Pride of America Cabin Selection

[SeaWatcher65]

First trip to Hawaii on NCL Pride of America.  How did you choose a cabin?  How important is room location given the ship is at port most of the time, sometimes overnight?  And reviews sound like most of the time on the ship is morning and later at night.  Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

 

Our Story:  On other NCL ships, always had a balcony room for Mom, Dad, and son.  As son will be 16 at the time of sailing, thought the 2-bedroom family suite with large balcony would be nice as he is getting older..  We would have a separate room, son would have his own little space, and the aft balcony would have great views (Napali Coast, for example).   But we might do a helicopter tour of Kaua so not sure seeing Napali Coast from our balcony is important and could always go on an outside deck that afternoon.  And that "suite" is $5000 more!!!!   That's more money for shore excursions (or another cruise!).  

 

Below are some cabin examples.  

 

Cabin 12504 -- Large Balcony in the middle of the big, big expensive suites.  Seems like good location - port side, close to open deck area and bar.  It's an adjoining room so wonder if we might get bumped out if someone booking the adjoining suite wants it.  

 

Cabin 10678 - 2 bedroom family suite with aft balcony port side.  Nice big balcony but how much time will we really enjoy it?  Aloha Lanai Bar is above on deck 11 but the balcony is open above.  Cabin 9698 is aft and directly underneath 10678 -- also a good location and has more cover over the balcony (in case of rain) but also will get less sun.

 

Pride of America Deck Plans

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/pride-of-america/deck-plans 

[Sauer-kraut]

Port side first then look at your budget.

[Beachiekeen]

We had a suite on Deck 12.  It was awesome.  We were port side, sipping champagne on our private balcony watching the Na Pali coast sailby.  We did an air tour of the coast that morning and it was nice to see it first by air, then by sea.  $5k is alot though, only you can decide if it's worth it.

 

I like cruise advice dot org to find the best cabins.  Click the "best and worst cruise ship cabins" link on the home page.

 

 

Edited January 7, 2020 by Beachiekeen

[AllisonJames]

Just off POA. Absolutely port side.  It’s an expensive cruise and also the most time we’ve ever spent off the ship, to each his own but you might want to compare 1 standard balcony cabin + studio cabin for your son to the cost of 2 bedroom.  Ship is relatively small and easy to get around, our son enjoyed the studio cabin (really well laid out and there’s private lounge space for studio guests).  Just my opinion but if you are on a budget I would save the $ with a basic balcony cabin and use savings for the excursions...highly recommend Valley Isle excursions Road to Hana tour.  We were on deck 10 and have no complaints—quiet and really convenient to Aloha Cafe.  Also, be aware, definitely do a ships shore excursion for Kona because it’s the only tender port and we missed it because of high seats, so no problem getting a refund.

[AllisonJames]

Oops, sorry: “high seas”

[SeaWatcher65]

Thanks for the tips!  For the overnight port stays (Maui and Kaua), I wondered if there are nice hotels to stay the night or do most people come back to the POA overnight.  That would change our thinking about spending money on the bigger balcony room.  Many more reviews to read and almost 2 years to plan!

 

Our usual excursions are a taxi to a beach or a catamaran so I'm certain the shore excursions are going to be expensive for POA (with ship or on our own).  Helicopter tour definitely on the plan. Might need some of that money saved on the room.  All our NCL sailings were the big ships but we have been on a smaller Celebrity ship (Constellation). 

[kelib]

1 hour ago, SeaWatcher65 said:

Thanks for the tips!  For the overnight port stays (Maui and Kaua), I wondered if there are nice hotels to stay the night or do most people come back to the POA overnight.  That would change our thinking about spending money on the bigger balcony room.  Many more reviews to read and almost 2 years to plan!

 

Our usual excursions are a taxi to a beach or a catamaran so I'm certain the shore excursions are going to be expensive for POA (with ship or on our own).  Helicopter tour definitely on the plan. Might need some of that money saved on the room.  All our NCL sailings were the big ships but we have been on a smaller Celebrity ship (Constellation). 

I found that most people come back at night. Tip is to rent a car on Maui, most of the rental car companies have shuttles right outside of the pier. See if you can book a Catamaran tour out of Lahaina, then you can drive or sight see on the way back, or drive to  one of the beaches yourself. 
I took tours through Roberts tours. They had a 3 tour special that I took at Hilo, Oahu and Kauai and they were top notch and less expensive than ship tours ( even though we basically saw all the ship tours at the same locations)

Also in reference to studio room, there are only a very few of them on the ship so they sell out fast and they are no bargain and they may not allow him his own room at his age. Might look into an inside room close to your room and switch sleeping arrangements once on board. 

[Acruzaholic]

Looking to also take a cruise on Pride of America-sounds like port side is preferred to starboard side.  Would an Aft cabin be an even better choice to Port side. What are the pros and cons-Also-if Aft cabin-what floor is the best, and how close to center Aft to outer side of Aft cabins compare-Seems like its hard to book a Middle Aft Cabin. Thanks for all suggestions.

 

[dexddd]

10 hours ago, AllisonJames said:

Just off POA. Absolutely port side.  It’s an expensive cruise and also the most time we’ve ever spent off the ship, to each his own but you might want to compare 1 standard balcony cabin + studio cabin for your son to the cost of 2 bedroom.  Ship is relatively small and easy to get around, our son enjoyed the studio cabin (really well laid out and there’s private lounge space for studio guests).  Just my opinion but if you are on a budget I would save the $ with a basic balcony cabin and use savings for the excursions...highly recommend Valley Isle excursions Road to Hana tour.  We were on deck 10 and have no complaints—quiet and really convenient to Aloha Cafe.  Also, be aware, definitely do a ships shore excursion for Kona because it’s the only tender port and we missed it because of high seats, so no problem getting a refund.

How old is your son?  They won't let a 16 yo book own room.

 

[dexddd]

We had 12502 last trip.  12 is super quiet and as you say close to bar outside doors and bars.  Port side as mentioned.  Plus Bridge is on that floor so you'll run into crew.

 

Suite would be best but that is a lot of money and value diminished due to ports.

Edited January 9, 2020 by dexddd

[AllisonJames]

Sea watcher — I don’t think many people leave the ship overnight as it seems like a waste of $.  In Hilo, we saw a family leave with just one small suitcase and it appeared they were going to stay on the island overnight (maybe they had friends or family there) and get back on in Kona.  What a terrible surprise they must have had when the ship didn’t make Kona! Definitely invest the time to plan carefully, I was surprised at some people who were just “winging it” — this is not a cruise to do that, excursions book up and you want to make sure you really take advantage of all there is to see and do in Hawaii.  It’s not a trip just to go to the beach (IMHO).  Road to Hana, Volcano National Park and Waimea Canyon are not to miss sites.  Definitely take an excursion if you do Road to Hana, no one unfamiliar with that road should drive it on their own and it can be dangerous.  For Volcano National Park and Waimea Canyon we rented a car which was easy to do and worked for us since we had 5 people.  Also, my apologies on suggestion of studio cabin for your 16 year old — our son is over 18 and I didn’t know there was an age restriction.

[schildiams]

Helicopter tour? Have you researched the number of crashes that have happened in the past five years alone? 

[Beachiekeen]

20 hours ago, SeaWatcher65 said:

Thanks for the tips!  For the overnight port stays (Maui and Kaua), I wondered if there are nice hotels to stay the night or do most people come back to the POA overnight.  That would change our thinking about spending money on the bigger balcony room.  Many more reviews to read and almost 2 years to plan!

 

Our usual excursions are a taxi to a beach or a catamaran so I'm certain the shore excursions are going to be expensive for POA (with ship or on our own).  Helicopter tour definitely on the plan. Might need some of that money saved on the room.  All our NCL sailings were the big ships but we have been on a smaller Celebrity ship (Constellation). 

We actually seriously considered spending the night off the ship on Maui because that is where we spent our honeymoon and this trip was for our 10-year wedding anniversary.  But in the end, it didn't make sense, especially since we had a perfectly wonderful suite to come back to!  We did go out to a nice dinner off the ship the first night on Kauai which was our actual anniversary.

 

Hawaii is not an island to see via a taxi or shuttle, although a catamaran is always fun.  We rented a car on Maui and Kauai, it's a great, cheap way to see whatever you want, when you want, and there's no rushing to get back to the ship on that first day.  On Kauai, we downloaded the Shaka driving app for our drive (Maui we know well so we didn't need the app).  Road to Hana on Maui is a wonderful trip to do either on your own or via a tour.  

 

On Kauai, we actually did a small plane tour rather than a helicopter.  It is much cheaper, and since there were 6 of us, we had the whole plane to ourselves.  Plus everyone gets a window seat, unlike some helicopters.  The only way I would do a helicopter on Kauai is with Mauna Loa which is private.  I am not paying $300+ to be the girl stuck on the bench in the middle with no window!  We have a land vacation to Kauai coming up and we plan to do Wings Over Kauai again most likely. It was the best--the scenery was so spectacular, I actually cried!

 

I know most say don't get a balcony, save money on the room, etc., but I am in the minority on that one.  Our suite and that balcony was so wonderful I don't know how I will cruise in a regular balcony room from now on.  It's not just the cabin that is better, but the level of service also.  At least get a balcony for the fresh air and beautiful scenery that you will see while in port and while cruising, there is really nothing like it.  You can have breakfast out on the balcony with beautiful Kauai right in front of you!

 

Have fun planning, it's a cruise to remember for sure!

Edited January 9, 2020 by Beachiekeen