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This is my 6th cruise, and 2nd on NCL. We previously took them to Alaska. To start, I would like to say that the American only crew did a great job. We have heard several stories about how they don't compare to the foreign port crew, but they really did well. Pride of America was similar to our last NCL ship, with most noticeable differences in the showrooms. Both aft showrooms were quite small and filled up quick, but then again this is a port intensive cruise. We had two inside cabins in the very front of the ship. For two people, they had nice room. Rocking seemed to be more noticeable up front. Acutally, I should say the bumps. We like the rocking when sleeping, but on a couple of nights the ship would occasionally hit some "bumps" that you can feel in our beds and made it hard to fall asleep.
Food on the ship was hit or miss. Most of it was good. We ate all our dinners in the main dining rooms, and breakfast in the buffet. The buffet is my least favorite spot, because of crowds, that weird cafeteria smell, and fact that most of my hot food cools off by the time I get to my table. My wife loved the fresh fruit and pineapple, though. The formal dining room was generally good, although plain in it's offerings. I pine for food on the cruises my family took me on in the 80's on RCCL, where it was exotic (Baked Alaska, Flaming Bamalu, Frogs Legs!) and dining was much more of an experience (waiter performances, parades, etc). I'm not sure if RCCL is that way anymore, but I would love to go on ship that still does it that way. I do appreciate the free style dining on busy mornings though, and the poolside grill was surprisingly good with tasty hot dogs, burgers, and fries.
The only real honest to goodness knock I have against Pride of America was they seemed to turn a blind eye to some cabins in our hallway that reeked of smoking guests. You would think the housekeeper would report them, since it is non-smoking ship, but it didn't seem like it. Feel bad for whoever gets those rooms next.
Two other bright spots to point out - Roberts of Hawaii and Sea Hawaii Rafting of Kona. Roberts was great to work with for aiport to pier transportation, and seemed to have great deals on excursions, even though we didn't do those. Sea Hawaii Rafting of Kona was by far our favorite excursion.
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