May 17 Pride of America review

[Okiecpa]

We just got back from the May 17 sailing of POA and were extremely pleased with our trip! Overall, we found the crew to be very friendly, competent, and helpful.

Friday: Our party of 4 (2 50ish couples) flew into Honolulu and were transferred by ABC Limousine to the Sheraton Princess. We used ABC for all of our transfers—they were reliable, comfortable, and convenient. If you stay at the Sheraton on Friday night, please be aware that rooms overlooking the pool area will get to hear the wonderful Hawaiian show until 9:30. Any other time we would have enjoyed it, but due to long travel day and time change, we were exhausted and had to get up early the next morning.

Saturday: Got an early start, toured Pearl Harbor, went back to hotel to get luggage, and got to ship to check in around 12:45. Ate lunch at Aloha café, explored a bit, and our cabin was ready by 4:30. We know we could have gotten checked in later, but we were eager to get on board. Our luggage was in our cabin by around 6:00. Best hint from this forum: the over the door shoe rack for the bathroom door!

The first night there is no dress code, and we ate in the Liberty dining room. Since there weren’t many people eating there at 6:00, the waiters practically doted on us. The food was fine—especially the appetizers.

Sunday: As we did each morning, we got our breakfast in the Aloha Café and ate out on deck. We never had a problem with crowds, and we really liked all of the delicious choices. My usual granola and yogurt are looking pretty bland now.

In Maui, we rented a car through Hertz for both days. For ease and no parking hassles, we just checked it back in and re-rented it the second day. The first day we went to Lahaina. It was a cute town with lots of little shops. We went on the Atlantis submarine where we viewed some fish and a sunken ship. The consensus of the group was that it was nice, but possibly not worth the pretty expensive cost. We then drove around the northwest coast, and my husband was a little disappointed in the narrow beaches we found. (They didn’t match the pictures in his mind of Hawaiian beaches.)

Monday: We drove down towards Wailea and went to Makena Beach. At last my husband was happy—the beach was wide, practically deserted, with gorgeous views. Please be aware that the waves are pretty strong and the only facilities were porta-potties. There are some lovely homes and exclusive resorts in the area.

That night we ate lobster in the Skyline dining room. It was very good, and we got in at 6:00 with no wait. However, the waiters did seem a little overwhelmed by what they called the large crowd.

Tuesday: As we sailed into Hilo that morning, we saw a gorgeous full rainbow that seemed to be only feet from our balcony. In Hilo, we did the Volcanoes National Park and Rainbow Falls excursion. It was very informative and enjoyable. We also stopped at a macadamia nut factory and botanical garden. That night we ate in the Cadillac Diner, where we had a nice burger and fries. Because we had a starboard balcony, we were able to view the amazing lava display later that night as we sailed past. In fact, we felt that we were extremely fortunate to have the starboard side many times during the trip.

Wednesday: We did the Eruption of Flavor excursion and were glad that we did. The first two stops—the chocolate and coffee farms—were fairly close together. The vanilla farm was about 1 and ½ hours drive. It could have seemed long, but we got to see a lot of the landscape, and we had an especially congenial group on the bus. We learned a lot and enjoyed meeting the owners of the vanilla and chocolate establishments. The lunch was delicious. That night we ate at the Jefferson’s Bistro, which has a $15 additional charge. It was worth it—the food was delicious and the service more than impeccable. The chocolate fondue is wonderful.

Thursday: In Kauai, we took the ship’s helicopter ride. We had requested an earlier flight time online (and thought it was confirmed), but our flight time ended up being at 1:30. By then, it was cloudy and rainy, which obscured the view somewhat; however, we were still glad we did it. The scenery was breathtaking. Our flight ended up being the last for the day, as later flights were cancelled. We also did the ship’s Luau. It was nice, with okay food. As a former twirler, I was especially impressed with the young man who twirled fire.

Friday: We shopped, walked along the beach at the Marriott, and shared a piece of Hula pie at Dukes. Late that afternoon, we sailed by the Napali Coast. While lovely, I think we saw it better from our helicopter. Since there was again no dress code in the restaurants, we went to the Lazy J Steakhouse. We didn’t feel that the food or the service justified the extra charge.

Saturday: We did the Easy Fly, which was one of our better decisions on the trip. Melvin from ABC met us and gave us a 6-hour tour of Oahu. He was great, and we were so happy we did this, because we had formerly been disappointed with Oahu, when all we had seen was Honolulu.

Overall, our worries about Freestyle cruising were unfounded, as this fit our expectations for our trip. We didn’t want to have to dress up and eat at a designated time. Our steward was excellent; by the way, we got 3 towel creations and chocolates most nights.

Thank you to everyone for all of the great info I got over the past few months on this forum!!

[dougweaver]

Thank you for your review. Sounds like you had a great time. We are going in July and also have a starboard room ... 11014 ... looking forward to it! Concerning the shoe rack you mentioned ... where did you get yours ... is there a certain style or type that works best on the ship? Thanks dpw

[CC Help Michell]

Nice, informative review with some good tips! I'm glad you had a good time, and mahalo for taking the time to share your experiences.

 

As a fellow over the door shoeholder believer, I'll attach a thumbnail of ours in use on the Pride of Hawaii. We got it at WalMart, and use it for every small thing we take, but almost never for shoes! :) This one has mesh pockets, as our former clear pocket one finally started cracking after several years. I like the ones with pockets you can see through.

[dougweaver]

Thanks Michell .. thats perfect. I know what to look for now. My wife is going to think I am so smart! ;) dpw

[AussieKathy]

thanks for posting your review glad it's more on the positive note a few negative ones going around. I hoping everything will be smooth sailing in 11 days!

[ND23]

I have a video of that rainbow, available at:

 

[watsup]

thanks for posting your review glad it's more on the positive note a few negative ones going around. I hoping everything will be smooth sailing in 11 days!

 

 

I agree. I get a little tired of the reviewers who seem to feel the need to nitpick every little thing. Life is not perfect, and the cruise will probably have some annoyances. I don't like to use the word "whining", but that is what it seems like in here sometimes. Enjoy!

[dougweaver]

I think it is kind of understandable some of the problems the POAM is having right now and some of the negative comments from people just off the ship. With the new changes the POAM is trying to implement with Freestyle 2.0 ... at the same time as getting a lot of new workers onboard from other ships ... that has got to be tough on everyone involved. Unfortunately the cruisers last week had to witness it first hand and some were not to happy about it so they are expressing that ... and to be honest ... I can't blame them if they have legit complaints ... it cost them a lot of $ for the cruise. But I think in the next few weeks as the crew and the 2.0 changes get up to speed you will begin seeing more positive comments than negative ... at least that is my hope. dpw

[Okiecpa]

Thanks for sharing the video of the rainbow, ND23! I also forgot to mention another sight we enjoyed: on our last afternoon, we looked out our balcony and saw what looked like dolphins leaping along side the ship.

[JaniceW]

I hate to categorize people who are being honest and have legitimate complaints as being whiners. We all experience events differently and I hope all who are kind enough to post on this board will share their experiences - whether the poster feels it was positive or not. That really gives me a balanced view about what to expect. I will be on the Pride of America in late June. I am experienced cruiser and not all cruises are created equal. Nor do all people experience things the same way. What bothers me may not be a big deal to the person to my right or to my left. That being said, I have never taken a bad cruise. That is not to say that some were not better than others and I never hesitiate to point out what I feel could use improvement and what I enjoyed (in my humble opinion) when posting a review. After all, people put a lot of time, effort and money into planning a cruise and I hope that they just don't want to read glowing reviews and I would hate to think that people may be afraid of posting the negatives they encountered at the risk of sounding like a complainer.

[Okiecpa]

When we first thought about going to Hawaii 10 months ago, I told my husband we would NOT take the NCL cruise because of the many negative reviews. However, he spoke to a friend who had recommended it so we booked Pride of Aloha. When we were bumped from it, we wondered if it was a sign we should forget the whole thing. When we were able to get pretty much the same type of cabin on Pride of America, we went ahead with the trip, but still had quite a few worries. While no ship and crew are perfect, we found the experience to be very comparable to the Royal Caribbean cruise we took a few years ago. I wish you a happy, trouble-free cruise.

[watsup]

When we first thought about going to Hawaii 10 months ago, I told my husband we would NOT take the NCL cruise because of the many negative reviews. However, he spoke to a friend who had recommended it so we booked Pride of Aloha. When we were bumped from it, we wondered if it was a sign we should forget the whole thing. When we were able to get pretty much the same type of cabin on Pride of America, we went ahead with the trip, but still had quite a few worries. While no ship and crew are perfect, we found the experience to be very comparable to the Royal Caribbean cruise we took a few years ago. I wish you a happy, trouble-free cruise.

 

 

That was my point, really. Over the years, it has become quite the fad to give negative reviews to the NCL cruises in Hawaii. As a result, first-timers such as yourself have trepidations about the cruise. In matter of fact, 99%+ of cruisers on the Pride of America have overall excellent experiences. Yes, some cruisers will have an absolutely terrible experience for a variety of reasons, but they are the exceptions by far. And, yes, there are a few who somehow take pride in making their reviews as negative as possible, and those are the FEW that I call "whiners". Glad you enjoyed your cruise!

[CabinForFour]

Okiecpa,

 

Thanks for your informative review. I'm another huge fan of the over-the-door shoe holder. Traveling with kids, it's essential!!! One question, please. Do you recall which night was designated as the optional formal dinner?

[ND23]

Do you recall which night was designated as the optional formal dinner?

 

I'm pretty sure it was Monday night as we were leaving Maui. Get yourself a reservation in the Liberty dining room for that night!

[Okiecpa]

Yes, I just checked our Freestyle Daily and it was Monday night. We saw everything from casual to quite dressy.

[donaldquackers]

So many of the staff were over the top nice to me. I don't remember seeing an unhappy staff member. I'm so glad that I had the chance to do this cruise and be a part of the first week out of dry dock. I honestly don't know how the staff can remember so many guests, and then do it all over again the next week. Many of the staff called me by name as I wandered around the ship.

[dougweaver]

I'm pretty sure it was Monday night as we were leaving Maui. Get yourself a reservation in the Liberty dining room for that night!

Why the Liberty for the optional formal night? Thanks dpw

[ND23]

Why the Liberty for the optional formal night?

 

It's the "nicer" of the two dining rooms (Liberty vs. Skyline), and is the one with the (slightly) stricter dress code. It even has a more exclusive "feel" than the Skyline, since you can walk into the Skyline dining room, and to get to the Liberty dining room, you ascend a giant curved staircase (as if you're "moving up" to a more exclusive dining area). The following was found on the back page of the daily each day:

 

"What to wear: For dinner, collared shirts and a pair of khakis for men, and skirts or sundresses for the ladies. Nice jeans are cool in all restaurants except the Liberty. Kids under 12 - nice shorts or jeans are okay. The Cadillac Diner and Aloha Cafe offer a casual atmosphere."

 

Since this Monday night is the (optional) formal night, and it's lobster night, if you're going to dress up, you may as well be in the Liberty dining room. I believe Skyline and Liberty will the same menu each night, but you might see slightly lesser dress in Skyline than you do in the Liberty dining room.

 

We ate in Skyline for this (optional) formal night - lobster night, and we did dress in resort casual wear. We had a reservation for 12, so we were seated at the large "captain's table" in the exact middle of the room. The wait staff must have been short-handed, because instead of wearing the black-tie and suits like the rest of the waiters, ours were in cowboy gear - they were on loan from the steakhouse. The ship didn't send them to the Liberty dining room, but thought it OK for them to be in the Skyline dining room like that.