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This American is Proud to Review the Pride of America 4/11 to 4/18

mel-b

By mel-b,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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mel-b

mel-b

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Hi all, and thanks in advance for journeying with me as I review and reminisce our cruise on NCL's Pride of America. Like most of you, I spent the months leading up to our cruise researching the heck out of the ship, the islands, activities etc.. I found unlike other cruise lines and ships, the POA seemed to not have as many recent reviews as I would've liked. What was available was a mix of yays and nays. I vowed upon returning to the mainland to write a review as a form of paying it forward. It has taken me 2 months to do so but, hey, it's a start right?!

 

Bear with me as I look through my notes and find the time to transpose everything to this review. I hope you will find it quite helpful. I will be as honest and candid as my memory allows!

 

Let me give you some background info before I get into the meat and potatoes of the actual trip. My husband (46 y.o.) and myself (36 y.o) are celebrating our 10 year anniversary this summer. We love to travel, and cruising is one way in which we do so. Most of the time, we cruise with our 3 kids. As we began to plan what to do for our anniversary, Hawaii was definitely on the list. Neither of us had ever been. I had heard in passing from many who had gone before us to not cruise. "Try to take 2 weeks, and stay on 2 islands," they said. We had cruised with NCL once before, on the Epic when she first came out. We loved it. Most of our cruising has been with Carnival. Galveston (our home port) is easy to get to and the Carnival Magic has been great for taking our kids. We sailed her twice. But, we really really loved our experience with NCL so when they sent a flier in the mail with deals relating to the POA, we were intrigued.

 

My DH had to be in Hawaii for a conference in April. It just didn't seem fair that he go alone, you know? So we bumped up our anniversary celebration to wrap around the work event. It became a matter of do we stay on two islands (Oahu being one due to the conference), or do we cruise POA? It appeared those who loved POA, LOVED it. And those who didn't love it so much, well, I think their expectations were not aligned. I'll explain why I believe that throughout this review.

 

DH and I are fairly laid back. I'm the kinda gal who drives a rowdy SUV, can get a little mud on the tires but do so while wearing heals and a dress. We like to travel that way as well. We like nice places and things, but can acclimate to any setting and have a good time regardless. What most people seemed to dislike about the POA, did not matter to us. The ability to unpack once and see 4 different islands was what convinced us to book the POA. I have only one regret... we didn't book a back-to-back. This cruise would be unbelievable if done for two weeks straight.

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mel-b

mel-b

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Not to say this cruise wasn't unbelievable in the 7 days we had. It was. We found ourselves commenting how cool it would be to do a back-to-back on this ship. It's IMO perfect for that. In fact, I believe there have been several people to do so, especially ones from overseas (Australia as an example). Oh to have a month long holiday from work...

 

When I initially booked this cruise, I admit I had some trepidation. Was this truly the best way for us to maximize our time and $$ in Hawaii? And for our first trip to the islands no less. The answer is, yes. I can't recommend enough, however, to research research research. Most of you reading these reviews on CC probably have that in your nature. I think knowing what the basic pros and cons were (according to others who went before us) going into this trip was an advantage. I knew it would take a lot, I mean A LOT, for us to ever be disappointed. Glass half full, right?

 

I mentioned NCL offering a special for this cruise. Room credit (not much, I believe $75) and upgraded dining. I'll talk more about the food later but for now, I can't recommend enough the upgraded dining package. If you love food, good food, it's worth it. It was nice to have this option "for free."

 

We love balcony rooms. Once you go balcony, it's hard going less. If you can splurge in this area, do so. There's nothing like (IMO) waking up and having coffee/tea in your robe on the balcony watching the sun rise. Or watching the ship come into port - Hilo on the Big Island stands out in my memory. Coming into port looking at the summit of Mauna Kea volcano in the distance with snow on its cap...

 

We booked aft balcony 9700. We chose an aft because that is a personal fave of ours. We enjoy watching the wake of the ship as we sail. We also chose the aft so that we could see both sides. This would be most enjoyable during the cruise-by of the Na Pali coast on Kauai (although we ended up watching that from the aft Aloha Cafe on deck 11). During our itinerary, we did not cruise by an active lava flow on the Big Island because the lava was not flowing toward the ocean at that time (so we were told). *Note - the only way to see active lava flow on the big island is by air.

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mel-b

mel-b

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I think I covered a good portion of why we chose to book this cruise versus by land only. I won't deny that it is a fast-paced way to see Hawaii. BECAUSE we were newbies to the islands, we couldn't think of a better way to do it. If we hadn't cruised on the POA, we more than likely would not have seen the Big Island and would've had to choose between Maui and Kauai (Oahu was a given due to the work conference I mentioned). Which would've meant missing out on two of the four islands. Even though time is limited on each island, if you're willing to maximize it and enjoy exploring, you can cover a lot of ground. I honestly can't think of a better way to do Hawaii as a first-timer. And should we have the chance to return, we'd consider doing this cruise again. Let me say, we would have no hesitation doing so. I'd love to do the cruise again then end up on Kauai, Maui or the Kona side of the Big Island for another week.

 

I agree more than one week in Hawaii is needed. Two weeks would be about right IMO. Of course, who wouldn't do more than that?! We had 11 days. I'll begin at the beginning of our arrival.

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Karlou

Karlou

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I'm really looking forward to your review. We have been on many cruises, but this will be the first time on NCL. Our cruise is in January 2016. We chose this cruise because, like you, we have never been to Hawaii and we thought it was a great way to see the islands for the first time.

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mel-b

mel-b

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With our 6 year old squared away with the grandparents and our oldest two beyond jealous they weren't going with us (It's our anniversary, y'all! Besides, you're not skipping classes at A&M so, sorry!...) we took a direct flight from DFW to Honolulu on the Friday before embarkation. We decided to do our exploration of Oahu on the back side of the trip, after the cruise.

Easy enough flight. 8 hours is long, but the jet lag even longer.... the struggle was real y'all. At least it made for waking in Maui at 230 am to catch the sunrise over Haleakala a bit more doable..

We opted to stay at the Holiday Inn Beachcomber in the Waikiki beach area. Since we just needed one night prior to embarkation, and we were beyond exhausted, it didn't matter all that much where we laid our heads. This hotel is in the heart of it all and across the street from the beach. And Duke's. We threw our luggage in the room and headed to Duke's for some grub and a Mai Tai. Watched the sun go down, Mai Tai in hand and calamari in mouth. Didn't get much better than that! We did not make it to the famous Hula Pie at that point since we were nearly nodding off on the table. But, we did make it back to Duke's at least 2 more times after the cruise. I can honestly say out of all the (many) Mai Tais I tried, Duke's was the tastiest.

We crashed by 9pm. And guess what time we woke up? Yep. Dark-thirty. As in people were still partying. 3am. Couldn't. Go. Back. To. Sleep. And hungry. Hangry was more like it. Thankfully, the Hula Grill (which is above Duke's) opened around 6am. We were not the only risers partaking in breakfast and Kona coffee! Once again, another great spot to take in the sun rising, morning surfers, drink coffee and take in the scene.

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mel-b

mel-b

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I'm really looking forward to your review. We have been on many cruises, but this will be the first time on NCL. Our cruise is in January 2016. We chose this cruise because, like you, we have never been to Hawaii and we thought it was a great way to see the islands for the first time.

 

Karlou, I really hope you enjoy the POA and this way of exploring Hawaii as much as we did!

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mel-b

mel-b

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My husband and I will be sailing on the POA departing October 31st. I can't wait to hear your experience on the ship and what you did on each island.

 

Thank you for reading! I hope it's helpful and enjoyable for you as you prepare for your cruise on the POA!

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mel-b

mel-b

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Did I mention food? If you haven't caught on by now, my DH and I lovvvve food. Colorful, flavorful, fun, unique, fresh food. We were on the quest for good coffee and juicy tropical fruit on this trip (coconut and pineapple at least). Hula Grill was our first seriously awesome, good coffee experience. The kind of experience where you sit there with warm cup in your hand, breathing in the heavenly aroma of the brewed bean. Bold, full of flavor. Kona coffee. Ranks up there IMO with coffee experiences I've had in (especially) Thailand and Puerto Rico. I'd move to Kona on the Big Island just to learn how to cultivate this precious bean. But, I digress. Back to the review!

After breakfast at the Hula Grill, we loaded our luggage in a cab and drove the relatively short distance to the pier. There she was, docked and sitting pretty. You know that giddy feeling you get in your belly when you drive up on the ship for the first time on embarkation day?! The POA is not a gargantuan of a ship. She's just right.

Embarkation was easy. We arrived around noon if I recall. We wanted to have lunch aboard the ship. We didn't think our room would be ready until at least 1pm, so we'd take advantage of that time to eat and explore (room was actually ready around 3pm). The line to drop our luggage at the pier was not too long. We got leid while waiting for check-in. Took the obligatory "welcome aboard, sweaty" picture.

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Me and DH

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mel-b

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After check-in was completed, we boarded the ship through the Atrium. It is classy IMO and designed well to give off the "you're now entering the white house" feel. Certainly less overwhelming and (for lack of a better word) cheesy than some older Carnival ships I've been on. You know, late 90s early 00s bright lights and colors and all that jazz. The ship was clean, too. I'm not one to noticed every nuance like floorboards are dusty. But it honestly seemed clean and new for not being such a new ship.

We grabbed some grub from the buffet area on deck 11 and ate in the aft section of deck 11 (Aloha cafe). We enjoyed this area frequently throughout the cruise. It's shaded from the hot sun, and there are plenty of nice outdoor couches/chairs in which to lounge. Since we were hot, tired, and waiting for our room to become available, we remained in this location and enjoyed a few of the day's drink specials. Our room appeared to be one of the last sections to become available, around 3pm.

The room as I mentioned above was an aft balcony cabin, 9700. It does the job. It was clean and beds pushed together. Typical bathroom with clingy shower curtain. Plenty of ample storage for luggage and clothing (always always I bring too much in clothing and shoes). The balcony is where it's at. Very deep in size. We had a lounger and a regular chair plus small side table. There's plenty of room to add another lounger and chair if needed. All in all, it suited our needs. But remember, we aren't too picky. And, with the amount of time in port, we used the room for the 3 major S's...plus coffee!

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mel-b

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Need to take a break to pick up the 6 y.o. from an ever so awesome Lego Minecraft summer camp. But I'll leave you with a parting shot of downtown Honolulu during sail-away. We ate our first dinner aboard the POA at Moderno. I'll give you my thoughts on that when I return!

 

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