Pride of America Review

A Honeymoon to Remember!

Review for Hawaii Cruise on Pride of America
User Avatar
fanman989
2-5 Cruises • Age 30s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
Service

Additional details

Sail Date: May 2015
Cabin: Family Balcony

My wife and I recently returned from our cruise on the POA...the negative reviews had me a little worried at first, but we experienced nothing but first class service, food, and entertainment! I booked NCL's bundle package, which included airfare, 2 nights in Honolulu at the Marriott Waikiki, all transfers from the airport to hotel, hotel to port, port to airport, complimentary dining in 3 specialty restaurants, 20 photos, choc. strawberries in the room when we boarded, and since it was our honeymoon, one of those free celebration cakes.

Pre-Cruise in Waikiki: The Marriott hotel on Waikiki beach is gorgeous. Since we were with the group rate for the cruise with around 400 other passengers at the hotel, I was shocked when I opened the hotel room door to see a spectacular, beach facing balcony room; I figured we would have a "city view" or a view of an HVAC unit or something. The view was nothing short of stunning. Check in was a breeze since we used NCL's office, and not the main hotel registration desk. As a nice little perk we got some coupons for free mai tais and morning coffee. The first evening we went to a luau at the Hilton Hawaiian Village...a bit touristy but definitely an awesome show! The second day in Hawaii, we rented a car from the Marriott's in house reservation desk (Hertz) and drove to the Dole Pineapple Plantation, then up to the North Shore, and around the island all the way back to Diamondhead. A spectacular drive. If you can get out of Waikiki and have the time to do it, I would recommend it! It is very congested and busy; nothing like the rest of the island! That evening, we went to The Modern Waikiki and had dinner at Morimoto...fantastic!

Embarkation: We woke up at about 5:30 am, and watched from the balcony as the POA appeared on the horizon and sailed into port. I booked the Pearl Harbor Embarkation tour through NCL for the morning. We were picked up by bus at 6:45 am...a big plus of this was since we were on the tour, we were instructed to leave our luggage in our hotel room to be taken care of by NCL (the next time I saw it was when it was delivered to our room). The bus took us to the Pearl Harbor monument, where we had plenty of time to peruse the onsite museums and artifacts. We then boarded the Navy launch out to the Arizona monument. Upon returning to the visitor center, we were back on the bus and headed for the National Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl), followed by a drive through downtown Honolulu to the state legislature building and the King Kamehameha statue on the way to the port. We arrived at the port at 11:30, were ushered into a priority check in line because of the tour, and by 11:50 my wife and I were in the Aloha Cafe eating lunch. Booking the tour was a great decision and it was so easy to board.

Cabin Review

Family Balcony

Cabin B2
1 Helpful Vote
previous reviewnext review

Find a Pride of America Cruise from $899

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.