BACK FROM POA - July 11 (Detailed Review)

[jcolley]

Review of NCL America’s Pride of Aloha:(

 

Sailing Date July 11, 2004

 

THIS POST IS ONLY PARTIAL (WILL COMPLETE OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS)

 

Our experience with NCL America began last July when we booked our cruise for the new Pride of America. We were very pleased with the new ship and our cabin selection (Cat. BA, 11524). As everyone knows, and beyond anyone’s control, the ship encountered a terrible storm while being built. NCL America had a tough time getting everyone rebooked on the older ship, now the Pride of Aloha. We were downgraded into a lower category as well as many others. Since the ship was fully booked NCL America didn’t believe they needed to compensate for the downgrades. (A select few did receive credits.) My travel agent (Costco) and I went around with them for some type of compensation for the inconvenience. (A simple $50 onboard credit would have made me feel better.) They simply had the attitude that they didn’t have to do anything!

 

OK time for the ship review, I will attempt to be very objective to point out the positives and negatives. First of all, this cruise should be viewed as TRANSPORTATION BETWEEN THE ISLANDS OF HAWAII. This cruise is NOT, or certainly wasn’t for us the “cruise experience” we have had with our last 3 cruises on RCCL and Carnival (which were all magnificent!). If you go into this cruise with the idea that you are going to enjoy the beauty of Hawaii you will have a GREAT TIME.:) If you go into this cruise with expectations from other cruises (great food, personalized service, no hassles etc) you will be very disappointed! Realizing that our cruise was the second voyage, I have tried to take out the idea that it’s new and will change when the kinks are worked out. I think some things will change over time, such as food, but I’m not sure the “attitude” of NCL America will change. They were very short on staff (except in revenue producing areas, i.e. pictures) which was very noticeable. I will have to do some soul searching to consider NCL as my choice of cruising in the furture.

 

FREESTYLE CRUISING: :confused:

 

This idea was great to me, I was very excited about it. It provided the easiest disembarkation ever. We opted to carry our own luggage off and were off the ship by 8:15! We had breakfast (available in dining room, buffet or room service) and were on our way. No hassles! The attire was resort casual with a formal night option. Dining options are a great idea but takes away from the personalized service received from having the same wait staff. This also takes away the opportunity to meet others when dining. If you don’t want to wait a long time for a table you must make reservations (main dining room) which takes away from the “freestyle” way of eating when you want. They do have 3 specialty restaurants for an additional charge of $12.50 or $15.00 per person. The main dining rooms are open from 5:30 until 10:00, seated by 9:30, which isn’t really convenient for shows etc. The buffet closes at 9:00 P.M. which isn’t convenient. The “Automatic: No Hassle Tipping’ is a great idea, but on the POA it is a mandatory “Resort Fee” and not a gratuity. So at every meal you are inclined to leave a gratuity if proper service was given. Bottom line, “freestyle cruising was a great idea but wouldn’t want to do it again.”

 

 

 

ROOMS/ROOM STEWARDS: :cool:

 

Our room stewards, Raymond and Alexs, were great! Our room stayed clean and we always had clean towels. We heard many other people who were not as fortunate, their rooms not being made until 1 P.M. The staterooms are very small (ours was Balcony 9224) but this is common. We had to have our TV replaced 2 times and our coffee maker never worked until the last 2 days. The TV is important because one of the channels broadcasts the public addresses and show the camera on the front of the ship. We were on the gangway to tender into Hilo when a Room Steward was quitting and the Housekeeping officer was begging him to reconsider his resignation. When asked who was doing his job now he said his assistant was, maybe this is why some had such poor room service.

 

 

 

DINING: :eek:

 

The dining situation on this ship is absolutely HORRIBLE!!!! First of all there are NO midnight buffets on this ship. The buffet is open until 9 P.M. The food on the buffet line reminds me of “slop,” and only consists of a few choices. BTW the scrambled eggs are substitutes so don’t think your getting good tasting scrambled eggs! The buffet has free drinks on certain nights but don’t look for any alcohol content. Also, don’t go to the buffet thinking you can just “grab one” of these drinks. One night the host rudely told a lady, “ This isn’t free happy hour, you will have to dine with us to get a drink.” You will not have the option of a filet in the main dining rooms, you’ll have to settle for a “striploin.” The food was always cold if not luke-warm and the Appetizers, Soups and Salads in the Main Dining Rooms NEVER CHANGE so be prepared to eat the same thing every night. There are about 4 main dish selections that change daily. The Appetizers, Soups and Salads were actually pretty good but the main dishes were consistently bad. The dining room experience will take at least 2 hours for 2 people. The wait staff was not the best but we did have a couple of very good servers. There are 3 specialty restaurants where you pay additional (why take a cruise?) $12.50 or $15.00 cover charge per person. We ate at the Kahili, the Italian one, and had an okay meal. It cost us $75.00 for the two of us, which included a bottle of wine. The food wasn’t very good. I did hear some comments that the other specialty restaurants were good. Oh… don’t ask for a second entrée in the specialty restaurants, they will have to charge you an additional cover charge. You can get a filet at the Royal Palms. My wife and I wanted real scrambled eggs (you can get fresh eggs cooked to order in the main dining rooms) but when asked they said they couldn’t do one scrambled, only fried. Now why can you fry an egg but not scramble is beyond me. However, this is the universal problem with this ship, there is no room for negotiation, no personalized service. It is what it is and that’s that! The room service was always fabulous, at least in terms of service. The menu is very limited; veggie plate, ramen noodle soup, sandwich, pizza (cheese or pep), PB&J and a dessert. The food was edible and a nice change at times. It is available 24 hrs per day. Did I mention no midnight buffets? The bottom line is that the dining experience on this ship is bad. My wife is happy however that this cruise she actually lost weight!!

[gardencat]

jcolley

 

Thanks for your review. It confirms what we have been hearing in little bits in other posts, but gives much more detail ,and I think will help many to decide whether or not this is the cruise they want to spend their vacation money on.

 

I'm glad you were able to supply the information, but sorry that you had to go through a less than satisfactory vacation to do so.

 

Thanks

[The Scotsman]

Interesting to hear the latest from the POA. Sorry it didn't live up to your expectations. I look forward to hearing the rest of your review.

 

In the meantime can I make a suggestion before you write off NCL as an option. It can be difficult going from your recent experience but the other NCL ships aren't in the same situation as the POA and service etc is a world apart. We cruised the POA as the Sky in 2001 and then the Dawn in 2003. Both cruises were practically faultless. Freestyle worked a treat, for us, and we were fortunate enought to be looked after by some of the most wonderful wait staff. I am not an NCL die hard but having experienced both the good (Sky 2001 and Dawn 2003) and the not so good (Sky March 2004) I feel I can offer an opinion from both sides.

 

NCL has much more to offer than the POA. But then so much depends on the itinerary and the POA offers a pretty unique one.

 

I hope you have many future happy cruises.

[packslikecrazy]

I'm also sorry to hear of your unpleasant voyage on the POA. I'm scheduled to sail in September and hope to enjoy my vacation. I already sailed the Hawiian Islands on the Star and had a wonderful time. Although I won't be able to truly know what the POA is like until I actually experience it; I feel there has been so much bad publicity and negative happenings, that it kind of leads you to look for the bad rather than the good. I myself am prepared to find the room too small before I even get there...and that is due to all the negative publicity. We're traveling with friends, and hopefully, being together will be the most important thing. Hope your next trip is happy................try the Dawn, it's fabulous (I've already been on it twice).

[Traveler39]

A nice honest review.... thanks... EVERYONE needs to realize that we are concerned about the design and conditions of the this ship - The Pride of Aloha - and the crews ability to provide normal cruise service and goods... This ship has problems and it concerns me.... I am booked on this ship and regret the decision... I am talking with my TA now to find a way out.... We have planned on a Hawaiian cruise for years and we get stuck with this ship from motel 6.... Please do not use or discuss the Hawaiian experience to defend this cruise... Been there done that many times... Love Hawaii but would like a great cruise ship experience.... Not just transportation between the islands... I hope we get more views and that improvements start to happen... Only ncl and the crew can change this ship to a quality ship and so far it has not happen....

[elephant98]

Thanks so much for posting your review. I too can only hope that things will improve over the next six months, before I travel on the Pride of America.

 

Also, many thanks to the others who have taken the time to point out the differences between NCL America and NCL. I have never cruised with NCL before, and its good to know that the initial disappointment with the POA is not indicative of people's experiences on other NCL cruises. (Perhaps indicative of problems with management and the home office customer service department, but not of other NCL ships).

[coiran]

Thank you for helping me confirm my cancellation of the 10/24 cruise. We were going for the islands but also a cruise experience - We have 20 days to spend on the island and can go from island to iusland by plane. This way we can spend 4 or 5 days on each,

[gouda]

jcolley,

 

Very interesting review, especially the part about the drinks being offered in the buffet. It sounds like they are offering this as an incentive to lure people away from the main dining rooms that can't handle everyone. I guess they figure if they give people free nonalcoholic drinks they'll consider eating the subpar food in the buffet. I don't think so.

 

Thanks for writing, and tell your wife that I also lost weight on my cruise, maybe they can market this as a "Spa" cruise and quarantee a minimum 5 pound, one week weight loss! Oh the possiblities :D !

[gardencat]

“ This isn’t free happy hour, you will have to dine with us to get a drink.”

 

It sounds like they are offering this as an incentive to lure people away from the main dining rooms that can't handle everyone.

Isn't this a great example of intelligent planning by NCL? I am not in the habit of wasting food and usually prefer to take less than I think I will eat and go back for more if I want it, rather than leave uneaten food on my plate...but If I were the passenger who was rudely refused the drink in the buffet (and was already annoyed by several days of sub par dinning experiences)I know what I would have done.

 

I would have taken the drink, taken a plate of food, enjoyed my drink, left the food on the table and gone to the dinning room.

 

I am all for helping out in difficult situations, but I hate this kind of stupid ploy. NCL would be more likely to get my co-operation if they admitted they had a problem and requested people to eat in the buffet if possible. (Maybe a small shipboard credit to all passengerswho have suffered through the food /service shortage would make this a bit more palatable?)

[Host CMLA]

This is one of the things I don't like about internet message boards. People offer up opinion and other people take it as fact. Most things posted here are opinion. Why not think of free drinks as an added bonus NCL has added and not something negative? If free drinks are for eating passengers, why get upset if you just want a free drink and you can't get it? Every day I see offers for products that have other things you have to do in order to get the free offer. Buy 2; get 1 free. I have to buy two things in order to get one free. 0% financing. I must qualify for the free financing. It's not given to everyone. In Vegas, progressive payouts can only be won if you bet the max. There are qualifiers for some special deals. How is this different?

[gouda]

Of course it's an opinion, that's why I said "It sounds like they are offering..." rather than stating a fact.

 

It's your opinion that NCL is offering free drinks to those eating in the buffet as a completely altruistic act because they just want to be nice. I suppose that's possible.

[Hawaii5o]

My husband and I are going on the POA for our 20th wedding anniversary. We had to bump our cruise up from 12/05 to 11/14 because of other family obligations.

 

We were going to try to get a suite, but after I read some reviews I thought 'why spend that much money when I plan on being off of the ship all day'? So...we booked a cat ii (inside). I am going to look at this cruise as between island transportation and be happy that we haven't spent very much $ for it.

 

Regardless, I plan on having a great time and just using the ship as a hotel room. It is much cheaper than flying between islands and paying for different hotels. Although, if I had 20 days as the previous poster, I would do just what they are doing and spend more time on each island -- we just have 10 days though, and some of that time is reserved for the flight there and back.

 

I will continue to read reviews to see if things improve between now and 11/14.

 

Sandy

[jcolley]

This is one of the things I don't like about internet message boards. People offer up opinion and other people take it as fact. Most things posted here are opinion. Why not think of free drinks as an added bonus NCL has added and not something negative? If free drinks are for eating passengers, why get upset if you just want a free drink and you can't get it? Every day I see offers for products that have other things you have to do in order to get the free offer. Buy 2; get 1 free. I have to buy two things in order to get one free. 0% financing. I must qualify for the free financing. It's not given to everyone. In Vegas, progressive payouts can only be won if you bet the max. There are qualifiers for some special deals. How is this different?

I agree with you Cecilia, in fact I think it's a great incentive for people to eat at the buffet. The problem is, and my point of the comment, is how rude the host was to the lady when she asked about the drinks. She had already eaten in the buffet and simply wanted a drink. It is this "attitude" that NCL America has that is the problem. :)

[jcolley]

Interesting to hear the latest from the POA. Sorry it didn't live up to your expectations. I look forward to hearing the rest of your review.

 

In the meantime can I make a suggestion before you write off NCL as an option. It can be difficult going from your recent experience but the other NCL ships aren't in the same situation as the POA and service etc is a world apart. We cruised the POA as the Sky in 2001 and then the Dawn in 2003. Both cruises were practically faultless. Freestyle worked a treat, for us, and we were fortunate enought to be looked after by some of the most wonderful wait staff. I am not an NCL die hard but having experienced both the good (Sky 2001 and Dawn 2003) and the not so good (Sky March 2004) I feel I can offer an opinion from both sides.

 

NCL has much more to offer than the POA. But then so much depends on the itinerary and the POA offers a pretty unique one.

 

I hope you have many future happy cruises.

Thanks The Scotsman -

You have a very good point and I think this is very important. Many people that we spoke with on the cruise that had cruised with NCL before had been very happy with their previous cruises.

[gardencat]

If free drinks are for eating passengers, why get upset if you just want a free drink and you can't get it?

This is a cruise ship right? Basic food is included in the cruise price right?

Doesn't that mean that everyone is an 'eating passenger'?

What if the passenger was not really hungry and just wanted to have a nice fruit drink. Does that mean that they would be forced to eat food they didn't want just to 'qualify' for their drink?

 

I'm not even arguing whether this policyis right or wrong (although I think it is wrong), it is just going to be a nightmare to enforce and further annoy passengers. Why do something like that?

[Jeconk]

Sounds like things have gone downhill from the June 20 repo cruise. Actually it sounds like the crew is more unhappy and that is what is affecting customer service.

 

I had scrambled eggs in the main dining rooms for breakfast and they never batted an eye. By the end of the 12 day cruise, I did hear people say that they were going to the main dining rooms for breakfast to get real scrambled eggs. It is just my opinon, but do you think more and more people were doing that and it was creating crowded dining rooms and so the POA stopped serving eggs scrambled in the main dining room since they are available upstairs? (also, could be a cost cutting move....real eggs used in dining room for scrambled are more expensive than bulk fake eggs upstairs)

 

Jcolley: a question: Only fried eggs in the dining rooms? I had poached eggs twice and my daughter always had sunny side up. Have they eliminated those choices also?

 

As far as the Filet Mignon in the Main Dining rooms: Once night I didn't like the four choice of entree's and made a comment about being stuck with the chicken breast again. (a nightly staple, but dry) My waiter said I could have a steak. I asked what kind and he said "any kind that we have." I said how about Filet Mignon? He went back and checked and came back and said: "sure." Not only did I have Filet Mignon that night, but so did my dad. It looked very similar to what they were offering on the menu in the pay restaurant and it was free! My advice to all POA passengers is to ask what other items you could have if the menu choices don't appeal to you.

 

JColley: another question: They served the same soups and salads each night? How about the apetizers? On our cruise, these items rotated every night with different choices each night. (except that Ceasar Salad was always available) My wife and mother-in-law raved about the many different cold soups that they offered.

 

If these changes have occured, then the situation is definately going downhill on the POA!

 

As far as the free drinks in the buffet: they had to do something to draw people there. You quickly realized that the buffet was not very good. Food selection was poor, quality of food was mediocre at best, there were hardly any places to sit if you didn't want to sit outside.

 

JColley: could you still go to the buffet area at any time and get free coffee and Iced Tea? That was a perk that our family took advantage of many times.

 

Other questions:

1.) They are accepting reservations in the main dining rooms now? Before, you had to be a large party in order to get them.

2.) Did they run out of any items during the week?

3.) How was the entertainment

4.) Two hours for a dinner, that's an improvement!

 

I also wrote a 5 thread review of my POA experience. It is a few pages back if you want to read it and compare what has changed/improved/declined. As far as our compensation for the transfer from the America to the Aloha, our two cabins and at least one other couple received a $200.00 per cabin on board credit. The vouchers were waiting for us in our cabin when we arrived. (although my TA had told us it was coming) There is a thread on that on here as well.

 

I look forward to the rest of JColley's review.

[shipcafe]

Just out of curiosity . .

 

Are midnight buffets even still that popular? To me, the trend has been to do away with them given lack of demand. I do not know of many people (friends, family, etc.) who cruise and still like to stay up and eat at midnight. It seems that dietary trends have evolved over time (just as cruising has).

 

It is my belief that cruise lines (certainly not just NCL/NCLA) have done away with these given the lack of demand. Snacks and food are typically available elsewhere for those truly craving that late night munch.

 

Other opinions?

 

Steve

http://www.shipcafe.net

[johnql]

Are midnight buffets even still that popular? To me, the trend has been to do away with them given lack of demand. I do not know of many people (friends, family, etc.) who cruise and still like to stay up and eat at midnight.

I think you're right. Some people still want them, but I think generally speaking they were excessive and wasteful. The OP's review reinforces my belief that disappointment often hinges on expectations. NCL hasn't offered midnight buffets in quite some time (not sure exactly how long but at least 2-3 years?). Knowing this would have precluded that one disappointment.

[ptngr]

Thank you jcolley. Looking forward to your other installments.

 

Good to know that you can carry your own luggages off the ship so quickly since we wanted to meet up with some other people and need to set a time.

 

A few comments/questions

 

The main dining rooms are open from 5:30 until 10:00, seated by 9:30, which isn’t really convenient for shows etc. The buffet closes at 9:00 P.M. which isn’t convenient.

That's a disappointment. I was under the impression that they were going to extend the buffet hours according to the wrap-up comments from the virtual cruise. I guess that didn't happen.

 

People on the earlier (Pacific coast) cruises mentioned the pizza bar that was opened 24 hours. (Though they sometimes "run out") I haven't heard anything about that in recent reviews. Is it no longer available? Is the only late night option room service? I'm thinking that if we're late returning to the ship on the 2 overnights, we might not have time to eat until after the late show.

 

the Appetizers, Soups and Salads in the Main Dining Rooms NEVER CHANGE so be prepared to eat the same thing every night.

I heard this from a few others from the 7/4 cruise as well. (From the "other" board.) Do they at least have a large selection of those?

 

A few more questions. Was there only one optional formal night? Was it on tuesday? Did you notice that the dining room was more crowded that night?

 

Was the rule for making reservation for the main restaurant the same as pay restaurant? (Can reserve for same-day and next day?) Where do you make the reservation?

 

Do you happen to remember what the shows were on the nights you overnighted in Kauai? What about the Maui night? I was trying to decide whether to come back to the ship for them after dinner or not.

[Jeconk]

Johnql: I have to disagree with you about the midnight buffet. When we were on the Star in June 2002, they had a midnight chocoholic buffet one night. I also talked to people on board the POAloha who had recently been on NCL ships and had experienced the midnight buffet and were disappointed when it did appear on the Aloha.

 

JColley: Did they have a Lobster night on the 7 day run? We did not have one on the 12 day cruise, but after we returned someone said that they were going to start having them again.

[johnql]

Johnql: I have to disagree with you about the midnight buffet. When we were on the Star in June 2002, they had a midnight chocoholic buffet one night.

You're right, of course, but I wasn't thinking about the chocoholic buffet. I was assuming (!) that the OP was referring to traditional, full-blown, lots of different types of food, midnight buffets. Those are a thing of the past, at least on NCL. Even the chocoholic buffet on the Dawn isn't served at midnight. It's served in the middle of the afternoon on one of the sea days.

 

If the OP was referring to any midnight buffet and would have been more than happy with the single chocoholic buffet, then I stand corrected.

[Guest alexMD]

Please say it isn't so.... one of the passengers traveling with me was looking forward to this.

 

I hope things start to improve on POA.

 

I have a hard time believing that this has anything to do with "American Crew". The SS Independence had some very good food. They had friendly, fun-loving staff, clean cabins, and happy crew. They did all this on a shoestring budget and a 50 year old ship.

[gardencat]

I also remember that the Dawn had late night snacks circulating in the Casino ( and maybe elsewhere on the ship). Was there anything like that available?

With this itinerary including overnight stops, I can see a lot of people coming back to the ship late and looking for a snack or something.

[jcolley]

To Jeconk -

 

Here are answers to your questions.

 

The eggs available in the main dining room were fried (any way you wanted them) and there was no choice for the poached you mentioned. Once again, they did have the fake scrambled ones but when asked if they could scramble a real egg the waiter went to the back and asked and came back and said no.

 

The Filet was not an option and we were told we could go to the specialty restaurant.

 

The appetizers, soups and salads were not rotated as you questioned. Here are the menu choices as I remember. They were the same EVERY night.

Pickeled Tiger SHrimp Cocktail (my wife could't eat)

Veggie Rolls (Very good)

Crab Fritters (Good)

2 other appetizers (don't remember)

 

No cold soups

Whalers Bean Pot Soup with Portugese Sausage (very good)

Maui French Onion (very good)

Lobster with Pumpkin Soup (It was pureed and not good)

 

3 different salads (Volcano butter lettuce salad was very good)

 

Yes .. in the buffet you could always get the standard... coffee, iced tea, assorted juices

 

Reservations can be made in main and specialty restaurants the same day and one day ahead.

 

Yes they ran out of things, I can remember the limes, cream of wheat and some dessert

 

The entertainment on the ship (I'll include when I finish my review) was very good. We went to the magic show that was excellent and the Sea Legs Cirque that was excellent.

 

The 2 hrs for the meal time was actually conservative and I didn't want to exagerate (sp?) it sometimes took 3 or more hours from what I heard.

 

Hope this helps. :)

[jcolley]

Just out of curiosity . .

 

Are midnight buffets even still that popular? To me, the trend has been to do away with them given lack of demand. I do not know of many people (friends, family, etc.) who cruise and still like to stay up and eat at midnight. It seems that dietary trends have evolved over time (just as cruising has).

 

It is my belief that cruise lines (certainly not just NCL/NCLA) have done away with these given the lack of demand. Snacks and food are typically available elsewhere for those truly craving that late night munch.

 

Good point, perhaps the midnight buffet isn't popular with the majority now. But you have no other choices for food after 9:30 unless you do the room service with the very limited menu. (which we did and the pizza isn't bad)

If you come in from port late and want to catch a show before dinner you don't really have any dining options.