Live Aboard Pride of America 10-22-05 Sailing

[Cruzin' Rob]

Hello everyone, just got on board Pride of America today.

 

We flew from Sacramento this morning, left early, 6:45am and arrived into Honolulu about 11:00am and headed right over to the ship. We took a cab over, $25 with tip. Found a porter and he took our bags and then we got in line. Not too bad of a line, we were in line for about 30 min or so. Got our cards, got on board and got a drink. Then we went over and made reservations for 3 nights at the different places on the ship, Lazy Js and the Italian place. Our room was not ready, we are on deck 10, they started calling the decks that were ready and we finally got into our room about 2:45 or so.

 

So far so good, we had read a lot of bad reviews and I’ll be critical of everything, but I’m also not going to let anything get to me – if I find the reviews are correct I’ll still enjoy the trip and let everything just roll off my back.

 

Hope all is well with everyone

[AmyinVail]

Have a great time! Thanks for taking the time to remember those of us chomping at the bit for info! Check in when you can!

[penorment]

Wow thanks for taking the time to keep those of us waiting for our cruise informed!! Do you think it would be easy to get off the ship once you are checked in and run over to the mall that is supposed to be near the port. I am getting on the ship Christmas Eve and was hoping to get on the ship and get settled and then maybe running over to pick up a few Christmas goodies for the kids for Chrismas morning. I will bring a few wrapped things with me but was looking to supplement with some inexpesive things. Thanks, you can wait till you are back to answer my questions since I am sure you will be busy enjoying Hawaii!!!

[Cruzin' Rob]

Hi again, just back from dinner here -- freestyle dining, I much prefer the non-freestyle dining myself. The waitress we had was very nice and did a good job, my only comment would be the staff on RCCL and Princess is more professional. The food was very good, I had the prime rib, it was just right, the soup I had was outstanding, just a little cooler then I prefer – it was luke-warm at best. Dessert was a bowl of vanilla ice cream, then I did some exploring and not back in the room as we set sail for the next port!!!

 

A little background on me, this is cruise # 9 for me. I am traveling with my sister, we are both single and in our 30s. We have traveled on RCCL 7 times, Princess once and not NCL.

 

Been a long day here, so I’m off to bed.

 

Happy Reading

[Cruzin' Rob]

That last post was from last night - lost connection and couldn't send it.

 

Just got into port in Hilo, we got in 2 hours late, they said there was some rough weather. We could feel the ship moving all night. We were moving around pretty good as they were trying to dock the ship. They just announced that they will not be able to dock because of the rough weather, we were at the pier and the ropes were out, but the ship kept moving, so we are heading out to sea for a "couple hours" or so. Hopefully we will be able to come back and dock before too long. It is rough water out there and the waves are breaking over the break wall, so hope it will calm down and we can come back.

 

To answer penorments question, yes, you will have no problem getting off the ship and going to the shops. We did it around 5pm and there was no line, don't know what kind of line they had earlier or if there is a way around the line once you have checked in, but you can get off and on all you want.

[pennbrae]

Good on you Socercoch already sending back thoughts on the POA, much apprreciated.

As for Penorment looking forward to seeing you on the cruise departing Christmas eve, My wife and I are flying in from England so you'll easily spot us we will be the ones that are used to rain when or if it starts.:) :rolleyes:

 

Good Crusin everybody

 

Stephen

[penorment]

Pennbrae, You will recognize us too. We will be a group of 16 celebrating my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. Look forward to meet you. I think this holiday cruise will be a blast.

[Cruzin' Rob]

Here we go again, trying to dock in Hilo, sounds like this doesn't happen too often, none of the crew I've talked to have had this happen before, but not too many of the crew have been on the ship long. They had a BINGO game for us this morning, nothing too exciting, but it was fun.

 

Now we are just waiting to see if we will make it in, almost there, should know if a few min.

 

I'll post more later

[Cruzin' Rob]

We are off to sea again, didn't make it docking. Still rough waters and water coming over the break wall. They haven't announced why or what we will be doing, but we're not stopping in Hilo - that sucks.

[cobo]

Thanks for the updates. Good luck. My sister and brother inlaw are onboard.

We are booked on deck 10 June 10th. My daughter is going. Is there a bunk or a sleeper bed for the third person or do they sleep on the couch? Hope the weather gets better.

 

Happy Sailing

[lhall85917]

Thanks for the updates. Good luck. My sister and brother inlaw are onboard.

We are booked on deck 10 June 10th. My daughter is going. Is there a bunk or a sleeper bed for the third person or do they sleep on the couch? Hope the weather gets better.

 

Happy Sailing

 

Cobo - nice to finally see someone that will be on our cruise!!:D We would love to have you join our Cruise Critic group on June 10 even though you have already booked - its not too late! Be sure to check out our rates and info, if you would like to join our group email me for more info - lhall@cinci.rr.com. Even if you decide not to change your booking, we'd love to share info with you!!

[shoreguy]

We are off to sea again, didn't make it docking. Still rough waters and water coming over the break wall. They haven't announced why or what we will be doing, but we're not stopping in Hilo - that sucks.

 

 

Thank you for the play by play. Glad to see you finally docked:)

[CruisinMK]

hey I just got off pride of america on the sailing just before yours. If you have any questions fire away. If you have to miss a port hilo is probably the best one to miss, though the volcano is interesting to see nearby.

[penorment]

I just looked at the webcam and it looks like they are out at sea..a very rough sea indeed.

[kapoho2]

I live on the Hilo side of the island, and yes, it is very windy today. I can see the ocean from where I am sitting and it looks quite rough and the waves are crashing onto the shoreline in a very unusual direction. In fact, the rough surf was the headline in the paper today. It is supposed to last until sometime this evening.

 

I can understand why it was impossible for the ship to dock...I feel sorry for all of you...but, safety first is always a good motto.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise and I hope the seas calm down.

[kapoho2]

Update....I am watching the Pride of America cruise by my house right now (4pm Hawaii time), so they are definitely just having a "sea day". Looks like they are heading around the island to view the volcano after dark. I know it is disappointing for those onboard, but it is kind of interesting for us to see the ship cruise by during daylight hours. We usually see the POAm cruise by all lit up at night.

[jvz]

Socercoch,

 

You seem to have no problem with the internet connection on board. Is it better than your previous sailings on RCL & Princess? We have been on both several times and the internet is extremely slow. Thanks for you updatesh

[Chicagomom]

on this cruise! My sister and brother, their spouses, and 4 others are on this cruise and I was wondering how it's going (we had hoped to go too, but things didn't work out). My sister's house is being pounded by Hurricane Wilma as I write this. Hopefully everything will be OK. Anything you can tell me about this cruise (play-by-play) I will enjoy reading! Thanks so much for taking the time to post.

[comfixit]

First thankyou for the play by play. I really appriciate it as I will be sailing POA Dec 17. Sorry to hear about missing Hilo. Lucky for you you get to dock on the island again in Kona so at least you won't be missing out on the Big Island.

 

How is the crew? I heard that the old crew went on vacation so these are the new ones.

 

Was it pretty easy to make dinning reservations for all of the nights?

 

Obviously the seas are rough, how is the temperature?

 

Thanks again for the review.

 

BTW how much is all this Internet access costing you?

[Cruzin' Rob]

Hello everyone, yes we did not dock in Hilo, but we did go by the volcano, it was pretty cool seeing it, we got pretty close, well it looked close, I would say about a mile or so away.

 

The seas were pretty rough, nothing too bad, but you could feel the ship rocking all night, I actually like it when I’m sleeping, kind of cool. Didn’t see anyone getting sea sick, so not too bad.

 

The crew is pretty good, no complaints, most of them have only been on the ship for 3 weeks or so, so they may be new. One thing I did notice, and I don’t know how to explain it, and I know I am being very picky, but I’ve notice a couple times that the crew on RCCL seems to be more professional or “structured” then this crew. I’ve noticed that some of the crew here will be walking by or in your direction and they just keep on walking. Now I’m not saying I expect the crew to move out of my way, in fact I go out of my way to show respect to them, but on all the RCCL ships I’ve been on, the crew always allows the passengers to go by, or lets then have the right-a-way. Again this is not a complaint, just an observation. I would say it’s from just being an American crew. But over all the crew is great and very friendly. Our room has been cleaned up each day and beds turned down each night. Our cabin attendant is very quick too, we just did a quick dinner tonight, went on the road to Hana and just wanted to get a quick bite, and when we got back our room was ready!!!

 

I’ll try and answer all your questions.

 

As for the food, the food is good, no complaints as far as the food goes. My only comment would be there are far less choices then RCCL or Princess. In the Aloha cafe there are not too many choices. But the food they do have is very good.

 

As for my Internet connection I just got, Friday before we left, a pretty cool thing from Sprint, it connects to the Internet anywhere there is a cell single, so I am connected over cell service, not bad and $59/month.

 

Temp is great, it did rain Sat and Sun, but today in Maui was great. We had some rain, but no more then would be expected in Hawaii.

 

We have dinner reservation at 3 different places. We got on board and pretty much went right over to the reservation desk and had no problem. So I would suggest going right over and making reservations if you want them.

 

Today here in Maui we rented a car and headed off to Hana, long day. We started off at 10:00 or so and got back to the ship about 7. It was a pretty drive, but long and the drive home was LONG. Tomorrow we may head up to the crater or to the other side of the island or just to the beach or maybe all three!!!

 

Watching the news now and glad we are not in the Caribbean right now. Hope everyone there is safe.