Pride of Hawaii worst cruise I've ever taken

[Jana]

I would also be horrified if I witnessed a superior berating staff in front of me. I'd probably have to say something if I saw that.... (while it was happening and not a complaint later on)...

 

My friend Michael, my traveling companion on that trip, spoke to senior ship management that very day. I'm not sure that I would have, but he insisted. He's been in the hotel business for 25 years and felt that it needed to be dealt with.

 

I will say that our cruise came late in the rain fiasco, so for about six weeks before we boarded, these workers had had to put up with very unhappy cruisers and facilities that were stretched to the max because you couldn't be outdoors or off the ship comfortably. And because the cruise experience is geared towards the ports of call, there are not as many activities on board as on other cruises with sea days or early departures. So it was difficult for everyone... crew, officers, and passengers.

 

To me, under the circumstances, I think everyone did an admirable job. I don't think that I encountered a single "lazy" American worker. They were working their butts off and tolerating behavior from passengers that was horrendous. I wanted to belt some of the passengers (I tried to talk Michael into doing that), but the crew was really good.

 

Jana

[Anomaly]

I usually don't get involved in these squabbles, but this has generated so much heat in a few short days. Best? Worst? Superlatives are always dangerous.

 

We've cruised once before - Carnival 7-day from L.A. to the Mexican Riviera. Fell in love with cruising. Fast forward a couple of years and it's honeymoon time. Couldn't decide between doing Hawaii land-only or the cruise. The mixed reviews have certainly made me nervous, but I didn't want to move hotels and islands every day or two. So the cruise is ideal in that sense. And I'm trying to build in the different expectations of an American crew, no sea days, a jammed packed itinerary and freestyle cruising. I've worked the service industry and understand the stresses and the pay issues.

 

BUT, if this were JUST a floating hotel, then the fares shouldn't be what they are. I'm paying more than I would for a deluxe oceanview room at someplace like the Princeville Resort, plus inter-island transportation. And since I'm not getting accommodations like that and also getting fewer meals than I would on a more typical cruise, I'm hoping for a little something more than just convenience. We're not fancy folks by any stretch of the imagination - we live in an apartment, eat fast food too often, shop at Costco/TJ Maxx/et al. as much as boutiques, etc. - but I am hoping for better food/service/experience than I might get at TGIFridays and Best Western. Part of my hoped-for solution is that we'll get a little more attention cruising in a penthouse suite on the PoH.

 

I read everything and hope I've tempered my expectations well. But most people would never find or use a site like CC as extensively. I'm guessing that unless things do get more consistent with NCLA and/or somehow the public is better educated on the distinction between it and all other cruises, the prices will drive people away and it will fold in a couple of years.

 

Check back mid-June and hopefully read my review of a wonderful trip. I still can't wait . . .

[BeachBumMama]

Check back mid-June and hopefully read my review of a wonderful trip. I still can't wait . . .

An early 'congratulations', it sounds as if you'll have a wonderful start to your wedded life.:)

[RachieLnnn]

Anomoly,

 

My finacé and I are going on the PoH for our honeymoon in November, and we also cannot wait! :)

 

We tend to be laid-back and are excited about the opportunity to try some different things in each port - we want to do the ATV in Kauai and a helicopter ride for some unique experiences. We are also renting a car to take it easy and relaxed on other islands.

 

We are excited about our first balcony room as well!

 

The comments on this board haven't made me think twice - I know cruising isn't perfect but how can we NOT have a good time on our honeymoon?

 

Congrats to you and have a great time! Hope to hear about your Hawaii experience when you get back!

[Jana]

Anomoly,

 

My finacé and I are going on the PoH for our honeymoon in November, and we also cannot wait! :)

 

We tend to be laid-back and are excited about the opportunity to try some different things in each port - we want to do the ATV in Kauai and a helicopter ride for some unique experiences. We are also renting a car to take it easy and relaxed on other islands.

 

We are excited about our first balcony room as well!

 

The comments on this board haven't made me think twice - I know cruising isn't perfect but how can we NOT have a good time on our honeymoon?

 

Congrats to you and have a great time! Hope to hear about your Hawaii experience when you get back!

 

You absolutely have the right attitude. Good for you! And early congratulations to you as well.

 

Jana

[Bohemian]

This is all very interesting to read, the pros and the cons as well. We're booked on the PoH for next January and I can hardly wait to see for myself what the 'dark' side of cruising is really like.

 

We usually pick a new ship (Princess or RCL) and go cruising in the Caribbean. The ship's destination isn't all that important to us as the ship itself is our destination. This time around, my DW wanted to see Hawaii so we decided on the PoH. We've already lowered our expectations, I just hope we went far enough... :D . It's going to be fun regardless.

 

Keep the comments coming.

[Bohemian]

Of course had you really paid much attention to these boards prior to sailing you would have known NCL and NCLA are two different companies.

Question, I admit that my knowledge of any ties between NCL and NCLA is virtually nonexistent but when you go to NCL's site, the ships listed there include the PoAl, PoAm and PoH. Click here. Perhaps the US registered ships operate as a separate division providing specialized itinerary but they're still owned by NCL. :confused:

[Don Haynes]

And Carnival owns Costa, Holland American, Princess, P&O, and Seabourne among others. And Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity. None of these operate American flagged ships.

[newmexicoNita]

Question, I admit that my knowledge of any ties between NCL and NCLA is virtually nonexistent but when you go to NCL's site, the ships listed there include the PoAl, PoAm and PoH. Click here. Perhaps the US registered ships operate as a separate division providing specialized itinerary but they're still owned by NCL. :confused:

you are right and wrong: that is why some of us wish they would change the name to, hopefully separate the 2 companies under one umbrella. It's pretty much like many large hotel chains: they may be owned or operated by one company but have different standards, employee rules and guidelines etc. As for who owns them, it is Star cruises not NCL. Star owns, among many other things, both NCL and NCLA. Call NCLA a devision of NCL or whatever, they are somewhat different. NMNita

[beachchick]

Perhaps you misunderstand the meaning of servant, this is not a derogatory word or name, a servant is a worker. There was no intention to belittle the worker.

 

it was out of line how?, do you know if the superior was in the right or wrong? What insight do you have on this situation, perhaps this worker has a history of not following orders, who are you to judge.

 

Welcome to Wikipedia,

the free encyclopedia

A domestic worker, domestic, or servant is one who works within the employer's household. Servants are distinguishable from serfs or slaves in that they are compensated, that is, they must receive payment (and, following labour reforms in the 20th Century, benefits) for their work. They are also free to leave their employment at any time, although socio-economic conditions and laws relating to working in a foreign country may make that difficult.

In large households, there can be a large number of domestic workers doing different jobs, often as part of an elaborate hierarchy.

A butler is a senior domestic worker, whose duties traditionally included handling the wines of the household and some management of the other servants. Female domestic workers are often called maids.

 

Okay, I have no problem with the definition, but it doesn't apply here. These are not private household employees. They are not domestic workers (domestics being those who work in a person's household). They are employees of a publicly held company. But all that aside, the term servant for ship's crew members is simply not part of modern American usage.

 

beachchick

[ba91460]

"A fellow passenger and his wife that I met at breakfast one morning had 8 pages of issues they had with this cruise."

 

Just my opinion, but if someone has the time to sit and compile 8 pages of issues, then they are just looking for trouble. I just returned from the Pride of America and with the itinerary being so busy, there is no way one could have time to enjoy the islands and make such a long list. If you go looking for trouble, I am sure you will find it.

 

Sounds like finding other people who had complaints just fueled the fire for grey911. Too bad you spent your time complaining instead of enjoying the beauty of the island.

[RSWBADGER]

"A fellow passenger and his wife that I met at breakfast one morning had 8 pages of issues they had with this cruise."

 

Just my opinion, but if someone has the time to sit and compile 8 pages of issues, then they are just looking for trouble. I just returned from the Pride of America and with the itinerary being so busy, there is no way one could have time to enjoy the islands and make such a long list. If you go looking for trouble, I am sure you will find it.

 

Sounds like finding other people who had complaints just fueled the fire for grey911. Too bad you spent your time complaining instead of enjoying the beauty of the island.

 

Leaving on the Pride Of Aloha this Sunday, no paper and pen for me, relaxing in the Islands with a good attitude. :D

[dwrist]

Leaving on the Pride Of Aloha this Sunday, no paper and pen for me, relaxing in the Islands with a good attitude. :D

 

Please come back and type a review and let us know how the cruise and ship were. :)

[ba91460]

RSWBADGER, now you, have the right attitude!!! Enjoy, it is absolutely beautiful!! Can't wait to hear your thoughts! :)

[hazeleyes]

This was only our 4th cruise with the previous 3 being with Carnival in the Caribbean. I'd read the negative reviews about the ship but thought that I wouldn't be spending much time on the ship because we were there to see Hawaii. I couldn't have been more wrong. As much as you expect poor service you really don't realize how much it really does matter. Embarkation was speedy. No problems there other than the airline didn't get our luggage to us before we got onboard. We'd been on Oahu for 2 days and our luggage didn't catch up with us until day 6. We found our room was clean and I liked the way it was set-up. The bathrooms were very nice with privacy for the tub/shower and stool areas. Our balcony was large and the chairs were comfortable. We cruised with 2 other couples and had adjoining cabins. We were on deck 12. Our room was cleaned daily and we had enough towels. We never ordered room service but another in our group ordered breakfast daily and her order was wrong every day. Our room was never turned down except for the next to the last night. There never was the little "towel animals" we'd seen on our other cruises nor mints on the pillows until the one night. Every day we'd call to see if our luggage had arrived and every day they asked if we'd made a report out. On the 3rd day we found all of the food areas covered in plastic wrap. You couldn't get a plate, food, or drink without someone dishing it out for you. There were handwashing stations set up outside of the dining areas and when getting on and off the ship. I wonder if there was such a concern for infection control why wasn't someone cleaning the handrails frequently. I haven't found on the CDC site where there was an outbreak and I now wonder if that was the real reason. On one day one of our group was in the Aloha dining room (the buffet area) when a chef walked in a pointed to the staff and said, "you, you, you, shut it down. Shut it down now. We need to save food. It's costing us too much money." This should never be said in front of passengers and tells a lot about the attitude of the management of this vessel. Many times we heard staff being criticized by managers in public areas. I know our 1 server had worked 2 double shifts because I'd seen her in the dining room and then again early in the morning working again. There never were "toppings" for the ice cream station and corners were cut in all aspects of food service. The staff were always pleasant and helpful but we found only 1 person that we met had been there more than a month! They had too many responsibilities and not enough experience. The "hot fudge sundae" was a dish of ice cream with Hershey's syrup. Every meal there was a substitution of some sort because they were out of the soup or the appetizer or the entree. Every meal 5 of us would be served and the 6th would have to wait. Every evening meal took 2 1/2 hours. They never knew who ordered what when it came time to serve and they'd be serving dessert with your dirty dishes still in front of you. One night in the 1st 1 1/2 hours all we'd had was an appetizer. We never saw a show because we ate at 8pm and the show was already begun or no seats left by the time we'd arrived. I have multiple sclerosis and can get around pretty well but I cannot stand up long enough to watch a whole show. Almost every dish had rice with it which I found terrible tasting. Rarely were potatoes available. They do have a selection that is always available and my husband ate either the strip steak or the hamburgers every night. He found those the safest and best tasting. We ate at the French dining room one night and the waiter criticized one of the assistants to us during our meal and pointed out an error she'd made by taking away our knives that we would need later. My duck was tough. Then I had it again on one of the last nights in the main dining room and it was tender and tasty. I wonder why I had to spend the extra to have the same meal in the French dining area? We didn't eat at the other specialty dining rooms because they were always "full". They didn't appear to be full and I think they didn't have enough staff to work them. The staff by the pool were very friendly and attentive but there were kids running around at the pool area which was disruptive, dangerous for them, and they would bump into you and jump into the pool. Nothing was done to discourage this.

A fellow passenger and his wife that I met at breakfast one morning had 8 pages of issues they had with this cruise. They felt that corners were cut because of the lack of a casino and the revenue it generated so they had to make up for it in other areas such as food. I believe they may be on to something because the food was limited in quantity, quality, and availability at every meal and dining room that we attended.

If you want to visit Hawaii I would strongly encourage you to fly to an island and stay there and explore. Take a short flight to another island if you'd like but don't cruise it. The pace is hectic, the service was terrible, and this cruise was no bargain. I will never cruise with NCL again.

 

I can understand where your comming from. I've had several bad experiences with NCL myself. But I always try to make the best of things. Last time i promised myself that I will not pay for tips if they didnt do their jobs of cleaning the room, fresh towels, etc. Food service should be expected to be good. Of course you cant expect excellence but the least they could do is try to be good. Im going on the Pride of Hawaii in April and were hoping that we have a nice cruise.

 

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, hope your next trip is better.

[hazeleyes]

I did want to add about the hand wash stuff. We just got off the Dream and they had stations everywhere. Getting on the ship, at the entrance to every restaurant, and they squirted your hands when you boarded from every port. A preventative measure I greatly appreciated.

 

I love the hand washing stations, I wish i could take one home with me. I wish everyone on the ship would use them.

[hazeleyes]

Sounds like a nightmare. I can't understand why the OP is being essentially criticized for not prepearing him/herself well enough before the trip by reading these boards. Is it because then they would have been prepared for total disappointment? I know NCL and NCLA are two different things- of course I do, so do most of us. But how is that relevant, except to say that the OP can feel free to sail NCL in the future?

 

It just seems that when people write negative things about what appear to be two Voyages of the Damned out there in Hawaii they get criticized- now for writing in one huge paragraph, too.

 

Everything the OP wrote might be taken to be "little things," but isn't a cruise made up of little things? If I were on such a careless cruise, with no attention given to the "little things" that we all love, no matter how trivial or sentimental, I would feel a pit in the middle of my stomach.

 

I agree with you 100 percent. If we save up our pennies to have a nice vacation, since not everyone has alot of money, we should all expect to at least have a nice vacation. No matter how much we pay for our cruise which most people will pay anywhere between 500 and 900 per person for an inside cabin not counting that the airfare ranges from 500 to 700 leaving from NY or NJ. Maybe to some 500 might not sound like alot of money for a cruise, but to those who had to save the money to go on it, they expect to have a nice vacation. And when your traveling with a family of 4 it adds up to alot.

 

Service on the ship should be good. And that's what should be expected.

[lynnemac]

Well if you take enough cruises eventually you will have a worst one.

 

Mac:) :) :)

[newmexicoNita]

"A fellow passenger and his wife that I met at breakfast one morning had 8 pages of issues they had with this cruise."

 

Just my opinion, but if someone has the time to sit and compile 8 pages of issues, then they are just looking for trouble. I just returned from the Pride of America and with the itinerary being so busy, there is no way one could have time to enjoy the islands and make such a long list. If you go looking for trouble, I am sure you will find it.

 

Sounds like finding other people who had complaints just fueled the fire for grey911. Too bad you spent your time complaining instead of enjoying the beauty of the island.

 

I hope they wrote to NCLA with the entire 8 pages of issues. Because if they did, the letter went into, what we used to refer to as "the round file" Now, I think some of you call it file 13. NMNita

[mikedw]

Some people look for stuff to complain about. I use to work in onboard service with Amtrak and people would get on in DC and complain that it was an 18 hour run to Chicago and just huff and puff the whole time. They told you this when you bought the ticket and you chose not to fly so deal with it:)LOL

[Poodlelover]

I agree. I really don't understand what some people expect. Honestly, it's part of the adventure of life experiencing what a new vacation will brinng. Not everything is going to be perfect, but I find it hard to believe that everyday, every minute was so horrible. I think some people just can't get out of their comfort zone of eating the same food, being in their comfortable home surroundings and just don't know how to bust out and enjoy life. Some of the things that are complained about are soooo petty in the grand scheme of the vacation....

[thunderfox]

I hope they wrote to NCLA with the entire 8 pages of issues. Because if they did, the letter went into, what we used to refer to as "the round file" Now, I think some of you call it file 13. NMNita

 

 

Interesting. So, what you're saying is that no matter what, a complaining (critical?) voice will be ignored?

 

While I don't have *8* pages of stuff to complain about, I DO have some feedback that would certainly be helpful to the current and future management of at least one of the NCLA ships. It would be a terrible shame (and a huge waste of my time) to have my input cast aside because it might be somewhat negative.

 

I'm still figuring out how to articulate our NCLA adventure in a way that is meaningful and concise, but if you don't think they really care, I won't waste the postage to get it there. :rolleyes:

[Jana]

 

I'm still figuring out how to articulate our NCLA adventure in a way that is meaningful and concise, but if you don't think they really care, I won't waste the postage to get it there. :rolleyes:

 

 

They care, believe me. But sometimes some people send letters that include every little nitpicky thing, including much that has nothing to do with the ship or the cruise. Bags lost by the airline and bad weather, for example, are sometimes issues that set off a chain of unhappiness that creates an avalanche of complaints. I think the conventional wisdom is that nothing anyone can do or say will make any difference to someone like that in any event, if anyone can really sort out what the problem is with the cruise.

 

On the other hand, well-written and concise letters about issues will get attention. So certainly do it, but remember the first rule from Effective Complaining 101: You catch more flies with honey.

 

Jana

[BeachBumMama]

Interesting. So, what you're saying is that no matter what, a complaining (critical?) voice will be ignored?

 

While I don't have *8* pages of stuff to complain about, I DO have some feedback that would certainly be helpful to the current and future management of at least one of the NCLA ships. It would be a terrible shame (and a huge waste of my time) to have my input cast aside because it might be somewhat negative.

 

I'm still figuring out how to articulate our NCLA adventure in a way that is meaningful and concise, but if you don't think they really care, I won't waste the postage to get it there. :rolleyes:

 

Not to speak for NewmexicoNita, and I'm sure she'll correct me if I'm wrong, but I think she was merely being playfully sarcastic. After all, think about 8 pages of nothing but a list of complaints, how could that possibly be?:confused: Sure, not every vacation is perfect and things do and can go wrong, but as Jana said there are some people who will complain about the moment they stepped out of the door to go to the airport and it was raining, of course, blame the cruise line for planning your cruise on the wrong day.

 

NCL is very interested in comments and when they tell you to fill the comment cards out after cruise they really, really want to know. And I have to commend a company who really does that and listens to the passengers who are spending the time with the crew. For they're the one's who are going to know. And the crew will tell you how much those cards mean, promotions have been based on cruisers comments.

 

So yes, a thoughtful, honest letter of concerns, complaint and/or praise does get read. But I'm sure there have been some that have been ditched, I'd certainly ditch a letter that started out with... 'Hey A*ss hole!':eek:

[Jana]

 

So yes, a thoughtful, honest letter of concerns, complaint and/or praise does get read. But I'm sure there have been some that have been ditched, I'd certainly ditch a letter that started out with... 'Hey A*ss hole!':eek:

 

Yes, we are on exactly the same wavelength. I know that once a letter starts with "We will never sail on your cruise line again!" the immediate reaction is "Well, then, what's the point of trying to make it right?" That's how I'd react, too.

 

Mama, what choo doin' up at this hour? I have a really, really good excuse, but what's yours?

 

Jana