Pride of America Review
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After reading the many mixed reviews on Cruise Critic, we were pleasantly surprised with our cruise on NCL's Pride of America. We had already been to Hawaii 4 times and visited The Big Island both Hilo and Kona, Oahu, Maui, and Kauai. We were traveling on this cruise with my cousin and her husband. They came from Boston and we came from Los Angeles. We met in Honolulu where they had stayed a week before us and we spent one night. We visited Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial before we boarded our ship to embark on our cruise.
The ship Embarkation was prompt, friendly and trouble free. We were a bit worried about releasing our luggage outside the port to a guy with an Aloha shirt on and nametag, but we watched him go to a table and have them look up our cabin number and mark this on luggage tags, so we were more at ease. We went on board where we made reservations for Lazy J's Steak House, East Meets West, and Little Italy. My husband only brought one pair of long pants so we ate, ran to our cabin, got casual and went to the shows. Those pants held up well but I think they need to advise you more clearly about dinner dress code restrictions.
Lazy J's Steak House was casual but men were requested to wear slacks at dinner (no Jeans) even though the waiters wore cowboy boots, hats & jeans. The menu was good with several chicken, seafood choices along with an extensive assortment of Steaks and Prime Rib. The sides boasted servings to share enough for two, but we found 6 asparagus, 1/2 cup of creamed spinach and a Yorkshire pudding the size of a small cupcake, overdone and deflated left much to be desired. The steaks were great but the sides came at least 5 minutes before the entree and were cold. A maitre d' came by to ask how our food was but it was before we had taken a bite. The steak was one of the best we ever had 10 ounces of filet mignon perfectly prepared but everything else was pretty bad. The caesar salad was suppose to be prepared tableside and it was just brought out already made and was wilted. All and all we don't feel it was worth the $15 per person surcharge.