Looking at PRIDE OF HAWAII and new to NCL....

[jfs9900]

Ok so I am just starting to look at possible cruises to Hawaii. NCL seems to be the big player in Hawaii with 2 ships there already and a new one coming in May/June.

 

I am looking at the vacation within the next 6months and between 7-14 days. I am a previous cruiser to DCL, RCCL, and CCL (RCCL - Alaska, DCL/CCL to the Caribbean). I think there will be 4 people traveling and a balcony is a MUST.

 

I was looking at some of the reviews of NCL Hawaii on the Pride and America ships and they seem to be mixed. I also found some rumblings of issues when these newer ships launched, technical problems etc.

 

The reason I bring this up is because I was also looking at the 12 night reposition cruise I found on the NCL site from LAX to HNL in May. It doesn't seem to be heavily advertised but seems to be a great deal in terms of $$$. Would this be a good bet considering the problems before launch. I don't know what to do if we were at sea for 4 days and didn't have a bathroom.

 

I really liked the RCCL Alaska cruise we took. I found a 14 night round trip with RCCL...

 

Just need some direction I guess.

 

Thanks for any help :)

[KeystoneCruiser]

NCL actually has four ships that you can choose from for Hawaii.

 

Pride of Aloha: the smallest and oldest of the "Prides." I was on that ship and enjoyed it. It is doing a repo to San Fran for drydock and then another repo back to Hawaii. Looking for a repo cruise on an established ship, you might look here.

 

Pride of America: Launched in 2005 after sinking in drydock in 2004 and being delayed. Very large ship with more restaurants. Currently doing 7 day Hawaii cruises.

 

Pride of Hawaii: Similar in size to the POAm. It launches this year and is the repo that you are looking at. Yes, a new ship does have problems, but most likely not as many as the POA and POAm did since NCL has improved their training process.

 

Norweigan Wind: Doing 10 or 11 day cruises right now in Hawaii and since it is not an American flagged ship it has an international crew and has to go to Fanning Island, Republic of Kiribit on each cruise. It is doing a repo to the west coast in April as she prepares to do Alaska cruises over the summer.

[CruisinMK]

I say go for it. I did the pride of America in october, totally loved it, and have now booked the exact same Pride of Hawaii repo cruise you are looking at. The itinerary on the American flagged ships is the best in the industry. The price on the maiden repo cruise seems to be the same as the 7 day cruises, so if you can take care of the odd airfare itinerary go for it.

 

Bigger chance of rough seas on that trip, since you're not just going between islands in Hawaii. Also totally green crew on new ship, so expect little oddities. I did a maiden voyage before on the Star and loved it, but a lot of the travel agents on board couldn't handle the rough seas we had on the way to fanning island. :)

[jfs9900]

I was actually going to ask about the rough seas... Will it be that bad on the repo cruises?

 

The cruise in Alaska I took was very very very very calm, the boat didn't move at all - the water was almost like glass. In the Caribbean there were some days when the boat would rock... The first night of the Fantasy cruise we rocked so bad that the front of the ship would go up.... then down, even at dinner the staff were unable to keep their footing and said that it was pretty rough.

[KeystoneCruiser]

The last repo cruise I was on, the ocean was smooth as glass! Generally the Pacific around Hawaii is quieter during the summer than the winter. The best surfing times in Hawaii is in the winter for example

[jfs9900]

Did NCL just start offering this repo cruise or has it been available for some time?

[CruisinMK]

I think it's only been offered for 3 weeks

[jfs9900]

Is it the first offical sailing or is there a east coast / panamal repo as well?

[CruisinMK]

that's the first one, I think they are showing the ships off to travel agents in New York first though

[JDMOR]

These cruises probably are a one time only occurance. It is a revenue producing way to bring the ship from Europe where it was built to Hawaii. I think anyone signed up for these cruises should keep their fingers crossed. We were signed up for a Pride of America repro in 2004 when it sunk. NCL management really had a customer relations mess after that. Tried to switch pax to smaller and more expensive Sky cabins, etc. Haven't been back to NCL since after they offered little or no compensation after a subsequent Star booking was cancelled. Going to try it again in November on this one.

[electricron]

Haven't been back to NCL since after they offered little or no compensation after a subsequent Star booking was cancelled.

 

Which Star cruise was cancelled? Are you talking about this March's cancelled Star cruises for the early dry dock to repair the Star's azipods?

 

But there were compensation for these cruises. Here's the NCL web page about these cruises: http://www.ncl.com/news/pr/pr112205a.htm

 

NCL will be offering a $50 per person ($100 per cabin maximum) onboard credit in recognition of any disappointment, that may be caused by this itinerary change.

 

That's pretty close to the industry's standard compensation for changed itineraries. For those who had their cruises cancelled, a 100% refund is all you should expect. Why anyone would expect NCL to refund more money to you than what you paid NCL is beyond me?

[JDMOR]

For electricron

 

Which Star cruise was cancelled? Are you talking about this March's cancelled Star cruises for the early dry dock to repair the Star's azipods?

 

NO. Talking about the cancellation of the Star from HNL to Vancouver that same year the America sank. Believe it was also an azipod problem.

 

But there were compensation for these cruises.

NCL will be offering a $50 per person ($100 per cabin maximum) onboard credit in recognition of any disappointment, that may be caused by this itinerary change.

 

We had to fight to get a timely refund of the money. And, despite published statements of some good will compensation to be provided, the TA had to agitate to actually get it. When it did come, it expired in a year. By then, we had made other plans and it was useless.

 

I feel some compensation should have been provided since their last minute cancellation caused expenses that were not reinbursed (i.e hotel deposits, etc.)

 

That's pretty close to the industry's standard compensation for changed itineraries. For those who had their cruises cancelled, a 100% refund is all you should expect. Why anyone would expect NCL to refund more money to you than what you paid NCL is beyond me?

 

This was not just an itinerary change. It was a complete cancellation with no alternates available. I was thoroughly disgusted with the way NCL management handled to whole incident. If you could review the C-C boards of the time, you would see I was not the only one. It has taken me this long to get up the courage to try NCL again. Hope they learned their lessons about customer relations.