I approached this cruise with an open mind after reading early reviews. When I scheduled the cruise the intent was to sail on Pride of America. However due to "Mother Nature", Pride of Aloha was the alternative. Originally our party of 10 was scheduled to set sail on 8/8, but we were "bumped" due to a charter group. Even though our ship had changed and the date of sail, we were all still excited about the trip. I had sailed around the 4 major islands in 2001 on the SS Independence and loved it! I thought that NCL was offering a similar theme cruise and was hoping that some of the initial problems they had experienced would be smoothed out in a few weeks. Not soooo.
I do recommend the pre-cruise stay at the Wakiki Marriott in Honolulu. Due to that stay, our embarkation went very smoothly and helped our group to avoid the first of many lines. We no sooner boarded and we were hearing horror stories about the charter group who just left the ship. Some of the cabins were damaged and sprinkler systems gone awry made some cabins too wet to be used. We also were told that due to hostility towards the crew, a number of them had "abandoned " ship. Since I had read the reviews of prior weeks regarding how the ship was understaffed, this situation made matters even worse. I must mentioned that this young crew was extremely courteous, friendly and at times downright funny. When all else fails maintain your sense of humor and this crew did exceptionally well making the best out of a bad situation.
The problem seems to be NCLA's and how they set sail without adequately trained staff and insufficient numbers. This crew was overworked and gave their jobs their best effort. It was not uncommon for people to wait two or more hours to be seated in Crossings or the Palace. Once seated things usually went well. Because of the lines, the shows were poorly attended (and they were great - probably the high point of the cruise). The nightly lines lead to hostility and some short fuses. If you were seated near the restaurants entrance you could hear what the poor host/hostess had to endure.