Shhhh... Brand X cruiser looking at Pride for the March SFO Crossing to HNL

[punkincc]

 

Just read a SE has opened up on the POA for the SF to HNL cruise...as I said yesterday the inventory changes by the hour!

 

Just checked and NCL showing all suites completely sold out. But as you said, this could change. I know of 2 SGs on a 24 hour hold which will expire at midnight.

 

Interesting history on these 3 ships, I wasn't aware one sank at the dock. What happened?

Edited July 26, 2015 by punkincc

[chengkp75]

Just checked and NCL showing all suites completely sold out. But as you said, this could change. I know of 2 SGs on a 24 hour hold which will expire at midnight.

 

Interesting history on these 3 ships, I wasn't aware one sank at the dock. What happened?

 

The Pride of America was at wet dock in Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven. As she was still under construction, there were a couple of large openings cut in the ship's side down around deck 2 or 3 (like where the tender ports are) to allow the yard to handle material in and out. Since the ship was under construction, there was no fuel, ballast, or fresh water in the tanks, so the ship was sitting very high out of the water, and was very tender stability-wise. A storm came out of the North Sea, which was classed as a "100-year storm", and the wind heeled the ship over and the openings in the ship were submerged, and the ship down flooded. NCL wanted to get the ship raised immediately, but the insurance company got involved and wanted to investigate and assign responsibility before any salvage was done, so the ship sat on the bottom for about 3 months. All of the electrical wiring up to deck #3 had to be replaced due to water damage. Interestingly, the engines were saved with very little damage.

[punkincc]

The Pride of America was at wet dock in Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven. As she was still under construction, there were a couple of large openings cut in the ship's side down around deck 2 or 3 (like where the tender ports are) to allow the yard to handle material in and out. Since the ship was under construction, there was no fuel, ballast, or fresh water in the tanks, so the ship was sitting very high out of the water, and was very tender stability-wise. A storm came out of the North Sea, which was classed as a "100-year storm", and the wind heeled the ship over and the openings in the ship were submerged, and the ship down flooded. NCL wanted to get the ship raised immediately, but the insurance company got involved and wanted to investigate and assign responsibility before any salvage was done, so the ship sat on the bottom for about 3 months. All of the electrical wiring up to deck #3 had to be replaced due to water damage. Interestingly, the engines were saved with very little damage.

 

What a nightmare, especially with insurance companies and lawyers involved.

 

So, everyone booked on the inaugural cruise had to be rescheduled to another ship? What a mess. How long was the ship actually delayed before going into service?

[chengkp75]

What a nightmare, especially with insurance companies and lawyers involved.

 

So, everyone booked on the inaugural cruise had to be rescheduled to another ship? What a mess. How long was the ship actually delayed before going into service?

 

POA's first Hawaii cruise started 22 July, 2005. Her inaugural was from NYC with Regis and Kelly Ripa taping onboard. So, she was around a year late in delivery.

 

Yes, everyone booked on POAm were transferred to POAl (Aloha) for the first year, and they had to cancel all the Caribbean cruises on the former Sky starting in May 2004, as the Sky was not scheduled to be reflagged until about 8 months after the America came on line.

[Cruiser Bruiser]

Come on Cruiser Bruiser, the Caribbean will always be there. This is a unique chance to sail NCL TO Hawaii. And when will you ever find that price again!?

 

I say cancel the B2B in favor of the SFO to Hawaii and tack on some days at the end on one of the islands.:p

 

Unfortunately, I'm traveling with a friend. And, airline tickets are already purchased. Plans are set in stone. Have fun! :)

[dexddd]

POA's first Hawaii cruise started 22 July, 2005. Her inaugural was from NYC with Regis and Kelly Ripa taping onboard. So, she was around a year late in delivery.

 

Yes, everyone booked on POAm were transferred to POAl (Aloha) for the first year, and they had to cancel all the Caribbean cruises on the former Sky starting in May 2004, as the Sky was not scheduled to be reflagged until about 8 months after the America came on line.

 

Where did the Star come into play in Hawaii? I know I've seen a few notes about that plus I've seen the plaques on the Star in the area where they keep all that stuff.

 

I also had some notes/pricing about the Wind being in Hawaii in 2005 doing a 10 nighter - do you have any info on that? Thanks.

[chengkp75]

The Wind and the Star were both in the Hawaiian trade (I don't know their deployment dates, but the Star was still doing the islands when the Aloha arrived), calling at Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati as their required foreign port. Fanning is the closest foreign island to Hawaii, being about 700 miles south of the Big Island. This required two sea days each way, for what amounted to a beach barbeque on Fanning.

 

NCL invested a couple million to build a compound, installing generators (the island has no central power)(the ships had to land diesel fuel every time they called by fuel bladder), vacuum toilet system, galley, tender dock and tenders. The ship would load the first two tenders from the ship with food and cooking supplies, utensils and stuff, and then set up for the meal in the island galleys.

 

Just before the Aloha arrived in Hawaii, the Star had a failure of one azipod, and could not make enough speed to get to Fanning and back in 10 or 11 days, so they started strictly inter-island cruises using a foreign flag ship in violation of the PVSA (having notified CBP of their intentions) and paid the fines for every passenger for about 3 months. She was in San Francisco drydock just prior to the Sky being there for reflagging to the Aloha.

 

Just before the Aloha went back to being the Sky, in order to meet the contract with Kiribati for exclusive use of the Fanning compound, NCL had to make some more port calls there, so the Sky started to run down there for a couple months, becoming the first US flag cruise ship to make a foreign voyage in quite some time. During one of our port calls there, we heard about a dog that had been shipwrecked there when her owner's boat had sunk, and the owners flew home, but the dog was not allowed to travel due to quarantine laws. We offered to transport the dog to Hawaii, where the Humane Society would finish the quarantine, and sent the dog home to its owners in the US.

[punkincc]

Looks like there is one SE back up for grabs this AM at $2229 pp. It is 13022 which overlooks the pool deck I think. Still a few higher priced SF and SH suites open. The SGs still showing sold out.

 

I tried to check the SG price for the week after our sailing when they return to a regular inter island itinerary. A B2B would be nice.;). SGs sold out that week. The following week, the price is about $2100 more for 2 people for only 7 nights vs 11 nights for the crossing. Seems like we got a really good price on this crossing.

[Granny DI]

This cruise is a screaming deal! We are booked across the hall from the cabin we had booked for 2017. Our 11 day cruise is $1600 pp cheaper than the 2017 one. I also only had to buy one way airfares. Since we fly business for anything over 3 hours this saved us a bundle...about $2600 pp. I was able to buy business class tickets for the price of mainland economy. So at this point we've saved $4200 pp off of our planned 2017 cruise. This doesn't take in the fact we are also just staying one week in Hawaii after the cruise instead of one before and one after. Used points for our week in Kauai!!!! This is one of the best deals I've ever put together.

[punkincc]

This cruise is a screaming deal! We are booked across the hall from the cabin we had booked for 2017. Our 11 day cruise is $1600 pp cheaper than the 2017 one. I also only had to buy one way airfares. Since we fly business for anything over 3 hours this saved us a bundle...about $2600 pp. I was able to buy business class tickets for the price of mainland economy. So at this point we've saved $4200 pp off of our planned 2017 cruise. This doesn't take in the fact we are also just staying one week in Hawaii after the cruise instead of one before and one after. Used points for our week in Kauai!!!! This is one of the best deals I've ever put together.

 

Looks like they could have easily sold out this cruise from the west coast for very nearly the same cabin prices as usual. Wonder why the fire sale prices so early? But in any case, glad they did what they did.

 

We may stay over as well. I have not had time to think it through. The thought did cross my mind that we could probably just stay ashore in Kauai and spend a few nights there rather than fly back there from Honolulu the next day. I read about someone who planned to do that recently. It would save the airport hassle and the interisland fare.

 

The stop in Kauai for our cruise is only 4 hours I think. 10 to 2. Barely time to do anything. A few extra nights sounds good.

[Granny DI]

We are thinking about getting off in Kauai. TA called NCL and they said no...but maybe that is just the company line! We decided to stay on to HNL so we can enjoy the Napoli coast sail. We plan to take the NCL tour that does Pearl Harbor etc and then takes us to the airport. I bought tickets from HNL to Kauai with points so if we change our minds we're not out any money. We will save money by staying on the ship....hotel room for Friday night and two meals.

[chengkp75]

Looks like they could have easily sold out this cruise from the west coast for very nearly the same cabin prices as usual. Wonder why the fire sale prices so early? But in any case, glad they did what they did.

 

We may stay over as well. I have not had time to think it through. The thought did cross my mind that we could probably just stay ashore in Kauai and spend a few nights there rather than fly back there from Honolulu the next day. I read about someone who planned to do that recently. It would save the airport hassle and the interisland fare.

 

The stop in Kauai for our cruise is only 4 hours I think. 10 to 2. Barely time to do anything. A few extra nights sounds good.

 

Check your itinerary, that is 10am on Thursday to 2pm on Friday., so you get the overnight in Kauai, but not in Maui.

[Granny DI]

Do you think it would create a big problem if we self disembarked in Kauai? As I said above I have a plan A and B and will be happy with either scenario.

[chengkp75]

Do you think it would create a big problem if we self disembarked in Kauai? As I said above I have a plan A and B and will be happy with either scenario.

 

I don't see any reason you couldn't. If you are a US citizen, you don't even need any documents for the cruise, since it's a US ship and no foreign ports. Heck, they have crew quitting the ship in various ports, so a passenger would be no problem. :D

 

My feeling is that this is the NCL call center's knee jerk reaction to an early disembarkation for a cruise covered by the WHTI, which this isn't. They really don't know how to handle the POA at the call center, because it doesn't fit into any of the neat little boxes they tick.

[Bennett'sCruise]

We booked this one the first day it hit the system. I saw the info on CC. Even the NCL phone rep at first told me it wasn't a sailing. I told her to check again. It really is a great deal. We've done several land trips to HI so it's not the itin for us as much as it is the sailing and the ship.

 

AIR: Alaska Airlines has a GREAT PRICE flying back to Oakland. Even First Class ...

 

The POA is configured a lot like the Sun.

 

There's a Roll Call going. Come over and check in.

 

-dianne

[Granny DI]

Looks like they could have easily sold out this cruise from the west coast for very nearly the same cabin prices as usual. Wonder why the fire sale prices so early? But in any case, glad they did what they did.

 

We may stay over as well. I have not had time to think it through. The thought did cross my mind that we could probably just stay ashore in Kauai and spend a few nights there rather than fly back there from Honolulu the next day. I read about someone who planned to do that recently. It would save the airport hassle and the interisland fare.

 

The stop in Kauai for our cruise is only 4 hours I think. 10 to 2. Barely time to do anything. A few extra nights sounds good.

 

We're flying back from Kauai...DH said no HNL. We change planes in LAX. It's more money to fly out of HNL!

[punkincc]

Check your itinerary, that is 10am on Thursday to 2pm on Friday., so you get the overnight in Kauai, but not in Maui.

 

Thanks, I guess I did not look too closely! I can live with full day Maui and 1 and 1/2 on Kauai.

 

Still, we might disembark day 2 and stay on. We would miss the Na Pali sail by, but we've seen it from the ship, and we'd have a few more days in Kauai. Might even be able to do a catamaran past Na Pali on our own as we have done in the past.

[punkincc]

We're flying back from Kauai...DH said no HNL. We change planes in LAX. It's more money to fly out of HNL!

 

We booked this one the first day it hit the system. I saw the info on CC. Even the NCL phone rep at first told me it wasn't a sailing. I told her to check again. It really is a great deal. We've done several land trips to HI so it's not the itin for us as much as it is the sailing and the ship.

 

AIR: Alaska Airlines has a GREAT PRICE flying back to Oakland. Even First Class ...

 

The POA is configured a lot like the Sun.

 

There's a Roll Call going. Come over and check in.

 

-dianne

 

 

Granny Di, what airline are you flying out of Kauai?

 

Thanks, Dianne, I'll check out Alaska Airlines. I assume that is out of HNL.

 

We flew Hawaiian last time in and out of HNL.

[Granny DI]

Granny Di, what airline are you flying out of Kauai?

 

Thanks, Dianne, I'll check out Alaska Airlines. I assume that is out of HNL.

 

We flew Hawaiian last time in and out of HNL.

 

American Airlines...

[Bennett'sCruise]

American Airlines...

 

 

Aren't you spending an extra week in Kauai at the end of the cruise? Flying back from Kauai to mainland makes complete sense. However, for the rest of us Honolulu is the only way to go <sic>.

 

Alaska HON to OAK is $336 economy. $499 first class. And that's a 2:10 pm flight. Nice!

 

-dianne

[Granny DI]

Yep spending a week in Kauai so picked the best flight to the mainland from Kauai. We're going to Austin so needed an airline that flew to Lax and then Austin. I wanted an afternoon flight but DH wanted the shortest time one. I also wanted a big plane but not possible. We always took 747's to HNL or Maui but airlines are using smaller aircraft.

[Silver Sweethearts]

We always took 747's to HNL or Maui but airlines are using smaller aircraft.

 

Maui does not have an airport capable of handling a 747.

[Granny DI]

AA flies 767's to DFW from Maui. Very few airlines use the old 747's anymore. We took one out of AMS last year but it was a replacement airline. What I was trying to say is I like the larger planes preferably the 777's but the airlines are using the 737's and 757's from Hawaii. I dislike the 757's so was trying to avoid them when making the reservations from Kauai.

[Granny DI]

SE category has sold out...but there are 2 cabins in the SG category for $2999! So glad I jumped all over this cruise when CC members mentioned it!