Elainie's Pride of Aloha review - Aug 15th Sailing

[Elainie]

Hi everyone :)

Sorry it took me so long. I just got back late Sunday night, as I travelled to california after my Hawaiian cruise.

 

I took notes everyday from my experiences on the ship. I know some of you have been waiting. I believe I'm a very objective person (my career dictates this as well), and I'm sure there will be passengers from the same sailing that will say it was horrendous, but it wasnt, atleast not for me and my family. Some of that will be explained as you'll see...

 

The ship: I thought it was very pretty, clean, didnt see any health issues or wearing of the furniture and carpet to the extreme as some had mentioned.

 

The crew: Everyone I encountered was wonderful. Carlos was our room steward, he was fabulous. The cruise directors staff made events fun, I got to know Brandon a little bit. They ran Karaoke which was a big hit, and also did some theme parties in the Blue Hawaii which I enjoyed. Also, the hula teacher (his name is escaping me) was just great! They are understaffed, that is where the problems are. I had no issues with any crew member and everyone I encountered was extremely helpful and friendly. They are not supposed to talk about the problems, though I was privy to some side conversations. I didnt see any major walk outs during my cruise. I also heard the last two weeks of charters were very demanding on them, and crew were treated harshly by some of those passengers. My guess is those charters are regulars cruisers and this cruise was not what a regular cruiser would expect, so I can see why there were issues, though again, CREW IS NOT TO BLAME, understaffing is.

 

Breakdown of events/items:

 

1st day and Boarding: Dont be intimitated by the long line to start the journey, it moved very quickly. Also, dont buy a lei downstairs even if they tell you there is none available upstairs..they give them for free upstairs, dont know why I was told they didnt.

 

Specialty restaurants: The minute I got on board, I went and made two dinner reservations at specialty restaurants. Personally, I didnt mind paying the small service fee and given some of the food reviews, I thought this was a good thing to do. Pacific Heights was closed for the first two days of the cruise. I went to all three restaurants...all were very very good...my favorite happend to be Pacific heights. Service was excellent, but again, the crew

is short so limited seating and times. by mid week if you want to make a reservation, it was tough. They start taking reservations at 8am, I went down one morning at 7:20 to wait and got in. The next morning I was at 7:30 and couldnt get in anywhere. They will only take reservations 24 hours in advance for these restaurants. Many people tried to get in there because of the virtual nightmare in the main dining rooms as far as waits (I'll get to that in a little bit) which is why the lines got long to wait to make reservations at the Speciatlies...word to the wise, after Tuesday, if you want in, plan on going down by 7:15 to get in line.

 

Main Dining room: Both Palace and Crossings had great staff, and I found the food good...no issues. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the food. I was with a party of 15...they will take reservations for parties of 8 or more, downside being those parties can only be seated at 5:30 or 9pm. Every dinner took 1.5 to 2 hours without fail. We always got in within 10 min of our reservation. Such was not the case for "freestylers"....some had waits of 1.5 hours to eat, which i felt was sad. On formal night especially bad...some people in tuxedos ending up eating up in the buffet!! It was after that night people were in line to make reservations at the Specialty. if crew was sufficient in size (again, service was great) , I dont think there would be waits at the main dining room.

 

Room Service: Average, nothing special. My sister ordered food for her children that never came. My niece ordered a grilled cheese that they said would take up to 45 minutes but came within 20 minutes...they told her as it was one order, they were able to fulfill it quickly.

 

Buffets: When I first boarded, there was a lunch buffet...didnt enjoy it really. I tried the next day as well, again, not great. I ended up avoiding all lunch and dinner buffets. I heard they got better as the week went on, and did do the lunch buffet in Maui, and noticed the improvement, on Saturday too, I heard after Wed, it had gotten better. On the other hand, I only did breakfast every morning at the buffet, and found that quite good. Omelet stations, Waffle and pancakes. The bacon was great. Hint: If you go through the buffet line, walk to the back of the ship, through the dining area...i think it was called the Hukilau cafe...that seemed to have better quality buffet food all around, and also was less crowded. I'm an early riser, so I had to wait in minimal lines to get food. They did run out of cofee and juice on occassion, but things were replaced as they found out about them. The desserts at the buffets were truly fabulous. I didnt see any reusing of old food or anything like that. I wasnt happy with the fruit selection.

Drink stations are confusing as you've read I'm sure.

 

Rules: They will not let you bring take out food or fruit onto the ship when you've been on port. I tried to bring a sandwich for my parents that they confiscated. packaged/unopened items are not a problem.

 

Kona: Fabulous little greek place right on the port called Cassandras for anyone who like mediterranean food...its right near where the ship docks.

 

Excursions: I did Waimea Canyon, Volcano Park, Kanappali Beach Break and Luau in Maui all through NCL. The drivers were wonderful and I enjoyed each excursion immensely. The Luau is at the Maui Prince Hotel. It was very hot until the sun went down, but the scenery was beautiful and food was great.

 

Rooms: Our room steward Carlos was wonderful. When we got on board, our rooms were ready to go, and each day cleaned right away, and restocked. No issues.

 

Activities: I took advantage of onboard activities. My niece and I did Hula for the week and performed in a show on Saturday...we had a ball and Hula dancing was very relaxing AND fun! We also went to every event in Blue Hawaii that was run by the Cruise Directors Staff...70's night, NYs party, sock hop, Karaoke...we truly enjoyed everything. My only gripe would be that on the last night, there should of been a party. All they had was DJ and music. The New years party might of been good for last night, or some sort of official Farewell party hosted by Cruise Director's staff. Would of been a great way to end the trip. My nephew made me a beautiful necklace in arts and crafts (he was hanging out with a nice girl he met, which is what inspired him to go ;) ) The necklace is this big black bead that you will see at all the islands, so I was especially thrilled as I didnt have to buy one! There were sports trivia events and also a very nice Hawaiian vocalist every night...all activites were quite enjoyable.

 

Spa: Excellent. I did a massage first day in Kaui with Melody. She was wonderfuly...I was overlooking the mountains and nice music was playing as I was getting the best massage I've ever had (and I get alot of them!) She took the time to discuss my problem areas, wrote down some suggestions for me and gave me helpful advice. It was worth every penny.

 

At ports: Every port had a free shuttle to somewhere. Check out Hilo Hatties. There were free shuttles to the beach I think in Kona. Also, you can pay a small fee of like $5 on other ports for different shuttle excursions. There was always alot of options.

 

Shows: I only saw the Mr. Producer and Magician show...both were very very good! TV stations are limited, some movies available which is good.

 

Lava flow: Wasnt the spectacular event described by others, though it was probably timing as it had been flowing for so many weeks, probably not much left!

 

NCL response: You may have heard already, but they refunded everyone half the service fee ($10 a day) for the week and gave us 20% of what we paid for this cruise towards our next NCL cruise...voucher being sent to all the passengers.

 

Bill: was accurate, came timely, no issues.

 

Helpful hint: If you are less than a party of 8 and meet some people, why not join up for dinner and make a reservation?

 

I truly enjoyed my vacation, and also got to meet other Cruise Critic travellers :) For new cruisers and cruisers who dont need everything perfect, this was a good cruise. For all others, you may want to wait until sufficient staff is put on board. Currently, crew members are working double overtime and doing their absolute best to keep things running as smooth as possible. You wont be able to help but enjoy the beautiful ports, and all the anxiety I had before boarding the ship definintely disappated throught the journey.

 

I hope this summary helps some of you considering this cruise :) Until the next one ( I plan on using that voucher, so I'll keep you posted! :).....

 

Aloha!

 

Elainie

[maltesemom]

Thanks Elaine for your review. I am leaving on Sunday (9/5) and will do a review upon return.

[Traveler39]

Elaine... thanks for the very good review...... we are all hoping that the reviews will continue to be positive and show that ncl management really is trying to correct the posted problems of the POA...

 

Can you tell me about the pizza oven/stand? Were pizza's available during most of the day at the actual cooking area? I have heard that pizza were being served in the buffet during buffet and not available at the actual pizza cooking area? Thanks..

[karfest]

Traveler39 and Maltesemom and the others with POA cruises upcoming-

 

I have been following those of you who are hanging in there with the POA. I don't know you, I don't have this cruise booked, and it really shouldn't affect my life-but- I am so happy for all of you when I see a review come through that admits there are still some issues but overall things have improved. I believe the POA has finally hit bottom, NCL admitted it, and they are now striving to make it work. Anyone going on this ship should know what they are in for and plan ahead. I believe the two new reviews we have on the board today reflect travelers who actually researched what was happening on this cruise ship. I feel badly for those cruisers the first few months as they had no clue it would be so bad, but anyone getting on this ship who is not aware of the issues just shouldn't leave home!!

 

Best wishes and good luck, I will remain a lurker and keep good thoughts going your way:)

[maltesemom]

Thanks for the good wishes as I said I will do a review as soon as I return.

[Zeno]

Very nice review Elaine - lots of good useful details. I am glad to hear that you had a good time and got a sense that things are improving.

[Elainie]

Yes, definintely having been on the boards ahead of time prepared me and did make it better I believe than for others who had no idea. Infact, when the CCs got together on the ship, I think it was LouChamp who asked for a vote on who thought it was as bad as people made it out to be, and none of us agreed, we all felt it was better than what we had heard.

 

Pizza...actually, we were getting pizza from Pacific Heights...its next to I think the outrigger lounge...that must be where the oven is located but it was a well kept secret..i happend to find out because I went into the lounge for sports trivia and we asked. It came fresh and hot out of the oven and was pretty good :) So you do not have to get it just at the buffet, it is generally available throughout the afternoon, and my nieces got it at dinner too just by asking at Pacific heights.

I never made it to sprinkles icecream bar...only open from 3-5 daily..they changed flavors every day, people seemed to enjoy it.

[ccg1957]

Hi, I'm Elainie's sister and we were together on the Pride. Pizza is available HOT between 3pm to 5pm at the bar inside the Pacific Heights. They make it fresh between the close of lunch and until dinner is about to start. Hope this clarifies the pizza situation and I would also like to say that Elainie's review accurately reflects the situation on board the Pride as experienced by our whole group of 15. Good luck!

 

ccg1957

Cathy

[LouChamp]

Hi fellow pineapples. Pleased you mad eit home safely. I posted a review a few days ago but it seems to have drifte ddown the chain. Anyway, seems if we post a fair and balanced review, we get few comments but I agree with your review and the information which is provided to hopefully help future POA cruisers. As you stated, no one in our group of about 20 or so thought the cruise was as bad as has been posted. The ship certainly has problems but I am confident NCL will eventually bring it up to par. We had a great time and I thank these boards for the headsup which made us prepared.

By the way...Elaine does a great hula!!!!

All the best to all I sailed with and all those yet to sail.

Smooth sailing :)

[newmexicoNita]

It is so nice to read something a little positive for a change. I am sure there are still problems, but it does sound like things have improved and for all of you waiting to cruise the POA I hope this is some help for you.

 

NMNita

[raider23]

:)Nice positive review Elaine thank you.We are scheduled for 11/14 sailing & have been VERY nervous the last few weeks. Hopefully improvements will continue.

Gary & Karen

[ccg1957]

Hi to Louchamp and all the other pineapples!!! Yes, Elaine does do a good Hula; glad you could be there to see her!

 

Cathy

[Traveler39]

Thanks for the reviews and good to hear of positive experiences...

 

Thanks for the information on the Pizza Oven/serving area...

[SweetEmi]

Elainie: FYI: Those are called kukui nuts. *smile* I'm glad you liked Casandra's. She does have good food - though I don't go there any more because of personal reasons. Might have to rethink that though...lol!

 

I - like Karen - am very glad that things are looking up. I didn't feel I could get in on any of the discussions because I had not experienced the cruise, but did feel bad for all the cruisers and for Hawaii that things were going so badly. I will continue to hope that things get better and they get a full crew on board.

 

Emi

[AngusKY]

Nice review, and some new good tips! Glad it went well for you all, and looking forward ever more to Cheri and my cruise in early October...

 

Angus

[Traveler39]

Hi fellow pineapples. Pleased you mad eit home safely. I posted a review a few days ago but it seems to have drifte ddown the chain. Anyway, seems if we post a fair and balanced review, we get few comments but I agree with your review and the information which is provided to hopefully help future POA cruisers. As you stated, no one in our group of about 20 or so thought the cruise was as bad as has been posted. The ship certainly has problems but I am confident NCL will eventually bring it up to par. :)

 

 

LouChamp... I have looked for your review... Is it on the reviews section or in with the postings? Can you kick it up to the top as I can not find a review by you... Thanks...

[MandyMPwife]

Thanks for that review! It is nice to see a more positive review.

 

Mandy

[SweetEmi]

LouChamp... I have looked for your review... Is it on the reviews section or in with the postings? Can you kick it up to the top as I can not find a review by you... Thanks...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=71770

 

That should be a link to his review. I found it by looking at his previous posts.

Well...in rereading it, maybe that wasn't it - but I wasn't able to find anything else

 

Emi

[LouChamp]

Just came home from a long day at the office and wanted to check my personal email and cc. I will look for it in the next few days and up it or I will retype it for my fellow cc's. I also posted in the general review section and will also try to get it moved up. In brief, the ship was not a total disaster.

The crew were all hardworking and very polite. The short staffing was most ntoiceable in the d.r and that was the primary problem during dinner. All else was workable. If your fellow cc's were as great as mine were on the 8/15, your trip will be just fine.

I'll post again soon. Gotta go to sleep and then to work to pay for the next cruise!

All the best!

[Traveler39]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=71770

 

That should be a link to his review. I found it by looking at his previous posts.

Well...in rereading it, maybe that wasn't it - but I wasn't able to find anything else

 

Emi

 

Thanks for the update... SweetEmi

 

LouChamp.... let us know when you do the new review...

 

Thanks to both posters...

[pbinn]

thank you for the review. I will be going with a party of 12 of us but not till nov, 2005. Hopefuly things will just get better as time goes on. ONe question i have is, is pizza the only thing available other than the buffets and restaurants. Is there ever burgers by the pool or other foods available to just grab and go. I thought i remember someone mentioning a barbeque by the pool, but wasnt sure if it was just a one time thing.

[MOFO]

Elaine... I was on the August 15th sailing with a party of 15 as well (hmmm, were we in the same party... JK). I completely concur with your review. The crew was EXTREMELY pleasant and did their absolute best to accomodate the problem with understaffing. We had reservations most nights and were usually done with dinner in 2-3 hours. I just could not believe how UNPLEASANT most of the passangers were! :eek:

[Traveler39]

Elaine... I was on the August 15th sailing with a party of 15 as well (hmmm, were we in the same party... JK). I completely concur with your review. The crew was EXTREMELY pleasant and did their absolute best to accomodate the problem with understaffing. We had reservations most nights and were usually done with dinner in 2-3 hours. I just could not believe how UNPLEASANT most of the passangers were! :eek:

 

MOFO..... We keep hearing about the UNPLEASANT acting passengers..... Do you believe that these passengers were not prepared for the problems and conditions on the POA that the understaffing of the ship's crew caused....? In other words better informed passengers were better able to deal with the conditions of the ship that were caused by being understaffed?

 

Do you believe that the unpleasant acting passsengers were able to get the attention of the management that was on board the poa?

[John Tee]

On the POA Repo Cruise there was a BBQ on the pool deck from about 11:30 -2pm on two days as I recall. I enjoyed it. Others thought there was left over food being reheated at the second BBQ. They did run out of some items.

 

I was fond of the BBQ Ribs that had a good sauce.

 

It was hard to find food at other times when the pizza was not being made and between meal times.

 

I highly recommend bringing snacks on board, because after 9pm abouts there is no food available and room service is a long long wait ... unless it has improved drastically.

 

There were a couple of times in the evening when there were desert tables in the Buffet area. They were quite good.

[Elainie]

Yes, there were poolside bbq items available, and it appeared the food was fresh, not re-heated. This usually happened at lunchtime only as I recall.

 

I agree about snacks..i took some nutrition bars and pb/cracker packs..they came in handy! Also, the bathrooms are tight and sitting area if you have more than two in your room. Having three in my room, a shoe organizer really helped. I hung it on the outside of the bathroom door, organized toiletries, accessories, etc in it, so I could grab things as I needed them, and it saved space all around.

 

Yes, I saw and heard about some miserable passengers...i do agree though that if they had known what was coming, they may have not reacted as they did. Some passengers overreacted, but that is expected with diverse groups/different tastes/etc.