We had a fabulous time on the Pride of America for our 20th Anniversary. Hawaii is breathtaking! After the 10 hour flight from Atlanta, we breezed through check-in in Honolulu and our room was ready when we boarded. The typical room with a great balcony. My husband bought the anniversary package so we had chocolate dipped strawberries and champagne for embarkation! Very romantic.

The FOOD: First let me say that if I do not have to cook my meals and they are served to me, I am usually satisfied. However, we were not overwhelmed by the quality of the food and it bothered us to pay extra to eat in restaurants that offered the kind of food we were used to eating in the main dining room on all our other cruises. But, we ate our first dinner at the Steak House because there was a 2 for 1 special the first night. We had dinner Monday night in the Liberty Dining room, it is so beautiful, they are not very organized but the food was fine. The Cadillac Diner is very neat and the burgers are awesome. The Italian food was good and there was no extra charge, just have to make reservations. Since we had the Anniversary Pkg we ate in the Jefferson Bistro on Tuesday, formal night. We could choose any bottle of wine from the wine list. Not a wine drinker but it was fun to try it. The service was fancy and they bring a cake and sing to your table. The Aloha cafe had anything you could imagine, the food there was always good and we never had to wait but there were alot of people everywhere. So as for the Freestyle, we like the old fashioned way of dining better.

Excursions: We booked two through Roberts, saved lots of $ and they were excellent. We took the Volcano National Park tour in Hilo and my husband loved it! It was very fascinating, our tour guide was great! In Maui, we rented a car and kept it over night. The parking could have been a problem but we lucked up and found someone leaving. Otherwise, we would have had to park at the airport and shuttle back to the port. We enjoyed riding in our Jeep, but we should have done more research on what to see. We could have made better use of our time. I booked a Luau in Lahaina at THE FEAST AT LELE, it was GREAT. I recommend it. We were on the beach, the ocean was the backdrop for the dancers. We received a beautiful lei as we arrived along with a mai tai, then we were seated at a table for two on the front row! There were only about 75-80 people there, we had our picture taken, we were served about 6 courses of excellent and interesting food, and entertained between each course. The dancers were EXCELLENT. The second day in Maui, we rode part way to Hana and hiked in to see the Twin Falls, it was beautiful, folks were swimming but it was too cooooold. We booked the Captain Zodiac snorkel tour through the ship in Kona, it was great, we loved it, the guides were wonderful. I wonder if we could have booked that on our own and saved some money too. Kauai, the first day we took the Waimaea Canyon tour through Roberts, it was a sight to see! We ate lunch at Bubba Gumps, that was fun. The second day, we took the free shuttle to Hilo Hatties, I got the Aloha heart charm from Maui Divers jewelers. Be sure to see it, I love it! Then we took the beach shuttle to Anchor Cove and swam in the ocean by the Marriott. It was warm and wonderful. I could have stayed longer, but we had to be back on board by 1:30 p.m. The ship cruised by the Na Pali coast! God gave us the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen, it ended up being a double rainbow from the clouds until it touched the ocean. It was a glorious sight to behold, what a way to end our trip! Read more