Pride of Hawaii review May 7 -14, 2007

[hcs81m]

Pre-Cruise:

This was my fifth cruise. I have cruised with Carnival, Princess, and Royal Carribean on previous occasions. This was a family cruise for myself (single male 35), my sister (single), and our mother. We flew the day before the cruise. I used FF miles for the flights and I was able to upgrade us to first class on the way out. Our flight to Honolulu originated in D.C. with a layover in Newark.

 

Our pre-cruise stay was at the Embassy Suites Waikiki. This was an excellent pre-cruise hotel. Breakfast is included (outstanding), and the facility is closer to the dock than many of the other local hotels

 

 

Embarkation:

Smooth and Easy. We rented a car when we arrived Sunday evening. We returned the car Monday afternoon and took the Roberts Shuttle to the ship ($5/ per/person) We were in our cabin 30 minutes after arrival at the pier.

 

 

Cabin:

We originally booked an oceanview cabin on the 8th level. In April the prices had come down, so I was paid a little more to upgrade to a mini-suite. We were assigned to an aft balcony mini-suite 11th deck (unsold handicap acessible). It was a wonderful cabin with two single beds and a queen sofa bed. The cabin was approx 300 sq ft, so we had alot of room. I did notice that the ceilings in the cabin (and the hallways) were quite low. I'm 6'4" and there was not much space above my head.

 

 

Ship:

The ship is beautiful and organized well. It did not have a spectacular atrium like some of the other ships I have been on, but it has it's own unique elegance and style. We did notice there was quite a bit of vibration and swaying of the ship. We the vibration in the cabin (this may be attributable to the aft cabin) and we felt moderate swaying in the dining rooms and hallways.

 

 

Staff:

Despite the negative reviews I had read the staff was extremely pleasant and helpful. The were eager to talk and satisfy the passengers. Our cabin attendant Josefina was excellent, the room was always clean and she made towel animals most nights. The conceirge made was always available to make restaurant reservations. We did encounter one or two crabby individuals working in the the buffet, but they could not spoil the effort and professionalism of the rest of the crew.

 

 

Dining:

I found the food in the dining rooms and the buffet to be abvove average. There were some items such as the baked fishes that lacked flavor, but the majority of the meals were excellent. The selection in the buffet and sit down breakfast meals was excellent. The sit down meals took a long time !!!!. Thursday was lobster night, the meal was excellent, but we waited 45 minutes for admission to the Grand Pacific and the meal took close to 2 hours to complete.

 

I honestly do not believe NCL was interested in selling soda. The price of the soda card was over $50.00 for the week, but an individual soda was $1.75. At the first stop in Hilo we went to Walmart and brought a 12 pack of Coke for $3.00 which lasted the entire cruise.

 

Specialty Restaurants:

Cagneys- Excellent food, great service. I had the shrimp cocktail, surf and turf (filet and lobster), and apple pie to go (small but very tasty).

 

Pappa's Italian - No cover, possibly the best food on the ship, very rich, try the navy bean soup, and the lassagna.

 

Teppanyaki- Not worth the cover, inexperieced chef, hit someone with food, dropped eggs, and kept sneezing into his sleeve while cooking, I wanted to leave. The food was average, but to be fair it did appear the other chefs were doing a much better job.

 

 

Ports:

Hilo- Rented a convertible mustang from Alamo. Be cautious because it seems NCL uses Alamo for their shore excursions, the lines at Alamo were very long at Hilo and Maui. The Volcanoes National Park was breath taking, we also drove about 20 miles down the rim of craters road (you have to see this) Afterwards we went to the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut factory. We found better prices for their merchandise in Wal-Mart, but the tour was interesting (and free).

 

The ship sailed past the lava flow on the way to Maui, but due to jet lag I was in bed by 9pm. When my family rolled me out of bed I went out on the balcony, but the view was cloudy, so I went back to sleep.

 

 

Maui- We rented a car and went to Lahaina and the beach during the first day. We went to the Old Lahaina Luau that evening. The food was excellent, selection, taste, presentation, etc. The costumes and the storys were also nice, but my mother and sister do not drink and I was the driver so the open bar was useless to us. Therefore the admissions price of $92.00 per person was very steep and I probably would have chosen a more reasonable show if I had it to do again.

 

 

Day two we took the Roberts tours $29 per/person to the 10,123foot summit of Haleakala crater. We actually drove through the clouds, and the view from the top was amazing. The driver, Gus was very knowledgable, informative, and handled to bus well on tight mountain roads. After this tour, we started using Roberts exclusively. They had the same tours as the ship for half the price, highly recommended !!!!

 

Kona- Took the Historic Kona tour by Roberts $29 per/person. The driver, Harvey was a true professional. The tour included the Puuhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park, a trip to a Kona coffee factory, and a visit to painted church (murals inside). We took the free shuttle to Wal-mart to buy souveniers. The ship is tendered in the bay, and there is an excellent view of the ship from the Walmart parking lot. We also got free boxes from Wal-mart and mailed our souveniers home from the Lihue post office the next morning.

 

 

Kauai- Easily my favorite island for the natural beauty and scenery. Day one we took the Roberts tour to Waimea Canyon. The bus made several stops including the spouting horn, The Waimea Canyon Snack Shop which had excellent chilli dogs and ice cream. The also served plate lunches, and the Canyon is a must see.

 

Day two we took the Roberts tour to the fern grotto, which included a river cruise for $39 per person.

 

 

Debarkation:

If you are taking an evening flight, use the easy fly program. It was $20 per/person, but they took our bags at 10pm and we did not have to worry about them again until they arrived safely in D.C. The debarkation process was the best I have ever seen. We ate breakfast at 7am and walked off the ship in 5 minutes to the Alamo shuttle. Our flight home through Houston was at 7:20pm, we went to the Dole plantation, the north Shore, circled to coast to Makapu Point, then took the tunnel back to Honolulu. This was a great sight seeing day.

 

We had a great cruise, it is a shame they are taking the Pride of Hawaii to Europe. I have been recommending this cruise to everyone as soon as I got home. Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

 

 

 

[ohioNCLcruiser]

Thanks for the review. Glad to hear you had a good time!

[bgaylemccord]

Could you contact me with information on how you booked your tours with this tour agency?

 

bgaylemccord@yahoo.com

[atonal1]

Try them directly at http://www.robertshawaii.com/

[hcs81m]

I forgot to add a story about the embarkation. We checked in at about 2:30pm, but our bags were not delivered until approx 8:30pm.

 

The funnny story is right before they delivered our bags, they called our cabin and said that I needed to come to secondary screening so they could search one of my bags in my presence. When I arrived, they had several suitcases with orange tags listing the suspected contraband such as liquour, irons, handcuffs:rolleyes: , etc. When they searched my bag, it turned out they mistook a bottle of lotion for liquour because the bottle resembled a pint:p . We had a good laugh on that one.

[PDAZ]

Welcome back! Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip!

[LateCruiser]

When I arrived, they had several suitcases with orange tags listing the suspected contraband such as liquour, irons, handcuffs:rolleyes: , etc.

 

:D :D :D :D

[hello]

Thank you for your review -- sounds as though you had a really great time!

[missybrowngirl]

Dear brother hsc81m,

 

As your sister I disagree about the service to a degree. I do believe for the most part everyone was friendly.

 

And yes they do an excellent job with getting on and off the ship. That was one of the shortest experiences I have ever had with getting on a ship. I commend NCL for this.

 

However, the staff at times appeared to be disorganized. Especially with the baggage. Our situation with your bag was different, but they was a real delay with alot of the baggage from my speaking to other cruisers.

 

I did have the bad experience in Alcazar dining room the morning I mailed our packages in Lihue. My waiter was just rude and I felt because I was sitting by myself they forgot I was there. Any time I have to call other wait staff over to address any issues I am having or wait longer than 30 minutes for food (eggs) this is not good.

 

I do not agree that the buffet food or the dining room food was above average. It was fair. Fair is one step above poor. The one night they did do a really good job was lobster night.

 

I am still laughing about the Teppanyaki experience. What really got me was him setting aside some of the meat that should have gone to the paying passenger for himself. I can't believe he hit people with food. What was even more incredible is we were in port so the ship was not moving. Can you imagine if the ship was moving?

 

I guess the "freestyle dining is a preference thing". I guess I like having the traditional seating times. We had to wait and use a pager on nights when the dining room was busy. As a person with diabetes I like to be able to time my meals when I can. I just don't believe in paying to get a good meal on a ship.

 

I am sorry to be such a gripe. But you love me anyway right. I did have a great time. :D

[wants2fly]

Thank you for the review and the link to Roberts tour. They are really helpful!

 

Did you take the 4 tours for $100 deal? Looks really good

 

Thank again!

 

Wants2fly

[Switzy]

The Roberts website lists one way shuttles as $9 per person from the airport. You mentioned that it was $5. Did I miss something, or do you have a tip for getting this price?

[cruisequeen10]

Did you put this review in the "review" section. This is most helpful when people are looking for specifics. Thanks,

[hcs81m]

Did you take the 4 tours for $100 deal? Looks really good

Unfortunately I did not catch on to the 4 for $100.00 package until someone we had met on the tours mentioned it on our 3rd excursion. I called Roberts, but they told me all 4 had to be booked at one time

 

The Roberts website lists one way shuttles as $9 per person from the airport. You mentioned that it was $5. Did I miss something, or do you have a tip for getting this price?

When we returned the rental car the day of the cruise the rental car shuttle driver reccomened Roberts, she took us to the shuttle stop in front of the airport where there was a Roberts rep available. After the cruise we asked the Roberts rep at the pier how much a return to the airport was (before we found out there was an Alamo shuttle) , and they said $9.00. You may want to call Roberts to see why they charged less from the airport to the pier.

[sunshine 229]

Dear brother hsc81m,

 

As your sister I disagree about the service to a degree. I do believe for the most part everyone was friendly.

 

And yes they do an excellent job with getting on and off the ship. That was one of the shortest experiences I have ever had with getting on a ship. I commend NCL for this.

 

However, the staff at times appeared to be disorganized. Especially with the baggage. Our situation with your bag was different, but they was a real delay with alot of the baggage from my speaking to other cruisers.

 

I did have the bad experience in Alcazar dining room the morning I mailed our packages in Lihue. My waiter was just rude and I felt because I was sitting by myself they forgot I was there. Any time I have to call other wait staff over to address any issues I am having or wait longer than 30 minutes for food (eggs) this is not good.

 

I do not agree that the buffet food or the dining room food was above average. It was fair. Fair is one step above poor. The one night they did do a really good job was lobster night.

 

I am still laughing about the Teppanyaki experience. What really got me was him setting aside some of the meat that should have gone to the paying passenger for himself. I can't believe he hit people with food. What was even more incredible is we were in port so the ship was not moving. Can you imagine if the ship was moving?

 

I guess the "freestyle dining is a preference thing". I guess I like having the traditional seating times. We had to wait and use a pager on nights when the dining room was busy. As a person with diabetes I like to be able to time my meals when I can. I just don't believe in paying to get a good meal on a ship.

 

I am sorry to be such a gripe. But you love me anyway right. I did have a great time. :D

 

It is interesting to see that two of you, on the same cruise and even in the same cabin had somewhat different views of the experience. I don't think it makes either of you right or wrong just shows that different people have different opinions and what is unimportant to one may be a problem for another.

 

I have a friend who was on the same cruise. She told me that she and her husband had a wonderful time and loved Hawaii but that she couldn't recommend that particular ship. She found the service inferior to what she has experienced on other cruiselines ( she has done quite a bit of cruising) and was disappointed in the menu in the regular dining rooms. It seemed to her that the menu was the same almost everynight and, if they hadn't eaten a few nights in the extra pay restaurants, she would have been hard put to pick something appealing everynight without repeating a few meals. If she cruises to Hawaii again ( she told me) she would go with one of the lines that leaves from the west coast and has an international crew.

[beachlovingirl]

Well Hello "Neighbor" - I'm from Fairfax, VA and am thinking of taking this cruise in the fall (sailed on the Jewel Eastern Carribean in November) & have a few questions -

- On the over night stays does NCL stay in dock or go back out to sea? Does this impact the restaurants/dining rooms/bars that are open on the overnights.

- What was the passenger mix like? On the Jewel in 11/07 we had more couples, families and groups - thank god I was part of a group because there was no singles scene...is this route any better?

- How was the aft mini-suite for motion & size? We got an upsell to the courtyard villas on the trip in November but it was a major "celebration" trip so we sprung for it - this time I'm going to have to scale down but I'm worried a standard balcony room is going to be too small....is the mini suite large enough for 2 adults that are not a couple to share and not be on top of each other?

 

Any input you can provide would be much appreciated for 4 singles in our early 40's looking for fun & sun in Hawaii!:cool:

[hcs81m]

Well Hello "Neighbor" - I'm from Fairfax, VA and am thinking of taking this cruise in the fall (sailed on the Jewel Eastern Carribean in November) & have a few questions -

- On the over night stays does NCL stay in dock or go back out to sea? Does this impact the restaurants/dining rooms/bars that are open on the overnights.

- What was the passenger mix like? On the Jewel in 11/07 we had more couples, families and groups - thank god I was part of a group because there was no singles scene...is this route any better?

- How was the aft mini-suite for motion & size? We got an upsell to the courtyard villas on the trip in November but it was a major "celebration" trip so we sprung for it - this time I'm going to have to scale down but I'm worried a standard balcony room is going to be too small....is the mini suite large enough for 2 adults that are not a couple to share and not be on top of each other?

Any input you can provide would be much appreciated for 4 singles in our early 40's looking for fun & sun in Hawaii!FPRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT="

On the overnight stays the Pride of Hawaii stayed in port, it has no impact on the restaurants

The passenger mix seemed to be a lot of couples, honeymooners. I did not see many kids. I also did not see alot of singles, but they must have been on the boat because they had a singles event onboard.

Our suite ws handicap acessible, so it was huge, I have pictures of the suite if you are interested.

There was more motion than the carribean cruises we have been on, and there was a slight vibration when the boat was underway, but it was not enough to disturb us. A mini-suite should be large enought for two. Please let me know if you have any more questions. Thanks.

[newlondoncruiser]

hi we are cruising on this ship when it becomes the Jade. We are also in aft balcony mini-suite 11th deck (unsold handicap acessible). What no was yours? We were given this because we have a baby - will there be room for a cot and the sofa made up as a bed for my older daughter? Last time we were in A NCL balcony room with my older daughter only and it was so tight when the bed was out.

[hcs81m]

hi we are cruising on this ship when it becomes the Jade. We are also in aft balcony mini-suite 11th deck (unsold handicap acessible). What no was yours? We were given this because we have a baby - will there be room for a cot and the sofa made up as a bed for my older daughter? Last time we were in A NCL balcony room with my older daughter only and it was so tight when the bed was out.

 

Yes, due to the handicap accessibility there is plenty of floor space in these cabins, even when the sofa bed it let out. If you would like I can try to figure out how to attach pictures of the cabin.