Is there a Cruise line that cruise Hawaii only without days at sea from USA or Canada

[SK]

We would like to find a cruise that is round-trip without the sea days. Would like to fly into Honolulu, and spend a week or so visiting the islands, and then return from Honolulu. We visited once before on our own and would love to return. Thanks.

 

[CaribbeanBound]

Yes, NCL has a couple of ships that do 7-day trips around the islands. Year-around.

[Silver Sweethearts]

1 hour ago, SK said:

We would like to find a cruise that is round-trip without the sea days. Would like to fly into Honolulu, and spend a week or so visiting the islands, and then return from Honolulu. We visited once before on our own and would love to return. Thanks.

 

The ship would be the Pride of America.

[SK]

1 hour ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

The ship would be the Pride of America.

 I've not read many positive reviews but thanks for responding.

[Silver Sweethearts]

3 hours ago, CaribbeanBound said:

Yes, NCL has a couple of ships that do 7-day trips around the islands. Year-around.

With all due respect, we are unaware of any ships that do 7-day trips around the islands year-around except for the Pride of America.  Please tell us what other ships there are that just do the islands

[CaribbeanBound]

That's the one.  NCL Pride of America.  The only cruise sailing 4 Hawaiian islands in 7 days year-round! 

 

At one time I thought they had a second ship.  Might be confusing them with the pair of ships that left the Hawaii market before NCL arrived.

Edited June 23, 2023 by CaribbeanBound

[BermudaBound2014]

1 hour ago, CaribbeanBound said:

That's the one.  NCL Pride of America.  The only cruise sailing 4 Hawaiian islands in 7 days year-round! 

 

At one time I thought they had a second ship.  Might be confusing them with the pair of ships that left the Hawaii market before NCL arrived.

 

At one time (a long time ago), NCL was sailing both the Jade and POA on 7 day Hawaii itineraries. They lost a lot of money. It is very problematic for ships to only sail Hawaii without a stop in a distant port for a multitude of reasons.

 

One of the common theme to POA cruises is poor service. I suspect this is because the vast majority of crew is American and it's 1) hard to staff Americans 2) Hard to train Americans to provide top quality service.

 

To the OP, the ONLY ship that is allowed to sail just in Hawaii is NCL Pride of America. 

[marden1970]

2 hours ago, CaribbeanBound said:

That's the one.  NCL Pride of America.  The only cruise sailing 4 Hawaiian islands in 7 days year-round! 

 

At one time I thought they had a second ship.  Might be confusing them with the pair of ships that left the Hawaii market before NCL arrived.

I believe it used to be called the Pride of Aloha.  We did it years ago and never again.  As @BermudaBound2014 mentioned, the crew is mostly Americans and it seemed as thou they had no work ethic.  Poor service and attitudes.  Never met our room steward and several days our room was not serviced.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

36 minutes ago, marden1970 said:

I believe it used to be called the Pride of Aloha.  We did it years ago and never again. 

 

The Pride of Aloha was a different ship (Norwegian Sky) and that was nearly 20 years ago.

 

The Pride of America has improved, but to me, still not great. I need/want sea days and a casino.

[marden1970]

2 hours ago, scottca075 said:

 

The Pride of Aloha was a different ship (Norwegian Sky) and that was nearly 20 years ago.

 

The Pride of America has improved, but to me, still not great. I need/want sea days and a casino.

It might have been that long ago.  We also like the sea days (and casino).  We've done several roundtrips from West Coast to Hawaii and have another on booked for December on Princess.

[bookbabe]

NCL currently has one ship sailing just the Hawaiian islands, the Pride of America.  It is American-flagged and crewed, a requirement for all cruise ships sailing solely between US ports without a stop in another country.

 

At one time NCL America had three ships:

Pride of America, still sailing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_of_America

Pride of Aloha, now Norwegian Sky - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Sky

Pride of Hawaii, now Norwegian Jade - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Jade

 

 

 

[georgiacat]

We sailed POA in May.  Our room steward was excellent.  One night with Dave, the service in the main dining room was great.  The other two nights in the main dining room, the service was poor.  Service other places, bars, buffet, internet cafe, shops, the service was very good.

 

My complaints:  the balcony room was very small.  (can't fix that, just be aware).

Buffet food was not appetizing.  That depends on your taste.  They have a great salad bar.  There is a variety of food.

 

Entertainment was okay.  Most nights we were too tired to attend the shows.  First night singer/piano player was good; we went to hear his performance again in the lobby.  Hawaiian performers were good; the comedian was okay.  Missed the rest.

 

Ask any questions; I will try to answer.

[Philob]

And if it matters there is NO casino on Pride of America, Hawaiian laws do not allow gaming in its territorial waters.

Edited June 24, 2023 by Philob

[amyj726]

My husband and I just put a deposit on this cruise on Saturday. The reason being as we wanted to see as much as the islands without the headache of trying to figure out how to get from island to island etc. It seems like the POA will do that for us. I am a little nervous after reading some of these reviews. I sure hope our time on land makes up for any disappointment we might encounter on the ship!

Edited June 26, 2023 by amyj726

[princeton123211]

1 hour ago, amyj726 said:

The reason being as we wanted to see as much as the islands without the headache of trying to figure out how to get from island to island etc. It seems like the POA will do that for us.

Island hopping is VERY easy and economical and I always will recommend to someone who wants an island intensive trip (which it sounds like you do) to just do a land vacation-- its a way better way to see Hawaii than by ship of any kind. 

 

Hawaiian Airlines and Southwest fly from Honolulu to most major airports in the islands nearly every half hour or 45 minutes and pricing is very reasonable. Just food for thought 

[steveknj]

1 hour ago, amyj726 said:

My husband and I just put a deposit on this cruise on Saturday. The reason being as we wanted to see as much as the islands without the headache of trying to figure out how to get from island to island etc. It seems like the POA will do that for us. I am a little nervous after reading some of these reviews. I sure hope our time on land makes up for any disappointment we might encounter on the ship!

 

This was our thought as well.  We have been toying with the idea of doing the Pride of America cruise for sometime now, and financially we think we can swing it.  Considering that NCL is often offering second flight free, that makes it more affordable as well.   Our thought process was that it would be:

A) Cheaper than booking two flights, hotels in each destination, and flights between the various islands.  I would imagine the hotel fares alone would probably cost as much as the cruise.  Then throw in food and flights, it would be much more expensive.

B) First time to Hawaii so this seems like a "best of Hawaii" thing, where we could decide after the cruise to go back to where we liked on some later date.  It would be a good Hawaii primer

C) The ship wouldn't matter too much as it would be mostly as a "hotel", a place to sleep, grab breakfast and a reasonable dinner and as there would be no "sea" days, we could probably do an inside cabin and we'd spend very little time in the cabin or ship anyway.   So we wouldn't need "much".    Lunch's would mostly be done on the islands.  We don't gamble really and don't drink a whole lot.  I would imagine that food would be comparable to any other NCL cruise.

 

Am I wrong for assuming any of this?   The one place we might take a hotel room would be before and (potentially) after in Honolulu since we've never been there and would want to see the sights.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

22 hours ago, steveknj said:

Am I wrong for assuming any of this?   The one place we might take a hotel room would be before and (potentially) after in Honolulu since we've never been there and would want to see the sights.

 

You are not wrong on any of it. Where is goes sideways is with people who expect POA to be just like other cruises or cruise lines they've been on. To me POA is just a step or two better than the ferries in Japan or Scandinavia.

[steveknj]

24 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

You are not wrong on any of it. Where is goes sideways is with people who expect POA to be just like other cruises or cruise lines they've been on. To me POA is just a step or two better than the ferries in Japan or Scandinavia.

 

Having never been on those ferries, I'm not quite sure what you are getting at.  But I think you are saying that the POA just isn't a normal cruise ship, in that it's kind of below par when compared to other cruise ships.  As I said, I don't expect much more than a room, somewhere to eat and maybe some night entertainment (though I imagine after a day sightseeing, I might be pretty exhausted!).   I assume that this ship will have all those things?   I would imagine also that the reason this older ship is used in Hawaii is for precisely what I'm saying.  There's not a whole lot of need for all the frills of most modern cruise ships.

[princeton123211]

10 minutes ago, steveknj said:

I would imagine also that the reason this older ship is used in Hawaii is for precisely what I'm saying.  There's not a whole lot of need for all the frills of most modern cruise ships.

This ship was actually custom built for the Hawaiian market-- she's not second hand into it. NCL can only operate her this way because they got a special dispensation to have her US flagged. 

 

The biggest complaints that I've heard from numerous friends that have sailed on her is that the staff is required to be all from the US and as a result POA is very understaffed and the service levels are far below those of a normal, international crewed cruise ship in the same category. Also they said that the interiors were heinously ugly.

 

I think what Scott is trying to say is that they charge a substantial premium (vs a normal cruise) for a noticeably diminished onboard product. 

[amyj726]

Thank you all for your input. 

 

Steveknj....you have the same though process as I do. We plan on only sleeping on the ship. Doing sightseeing lunches, etc in port. I did not want to have to sit and figure out what, where and when. This cruise will give my husband and I a chance to see the islands. Determine which is our favorite and enable us to go back and focus on what we enjoyed the most. I don't think the price is way out of line.....maybe I will think differently when all is said and done.

 

Thank you Princeton123211 and scottca075...I appreciate your input too!

[DCwom]

3 hours ago, amyj726 said:

Thank you all for your input. 

 

Steveknj....you have the same though process as I do. We plan on only sleeping on the ship. Doing sightseeing lunches, etc in port. I did not want to have to sit and figure out what, where and when.

I had the same question a month or two ago on the POA and went through the same analysis. There are those who hate & those who love the POA. The one thing I'll add that hasn't already been said is that the island hopping via plane, while quick is still a TSA dance, plus we won't be carrying an overnight bag so it means checking 2 big suitcaes, etc. I figured at least 1/2 day lost to do the hop to each island.

[princeton123211]

53 minutes ago, DCwom said:

The one thing I'll add that hasn't already been said is that the island hopping via plane, while quick is still a TSA dance, plus we won't be carrying an overnight bag so it means checking 2 big suitcaes, etc. I figured at least 1/2 day lost to do the hop to each island.

It's not that bad. The longest part of the journey is usually commuting from where you are on any given island to the airport. Airports, with the exception of Honolulu, are not even close to the size of most airports we are used on on the mainland and TSA lines are quick (not to mention they have PreCheck which moves you even faster). Inter-island flights are 20/30 minutes on average. Really 2-3 hours total in most cases rather than half a day including travel to the airport. 

 

You also have other options out smaller airports on airlines other than Hawaiian and Southwest. Mokulele Airlines operates smaller aircraft from smaller airports that are closer to where you are trying to go. For example on Maui you can fly Mokulele from the very small Kapalua Airport, adjacent to two major resort areas, rather than have to go all the way to the larger Kahului Airport. It saves a ton of time (and provides an incredible aerial tour of another island on the way. 

 

Inter-island flights are very easy. 

[Casey2]

I was on the POA in 2018.  I read all the neagative reviews that everyone is talking about ranging from poor service, poor food quality, poor entertainement etc.  We booked this cruise because we wanted to spend the most time in Hawaii.  I am not a novice cruiser so I have alot to compere it with and I will say that the cruise was wonderful.  I did not experience any of the issues that were reported.  I spoke to other people on the curise and they agreed that the cruise was great.  Please take some of the reviews with a grain of salt.  People are ready to criticize but not so ready to compliment.

[Tljcruiser]

We just debarked Saturday.  The reviews are right the ship is not the best BUT it suits the purpose of getting to see several islands without having to unpack and repack and fly around.  If you go into it with low expectations of service and food quality and use it as a floating hotel and a means to get from one place to another you will be fine.  As a cruise it was by far the worst service (dining room, cabin attendant etc) that I have ever experienced, but the islands are great and it got us where we needed to go.  The ship itself is very pretty with great public spaces, the staff is just lacking in basic customer service skills.  The cabins are super small compared to other ships but that wasn't really a problem for us. Overall the benefits of seeing all we saw were worth the negatives of the poor service.  Just don't go into it thinking you will receive 5 star service our expectations were low so we were not disappointed or surprised with what we got. 

[steveknj]

On 7/11/2023 at 11:22 PM, Tljcruiser said:

We just debarked Saturday.  The reviews are right the ship is not the best BUT it suits the purpose of getting to see several islands without having to unpack and repack and fly around.  If you go into it with low expectations of service and food quality and use it as a floating hotel and a means to get from one place to another you will be fine.  As a cruise it was by far the worst service (dining room, cabin attendant etc) that I have ever experienced, but the islands are great and it got us where we needed to go.  The ship itself is very pretty with great public spaces, the staff is just lacking in basic customer service skills.  The cabins are super small compared to other ships but that wasn't really a problem for us. Overall the benefits of seeing all we saw were worth the negatives of the poor service.  Just don't go into it thinking you will receive 5 star service our expectations were low so we were not disappointed or surprised with what we got. 

 

Glad to see your recent review, since I know that there have been differences that I have noticed on NCL since the pandemic on two "more traditional" ships, the Breakaway and Getaway that we sailed on last year.   Still had a wonderful time, but those ships felt understaffed (even though the ship on one of those cruises was half empty) and they seem to cut down on activities.  For a cruise on the POA, I don't even NEED a lot of those things.   A cabin, food and really not much more.   By lacking customer service skills can you provide an example of where you saw that?   I've seen that sort of thing happen on other ships as well, and trying to gauge if it is much worse than anything else I've seen.