Other Cruise Lines

[cmph]

FYI to those interested in Hawaii - you might find some more up-to-date info on the Aulani forum. We went to Aulani last year, and I noticed a thread every now and then that talked about the Pride of America. (It caught my attention b/c my sister and brother-in-law did that for their honeymoon and did not have a good experience, but that was over 10 years ago at this point.) In fact, some DVC members who happened to be on the same flight into Honolulu as us were doing an Aulani/cruise combo trip. I know this is the cruise forum, but the Aulani forum gets used for general Hawaii stuff beyond Aulani too (other island info, etc.), and the folks utilizing that forum may not always realize the DCL forum is likewise used to discuss alternative cruiselines!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

but it sounds like PrincessShmoo may have friends who did it more recently and still had problems.

They did their cruise in 2012.

 

[rochmom4]

Our family of 11 (one set of grandparents, two sets of parents, four twenty year olds, one teen) went on the Pride of America in July 2016, followed by a stay at Aulani. We had a wonderful time. We had an excellent stateroom host on the POA. She worked very hard at keeping our stateroom clean. We went on the POA for the itinerary. We planned our own excursions at each port and rented cars each day. The grandparents took tours with Roberts of Hawaii. Although we had an unexpected sea day due to Tropical Storm Darby, the staff added more activities and kept us informed of the changes in itinerary. The wait staff in the main dining rooms were hit or miss. It is an older ship but had recently been refurbished with new carpets, sofa beds, etc. We had a nice vacation.

 

[RedSox68]

I don't think I saw anyone mention Princess? We have cruised them and really enjoyed it. A great mix between DCL and RCCL, I think. The make up of the guests seemed to skew older, but not as much as our Celebrity cruise. Keep in mind that longer cruises tend to skew older though. I really like Celebrity, but when our son was 18 he thought it was boring and wanted to go back to DCL!
As for seeing the Hawaiian islands, cruising is a good way to get an overview of them and see which, if any, you would want to return to. There is NO way you would be able to talk me into any of the ones that sail from the mainland over though...forgot who said it RedSox68?? but it can get pretty rough in that ocean! I have friends that just got back from the Pride of America and I am anxious to get their feedback. From what I saw her post on FB though it doesn't seem like the ship part of the experience went well, and their room looked TINY. She also experienced numerous problems with the booking of the cruise and working with the cruise agent at NCL.

I mentioned that we did Princess for the British Isles cruise. They had the best food and best buffet set up on any line we have been on. Beautiful ship, too (Royal Princess). Would definitely do them and HAL again. My daughter enjoyed the trip and we didn't see as many "older" folks on Princess as we did on HAL -- but then again we ARE one of the older folks now LOL.

We're doing our second Carnival cruise in September. We were so surprised after the first one how much we liked it. The ship was clean and the rooms were huge. Very nice decor also

 

[texasgingerbread]

On the flip side if you decide to stay on land - Aulani on Honolulu, Grand Wailea on Maui, and Grand Hyatt on Kauai.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Interesting to hear such negative reviews of ncl.

 

[mevelandry]

We hated Carnival including our kids. We had a major fight onboard that almost diverted the ship. The only food we liked was Guys burgers and Blue Iguana.

Which ship? (Because different ship = different staff, different cooks, etc.)

 

[mevelandry]

Interesting to hear such negative reviews of ncl.

Yeah... It's weird. Most of my friends who cruised did it with NCL and they gave them stellar reviews.

 

[NancyIL]

The cruise we did around the Hawaiian Islands was the only time-saving way we could see all the islands without flying to each one and staying in hotels. The cruise was 7-nights and stopped at Hilo, Maui (overnight), Kona and Kauai. We saw the lava flowing into the ocean at night time and spent a whole day sailing up and down the Napa Valley (words can't describe it). It was round-trip from Honolulu and we did not experience any rough seas at all. Now that would be different if sailing from the west coast round-trip to Hawaii as that is where you have a lot of wasted sea days and are in open ocean for days at a time.

If there were other options other than NCL to do a local cruise of the area, we'd do it again; we don't have the time or money for the 15-day ones from California though. We used our extra days staying at Maui and renewing our vows for our 30th anniversary and spending time in Honolulu (Hilton Hawaiian Village is amazing if you can't afford Aulani).

I'm pretty sure you mean the Na Pali Coast in Kauai (http://www.napali.com/coast/). Napa Valley is in California.

For anyone wanting to cruise to Hawaii, I recommend the Hawaii Forum at Cruise Critic: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=62 Looks to me like the majority of people posting there are cruising on NCL's Pride of America.

 

[RedSox68]

I'm pretty sure you mean the Na Pali Coast in Kauai (http://www.napali.com/coast/). Napa Valley is in California.

For anyone wanting to cruise to Hawaii, I recommend the Hawaii Forum at Cruise Critic: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=62 Looks to me like the majority of people posting there are cruising on NCL's Pride of America.

Too funny -- I knew it was wrong and looked it up, then forgot to fix it before I posted. Thank you. I fixed it in my original post.

Interesting to hear such negative reviews of ncl.

For us, just the Pride of America. We really liked The Breakaway!

 

[MickeyD]

I mentioned that we did Princess for the British Isles cruise. They had the best food and best buffet set up on any line we have been on. Beautiful ship, too (Royal Princess). Would definitely do them and HAL again. My daughter enjoyed the trip and we didn't see as many "older" folks on Princess as we did on HAL -- but then again we ARE one of the older folks now LOL.

Ah, you did! Well I am also getting into that "older" folk category, so that's my excuse!
I am really wanting to try the Royal Princess. We did the Grand Class ships. Did you find the larger ship more crowded, or did it disburse people well?

 

[jenf22]

Interesting to hear such negative reviews of ncl.

We've been on 2 NCL and are on our 3rd in 2 weeks. We like them and have never had a problem. We're probably not as picky as some cruisers though. I think if you go in with a positive attitude, it would take an awful lot to go wrong to make a bad vacation. A couple of little things here and there just roll right off us. I really recommend NCL. You can't beat a lot of their prices!

 

[RedSox68]

Ah, you did! Well I am also getting into that "older" folk category, so that's my excuse!
I am really wanting to try the Royal Princess. We did the Grand Class ships. Did you find the larger ship more crowded, or did it disburse people well?

Funny you should ask -- Royal Princess was at that time the largest cruise ship we had ever ventured on. We were very nervous about the crowds at both the buffet and getting on and off -- and we never experienced a problem with either. I was very impressed with their buffet lay out -- at least on that ship. Instead of islands or windows everywhere, they had all the counters in the middle, two sides to each room, with the last room having the desserts. The first "room" was usually the theme for the night, the second area had salads and entrees and then the third was desserts. I found that layout not only easier to maneuver, but easier not to miss any offerings they might have. We liked it so much we never did use the dining rooms (except for sit down breakfast).

Now when we did the Breakway on NCL last fall, that was even bigger than the Princess ship and I had heard from some friends who did it how uncontrolled the crowds were and they didn't like it. Again, we did not experience any problems getting on and off -- but we were in Bermuda and didn't take any excursions. The ship was beautiful, our room steward one of the best we have ever had on any line, and the food very good. Our only complaint was the layout of the center where guest services, shore excursions and internet cafe are -- that's where they decided to put all the live music and game shows. So you could never hear anyone at the counters and doing internet was a nightmare to concentrate. Their buffet was a little more crowded and hard to maneuver than others, but we managed.

 

[chaseg03]

I've only done DCL. I would do RCL if you chose another. They cost about as much as carnival and are way better IMO.

 

[mcd2745]

Interesting to hear such negative reviews of ncl.

We just got off the NCL Getaway 10 days ago. It was our first NCL cruise (after 4 DCL / 3 RCCL). The big negative was the staff/service. Overall, the ship was very nice. There were some features that we enjoyed. In particular, we really liked the Irish pub-style venue that is open 24 hours. In that space they also have some games (Darts, pool table, 2 mini bowling lanes, aracde-style basketball games, skeeball, etc.) Nice late night hangout that's not a loud club/lounge type place. I really liked the "freestyle" concept for dinners. I hate being herded like cattle with everyone else to go eat at the same specific time every day. I don't like our schedule being that rigid - for anything. I also don't mind not having the same servers all cruise long. I know that's a big deal here. I see a lot of people here who want to become FB friends with their servers, invite them over for the holidays, and who knows what else. That's not for me. I prefer the flexibility.

In the end, I wish I could combine elements from all three cruise lines we've been on to create the ideal ship and experience.

 

[RedSox68]

Yes, I will say that we really liked the shows they offered. While you need to get tickets, most of the shows (like "Burn the Floor" and "Rock of Ages" are free). The Cirque dinner show was amazing!

 

[cruiser21]

I like NCL and Carnival. I really like the fact that I can take a cruise on them without having to put much thought into saving for it. I keep a savings account for vacations and there's always enough for one these cruise Lines. DCL takes more thought, savings, searching for the best price per night, more guilt..."like do I really need to spend this much" . I mostly just love traveling so I try to make the most out of my yearly travel budget.

 

[ludari]

I have been on DCL more than any other cruise lines but I have been on Holland America and RCL. If I decide to go on another non-Disney cruise I would like to try Norwegian.

 

[MickeyD]

Well like I mentioned in an earlier post, I have a friend that just returned from NCL Pride of America. I wanted to give a recent take on this ship for everyone. Keep in mind this friend of mine is SUPER picky...love her, but it is always ALL about her. LOL. So keep that in mind with what she commented on, these are her words, not mine:
Ship condition: noticeable wear and tear on carpets and in staterooms, but overall clean and pretty.
Service: sketchy. Some were friendly, some not. Servers in the MDR were not very engaging, but in the pay for restaurants they were more so. (wanted big tip, I suppose)
Stateroom: super small for the three of us. My mom was NOT comfortable on the pull out. I am still ticked at NCL because of the mess up with our booking.
Excursions: We only did 2 with NCL, helicopter in Kauai and Best of Maui tour. Ok, if you like being herded like cats. Helicopter was best (and worst) part of trip! Scary and bumpy, but gorgeous views.
Weather: sucked! We had rain in nearly every port, except Kauai was good one day. Seas were rough. Still better than home and snow and ice!
Food: typical cruise food. Bland and not much changed from day to day. Luckily we were in port overnight in two places so ate there. Loved Duke's in Kauai and hula pie!
Best thing about cruise: seeing my 84 year old mom zip line in Maui!
Worst thing about cruise: super LOUD music by pool, and NCL cruise agents (booking process)
Would you do this cruise again: No, but only because it was a bucket list thing for my mom to see Hawaii and this helped her see it all. For me, I would do a land based vacation and just pick one island.

Hope this helps some that are looking at NCL POA. I can always ask her more questions if need be. I tried to keep it short.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I've only done DCL. I would do RCL if you chose another. They cost about as much as carnival and are way better IMO.

How on earth can you make a statement like this when you've never been on RCCL or Carnival?