Pride of America..is it worth it?

[mtaylor04]

My daughter and I were thinking about taking a Hawaii cruise next spring break. Got the quote today and its almost $4000 for the two of us for a 7 day spring break cruise. For this money we could pretty much do two cruises.

 

Is Hawaii and NCL worth spending that much money on? I have always wanted to go but never realized it was that expensive.

 

Also, we have only cruised Princess....will we be dissapointed with NCL?

 

Thanks in advances for your help

Mary

[KeystoneCruiser]

I will be completely honest with you in this answer.

 

First, the good: we are looking into a cruise for next year and are limited to summertime because two of us are teachers. We have done Hawaii, Alaska and the Dawn and none of the other NCL summer offerings appeal to us. So we are looking at other cruise lines but we really love the Freestyle Concept of NCL. We hate to dress up and hate assigned dining times. Our Travel Agent says that we should try Princess next year since they are "have the closest thing to Freestyle" of the other lines. So you should feel comfortable.

 

Now, the bad: Let's be honest, there are severall threads on this board right now talking about the poor service on the Pride ships. Since the ships are American flagged, they have to have American crews and that seems to be the where the problem lies, the American workers are just not like the International workers on the other lines.

 

There have been some positive stories from those who have sailed on NCL America, but the negatives all carry the same basic theme: Service is slow and lacking compared to even the international ships in the NCL line.

 

With that said, I have been on the POA (Pride of Aloha) during her maiden voyages in 2004. (she was the first of the three) Yes, service was incredibly slow in the dining rooms, but our cabin stewards were excellent and the Cruise Director, Shore Excursion team and reception desk people were great. We are not hard to please in that area though. My wife is the type of person who would prefer to make up her own bed in hotel rooms and I have no problem getting up in a restaurant and getting the pitcher to refill my own drinks.

 

NCL America is not Princess (nor should NCL America be held indictitive of the rest of NCL) and the service is not as good, but you are in HAWAII! Second, the Pride ships are more port intensive than any other cruise. You actually spend very little time on board the ship. The ship is basically your floating hotel, restaurant for breakfast and dinner and your evening entertainment venue. You spend more time on shore than you do on the ship.

 

You also have to understand the Freestyle Concept. Many people who sail NCL don't like it because they don't like Freestyle. With Freestyle, you have no set dining time and no set tablemates. You go to the restaurant of your choice at the time of your choice just like at land restaurants. There may be a short wait in the main dining rooms just like on land. You also have to make reservations for the specialty restaurants and pay a cover charge. Finally, the best part of NCL, the choice to dress pretty much as you want, when you want and not be limited in your eating choices. Formal night is OPTIONAL. You can dress up or not dress up and still eat in ANY dining venue you want. (you have to be in at least resort casual...no jeans or shorts. Polo shirt and kahki pants are fine.) On Hawaii cruises, you will find that only about 30% will dress up even on Optional formal night. So you can leave the nice clothes at home. OR, if you like to dress up, you can do that as well!!

 

The other issue is the expense. We have talked about another Hawaii cruise, this time on the POAm or the POH, but after looking at the prices, we are leaning toward another cruise line and location. These cruises are a little pricey for the current level of service and the amount of time you are on the ship.

 

Can you afford to be gone for 10 days?? The Noweigan Wind (and soon the Sun) do 10 or 11 day Hawaii cruises that do basically the same ports, only with the extension to go to Fanning Island, Republic of Kiribit in order to meet the Jones Act. (the US law that says non-American flagged cruise ships have to stop at a foreign port.) This is one of NCL's international ships and probably will offer better service.

 

Hope this helps.

[newmexicoNita]

What kind of a cabin, is that with air and if so, from where? Does it include a pre or post cruise stay? It is pretty hard for anyone of us to judge with so little information.

 

NMnita