This review is about our return to cruising and our experience on this 4th cruise week since the Covid shutdown 2 years ago. We cruised Norwegian 2/20 just before shutdown, so having returned this morning 5/7/22 from Norwegian's Pride of America (Hawaiian) cruise and cruisetour. Here's what we experienced and we will refer to this post-Covid experience onboard and not life about the ship itself.

My wife and I are in our mid/late 60s, healthy, and have taken 16 cruises, this our 6th with Norwegian. Fully vaccinated, we were booster vaccinated over 5 months ago, so 2 weeks before leaving we took our 2nd booster shots for maximum protection. My wife has 4 Pfizer shots and I'm the twice boosted Moderna guy.We have not ever had Covid as we know. All cruisers had to be "Fully Vaccinated" (2 shots) and prior to boarding, a negative 15 minute nasal swab test (for us, administered by Inspire Diagnostics, the NCLs people) had to show a negative test or you couldn't board, even if asymptomatic. Unvaccinated kids were tested too, same rules, but they didn't wear masks onboard. There were a dozen kids on a 50% capacity cruise. Attendance, not announced, would be ~1000 cruisers.

All ship staff were required to be fully vaccinated and masked, and almost all of the guests were unmasked. Social distancing was not really attainable, as elevators were packed after shows and unmasked guests sat next to each other in the theater. I felt at ease though, as did almost everyone else with this vaccination status. My wife and I took out the $700-ish insurance for our cruise as we had the 3 day pre-cruise tour. Without that, had we gotten sick in the 3 days prior to the cruise on a tour we would have been denied boarding and lost all of our cruise fare. Norwegian would have isolated us ashore for 5 days in a hotel, then send us home. I'm glad it didn't happen, but that's what insurance is for. Insurance perks were enhanced throuout the cruise if needed. Look online. and use the NCL insurance which can still be added after you book the cruise. Read more