Pride of America Review

4.5 / 5.0
2,365 reviews

Hawaii cruise - Car Rentals - Do it Yourself !

Review for Hawaii Cruise on Pride of America
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devonmax123
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Oct 2009
Cabin: Balcony

Cruise date Oct.31, 2009, 2 nights pre-cruise in Honolulu. The Friday before the cruise, we went to the USS Arizona/ Pearl Harbor monument. Put in USS Arizona on GPS, not Pearl Harbor. It was free, but ticket times are assigned. There is a 23 minute movie and then a Navy ferry will take you to the monument for about 20 minutes where you have the time to walk through. Now on to the cruise... We called our cell phone provider (ALLTEL) and the cell had great signal throughout Hawaii. I'm unsure if we were roaming. We also used our wireless connect card in all ports for internet access (we brought a laptop)and it worked without a hitch in the cabin until we were too far offshore. - Earliest check in 12:00noon...Your cabins will not be ready earlier than 2 or 3 pm, so do not bother to check in early. You have to stay in public areas until they clear deck by deck when cabins are ready. Most cabins are ready by 3pm. Pride of America docks at Pier 2 (521 Ala Moana Blvd.)(Not Pier 4 where the Aloha Tower/shopping complex is). Taking taxi from Honolulu airport will cost you about $25-27. Taxi from cruise port to Waikiki also cost about $25. We did car rentals in all ports except Kona. Rental Car Info.... Maui- shuttle bus to all car rentals at cruise port (you do not have to call or do any prior arrangement for pick up). Just outside the cruise terminal at Kalului..they run shuttles like airports do, pick up car at Kalului Airport. we did Alamo. There were Avis, Hertz, Budget etc. Upon returning your car, they will bring you back to cruise port. Free shuttle. We rented the car in the morning and returned it at the end of the day since we did Haleakala Crater Sunrise tour from NCL (only tour we did on this cruise) which started at 3:45am, back to ship little after 9am..wear WARM clothing, and it is Worth It...we were given coffee and danish on the bus. Hilo - we rented car from Budget. Same as in Maui, free shuttles from all car rentals waiting for you just outside the cruise terminal and take you back to cruise upon car return. We drove to Volcanoes National Park..take less than an hour drive..bring rain gear and warm clothing...the weather changes rapidly. You will NOT be walking on hot lava, thats done at after 5pm at where thelava flows into ocean, cruise leave at 5:30pm. You will see smoking crater, lava tube etc, plenty of park rangers will eagerly talk about it at Visitor center there. There are 2 tours led by park rangers (one is 45 minutes and the other 1 hour) that are scattered throughout the day, you will be walking on a paved path and they will talk about fauna/ flora, etc. Kona -we reserved car with Dollar but did not pick it up. Unless you have specific things you plan to do, you do not need car, tender port, lots of shops you can walk around in Kona. Mostly for water sports. Dollar and Enterprise car rentals are located at Hotel by the tender port but they close at noon and suppose to drop off the key in key drop which we were not comfortable with. We saw Hertz Shuttle bus there at port. Kaua'i- we rented it from Budget, we park it over night (Cost $20, at about 1/2 block away from terminal entrance, you buy parking pass there,ask security people there and they will point it to you).Don't really see any good alternative legal parking spots). This is when most people do Luau. NCL will push hard for Luau Kalamaku - which NCL own. If you want to do that which start around 4-5pm, you may not want to keep car overnight. Free car rental shuttles from Airport stop at 7:00pm. We did Smith Family Luau, which you will need car, cost $78 (Luau Kalamaku cost $105,with train ride $115), locals recommend Smith Family and we do recommend it highly also. Drive to Waimea Canyon..take about an hour to get there (first lookout), highly recommend it, great view. Cruise ship leave Kaua'i at 2pm because it said along east and north of island to see NaPali (cliff)coast line, we had port side cabin and view were great from our balcony. It sailed toward the end of Napali coast and u-turn at northern tip of island and sail back to Oahu. Ship itself...American registry so it has to follow US laws. As frequent cruiser, the quality of service/entertainment is not the cruise standard. Limited food service hours,if you want to eat good meal in late afternoon or after 9pm, you won't find it. No big entertainment productions at all. Basically magic shows, small bands, staff shows etc...Service staff (for rooms and dining staff) are like what you expect at American restaurents and hotels (the staff fraternizes a lot with the passengers). Dressing up is rarity on this cruise, most eat at Aloha Cafe (it is a madhouse for breakfast, we ordered a continental room service breakfast for delivery at 6:30 a few times to avoid the scene), Skyline Dining where you can wear shorts (in the evening as well). We did reserve one night at Little Italy, it was not to my taste (and Italian food is generally my favorite). The gym is well appointed with many treadmills and several bikes, weight stations and appears to be clean. Post cruise there are options to take a tour. We again rented a car and drove to the east and north shore of Ohau, and stopped at the Dole plantation (overrated). Polynesian cultural center at the north shore opens after noon, so this may be an option if you have a late flight. There is an option to have 2 bags per person checked to the airport for $25 pp directly from the cruise if you are on American, Delta, and United.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin BC

cabin 7550 has a smaller balcony that is not private.

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