Embarking Pride of Aloha in Maui

[jimbug]

I noticed where you can choose to embark on your PoAloha cruise on Saturday in Maui or Sunday in Honolulu. Personally, due to cheaper airfare for me and due to the fact that gives you more time in both Honolulu AND Maui doing it that way, I'd choose to embark in Maui. However, it kind of weirds me out that while we'd be starting our cruise, other passengers would be on the last night of theirs. Does this cause confusion with passengers coming and going at the same time? For those of you who have done kind of an "alternative" embarkation, does it take away from that first-day magical cruise experience? (I know that probably sounds a bit silly, but you all know what I mean!)

 

Thanks for your help - trying to decide if embarking in Maui is worth it!

[Jim Gallup]

NCL tried the same thing on the Star when it first sailed in Hawaii. It was a real mess.

When the new passengers boarded in Maui, there was no one there to greet them, no welcome aboard party, no sailaway party, nothing.

When they got to their cabins the TV scroll said it was the 5th day of their cruise. That night was the Captains farewell dinner and there was a farewell show in the theater.

All the alternative restaurants well fully booked.

The Spa was fully booked.

All the good shore excursions were booked.

 

At the end of the Honolulu-Honolulu cruise (when most of the passengers left) the ship was a mess for the day in Honolulu, when they had to turn the ship around. It was difficult getting off and even more difficult returning. Most everything on the ship was closed while they got the ship ready.

 

As the Maui passengers prepared to leave, they had the Captains welcome aboard dinner, sailaway party, and welcome show.

 

NCL received so many complaints from this program that they discontinued it as quickly as possible. Now they want to do it again??????????????????????

[jimbug]

Thank you for your information. You may have just changed my mind enough to pay the extra $$ to sail on the Pride of America from HNL instead. (I have to do a Saturday-Saturday cruise due to time constraints.)

[bankofdad]

NCL received so many complaints from this program that they discontinued it as quickly as possible. Now they want to do it again??????????????????????

 

All the things you've mentioned were things I was wondering about, too. I didn't know they had tried this before.

 

I wonder what impact this might have on passengers that are not embarking or debarking in terms of their ability to get off of the ship for shore excursions as soon as the ship hits port. Anyone have any past experience with this?

[KeystoneCruiser]

I happened to be on the Star when they did the old Maui boardings. (we had boarded in Honolulu) As Jim said, it was a real mess. I remember people at the pier waiting with their carry-ons to board while the rest of us were disembarking for our shore excursions. Then I remember the PA page for "all new passengers to report for lifeboat drill." Then they set off the lifeboat "alarm" for all the new passengers to hear while in their drill. There were a few people (who didn't listen to the pre-announcement that it was only a test), who thought it was real call to lifeboat stations.

 

There also seemed to be only a small number of people boarding in Maui. My other question was what type of cabins would they get? Since the majority of the ship was Honolulu-Honolulu, all the good cabins were gone. It would seem you can only use the same cabins over and over for Maui-Maui sailings. I too am surprised that NCL is attempting it again. Perhaps when they get the Pride of Hawaii on line in 2006, they will take either the Aloha or Hawaii and make them exculsively Maui to Maui sailings. (with perhaps an overnight in Honolulu instead of Maui!) Now that is one cruise I would take, I would love a few days in Maui!

[jimbug]

Hmmm...Pride of Hawaii is debuting in '06? (I need to keep up with these things!) This means a few things, then, that could affect my '07 cruise: a) as keystonecruiser mentioned, they may make 1 of the 3 ships Maui-Maui exclusively (yay!), b) the PofAmerica prices may go down since PofHawaii will be the "new" kid on the block (also good!), or c) one of the 3 ships may have a completely different itinerary that might interest me more!

 

Hmmm, what to do....can anyone tell me when Pride of Hawaii debuts and when bookings open up?

 

Also, for the person wondering about the selection of cabins for the Maui-Maui trip on Aloha, they do not offer every single cabin, but there is still a very large selection available and I have no problems with what is offered!