gsb Posted December 21, 2005 #1 Share Posted December 21, 2005 This from a first timer on NCL--mostly CCL and RCCL in the past. Please excuse outline form--will try to get back for questions. First--the negatives 1. Second day on Kauai--had to leave at 6 am due to no contract for dock. Why we didn't tender that day??? Just went around in circles for the short trip back to Oahu the next morning. Many were upset as they had to cancel excursions, cars, etc. 2. Entertainment on the ship--very weak--one "production" show a night followed by one dance theme program (50's, 70's, etc.) in the Mardi Gras--other than that--nothing--no piano sing along, no lounges for dancing. Not one midnight comedian. the same juggler/comedian put on three show--he was good, but enough's enough. And of course, no casino--not NCL's fault. 3. Balcony cabin 138 ft--small, but well appointed-- 4 Crew--all US--most of them unhappy--nice, but unhappy. Had a major exodus about 6 weeks before in Maui--Shortage most noted in cabin stewards and waiters in the two main dining rooms, accounting for the well documented wait times and poor service. 5. Specialty restaurants full after first day(only two of the four Japanese tables were open due to having only two cooks. People complained about the Skyline and Liberty being their only choices. We made our reservations the first thing on board for the whole week. Enough of that--now some positives 1. Great looking ship--very bright colors throughout. Liberty dining room is the prettiest we've ever seen, with its red, white and blue theme and rich mahogany and cherry woods. 2. Specialty restaurants--very nice on the whole--enjoyed freestyle with no set times. East meets West and Jefferson Bistro were 1/2 price the first night--did the JB. Supposed to be better than the Lazy J. Great looking room--Lazy J is very plain. Filets, escargot and bananas flambe made us change the Lazy J on Wed to the JB. Great the second time also. East m West--another great meal--great chef and food. Little Italy--plain room, food okay. 3. We were on a VIP list and got great seating and service in the Liberty on Thursday--LOBSTER night. Lobster was surprisingly good as was the rest of the meal. Had a 6 pm reservation. 4 Aloha Cafe--very good variety and quality. Fresh cooked hamburgers, dogs, pizza. Good salads. Ice cream 24 hours, but ran out of cones on Wed for the rest of the cruise. 5. Had a nice cocktail party with the captain and his staff. 6. Good popcorn in the Gold Rush bar--also nachos and sauces. 7. 3 or 4 art auctions with champagne. 8. Very nice, well equipped gym--I used weights only once--on the Friday we were unfortunately at sea. 9. Nice library--underused. Great cruise to see the islands--maybe that's why they don't have much going on on the ship. Rented from Thrifty on all ports--join the Blue Chip Club for free--unbelievable service--eg--we hopped off the shuttle in Honolulu and the driver yelled out to the inside man our name as a blue chipper--forms ready to sign and our Chrysler 300 setting right in front waiting on us. One big tip--cancelled our car in Kona--just wanted to snorkel anyway. There's a free--yes free shuttle with a big sign on it sitting right ouside the gates. A man and his wife run the service--they ask you rent your snorkel equipment from their source at the beach if you need it--also donate a little for gas if you like. They take you to the best site on the island--many, many varieties of fish, big green sea turtles, octopi, lobster, etc--best I've ever experienced and I've snorkled at a whole lot of places. Car was going to be the most expensive by far on Kona, so it worked out very well. Will try to get back for your questions. :) :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired not Expired Posted December 21, 2005 #2 Share Posted December 21, 2005 Thanks. Good overall review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy ks Posted December 21, 2005 #3 Share Posted December 21, 2005 I love Hawaii and I would love to take this cruise, the good along with the bad! We've cruised Hawaii twice and both times it was awesome. I guess if we have the opportunity one day to go on this particular cruise, we'll plan on cleaning our own cabin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsb Posted December 21, 2005 Author #4 Share Posted December 21, 2005 We had a very good steward--clean sheets and towels daily. Ice always--no complaints.;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karfest Posted December 21, 2005 #5 Share Posted December 21, 2005 Thanks for the review- it's nice to see the negatives didn't spoil things for you:) I was planning our helicopter flight for the second day in Kauai- I guess we should change that?? Does it happen often that the ship has to leave? You would think NCL would have preference in the docks. oh well... it's been sooooo cold here- how was the weather in Hawaii? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lhall85917 Posted December 21, 2005 #6 Share Posted December 21, 2005 I really enjoy reading all of the POAm reviews - thanks for taking the time to share.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsb Posted December 24, 2005 Author #7 Share Posted December 24, 2005 I've picked up a whole bunch of tips reading reviews. Gary:) i Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molokai-Chuck Posted December 24, 2005 #8 Share Posted December 24, 2005 GSB... Where do you think you went snorkeling from that ride you got in Kona.....remember the name of the beach??? We would be interested in doing what you wrote up on on Kona. Mahalo.. Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsb Posted December 25, 2005 Author #9 Share Posted December 25, 2005 5 miles south of where you come to shore. Excellent.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molokai-Chuck Posted December 25, 2005 #10 Share Posted December 25, 2005 Mahalo for the answer.....I think I have read of this place in several travel books....Was it like a beach park? I looked on a Big Island map....maybe this was it.....Kahaluu Beach Park....it also looks to be 5 miles south of Kailua-Kona. Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisinMK Posted December 25, 2005 #11 Share Posted December 25, 2005 Ships cannot tender in to Kauai. Either they get a reserved spot on the dock or skip it. I agree entertainment could be a bit better. Including more players/singer outside of main show at bars, etc.. The standard rooms are really tiny, smaller than other ships for sure. I had a much better experience than you did with crew, but sounds like they were understaffed for your go due tue the recent end of contract switchover. Understaffing would make anyone grumpy. I loved the specialty restaurants, especially Jeffersons& East west, but didn't try Lazy J. Was interesting to hear your experience with Thrifty. They used to get a lot of complaints, sounds like they are really improving. I had good luck the one time I used them at Kona, they happened to show up just as I got in line. They dropped us off right at ship afterwards with no wait. There was a long wait in line to check out the car however. Awesome value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electricron Posted December 25, 2005 #12 Share Posted December 25, 2005 Are they smaller? Really that much smaller to be noticeable. Inside cabin sizes on all NCL ships. Pride of Aloha 147 sq. ft. Pride of America 132 sq. ft. Crown 160 sq. ft. Dawn 142 sq. ft. Dream 136-142 sq. ft. Jewel 143 sq. ft. Majesty 108-145 sq. ft. Spirit 149 sq. ft. Star 142 sq. ft. Sun 145-191 sq. ft. Wind 135-144 sq. ft. Yes, the Pride of America's inside cabins are small, but the Majesty has smaller cabins. Let's check out the balcony cabins too. Pride of Aloha 154 sq. ft. balcony 48 sq. ft. Pride of America 178-233 sq. ft. balcony 40-95 sq. ft. Crown No balcony cabins Dawn 166 sq. ft. balcony 37 sq. ft. Dream 167 sq. ft. balcony 40 sq. ft. Jewel 167 sq. ft. balcony 38 sq. ft. Majesty No balcony cabins Spirit 161 sq. ft. balcony 40 sq. ft. Star 166 sq. ft. balcony 37 sq. ft. Sun 150-173 sq. ft. balcony 48 sq. ft. Wind 167 sq. ft. balcony 40 sq. ft. Wow! Surprisingly, the Pride of America has the largest balcony cabins, with potentially the largest balconies. Considering the breakdown of the Pride of America's cabins classification, that isn't bad. Pride of America cabins: Total Inside Cabins 229 Total Outside Cabins 846 Total Outside Cabins w/o verandas 140 Total Outside Cabins w/ verandas 654 Total Cabins & Suites w/ verandas 706 Suites 52 If you wish to book a balcony cabin on your Hawaiian cruise, I suggest booking the Pride of America vs the others. If you wish to book an inside cabin on your Hawaiian cruise, I suggest you book the Pride of Aloha. And we all know that when the Pride of Hawaii enters service next year, it will be the only choice to book a courtyard villa or garden villa suite. Each ship NCL will have in Hawaii will cater to a different group of passengers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lhall85917 Posted December 26, 2005 #13 Share Posted December 26, 2005 Interesting, thanks for posting! I was wondering how much smaller our POAm balcony would be than the ones we had been in on the Star - looks like it will be slightly bigger! We were in the Star balcony with 4 people and 2 and never had a problem, should be just fine on POAm with 2! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired not Expired Posted December 26, 2005 #14 Share Posted December 26, 2005 To go with Electricron's post of cabin sizes above, a word about the Pride of Aloha inside cabins. There are two sizes so make sure which one you book. The larger ones are 147 sq. ft., but the smaller ones are only 121 sq. ft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electricron Posted December 26, 2005 #15 Share Posted December 26, 2005 I missed that earlier. Can't be right every time. From what I can tell by looking at the deck plans, class J, K, KK, L, M, and N have the smaller cabins. The smaller N cabins numbers are 5101,7114, 8156, 8157, 8315, 8355, and 8356. (7) The smaller L cabins 8154,8155, 8355, and 8356. (4) The smaller K cabins are numbers 8134-8153, 8158, 8335-8354, and 8359 (42) The smaller KK cabins 9143-9167, 9315, and 9335-9359. (51) The smaller J cabins 0126-0146, 0149-0152, 0326-0345, and 0346-0350. (50) That's a total of approximately 154 inside cabins at 121 sq. ft. and 273 inside cabins at 147 sq. ft. Of the 154 cabins, most are on decks 8, 9 , and 10. Just 2 are not on these decks. Deck 10 has 50 small cabins, Deck 9 has 51 small cabins, and Deck 8 has 51 small cabins. Looks like one would be better off booking Decks 4, 5, 6, and 6A cabins if you're wish a larger inside cabin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachchick Posted December 26, 2005 #16 Share Posted December 26, 2005 I have a question about your leaving Kauai at 6 am (bummer). How far in advance were you told about this? My concern would be that for an overnight stop, we would rent a car for both days and park overnight at the port. (In fact, we've done that on Kauai before.) I have to assume that you were given enough notice for pax to be able to return rental cars before leaving. Otherwise, that would be a rather large problem, IMO. Just curious. beachchick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jame_g Posted December 26, 2005 #17 Share Posted December 26, 2005 Don't trust the itin's that NCL sends out with your cruise docs. They may be wrong. Mine stated we were leaving Kauai on the 2nd day at 2pm. But I had already noticed discrepencies on the NCL website. In one place it stated 2 pm, in another it stated 6 am. When my TA checked, NCL stated that we would be leaving at 6 am. When I got an upsell, my new Invoice reflected the 6 am departure. At this point, I would not count on being in Kauai on the second day after 6 am unless you have double-checked with NCL. Don't count on your original invoice, itinerary, or even your cruise docs being correct. Other people here have stated they found out after boarding their cruise, but I'm not sure how many days in advance. I don't know how often this happens, but it appears to be fairly frequent right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruzegirl Posted December 26, 2005 #18 Share Posted December 26, 2005 Glad to hear of your review and that you had a good time.... I cruised the same ship in October... loved it..... And our crew was good... Slow and still getting used to it all but good.... The one thing I still find interesting is the confusion over Kauai.... I thought they would have fixed this by now.. They told us (our group) that they will always leave Kauai early for the scenic cruise of the Napali coast line.. They, NCL, will never be in Kauai on day 2 past 6-7a.m. because of that... Yet there is still that confusion for passengers with the way the itinerary is printed... Interesting.. But I still loved the cruise.... I would love to see it be 9 days so there is an additional sea days....lol..... :D ... I was exhausted at the end of the trip..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsb Posted December 26, 2005 Author #19 Share Posted December 26, 2005 Our BA balcony cabin was 178--this includes the 40 ft balcony--so 138 inside size--still small. We received the Kauai info Tues evening in the daily paper. poor.:mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicknack Posted December 26, 2005 #20 Share Posted December 26, 2005 GSB, could you please clarify which sailing you took on the POAM? Your title says "12 - 17." Obviously that couldn't be the 12/17/05 sailing if you posted on 12/21. I'm missing something. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaisyL Posted December 26, 2005 #21 Share Posted December 26, 2005 Let's check out the balcony cabins too. Pride of Aloha 154 sq. ft. balcony 48 sq. ft. Pride of America 178-233 sq. ft. balcony 40-95 sq. ft. Crown No balcony cabins Dawn 166 sq. ft. balcony 37 sq. ft. Dream 167 sq. ft. balcony 40 sq. ft. Jewel 167 sq. ft. balcony 38 sq. ft. Majesty No balcony cabins Spirit 161 sq. ft. balcony 40 sq. ft. Star 166 sq. ft. balcony 37 sq. ft. Sun 150-173 sq. ft. balcony 48 sq. ft. Wind 167 sq. ft. balcony 40 sq. ft. Wow! Surprisingly, the Pride of America has the largest balcony cabins, with potentially the largest balconies. Considering the breakdown of the Pride of America's cabins classification, that isn't bad. NOT TRUE .... PoAm balcony cabins are all 138 sq.ft. .. in this case you must subtract the balcony size hence the balconies will differ in size . For example, the balcony cabin size on the Dawn is truly 166 sq.ft. plus 37 sq. ft. balcony ... Just be aware before you book since a PoAm balcony cabin may not be very comfortable for more than 2 people. .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electricron Posted December 26, 2005 #22 Share Posted December 26, 2005 Here's the deck plan for the Pride of America: Are you suggesting that the cabin size for 10532 is the same as 10534? I only reported the square footage as posted on another web site. I see no reason why they would use different standards for one ship vs another. Never-the-less, what you state could be correct since I haven't personally measure the cabins myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisinMK Posted December 26, 2005 #23 Share Posted December 26, 2005 Look closer at the symbol after the cabin number on your chart. Do you see the square instead of the triangle? 10534 is a handicap cabin, while 10532 is a regular balcony. Handicap cabins are 50% bigger inside (but 3rd passenger strictly forbidden). All the non-handicap balcony cabins are 138 sq ft inside, they probably shouldn't have included the handicap ones in the stats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electricron Posted December 26, 2005 #24 Share Posted December 26, 2005 Even so, the Pride of America balcony cabins 138 sq. ft. cabins match up well against it's inside cabins, with all the extra room on the balcony. But, it appears the Pride of Aloha and Pride of Hawaii balcony cabins will have more room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsb Posted December 26, 2005 Author #25 Share Posted December 26, 2005 We were on the 12-10-05--returning 12-17-05.:) One other positive--not having to bother with "formal nights"--comfortable every night! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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