Pride of Aloha Virtual Cruise by Cruise Critic

[Jeconk]

Here is a question that I just thought of after reading the last days review.

From the article: (didn't know how to move it over here all nice and neat, so I copied and pasted...)
"And finally, the most bizarre "fee"? Pride of Aloha automatically -- and without notifying passengers in advance -- levies a $2.50 per person charge (one time) as a donation to Honolulu's Bishop Museum. It's not the amount that's an issue, but the actual practice that offends. When I asked a staffer why that fee was automatically levied, he replied, "because NCL makes a donation to the Bishop Museum." Wrong. It's the passengers who are making the donation. Here's a tip: This you can remove by going to the purser's desk and making the request."

I sailed on the June 20 repo cruise and we also had seven days on the islands, but we never got charged for this donation. I just looked at my final bill again from the ship and it was not there. Anyone else from June 20 have that item on their bill?

[bmurra]

I just returned from my honeymoon on the Pride of Aloha. It is very obvious that NCL is having problems with this ship. Here is a quick summary:
At 2:30 our room was not ready, the mattress had urine stains on it
We requested new mattresses, but the crew could not figure out how to do that
We finally received a room change at 9:30 at night, but had to move our own bags since the crew was still delivering bags to people
The restaurants could not get a meal to our table still hot. We only received one hot meal, it was lunch, every other meal was delivered at room temperature. Requesting a new meal did not help, then new meal would be room termperature also.
We watched a waiter pick his nose and continue to wait on customers
One hour + waits to be seated while tables were available, there was not adequate staff to wait on the tables.
Two restaurants, same menu, salads and appetizers and breakfast were the same every day for the entire cruise.
Staff did not know the menu, in fact they asked me 4 times to clarify the desert I wanted, I even pointed it out to them on the menu and they still brought the wrong item.
I have many more issues with NCL, the staff needs a lot of training and more additional staff. The trip was horrible.

[romy]

[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=darkslateblue]Bmurra,[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=#483d8b]I'm so sorry you had this bad experience. Especially for your honeymoon! I hope you can get some resolution from NCL regarding this ordeal.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=#483d8b][/color][/size][/font]
[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=#483d8b]BTW, congrats on your new nuptuals![/color][/size][/font]
[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=#483d8b][/color][/size][/font]
[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=#483d8b]Romy[/color][/size][/font]

[Traveler39]

It concerns me that we continue to get these negative reviews... Is the crew and ship really that bad... I read on these c.c. postings the other day that negative reviews should not be given much concern as it takes a lot of reviews before they mean anything... Even with reviews 6 to 1 with 6 being the negative reviews should not mean anything.... Now 600 to 100 with the 600 being negative reviews we could start allowing ourselves to think that maybe just maybe there is a big enough problem to really get concerned... Wow... what junk....

To defend NCL and the POA at this time is frightening....This ship has problems....ncl has problems.... when and where does it end... Thousands of customers have paid many thousands of their hard earned dollars for the privilage of sailing on the problem child of the cruise industry... But wait... It is too soon to judge this ship and ncl.... Give them the 9 months that Mr. Deering believes it will take to bring her up to his standards... again..WOW....

[cnmiranda]

Nose picking?????? Thanks for the chuckle. :D

Bmurra, were you on the most recent cruise on POA? It would be nice if you could post a review below. It gets lost "up here" with the virtual tour. Welcome to cruise critic and look forward to more posts!

Congrats on your wedding:D:D:D

[segerd]

At least when "Jessica" sneezed on her hands and then reached in to arrange the pan of bacon, her supervisor spoke to her about it. She cried and said that she couldn't get sent home because her mother would "kill her". They are trying to train them.

[traveller333]

If you want to read the entire article in the Los Angeles Times here is the link:

[url]http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-insider8aug08,1,2900859.column?coll=la-travel-headlines[/url]

I have long felt that of all the cruise lines, NCL seems to run the biggest scam of allowing passengers to book a cheap fare but reaching deep into your pockets once you're on board. This article is taking it beyond the normal "nickel and diming" that goes on with the major cruise lines...
I think the only way for this cruise line to clean up their act with both service and "robbing the passengers" is to boycott them all together. I have never been on a line where there is so much constant marketing going on. I would so much rather pay a higher fare upfront and be left alone! What was once "nickel and diming" is more like $20 billing! It is so irritating.

[Traveler39]

Hello Traveller333... what is the deal here on your comments and newspaper article? The info of which you speak is only available to us if we register to a web page that may or may not have that article... Can you not provide the article for us on C.C.....? I do not wish to nor plan to register to another web page when there is no supporting info that I would like that page... Please print the article here.

[Host CMLA]

[quote name='Traveler39'] Please print the article here.[/QUOTE]It would be a copyright violation to print the article here.

[Traveler39]

Is it legal then to use C.C. to publish another web page concerning travel in a publication... ? Would it be legal to state the info to the best of his/her knowledge without quotes ?

[Host CMLA]

[quote name='Traveler39']Is it legal then to use C.C. to publish another web page concerning travel in a publication... ? Would it be legal to state the info to the best of his/her knowledge without quotes ?[/QUOTE]Members can post links to online publications. And members can paraphrase stuff that they've read or heard somewhere but not copy word for word on this board. I guess it's like when you wrote papers in college. They have to be your words.

[Stephen Hensley]

Aloha,

It has been 6 weeks since I was last on the POA. I was working as a server in the bar department. I trained for 2 months on the Star, and worked the reposition of the Sky from Puerto Rico to San Francisco. I have worked in food and beverage for over 15 years, including 4-Star resort hotels in Carmel, CA.

I can send the final e-mail of my cyber journal, origionally sent to family and friends. Please note that the prior 4 e-mails dealt mostly with the adventure of international cruise work and shore exploration, in short they were mostly fun and entertaining. For the last one I warn everyone that it is not fun and probably not entertaining. I would only send the e-mail if they just had to see the dreadful details.

The USA has many 5-Star resorts, hotels, restaurants and spas, with thousands of exceptional service professionals. Here in the Hawaiian Islands we do not have Mobil gas stations (?), so no 5-Star establishments, but it you follow travel magazines like Conde Nast, our resorts, and therefore our servers, are very highly rated. True professionals do not come cheap; an on-call banquet bartender can make $50 thousand / year in Carmel, Tom Cruise bartenders over $100 thousand in Vegas, probably somewhere in between at Hula Grill on Kaanapali Beach.

The job fairs may have been populated by contract headhunters who embellished what the pay might be, but there were also many NCL exaggerations as to how much we would make and how much time off we would have. The problems with Project America is that NCL will not pay wages comparable to shore wages and they believe they can treat the US crew as badly as they treat the international crew, so the people working for them will be young, inexperienced and/or desperate.

Nearly all hotel workers originally hired for this project ended up making considerably less under the US Flag than they were led to believe during hiring and training. There were many exceptional workers when the training started, many saw the writing on the wall leaving soon, a few stuck it out this far. Here is how you get a few cruisers who had a decent cruise; most are new to cruising so do not know what to expect, and there are still a few professionals in every department.

I believe the American Project will fail, because it is run by NCL, not because it is staffed by Americans. If you have the option to cancel, I recommend it. I have stayed in touch with my co-workers and thing have only got worse. Please make your e-mail requests known in the subject line, I deleat all unknown e-mail.

[Traveler39]

Hello Steven.... I appreciate your posting... do you wish to receive emails asking for more info? If so we would need your email address.... Your inside information will be welcome by some of us... We who are still booked for a cruise on the POA soon.... Others may fault you for your position and as a first time poster... You have the right to give your opinion on this ship so please do so....

Do you believe that the recent changes in management of the ship will result in better relations between the crew and NCL/Ship management.... ?

Was there a problem with the training and staffing which resulted in the crew leaving the ship early? Thanks....

[John Tee]

Please forward your story to me. I think I would enjoy it. I was on the POA repo cruise to Hawaii ... much of it was a nightmare.

send it to [email="jt.20.Emerald232@spamgourmet.com"]jt.20.Emerald232@spamgourmet.com[/email]

Thanks

I hope things go better for you and for the entire crew.

jt

[buchie614]

you can email me at [email]buchie614@aol.com[/email], I would be very interested. I was on the poa and it was a BIG disappointment.

[PTWcruiser]

Just came back from POA and can't wait to warn prospect cruiser to wait till NCL get their acts together before stepping abroad. I'm no veteran cruiser but the POA really sit on the bottom of my list. First, NCL where on local and national paper so I'm not the only one experienced the "No service" cruise. Here are some highlight of my bitter vacation:
1) cruise pictures... What cruise pictures?? Satff where not there to take pictures. Other cruises are eagerlly waiting to take passengers photo to make $$$. No staff where in sight... They are either late or no show. Background are either damage or plain, what ever pictures POA took where lousy.

2) Muster drill: I may be stepping on a fine line here. The muster drill was a joke. We stand in line no more than 15 minutes and it was over. Demonstration of proper uses of life vest and life boat where at a min. IMOF, all we did was signed in, waited several minutes and than that's it. My son was glad it was that short. He remembered the 3 days mexico cruise we had last year had a longer dreadfull waiting than the POA.

3) Room accomadation: 1.5 hrs wait for room sevice. Cold pizza, soggy noodles, Semi-hard PBJ sandwich. That happened on day 3 and that's is the only time we order room service again. Next few day, line are either busy or no answer.

4) We paid for four passenger and got three bed: This is a laugher... The person in charge don't know where the sofa bed went and says... "We will try to get a roll away for you. The sofabed is not that good anyway" LOL, The room are so small, If a roll away bed was set up, there are no more floor space to walk to the bathroom.

5) Food!!! Better wake up early or the food will run out by 10:30am. Camp out at the reservation line to try to make resevation for dinner the following day. Only 6 or 8 slot are available per day and once it's out. Plan to wait in line for hours to get in line during dinner time. My records is 5 hours from waiting in line @ 6pm to finishing the dinner @ 11:15pm on day one. Dinner was luke warm and sevice where out of sight!!! Literally.... It had gotten better by day 3 but still had to wait in line for getting a table and reservation.. All the servers are so green. Some even said "Sorry, it's my first day here..." LOL... I got better service at McDonald... It's sad....

6) Spa.... watch out here...Min services here....One positive notes here.. At the end of the treatment. That's it.... No sale pitch to sell products here...That saved me a bundle.. Normally, they will try to sell blah blah blah lotion of moisturization cream etc....On this cruise, once it's done, it's done and bye.... Bring your own juice.. The OJ are do water'd down, TANG taste great!!!

7) Excursions... Expect to leave you next born kid on the boat to pay for excursion. Add up all the excursions and it can equal the 50% or higher of the price of the cruise.

8) Night activities??? Min but acceptable. The show are decent but better get there early... Lots of dead spot to hinder view points

9) Drinks... do water'd down. Don't need to order Virgins drinks.

10) Captain??? Haven't heard from the Capt at all..Not even an aannouncement through the PA.

11) Mid-Night buffet??? there aren't any

12) DON'T try to bring food back onto the ship from a day out. The secruity will confiscated. Especially the last day at Maui. Don't know why, but the AKAL secruity said "It was the ship policy"... We lost a dozen of good Cream Puff from Komodo Bakery. Some passenger lost 4 dozen on Krispy Creme etc.. SO be aware!!!

13) Paying additional $$$ for meal equal to standard dinning at upscaled cruise. Not fair!!! But we are glad to pay for it to get services and a hot meal.

I can go on and on with my disappoinments w/ POA... My wife actually lost weight from the cruise. We where in hunger most of the time, Burger King on Kona was considered one of the best meal we had during the cruise. We paid good money for the cruise and was really mistreated. We are not the only one on board w/ the same feelings. Lots of couple celerbrating their honeymoon and Anniversary where sadden by their experiences. It's the one they will never forget.

There are several highlight the trip I would say are decent and recommendation:

- Passengers w/ Balcony on the left side of the ship got the best view of the cruise.

- Having server named Devon Hamilton serving you will get you food a lot faster in the main dining room.

- Pay the extra $$$ for upscaled dining. It's a good meal only if you can get a reservation..

- Grab towels from the pool deck to use at the beach. Towels being provided at the gang way are bath towel and it's not big enough.

- At Maui.. Try to eat at a local restaurant called "Casanova". A grreat Italian place with good food at a resaonable price.

Well, this is it. This is all my gripes about POA... I hoped my experiences will inform upcoming cruiser of the POA what may be experiencing on their voyage. The Majestic views and experiences from all the island was beautiful. (A Double Rainbow over the ocean) !! I know NCL is trying to improve the experiences. My last 4 days was better than the first 3 days. Maybe my expectation was lowered, they are trying. But at my expense??? That's not fair!!!!

Good Luck
PTW
:(

[Traveler39]

This review really hits hard.... We know that different cruisers experience different levels of service... but this reviewer really was not happy with the poor experience that they received...

[buchie614]

My thoughts exactly, I paid top $$, more than any cruise I have taken, and the crew was trying, but at my expense. NCL should be refunding more than some service charge, it cost a lot to eat off ship to get a decent meal.

[Traveler39]

How many of the passengers pass and present have Emailed or written to NCL and/or Star cruises.... ? Emailed or written the reporters in Hawaii that have published articles on the POA...?

The reason I ask it would seem to me that ncl is holding the line now on what has been offerred... They do not indicated in any way that they are ready or willing to compensate the passengers at a more reasonable rate... If Passengers are happy with the cruise experience, with the food service and the room cleaning then there is no reason for ncl to offer anything...

NCL has been reported to be working hard to improve the poa (that admits their concerns also).... If the improvements are not really satisfying the concerns of the passengers then the passengers need to wage a pro-active program to help ncl see the problems and solve the problems... If this does not work then ncl needs to offer a much better compensation program...

There are many ways to pursue a program to help ncl with this problem....

[buchie614]

I have written twice, both addressed to Mr. Vetich. Once before the cruise, and once when I got back, has not heard a word from Mr. Vetich. NCL knows what the problem is. NCL needs to help themselves before any of us can help them. They need, imo to stop running a full ship of passengers when they are so low staffed. They are still making a lot of money off this service fee thing, by only refunding $35. and offering $$ off another poa cruise, Please, that is still them making more $$. Do I sound angry, bitter, you bet, I paid good $$ for a cruise, and did not get it, AT ALL.. Have I did my part in writing, yes, I even E-mailed that Hawaiian news, and they emailed me back and said they are getting a lot of complaints re this poa situation. I just hope that everyone who had a bad cruise on the POA write letters, not that it will do any good, but perhaps so.

[Traveler39]

I have contacted STAR Cruise and they referred me to an NCL contact...

I then contacted both STAR & NCL with specifics and concerns per reported in reviews, etc...Have not heard anything yet but believe I will soon... It has only been three days...

Contact STAR Cruise Lines at: [email]starcare@starcruises.com.my[/email]

Eleena Osman, Customer Service Officer, Star Cruises

and

Contact NCL Cruise Lines at: FAX # 305-436-4108

Catherine Vazquez, Guest Relations, NCL

I have received emails from both parties asking me for specifics of reported complaints and service problems.... Let us know what happens...

[Michael Ho Ho]

You may want to contact the gentleman who is in charge of NCL America.

His name is Robert Kritzman. He is Managing Director of NCL America. He is located in the NCL America Corporate Offices in Honolulu, Hawaii.