Pride of America (POA) August 26, 2017 Review

BACKGROUND: This was my wife’s (49), son (12 almost 13) and my (48) first trip to Hawaii and our 9th cruise. We were staying 4 nights in Oahu prior to the cruise and 1 night after the cruise. We booked a category SH Penthouse Suite, cabin 13512. We were staying at the Outrigger Reef the first 3 nights and the post cruise night, and had the free Marriott room from NCL for Friday night before the cruise.

I’ll start this review at checking in at the Marriot, but will include Oahu when discussing ports later on.

MARRIOTT (FREE PRE-CRUISE NIGHT): We knew there was supposed to be a separate check-in area, but weren’t sure where it was. We asked and it turns out to be the generic tour lobby, not a specific NCL desk. There was nobody in line and the clerk just had to get out our envelope with our keys and room information in it. There was a document that explained the transfer process. You leave your bags inside you room by the door before 10:00 am Saturday morning and then meet at the tour lobby at 10:45 or 11:00, I don’t recall exactly. You don't need to be in the room for them to get your bags. The Marriott was ok and the view from the room was better than expected. We had a corner room and a view of Diamond Head and the beach between buildings. The bellhop collected our bags around 10:15 Saturday morning. The bags travel to the ship separate from the passengers, they won’t go with you.

EMBARKATION: We went down to the tour lobby and this could have been more organized. There was no line or obvious place to wait. We saw a guy with NCL markings and asked him and he said hold on, but then was checking in other people who came down after us. It didn’t make sense. We finally checked in with him and shortly thereafter we were told to get on the bus. We left the hotel around 10:45. We arrived at the port and went through security. It wasn’t crowded but there were some people with very large suitcases that were not carryon’s and this held up the line, as well as others with 4 or 5 carryon bags. Once through security we found a check in area for suites and they had us go to a little room on the side to check in. This got really busy and they started having people go to the regular counter to check in rather than wait. They had some small pastries,snacks and drinks setup to eat while waiting. Thomas our concierge was there. Check-in took a few minutes and then we were led to the ship and Cagney’s a few minutes later. We were on the ship by 11:35. You wait in the lounge area outside Cagney’s,they provided wine (or champagne, I forget), take your cabin number and say they will get you when your table is ready. We sat and sat, and noticed many groups coming in after us and then were taken to their table. We called the hostess over and she said she would check, and then finally 5-10 minutes later we were led to a table. So, I don’t know what happened, but we were one of the first onthe ship but then didn’t’ get seated for like 25 minutes or so.

CABIN: Our deck was maybe the 3rd deck called to be ready. I am not sure why POA can’t get all rooms ready by 1:30 or so like every other ship, since they have just as much time after debarkation. But anyway, ours were ready fairly early in the afternoon, so that was good. The cabin was great. It was a good size, having a murphy bed was good cause you didn’t have to deal with the sofa being made into a bed. The deck was enormous, which is one reason we picked this cabin. There was a wide variety of movies available, some rather new but still free, I am not sure if they were only free in Suites or not. We had drank 2 of the large bottles of water and didn’t seem to be charged for them. There were 2 bottles of sparkling wine, one from latitudes, and not sure about the other, maybe since we were in a suite. There was a curtain that separated the bed from the rest of the room. The only thing that would have been better would have been if the curtain also totally covered the murphy bed area. The bathroom was a good size and there were always plenty of towels. There was the standard shampoo and bodywash on the wall, but also bar soap and bottled toiletries. One thing is weird,they changed out our shower curtain midway and replaced it with a small one that was probably for a shower not a shower/tub combo and it didn’t extend the entire length of the tub. There was also robes, slippers and an umbrella to use if needed.

We have a video walkthrough of the cabin on our YouTube channel (Fligs Family Fun)

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We will also have many other videos from our cruise posted there in the coming weeks as we edit them.

CONCIERGE: We only saw or spoke with our concierge twice, once on embarkation in the check in room and then in Kona when he walked us down to the front of the tender line. We didn’t use him for anything else, nor heard from him.

BUTLER: Our Butler, was Chelsea. We didn’t meet her until the second day. We used her for room service breakfast once, and then she would bring the snacks in the evening, usually while we were out and sometimes someone else brought them.

ROOM STEWARD: We never formally met our room steward. We saw him in the hall 2 or 3 times and briefly mentioned to him what cabin we were in. There was no personal touch or interaction with him, but he was anexcellent room steward in terms of keeping the room clean and turndown service at night. The room was always made up when we returned. Also, not sure if butler or room steward but the ice was always filled as well. He also left towel animals every night. I believe his name was Ed or Eduardo. Cabin cleanliness and upkeep couldn’t have been any better than it was.

I will update this thread in the next few days on my review of the rest of POA, ports, excursions etc. Happy to answer any questions you may have.

Marriot

Cabin

looking forward to the rest of your review & reminiscing about it as we were on the same cruise too. Thomas was nice, but we probably interacted with him scarcely/briefly during breakfast for an obligatory 'good morning' greeting, but otherwise didn't use his services.

Following along. We cruised on POA in 2015 and are cruising on her again next year :)

We will be on the POA in Fenruary, 2018. Looking forward to your review.

Thanks for the review.

Loved the video and photos.

The area outside Cagneys is the Napa Wine Bar. The 2 bottles of sparkling wine would be one for a suite and the other for Latitudes.

I knew I had a pic of the bed area.

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I was on the same cruise. Your view at the Marriott is fantastic! I was pleasantly surprised at the size of our balcony as well, it was excellent. The biggest I've had on a cruise ship for sure. It seems like our butler and steward were around more than yours were? Peter (our butler) brought us juice and snacks every day, and he would pop in when we ordered breakfast and at night as well. One night he came looking for us while we were having dinner at Cagneys to see if we needed anything. Very random! And agreed about Thomas the concierge - other than the couple of times we said hello to him at Cagneys, and when I went ashore at Kona, we didn't have anything to do with him.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your review. :)

Sounds like your butler was much more attentive. I didn't mind the steward not being around since the room was serviced as good as it could of been. So, he was around when needed, just when we weren't there.

One thing I forgot that was strange, is they started cleaning our balcony before 8 on debarkation morning. It was surprising to see a guy open the dividers and start washing down our balcony.

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Sounds like your butler was much more attentive. I didn't mind the steward not being around since the room was serviced as good as it could of been. So, he was around when needed, just when we weren't there.

 

One thing I forgot that was strange, is they started cleaning our balcony before 8 on debarkation morning. It was surprising to see a guy open the dividers and start washing down our balcony.

 

 

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Note to self...keep drapes closed! I am hoping this was the only morning as they most likely planned to have the balcony clean for the next group embarking.

Note to self...keep drapes closed! I am hoping this was the only morning as they most likely planned to have the balcony clean for the next group embarking.

Yes it was only on debarkation day, but I would think they would wait until 8:30 when you were supposed to be out of your cabin.

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SHIP OVERVIEW: We knew this was not a brand new huge ship with tons of new and cool features. We expected this to be a floating hotel so we could explore the various islands. For the most part, the ship was in good condition. There were some chipped/broken pieces on the cabinet in our cabin and some of the outside steps looked like they could use an update. For us, this ship served our purpose fine.

In Terms of Service, our Butler wasn’t great and some restaurants, the service was slower than expected but in general all the staff were helpful and I didn’t notice a significant difference because this is an American based ship.

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ACTIVITIES: There were activities planned throughout each day. Some were local Hawaii themed like lei making, hula classes etc. We were so busy with the islands that we didn’t go to any activity the ship offered.

SHOWS/ENTERTAINMENT: Again we were so busy with the islands, or too tired after being in port all day that we attended minimal shows.

Welcome Aboard Show: We attended this and it was good. They had a comedian and a magician perform and then some stuff from the dance/singing cast.

Magician: We saw the magician’s show and he was good. There were some typical magical acts with mirrors etc, but he was entertaining. My son really enjoyed it. We tried to go to a close-up magic show also, but the lounge was jammed 15 minutes prior and we couldn’t get a seat.

SHOPS: They had some nice little stores with souvenirs and such. We didn’t buy anything on the ship from these stores though. They didn’t have the ship Christmas ornament I like to purchase on each cruise. Actually, they didn’t have a very good selection of NCL merchandise.

The jewelry store was a Na Hoku with a Pearl Factory. I actually bought one of the KOA wood rings. I liked these and planned on buying one anyway. With the latitudes discount the price was similar to those I saw at our hotel, and I would get 3X point on my chase reserve card since shows up as an NCL charge :) When you purchase something they give you a free oyster (regularly $14.99) to open to get the pearl. This is an up sell technique so they can sell you a setting. I knew this and did buy my wife a necklace setting for her 50th birthday coming up and a remembrance of the trip, since they had a setting that matched her 15th anniversary ring.

DINING/FOOD: Overall I think the food quality was lacking. My wife and I had the 3 specialty dining plan as part of our suite perks and used that.

CAGNEY’S: We only ate here for lunch on embarkation day. This lunch was not good. Service once seated was ok, but not great. I ordered the french dip sandwich and it is served raw to rare. There were significant parts of the meat that were actually raw, not rare. They never asked how I wanted the meat and apparently there is a note on the menu that indicates some items are served raw or rare. I had never seen this before, it wasn’t a note touting the dangers of eating undercooked meat like you see lots of times. But specifically, had an asterisk and said some items served raw.

CADILLAC DINER: We ate here for dinner once. It was very crowded and we had to wait a few minutes for a table. Service here was slow. Portions were pretty small. I ordered wings as an appetizer and got what looked like 6 pigeon wings they were so small. Overall the food was ok.

LA CUCINA: This restaurant was a little difficult to get to. We were at first given incorrect directions by a crew member and then figured out you have to go through the middle hallway of the buffet to get to it. The food here was ok, service was average. My son ate from the kids menu so there was no charge for him.

MODERNO CHURRASCARIA: This is the Brazilian steakhouse. You start with a salad bar, which I found small and weird based on the items. It was nowhere as large, or varied as the one on the Breakaway. The meats came at a steady pace and were good, but nothing special. The service was better here. My son also ate from the kids menu here.

TEPPANYAKI: This was by far our best meal on the ship and would recommend going here. Seeing the other chefs, we definitely had a great chef who was very entertaining. It might of been cause he was in a good mood since he was going home the next day. The filet, shrimp and chicken were excellent and plentiful. The servings were large. My sone did eat here, so we paid the $29.95 specialty fee for him. Dinner took a little longer because of the “performance” nature of the show.

ROOM SERVICE: Room service is complimentary in suites and my wife and son ordered breakfast once. She indicated from 6-6:30 and our butler brought it at exactly 6:00 am. It was ok, but she had ordered 2 servings of chocolate croissants and they only brought one.

SKYLINE: We ate lunch here once. The original waiter we had was very talkative and was spending at least 10 minutes talking to another table, but another waiter brought our food, so it didn’t affect us. The food for lunch was ok, as was the overall service.

BUFFET (BREAKFAST): The breakfast buffet had all the standard offerings and was good. I would usually go down after they opened at 6:00 and it wasn’t very crowded. On port days it started getting very crowded early around 6:30 since everyone wanted to get off the ship. I would usually sit on the back deck outside to enjoy the sunrise and fresh air.

BUFFET (DINNER): The dinner buffet usually wasn’t overly crowded. The food was ok, and the variety wasn’t there. On the plus side they had a woman making dessert crepes which my wife and son love. Except, she didn’t know what she was doing. Normally you take the batter and spread it entirely over the circular griddle. She was only spreading the batter a little bit and making small weird shaped crepes.

Thanks for such an in depth review. We sail next month in an Owners Suite so hopefully we'll have a nice butler. :D

PORTS OF CALL - MAUI

I also have 35 reviews from our trip on TripAdvisor. This would include the hotels, restaurants and attractions we visited. My username is the same.

Lahaina Express Segway Tour (NCL Excursion) ($129 per person): We like riding Segway’s and thought this would be a good excursion. This excursion is NOT for anyone who has ridden Segway’s before. There were 13 people in our group and they went way overboard on the training. The training in the parking lot was longer than you were actually riding the Segway’s on the tour. The tour was basically riding down Front street in Lahaina and then back again. So just saw the same street we came in on with the bus. Afterwards we had about 3 hours in the town before the bus came back to pick us up. They do have a restroom and sell water for $1 a bottle which is cheap but at this price they should give for free. They take pictures during the tour but then want to sell them to you.

Rental Car: We needed a rental car to get to the snorkeling tour we booked. We were supposed to meet around 7:30 am, but didn’t know where because it depends on snorkeling conditions for the day. I was originally going to get a car at the airport but was concerned about getting a taxi / Uber early in the morning etc. I ended renting with the Enterprise that is a less than a 10 minute walk from the ship. You have to walk through a fenced line path from the ship area to outside the port. It looked like those prison movies, but was a short walk out to civilization. There is a small strip mall near the port and the Enterprise was only a block away. It took a little longer because you have to walk away from where the Enterprise is to cross at the light and then walk back.

They don’t open until 7:00 so we were the first ones there. The guy was good and got us out quickly, even giving us a large car rather than an economy since he didn’t want us waiting for that one to be cleaned. It was only $31 All in for the day using my companies discount, which multiple people at Enterprise were surprised at that rate since was so cheap. They said there were 48 checkins on that Tuesday afternoon but we got back around 2:30 and didn’t have any wait or issues. The lot is gated and locked, so you couldn’t rent for 2 days and try to use their lot overnight.

Maui Snorkel Tours (Private Tour) ($160 plus tax per person): We were supposed to meet near Lahaina around 7:30 but as described above with rental, we couldn’t pickup until 7:00, so we met around 8:00. This was a great tour. Suzzy, the owner has a marine biology background so she used some book to describe what we would see while snorkeling. She had all the equipment necessary, including optical masks which allowed my wife to finally see while snorkeling. She also has a dry bag for your keys/phone etc she keeps on the boogie board that she brings in the water. You can also hold on to this board if you need assistance. We saw lots of fish, including a sea turtle, 2 octopuses and 2 eels mating. We used our GoPro so have some good video that will be edited and uploaded to Youtube in the near future. At the end of the Snorkel, Suzzy had some drinks and snacks available. This tour was good because we could go at our own pace and snorkel from shore, since my wife can’t handle small boats.

After the tour we went to a delicious lunch place (Aloha Mix Plate) that Suzzy recommended and then we stopped by Suzzy’s store and the Shave Ice place next to it that she recommended. We then just headed back to return the rental and back onto the ship.

NEXT UP: HILO (and Maybe KONA depends on how long HILO takes)

Thx for the review - especially the ship's tour. We were on the ship a few years ago and I was curious to see if it had changed much.

PORTS OF CALL - HILO

Volcano and Tastes of Hawaii (NCL Excursion) ($189 per person): We were originally going to do the crater hike and akaka falls tour, but after some hiking in Oahu, we reconsidered that 10 hour excursion and 4+ mile hike in the heat and switched to this tour.

It didn’t start out good, since you wait in a big warehouse on the pier for the excursions and it was extremely hot. Our tour guide was not there at the 8:15 meeting time. They didn’t show up until closer to the 8:30 departure time. We had 2 guides, because one was training on this specific tour. This is a smaller tour and can have up to 12 people, we actually only had 5, our family and another couple who happened to also be from NJ. So we had plenty of room in the passenger van. it might of been a little tight had it been a full tour.

The tour guides were very friendly and knowledgeable. They had snacks and drinks available if you were hungry or thirsty during the tour. This tour went to Hilo Coffee Mill, Volcanoes national park, Big Island Candies and for lunch we stopped at Volcano Garden Arts where we at lunch. The lunch was very underwhelming for the price of the tour. There were slices of wraps that were mostly vegetables and no meat. This tour is overpriced for what it is, more soo than normal ship excursion overpriced. I wish we would of used Mary Lou’s tours for Hilo instead.

Here are some Collages I created from Oahu

PORTS OF CALL - KONA

Mary Lou’s Tours (Private Tour) ($375 Up to 4 People): Kona is a tender port and since we were in a suite, we could have the concierge walk us down when we wanted to leave, rather than get tender tickets. We got on a tender and were at the port by 8:05 or so, our meeting time was at 8:30. We figured we would walk around a little while we waited but Ken was already there waiting for us, so we were able to get started on our tour. Ken was really nice and gave a lot of information about Kona. He spoke a lot about his son who owns Island Wide Family Tours.

We went to the following places:

Hawaii Famers Market - This is a farmers market that has some food products but stalls with Hawaiian made merchandise. We got there a little before they officially opened, but most stalls were ready. We bought 2 handmade flower patterned dog collars.

Greenwell’s Coffee Farms- This is a small coffee farm. They have a free tour that lasted about 20 minutes and coffee for sale. They have a wide variety of samples, probably about 10. Some of the coffee is a little on the pricey side. We bought a sample pack and some chocolate covered coffee beans

Big Island Bees: This is a small honey company. They normally charge $10 for the tour which includes a short movie, a beekeeper talk and demonstration and a honey tasting. They however didn’t charge us for the tour and I don’t think it is worth $10 per person, so I would skip the tour if they want to charge. The information was interesting and the honey was good. We bought some jars to take home.

KealakakuaBay (Captain Cook Monument): We stopped by for a short look around.

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau*National Park: This was a nice stop and you can see Honaunau Bay (2 Step) from here. We could see lots of fish right below the water, and a sea turtle came onto the beach while we were there.

Keoki’s Fish an dChips: We stopped here for lunch. The lunch was ok. It is an interesting restaurant, with outdoor seating in the back.

Painted Church: This was interesting to see, spent a few minutes here looking around.

Doutor Farms (Mauka Meadows): This is a garden you walk through down the mountain Lots of flowers, trees etc. Very beautiful place. They have a little sitting area at the end with a view, and a small gift ship. They have a mini van to take you back up to the parking lot.

We were dropped off a little before 4 pm by a shave ice store (Scandinavian Shave Ice) that Ken recommended to try that and then walk back to the ship browsing the shops. This was a great tour, we saw everything we wanted to and highly recommend Mary Lou’s Big Island Tours. As I mentioned in the Hilo post, I wish we would of done Mary Lou’s in Hilo as well. We would of seen the same stuff or more, for less money.

Enjoying your posts...we sail on Nov. 4th and are looking forward to our trip...thanks for all the information on your excursions...and the ship...

Enjoying your posts...we sail on Nov. 4th and are looking forward to our trip...thanks for all the information on your excursions...and the ship...

Thanks. Let me know if there are any specific questions you have that I might be able to answer. It's a great way to see the different islands.

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Thanks. Let me know if there are any specific questions you have that I might be able to answer. It's a great way to see the different islands.

 

 

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I loved all of your pictures and we are definitely going to book Mary Lou's Tours on Kona and Hilo.

Video of our Snorkeling Excursion in Maui

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PORTS OF CALL - KAUAI

DAY 1 (Thursday)

Rental Car Pickup: I was going to rent a car from National at the Lihue airport to use for the first day in Kauai. All the information I found said the port shuttles only ran until 8:00 pm. This wouldn’t work for us because of the Luau. I decided to rent from Enterprise at the Marriott which is a short walk from the Port. They closed at 5 or so, but had after hours drop off. I had rented an economy car ($32), but when I went to pick it up, the agent said we were upgraded to a 4 door Jeep, which my son loved.

Wailula Falls (seen in fantasy island opening) - We had time before our helicopter ride, so we drove here to check it out. Parking is a little crazy but this was a nice little spot to see some falls.

Blue Hawaiian Helicopters (Private) ($216.97 per person): All of the helicopter tour companies seem to be in the same area near the airport. Blue Hawaiian had a nice modern building with a small gift shop, restrooms and lockers. Everything and everyone was very professional. I could take my camera and go pro but not the go pro “stick” (about 8 “ long). You go through a safety video and briefing first. They had 3 helicopters going at our tour time. They keep your group together but assign people to seats and copters based on weight etc. Our pilot was Beth and she was good with providing information and a safe flight. My son was scared but once we took off, he was fine. It was a great experience and I highly recommend it.

Smith’s Family Luau (Private) ($98 per person adult; $30 per person junior [7-13]): This was a good luau and show. They start with the emu ceremony before the buffet dinner. There are no reserved seats for the dinner except for parties of 6 or more (or maybe 5). Sit at the outside tables, these are the ones that go up first for the butter line. We were in the middle of the regular section and were one of the last tables called. The buffet food was good and there was a good variety. The buffet also includes free drinks, including alcoholic. After dinner you head to the show, where again seating is first come first serve. We were able to sit in the front row on the side. The show was very good and they performed a variety of different Polynesian style dances. We drove the rental car, but they also offer transportation from the ship.

Renal Car Return: We returned the rental car around 9:30 pm or so. The Marriott lot was full and it was difficult to get a spot to park the car. I guess I could of kept the keys and then used it in the morning, and just parked at the Marriott since it was parked there as a return and it was fine, but we weren’t going to use it Friday morning so I dropped the keys in the box behind the bell stand. I was concerned about walking back to the port but the Enterprise agent said it is fine and it was well lit and there were other people walking around 9:30. So, we had no issue. Ironically, we saw a National rental shuttle leaving the port while we were walking, so I am not sure when the shuttles actually stop running to/from the airport but the Marriott Enterprise worked well for us.

DAY 2 (Friday)

We had nothing planned for this day and were going to make it a beach day. We walked over to the Marriott and used the beach. This was easy to walk to and a good place to hang out for a couple of hours enjoying the beach.