I led a group of 31 people on the Pride of America's Feb. 3 Hawaiian cruise and must say that all who went had a grand time. We booked our own shore excursions and anyone who wishes can contact me and get vendors that I used for each.

The ship is beautiful. Everything is tastefully decorated and there is a wide variety of bars and restaurants available. The reservation system for meals seems to be very weak, however. We were trying to get the whole group together once or twice during the cruise and had to give up on the idea except for one night. They told us that groups (over 8 people) could only eat at 6:00pm or 8:30pm. We went to the Liberty one night, only 9 of us that night, about 7:00 and walked right in and got a table, after they had told us there were no tables available that night until 8:30. There were large tables all around us which sat empty the entire 2 1/2 hours that we were there. Ok, I know you are wondering why we were in there that long...it was because we ordered the prime rib and asked if we could also get the lobster with it. That totally blew their minds in the kitchen and they never recovered. One member of the party didn't get his appetizer at all and they delivered bread and butter to part of the group right after the dessert was delivered!

One cannot reserve tables, regardless of the size, for more than the present night and the next night coming up. Since the reservation desk wasn't open all day, it made it hard to get things set up. We found, however, that you could just go as a walk-in and have little trouble getting in. Read more