ALOHA! My daughter and I took the Pride of America cruise on March 10, 2007 for spring break. I am a 47 year old single parent and daughter is 11 years old. I booked this cruise in January and got a great price online (through a cruise broker). We booked our air through them also. Outbound from DFW was just fine, left around 6:00am and arrived in Honolulu around 1250 pm. Shuttle bus was there and waiting and was VERY convenient as they took our luggage from us then too! It did take most of the afternoon before we got all our luggage delivered to the stateroom. Coming home was a real nightmare. Left Honolulu around 8:30pm but didn't get back to DFW until the next day at 3:00pm! Very difficult to get your body clock back on track for school and work the next day. We did participate in the Easy Fly program and that worked out fantastically.

As far as the ship goes, I read extensively on these boards before we left and didn't have any preconceived notions. The ship itself was clean and appeared to be well-kept. Easy to navigate. Lots of "maps" and directions posted throughout. Didn't have any issues with any of the staff or with any of the service venues. The only issue we had was on Wednesday when we couldn't tender in to Kona. We were VERY disappointed that we didn't get to go into Kona but understood when the Captain stated he was concerned with the safety of his passengers. This ship is definitely NOT equipped to handle a day at sea! While they did try to schedule some "events" it was clear that they had little to no experience in handling such situations. At least it seemed that way. We went to the arts and crafts offering - along with 600 other people!!! They were no where near prepared for that many people but should have anticipated it with a boat full of people with nothing else to do! Our stateroom was fine for the 2 of us. Plenty of room, plenty of storage space. It was listed as an obstructed view cabin but actually was NOT very obstructed. We had a catwalk straight out and a lifeboat to the left (aft view) but no obstruction whatsoever towards the bow! The floor to ceiling window was a plus! The shower is pretty tiny, but was OK for us. We went to a few of the Production shows. The dancers were generally pretty good but the singers were horrible!!! It really ruined the whole experience. They were off key a lot and sung with a very odd style compared to the type of song they were singing. (ie singing with a cabaret style on a pop song. YUK!) Ate at Lazy J, Jeffersons Bistro and Teppenyaki - MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS EARLY THE DAY BEFORE OR YOU WON"T GET IN! Lazy J had melt in your mouth steaks - as good as the ones in Texas! Jefferson's Bistro - yes, they still have the chocolate fondue but it's on a dinner for two deal (that has an additional charge). Worth it! Teppenyaki was good, too. Had a meal at Cadillac Diner - was OK. Ate in the dining room twice - with only 2 of us, and around 6 or 6:30, we walked right in, no waiting. One night, dinner was average, the other night, it was downright YUK and our waitress was none too happy when I sent the ribs back (that was really the only attitude we encountered).

We did not participate in any of the ships excursions, opting instead to rent cars in every port and explore on our own. SOOO worth it! It allowed us to go and do as we pleased on our own schedule. I became a Blue Chip member with Thrifty, booked most of our islands directly with them. For Maui, it was cheaper to go through a discount vendor mentioned many times on the Hawaii boards. And for Kona (which we ended up not using), Enterprise was cheaper. Hilo - Drove to Volcanoes National Park - really cool! Did the Thurston Lava Tube and even continued on through the part that was NOT lit. Yes, we took flashlights with us ( as suggested on these boards). It started to look all the same after awhile so we turned around and came back. We then continued on down to Panalu'u Beach (the black sand beach with the big sea turtles)! That was really a beautiful place and yes, we did get to see one turtle. It rained off and on most of the day and we needed light jackets when we got out of the car at the volcano. DO NOT MISS the sailby of the lava flows. It truly was awesome!!! Maui (Day 1) - Got off the ship as soon as we could, got the shuttle to the rental car and drove over to Maalea Harbor in plenty of time for our 10:30am whale watch with Pacific Whale Foundation. Fabulous!!!! It rained for the first half of the cruise ( a fairly cold rain) but by the time we were headed back in, the sun was shining. We then went to the Maui Ocean Center (in the same parking/shopping area as PWF). Check out the dive shop in the shopping area - they sell discount tickets to Maui Ocean Center).. Hung out there for several hours then drove up the coastline to Kaanapali Beach and the Royal Lahaina Resort for their luau. What a great deal for the price (Daughter got in free with me paying a discounted price!). When we got back to the pier, all the parking spaces were taken - heed the no parking signs as there was an officer handing out tickets the next morning! We did eventually make a parking space! Day 2 - Drove up to Iao Valley - beautiful and serene in the morning - clouds rolling in over the needle made for some great pictures! Then drove down the coastline to Wailea and the beach. Started drizzling rain as soon as we got there (of course!). Toughed it out for awhile but it got too cold as the rain started coming down harder. Trekked back to the car, warmed up and went shopping! Drove back to the airport, turned in the car and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Kauai (Day 1) - Drove all the way around the north shore to Ke'e Beach. Stopped along the way at the Kiluaea Lighthouse and several beaches. Snorkeling was fabulous on Ke'e Beach and the scenery up against the Napali Coastline was beautiful! Paid to park overnight - very convenient to the ship and you could come and go from the parking lot as much as needed. Day 2 - got up before the sun and drove to Waimea Canyon. The sunrise in the canyon was awesome! It was so worth it! Really beautiful views. Was a little chilly until the sun was fully overhead. Drove back along the coastline and stopped at several beaches. Made it back to the ship in plenty of time before the 1pm sailaway. The sail along the Napali Coastline was made even better by the rainbow that followed us for a good long way! Debarkation was a breeze after we figured out that we could get off whenever we wanted to. It was somewhat confusing as they were announcing tag colors but no times were listed as to when the tag colors would be called. We just walked right off - no questions asked. We rented a car on Oahu and went to swim with the dolphins at Sea Life Park. That was totally awesome as we got a 2 for 1 deal - a momma dolphin and her 2 month old calf!!! Way cool. All in all, it was a good trip - a floating hotel amidst some of the most beautiful islands ever!