Hawaiian Cruises - "Pride of . . . "

[nfused2cruze]

What is the current state of affairs with NCL's Hawaiian Cruises?

I have read reviews on Cruise Critic, Cruise Review and Cruise Addicts.

Both the Pride and America had experienced problems in the past. The reviews continue to reflect this very much.

 

I would love to do a cruise in Hawaii but NCL corners the market on this category without crossing the Pacific. Are things getting better or still the same.

 

P.S. - I don't have the money to just 'try' it. I would like honest feedback before trying something out - namely Pride of Hawaii.

[ElephantMan]

Well, where do I start? Have been on 3 Carnival cruises ... each one fantastic but never perfect. Went on Pride of America in April. It isn't Carnival but it is okay. Cabins are small ... even the balcony (has storage under bed). Suggest you get mini-suite if affordable. NCL was worth the money but a few things to beware of ...

 

Air - booked thru NCL for best price but no flexibility ... wanted to stay a couple of extra days in Honolulu. Be sure you get a frequent flier membership with the airline (we were on United) and upfont request adjoining seats or there is no telling where you will sit. However, agents at airport will try to redo seats.

 

Dining - main dining room was great but menu doesn't change too much. Servers were really good. If you want to do speciality restauraunts ... book them the first day before the lifeboat drill if possible. Tuesday night is lobster but eat early in main dining. DO EAT at Poncho & Lefty's in Kona ... beef nachos (shredded beef - not ground) were best I've ever eaten -- huge serving under $10. Want to do a Luau --- book the Old Lahaina on Maui but do it early, fills up fast.

 

Excursions - rent a car on each island ($60), buy an atlas ($20) and a couple of day trip travel guides ($15 each at Borders or might get at Amazon for $3). Blue Island Charters for snorkeling on Maui has a great price and the owner is a man of integrity. If you keep car overnight in Maui be sure to park legally and take photos after parked for proof. Akal Security guards like to have them impounded and don't expect any help from Akal or the harbor master. The rudest people we encountered were Akal security guards. Road to Hana on Maui was great with lots of beautiful scenery but it is an all day affair.

 

Kuaui was our favorite island ... beautiful scenery and friendly people.

 

Aloha

[bonvoyagie]

Just got back from PoAM. Nice ship with a true blue American theme - lots of red white and blue colors. We had a balcony room on deck 8 - 8140 to be exact. The room was the same size as the one we had on the Sky (now PoA) It was just fine for the two of us, being used to camping in a 22' TT it seemed about the same - although the bathroom in my TT is bigger :D and it has a full galley, dinette, sofa and bed to boot. Needless to say for the amount of time spent there it was just fine. We found the staff and crew to be very friendly and was just as eager to find out where we were from as we were to find out where they were from. We ran into several staff from our own Pacific Northwest. Because the PoA was still docked in SF some of our staff was on loan to the PoAM until the PoA returned. Some were at the end of their contracts and were counting down the days. The PoA staff said that they really wanted to go back to the PoA, they felt the ship was smaller and liked the Hawaii theme as opposed to the America theme. None wanted to go to the PoH - too big they said. While the PoA and PoAM carry about the same number of passengers, but I have to agree that the PoAM is bigger overall than the PoA.

 

Dining - we found little italy and the caddy diner along with the aloha cafe to be our fav spots for eating. The selections in the dining rooms were not our cup of tea. Even in the aloha, the main theme seeemed to be asian. We found ourselves chickened and porked to death. The beef dishes were few and poor quality, however the hamburgers in both the caddy diner and aloha were very good. My wife does not eat fish at all. Of the three cruises we have been on this was the worst for food. Our two trips to AK on NCL had far better food - and from the menus posted on this board - still has better food.

 

Tours - this was our first time to Hawaii so we went with packaged tours, learned lots from local guides. Some of the tours such as the zipline and tubing the ditch are available only to cruise ship passengers on boat days. We decided to take educational tours, lots of sightseeing. We live in volcano country so that was lower interest to us - it was neat to see the lava flowing into the sea at night though. One of our tours took us down the road to Hana for awhile, another took us around west Maui. The next time we visit (there probably will be a next time) we will rent a car and do our own sightseeing. Would probably book a snorkel tour and tube the ditch again.

 

Overall - remember this is a port intensive cruise, they expect you to leave the ship during the day and come back at night for dinner and dancing etc. The daytime activites were there, but not well attended. This is also Hawaii, sit back, hang loose and enjoy the ride in your floating hotel

[Poconolady]

We just returned today from the Pride of Aloha, on the May 26 sailing out of Maui, the first sailing since the much publicized cancelled cruise after drydock.

Ship--the ship is in excellent condition. Carpet has been replaced, everything painted and the ship has been deep cleaned all over, including the kitchen areas. The exterior of the ship has been refreshed and the deck areas have been freshened up.

 

Food--we found the food to be quite good. There is a definate lack of green vegtetables on most menus, salads are small. Menu variety was fine with a good amount of fresh fish, seafood in some form on every dinner menu, always a choice of steak, chicken, a vegetarian choice and a pasta, plus a daily special such as prime rib, pork ribs, roast pork, lobster, etc. Entree sizes were good (we never felt the need to order a second helping), desserts were ok, never anything really special.

 

Service-this is where the otherwise wonderful cruise comes to a crashing halt--dining room service and seating is atrocious. Most evenings it was a 45-90 minute wait to get a table in either dining room, and then once seated it takes at least two hours to get through the meal. The maitr d in Crossings told us that the dining room was short twenty servers. There were always empty tables, they did not have the staff to serve the tables, so passengers had to wait--and by the time they get a table most were really mad. The Hukilau Buffet area was generally packed with people who did not want to wait. Service in the Bistro was exceptional, however service in Kahili was also slow, it took almost three hours, for two, to be served our dinner. Don't get me wrong, I don't like to be rushed through a meal, but due to the timing of sailings and dinner, we were unable to attend any shows. Also, the beepers were not always working well, so passengers were left holding beepers that never went off, and their tables were given to other passengers. Most evenings you could hear a LOT of disatisfied people complaining to the seating desk personnel, they took a lot of verbal abuse, and many times they were rude to the passengers. This is one area that Freestyle Cruising does not work.