Pride of America Review

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13512 - Wonderful Suite

Review for Hawaii Cruise on Pride of America
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exsandhurst
2-5 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Feb 2015
Cabin: Penthouse with Large Balcony

We flew down to Honolulu in First Class on Alaska Airlines from San Jose. What a way to start your vacation. Well worth the little extra money. We spent 3 nights at The Park Shore in Waikiki before boarding the cruise. A really good lower priced hotel.

Check in for the cruise was awful. We arrived at the port just after 12. When we had been told that Suite guests had priority boarding I assumed that meant from start to finish. Unfortunately, it didn't, getting through security was a zoo. There was a health form that everyone had to complete and many people had not noticed the forms on their way to security and had to work their way back through the line. Why were these forms not included in the EDocs? Once we got through to the other side and were directed to the VIP area it was very calm and pleasant but the initial area was chaotic and a mess.

We booked this cruise within two weeks of sailing. At the time there were very few cabins available and all were on the 13th deck. I looked everywhere to find a review. All I found were people saying that because of bad reviews they had moved to a lower deck but I couldn't find those negative reviews. Hence I was very nervous. I could not have been more wrong. The suite was wonderful and very quiet, we never heard any noise, There were children in the next door cabin but we only heard them once or twice on the balcony. We had wanted two beds which meant that I slept on the Murphy bed, this was tucked away in a private corner and did not encroach on the floor space during the day. It was also very comfortable. The duvet was quite small so not sure how that would work for two people. The oversize balcony was fantastic. I stepped it out and figured it was roughly 22' wide x 16' deep. It was so private. There is a canopy that covers all but the last 4' by the rail which enabled you to sit in the sun or shade and it was completely screened from the deck above. There was a table and four chairs, two loungers with cushions and two side tables. The cabin was very spacious. The bathroom did not have a separate shower (which I hadn't realized was an option until I saw other cabins on our deck). The bath had jets and the shower had really good water pressure with both a hand held and overhead large shower. The dressing gowns were useful. The closet was quite small. There were plenty of hangers but limited space for dresses and men's pants. The life jackets were stored in the bottom. There was ample drawer space throughout the cabin. We stored our cases under the king bed. There was plenty of room. The coffee maker was nice to have although a little confusing. When it needs more water you have to have your steward come and fill it up. I made a cappuccino most days with milk that Marc our butler brought us. Eston our Steward took great care of us. We loved the towel animals that he left every night. The fridge was very useful. As I knew we were planning on spending a lot of time in the cabin I actually took a pack of 24 bottles of water on board which was a good move. The water served in the restaurants was very good, there was no taste or smell.

Cabin Review

Penthouse with Large Balcony

Cabin SH

The 13th deck was awesome. So quiet and private. Would definitely book this cabin again.We booked this cruise within two weeks of sailing. At the time there were very few cabins available and all were on the 13th deck. I looked everywhere to find a review. All I found were people saying that because of bad reviews they had moved to a lower deck but I couldn't find those negative reviews. Hence I was very nervous. I could not have been more wrong. The suite was wonderful. We had wanted two beds which meant that I slept on the Murphy bed this was tucked away in a private corner and did not encroach on the floor space during the day. It was also very comfortable. The duvet seemed a little small so not sure how that would work if there were two people in the bed. The oversize balcony was fantastic. I stepped it out and figured it was roughly 22' wide x 16' deep. It was so private. There is a canopy that covers all but the last 4' by the rail which enabled you to sit in the sun or shade and it was completely screened from the deck above. The bathroom did not have a separate shower (which I hadn't realized was an option until I saw other cabins on our deck). The bath had jets and the shower had really good water pressure with both a hand held and overhead large shower. There was a hairdryer and even a pair of scales! The closet was a little small. There were plenty of hangers but not a lot of space for dresses or men's pants as the life jackets were stored in the bottom. There was ample drawer space throughout the cabin. There was plenty of room in the actual cabin itself. The coffee maker was nice to have, I made us a cappuccino most days with milk that Marc our butler brought us. Eston our Steward took great care of us. We loved the towel animals that he left every night. The fridge was very useful. As I knew we were planning on spending a lot of time in the cabin I actually took a pack of 24 bottles of water on board which was a good move. The water served in the restaurants was very good, there was no taste or smell. Being on the 13th deck I was nervous about movement. I won't lie there was some movement but, to me it seemed no worse than the movement experienced on Decks 5 and 6 where I had great difficulty walking in a straight line. As a precaution I did take the anti sickness wrist bands ($19.99 from Walgreens) and did wear them the night we sailed from the Big Island up to Kaui and had no problems with sea sickness. This was probably the night with most movement because we were travelling faster, we had further to travel. The feeling I experienced in bed was like minor turbulence while flying.I liked being on the 13th deck because it was very easy to go up to the top sun deck when the sun moved off of our balcony. Most times when we docked we were facing SE so would lose the sun later in the afternoon. It was also great to be able to watch all the action from the top deck when leaving port. I had it to myself most nights. The only negative thing I found with being on the 13th deck started the night we sailed to Kauai and this was a banging noise coming from the neighboring cabins canopy. It appeared to have come lose. I did report it and security came out to inspect it and concluded yes it had come lose and it would be fixed in port, it was never fixed. That was a disappointment. I had thought that there was ample time the 1.5 days we had been docked in Kaui. So we had three disturbed nights because of that banging.

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