Pride Of America Review April 29 -May 6

[BamBamGo]

Pride of America APR29-MAY6

 

 

In a nutshell, we really enjoyed the cruise. The staff was great, cabin was nice, the food was OK and the weather was fantastic. Remember that the best part of this itinerary is the destination –Hawaii! I hope you will be spending a good portion of your days on the islands and not in your cabin on the ship.

 

Cabin & Cabin Service -9.5 out of 10

Food Quality -7 out of 10

Food Service -8.5 out of 10

Entertainment -7 out of 10

Pre Cruise

This was the first cruise for my wife and I. After reading all of the bad reviews about the Pride of America, I was pretty skeptical and my expectations were very low. This was an incentive trip arranged by a travel agent, so I really didn’t have a choice of ships.

 

We booked our own airfare so we could chose our own times and airline, and we arrived in Honolulu from the East Coast at 8pm Friday night before the cruise. Our bags were first off of the carousel (a first!) We did not pre-arrange a ride to the hotel, but a ground transportation person directed us to a Roberts Hawaii bus sitting just outside baggage claim. For $8 each it was only 30 minutes and 5 stops to the Marriott Waikiki Beach Resort. We used Marriott points for the one night stay and we were even upgraded to a very nice Ocean View room. Great hotel…great location and their new beds are super comfortable!

 

The Marriott has an NCL office in the lobby, so we took advantage of the early check-in for the cruise. They took our pictures for the ship ID cards, swiped credit cards and made sure all paperwork was complete. They said it would save us a lot of time once we got to the dock for boarding.

 

We had a quick workout and then relaxed on the beach most of the morning. We checked out of the hotel at 2pm and took a van to the pier. There were no lines at this time at all and we were on the ship in 15 minutes. The couple in the van with us did not participate in the early check-in at the Marriott, and they boarded no more than 5 minutes after us.

 

Cabin

We went to our cabin (10056 if I recall) and it looked great. Not as small as I had anticipated, and it had a nice, very private balcony with 2 chairs and a small table. Our Cabin Steward was the best, and that is probably what made that part of the cruise so enjoyable. His name was Enno, and I believe he lives on one of the Islands. He was always friendly and asked us how everything was going. He freshened up the rooms twice each day and even created the towel animals I have read about on this forum.

 

Food

Breakfast –We ate all breakfasts on the Aloha Café buffet on deck 11 outside at the back of the ship. I thought the food was great everyday except the very last day when the food seemed a little old (maybe leftovers) and they were running out of many items. I wish I would have brought a big coffee travel mug so I didn’t have to keep refilling the small cups provided.

Lunch –We only ate lunch on board one day. A quick bite at the Aloha Buffet again and it was pretty good. We also grabbed a couple snacks at the Key West Grill once or twice…not bad.

Dinners –We were with a group of about 20 and had a standing reservation each night at the Skyline dining room. We ate there 4 of the 7 nights and most meals were pretty good. My best meal there was when I asked the waiter to combine two of the entrees…a grilled chicken breast over the mushroom and cheese raviolis. When the whole group dined together, meals would last from 6pm to about 9pm. The two of us ate alone one night and we were in an out in about an hour. The servers were great and the same two guys were assigned to our table each night. We ate at Little Italy twice and the service was excellent and very fast. One night our party of four was finished with desert while another party of six who was seated next to us at the same time was just finishing salads. So it seems service times can fluctuate quite a bit.

Entertainment

We only saw a couple of shows on the ship. The comedian was really good his first night, but we heard his second show later in the week was pretty weak. The juggler was entertaining and seemed to especially appeal to more of the seniors in the crowd.

Excursions

We only booked one excursion through the ship, the Captain Zodiac tour in Kona. We had a great time and saw lots of fish and a turtle. Our guide was Deron Verbeck and he was attempting a new free diving record the next day. I checked the internet and it looks like he ended up setting a new national record at around 61 meters.

We rented a car in Hilo, both stops on Maui, and on Kauai.

Armed with a couple of guide books, we had a much better time on our own than we could have with a tour. Cars are reasonable, and if you plan ahead you can book excursions directly with most operators for much less money. For instance, we booked the same Zipline Adventure in Maui direct on the company’s website for about ½ the price, and we still had use of the car to explore other parts of Maui for the day. Just be sure to book early because the cruise lines reserve a lot of those slots in advance.

One other show that I had read good things about was Warren and Annebelles in Lahaina. We booked 3 weeks prior to our trip because they sell out nightly. This was one of the funniest and amazing shows I have ever seen. I would highly recommend it to anyone. A fantastic evening, great food and with a limit of only about 75 people, every seat is a good one.

Leaving the Ship

We chose to carry our own luggage off on the last day so we wouldn’t have to pack the night before. The buffet was poor this final day. They had run out of many items and some of the food looked a week old. Not a big deal, I had eaten enough the previous 7 days. We disembarked about 9am, checked our luggage ($5 per bag) just outside the ship, and took a cab to do a little shopping. We enjoyed a nice lunch at Bubba Gumps and then headed to the airport for a 4pm flight.

 

I really appreciated reading everyone else’s reviews prior to my cruise, so I hope I was able to reciprocate with my experience. I will try to answer any additional questions if I missed something. Aloha!

[lambs2]

We will be sailing on Pride of America June 3 and really appreciated your tips AND positive attitude! We had been scheduled on Pride of Aloha for May 17, but were fortunate to get changed to this sailing after our cruise was cancelled due to the extra dry-docking time needed. We were very bummed at first, but have made lemonade out of lemons by reading up on this cruise ship plus arranging a couple pre-cruise days in Waikiki. We had also pre-booked some excursions and rental cars, and all the vendors were very gracious and switched to the new dates! After the initial disappointment and frustration wore off we are getting very excited again and are reading all we can about the Pride of America trip!! Thanks again!

ALOHA and MAHALO!:)

[Zeno]

Enjoyable review - glad you had a good cruise.

[lhall85917]

Thanks for posting - our trip is approaching fast, we're always hoping to see some more reviews!

[lanord]

Thanks for posting your review. We depart on 6/17 and are glad to see positive remarks about PoAM.

[jeanied]

BamBamGo -

 

Thanks for the review!

 

You mentioned that you checked your luggage when you got off the ship so you could spend some time shopping. How does that work?

 

Thanks again,

 

Jeanie

[cruisy-suzy]

Great review!

We are thinking about taking this cruise in 2007, and I was wondering about cabin selection. Do you think there's a benefit to choosing either side, port or starboard? Which side were you on?

 

Thanks,

Suzy

[Nanietwo]

What is Warren and Annebelles?

[BamBamGo]

BamBamGo -

 

Thanks for the review!

 

You mentioned that you checked your luggage when you got off the ship so you could spend some time shopping. How does that work?

 

Thanks again,

 

Jeanie[it was just outside and next to the area that everyone claims their luggage after they disembark. It's very similar to a hotel bell desk luggage check. They give you a receipt/claimcheck and I believe you have until 7pm to pickup your bags.]

[BamBamGo]

Great review!

We are thinking about taking this cruise in 2007, and I was wondering about cabin selection. Do you think there's a benefit to choosing either side, port or starboard? Which side were you on?

 

Thanks,

Suzy

We were on the Starboard side and I didn't really think there was any advantage to either side. I understand that sometimes they cruise by the Lava Flows at night, and by the Napali Coast during daylight, but we did not get either one of these on our trip so I wouldn't know which side was better.

[BamBamGo]

What is Warren and Annebelles?

You can learn more at warrenandannabelles.com. When you arrive they seat you in a very nice big multilevel parlor to have cocktails and really good appetizers while listening to Annabelle play the piano (she takes requests). Then the group moves into another room for a very entertaining comedy and magic show. Sorry if I am sounding too much like an advertisement, but it was a really fun evening.