Pride of Aloha 6/23 - 30 Review

[benchmarklearning]

First, a bit of background. This was our second cruise, first being a wonderful Holland America Mexico cruise in March. Our expectations were very low due to the comments about the Aloha on these boards. We were prepared for everything! We booked an inside cabin since it was Hawaii and most of the time would be spent in ports.

 

Overall, this was an excellent cruise - sure, its not HAL, but we found so many good things that they heavily outweighed the few very minor issues. First of all, the crew was great - across the board. They were very friendly, helpful, and engaging. We especially loved the wait staff in the three specialty restaurants.

 

Embarkation - a breeze - took no more than 10 minutes.

 

Food - We ate 6 nights in the specialty restaurants and they were superb. We especially liked the bistro. Both food and service were well beyond expectations. Service was prompt and all requests were immediately fulfilled. We ate one night in the Crosswinds main dining room. Although the food was OK, service was slow - but, hey, there were 2000 people on board. It was also very noisy and too much hustle and bustle. Because we wanted a more relaxing time we chose the specialty restaurants. Buffet was OK - we had breakfast there every morning and sat outside.

 

Ports - Kauai was wonderful, along with Maui. Kona is nice and tender operation was very efficient. They should skip Hilo and spend an extra day in Kona. The cruise along the Pali coast was fantastic and the night cruise by the lava flows on Hawaii was spectacular. Car rental (Alamo) in Hilo was totally disorganized, but it was the unruly passengers that made it worse.

 

Ship - Very clean and comparable to HAL. Entertainment was OK - karaoke was fun and some of the night clubs enjoyable. Although they could use a few more public rest rooms, they were all clean and well serviced. The pool area tended to get a bit cluttered and chaotic but it was generally filled with teenagers.

 

Room - The inside cabin took a bit of getting used to but we had enough room for everything and bed was comfortable, although not nearly as nice as HAL's. Fresh ice every day. Cabin was cleaned and serviced every morning by noon. Didn't see the cabin attendant but once but again, they have a lot of rooms to do and we were an inside cabin so did not expect to develop a great relationship with him.

 

Passengers - This is clearly a different crowd than Holland America. For the most part they were a good group, although the group that embarked in Maui (1,000) really changed the tone. There was a lot more noise in the hallways - pranksters knocking on doors at night, etc. We saw, from a distance, a kid throwing chairs overboard and used diapers placed in ashtrays. Lot's of kids and parents in need of parental training.

 

This cruise offers a lot of value for anyone wanting to see Hawaii. This was our 4th trip to Hawaii so we knew where to go and what to do. The American crew was a real delight and did a great job. They've taken some real heat on these boards and I just want to say that everyone we came in contact with was excellent. The food was good - and the food and service in the specialty restaurants was superb - we highly recommend going this route - well worth the $10 extra.

 

Overall, a much more pleasant experience than expected!

[GracieAtTara]

Nice review! Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. We'll be on this ship in October for our first trip to Hawaii. Have also been on HAL in the past. Based upon the reviews of others we are planning to eat most of our meals in the specialty restaurants as you did. Glad to know these restaurants are continuing to live up to the good reviews you and others have posted. Also nice to hear good things about the crew. Sounds like you had a very nice trip!

[newlywedcruisers]

I wanna mimick the post before and state that it really is a good thing to hear something positive about an NCLA crew, I'm looking into an NCLA cruise February.

[hotspur]

Overall, this was an excellent cruise - sure, its not HAL...

For which some of us are everlastingly grateful.

[kerryw29]

Thank you for sharing - I just posted a panicy post about Hawaii cruises - I am feeling better now.

 

I had read some bad reviews.....

 

thanks for a decent one!!!

 

Back to my research!!

 

Kerry