Live from the Pride of America - May 14th to 21st, 2022

[WanderlustJourney]

Hello everyone!

 

I'll be sailing on the Pride of America from May 14th to 21st, 2022.

 

I will be trying to keep this as up to date as I can along the way. I will be filming my experience for my travel YouTube channel and on my travel blog (where I will be posting the Dailies, lots of photos and menus) which will be live once I return.

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer each day, and/or follow me on Instagram @wanderlustjourney.ca as I'll be posting lots of live stories there.

 

Thanks!

 

Ariane

[markkw07]

1 hour ago, WanderlustJourney said:

Hello everyone!

 

I'll be sailing on the Pride of America from May 14th to 21st, 2022.

 

I will be trying to keep this as up to date as I can along the way. I will be filming my experience for my travel YouTube channel and on my travel blog (where I will be posting the Dailies, lots of photos and menus) which will be live once I return.

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer each day, and/or follow me on Instagram @wanderlustjourney.ca as I'll be posting lots of live stories there.

 

Thanks!

 

Ariane

Sounds Awesome!

 

I will definitely  be following along, on your journey, to see if anything has changed since I was on POA a week ago and to get your point of view on things!

 

Just a FYI, I didn't use the ship Wi-Fi but a couple of times, like when the ship actually sails far out enough from the islands, so I was on my cell provider 95% of the time(even on the ship). I see you are from Canada, so not sure how that works with your cell provider, but my brief experience with the ship wifi was pretty slow.  Just in case you were planning to upload anything from the ship. On the islands themselves, I had 5G or 4G. 

 

Looking forward to your review

 

 

Mark 

[MacII]

Watching, thank you!

[amyh13]

This makes me so HAPPY!  We will be on the very next sailing! Thanks you!

[zounds]

Thank you   !  Very much looking forward to your input, as we sail the 28th.

[Linsuesue]

Which specialty restaurants are open?

[WanderlustJourney]

Good morning from just off the coast as we approach Maui!

 

I brought my aunt along for this cruise, so it’s her and I travelling this trip. I will also preface this and say that I am a hosted guest onboard along with others, this cruise is a rescheduled POA “Inaugural” cruise from January.

The port and check in experience was quite smooth. We arrived to the port from The Royal Hawaiian (just over a $17 cab ride), at 10:15am. At 10:30am it looked like they opened security. Our documents were checked, we then went through security and lined up for the check in. Check in was also quick, and received “Boarding Card A”. They had two local Hawaiians playing live music which was great and by 11:00am they were boarding the ship.

 

Once onboard we headed straight for the Restaurant Reservations desk to get those sorted for the week, “Jefferson’s Bistro” aka Le Bistro and Cagney’s are the only two specialty dining restaurants open this sailing. Once we did that, we secured some more shore excursions.

 

Afterwards we headed up to the Aloha Cafe (the buffet) for some lunch. We actually ate outside at the very aft of the ship, it was covered and with the breeze it was a perfect temperature. Food was good and I enjoyed what I picked out. We are at just under 50% for this sailing. No issues getting drinks at the bar and staff have been great so far and very friendly!
 

Rooms on our deck (deck 9) were not quite ready on our sailing until around 4pm, luggage was delivered shortly after 5:30pm. We have a balcony cabin and they’ve definitely refreshed them. Brand new carpets, balcony doors have been replaced and are brand new, throw pillows and foot runner are also a great new pattern. 
 

We had a very special sail away cocktail party. Harry Sommer (President and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Lines) hosted a group of us as we sailed away from Honolulu.

 

Afterwards we headed to Jefferson’s Bistro for a lovely dinner to wrap up the night.

 

This is my first time on the Pride of America, and my overall first impressions are positive. There were some initial hiccups with the internet, however we got those solved quickly with some help from the Internet Manager, Robert. The premium internet is okay and is a good speed for uploading to Instagram I’m 

finding. I’ll see how it works later in the week for a work zoom call I need to be on lol.

 

I am posting live stories on my Instagram which you can find the link in my first post above 🙂 

Edited May 15, 2022 by WanderlustJourney
Spelling

[WanderlustJourney]

On 5/13/2022 at 2:27 AM, amyh13 said:

This makes me so HAPPY!  We will be on the very next sailing! Thanks you!

If you have any specific questions let me know! 🙂 

[WanderlustJourney]

8 hours ago, Linsuesue said:

Which specialty restaurants are open?

The only specialty restaurants open are Jefferson’s Bistro (Le Bistro) and Cagney’s. 🙂

 

[WanderlustJourney]

On 5/12/2022 at 8:59 AM, markkw07 said:

Sounds Awesome!

 

I will definitely  be following along, on your journey, to see if anything has changed since I was on POA a week ago and to get your point of view on things!

 

Just a FYI, I didn't use the ship Wi-Fi but a couple of times, like when the ship actually sails far out enough from the islands, so I was on my cell provider 95% of the time(even on the ship). I see you are from Canada, so not sure how that works with your cell provider, but my brief experience with the ship wifi was pretty slow.  Just in case you were planning to upload anything from the ship. On the islands themselves, I had 5G or 4G. 

 

Looking forward to your review

 

 

Mark 

Thanks so much Mark! The premium wifi onboard seems to be pretty good so far, just had some initial issues getting connected however we did get it sorted out. I’ll be interested to see if it stays a good strength throughout the week, but we are at just under 50% capacity so it should work good. 

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, WanderlustJourney said:

 

I brought my aunt along for this cruise, so it’s her and I travelling this trip. I will also preface this and say that I am a hosted guest onboard along with others, this cruise is a rescheduled POA “Inaugural” cruise from January.

 

What does it mean to be a "hosted guest onboard along with others"?

 

And thanks for posting.  We'll be following along. 🙂 
We are looooong overdue to take this cruise (and to get to Hawaii at all!).

 

GC

[MacII]

2 hours ago, WanderlustJourney said:

We had a very special sail away cocktail party. Harry Sommer (President and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Lines) hosted a group of us as we sailed away from Honolulu.

Wow, I had no idea we were in the company of corporate royalty! Congrats and enjoy.

 

2 hours ago, WanderlustJourney said:

There were some initial hiccups with the internet, however we got those solved quickly with some help from the Internet Manager, Robert. The premium internet is okay...

For my POA cruise next week (psyched btw) I upgraded to the premium as well. It said "for guests 1 and 2" any idea what that means? Is there a limit to how many devices they let you connect? If I want to connect my Phone, Tablet, and Mac can I do that or is it one device per guest?

 

And not to consume your attention with network issues but since you are a power-poster, I'm sure you've got experience with this. I'd much rather tether and use the Cell network. I assume when the ship sets sail,  you have to disconnect from Cell or you get nailed with using the ship cell...is there a way to force your phone to ignore the Ship Cell (not WiFi) and only use the terrestrial cell network from majors like AT&T or Verizon? Since this is an all USA itinerary I figured I'd bag the slow ship WiFi for Cell when we're in port but can you use Cell even when at sea but close to land?

 

My only new question for you is this - other early POA reviews have said that while capacity is 50% or less, staffing seems to be even below that level leading to "service" issues. Some of those reviews mentioned that more staff was either being trained or en route to join the crew. Do you think the staff to guest ratio has normalized and is acceptable or at least comparable to past sailings you've been on?

[markkw07]

On 5/15/2022 at 12:23 PM, MacII said:

Wow, I had no idea we were in the company of corporate royalty! Congrats and enjoy.

 

For my POA cruise next week (psyched btw) I upgraded to the premium as well. It said "for guests 1 and 2" any idea what that means? Is there a limit to how many devices they let you connect? If I want to connect my Phone, Tablet, and Mac can I do that or is it one device per guest?

 

And not to consume your attention with network issues but since you are a power-poster, I'm sure you've got experience with this. I'd much rather tether and use the Cell network. I assume when the ship sets sail,  you have to disconnect from Cell or you get nailed with using the ship cell...is there a way to force your phone to ignore the Ship Cell (not WiFi) and only use the terrestrial cell network from majors like AT&T or Verizon? Since this is an all USA itinerary I figured I'd bag the slow ship WiFi for Cell when we're in port but can you use Cell even when at sea but close to land?

 

My only new question for you is this - other early POA reviews have said that while capacity is 50% or less, staffing seems to be even below that level leading to "service" issues. Some of those reviews mentioned that more staff was either being trained or en route to join the crew. Do you think the staff to guest ratio has normalized and is acceptable or at least comparable to past sailings you've been on?

I stayed on my cell provider (ATT) 95% of the time. I only used/connected to the ship wifi, a few times, using the basic one you get on the "free" items, not upgraded to premium. It did what i needed it to do, i did a little surfing on the net, and checked my email...I didn't upload or download anything or do any video calls or streaming, it was rather slow, but like i said it did what i needed it to do:)

 

I got cell reception(ATT) most of the time on the cruise, sailing around all the islands. Since it's all US based, you dont get the "cellular at sea" notifications like in the Caribbean or non us ports, so for me i did not incur any additional charges and did not have to change any settings on my phone to avoid charges.  You can turn off your Wi-Fi setting if you don't want your phone constantly asking or searching for the Wi-Fi signal, which is what i did and just stayed on my cell provider. 

[amyh13]

On 5/15/2022 at 12:39 PM, WanderlustJourney said:

If you have any specific questions let me know! 🙂 

You may not know the answer but I'll try anyway.  We are in a suite. Pre-Covid, suite guests were able to get breakfast and lunch at Cagney's.  I know the MDRs aren't open for B/L but since Cagney's is operational, just wondering if suite guests were at the very least getting breakfast.

[Cindy]

8 hours ago, amyh13 said:

You may not know the answer but I'll try anyway.  We are in a suite. Pre-Covid, suite guests were able to get breakfast and lunch at Cagney's.  I know the MDRs aren't open for B/L but since Cagney's is operational, just wondering if suite guests were at the very least getting breakfast.

I’ve read several reviews that said the answer to your question is yes!

[Cape Hernlopen]

Dear Ariane:

 

Thank you for your posts and videos on Instagram. We are joining them as we prepare for our May 28 cruise.  Can you present copies of the "Dailies" and menus from the Main Dining Room either on Cruise Critic Message Boards or your Instagram account.

Joel Barry

[da1425]

1 hour ago, Cape Hernlopen said:

Dear Ariane:

 

Thank you for your posts and videos on Instagram. We are joining them as we prepare for our May 28 cruise.  Can you present copies of the "Dailies" and menus from the Main Dining Room either on Cruise Critic Message Boards or your Instagram account.

Joel Barry

 

Ugh...terrible news Joel.

[ChiefMateJRK]

38 minutes ago, da1425 said:

 

Ugh...terrible news Joel.

Has anybody else reported this?  Why would they cancel an entire sailing because of staffing issues when they already significantly capped passenger capacity?  If it was a Covid outbreak, wouldn't this Saturday's sailing be cancelled as well?

[Cape Hernlopen]

The reported cancellation is not from me but from another unlucky cruiser.  As of 4:55 pm (East Coast time) we are still a go!  We have the pre cruise tour and it would be foolish for NCL to cancel passengers who booked both since they would still have to run pre cruise tour with two less paying customers.  I hope that NCL staff passed Micro Economics!

Joel Barry

[ChiefMateJRK]

12 minutes ago, Cape Hernlopen said:

The reported cancellation is not from me but from another unlucky cruiser.  As of 4:55 pm (East Coast time) we are still a go! 

Thanks.  That's why I asked.  It sounds very unusual, so just wanting to see some additional reports.  Somebody on the forum reported last fall that my upcoming cruise had been cancelled.  It was totally false.

[Go2SeaTheWorld]

As far as we know, we are on countdown status to a flight next Wed to arrive for the cruise tour, 5/28 sailing, too. Nothing from NCL...so far.  Feel so badly for the cruisers who were apparently randomly cancelled. My hubs would go ballistic and would never agree to accepting FCC and would never sail with NCL again should that happen to us.

 

[MacII]

OP has gone dark…doesn’t bode well for the internet! Or maybe they’re just having too much fun to take time out to post. 

[4 cruisers]

We can only hope!  Keeping positive thoughts and eyes open!

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by 4 cruisers
change of wording

[dexddd]

14 hours ago, Cape Hernlopen said:

The reported cancellation is not from me but from another unlucky cruiser.  As of 4:55 pm (East Coast time) we are still a go!  We have the pre cruise tour and it would be foolish for NCL to cancel passengers who booked both since they would still have to run pre cruise tour with two less paying customers.  I hope that NCL staff passed Micro Economics!

Joel Barry

We had a sailing on POA cut one day short.  Some people got notice, others not.  First I saw was here on CC.  This will be better source.

[ChiefMateJRK]

3 hours ago, dexddd said:

We had a sailing on POA cut one day short.

When was this cruise?