My wife and I returned yesterday from our first Hawaii cruise and first on the Pride of Aloha. I really appreciated the online reviews that everyone posted, negative and positive alike, they really helped me plan my trip well. Hopefully, my review can do the same thing for someone else. We had a wonderful time, but the pre-planning and reading reviews really helped enhance the experience.
We live in Maui and boarded the ship there, no air or hotel experience here. Embarkation was easy, they said to get there at 1:00 p.m., and we arrived at about 12:30 p.m. and found they had already started. We checked in about 10 minutes with lots of happy guests looking forward to their cruise experience. One note: we took a cab which I wouldn't do again. The cab was expensive ($60 from Wailea) and the cab driver was terse to put it politely. I would drive my car and park at the airport, then take the NCL shuttle to transfer between airport and port. Parking at the airport is only $7/day and the NCL shuttle is cheap at $10.
We got a cabin on the 8th floor with a porthole. I suppose this is better than an inside cabin, but I've never been on a cruise in an inside cabin, so I have nothing to compare to. We have been on two previous cruises with balconies. That is really the way to go. I thought I would save some money and get the porthole. The porthole was big (maybe 3' diameter), but it had saltwater spray on it and was not cleaned during the trip. I suppose I could have figured this out in advance, saltwater is a natural part of the ocean-going experience. The amount of time of spent gazing out of the porthole at the ocean was about 3 minutes in the entire week. The upgrade cost was going to add 50% to the price of our cruise, but I would do it next time. The cruise cost was a bargain (about $1000 each) if you consider that this about the cost of staying in Motel 6 in Hawaii for a week, with no other expenses considered like food, or car, or entertainment. If you have not priced hotels in Hawaii recently, you should do that, it will make you appreciate how cheap the cost of the cruise really is.