even brought me something that wasn't on the menu (macaroni and cheese). It was a good way to end our cruise meals. After dinner we went to the "gone in 60 seconds" game show. It is similar to the show from TV minute to win it. People did silly tasks and tried to complete them within one minute. It was pretty silly and fun. We headed back to the room for the last time.

[Papa_Bear_]

I have enjoyed your cruise sorry it's almost over. Best of luck with the greatest adventure a couple will ever take. It's the most rewarding one too!

 

 

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[willowvacay]

I have enjoyed your cruise sorry it's almost over. Best of luck with the greatest adventure a couple will ever take. It's the most rewarding one too!

 

 

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Thank you so much. Your kind words brought tears to my eyes as we have never been more excited than we are for our baby adventures to come :)

 

 

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[el820]

Bring back good memories of Hawaii for me. Thanks for sharing.

[Openbar82]

What a fun review!! Thanks!!

[Sandybea]

Thank you for the review! I have vacationed on the islands of Hawaii, and enjoyed it very much. After reading your review of this cruise, I now feel like I have cruised The Hawaiian Islands myself! I couldn't do a cruise on a ship which doesn't have a casino, so it was a special treat reading about your POA cruise experience! Thanks again!

 

 

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