First off, let me say that if you've cruised on other lines, and are trying NCL's freestyle persona, then you may be greatly disappointed, but if your open minded enough for a change in venue, the Pride of Aloha gives you just that.

This was my wife's and I second cruise on the POAloha, first time being when this ship was the Norwegian Sky cruising Alaska. We were well aware of freestyle cruising, so for us it was great. Since we were celebrating our 25th anniversary we wanted to really do it right, so through a travel agent we booked first class air through NCL with Aloha airlines and a penthouse suite on the 9th floor Fjord deck room 9075, through the TA our friends had booked an inside cabin, rm 9076 next to us, but for whatever reasons NCL had decided without their input, to upgrade them to an outside balcony on the 10th floor and near the front of the ship, so this caused a major inconvenience for us until contacting NCL and the TA who finally got them on the same floor as us but still near the front in room 9020. so my suggestion is know what room you want before booking and let your TA or NCL know not to be upgraded if you've got friends you want close to your cabin.

My suggestions for booking your flight through NCL is not to do it, I think its best and probably a bit cheaper to book flights yourself. We had a direct first class flight through Aloha airlines from Sacramento CA to Kahalui Maui, which put us there at about 2 p.m. Friday, Our friends flew out of Sacto in coach seats at noon with a transfer through John Wayne/burbank airport on United airlines and didn't reach the ship until 9 p.m. that evening, thus doing it yourself or plan for an overnighter on Maui or Honolulu to ease the stresses of flight times. BTW NCL as of February 2007 will only be embarking/Disembarking the Pride of Aloha out of Honolulu, so keep that in mind if you start planning for the coming year. Read more