Pride of America 3/24/07 review

[sjl513]

Pride of America 3/24/07 review

 

High ratings for this ship and its crew!

 

Our group consisted of 2 couples, my husband and me – early fifties, and my parents in their late 70’s. My dad turned 80 on the cruise. This was my 4th trip to HI and the first for all the rest.

 

We began our trip with a two night stay at Turtle Bay Resort on the north shore of Oahu. This was an excellent way to adjust to the 6 hour time difference we had from Michigan.

 

Our plane arrived on time (about 1:30pm) at HNL. We picked up our Thrifty rental car and stopped by Pearl Harbor on the off chance we could get in for the tour. We arrived just before 3pm and went right into the theatre and began the tour. It was the last tour of the day. What luck! This was a Thursday afternoon and it was not crowded.

 

It took under an hour to get on up to Turtle Bay. This is a wonderful resort, clean, quiet, good food, and relaxing. Friday, we went to Waimea Valley Audubon area and strolled up to the falls with my parents. It was not too strenuous for them. My mom and I swam at the falls – much fun. This was a beautiful walk with many labeled exotic plants and flowers. After, we drove on to the Romy’s shrimp wagon. It was good – once we got past the head, whiskers, and guts J they leave on the cooked shrimp and prawns. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the resort.

 

Both nights we ate at Ola’s on the beach at TB - great food and setting. Both mornings DH and I hiked on the trails they have created for hiking, along the beach, through the rain forest, and through the dunes/volcanic rock area. Very nice sunrises and sunsets both days. TB is on a peninsula so you are able to see both. The golf looked great, though we didn’t participate. They also have horses right on the grounds and offer trail rides.

 

The next day we left Turtle Bay about 10am, drove down the east shore and arrived at the ship at noon. We dropped our parents and luggage off outside the terminal. There was a shaded bench they could sit on outside the terminal. We returned the car to the Thrifty airport location, shuttled to the airport and took a cab back to the ship – all in an hour. Boarding was very easy. They have luggage tags there if you don’t want to create one out of the email they send you. We were on the ship by about 2pm. There was a lady selling lei’s for $8 in the terminal. We bought them – wonderful fragrance. They have free ones scattered around the ship on deck 11 but they have no smell.

 

We went up to the Aloha café and had lunch – good cafeteria style food. All floors were cleaned by about 3pm. We had been visited by the upsell fairy and were in Cabin 8000 – AA owner’s suite. We loved it! It was huge with a living/dining/kitchen counter with a by-the-cup grind/brew coffee maker filled with Kona coffee beans – incredible. Refrigerator and full bar glasses etc setup. The living room had a couch, three chairs, coffee table, and dining room table with 4 chairs. There was also a guest bathroom. We had wide screen TV’s in the LR, BR, and bathroom. We barely used the TV’s but we did watch the island information channels the ship had as we visited each island. The BR had a king size bed with end tables and a desk with a lap top PC. This room was probably larger than my parent’s whole cabin (they had a large-balcony cabin). The dressing room was huge with a dressing table, many drawers and lots of hanging space. The bathroom was enormous with two double sinks, a corner hot tub Jacuzzi, separate large shower stall and commode stall. The balcony had two lounge chairs and two upright chairs. The hot tub on the balcony (yes we had two hot tubs) was back behind the wall. This cabin is in the front of the ship. If anyone wants pictures of this cabin – let me know.

 

General food comments:

We had no trouble with reservations at the specialty restaurants as we had special privileges that came with our AA cabin. We made all our reservations the first day through our concierge the suite guests have, and changed them as needed through our butler. We ate at the Steakhouse, Jefferson’s Bistro, and the Italian place. The Italian was the best, quick friendly service and great food. The Bistro food was ok and took waaayyy too long – 2.5 hours. The Steakhouse was good – but not worth 20 extra dollars. We had great luck in the main dining rooms. If the lower level one was full, we just went upstairs and got right in. Our service was always good, food was good, and delivery was quick. Maybe we were lucky? But we had no complaints. Most mornings we had breakfast number one served in our room which we enjoyed as we were arriving into ports, and then had our second breakfast in the Aloha café. On my dad’s 80th birthday our butler served us dinner in our suite – for four of us – prime rib and lobster. What a feast. We ordered a birthday cake from the ship and it was great – white cake with chocolate butter cream frosting. I highly recommend it. This was a very special day and having the party in our suite was just the best!

 

Entertainment:

We didn’t go to anyJ. We enjoyed our room so much we stayed there most of the time on the ship.

 

Staff:

They were all very friendly. I don’t think I ran into any that weren’t. Most were fairly fresh – a few weeks to a few months experience. Pride of America must have a better management team than the other ships as this staff, while new, did a great job – very friendly and tried very hard to please us – from front desk to wait staff to the cleaning people. And this attitude starts at the top. We met the captain a couple times and he was very nice.

 

Excursions:

We rented cars in every port from Thrifty. We were Blue Chip members thanks to the recommendations from this board. It did help with the lines. We highly recommend reservations for cars. They were out of cars at most locations for those that want to rent without a prior reservation. In Hilo and Kona, there were two ships in port and that might have created this problem.

 

Hilo was understaffed and took a long time for the shuttle and at the window. Even though we were Blue Chip, they only had one staff working and she switched back and forth between the regular line and the Blue Chip line. We ended up spending the whole day at VNP.

 

Maui – no problem picking up the car. Drove to Hana – my third trip down – am I crazy? J Had a great late lunch at Hotel Hana Maui – expensive but so worth it. We left late for the drive – about 11am and traffic wasn’t bad. Coming back was really good as very few vehicles were going south at 3- 5pm. We parked at the port – along the break wall. The next day we went to Iao Needle and then to Lahinia to meet a friend of mine from Lanai. Went north along the coast – beautiful scenery. Had a great lunch at Hula Grill at Whaler’s Village. Back to the boat by 4pm.

 

Kona – easiest place to get our rental – right off the ship so no need for a shuttle. We went on the coffee trail road above Kona – just beautiful. I used the map that has been mentioned on these boards and picked Kona Blue Sky Coffee as the place to visit. They had a tasting room and a small tour of the garden and the roasting room. Very special place and I highly recommend a stop there. Too small for buses, so it had a nice intimate feel to it, versus the touristy places. We continued on down to the Place of Refuge for a picnic on the beach. We had ordered sandwiches from room service before we left the ship and packed them in the foldable cooler we brought. (Now I read this is strictly prohibited – oops). There is a lovely spot for a picnic. Meandered back to Kona, dropped the car and waited in a long line for the tenders. Everyone seemed to come back to the boat at the same time.

 

Kauai – again rented from Thrifty. Drove to the North Shore and stopped at the Kilauea NWR at Kilauea Lighthouse. This area is fascinating with many birds, and whales in the right season. We missed the whales by about a week at this area – although we did spot some spouts in the distance. I recommend early arrival there – by 10am. When we left about 11am or so – the cars were parked way back along the road. Had a great picnic at the county park in Hanalei watching all the local surfers. Then on to Kee Beach were we spent about an hour hiking around the point and beach. This is my favorite spot on Kauai and the rest of my crew could hardly pull me away. By the time we got back to the ship area – we were tired and decided to skip Poipu and the south shore. Some other trip will get us there. We returned the car and spent the next day as an “at sea” day with no driving. Wandered over to the Marriott and the shops in the morning, then back to enjoy the rest of the day in our room.

 

Views from the ship:

I have never had a cabin in the front of the ship before. We really enjoyed this location. Arriving into a port in the morning is very beautiful and if you can look at it front on – it’s quite amazing. I thought it would be windy but it wasn’t. We could sit out on the balcony and enjoy breakfast number 1 and our fresh brewed Kona coffee in the morning and cocktails in the evening.

 

The view of the volcano at night was excellent from this cabin. The captain goes straight towards the shore front-on first, and then turns so both sides see it. For the Napali Cliffs – we started on our deck, but since we were slightly starboard – it was good at the beginning but once we were going along side – the best view was port side. There was plenty of room to stand or sit on deck 13 towards the front of the ship.

 

Post cruise:

We spent a night at Outrigger Waikiki. We got off the ship, got our luggage very easily, and grabbed a porter, which enable us to go to the front of the taxi line, and got a cab right away. We were at our hotel and checked into one of our rooms by 10am – we were lucky it was available. We just hung out at the beach and shopping area all day and the next. My DH and I had a great dinner at the Hula Grill in our hotel. I enjoyed it more than our lunch at Dukes that day. From a recommendation on this board – we tried the macadamia nut pancakes at Cheeseburger in Paradise for breakfast and they were to die for – especially with the coconut syrup. We had to check out of our rooms by noon and our flight didn’t leave until 6pm. We sat by the pool, I finally swam in the ocean for the first time (I don’t like salt water but I could shower at the hotel after swimming so it was ok) and had a wonderful lunch at the Cheesecake Factory before going to the airport.

 

Sorry this was so long. I get so much out of reading on these boards – I wanted to give back!

[Bettyboop66]

Thanks so much for the review. My family and I will be on the PofAm in May and we can't wait. This will be our 8th cruise but first time in Hawaii. I am trying to learn as much as I can on these boards. Sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed. But have read many great tips. Thanks again.

Betty

[DebraDot]

Thanks for the excellent detailed review!

 

One question: How long will it take us to get to the Kilauea Lighthouse?

[sjl513]

Thanks for the excellent detailed review!

 

One question: How long will it take us to get to the Kilauea Lighthouse?

I almost put this in but wasn't sure on it. I think it was about an hour drive. We didn't have much traffic after we got out of the towns going north. The town traffic could get crowded during rush hours. I think we left the car rental place at 9am.

[DebraDot]

Follow-up: You left the rental office around 9 and the ship docks at 7.

 

Were you just taking your time, or was the rental office slow? Thanks for the info.

[whale-watcher]

Thanks for posting the review. Glad to hear you liked Turtle Bay!

[sjl513]

Follow-up: You left the rental office around 9 and the ship docks at 7.

 

Were you just taking your time, or was the rental office slow? Thanks for the info.

We were taking our time. I don't remember exactly when we left the ship but it was a relatively quick rental procedure. Got on the shuttle right away and waited in line about 15 minutes or so once we were at the office.

[wmbjr]

sjl513,

 

Thanks for the review. I am very happy to be reading the good reviews of the PofAm after reading many older ones that were not so good. After the lighthouse, did you drive on up to Hanalei or Ke'e beach or that area by chance? If so, was it worth the drive? Thanks again for the review, we cannot wait to get to Hawaii!

[sjl513]

sjl513,

 

Thanks for the review. I am very happy to be reading the good reviews of the PofAm after reading many older ones that were not so good. After the lighthouse, did you drive on up to Hanalei or Ke'e beach or that area by chance? If so, was it worth the drive? Thanks again for the review, we cannot wait to get to Hawaii!

Yes - we continued on to Ke'e Beach. IMO the best part of the North Shore is from Hanalei to Ke'e Beach - most scenic, most local, many beaches and great places to play and hike. I would never miss this part of Kauai.

[AZbeachboy]

Very seldom have we heard positive reviews of Noreigen. It is to that we are starting to get some more info.