Just off best cruise ever!

[FJS961]

I am in love with Hawaii. The NCL pride of America cruise is genius. It is a great way to see the islands over a week.

That being said, the ship itself felt far short of DCL from our experiences. I didn't see that much of the ship actually as we were so busy off of it. We were generally too tired to do much at night onboard but when we tried we were disappointed. The target demographic for the entertainment was for a more senior base. The comedy was awful.

My big thing is the dining. Being suite guests we had access to the new Cagneys signature restaurant for breakfast and lunch. That was great but we did notice a drop in quality / freshness as the week went on. Dinner there was very good and surpassed Palo for me. The Italian up charge place was good as was on par with Palo. We only ate at a regular restaurant (skyline) once and the food / service was pretty good. There was a band playing and it was loud, it had a wedding / banquet feel to it. We did the exclusive Chefs Table. One seating for 12 guests during the cruise. At $89 including wine pairing it was a good value. It was 9 courses, included a couple and group photo with the chef with a signed menu (no rose though). I still liked Remy better honestly. I did like that at the end there was no bill or request for addnl tip for the chefs table experience.

It was nice having auto gratuities and we tipped a few special folks with cash who took good care of us.

They did not provide any comment cards or ask for any feedback. So weird compared to DCL.

 

[cleophus12]

We did pride of America last summer and I would have to say that ncl's poa and any dcl cruise are entirely different animals. Not different bad, just different. Ports of call--well it's Hawaii, enough said. That alone creates a different vibe--very casual and relaxed onboard. Also very port intensive so not too much onboard activity. I think the time change for nearly all passengers limits the night time offerings as well. Entertainment was not good quality except for the Polynesian show they brought on board. Dining room food was not to our liking but we refused to pay the up charge just to get good food which should have been available in the mdr. Still we loved the cruise. Maybe someday we will get to do dcl to Hawaii. That would be a dream come true.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

My CCL in Feb didn't provide a comment card either. They did send us a survey through email later on. But yes it is wierd if you ask me. The servers depend on those comment cards, or at least that was always how it was for me growing up with 2 decades of cruising.

My thoughts? CCL didn't want the comments. I know they didn't want MY comments...wonder what they thought of my emailed survey...

Also did Hawaii on RCCL about 10 years ago. The ports and Islands were AMAZING! Trip of a lifetime. Well it didn't hurt that I was proposed to at a Luau in Maui at sunset either, I mean come on. Anyway, there isn't much about the actual cruise ship or cruise that I do remember. I remember singing a karaoke song to my honey in a lounge. I remember a lot of people got sick that were travelling with our group *cuz I remember one girl who lost her talking voice and croaked the whole time. I remember that my now husband was disappointed that all the soups were broths with some chives on them. I remember that we won the Scavenger hunt our travelling group organized. I remember having a Bible study on the ship with roving microphones (thanks for that RCCL! that was great) and I have nice formal pictures. I don't remember any comedy, any of the shows, or our servers or anything.

Again, Hawaii, amazing. The cruise...not like DCL...

Which does make me ask...is DCL offering hawaii??

 

[Rogillio]

We did this cruise a few years ago and I highly reccommend it! It is absolutely a fantastic way to see Hawaii. The cruise itself was abismal. The ship was not well maintained, the staff was not very cordial and the entertainment non exisitant. But that's ok because we used the ship as a floating hotel to take us to different ports of call and have a place to sleep and shower at night.

We had a rental car reserved in every port. We'd get up, shower and eat breakfast and get off the ship and explore Hawaii. In the evenings we get back on the ship, have dinner and go to be. If they had any 'competition' from another cruise line, I think they'd be in trouble but they were the only cruise available. The price for the week was very cheap... $4,600 for 2A/2C. Had we opted to to fly to different islands and stay in hotels, we could not have done it that cheaply. Plus, we'd of waisted many hours in airports and checking in/out of hotel.

Again, this was a great way to see Hawaii! The cruise was funtional and meet our needs.

 

[COASTIEandMATE]

My CCL in Feb didn't provide a comment card either. They did send us a survey through email later on. But yes it is wierd if you ask me. The servers depend on those comment cards, or at least that was always how it was for me growing up with 2 decades of cruising.

My thoughts? CCL didn't want the comments. I know they didn't want MY comments...wonder what they thought of my emailed survey...

Also did Hawaii on RCCL about 10 years ago. The ports and Islands were AMAZING! Trip of a lifetime. Well it didn't hurt that I was proposed to at a Luau in Maui at sunset either, I mean come on. Anyway, there isn't much about the actual cruise ship or cruise that I do remember. I remember singing a karaoke song to my honey in a lounge. I remember a lot of people got sick that were travelling with our group *cuz I remember one girl who lost her talking voice and croaked the whole time. I remember that my now husband was disappointed that all the soups were broths with some chives on them. I remember that we won the Scavenger hunt our travelling group organized. I remember having a Bible study on the ship with roving microphones (thanks for that RCCL! that was great) and I have nice formal pictures. I don't remember any comedy, any of the shows, or our servers or anything.

Again, Hawaii, amazing. The cruise...not like DCL...

Which does make me ask...is DCL offering hawaii??

We live south of Kona on Hawaii's Big Island and we are waiting for DCL to offer another cruise to Hawaii! We were on the Inaugural West Coast Repo and the Alaska cruise. We want to cruise Hawaii and we want to cruise with Disney. Disney are you listening??? Aloha, Karen and Ron

 

[cleophus12]

We were actually pleasantly surprised by the ship itself. It's older so that says something right off the bat. However we found it very well maintained. It's not of the dcl quality but not awful (a tub) either. I do wish there were other reasonable options for Hawaii but since poa is pretty much the only game in town it is the best way to see the islands IMO. A great vacation. (And for our Disney fix we added on 4 days at aulani post cruise ). Amazing.

 

[FJS961]

I spoke too soon, I just received an email customer survey for my cruise.

 

[FJS961]

No other line can touch the PoA itinerary for seeing Hawaii. If that ship, crew and onboard activities were up against any competition or if it was sailing the usual Caribbean, etc routes, I wouldn't sail her and I bet most others wouldn't either.

 

[FJS961]

I am MISSING Hawaii. After our port stops there, the thought of stopping in Nassau is absolutely repulsive.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Well, not everything can be hawaii. And don't be so hard on Nassau. We had as nice at Blue Lagoon as we did in Hawaii. Just have to be choosey about where you go and what you do in Nassau.

 

[FJS961]

I am just on a Hawaii high right now, wanting to go back. I have never felt so enamored with a location.

 

[Princess Samantha]

nice