Pride of America Review

Great Ship and Great way to see the Hawaiian Islands

Review for Hawaii Cruise on Pride of America
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JodiO
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Aug 2014
Traveled with children

Our family of 4, arrived in Honolulu 2 days early. Stayed at the Park Shore Waikiki. Affordable, clean, and walking distance to Diamond Head. Used Charleystaxi.com Taxi and Johnnycabhi.com for all of our transfers in Honolulu before/after cruise. They give you a flat rate and are prompt. Visited Pearl Harbor (buy your tickets online for $1.50 instead of booking an expensive tour). Charleystaxi will drop off/pickup family of four for $70. As for the Pride of America, it was a very clean ship. We had a family balcony, kind of small for 4. Seems like the rooms on the Pride of America are a bit smaller than other ships I have been on. The passengers are older. Seems like the average age was 50+. My teen son enjoyed 'Entourage', the teen club on board. There were about 30 kids that participated everyday and they had a lot of activities. Food was above average not quite as good as the MSC Divina (our last cruise). We usually ate in the dining rooms to avoid the crowds at the Buffet. When we did go to the Buffet, we never had a problem finding a table. The fitness center was spotless and never crowded. The shows were average, the best was the Frankie Valli Tribute.

We never did any shore excursions as I got much better deals and smaller tours groups booking myself. On Maui, I used Adventure Maui to book an afternoon tour on the Fourwinds Catamaran Snorkeling and Haleakala Day Bike tour through 'Mountain Riders'. In Hilo, I used Rickystourshawaii.com for a wonderful and affordable small group tour of Hilo. Ricky was great and combined two tours into one so we could see everything in the Hilo area. In Kona, you are tendered to Port. There is plenty to do in Kona without booking a tour walking distance at the pier... Beach, great snorkeling, shopping, restaurants. In kauai, we used Hawaiicruiseexcursions.com who hooked us up with Kauai island Shuttle. They gave us a great private all day tour for a fair price. We saw Waimea Canyon, Spouting Horn, Coffee Plantation, Waterfalls, and monuments. I highly recommend them. The last day of the cruise, we walked off the ship to a beautiful beach called Kalapaki Beach in front of the Kauai Marriot Resort. No snorkeling but great boogie boarding. Finally, the day of disembarkation we had Johnnycabhi.com pick us up at the port and take us to Punchbowl Military cemetary to visit a family grave, and then take us on to the airport. All in all, a wonderful trip. It was so nice to have 2 days at each port so as not to be rushed like other cruiselines.

Cabin Review

Small for a family of 4, but functional. Seems like the Pride Of America Balcony rooms are a bit smaller than other cruise lines I have been on. The Ocean views are wonderful so I always recommend balconies.

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