LONG Review: 2/1/2020 Pride of American cruise of Hawaii

[vestamark]

This is a great review, I enjoyed reading it.  Makes me want to take it myself.  Perhaps in a few years!  Thanks for posting.

[jaxw17]

Excellent review thank you very much for taking the time to do it

 

[BSR]

Great review and pictures. 

[Molokai-Chuck]

Great Review...Mahalo for it!

Chuck

[Silver Sweethearts]

3 hours ago, Suskies said:

Maui Day One

 

As we approached Kapalua Beach, we were ready for a break, so we stopped at the Mirage resort’s outdoor bar to rehydrate. It was so pleasant, and the views were so gorgeous, that we ended up eating lunch there.

 

Believe you may have meant the Montage resort.  There is no Mirage resort here.  Yes, agree the views are gorgeous.

[Suskies]

1 hour ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

 

Believe you may have meant the Montage resort.  There is no Mirage resort here.  Yes, agree the views are gorgeous.

Thanks for catching that! Yes, I meant the Montage.

[AKR2011]

Excellent review. Thanks so much for sharing! 

[shellyclark]

Thanks for taking the time to do this review  Hubby and I leave Wed and we board POA on Saturday the 22nd.  Having read so many mixed reviews, this is great to see a positive one right before we go!

 

Question....do you know if there is a dress code for men in the specialty restaurants?  Are pants required or can he wear nice khaki shorts with golf shirt or button down shirt?  Thanks!

[sue402001]

Thanks for taking me back to our cruise on the POA last September!

[Suskies]

6 hours ago, shellyclark said:

Thanks for taking the time to do this review  Hubby and I leave Wed and we board POA on Saturday the 22nd.  Having read so many mixed reviews, this is great to see a positive one right before we go!

 

Question....do you know if there is a dress code for men in the specialty restaurants?  Are pants required or can he wear nice khaki shorts with golf shirt or button down shirt?  Thanks!

No, sorry, we didn't plan to go to any of the specialty restaurants, so I never researched that. We didn't ask at East Meets West, but the guys in our group wore long pants since that's what they would have worn at the Liberty.

[Suskies]

7 hours ago, shellyclark said:

Thanks for taking the time to do this review  Hubby and I leave Wed and we board POA on Saturday the 22nd.  Having read so many mixed reviews, this is great to see a positive one right before we go!

 

Question....do you know if there is a dress code for men in the specialty restaurants?  Are pants required or can he wear nice khaki shorts with golf shirt or button down shirt?  Thanks!

And thanks for your kind words! These boards are so helpful to me when I plan a cruise--I'm really happy to be able to give back in a small way. FYI, we went into this cruise with pretty low expectations, especially after our last, horrible cruise on NCL a few years ago. The cruise exceeded our expectations in every way and is one of the nicest ones we've taken in 40 years. You'll have a great time!

[Beachiekeen]

What a great report! You had great plans for your ports. Hubby and I honeymooned at the Ritz on Maui and always visit it on trips and can’t say enough about it. Sorry you missed the Burger Shack but the Montage pool bar is a great second choice!  🙂 Yeah you really have to get to Kapalua Bay early, hubby and I try to get there early in the morning, then walk the trail after it gets crowded.
 

Just so others know, you can park overnight at the Maui airport for $15 or at the Maui Beach Hotel for $10. But the way you did it was fine too.

 

Great advice for that last day after disembarking, glad that worked out.

 

So glad you had a great time! Thanks for sharing!

Edited February 16, 2020 by Beachiekeen

[cardbucfan]

Great review-thanks for posting! I’ve always wanted to do this cruise but other trips keep getting in the way. It just moved up on the list!

[Oceansaway17]

Enjoyed your review.  I was in Hawaii in 1980 on tour flying between islands.

 

I will return in 2022 on POA in a solo studio room and will do a B2B going around twice to ensure good weather and some touring and some ship time. Will be intetesting to approach islands from water than air.

[Firepath]

Thank you for your positive report and great photos! Reminds me of our trip last October. The POA really is nice and your review was spot on.

[rhapsodybluezz]

Thanks so much for your trip report - We will be boarding the POA this coming Saturday - it will be my first visit to Hawaii. 

[Suskies]

7 hours ago, Beachiekeen said:

What a great report! You had great plans for your ports. Hubby and I honeymooned at the Ritz on Maui and always visit it on trips and can’t say enough about it. Sorry you missed the Burger Shack but the Montage pool bar is a great second choice!  🙂 Yeah you really have to get to Kapalua Bay early, hubby and I try to get there early in the morning, then walk the trail after it gets crowded.
 

Just so others know, you can park overnight at the Maui airport for $15 or at the Maui Beach Hotel for $10. But the way you did it was fine too.

 

Great advice for that last day after disembarking, glad that worked out.

 

So glad you had a great time! Thanks for sharing!

Beachiekeen, you were such an enormous help to us in planning a great vacation! I hope this review pays it forward to others. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Suskies]

1 hour ago, rhapsodybluezz said:

Thanks so much for your trip report - We will be boarding the POA this coming Saturday - it will be my first visit to Hawaii. 

You'll love it. Have a great vacation!

[nikel]

Thanks so much for this review.  We will be boarding the Eclipse in two months for our first ever in Hawaii. !!. I am now even more excited to go !

[TSUmom]

Thank you for your review and pictures...I always enjoy it when people share Hawaii.  My first cruise (2nd and 3rd) were on the Pride of America and I still want to go back.

[Pattyd227]

What a great Review!!

Thank you so much! My hubby and I are going on this cruise in April and now I really cant wait!

We have never been to Hawaii before and want to explore it on our own and not depend on excursions and you made it sound so easy to get around and see everything.  We are doing Pearl Harbor the last day though and going whale watching. You didn't mention whether or not you saw any whales, did you happen to see any?

[Diver2014]

We'll be on the POA in November so thank you for some insights about the ship and shore excursions. We've been to Hawaii many times, including sailing on the SS Independence long ago but we are really looking forward to this cruise.  I'm wondering if our flights from the east coast in one day will be tolerable. (HHH-CHL-LAX-HNL). We're going 2 days in advance but don't want to waste a whole day with jet lag.  We're on deck 9 balcony so hopefully we'll have good views.  Thanks again for the info!

[Suskies]

18 hours ago, Pattyd227 said:

What a great Review!!

Thank you so much! My hubby and I are going on this cruise in April and now I really cant wait!

We have never been to Hawaii before and want to explore it on our own and not depend on excursions and you made it sound so easy to get around and see everything.  We are doing Pearl Harbor the last day though and going whale watching. You didn't mention whether or not you saw any whales, did you happen to see any?

No, we didn't see any whales from the shoreline. There are whale-watching trips that people strongly recommended to us, but we just couldn't fit them in. Whale watching is best in winter (they migrate, I think to and from Alaska). So check if they're still around in April--I'm not sure.

[Suskies]

38 minutes ago, Diver2014 said:

We'll be on the POA in November so thank you for some insights about the ship and shore excursions. We've been to Hawaii many times, including sailing on the SS Independence long ago but we are really looking forward to this cruise.  I'm wondering if our flights from the east coast in one day will be tolerable. (HHH-CHL-LAX-HNL). We're going 2 days in advance but don't want to waste a whole day with jet lag.  We're on deck 9 balcony so hopefully we'll have good views.  Thanks again for the info!

DD and DSIL had similar flights out. On their first day they took a Hop-on-hop-off bus tour of Honolulu and Waikiki--that let them see a lot even though they were tired. After the first day they were fine, though they went to bed early (9 PM).

 

We're in our 60s and we're finding it's taking us longer to deal with jet lag as we age. 😣 The harder part is flying home. Long-haul eastbound flights are redeyes, just like when you fly to Europe. DD and DSIL took a redeye home and bounced back quickly. We stayed overnight at LAX so we wouldn't have any redeyes. It really helped.

[Cindy]

Fantastic review! Thanks for sharing!