Norwegian Sky Review

Pride of Aloha - Hawaii

Review for Hawaii Cruise on Norwegian Sky

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Sail Date: May 2007
Cabin: Inside

Greetings fellow cruisers...My wife and I decided to take the Pride of Aloha from Honolulu over Memorial Day week. Truly this was the most economical way to see the islands. Unfortunately, the previous reviews of this ship were right on. I mean really, how could 2/3rds of the member reviews be wrong???

Anyway, as you are aware, transfers from HNL to the cruise ship were fine. Embarkation was outstanding! To my surprise our room was ready. We took a quick look around and then proceeded upstairs to grab a bite to eat at the buffet. For the first few days, germ-x was required of every diner in order to eat. There were long lines because of this and the fact that they would not let you serve yourself. I will get to the food in a moment. So after our meal, we went back downstairs to happily find our luggage waiting outside the door. We decided to unpack and take a brief nap (a great tip from a previous review) because we were flying in from the east coast. TIP: take a power strip as there are limited outlets, and an alarm clock. Note, there is no iron in the room either. Our nap was really cut short because we had to endure through the mandatory muster drill. This was very unpleasant because the lifejackets smell awful and the deck where you have to line up on is in direct sunlight making it extremely hot. The pushy staff didn't help the situation either. The rest of the night was very relaxing as we decided to forgo the sailaway bbq and have dinner in the main dining room.

Ok, now onto the food. First of all, the ship boasts 2 main dining rooms and a buffet. Of the 2 main dining rooms 4 out of the 7 days, only one was operational for dinner. This caused long wait times of up to 45 minutes. TIP: if you insist upon eating in the main dining rooms either show up early or share a table. If you have a large party, I heard you could make a reservation in the free restaurants. We usually did breakfast in the outside buffet, because the inside always had long lines. Standard staples include eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, and biscuits and gravy. There was also a nice deli meat selection, plain fruits (canned pears, peaches, fruit cocktail items), and sometimes an omelet station. TIP: if you do eat at the outside buffet use the farthest one from the doors, as the lines will be shorter. If you want to eat breakfast in the dining rooms, the only difference is that you can order eggs benedict, smoked salmon, and eggs cooked to order. When we did lunch on the ship, we did the outside buffet again and just did the grilled items as they were quite tasty. Dinner is another story. One day we did the buffet for dinner and was very displeased with the quality and selection of the food. The steaks and fish were overcooked, and the chicken was barely cooked. I suggest the dining room for dinner, even if you must wait. The only benefit is the presentation of the food. The quality is not quite there. The service isn't that great either.

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