We sailed on Pride of America on April 17, 2010. My wife and I had literally just been married the night before in NYC and our flight got in on time at 4:30pm on the Saturday that the ship sailed. I had never been on a cruise ship but had been to Oahu as a teenager about 15 years earlier. She had never been to Hawaii, but had taken a cruise as a teenager and hated it, but wasn't about to turn down the gift of a honeymoon. We both ended up loving this trip.

We cut it pretty close getting on the ship. We took a cab from the airport to the docks and checked in around 5:30pm and there was literally no line. Moreover, I had totally forgotten our boarding documents back in NY. It wasn't a problem at all as they just needed to see our drivers' licenses. We were on our stateroom's balcony by 5:45pm where we pretty much crashed until the next morning.

One warning. Our bags took their time finding their way to the room. At around 8:30pm I went looking for them. At security, there was a long line of angry men who had placed liquor in their checked baggage. Apparently, and I did not know this, you cannot bring alcohol on an NCL cruise. Unopened bottles were kept by security to be returned the night before disembarkation. Opened bottles (and there were quite a few where only a sip had been taken) were thrown out. Read more