This was our first NCL cruise. We were a little apprehensive about cruising with the Pride of America having read other reviews here. But it had an excellent itinerary, and is the only cruise line with its itinerary, which is why we booked it. We met a couple who had taken the same cruise the week before we did, and they said the dining room wait staff were unbelievably rude to them, service was dreadfully slow, etc. So we went prepared for the worst.

As it happened there was a big storm and it rained almost everyday of our cruise: waves were 25 feet high and winds 70 mph. Oahu had the power out all down the Leeward side and the roads blocked with downed trees for several days. Maui was flooded all along the Kihei and Lahaina shores, and the power was out there for days, too. Passengers were seasick, including my husband. They had dramamine or similar at the front desk, but no scopolamine patches. It seemed that no crewmember on the ship had heard of scope patches!

The captain refused to take us to one port (Kona) because of high winds. At Maui he docked in the morning as scheduled but during that afternoon there were high seas causing the ship to crash against the pier breaking lines. So just after 6 he put to sea leaving about 1/3 of the passengers ashore. Apparently from 6 until 8 p.m. there was pandemonium on the pier as more and more passengers returned to find the ship gone and no explanation. Finally, about 8 p.m. an NCL representative arrived at the pier and started getting things organized. They were eventually all put up in hotel rooms for the night, including my husband who was caught on shore when this happened. The ship stayed out to sea during the storm and put back in the next morning to pick up the passengers who had been stranded. Read more