Pride of America much better than reviews - Pleasantly Surprised!

[ggTexasGal]

Current Terms and Conditions for:

Hawaii Beverage Package

For sailings on or after to January 1, 2023:

• Hawaii Beverage Package is applicable to Pride of America sailings only.
• Applicable to guests 1-8 on the reservation.
• Eligible guests are entitled to two beverages per person per transaction.
• Includes a variety of beverages up to $15 USD retail price.
• Also includes fountain soda, freshly squeezed juice, bottled water (still and sparkling), non-alcoholic beer, and specialty coffee (specialty coffee inclusion shall be limited to dining rooms only).
• Does not include: specialty coffee outside of the restaurants, room service, mini bar purchases, or vending machines.
• Guest's check may reflect applicable VAT and/or taxes for certain ports or itineraries.

[cruiseny4life]

12 hours ago, mooline said:

We're arriving on Thursday afternoon, so will have a full day plus to explore Honolulu. What is the earliest time on Saturday that we can head to the ship? I think everyone will be quite excited to embark even though the ship leaves in the evening.

I implore you, absolutely implore you to enjoy Honolulu on Saturday. Go to Cafe Kaila for breakfast. You won't be disappointed, especially if you order the fruit. It's so yummy! Then check out Diamond Head State Monument. Don't get on the ship so quickly since it leaves at 7 PM. Enjoy Oahu! 

[mooline]

4 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

I implore you, absolutely implore you to enjoy Honolulu on Saturday. Go to Cafe Kaila for breakfast. You won't be disappointed, especially if you order the fruit. It's so yummy! Then check out Diamond Head State Monument. Don't get on the ship so quickly since it leaves at 7 PM. Enjoy Oahu! 

Thank you! We also have all day Friday, since we arrive on Thursday. Greatly appreciate your guidance...I know you're right, even though everyone's eager to start the cruise experience!

[Paula_MacFan]

We are on board POA right now. I can try to answer any questions. We're not in the Haven so no help there.

 

[ERNLYN]

2 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

We are on board POA right now. I can try to answer any questions. We're not in the Haven so no help there.

 

Can't wait for our turn this September.  There have been a number of conversations regarding shuttles from port to rental agencies.  Can you advise are there shuttles that will p/u and drop off from port to agencies or airports for auto rsvp's? 

[Paula_MacFan]

5 minutes ago, ERNLYN said:

Can't wait for our turn this September.  There have been a number of conversations regarding shuttles from port to rental agencies.  Can you advise are there shuttles that will p/u and drop off from port to agencies or airports for auto rsvp's? 

We haven't seen any shuttles. We rented a car on Maui and shared a cab to the airport with another couple. Very easy & about $13 total fare. There's a taxi line with an attendant right on the pier who manages the process. 

 

In general while planning our cruise I found the specific rental agencies' websites said if they had transportation available at the pier in each port. I'd advise you to look there. 

 

Our rental pickup on Maui was very easy. Yesterday & today we are on Kauai and we haven't seen many taxis. It's my understanding there are very few in general here on this island. The only shuttle we've seen here takes you up the road to the shopping center, which is very close & walkable.

[ERNLYN]

Thank you  Paula_MacFan for your reply, have a great time on the rest of your cruise!

[mooline]

Thanks, Paula! Hope you're having a great time! Are you also experiencing the "pleasant surprise" of good service and a better than expected experience?

 

 

Can you tell us what time you were able to disembark in Maui on Sunday?

 

I'm thinking about arranging for a horseback ride on either Sunday or Monday, with a preference for Sunday so we don't have any risk of missing the ship as it departs. However, not sure we'll be off the ship early enough to get to the ranches in time for the start of the rides. (We'll probably arrange a private car service to pick us up at the ship, wait, and bring us back.)

 

Thanks so much!

[Paula_MacFan]

Just now, mooline said:

Thanks, Paula! Hope you're having a great time! Are you also experiencing the "pleasant surprise" of good service and a better than expected experience?

 

 

Can you tell us what time you were able to disembark in Maui on Sunday?

 

I'm thinking about arranging for a horseback ride on either Sunday or Monday, with a preference for Sunday so we don't have any risk of missing the ship as it departs. However, not sure we'll be off the ship early enough to get to the ranches in time for the start of the rides. (We'll probably arrange a private car service to pick us up at the ship, wait, and bring us back.)

 

Thanks so much!

We disembarked the ship on Saturday, but we did enjoy the whole trip and had a great time.  The service was fine and there was plenty of staff. 

 

We disembarked in Maui on Sunday around 8am.  

[mooline]

5 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

We disembarked the ship on Saturday, but we did enjoy the whole trip and had a great time.  The service was fine and there was plenty of staff. 

 

We disembarked in Maui on Sunday around 8am.  

Thanks so much, Paula! Very happy to hear that the cruise was great for you! 

 

Any tips/hints/advice, especially for those who are first time on this ship?

[Paula_MacFan]

4 hours ago, mooline said:

Thanks so much, Paula! Very happy to hear that the cruise was great for you! 

 

Any tips/hints/advice, especially for those who are first time on this ship?

It's a great way to see all the islands!  We did the 3-day land tour before the 7-day cruise, which NCL calls the 11-day Hawaii Cruisetour.  We really enjoyed our 3 days of touring Oahu prior to the cruise and felt it really added to our overall Hawaiian experience.  Stops during those days included the Polynesian Cultural Center (great!), Pearl Harbor (very moving), and Kualoa Ranch (a fun & scenic place for adventure seekers and movie buffs).

 

We ate at Cagney's and Jefferson's Bistro -- both were excellent.  We ate at the Cadillac Diner 3X and the food and service was good each time.  The rest of the time we ate at the buffet or off ship. We didn't do any other specialty dining or the MDRs.  

 

In Maui we rented a car and drove up Haleakala in the morning, partway to Hana in the afternoon, and to Lahaina for supper.  Well worth the $55 rental and $20 gas.  The second day in Maui we did a whale watch through NCL which was great.

 

In Hilo we did the Volcanoes Nat'l Park tour though NCL which was fine.  We had thought about renting a car but since the volcanoes started erupting again the Park Service has been warning about clogged parking lots and too much traffic.  We decided to let them do the driving and we saw what we wanted to see for a reasonable price.

 

In Kona we cancelled our planned tour and just had a 'down day' taking the tender into town and doing some shopping.  In the afternoon we sat by the pool and just relaxed.  This cruise is so port-intensive you are really on the go a lot 🙂

 

On Kauai we did the Waimea Canyon tour through NCL and it was good.  Again, we had thought about renting a car but decided against it due to the cost vs the excursion and also the logistics of getting the rental car at this port.  We were happy with our decision.  The final day on Kauai we had a wonderful scenic sail by the Na' Pali coast with awesome weather.  It was a beautiful end to a great trip.

 

We didn't do much in the evenings except sit on our aft balcony with some occasional visits to the public areas for live music.  We didn't attend any of the shows of which there weren't many anyway.  The ship seemed to be in good repair and the public areas were generally clean and maintained.  We never had long waits for food or drinks and staff seemed sufficient to handle the passenger load.  The cruise director said there were around 2,100 passengers onboard so they are getting back up to full capacity.

 

The drink package was good to have.  We never used any of our free internet minutes because we had cell service the whole time.  I did use the free app intranet just to check our account balance periodically, and you can also see the daily schedule there if you don't want to look at the paper version.  

 

That's all I can think of for now.  If you have any other specific questions I'm happy to try and answer  🙂 

[mooline]

Such an awesome review, Paula! Many thanks for this great information.

 

I'm interested to hear about the "down day" - Noticing how port intensive the cruise is, I thought about the same thing. No reason to feel we "have" to do something specific in each port, especially if there isn't a tour that gets everyone really excited.

 

Like you, we enjoy just sitting on the balcony watching the world go by. Sounds like it will be the ideal place to do just that.

 

Thanks again; your guidance is so very much appreciated.

[Ellis1138]

On 1/31/2023 at 7:11 PM, Paula_MacFan said:

 

The drink package was good to have.  We never used any of our free internet minutes because we had cell service the whole time.  I did use the free app intranet just to check our account balance periodically, and you can also see the daily schedule there if you don't want to look at the paper version.  

 

 

Paula, I have a few questions about the cell service. Did you still have your cell service while the ship sailed from island to island or just while it was docked/anchored? And which cell phone service did you use? We have T-Mobile and it would be great to save a bit of money by not having to overpay for slow ship internet.

[Paula_MacFan]

10 minutes ago, Ellis1138 said:

 

Paula, I have a few questions about the cell service. Did you still have your cell service while the ship sailed from island to island or just while it was docked/anchored? And which cell phone service did you use? We have T-Mobile and it would be great to save a bit of money by not having to overpay for slow ship internet.

We have Straight Talk phones which run on Verizon service.  We had service at all times during waking hours, even while sailing at night.  There were times we were amazed we still showed 5G service with strong signal even while several miles from shore.  We went to bed around 10 each night and never were without service.  It was really nice but kind of strange because we've never been on a cruise like this before where we had constant cell service 🙂  

 

I literally didn't use a single minute of our allotted internet time provided with the Free at Sea promotion.  

 

I guess one caveat would be that we had superb weather.  Not sure if that plays into signal strength or how far out we sailed, but I've been reading reviews this past week from people onboard now who have said the weather has been horrible. I guess we got lucky! 

[georgiacat]

I notice that you said it rained hard both days you were in Maui.  Did you notice if things were open as expected or closed on Sunday?  We are thinking of taking an island tour and wondered if shops would be open on Sunday morning.  If they are not, I suppose we could schedule for Monday.

[2stonesthrow]

Excellent Review. Were there any theme nights or parties like the traditional "White Hot?" Thanks in advance!