Just back from a Thanksgiving week on the Pride of America. Our family of four (2 boys ages 13 & 16) had a great time on what sure seems the best way to see Hawaii for the first time (although wife & I spent a week in Kauai many years ago). I have to admit I had some low expectations after reading many reviews/comments on these boards, but we returned satisfied with the trip.

I have to say I was pleased with the ship for being more subdued than I expected. Maybe I'm getting too old (45), but the mellow atmosphere on the pool deck on the arrival day was a welcome respite from the noise and chaos of our last Caribbean cruise. Although I thought an all-American theme would be sort of lame, it was well done and not over the top. I feel some of the other cruise ships have a tacky ultra-modern feel to them which doesn't appeal to me (kind of Las Vegas shopping mall'ish). Also welcome was the lack of endless shops on-board. Those they did have were very tucked away - in fact, I didn't even run into them until 2/3 of the way into the cruise. I think this would be an awesome cruise with lots of family as it seems you could find areas on the ship to all hang out together.

We felt the food was decent, about on a par with the last few cruises we've taken. The service seems to get slammed on these reviews, and I did have a few complaints (slow clearing of plates at times, entrEe arriving very shortly after appetizer/salad occasionally), but overall we were very satisfied. As far as freestyle dining (a first for us), I find it kind of silly that you can "eat anytime, anywhere," yet everyone scrambles to make reservations. We only reserved once for Little Italy and had to go a day later than we wanted since they were booked. At the Cadillac Diner, don't miss the brownie sundae (we skipped the Skyline dessert one night to go there instead), and do eat on the outside deck of Diner (we did breakfast) when there is a view, which is at Kona (very nice!), Kauai (if you can ignore the port stuff), and Maui. We didn't eat at any of the extra $ restaurants since our kid would not have cared (and...I'm cheap). Read more