Capacity Limits on POA - Pride Of America

[Lawingnutz]

NCL’s Pride Of America has passenger capacity limits set at 40% due to staffing shortages.  Our 8/06/22 reservation was cancelled because of it.  Before rebooking, i want to know if things have gotten better, has the 40% limit gone up??…what is the limit??..Don’t expect NCL to openly reveal this information…any ideas or suggestions on how to find out???  

[cruiseny4life]

Just now, Lawingnutz said:

NCL’s Pride Of America has passenger capacity limits set at 40% due to staffing shortages.  Our 8/06/22 reservation was cancelled because of it.  Before rebooking, i want to know if things have gotten better, has the 40% limit gone up??…what is the limit??..Don’t expect NCL to openly reveal this information…any ideas or suggestions on how to find out???  

In the quarterly earnings conference call, frankie boy stated they still have 40% capacity on Pride of America due to staffing challenges. This has been one exception to their rule of obfuscating the truth. I think you'll find they are pretty open to telling the truth on this one.

 

Here's a link so you don't have to listen to the entire call: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/crew-crewing/pride-america-40-capacity-until-ncl-can-build-us-crew-numbers

 

If I were you, I'd consider Pride of America in, oh say, 2037 (tis a joke).

[BermudaBound2014]

And to add to @cruiseny4life excellent response. As someone who is fortunate enough to be a seasonal resident of Maui, I don't see anything changing soon. First, it was extremely difficult to staff the POA prior to covid. They must staff with a vast majority of Americans who undergo additional training (example for the coast guard to meet USA standards). Not to mention, it's a really hard job. Second, if a US person wants to work in Hawaii, there are a plethoria of jobs available (especially in the service industry) right now and Hawaii just raised minimum wage to $18 (not in effect just yet). POA would not be my choice for employment in Hawaii.

[ChiefMateJRK]

2 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

If I were you, I'd consider Pride of America in, oh say, 2037 (tis a joke).

I've gone from Spring 2022, to Fall 2022, to Spring 2025, back to Spring 2024.  I refuse to make any firm commitments until we KNOW this is fixed.  The nice thing about POA bookings is that they are year round, any week you want.  They aren't seasonal like Alaska, NE, and to a lesser extent Caribbean.  As I shuffle other long range plans, I can just move my POA targets to use as filler wherever I need to avoid an intolerable period of non-cruising (previously six months, now approaching three months). 😎

[Lawingnutz]

The NCL vouchers we received from our 8/6/22 POA cancellation are good thru 2023.  We are considering various cruise area options. We have a group of 6 couples, all retired and enjoy cruises.  While we really want to enjoy a POA cruise around Hawaii we do not think a staff and venue shortage would be enjoyable.  Mediterranean may be next best option??? 

[ChiefMateJRK]

12 minutes ago, Lawingnutz said:

The NCL vouchers we received from our 8/6/22 POA cancellation are good thru 2023.  We are considering various cruise area options. We have a group of 6 couples, all retired and enjoy cruises.  While we really want to enjoy a POA cruise around Hawaii we do not think a staff and venue shortage would be enjoyable.  Mediterranean may be next best option??? 

I think you're being smart.  By most/all reports, POA is a long ways from "normal."  Neither it nor HI are going anywhere.

[cruiseny4life]

37 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I've gone from Spring 2022, to Fall 2022, to Spring 2025, back to Spring 2024.  I refuse to make any firm commitments until we KNOW this is fixed.  The nice thing about POA bookings is that they are year round, any week you want.  They aren't seasonal like Alaska, NE, and to a lesser extent Caribbean.  As I shuffle other long range plans, I can just move my POA targets to use as filler wherever I need to avoid an intolerable period of non-cruising (previously six months, now approaching three months). 😎

Argh - sorry! I wish it would get closer to normal soon. It'd be nice to actually take that cruise. Here's to sooner than we think! 

[ChiefMateJRK]

3 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Argh - sorry! I wish it would get closer to normal soon. It'd be nice to actually take that cruise. Here's to sooner than we think! 

Yep.  That said, I'm in no hurry to get back onto POA.  I don't consider it a "real" cruise, but more of a nice/cheap/relaxing way to see HI.  In the meantime, we have many other options. 😎

[JustAPilot]

American Citizens will not work for the peanuts in salary and 10 hour day shifts that cruise ships pay like their Filipino counter parts and the poa must have a certain amount of US citizens employed on it for them to sail. 

[chengkp75]

32 minutes ago, JustAPilot said:

American Citizens will not work for the peanuts in salary and 10 hour day shifts that cruise ships pay like their Filipino counter parts and the poa must have a certain amount of US citizens employed on it for them to sail. 

Since the crew are required to be paid at US wages, as negotiated by their union, and the foreign workers on the ship get paid the same as the US crew, wages and working conditions are not the biggest roadblock to staffing the POA, any more than it was back in 2004 when we crewed up the Pride of Aloha to start NCL's Hawaii operation.  The problem is the training, certification and credentialing of the crew.  The USCG has had delays in processing mariner credentials since Covid started, and May of this year saw a spike to 12,000 applications, up from 4000 just 4 months prior.  I see that their backlog is diminishing, and processing times are getting better, but there are also delays in medical screening and training classes.

 

And, lets be honest, the "peanuts" paid to foreign crew is only "peanuts" to developed countries, it is a very good middle class income in the countries where the crew come from.  Those who have never traveled, or better still, worked, outside the US should not be commenting on wages for workers in foreign countries.

[The Shrike]

41 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Yep.  That said, I'm in no hurry to get back onto POA.  I don't consider it a "real" cruise, but more of a nice/cheap/relaxing way to see HI.  In the meantime, we have many other options. 😎

Seconded.  We did POA once and would never do it again.  It was the worst onboard experience we've had with NCL.  If we go back to Hawaii we'll plan the trip ourselves and hit the islands/areas we want to see again.

[The Shrike]

Just now, chengkp75 said:

And, lets be honest, the "peanuts" paid to foreign crew is only "peanuts" to developed countries, it is a very good middle class income in the countries where the crew come from.  Those who have never traveled, or better still, worked, outside the US should not be commenting on wages for workers in foreign countries.

Well said.  A $50 tip to the cabin steward is maybe enough for a cheap date night to an American.  To some folks, though, that's enough to feed their family for several weeks.

[Lawingnutz]

30 minutes ago, The Shrike said:

Seconded.  We did POA once and would never do it again.  It was the worst onboard experience we've had with NCL.  If we go back to Hawaii we'll plan the trip ourselves and hit the islands/areas we want to see again.

We heard similar stores but we have to do it at least once…. we want a fully staffed ship with everything open and operational…giving NCL and POA the best effort to get it done and done right!!!…just don’t take forever!!…

[ALKID]

It was a one and done for us.  We did this cruise shortly after they stopped going to fanning island and found it nothing like a regular cruise. The worse part was the ship had a lot of problems and they were always blaming the passengers for the poor service and maintenance, things like, everybody came to the buffet at once and we ran out of this or that, to the air con is working perfectly, but your room is hot because someone has a door opened, to your toilet wouldn’t flush because it took us 3 days to unclog a pipe.  totally ridiculous.  I hope they are getting qualified staff for the restart, because it was a convenient way to see some of islands we would otherwise never visit.

[chengkp75]

32 minutes ago, ALKID said:

We did this cruise shortly after they stopped going to fanning island and found it nothing like a regular cruise.

Well, the Star stopped going to Fanning in 2004, and the POA did not arrive in Hawaii until mid 2005, so was it POA or Pride of Aloha?

 

35 minutes ago, ALKID said:

to the air con is working perfectly, but your room is hot because someone has a door opened,

Having worked these ships for 4 years, I can tell you that this was and is found to be the culprit in 95% of hot cabin complaints, that someone has left the balcony door open.

 

36 minutes ago, ALKID said:

to your toilet wouldn’t flush because it took us 3 days to unclog a pipe.

And, if you have ever seen what passengers have flushed down the toilet, and how hard we had to work to get it cleared, you would not continue with this condemning of the "qualified" staff.

[NCMtnBoys]

Hopefully the staffing issues get resolved soon so you can sail. We sailed on POA in Nov 2016 and loved it. Would definitely do it again as, for us, it was the best way to see so much of four different islands in such a short amount of time.

 

[ALKID]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Well, the Star stopped going to Fanning in 2004, and the POA did not arrive in Hawaii until mid 2005, so was it POA or Pride of Aloha?

 

Having worked these ships for 4 years, I can tell you that this was and is found to be the culprit in 95% of hot cabin complaints, that someone has left the balcony door open.

 

And, if you have ever seen what passengers have flushed down the toilet, and how hard we had to work to get it cleared, you would not continue with this condemning of the "qualified" staff.

I dont remember the name of the ship, all we remember it was like amateur hour, from the food to the entertainment to the condition of the ship.  Never saw anything quite like it.  It was always the passengers fault.  I heard it got better after a few years.  Perhaps an experienced crew or crew change made a big difference, but we wont be doing it again.

[brigand13]

One thing you might consider is doing a positioning cruise to or from HI.  NCL moves ships through HI  both to and from AK with the seasonal changes.    You can get a cruise  that hits several islands in HI and also includes French Polynesia or Alaska.   The AK to HI cruises are naturally in the fall.  The HI to AK cruises are in the spring and the ones that hit French Polynesia are earlier spring or later fall.  The ship that usually does that route is the Spirit.  Best of all, they tend to be longer cruises with several sea days between the port heavy days on either end (so you have time to rest and recover before hitting the vacation hard again  🙂 ). 

Just something to consider if you really want Hawaii and the timeframes work. 

[philv]

I am sailing on POA on September 24. I’ve been following threads on Facebook from people sailing on POA now. They are generally very complimentary regarding staff and many are calling this a tremendous cruise. The general tone I’m seeing is very positive. A cruise is often what you make of it and a positive attitude goes a long way. I’m looking forward to it and not letting the naysayers rain on my parade.