Pride of America Review

4.5 / 5.0
2,367 reviews

Pleasantly Surprised!!

Review for Hawaii Cruise on Pride of America
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joohea
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Jun 2008
Cabin: Balcony

Please enter your review. My wife and I recently completed a 7 day cruise on Pride of America. It was our 7th cruise, our 2nd on NCL. We also cruised Hawaii 5 years ago on the Norwegian Star. We arrived in Honolulu on Thursday, 2 nights before our cruise. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. What a place!!! It was outstanding from the minute we arrived.We stayed in the Rainbow Tower in room 2407 and we had a remarkable view of the beach and Diamondhead.If we ever go back we will definitely stay here again! After reading the reviews on the 3 ships Norwegian had in Hawaii the past few years we were a little nervous about what to expect. We had hoped that the reduction to 1 ship might have helped eliminate most of the problems and to our surprise it seems to have done the trick.The ship is only 3 years old and had just been refurbished about 1 month before our cruise.It was pretty clean but it also had the smallest cabins and showers I have ever experienced on a cruise ship.It is decorated throughout with patriotic pictures and art. We did not have any problem during embarkation due to the fact that we are Lattitudes members.We did not arrive on the ship until 3:30 pm and had to immediately report for the muster station drill. One problem we did have was the fact that NCL goofed up a fax I had sent in 2 months previous to celebrate our 30th anniversary and my wifes birthday. They were supposed to be a surprise for my wife and the cabin was to be decorated on the following Tuesday and Wednesday which were the actual dates. However when we arrived in our cabin on Saturday of embarkation the cakes and roses were already there and there were no decorations. Also we were given a coupon book with our documents prior to the cruise.When we went to redeem one of the coupons we were told that they were only good on NCL and not NCLA! Why give us the coupon book? On the bright side we did have an excellent cabin stewardess named Carmen.She took care of all our needs and was very pleasant and efficient.Also Renita and Brandy in the Liberty dining room and Dave in the Lazy J Steakhouse were truly exceptional! The food was good, not great except for the Lazy J which was exceptional.The buffet was your typical offerings and was kept full whenever we were there. The shows were not up to the usual standard expected on a cruise except for the Broadway show featuring Phantom of the Opera, etc. The magician was only so so and the comedian peaked early in the week and seemed to run out of material at a later show. 2 excursions not to miss if possible are the Haleakala Sunrise in Maui and the Napali Explorer in Kauai!You have to get up at 2:30 am to make the Haleakala Sunrise but it is worth it and the Napali coast is some of the most beautiful scenery you will ever se in your lifetime. We used the Easy Fly when disembarkation day came and it worked out very well. It is 25.00 a person but you don't have to worry about weight limits and with the extra charges for luggage now it evens out. We could leave anytime after 7:30 because we only had our carry ons and we were off the ship in 10 minutes. I would rate this cruise a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10 and I would definitely do it again. The overnights in Maui and Kauai make it worth it as well as the beauty of all the islands.Norwegian seems to be getting its act together. As one member of the crew told us "they took the best of the rest and put them on one ship." It seems like it's working!!!

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Balcony

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