Quick Pride of America review

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

Can we bring bottles of water on the ship? I see on the web site that we can buy 24 pack bottles of water but it is expansive. If we cannot I will buy a pack in advance for the rebate

 

You can not bring bottled water on the ship. What kind of rebate are you referring to ?

[ryarger]

Can we bring bottles of water on the ship? I see on the web site that we can buy 24 pack bottles of water but it is expansive. If we cannot I will buy a pack in advance for the rebate

 

 

You cannot bring any beverages on board- water, soda, booze, anything - except wine which is allowed with a per-bottle corkage fee.

 

I recommend buying the water in advance if you're going to buy. There's no rebate but it's a lot cheaper online pre-cruise. The bottles are the big 1 Liter size so the price ends up being like 3x what you'd pay on land for the same brand. It's a lot more if you buy on board!

 

Also, the ships water is just fine. We bought the 18-pack and went through it in 5 days. For the last two days we just kept a couple of empties, refilled them from the sink, and kept them in the mini-fridge.

 

 

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[pe4all]

Can we bring bottles of water on the ship? I see on the web site that we can buy 24 pack bottles of water but it is expansive. If we cannot I will buy a pack in advance for the rebate

So this what we did: There was no way in heck I was going to pay NCL's price for bulk water through their website or on the ship. The gift shop (which is pretty much open alot -even in port) has water five 16 0z bottles for $10. We bought this a few times. When off the ship we either went to an ABC store/7 eleven/cvs and picked up water for the day for .99 a bottle. (or you can also pick up the liter sized ones cheap also!) On the ship we drank the "tap" water in dining rooms/restaurants/buffet. It was fine to drink.

Do you happen to have a copy of the Freestyle Daily for each day for the Pride?

Sorry- no.

[Anna201213]

You can not bring bottled water on the ship. What kind of rebate are you referring to ?

 

On NCL where you log in on your Cruise. A savings of 42% for a 24 pack of bottled water. The cost in Canadian money is $71. I can buy this 24 pack in Canada for $4 so it is very expensive

[Anna201213]

Thank you for your prompt reply

 

 

 

[/b]

So this what we did: There was no way in heck I was going to pay NCL's price for bulk water through their website or on the ship. The gift shop (which is pretty much open alot -even in port) has water five 16 0z bottles for $10. We bought this a few times. When off the ship we either went to an ABC store/7 eleven/cvs and picked up water for the day for .99 a bottle. (or you can also pick up the liter sized ones cheap also!) On the ship we drank the "tap" water in dining rooms/restaurants/buffet. It was fine to drink.

 

Sorry- no.

[Mrs f.]

Just got back from POA 12/24-12/31. Traveled with dh58, dd25, dd28. Had 2 large balcony cabins - 8528/8530.

 

- Took Hawaiian Airlines direct from JFK to Oahu on 12/22. 1 hour delay going. Stayed at Holiday Inn Beachcomber Waikiki - 2 rooms - nice hotel for pre-cruise. Close to everything, good price. Clean.

 

- Used JohnnyCab for all travel on Oahu. Pickup at airport to hotel, hotel to Pearl Harbor on 12/23, Pearl Harbor back to hotel, hotel to port on 12/24, and from port did island tour for 5 hours on 12/31 before flight back to JFK. Cannot say enough about Johnny and his number one driver Mark!! Prompt, good prices, great attitude, friendly.

 

-Boarding POA - got to ship at 11:30. Dropped luggage off (no porters - did it ourselves) checked in, got boarding pass - group C. Waited only about 15 minutes, and were then onboard. We grabbed a quick lunch at buffet, then dropped our carry-ons at East meets West. They will store them for you until 2:30. If you are back after 2:30 you can pick up your stuff at Guest Services. Walked to King K's statue, and looked at Ioni Palace. Back on board explored ship until cabins were ready. They "release" the cabins deck by deck, and not in deck order. Our cabins was ready around 2:40 - later than on other NCL cruises we have taken. Got our luggage about 1 hour later.

 

- cabins were adjoining. Steward introduced himself. Would NOT open balcony doors for us. (we had read some reviews that said some would, some wouldn't) Cabin was adequate for our needs, though I found bathroom storage limited. Also didn't like the "cage" shelves in closet - held less than regular shelves on other ships. But again - we made do!

 

- Food/drink - ate at Cagneys, Moderno, La Cuchina and Jefferson's Bistro as part of dining plan. Cagneys was good - others were meh - especially seafood at Jefferson's. Buffet was - well, buffet. Always found something to eat. Cadillac diner was okay - I prefer O'Sheehans. Didn't order room service. Did not get drink plan. We did get wine package for first time - 4 bottles for $105 I think it was. Not being able to bring water on was a pain. They were VERY strict - even making everyone throw out bottles of drink bought in port. (which we knew they would do from reading cc before we went.) Went through backpacks very thoroughly if they saw something at screening entering ship at all ports. Ended up getting water for cabin at gift shop and excursions- 5 bottles for $10 - not bad. (or $2.50 per bottle if bought singly) Also got good use out of soda plan I bought on board.

 

- Shows - I had all intentions of seeing every show. However, we were so tired after our excursions we were in bed early each evening, and saw no shows except lava flow by Mother Nature!

 

- Excursions - Here, I could have killed dh. After months of researching, I picked out the excursions I wanted, using private companies. Comes time to book them, dh decides he wanted mostly NCL excursions!! I explained, complained, yelled, etc. that they were more expensive for same excursions, but couldn't change his mind. We were traveling with dd28, who is special needs, so I could see part of his point, but happy husband = happy marriage, so he "won."

 

-Honolulu - pre-cruise - Pearl Harbor on our own and laua, then island tour at end of cruise. Pearl Harbor is amazing. Were there at 8:10 a.m. when they played the Star Spangled Banner to commemorate the time PH was attacked. Very touching - dh had tears in his eyes he was so moved. We walked to the Laua at the aquarium. Was fine. For the price we paid (groupon) couldn't beat it.

 

-Maui - Molokini Crater snorkel (NCL) and Rainforest hike/waterfalls. (NCL) both pretty good.

 

-Hilo - Marylou tour (private van) with Ken as driver. Relaxing.

 

- Kona - Captain Zodiac snorkel thru NCL - fantastic!! Saw 2 kinds of dolphins, humpback whales, hammerhead sharks, and good snorkeling. Thanks, Captain Chris! Tendering back from Kona was a pain - over a 30 minute line for tender. Also saw lava flow at 9:45 pm from ship.

 

- Kaui - Helicopter tour with Jack Harter Helicopters. Fantastic. Then Surf lessons (private) on beach near ship. Kanapali coast 5:15 at night. Our cabins were port side, so we stayed there to watch. Can turn tv on loud and you can hear the commentary by naturalist (China) that is heard on deck 11/12.

 

Back in Oahu - island tour with Johnnycab - Mark as driver. Went to Leonards bakery for malafadas, beaches, blowhole, diamondhead, etc. Dropped us off at airport at 2, where we had a 1 hour delay for flight back to NY. Celebrated NYE twice on plane - once in "NY" time, and once in "HI" time!

 

All in all, we had a great cruise. Every crew member we met was great. Saw none of the "attitude" we heard about on this ship due to American crew. Crew worked hard to keep ship clean. Band at pool was waaay too loud for us - we found quiet places on deck to enjoy instead. Dining plan restaurants slightly disappointing. Bought 4 more future cruise certificates on board. We now need a vacation from our vacation! Will be glad to try to answer any questions. Happy New Year to all!

 

 

 

Hi- You mentioned that you got a wine package. Could you possibly be specific on what you got? I called NCL and they say that POA definitely does not have a wine package. Just trying to figure out what to do. We sail on 3/25.

[pe4all]

Hi- You mentioned that you got a wine package. Could you possibly be specific on what you got? I called NCL and they say that POA definitely does not have a wine package. Just trying to figure out what to do. We sail on 3/25.

Unless they dropped it in the last month, they definitely have 3 wine packages. 4,6, and 8 bottles. We had a choice of about 8 different wines with each package. When you go into the buffet, there is a beverage/bar "station" where they have bottles of water, soda, and sell the wine package. You fill out a slip picking the wines you want, and they give you a receipt. We got 4 coupons - one for each bottle. At dinner we would decide which wine we wanted that evening, and would hand that coupon to the waiter/waitress. They would bring the wine. If we didn't drink it all, they offered to either cork it and put it back in the wine storage area for the next evening, or we could bring the bottle back to the cabin. Before we sailed we figured out the prices of the wines we drink, and it was literally cheaper and easier getting the wine package on board than buying the bottles in Oahu, and then paying the corkage fee. We had $100 obc per cabin anyway, so we used some of it for that.