Live from the Pride of Hawaii!

[kat28]

Well, I'm here!!! We left the cruise port at 4:30 p.m. headed for San Francisco. We are in an AB penthouse suite and I feel like I've died and gone to heaven!!! The room is immaculate, huge, 2 bedroom 2 bath, nice size balcony, but best of all, it comes with Jessica, our butler. So far she has been to our room 4 times bringing ice, extra robes, hangers, etc. Our room stewart Carol has also been in numerous times. When we boarded we ate in the Aloha cafe which was pretty good but they kept running out of food even though there are only 400 people on the ship. We pick up another 800 in SF for a total of 1200 and capacity is 2400 so we are a small group which is really nice! Met other CC'ers and will meet again after we pick up our SF folks. Ate dinner in Cagney's Steak House. We had the best filet and strip steak we have ever eaten! Our waiters, Samantha and Brandon, were excellent...very attentive. Not many on the ship right now so we have the joint pretty much to ourselves. So far I am VERY impressed with everything. The ship is so beautiful. I daresay we will never stay in anything else but a penthouse suite! I will be checking this site every night so if you have questions, please ask and I will try to answer. Going to the Spinnaker Lounge now. Talk to you all tomorrow!

[Tricia28]

We just got back from a 2 day sailing for travel agents. I loved the ship as well. Some of the most beautiful suites I have ever seen. The food as Cagney's is great and you are right about the filet. I will be interested to hear your comments about the main dining rooms and the buffet. The service in the main dining room was slow (twenty minutes to get a glass of water after seating?!) and the coffee machines in the buffet were awesome (when they were working). I am interested to see your comments. Samantha was our server too and she was great! Waits for Cagney's and Le Bistro were over one and a half hours (even when you showed up at 5:30!) but we weren't allowed to make reservations so it did cause traffic jams.

[Molokai-Chuck]

Many thanks for your posting....looking forward to your others.

 

My wife and I are also booked in an AB on the POHawaii in July. Is there a self service laundry on this ship ? If there is....where is it located.

 

Mahalo....

 

Chuck

[hncg57c]

I am looking forward to hear more about the POH as well. It's good that you practically have the ship to yourselves.

[cruzfiend]

Looking forward to our trip in January - any info you share will be gladly viewed.:)

[janniebabe]

We are booked into a minisuite aft for next year - can't wait! Have a wonderful time, we all look forward to reading your review!

[DrivesLikeMario]

Well, I'm here!!! We left the cruise port at 4:30 p.m. headed for San Francisco. We are in an AB penthouse suite and I feel like I've died and gone to heaven!!! The room is immaculate, huge, 2 bedroom 2 bath, nice size balcony, but best of all, it comes with Jessica, our butler. So far she has been to our room 4 times bringing ice, extra robes, hangers, etc. Our room stewart Carol has also been in numerous times.

 

I think you mean room STEWARD with a "d". Sorry, but it's a pet peeve of mine! ;)

 

Great to hear the info. you have on the POH! Hope you have a great cruise! :)

[thecruisers723]

Thanks so much for taking the time to post during your cruise. We'll be on the Pride of Hawaii on June 26th. We can't wait to hear all about her from the lucky ones that go before us.

 

I have a specific question regarding the Blue Lagoon restuarant on this ship. Is this a restuarant? Or a coffee shop? It appears to serve coffee, cookies & pastries according to NCL's website. But others say the Blue Lagoon on different NCL ships serves a regular meal menu as well. And it seems as if it's open long hours. If you could check this out and let me know, that would be great!

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!!

[cosmo1027]

Have a wonderful trip kat28!

 

I have a question... in the NCL brochure, it mentions a place called "Wipe Out Club". I can't find it anywhere on the deck plans. Have you seen it onboard? And if so, what is it?

 

Thanks!!!!

- Kim

[crzn4fun]

We have 2 AB suites booked for our Christmas to New Year's cruise. PLEASE take pictures and post them!!! Would love to know what your cabin number is after your cruise is over. You may be staying in our suite!

 

Thanks for posting!

[zimmerjulie]

If this helps, I can offer some imput on a couple of the quiestions.:)

 

The Wipe Out club is a teen disco located on deck 12, near the Kids Club, aft of the video arcade. It is pretty neat. It has 5 computers and some lounging areas and screens that show music videos along with the tunes.

 

Blue Lagoon is a bit different on this ship that what I have experienced on other NCL ships (Star, Spirit for example). It isn't like a walk-through fast food kind of venue. It is more nice sit down. Like the other ships, it has a menu and is open 24 hours. Here is the link to the menu. Pride of Hawai'i Photos

There is a separate album where I will be putting them.

 

kat28, I'm guessing Spinnakers was fun?:D

[cosmo1027]

Thanks, Julie! I loved your pictures too!

 

Does anyone know if the BA aft balconies are bigger than the other BA balconies?

 

Thanks! - Kim

[hollym]

How great of you to post so that we'll get some of the news before we leave home! We're in one of the forward facing AC Penthouse staterooms so if yours is that nice, I'm assuming ours will be as well. Thanks!

 

Two questions, first...your group was to meet up at the Bali Hai Bar. Was that a good place to meet? That's where we're scheduled to rally on June 5th. Secondly, did NCL do anything special for the CC passengers because they had a list beforehand? Just wondering because we submitted our list as well. Have a great cruise!:D

[zimmerjulie]

There, the link didn't work using the "edit" function, apparently :)

Pride of Hawai'i Photos

[DrivesLikeMario]

I really enjoyed seeing your pictures too, Julie. :) The food in the Blue Lagoon sounds delicious! Thanks for posting that menu also!

[kathiean]

Hello all! We just got back on the ship after docking in San Francisco. Picked up a few hundred additional passengers. Still way under capacity. To answer questions...no self service laundry...however they will do your laundry for you for quite a large cost! The Blue Lagoon is not really a serious restaurant...more of a snack-type restaurant. The Wipe Out Club is for teens and it is right next to the Keiko Club for little ones up to 12. There are only 7 teens on this sailing. My DD who is 13 is having a blast with Morgan, one of the counselors. She is awesome! The Bali Hai was a good place for the CCers to meet. Tomorrow at 9:30 am we are meeting at Magnums Champagne Bar for another meet and greet. Our butler and room steward continue to be excellent. Jessica, our butler, brought us a huge tray of goodies tonight. Everyone is incredibly friendly. I am constantly hearing 'Aloha' from all the staff. We ate in Cagneys for lunch again today and it was still delicious. We are on our way to the main dining hall now so I will let you know about it tomorrow. All in all...so far I give the ship an A for friendliness, food, cleanliness, and beauty!!! See you tomorrow!

[thecruisers723]

Thanks ZimmerJulie and KathJean for the info about the Blue Lagoon. It's good to see there's somewhere to go sit down late night and grab some snack food other than just cookies & pastries. And thanks for all the menus from the specialty restuarants ZimmerJulie. I enjoyed looking at them and drooling :p over what I was going to choose when we're on the ship next month.

 

I did notice that there wasn't chocolate fondue on the desert menu at the LeBistro restuarant.:( It caught my eye on other NCL LeBistro restuarant menu's and I was disappointed to see it missing from our ships menu as I was looking forward to it.

 

KathJean, you mentioned Cagney's for lunch. Are all the specialty restuarants open for lunch? Are they the same menu's at lunch time? And cover charges? Guess you wouldn't know if lunch really requires a reservation since the ship is no where near capacity.

 

Thanks for all your help!

[beachchick]

Any information on what exactly is the "Adult Activity Center"? How big is it? What kinds of activities are there?

 

Thanks (and I'm so glad to hear y'all are having a great time--I can't wait until fall).

 

beachchick

[DrivesLikeMario]

Thanks for the latest update, Julie. ;)

 

According to a TA friend of mine that was just on the POH, NCL is purposely NOT filling the ship to capacity from now until about the beginning of July.

 

NCL's intention is to acquaint the crew with the ship, the procedures, and dealing with the passengers in the best way possible. Although a good amount of the crew (about 50-60%) came from other NCL ships, many were just trained and brought out from Maryland to the POH.

 

NCL will be adding more and more passengers for each sailing so that by the time July comes around, the crew is used to working with a full ship. I think NCL has learned from their errors with the other Hawaii-based ships and the crew problems they had and are attempting a new plan to make a smoother transition. :)

 

I can totally understand your daughter enjoying herself with such a small group of kids onboard. That's when my kids have had the BEST time!!

 

Hope to hear more about your cruise and hope you have a fantastic time!

[travelling fools]

Can you please tell me if the kids cruise club have programs going on during the day when you are in port.

We are planning to go on this ship in late August with a 4 year old and she loves activities and playing with other children.

Enjoy your vacation and thanks for taking the time to post.

[electricron]

Can you please tell me if the kids cruise club have programs going on during the day when you are in port.

We are planning to go on this ship in late August with a 4 year old and she loves activities and playing with other children.

Enjoy your vacation and thanks for taking the time to post.

http://www.ncl.com/more/kidscrew_mini.htm

Here's what NCL web site states:

KID’S CREW HOURS

Sea days:

9 am – noon

2 pm – 5 pm

7 pm – 10 pm

Sea days & port days:

7 pm – 10 pm

GROUP SITTING HOURS

Sea days:

10 pm – 1 am (Sign up by noon on the same day)

Port days:

9 am – 5 pm (Sign up by 5 pm on the previous day)

10 pm – 1 am (Sign up by noon on the same day)

GROUP SITTING COST

$5 per child per hour

$3 per child per hour for additional children in the same family

[hollym]

You have all been a big help! Loved your pictures ZimmerJulie and thanks also to Kathie, I appreciated your heads up about the Bali Hai bar. We're all counting the days now till our June 5th sailing. Have a great trip!:D

[zimmerjulie]

Lady Jag,

It sounds like your TA friend and I had some of the same experiences and got the same information. Makes sense, since I was there at the same time, :D but sometimes it seems that two people on the same ship are worlds apart in their perceptions of it.

 

I am looking forward to more information and impressions from the ladies who are on board right now!! It's fun reading "live from" reports, especially when you can imagine yourself there!

 

It is interesting that the specialty restaurants are open for lunch. This isn't usually the case, with the NCL ships at least. I'm not sure how the Pride of America is doing things now. I am wodering if they are opening them for lunch on the Hawai'i since they are trying to get things up and running smoothly and since they have had all sea-days, so far. Probably during normal operations later on, the specialty restaurants will be closed at lunch, no?

 

kathiean,

are you and the original poster one-in-the-same? I think so, but wanted to be sure. I am really enjoying your posts!

[F19810]

On the cruise that I amd thinking of taking, we arrive in Kauai at 10am. According to the shore excursion list, most of the excursions are before the ship docks. When I called NCL, they said that the times would be adjusted. Do you arrive at 10 also, and if so, what time do the excursions leave ( I was looking at the kayaking trips).

Judy

[DrivesLikeMario]

Yes, Julie, I know what you mean - that's rare! Either that or you both have the same tastes & expectations! LOL

 

Thanks again for the wonderful pictures! Looking forward to our cruise this summer on this ship!