Pride of Hawaii Trip POH 12/18-12/25

[greedsmurf]

We just came back from our Hawaii Cruise 12/18-12/25 on the Pride of Hawaii. We had a great time and so will you as long as you know what to expect and you fit the right profile.

 

If you are a first time cruiser and your first cruise is on an NCL America ship, you're going to have a great time. The Pride of Hawaii is new and looks great. The islands are great. Rent a car and go somewhere. If it's raining, it will eventually stop. Go to the other side of the island where it's probably not raining. Stop reading this now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NCL America is not like NCL, RCL, CCL, or probably any other cruise line. For those other cruise lines, being on the ship can be the vacation. Seeing the sites at the ports can be the bonus. We've been on the NCL Star, NCL Wind, and Dawn Princess. On these other cruise lines, there is excellent 5 star cabin accomodations, service, and dining. If you're on the ship, there are interesting activities throughout the day.

 

So what's the difference on the NCLA Pride of Hawaii you might ask?

 

SERVICE: sub-par

 

They didn't clean the toilet in our cabin from the previous guest when we embarked. You might ask "How can you tell?" Trust me, if you can tell, then it's really not clean. This is surprising considering the ship's norovirus problem from previous trips. The shelves where also dusty. I wiped all the hard furniture surfaces with alcohol when we arrived. I suggest you do the same. I heard they fired the cabin steward midweek. The new one was better.

 

The people are not as cheery or customer friendly on NCLA as on the other ships. They don't all smile and say "Hi" when you walk by. Actually, it's like being in a store in the mall during the summer. If there's one employee around, they might acknowledge your presence. Otherwise they are all talking amongst themselves in a corner counting down the minutes when they get off.

 

In the dining room, they don't all introduce themselves when they are servicing your table. Espresso drinks are complimentary on NCL(A) ships but they don't ask if you would like some during or after dinner. When they bring out your food, they don't announce what the food is. If you order meat, they don't ask how you would like it done. In between plates, there is no flatware service. On other cruise lines, there is flatware service where they make sure you have the right fork or knife or spoon for the next dish. On several occasions, I ended up with no fork for my plate and when it arrived, it they placed it on the wrong side. Also for dessert, they don't all know where to put the spoon or fork. On any other cruise line, the wait staff is qualified to work in any 5 star restaurant around the world. On an NCLA ship, the wait staff can probably get a job at Red Lobster, maybe.

 

 

DINING: not great

 

On the NCL Star and Princess Dawn, I remember really good food in the dining room. Princess is way better than NCL, by the way: more variety and better presentation. The food on the POH is edible. The meat in the main dining room can be way overcooked. You might be better off in the buffet. We had dinner at Le Bistro the first night. Dinner was great there. If you go between 5:30pm and 6:30pm, it is sometimes half off ($5/pp). If you are in Hawaii, you expect pineapples and bananas. However, that's it for tropical fruit on the ship. We bought starfruit and papaya on land and paid only $1 each. There are times in the day when all the ship restaurants are closed. Other cruise lines have Tea Time, this one doesn't. If the ship is docked overnight, one of the main restaurants will be closed. You need reservations at the specialty restaurants. However if you're a party of 2, you don't need reservations (and they don't take them) at the main restaurants. We never really had a problem getting a table. They have monitors throughout the ship that look like they are telling you current restaurant capacity. That's not what they're for. They actually are there to influence your dining choices (go to the buffet so we don't have to serve you) As an example, on the first day, lunch was served in the main dining room and the buffet. The monitor showed the dining room as full. We went to the main dining room anyway and we were only the third couple there. It was almost empty. Ignore the monitors, go whereever you want. You can also see all the restaurant menus on the TV in your cabin. Don't trust the TV either. There's one channel that's supposed to tell you current weather and sea temperature. However sometimes it doesn't update so you are looking at yesterday's. We also spent Christmas Eve onboard. There was no special Christmas Eve dinner. They could have had lobster night or the formal night on Christmas Eve, but they didn't.

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT: so so

 

The comedian, Joe Yanetti, is great. Go see his show. On our trip he made references to negative Cruise Critic reviews. He usually does his show in the Spinnaker lounge. The other shows in the Stardust theater are ok. The problem is that they all start late. Joe's show in the Spinnaker lounge is only late 5 minutes. That's ok. But the Stardust shows can be late by 15 minutes or more. Because of the time difference, you start to get sleepy waiting and then the show isn't as entertaining anymore, especially when you eventually fall asleep. What is irritating is that it's on purpose. Sometimes you can see the cruise director just standing in the back chatting and killing time. Watch out for the singing though. Some of the people are way off key.

 

 

PROFILE: the land lubber

 

So I said that you would have a great time if you fit the profile. Here it is. You are taking the NCLA cruise because you want to visit many islands without having to book hotels and inter-island flights to get around. You want to wake up and be in the next place. This is the profile. Get off the ship every chance you can. There's nothing to do on the ship, at least not as much as on other cruise lines. If you had a great time on an NCL ship in the Caribbean and thought Hawaii will be the same, it's not. Don't get a balcony or above, you shouldn't be on the ship to appreciate it anyway. Maybe you will in the summer, but it't winter now. Sunset at 6p. The ocean view rooms are good for light but don't expect any views. They don't wash the cabin windows. Don't expect great food. I actually do recommend the buffet because if you don't like something, you're not stuck with it. If you like hamburgers for lunch and dinner, you're in heaven, forget about everything else I said.

 

 

Anyway, reading previous POH reviews set our expectations low and we had a great time. If we didn't know any of this, the trip would have been very disappointing considering it costs twice as much as a Caribbean trip with less service.

[Don Haynes]

NCLA been having problems holding onto its American crews. It appears NCLA may have finally turned the corner in having enough crew, finally they are getting rid of the rift raft who aren't doing their jobs. However, I had hoped NCLA would have turned the tide on its waiter service in the main restaurants by now. Usually Americans prefer to wait than doing maid work.

 

Yes, the Hawaiian cruises are very shore based, but next fall NCLA is going to attempt to do sea days on one of their NCLA ships with the Pride of Aloha. These are going to be wonderful intineraries. Hopefully, NCLA will have taught the waiters European restaurant service by then. In my gut, I have this feeling once the rift raft maids are gone, NCLA will turn its eyes to improving the waitering service, bringing it up to scale with NCL.

[beachchick]

greedsmurf: Aloha. I don't doubt any of your reports; however, our 12/11-12/18 cruise differed from yours somewhat.

 

First, I have to say that I don't agree that Princess, RCI, et al are "5 star" lines. I think they are good lines that cater to the mass market. We've been on only Princess and RCI, but my mom has been on most of them and agrees. We've really enjoyed our cruises on the other lines, but I don't think the accomodations are "all that" (over NCLA specifically in this case) unless you are in the highest level suites. The food on Princess and RCI is good, but not 5 star. Ditto with the crew; we've had excellent service and barely fair service on RCI and Princess.

 

We do cruise based on itinerary, ship/line, and price, so the ports are important to us, rather than an afterthought as they are for some cruisers. That may make a difference in our perceptions about onboard activities, but there was always something going on for those who didn't want to spend the entire day on shore. True, not nearly as many or as traditional activities, but when you're off the ship and active a good deal of the cruise, it's kind of nice to just hang by the pool or what have you.

 

Service: Our experience was very different, and I'm sorry to hear that you had a lousy steward. That is the pits and it sounds like the firing was most warranted. Our steward was outstanding, probably the best we've had. Now, I admit it's probably different because we were in a Courtyard Villa, but others in all cabin levels have reported excellent service. So I think they still have a ways to go, but are trying. I have to say though that most (not all) of the crew and officers we met were very friendly and professional, whether they knew our stateroom category or not. There were definitely a few we met who really need to find a different line of work. On the whole, we were very pleased with how hard the crew worked to make the pax happy and keep the ship clean. (Our suite was spotless except one little thing that bugged me--the ceiling vents needed dusting. Other than that, it was clean as an unused whistle.)

 

We didn't go to the dining rooms at all, so our dining experience was solely at the other restaurants. Service was spotty, from excellent to barely fair. We were asked how we wanted our meat cooked, but again that was at the restaurants rather than the dining room. I know that many prefer to have assigned dining and get to know their waiter; nothing wrong with that. We have never cared all that much, so again we probably have a different perspective.

 

I do not agree that on every other line the wait staff is qualified to work in 5 star establishments. On RCI and Princess, we've had a fair share of merely adequate service and a few waiters who absolutely did not know proper service or at least did not follow it. (Got to say that having the fork on the wrong side seems an extreme quibble to me, but I know it is important to others.)

 

Dining: Pretty much agree with you there. DH put it perfetly when he said, "Fare ordinaire." Basically, the food was fine with some true standout items and some "yuck" items as well. We had starfruit, papayas, mangos, and kiwi every day, but that was up in the courtyard or delivered to our suite. I think they should have them throughout the ship because they are such a treat for most people. OTOH, many members have come back complaining about the "strange" food items. Because we did not eat in the dining room and had Cagney's available for breakfast and lunch, I'm certain that our dining experience was better than average. Even Cagney's was hit and miss. The filet was excellent, but the night we splurged on the Maine lobster, we actually sent it back and had them remove the charge from our bill--it was inedible, tough, strong fish odor, and slimy--big yuck! OTOH, the crab cakes were absolutely excellent. There were crab cakes at the buffet, but they were not the same ones that are served in Cagney's. I think they really want you to spend the extra bucks to get the "better" food.

 

Entertainment: Agree that it is only fair (at best). The Broadway show was pretty awful; the country show was somewhat okay; we didn't really go to any other shows. I must give a caveat that DH and I are both musicians, so we have a pretty low tolerance level for mediocre performances. In fact, we left partway through the Broadway show because we couldn't stand the female leads (talk about offkey), the songs were all repetitive, pounding numbers, and the instrumental and ensemble is all pre-recorded (we really hate that). The entertainment was nowhere near the level of the other lines we've cruised with.

 

Profile: I think you're pretty much dead on. This is a cruise for those who want to spend their days on the islands and have the ship be secondary to that. One thing I want to mention is this:

 

Don't get a balcony or above, you shouldn't be on the ship to appreciate it anyway. Maybe you will in the summer, but it't winter now. Sunset at 6p.

 

We are balcony lovers and don't book lower than that anymore. Having a balcony is important to us, but for others it probably would be a waste on this cruise; particularly for those who want to be off the ship all day. By the time you get back, get showered, and get ready to go out, it's going to be dark. Still, we enjoy being on the balcony at night as the ship travels. That it's winter now doesn't really matter all that much because sunset in June is abour 7 pm, so it's not a big difference like most of the mainland.

 

Overall, I agree with many of your opinions and points. I think you've given a fair review based on your own experience. I hope you enjoyed the islands because DH and I are definite Hawaii enthusiasts and think the islands and the people are wonderful.

 

As always, JMHO.

Happy cruising!

 

beachchick