We chose this cruise for our first visit to Hawaii because its focus was the major islands: O'ahu, Maui, Hawaii, and Kuai. All movement between islands was overnight, leaving our days for exploring. Both embarkation and disembarkation went very smoothly. We were quickly and easily on and off the ship throughout the cruise experience. The Pride of America appeared clean and fresh, including our balcony cabin (#10080). The cabin was small but well-designed and comfortable for 2. Having the balcony was a great plus factor. Dining was outstanding. In the evening we ate mostly at the Skyline Dining Room, once at East Meets West. All of our meals were well-prepared and presented, tasty, high quality, and served competently.

Because of our touring schedule we ate most of our breakfasts at the Aloha Cafe which had the most choices we have ever seen - on land or sea.We could not have been more pleased with our dining experiences. We felt no need to eat any of our meals at the added-cost dining options. Our daily touring left us tired in the evenings so we only took in one of the shows, "O What A Night," the music of Frankie Valle and the Four Seasons, very well done. Our interactions with staff members was evenly outstanding.

We chose not to do any of the NCL shore excursions - they were far too expensive. We recommend looking into Roberts Hawaii Tours as a reasonable and excellent alternative. They have cruise ship oriented tours - they pick up at the dock and drop you off in plenty of time to get on the ship. We did five excellent tours at a total cost of $300. The same tours through NCL would easily cost 5 or 6 times that much. Comparing notes with travelers who used NCL, we found that we saw much the same things, but at incredibly lower cost. Read more