I am a frequent cruiser, mostly on Royal Caribbean, Disney or Princess, but with the options to see the Hawaiian Islands few and far between, NCL was the option we chose. The cruise itinerary offered on the Pride of America is very good. It is nice being in port for 2 days at a time as we were in Maui and Kauai. This allowed for a great full day of touring without worrying about getting back before the ship sails. We rented a car in each port and were able to see almost everything that we wanted to in each port. The ship offers a good selection of excursions, but most of the folks we talked with were disappointed in a lot of the excursions. We only took one excursion the entire cruise and that was in Kona. It was a relaxing land and sea trip. The sea part of the excursion was on a glass bottom boat and was very nice. We saw so many spinner dolphins and really enjoyed the narration of the coral reefs, fish and sites along the trip. As far as the ship and the service (or lack of service) goes, we were VERY DISAPPOINTED! We had a balcony room, which was small as far as comparison with other cruise lines. We did not have any washcloths on the day of arrival and had to ask for them (even BEG for them on a couple of days) most every day. One day, the room attendant said "I don't have any and don't know when I will" which I thought was totally unacceptable. At that point, a towel and a pair of scissors was what I was looking for, lol! We didn't have any room service hangers in our room to put out for ordering breakfast and it took several attempts at asking for them to get them also. On most cruises that I have been on, we got to know the room attendant very well, but on this cruise, we couldn't even FIND the room attendant most of the time! The food on this ship is also in a much lower category than we have been used to on a cruise. The buffet in the Aloha Cafe didn't have very much of a selection and seemed to be the same day after day, as well as the quality wasn't great. The Skyline and Liberty dining rooms weren't up to the standard that we have seen on other lines. The quality just wasn't there as well as the selection. Several times what was on the menu wasn't available and there were substitutions. There are several dining options that require a surcharge, which was in the $25.00 range. The steakhouse was $25.00 plus an additional $10.00 if you wanted Lobster. The fitness center is one of the best areas on the ship. It is open 24/7 and had great equipment and trainers. I also went to the spa and was completely satisfied with the service I got there. The only drawback to the spa was that a 18% service charge was added to each service and then a tip was expected also that made each service quite pricey. A service charge of $12.00 per person/per day is automatically added to the bill. This is in lieu of tipping of the room attendant, waiter, etc. I felt like this took away from the service that was given. Usually, above average service is provided by room attendants, waiters, etc in order to EARN a good tip at the end of the cruise. With the problems that we had with the room attendant, I had part of the automatically added $12/day/person removed from the final bill. All in all, Pride of America is a nice ship, with less than average service and dining. It was a great way to see the Islands, but it could have been done with much more STYLE.