Hawaii Cruise Reviews

Pros:1. Good itinerary in Hawaii. 2. Good food with an exception of soups. Ramen soup is good though. 3. Mostly good shows. 4. Great Assistant Cruise Director John, 5. Some excellent people in the waiting and cooking staff: Jr Waitress Elizaveta Agarok, Asst. Cook Nico in International Cafe (this cafe is a great idea), Jr. Waitress Julia in the nearby bar, Jeffrey and some other guys in Horizon. All of them are genuinely friendly and very helpful. 6, Excellent crew show - like practically all shows ran by John. 7. Excellent show by Uber Rossi and some others. 8. Excellent morning exercise by the pool given by this young girl from Cruise Dir staff. 9. Good overall cleanness,

Cons: 1. Unfriendly and not accommodating stateroom steward Manuel, his cleaning job way below mediocre. 2. Virtually no supervision of Asst waiters in Horizon so the good ones work hard and the bad ones barely do anything. 3. Some performing guests mediocre or below, the hypnotist being the worst,. 4. Very bad soups - all of them taste the same. Could you actually cook them rather then just throw these soup cubes in the boiling water? 5. Why do you include Ensenada in the itinerary? There is nothing to see or watch there; total waste of time. 6. Most of the people in the Customer Service need some more experience. But this, I guess, will be coming. They are good guys and girls.

We liked all the islands and it is great way to see them all. Like the choice of different restaurants on board. Entertainment was good. Crew was friendly. 

Cruise has everything you need...stay on the ship, go on excursions, or rent a car. Wide variety of entertainment and activities.  Pool area overcrowded at key times/events, but great poolside parties and music. Would want to do this again, just for the views and cruise ship fun! STAFF WERE WONDERFUL, from housekeeping to cruise/event coordinators to the entertainment and cultural staff....LOVED THE CLEANLINESS!   Loved the 'freestyle' cruising...not interested in dress up nights, loved having the choice.

I have not had more fun on a cruise than the one I just had touring the Hawaiian Islands.  Not only the beauty of the islands, but the cruise staff made all the difference.  Most of the crew members were very outgoing and called me by name after the first visit.  I enjoyed seeing and meeting the Hotel Director and 2nd Officer.  They were both friendly and welcoming.  I would definitely do this cruise again!

Our trip started off with a bad flight situation on United. Delay of 7 hours in Houston. We arrived in Hawaii 930 pm instead of 230 pm as planned, No lei greeting...My husband missed his am tour to Pearl Harbour, had to take a shorter excursion. Marriott Hotel was great, had a great deluxe ocean view room. I did a private tour DONE with Adam great day of seeing the Island one on one, beaches, etc.The cruise was good. You see all the Islands, see where you would like to go back to. Maui and Kaui are the two I want to revisit. Do the tour the road to Hana, we did the helicopter on Sunshine Helicopters over Kaui with Capt. Bogart, excellent..great day.lei making on the ship was fun, the shows at night were good.We ate in the Cadillac diner one day, the Brazilian steak house one night all which was good. After a 5 star Mediterranean  Cruise it is hard to rate this cruise, Ship was clean, we had a 8th floor balcony cabin, bathroom was small, shower small otherwise ok.

A real concern while cruising is cleanliness to me.  Our cabin was dirty when we checked in.  An old dried up lei was on the patio table and the table was full of cup rings and splatters.  Chairs were dirty.  The bed was nicely made, but the bathroom had not been touched except for the clean towels.  Called our steward and she said she was leaving for vacation but would clean our room.  That night the supervisor came to our cabin and asked if the room was clean.  We thanked him for his concern.  Upon returning to our room the second day the bathroom had not been cleaned.  One would think our room would have been spotless as we had complained about it on the first day.  Called the supervisor who inspected the bathroom and pointed out some areas of concern that I had overlooked.  Our room was fine for the rest of the trip.  Ate breakfast only at the buffet and found the service very poor.  Coffee urns were broken, orange juice dispensers constantly empty.  Once we noticed that the bottom of one dispenser was overflowing and notified a staff member who told us to go tell this other person he pointed to.  well we did tell that person who did not even acknowledge us, just started fixing the dispenser.  The rest of the trip I kept thinking if the ordinary areas that people see were not being maintained, what was going on in the kitchens and the air distribution?  Sounds odd, but I believe that if the external areas are neglected, the culture of that ship is compromised.  Therefore, we will never take a Norwegian Cruise again.  This was my second NCL trip and I am very surprised at the Pride of America's lack of leadership.

The cruise staff was very good, excellent wait staff, good shows, delicious food, beautiful scenery.  Wasn't able to stop at Kauai due to strong winds, but that's Mother Nature.  Otherwise all the shore excursions to Oahu, Hilo and Maui are just wonderful.  .  Can't ask for more,  Go.

We had a wonderful time on the cruise. Princess does a great job with the food especially. The ship was clean and modern and the crew was competent and friendly. The lectures were really great especially Dr. Sidney.

 The veal chop I had in Sabatini's was one of the best I have ever had.

our trip on the pride of america was just as we expected the staff was great the food was ok the shows were good but short.The room is very small but we only used it for sleeping. The stops were where we wanted to go to and plenty of things to do ashore.

Dining room service was slow and our waiter was not very friendly. The atrium always smelled of cigarette smoke from the casino. There was water leaking from the ceilings and the lights kept dimming in the dining room.  Floor tiles were loose in the food court. Our mattress needed to be replaced. 

On the positive side, the music and entertainment was the best I have seen on any cruise. The food in the food court was as good as any other cruise ship we have taken. The ship was on time at every port. The passengers were very elderly and so I don't recommend this cruise for younger couples.

Our 7 day Pride of America cruise was brilliant.  It gave us the chance to really explore 3 of the islands with a great itinerary.  The ship stayed in port for 2 days on Maui and Kauai, which gave us a chance to really see a variety of places.  On the Big Island, the boat was in port on the east side for one night, Hilo, and the west side for one night, Kona.  This too allowed for considerable exploration.  The food, entertainment and ship's crew were all brilliant and made for a relaxed and pleasant time when on the ship.  The ship has a variety of restaurants, if one wishes to experiment.  We stayed with the main dining halls which served a variety of excellent dishes.  Both the boarding process and the exit process were amazingly efficient, better than any cruise we had done before.  The entertainment, particularly the evening shows, was superb.  A quartet of young men did a Jersey Boys show that was really top notch.  Do be aware that the boat does not come into the port of Kona so that passengers are "tendered" to the shore on small boats.  For this one needs to get a ticket, and by the time we got to the ticket's our tendering time was assigned as much later than we wanted.  We were able to go standby and get off the boat at an earlier time, so this was a minor frustration only.  There is a large variety of shore excursions available, but it is also very easy to make one's own way to sites if one chooses.  Really, this was about a relaxing a vacation as one can imagine in what truly is a paradise.

The Pride of America offers a unique cruise tour of five Hawaiian islands- ideal for a first time visit, but the cruise experience itself left much to be desired. As we indicated in another review, the lack of attention to detail on board points to an issue with the leadership. 

food in the main dining rooms was less than expected.. All steaks were tough.  two single beds were put together to make a king . there  was a large ridge down the middle.

Trying to put this in the best light.  The islands are delightful, our excursions were great.  The ship was okay.  Okay as in - we didn't sink.  We had 3 balcony rooms (3 couples) - you'd think they were nice, right?  Nope... the staterooms were Tiny with a capital T.  Yeah, there was a bed and yeah, there was a balcony.  The bathroom was so small that you could sit on the toilet and brush your teeth.  The shower was a cube about 2'x2'.  It was impossible to lean over to wash your feet without bumping your head.  And if you want a bar of soap instead of the dispensers hanging on the wall (shower and sink) you must buy one.  We have sailed Princess, Disney, and Carnival, always getting a balcony stateroom and always having stellar service. Other lines had larger balcony staterooms than this (by far) and all were cheaper - we paid out the nose for these small rooms.  Turns out a Disney cruise to Hawaii is just as cheap and it's longer with better food and bigger staterooms.

And speaking of food, the buffet was an abomination.  Their goal, IMHO, was to drive you to the restaurants, mainly the ones where you have to pay extra. We enjoyed the Cadillac Diner which is a free option. There was a hamburger "stand-alone" on deck 12 that was pretty good but it closed at 6:00 PM.  REALLY?  What good does that do?  We all felt that the food at the buffet was recycled from the previous day. At least it all tasted the same. The dining room (free dining) service was slow and the choices were few.

Our steward was nice but we never saw him except the last night when he came by and made sure we saw him at work - in hopes of a tip beyond the pre-paid.  The crew was quite friendly.overall, but due to the food (or lack thereof) and the miniscule staterooms, we would never go back on this cruise.  After all, I can have bad food and small rooms at home.

Ports of call were great, but the ship was greatly understaffed.  Tables in buffet were not cleared promptly.  Half and half containers near coffee urn were frequently empty. Spills were not cleaned promptly. No staff around to help.

We had little to no contact with room steward.

In the restaurant we ordered  medium to well done steaks - they were raw in parts - not even rare. Very limited menue in restaurants.  

In the smoking area ashtrays were seldom emptied,  If you wanted a drink, you had to go to bar and get it yourself.  They did have a coffee set up in the early am (a nice touch), but the coffee was cold to warm - no where near hot. 

Our last excursion which was to take us to the airport was horrible.  The longest amount of time off the bus (one hour) brought us to the Dole Plantation - a massive souvenir tourist trap. We were dumped at the airport 6 hours before flight time. For 129 dollars a person (we had a party of four) this was a complete waste.

All of the staff on the ship and in booking the cruise were very helpful and pleasant. The activities on the ship were pretty much anything you want to do or hear was there, so no way could you ever say there is nothing to do. A Big Thanks

                                                                  Gary

best cruise ever and we have been on 10 so far

food vary good

service excellent

activities great

tours good

room Stewart excellent

looking  forward to repeating in the near future

I felt the food was not that good. It was the same almost every single day especially breakfast. The water tasted really bad. My husband thinks it was because the ice machine wasn't clean.

Our room steward didn't clean very good.

The islands were great. The entertainment was pretty good.

I've been on Princess cruises before and really liked them, but disappointed with this one.

Had two shore excursions canceled including a Luau in Maui had always wanted to go to one. Also another excursion to Lava areas canceled. Another day shortened so could not plan much of a shore trip.

Ship was 5 hrs late getting there which caused us to miss our first tour.

Very little daytime entertainment for 5 days on the sea and the food was not up to what I have been used to having on other cruises.

Poor weather and rumored mechanical problems resulted in a very late arrival at the first port of call.  This affected all our following ports of call and we didn't even get to visit Maui.  We only got to do 2 of the 5 shore excursions we had booked. The cruise line did reimburse us for the missed excursions (we had booked these through Carnival) and they also gave a $200 credit to all the passengers.   I know the weather is out of our control, but I suspect the mechanical problems may have played a role in the delays we experienced. 

Our cabin was nice and the food was ok.  The coffee was terrible and we had to pay for a semi-decent cup of coffee.  I should add the shows in the evening were excellent and the music was really good.  Unfortunately we heard that the cruise line is getting rid of the live music. That will be a real shame and is one more reason we would probably not go on another cruise.