Pride of Aloha 3/15/8: Worst Cruise Ever

[dougweaver]

Actually, in our case, we found practically every aspect of this ship disorganized not just the dining experience. For example, in the Freestyle Daily, they would have Nintendo Wii listed as an activity in the Longboard at a certain hour, twice a day. We would go there with our 10 yr old and nothing would be going on. We would ask the staff, who would call reception, who in turn would call the activity staff. Someone might show up, but more often than not, no one bothered.This happened EVERY time. It got to be a bit of a joke with us and after a while we would go just to make a point but our son was extremely disappointed on several occasions. We were told everything from no, it's at a different time than the one listed, it's on the Daily but not the staff schedule, it's in the teen club not here, etc, etc. Once an activity staff member showed up, stayed 10 or 15 minutes out of the supposed hour and basically took it out of our hands and left. Another time, a guy finally showed up but didn't know how to hook it up and left. Usually, no one showed up at all. Another example would be trying to get towels in the morning when leaving the ship. Some days there would be a guy signing out towels as you're getting off, other days there wouldn't. No consistency whatsoever. We learned the hard way not to expect him to be there and took towels from the pool area after that. The same was the case on returning, sometimes you could return towels as soon as you got on, other days you ended up bringing them up to the pool deck or giving them to your cabin attendant. It certainly didn't ruin our vacation but it did leave a negative impression that will definitely influence where we spend our cruise dollars in the future.

Understood ... I would have been upset also. But as far as an activity on the Freestyle Daily that didn't occur I would have went right to the service desk with Daily in hand and asked to speak to a supervisor about it and get an explanation why it was not going on. I don't like to make a fuss either ... but if you have a "legit" complaint ... get to a supervisor and complain. They may have thought the activity was going on ... and will be glad you let them know about it ... and hopefully they'll resolve the issue. dpw

[BJAMINGIRL]

I tried several times to make reservations ahead, but never really had the times available we wanted. We just went to the regular dining rooms and never waited more than 10 to 15 minutes. There were 6 of us.

 

The places we waited the longest was the 2 specialty resturants were we did have reservations. For the Kahuli Italian resturant we had an 8 pm reservation and they didn't seat us till 8:45 and then they divided us to 2 tables. I was much happier at the Palace.

 

We had good service other than that.

[Bidbit]

we were on this same ship a couple of years back in May. We found the experience to be the same as you did. Only thing you did not say as this cruise was infested with tons of very sick people. We were fortunate not to be sick. Because the islands are indeed great and a wonderful place we are not letting that stop us from our trip we have sceduled this may. WE do hope all is better but i have to agree with you this ship at that time was not together. It was short handed the servers were short tempered with each other just bad all way round. That happens sometimes but we made the best of it and are trying again. Just wanted to let you know you were not alone as most on our cruise did turn in major complaints. Barbara

[dougweaver]

Tons of very sick people?? Were they seasick ... have food poisoning or what? Thanks dpw

[Osnab]

With the new upgrades to Freestyle this is what is posted on NCL's website concerning dinner reservations.

"The Table is Yours - One call does it all. Guests in our balcony staterooms, suites and villas can call up to 48 hours in advance and reserve the restaurant, the time and even the table you desire. All other staterooms can call 24 hours in advance."

What it was before I am not sure. Yes I do know you can't make reservations until the day you embark and we plan to do that first thing when we get onboard for dinner for the first 2 nights. (well make that 1 night since on Sunday night we will be at the Old Lahaina Luau so won't need one then) The rest of the week we will eat dinner onboard. dpw

 

Ah, that is really weird. I made a reservation for the very next day, in person. No way did they know what kind of cabin I had when I made the reservation. Well, better safe than sorry.

So do you know where you want to dine on that other night?

Felicia

[nagsheadbound]

We had a balcony room on Pride of Aloha 3/26 sailing and were told for the speciality restaurants you could make reservations a day prior to dining up to 4pm or after 5 pm. You could never make them for same day. With the intensity of the itinerary, it never seemed to work out for us but we did book the Italian restaurant on Weds. for Thursday evening, so if you go to the reservation area - across from the gift shop on deck 7 (do not go to the restaurants) they will explain their procedure.

[Terre]

I'm so sorry you weren't pleased. We sailed the Pride of America in December and we never made reservations for dinner...never had a problem getting a table, but we did go around 5:30-6:00. I really loved the free-style. This was our first experience with it and had no complaints.

 

We had wonderful staff, clean ship, great service, everyone was super and the ship was beautiful. I've read so many reviews on these boards over the years and people's experiences are so varied. I've read reviews by several people on the same cruise and you would think they were on different cruises. At least, like you say, you've cruised before and realize that things can go wrong and you will cruise again. I hope your next one will meet all your expectations.

[jetz]

As far as I know, those in suites are treated as VIP and they are able to make advance reservations in any of the restaurants. I don't know why people are complaining about freestyle cruising and yet booking an NCL Freestyle cruise. First of all, please consider the ship both a hotel and a large shuttle to each island with free, or next to free, meals thrown in. If you had a land based vacation, you would be spending an exhorbitant amount on hotel rooms and restaurants of your choosing. You get what you pay for. Second, there are digital signs everywhere with the status of each restaurant. If I wanted to eat at a particular specialty restaurant I made a reservation in the morning before I left the ship and planned my day accordingly. If I didn't have a reservation I looked at the board and decided which restaurant had room for me and the kids without too much wait. If you're cruising for the food, why don't you book a gourmet food tasting cruise? If you're cruising for the formal nights, take a formal cruise - not a freestyle cruise. For what it's worth, this cruise fit our lifestyle perfectly. The information and tools are there so that you can choose what is most convenient for you.

 

Now that I've settled back down here's a funny (now) story... One of our days on shore had us back on the ship rather early. I was still in my shorts and t-shirt, kind of rumpled looking, with some sunburn and island dirt. I don't remember what I was doing, but since it was early in the cruise I still didn't have the layout of the ship and was constantly getting turned around. Well, I accidently went into the wrong door and wound up in the Liberty Dining room - one of the main dining rooms, but very fancy. Of course I couldn't go back out my door because it wasn't an exit door. I grabbed a waitress (thank God the dining room hadn't quite opened yet) and asked her which was the quickest way back out as I was there by accident. She pointed to two entrances and I don't know what I was thinking, but I said, "I'll go this way to avoid the crowds." Well, "this way" was the wrong way and I exited right into the middle of the early diners waiting to get in wearing all their dinner formals and finery. Some old coot said, "How did you get in there?" I was trying to be funny and said, "Actually, I went in the wrong the wrong door." Do you know what this old man said to me? "That is obvious." Well! And this brings me back to my first point. If this guy had such a problem with people in shorts in his vicinity, why in the heck did he choose this casual cruise? He should have been on some muckety muck high fallutin' cruise around Holland IMHO! It is kind of funny though. I never saw him again - maybe he stayed in his penthouse suite and sent his butler forth. :D

[dougweaver]

Ah, that is really weird. I made a reservation for the very next day, in person. No way did they know what kind of cabin I had when I made the reservation. Well, better safe than sorry.

So do you know where you want to dine on that other night?

Felicia

If they still offer the platinum wine & dine package we would like to do that for 5 nights. If thats the case we will probably try to get reservations at the Jefferson Bistro the first night. With the reviews I have read about the POAM this restaurant is one of the favorites so I think we will try to go here twice during the week. (1 time Lazy J's, 1 time Teppanyaki, 1 time Little Italy) That would cover the 5 nights with the bottle of wine. Hopefully this package for about $240 will still be offered. Thats the plan for now until something changes. dpw

[urkidn]

We had a wine package on PoAl and yes, we could book our dinner reservations as far in advance as we wished. However, we were given no flexibility with the wine served. That really didn't bother us too much as we like to try new wines but that included not being able to choose between a red and a white. This we found rather odd as we prefer to pair our food and wine. I'm sure if you insisted, they would give you a red over a white or vise versa but when we inquired, the waiter told us it would be an "inferior" wine so we stuck with what was given to us. Just something to think about...

[dougweaver]

We had a wine package on PoAl and yes, we could book our dinner reservations as far in advance as we wished. However, we were given no flexibility with the wine served. That really didn't bother us too much as we like to try new wines but that included not being able to choose between a red and a white. This we found rather odd as we prefer to pair our food and wine. I'm sure if you insisted, they would give you a red over a white or vise versa but when we inquired, the waiter told us it would be an "inferior" wine so we stuck with what was given to us. Just something to think about...

Thanks for sharing your experience. I had read someones review that was on the POAM and they said they were able to swap out the wines offered. We will just see how it goes. My wife is mostly a white zinfindel type of person but I think on the cruise she will be more apt to want to try some new things and different types of wine. We don't know that much about the different types of wine so it should be a new and fun experience. dpw

[r50n]

Krissy72,

 

May I ask why you would not book again through NCL? My husband and I have a cruise booked for early 2009 on the Pride of America and were thinking of booking most of the excursions through NCL. Did you have problems and/or were the excursions not what you anticipated. Thanks in Advance

 

Hi - We just returned from 4/27/08 POA cruise around the Hawiian islands.

Loved the Islands - the food was tolerable (at the buffet) and better in the dining rooms. Never waited more than 20 minutes to be seated in main dining. My biggest objection was the terrible sewage & mildew smell in the aft part of the ship. We were in cabin 0258 on the 10th deck and the smell was quite bad there almost all of the time. I spoke to the Steward about it twice and she sprinkled some odor killer and some chemical down the toilet which fixed it for about 1 hour. I then spoke to hotel management on the ship who basically referred it back to the steward and nothing ever really got fixed. I bought air fresheners on land and sprinkled baby powder liberally around the cabin to try and help mask the smell. This was also noticeable in the theatre and halls and sometimes even in the aft dining room. It was explained to me by the Steward that this is an on-going problem on the ship and is related in someway to the sewage holding tanks. LOVELY THOUGHT ISN'T IT!!!. Needless to say this was a considerable problem and I did my best to try and live with it and not let it destroy my cruise, but I am truly mad about it and will never take another cruise on this ship. By the way the ship is going to Florida next to do caribbean cruises. So far as the excursions are concerned we used a group called Robert's Hawaii who were wonderful. We did 2 excursions through NCL which were not bad, but Roberts did an equally good job and were much less expensive. Hope this helps you or anyone else who is thinking of going on this ship.. It will be called the Norwegian Sky once it leaves the Hawaiian Islands.

[bondscruisegal]

The former name of the Pride of Aloha was the Norwegian Sky. It will now be based in Asia under Star Cruises. The Pride of Hawaii is now the Norwegian Jade and is cruising in Europe.

[mbisson]

The former name of the Pride of Aloha was the Norwegian Sky. It will now be based in Asia under Star Cruises. .

 

Change of plans....It's now being renamed the Norwegian Sky (again) and it's going to do 3 & 4 day sailings to the Bahamas from Miami.

[wharf rat]

I went on the Apr 5 - 16 POAloha cruise and had a ball. I thought 'most' of the crew was good. I took several shore excursions I had never done before, saw the volcano up close, saw the Na Pali coast (got to go back there), etc. The POA is now sitting at ALoha Tower (Honolulu). It looks a bit different as they are removing many things from the deck (and inside also - probably to be used here or junked?). She will sail to Miami on Friday (or to a dry dock somewhere else) for refitting. I was glad I took the cruise on her. I enjoyed it. And yes, a lot of what you experience is how you make it.

[wharf rat]

Also, I was in an aft cabin on the 8th deck and had no "bad smells"....

[dougweaver]

Also, I was in an aft cabin on the 8th deck and had no "bad smells"....

We were in the cabin next to you and kept having this awful smell ... something like wet rats!! Sorry Wharf rat ... I couldn't resist. Just kidding folks ... don't start any rumors. dpw