Pride of America Review

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OUR BEST CRUISE EVER!

Review for Hawaii Cruise on Pride of America
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SANDYJABS
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Jun 2009
Cabin: Aft-Facing Large Balcony

Remember all reviews are subjective to the OP and other factors should be considered when reading any review - mainly for Hawaii is the time of year YOU the reader will be cruising and keeping in mind the month that I, the OP, cruised. This is our first cruise with NCL chosen for the itinerary, but not our first cruise (see previous cruises below). I will try to touch mainly on highlights.PRECRUISEWe flew in 2 days prior to our cruise. First Class was worth every penny extra (IMHO) We decided to stay at the Outrigger on the Reef so that we could renew our Wedding Vows (they offer this service for free) There is a photographer that is not employed by the Outrigger that took some wonderful photos of the ceremony and he offers them for $75. It was a great experience and our Partial Ocean View Room was great.  We ate at the Shorebird for Breakfast daily which was included with my rate.The first day we walked the beach and stumbled upon Dukes so we decided to eat there, yes I tried the Hula Pie, and then just walked back down the beach to our hotel. The Outrigger on the Reef has one of the largest beaches compared to the other resorts along the walk-some had no beach at all, just a seawall We were going to hike Diamond Head but I was exhausted from the 6 hour time difference. We did Germaines Luau Pre Cruise - it was a great experience and I liked the fact that they provide the transportation for you. The food was good and the show was too. The drinks are very strong and I got a little tipsy which is obvious in the videos we took where you can hear me Whooing the male dancers, (I have some videos posted on webshots)

EMBARKATION DAYWe took a taxi to the Pier and pretty much walked right onto the ship! We boarded around 11:45 am. We were greeted with Champange (sp?) Our cabin was not ready which was to be expected so we ate lunch at the Aloha Cafe and looked around the ship. I was very impressed with this ship. It is beautifully decorated. Our cabin was ready around 2:30pm and found our chocolate covered strawberries which come with the Romance Pkg. The cabin is a bit smaller than we are used to but we had plenty of storage space. The mini frig was very ice cold compared to Princess, and the Aft balcony was very impressive as well compared to our previous aft on Princess. DH walked the balcony to measure it, it was 9x12. We had Muster Drill at 4:30pm they take attendance. When we returned our luggage was delivered so we unpacked and I put my Door Deco up as I do every cruise.  it got a little wrinkled in the luggage. Sail away was awesome at night - we tried to get pics of the night lights of HNL but they did not come out. Maui Day 1

We were kind of going to wing it today. We rented from Avis for all 3 of our rentals. We never had to wait more than 5 minutes and basically had our car in less than 15 minutes every port. We were upgraded to a convertible Mustang so DH was happy. I wanted to visit Ka'anapali Beach and the Nakalele Blowhole. We finally made it to the blowhole and hiked down to it. It was not blowing very much but it was very cool to see it. We wore our flip flops which were not great for hiking the trail but not to hard either. DH and I commented that we should have wore our tennis shoes while a couple we met at the blowhole said they wished they had wore their flip flops because now their tennis shoes were soaked. After hearing this we were glad we wore our flip flops. We left the Blowhole and headed to Ka'anapali Beach. It was lunch time so we decided to park at the Whalers Village (tip from Cruise Critic) and eat lunch at the Hula Grill (they validated our parking for us so it was free). It was very good and the setting is right out on the beach. After lunch we hit the beach or more like it hit us! It was so windy that the sand from the beach was stinging our skin like a sandblaster. It was in our ears and anywhere else it could stick! DH went in the water while I did my thing in the sand. I was on a mission to write STILL MAUI'D in a heart in the sand on a beach in Maui. After mission accomplished we tried to catch some rays but the sand was brutal so we packed up and headed to Wal Mart We needed some shampoo and snacks, plus DH misunderstood me during packing and only packed one pair of dockers for dinner, while I packed an outfit for every night. He was like I thought this was Freestyle?? Maui Day 2

Cabin Review

Aft-Facing Large Balcony

Cabin B1

small cabin, ice cold mini fridge and A/C, great location, large balcony,

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