Review of NCL America's Pride of Aloha Sailing Date July 11, 2004
Our experience with NCL America began last July when we booked our cruise for the new Pride of America. We were very pleased with the new ship and our cabin selection (Cat. BA, 11524). As everyone knows, and beyond anyone's control, the ship encountered a terrible storm while being built. NCL America had a tough time getting everyone rebooked on the older ship, now the Pride of Aloha. We were downgraded into a lower category as well as many others. Since the ship was fully booked NCL America didn't believe they needed to compensate for the downgrades. (A select few did receive credits.) My travel agent (Costco) and I went around with them for some type of compensation for the inconvenience. (A simple $50 onboard credit would have made me feel better.) They simply had the attitude that they didn't have to do anything!
OK time for the ship review, I will attempt to be very objective to point out the positives and negatives. First of all, this cruise should be viewed as TRANSPORTATION BETWEEN THE ISLANDS OF HAWAII. This cruise is NOT, or certainly wasn't for us the "cruise experience" we have had with our last 3 cruises on RCCL and Carnival (which were all magnificent!). If you go into this cruise with the idea that you are going to enjoy the beauty of Hawaii you will have a GREAT TIME. If you go into this cruise with expectations from other cruises (great food, personalized service, no hassles etc) you will be very disappointed! Realizing that our cruise was the second voyage, I have tried to take out the idea that it's new and will change when the kinks are worked out. I think some things will change over time, such as food, but I'm not sure the "attitude" of NCL America will change. They were very short on staff (except in revenue producing areas, i.e. pictures) which was very noticeable.