Home from POH July31-Aug7

[Matt&Jess]

We returned yesterday from out POH honeymoon cruise. I am willing to answer any questions. A few pieces of advise to offer:

 

1) Be clear on your expectations. (Poor service, low quality food, clean new staterooms and public areas, great way to see the islands)

 

2) Use Thrifty car rental:) ! (Always at the pier, BlueChip members served quickly, 10% Sam's Club discount, friendly shuttle drivers full of information, quick shuttles back to the pier, new clean cars)

 

3) Pack light. (Free washer and dryer, $1.00 for detergent or bring your own, easy to store clothes in ample drawers and closets.)

 

4) Service leaves something to be desired.:mad: (Bartenders don't know how to make drinks, room stewards are so busy that you never see them and the rooms are never complete, reception staff is overwhelmed and can't effectively help the guests, restaurant staff are busy don't provide the service you would expect from a nice restaurant.)

 

5) Make reservations for the speciality restaurants and Grand Pacific the moment you get on board. (Otherwise you will eat in the buffet every night. Make them for the main dining room as well, Grand Pacific, so you know you have a table when you want to eat.)

 

If you are looking for a convienent way to see the islands and wake up each day in a new port then the POH is for you.

If you want that plus great food and good service, look elsewhere.

[u2us4]

Do they have towels you can take off the ship for excursions? Thanks

[spleen93]

I thought that they weren't accepting reservations in the main dining room for parties smaller than 6 people or so? It's news to me that you're now allowed to reserve for main dining.

 

Spleen

[travelling fools]

I understand there are 2 main dining rooms.Is one better than the other for service ?Also are there any tables by the window with room for 5 or are they all for 2.

Do all the restaurants have the same hours?

Thanks !

[jczc2003]

I thought that they weren't accepting reservations in the main dining room for parties smaller than 6 people or so? It's news to me that you're now allowed to reserve for main dining.

 

 

I'm interested in knowing the answer to this also.

[Califonria cruiser]

I thought you could make ressies if you asked for a specific server. Can you recommend any in each of the dinign rooms? Were the menus the same in each main dining room? Which did you like better and why?

 

Thanks for the info. We are going August 28th!

 

Jenn

[Matt&Jess]

Towels:

Yes they have towels you can check out to take ashore, you just have to check them out and back in, there is often a line.

 

Main Dining Rooms:

We never ate there, however, when we made reservations for the other restaurants we had the option of there. We were in the main dining room for our muster drill and saw that there were mostly small tables near the windows. The menus for the dining rooms changed daily and were different in each one. As far as service we did not eat there.

 

Restaurants:

Most have the same hours around 5:30-9:30 or 10:00. The dailies tell you the hours of each restaurant.

 

In speaking with other guests they were unable to get seated in Grand Pacific w/out reservations. To be on the safe side I would ask. Again I will say, make reservations as soon as you get on board for the whole week, otherwise you are out of luck. You can always cancel, if you don't they will charge you $5/person for missed reservations. Make them to be safe.:)

[CruisinMK]

I noticed 3 reviews posted today for your exact same sailing of Pride of Hawaii. Here are the excerpts on food comments:

 

I was also on the july31-aug7 sailing. Service was always good anywhere you went. Dinner always went smoothly in the dining room, plates were cleared fast and food was also served fast. This is true especially in the speciality restaurants, but also in the main ones. Dinner always took less than hour for us. In the aloha nui buffet, plates were cleared very very fast, they even took some plates that i wasnt finished with.

 

Food was generally good in the dining rooms, but breakfast was horrible. It was same old selection of food every morning and it was VERY basic. Eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, etc. They could of at least put out one new dish every morning to switch it up a little.

 

---

 

 

The service is different with an all American staff. Your Carrribbean staff is made up of people from many third world nations who go out of there way to provide an exceptional level of service because there livelyhood depends on it. The American staff is mostly 20ish and are friendly and helpful but there ultimate livelyhood is not going to come from this ship. There looking for a little adventure and working in the Islands for 6 months -1 year is a great way to do it. They did run out of food several times in the buffet but it was a minor inconvience. We ate at 6 different restaurants and enjoyed all of them especially Cagneys steak house. Definitely make your reservations when you first get on the ship.

 

I just got back and have alot to do so I will keed it short. I have been on 6 cruises (Princess, RCCL, and Cunard QM2). All were amazing. POH was almost half the price of all the others and overall we enjoyed it more than all the others. It was fantastic. The service was first class the food was 30% good, 50% very good & 20% exceptional. We will do this trip again. [...]

 

We had a great time and were extremely fortunate to have exemplary service onboard and especially in the dining room. We HIGHLY recommend asking for a server named Lauran Walker when you make your reservations onboard. She is amazing. After the first night we cancelled all of our other reservations at the specialty restaurants and booked a table in her section every night.

[Matt&Jess]

I can't speak for all people on the ship, only for the experience we had. The buffet was cleared quickly, however, this was not the only service related problem we expericenced. Again, we did not eat in the main dining room so I can not comment on the service there. All I can say is I am providing two peoples opinion of the food and service we recieved. Service and food quality will be interpreted by each person differently.

 

I feel it is my responsibility to let others know about our experience. Take the information as factual based opinion. We had a horrible honeymoon thanks to POH and I want to let others know about what we experienced. I am happy for those who had other experiences and I hope that everyone has fabulous experiences from here on out.

[CruisinMK]

Oh no worries, negative reviews are as important as positive ones, and sometime more fun to read. :) You should submit a review to the review section of this site if you have time

[spleen93]

We appreciate the effort in putting in your review! I hope you don't let this experience spoil the beginning of what should be a very happy time for the two of you!

 

Spleen

 

PS: hey mike, shouldn't that location be "Ainokea"? Or are you doing your own thing? :D

[CruisinMK]

Oh good point, I'll fix that.

 

I had to crop the bulaia pic to fit, I think it looks pretty stylin' with close up on the hamajang fro.

Sadly couldn't fit his hand doing the shaka sign

 

[spleen93]

too funny! I always did love that 'fro. :)

 

Spleen

[randlandk]

Mike and Spleen you two just crack me up....keeps me coming back to the boards...just to see what you two have to say!!!:p Thanks so much for all the great comments and the comedy!!

 

Letha

[kydeg]

We also just returned from the 7/31 sailing of the POH. The ship was very nice and the service we received was generally very good. We did not spend much time onboard the ship... We had a rental car at each port and used them extensively to see and do all that we could in the time allotted. The "Freestyle" dining situation was very disappointing. The general idea is that you should be able to eat anytime you like and that is supposed to make for a more relaxed atmosphere. Well... You can eat anytime... as long as it meets their schedule... or if you only want hot dogs & hamburgers. Example... First day on Maui, we picked up our rental and drove the entire loop around the road to Hana and beyond. We returned to the ship at approximately 4:30 to grab a bite to eat, change clothes and then leave to spend the evening in Lahaina. We went to the Aloha Nui and were told that they are not open until 5:30 p.m. We were told to go to the Blue Lagoon... there, we were also told they were not open and we should go back to Aloha Nui. Bottom line... no restaurants were open during the middle of the day. On days when the ship was in port overnight, we returned after 9:00 p.m. to find that all restaurants were closed. The blue Lagoon opened at 10:30, but was swarming with everyone's children. Mostly teenagers, whose parents had gone to bed. There were no restaurants open for evening dinner past 9:00 p.m. The dailies list the dining room times as "5:30 p.m. until closing", but the computer screens show everything closed. This cruise is not like previous cruises where you could get something to eat later in the evening... There are no midnight buffets or chocolate buffets. Bottom line Freestyle dining means you can eat anytime on your schedule... as long as you are on their schedule... If you are used to eating late or plan to be off the ship until later in the evening, you had better eat out, as there will be no food available unless you want to live on hamburgers and turkey club sandwiches all week. We were also returning after 9:00 p.m. on Kauai, so we stopped to get a pizza at Pizza Hut. They would not allow us onboard the ship, so we had dinner at 10:00 p.m. in the parking lot. That was the highlight of our dining experiences with "Freestyle Dining" Good Luck with that! We have never been on a cruise where food is not readily available and is not a highlight of the trip... UNTIL NOW :confused:

[Audiocracy]

Sorry to hear you didn't have a good freestyle-dining experience. I have heard it was a lot like a restaurant experience on shore. It does state in the freestyale dailies that the Aloha Nui and the Blue Lagoon close at 3:30 and 5:00 respectively. It looks like the Topsider Grill would be the only place to get food at around the 4:30-5:00 time frame. The last seating for the Grand Pacific is 9:30PM and the last seating at Alizar is 10:00PM. Did you actually check the restaurants to see if they were closed? I ask because there have been a lot of post which state that the tv screens are very inaccurate, stating that restaurants were full when they were empty. maybe they indicated that they were closed earlier than they actually were. Pizza-Hut in the parking lot sounds horrible. Hopefully, it won't come to that on my cruise.

[MandyGirl]

We had a horrible honeymoon

 

Sorry you had a horrible honeymoon :( but thanks for sharing your POH experience!

[kydeg]

Audiocracy... We did go to the Aloha Nui, but did not go to each of the other dining rooms to see if we could get served. The computer screens listed all of the restaurants as closed. Perhaps we should have searched all of the restaurants each night... we may have been able to get served in one of the "closed" dining rooms. Once again.... We have never been on a cruise where you had to worry about being able to get something to eat. I guess you have to make some decisions about your activities. You can sit on the beach and watch the sunset on the other side of the island, or you can drive back early, so you don't have to worry about finding someplace to eat dinner on the ship. We chose to enjoy our time ashore... except for the food situation, it was a very enjoyable trip and a great way to experience the highlights of each island.

[Matt&Jess]

We too tried to bring left over pizza onboard, due to our dissapointment with the food but we told to eat it or throw it out. :(

[MandyGirl]

Gotta love all the food/agriculture laws! A lot of brides who marry at port and want to bring the leftover wedding cake back onboard sometimes face challenges in different ports of call.

[beachchick]

It's true those laws/regulations can be a pain in the patootie, but they are in place for good reasons. We might not know specifically why any particular location has instituted its particular laws; we just have to live with them. I always try to find out in advance. If I don't know in advance, I assume that I will not be allowed to bring plants or fresh food off or onto the ship. That way I'm never frustrated by being told "no" while I'm holding leftover cake.

 

I do understand the frustrations, I really do. Still, I know that the laws were not created merely to frustrate us.

 

beachchick

[spleen93]

I do understand the frustrations, I really do. Still, I know that the laws were not created merely to frustrate us.

 

Though sometimes it feels that way ... LOL

 

Spleen

[beachchick]

Yes, it certainly does sometimes feel as though the purpose is just to inconvenience me, personally. LOL.

 

beachchick

[MandyGirl]

I agree - passengers not knowing those laws ahead of time and getting turned down for bringing food back on board can be frustrating for both them and the employees having to explain it all to the passengers. Whether its wedding cake, pizza, fruits, etc - it helps all passengers to be aware of the agriculture laws. They wouldn't be there unless there was a good reason. :)

[Giantfan13]

"Make reservations for the speciality restaurants and Grand Pacific the moment you get on board. (Otherwise you will eat in the buffet every night. Make them for the main dining room as well, Grand Pacific, so you know you have a table when you want to eat.)"

 

 

We are sailing the POH, Aug 28. I need a clarification please. I thought that in the main restaurants, it's free style, just walk in and wait to be seated at any table, next in line. I don't understand how you can make a reservation for free style eating?? Am I missing something??. We've crusied NCL several times with free style dining and cruise Princess to Alaska with the same style dining. We never had to reserve a table in the main dining room. I can understand the specialty restaurants. Can some one please explain this to me or offer any help. What am I missing here.???