For people who have never been to Hawaii, NCL's Pride of America cruise is the way to get a great overview of Hawaii and the fact that you have two days on Maui, two days on the the Big Island (one each in Hilo and Kona), and almost two days on Kauai along with time on Oahu (if you so choose) is a great way to see Hawaii. The ship is beautiful and is filled with patriotic and Hawaiian themes and the staff were very friendly and hard working. I especially enjoyed "the burger king" Calvin in the Aloha Cafe who made the best cheeseburgers, pizzas and calzones. I also enjoyed the comedian onboard and I thought the entertainment was good though I thought the "Not so Newlywed" game was a disappointment because they rigged the winners in which it was obvious that they knew the answers ahead of time. The only other negatives that I saw was that our room steward forgot to clean the refrigerator and I wasn't impressed with the turkey sausage. Other than that, I thought the food was very good and my overall experience was very good.

Now for the details: Prior to the cruise we spent four days in Honolulu/Oahu which I highly recommend. It gave us time to do extra touring and to deal with jet lag. We stayed at a nice hotel for the money, the Ambassador Hotel. It was not a luxury hotel, but it was spacious, 10 minutes from Waikiki beach and had an efficiency. We also rented a car though traffic is a nightmare. But it did give us flexibility and we enjoyed our time in Oahu and we walked up Diamond Head, Makapuu point, sampled Giovani's shrimp and did some of the sites downtown Honolulu. If you go to the Aloha tower, there is inexpensive parking $3 for 3 hours) and you can get in the down sites within 3 blocks. If you eat at the Aloha Tower the parking is free for three hours.

EMBARKATION DAY: Embarkation went well and it was beautiful sailing out of Honolulu harbor. As we waited in line to embark (which took only about 20 minutes), we were given leis and entertained. Read more