Pride of America Review
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This was my first cruise so have nothing to compare with but from start to finish I could not fault NCL. Pre cruise I found the website a great source of information, I pre booked speciality restaurants online before leaving home, I had free specialty dining package.
Embarkation was easy and quick we arrived at approx 15.30 having had plans in honolulu in the morning. no queue at all, luggage was taken from us and we checked in, credit card was swiped and room keys allocated. Our room was ready by the time we got on board so we went and dropped our hand baggage off and freshen up, room was what I had expected we were in stateroom 10524 (large balcony) the room had everything we needed as we didn't plan spending much time it in, Why would you in Hawaii ???? Room was clean with plenty of storage for a couple who were travelling from the UK for 3 weeks. Bathroom was functional again not sure what people expect. We realised that the plug in the sink was stuck down so we had a wander round the ship via guest services to report it, when we returned to our cabin after a few cocktails it had been fixed and luggage had been delivered. Later on in the week we had a leak from our toilet fresh water thankfully, one phone call to guest services and within 10 minutes maintenance had arrived checked it left for 5 minutes and returned with a part and fixed it, we went out for the day on our return we had a phone message from guest services to ensure all was well.
We dined in most of the restaurants we had breakfast in the Aloha cafe every morning just because it was on the same floor as our room, we never had an issue with seating, good choice of food from cooked breakfast to continental, cereals and pastries. My only issue was I couldn't find english breakfast tea bags only de-caf (I should've listening to my mother and took my own) its a british thing !! As we had the ultimate dining package we ate in all but the french restaurant. Our favourite being the tappenyaki restaurant we ate with 6 other people which was nice to meet other people. We tended to have drinks at John Adams bar near guest services, the girls who worked the bar were always smiling and happy. We never met any staff who weren't pleasant, we said hello to everyone and they all acknowledged us.
Cabin Review
Large Balcony
Cabin was as expected, large bed, sofa bed. Plenty of storage for a couple who were travelling for 3 weeks. Suitcases and golf clubs stored under the bed with no trouble. Balcony had table and 2 chairs. Room was clean and well organised. Bathroom was adequate, again had enough storage. Shower was compact but more than enough room to wash easily.
Port Reviews
Kona (Kailua Bay)
We just decided to have a day on the beach next to the tender port, we hired chairs and an umbrella. Within walking distance was Kona brewery, restaurants, starbucks and some shops. Everything we needed really
Maui
Hired a car for 2 days, I drove the road to Hana pretty scenery and not the worst road I had ever driven on, I'm from England and am used to winding country lanes that is until we reached Hana and the sat nav told us about Lindbergh's grave so we thought why not carry on. Well the road became an almost single track dirt lane with jeeps insisting on flying round the corners in the middle of the road, most of these were tourists not locals. It was certainly an experience that I will probably only do once !!
Only slight problem encountered was until recently cruise passengers were able to leave hire cars on the car park at the port but we were told this is no longer possible so we had to park the car on the airport car park and walk back to the car hire office to pick up the shuttle bus, however due to an early start on the 2nd day in Maui we had to get a taxi to the airport to pick up the car. Overnight car park was $13.00
Hilo
Self drove to Akaka falls quick walk and got some amazing photos. Then drove to Volcanos national park which was really interesting, walked through Thurston Lava tube and the volcano floor. We drove to the top of the volcano which is currently active we didn't actually see any lava but lots of smoke, there are lots of active steam vents. We had lunch in the restaurant at the summit, food was fantastic with great views of the volcano.
Kauai
This was our favourite island, less commercial. We basically spent the 2 days driving around the island looking at sites. We visited the Kauai plantation railway and Koloa rum tasting. Wailua Falls was beautiful the parking lot is very small. Some lovely quiet beaches