My husband & I recently returned from a NCL Pride of America cruise. We sailed from Honolulu on 9/5/09 to 9/12/09. We loved it. The scenery was spectacular. The tours were well run. The ship met our expectations: it was immaculate, service was perfect, and the food was plentiful.

Read on if you want more particulars. We flew into Honolulu 2 days before embarkation. We stayed at the Marriott in Waikiki Beach. If you booked this hotel with NCL, you could pre-register for the cruise and not have to wait on a line to board the ship. We did not book through NCL. We spent Friday touring Pearl Harbor. Saturday, we arrived at the ship's pier at noon. We waited on lines, chatting with people while we waited. After boarding by around 1:30, we ate lunch and then explored the ship, going from deck to deck while we waited for our cabin to be ready. Our cabin was on the 9th deck toward the middle of the ship. It had a balcony which we enjoyed using- for scenery watching, reading, and drying our bathing suits.

Our cabin was small, but certainly adequate. We never felt as if we lacked anything. We didn't need a hanging toiletry case (which we did bring with us). There was enough space to store whatever we brought. The bathroom counter held our lotions and toothpaste. There was a shelf just beneath it. The shower was small, but had 3 corner spaces for our soap, shampoo and conditioner. The shower had dispensers filled with liquid soap and shampoo. We brought our own soap and shampoo. NCL provided a shower cap, moisturizer and shoe mitt. Read more