Pride of America Review

4.5 / 5.0
2,363 reviews

Best Cruise to see Hawaii

Review for Hawaii Cruise on Pride of America
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Chitown75
First Time Cruiser • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Oct 2009

My wife and I have been on a handful of cruises consisting of Princess, Carnival, RCCL, HAL and NCL. We chose a Hawaiian cruise because we have been to Hawaii three previous years, each time visiting a respective island for a week, and we felt that a cruise would allow us the perfect amount of time to do the remaining things we didn't have time for before on each island. Therefore, what was most important to us was the itinerary and the amount of time the ship was at each port. We chose NCL b/c they fit this criteria plus the price was the cheapest of all the cruise lines for a balcony AND we like the freestyle dining concept. We HIGHLY recommend spending a little more for a balcony on this type of cruise. It's completely worth it. First, let me start off by saying that the Pride of America is one of the LEAST impressive ships of NCL's fleet. It's obvious when you walk on the ship that it's not one of their finer vessels. But again, we didn't care b/c we had our balcony, a perfect itinerary, and freestyle dining which works perfect for us. We didn't spend any time on the ship except to eat, sleep, and shower. That's it. So as far as shows and activities on the ship go, I can't comment on any of that. Besides, who in the heck goes on a Hawaiian cruise to spend a lot of time on the ship anyway? That defeats the entire purpose for visiting the Hawaiian islands. I read one review that complained about lack of entertainment on the ship.....are you kidding? You are on cruise traveling around the Hawaiian Islands; get off the ship and explore.

EMBARKATION/DEBARKATION - We can't comment on this b/c we were one of the last to embark and one of the last to debark. We rolled the dice to save $300 on our flights from Chicago to arrive in Honolulu 1.5 hours before the ship set sail and we made it with some time to spare. As far as debarkation, we booked a hotel at the Waikiki Sunset the Saturday the cruise ended, so we were in no hurry to leave the ship.

DINING - I've read many other reviews and understand the pros and cons of freestyle dining. Freestyle cruising to us is awesome b/c we like to eat whenever we want and due to wearing suits everyday to our respective jobs, don't want to bring formal clothes or dress formal in order to eat dinner most nights. I see people complaining that why should they pay a surcharge to eat in the specialty restaurants in order to get great food, but here is my response: The price of an NCL Hawaiian Cruise is almost ALWAYS so much cheaper than any other cruise line.....so SO WHAT if you have to pay a few more bucks to eat at a specialty restaurant. You do the math. Winner: NCL. And the other restaurants on the ship aren't that bad anyway so who cares. If you're going on an NCL Hawaiian Cruise for a special dining experience, you've come to the wrong ship. You might want to go elsewhere. With that being said, unless your mother had a hard time keeping food in your mouth you when you were a kid, the food was adequate to above average and you shouldn't be disappointed if you keep your expectations low for this. We felt that Little Italy was O.K., Skyline and Liberty were above average, and Cadillac Diner was surprisingly very good. Jefferson Bistro was excellent b/c it was a specialty restaurant. We didn't go to any other specialty restaurant. For breakfast, it's a madhouse to eat at the buffet (kind of like the movie Titanic when everybody is running around in chaos b/c the ship is sinking....well, this is what the buffet is like), but here's a secret. There is a smaller section outside with seats and food, away from the crowd, that you can enjoy breakfast in a less chaotic setting.

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