Hawaii Cruise Reviews

I expected to do all the five Island but the ship did only four Island than five and I had big plan for Maui but the ship change the plan for some reason that not acceptable because the said the weather is bad the first day they are suppose to go to Maui they go to Hilo than suppose to go Maui they go to Honolulu that was ok but after 3th day the told us we can not go to Maui we go to KONA the stop at 1:00 pm til 4:00 pm  it take one more than one hour to get off and get in  that day was waste time than the said the will stop next day at Kona again at end they suppose to stop at ENSENADA,MEXICO at 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm they stop at 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm time only bar and restaurant the were open me and my wife stop only 1 hour  because everywhere was close I do not understand them we did not have fun at all. they give us $200 credit for each person it cost me over $ 4700.00 only for ship and $ 1100 for fly to long beach this trip cost me almost $ 8000.00 I don't recommend this cruise at all.

We had a wonderful experience, the food was great the staff was pleasant and accommodating. We were upgraded to a balcony room and that was wonderful, we are spoiled now, it's the only way to go. Already looking into taking another cruise.

Ship is too small for passenger amount...hard to find a  few seats together with sailing buddies.

Embarking was a nightmare...sat around for close to 2 hours waiting to get on the ship.

Anytime dining not what it is.....especially the first few days...lines and buzzers to wait....then still need to get on the line at 5:15 to be seated at six and a crap toss after that..

Theatre seats very cramped and tightly put together. Also no coffee or tea available at no charge at the international cafe.

My wife and I are experienced cruisers, having taken over 15 cruises to various locations and I would rate this cruise in my top 4. What I liked about this cruise was the excellent service that we received at the line level (housekeeping, wait staff, bartenders). We have experienced good staff on cruises before, staff that made our beds and waited on our dining tables, but this staff seemed like they actually cared if you were happy on your cruise.  We met 2 Princess employees that previously worked for Carnival, and they both stated that they were happier and more relaxed working for Princess.

The only negative were the shows at night. For some reason Princess has only 3 production shows with the Princess Singers and Dancers on a 14 night cruise, with the rest of the nights having entertainment fillers with a magician, comedians and individual singers with some being picked up in Hawaii. We know now that if you want good entertainment, go with NCL.

My wife and I are both "cruise foodies" and are able to rate the food against 5 other cruise lines. I would say that only Celebrity and Oceania has better food in general. The Princess buffet has stations for better access and during dinner there is always a carving station, and the wait staff are serving drinks to each table day and night.  The MDR was good and had some gourmet dishes like escargot, pheasant, scallops, and baked Alaska with different vegetarian entrees nightly. One of the best lunches that we had was at Alfredo's Pizzeria, which might have the best pizza at sea. From 3:30 to 4:30 they have a afternoon tea with finger sandwiches, scones, cookies and desserts, which is just a strategy to meet people if you are that type. They usually place you in one large group, with the tables close together. 

Grand Princess has something unusual that we have not seen on other cruise lines; 2 for 1 drinks, that can be found at rotating bars on deck 5 and 7 from 3:00 to 5:00 on sea days. Every sea day we would meet with our friends at the Wheelhouse Bar at 3:00 and take advantage of this special with mixed drinks at $8.00 and beers at $6.00, it's a good deal getting 2 for the price of one.

Overall, this was a very relaxing and laid back cruise, getting away from morning meetings, iPads, computers and micro managing, with an excellent Princess crew to support you and supply all of your needs. 

Changed cabin, did not notify, new cabin was at end of long hallway with housekeeping carts, where some but not all were to wide for my scooter to get by.

This was a long time at sea, essentially 9 days to see four ports, plus 4 hours in Ensenada, Mexico. It would have been better to have an extra day in Hawaii, and bypass Ensenada, which is not particularly scenic (tongue in cheek), but apparently the ship needs to stop in a foreign port for either registry or tax purposes.  The food on the Star Princess was OK, but not up to the standards of other cruise lines we have used.  The ship, itself, was nice, but confusing floor plan.  Be aware that balcony room and mini-suites on lower decks are not covered.

The staff on the Star Princess was outstanding.  They were the most welcoming and cheerful staff we have yet experienced.

This cruise was one  of the most enjoyable I've experienced. I have cruised on this Princess line and many other ones  and feel qualifies to render my opinion.

The cruise personnel had much to  do with my favorable experience and I'd like to give credit for that to the following people who saw to my pleasure:

                                          Reynaldo...room attendant  for P226

                                          Joel Ramos...waiter

                                          Hernan Torres...assistant waiter

                                          Richard....Amalfi dining room, tea time

                                           Amy.....casino ( brand new)

In addition, the cheerful attitude of the personnel in the 24hour International cafe as well as the buffet.

In general, these people contributed to the happiness and satisfaction of this  lovely Hawaiian cruise,which in itself ,was a pleasure,from start to finish. if one is looking for a relaxing, thoroughly enjoyable experience, then this is it!

We didn't like the beds in our room. We asked for a upgrade and was told none available. If we book again it will be with better beds!   We like to take trips but the sleeping was very bad!    I took another cruise and was in a good bed. The room is very small and not good for handicapped people. I am handicapped and asked for a handicapped room. I got a standard room.

We enjoyed our trip on the Grand Princess very much and the shortcomings of the Grand Princess were offset by the great service we received and the excellent food on the ship. Although the ship is one of the oldest in the Princess fleet we did not have any serious concerns with our safety and our health on the ship. The fact that some of the elevators did not function properly and the timing of these elevators were not in sync were more of a nuisance than a serious problem. We were also disappointed that the training pool was not functional during the entire trip and we were told that it was not working for a long time and would not be repaired in the short term. Leaving the ship was a total disaster mainly due to immigration and custom problems. Waiting in line for hours to get into the country is not acceptable especially when immigration officials treated non-american passengers differently.

The cruise on the Veendam was a very pleasurable experience.  The staff was ready at a moment's notice to cater to our every whim be it getting an extra cup of coffee, a towel for the pool,  or a fan because our room was too warm.  Nothing seemed to be too much to ask for.  The ship was extremely clean with hand sanitizers at every elevator and the entry way of almost every room.  The staterooms were roomy and had plenty of storage space for our 3 suitcases of clothing.  There were plenty of activities planned for the day including games with the crew, two nightly shows, cooking demonstrations to name a few.  The formal "dress up nights" were one of my disillusions as they were more dressy casual, which kind of took the romance out of the nights.  Also the casino was too tight on the games.  The only place I saw actually winning were the tables where it was a minimum of $15 to play - a bit high for the lower income travelers. Also the bingo at $25 a card for only 4 games was a bit much to win the small pots that were paid.  One really nice feature was the unlimited supply of free movies for the days when you did not feel like going out of your cabin or there were no activities that one wished to take part in.  The other great feature was being able to get room service brought to you without an extra charge.   We also took part in the many photo opportunities and purchased one of their reasonable photo packages. All in all it was a fun cruise that I would definitely do over again.

This was my 8th cruise.  My third with Norwegian Cruise Lines. 

Beautiful spacious stateroom.  We loved the balcony.  The bed was the most comfortable we have ever had on a ship.  Large bathroom.

The food was excellent in the buffet.  We ate three times in the formal dining rooms and did not like it at all.  The food there was awful!

We took excursions every day.  It was my Husbands first cruise in Hawaii and the excursions  show

you the real Hawaii and how the people live.  All four islands are so different.   By the end of the curse you know exactly which island you would like to live on.   

AND SO WAS THE COST BUT

THE FOOD WAS NOT UP TO STANDARD

MOST OF THE STAFF SEEMED ANGRY OR DISENCHANTED

THIS IS A SANDIEGO TRIP

AND NO ONE BOTHERS TO MAKE SURE WE GET THE CHARGER FOOTBALL GAME

MISSED OPPORTUNITY      PEOPLE WOULD ATTEND ,EAT AND DRINK

SHIP NEEDS N OVERHAUL

INSIDE AND OUT

TENDERING IS A MISERABLE EXPERIENCE    4 TENDERS  1200 PEOPLE

THEY MAKE YOU WAIT IN LINE TO GET TENDER TICKETS (INSTEAD OF GIVING THEM TO ANYONE WHO SHOWS UP/ WHEN THEY SHOW UP)

ON AND ON

We had been led to believe that the NCL Pride of America and its crew were somehow inferior to other cruises.  We found this to be far from the truth.  The ship was clean and well appointed, and the crew was friendly and helpful.  We particularly liked NCL's Freestyle Cruising concept that allowed us to dine and disembark at our convenience, and we never experienced a wait at the Customer Service desk.  Crepes were offered in the buffet every evening, something we had not never had on any of our five other cruises. While the musical entertained was not particularly to our taste, it was well done by talented performers, and the cast was always available after a performance.  Since it's the only ship that sails from Honolulu instead of the mainland U.S., it saves four days of travel time getting to and from Hawaii, which would be important for those having limited time to explore the islands.  Overall, we were well pleased with the cruise.    

the window rooms are very small, and they have bunkbeds hanging on the wall next to the bed, so you have to bend over the bed to avoid getting a corner in the middle of your back. the pop on deck 5 in the theater was bad all week and they would not do anything about it, and paying almost $4 a glass!

Loved everything about this cruise.

-Excellent ports of call (really loved Kauai!). The afternoon cruise along the Napali coast was definitely one of the highlights.

-Great service. Our room "butler" Peter and our concierge Thomas could not have been more helpful and serving.

- Loved the entertainment. Very talented crew members on "crew talent night"

- We were VIP's which included breakfast and lunch served in "Cagneys". All the breakfast items were excellent!

- If you get the chance.. reserve one of the two bedroom suites on the stern. The private deck is amazing! We were always inviting friends we met on the cruise to enjoy it with us.

Had a great time first time on this line Room smaller than other lines we have been on but okay. Food was average, staff great , entertainment good loved Oh What A Night Ship real clean and nicely decorated 

Norwegian was great. Beautiful ship, great crew, good food, wonderful entertainment, super port excursions offered, nice state rooms and balconies.  It was all good EXCEPT the dress codes caused a problem for us.  Our first opportunity to get all dressed up, we 3 couples, the women donned in pretty long dresses and the men donned in their cotton slacks and Hawaiian shirts and we were turned away by the Liberty dining room because the men had dress sandals (not flip flops) but not closed toe shoes on their feet.  It was embarrassing.  Thinking Hawaii / cruise attire our guys brought no dress shoes. They had sneakers but who wants to get dressed so nicely and put sneakers on your feet.  We did see other gentlemen did wear their dirty ol' sneakers into those specialty dining rooms but to us that made no sense.

I liked the cruise because we got to visit several of the Hawaiin islands with the convenience of a floating hotel.  The food including specialty restaurants was great. Overall the cruise was great fun, the ship was well maintained, the island and ocean scenery was terrific (we got up early several days to watch the sun rise) and we plan to cruise again, probably with Norwegian.

On the negative side:

I did not enjoy the fact that several attractive entertainment options were only available late at night (10:00 PM).

Our daughter purchased the Romance Package for us. The package included in room chocolate covered strawberries on embarkation day. They were not delivered until we called to ask for them.  Also, we were to receive in room canapes and tea service on Friday but although we called on Friday  morning to schedule these, they never arrived. I had to call one of the supervisors to complain. We were given a bottle of wine in their place. Still, we were disappointed that the romance package was not delivered as promised. Poor service I thought.

Sincerely

Alan Otto

I would definitely recommend this cruise to anyone who wants a good overview of what the islands have to offer.  Good selection of excursions for seeing lots of amazing and beautiful sights.  The ship itself was ok, but not outstanding.  I guess that's what you can expect when there's no real competition allowed for other cruise lines to offer a similar trip.  Cabin was smaller and more crowded than other cruise lines we've been on, though it was clean and the cabin steward was great.  The food was only a step above mediocre but we loved all the fresh, juicy pineapple and other fresh tropical fruits available that we just don't seem to find on the mainland.

I was truly excited to go to Hawaii because I had never been there before. As recommended by a travel agent, taking a cruise was the best way too see most of Hawaii instead of flying by plane, which would be too expensive. The first day I arrived on the ship, I was so pleased with my room but that night following the entire time on the ship was a nightmare. 

As I recall, everyone upon boarding the ship had to fill out a short questionnaire regarding their physical health and I submitted the form as required. However, an elderly Japanese woman was right next door to me who was extremely ill and was coughing profusely that I was up all night. The second night was the same experience and I immediately called guest services and informed them that this woman really needs to be in a hospital and not on a cruise ship. I was told that Norwegian cannot force anyone on the ship to seek medical help. I stated clearly that this was not only wrong to ignore this problem but I was on vacation and this was also not fair to me. As a result the entire 7 days, I did not sleep and this poor woman who was ill, isolated herself in her room during the entire cruise. The cruise did have translators to visit her but the conditions remained the same. 

Also, Many of the shore excursions were early in the morning, so if I wanted to see many parts of the island I had to get up every day by 5:30am. Despite the nightmare of not being able to sleep while on my dream vacation to Hawaii, I was able somehow to see as much as I could but I am so glad to get back home and rest.

For the record, I have worked 20 years in healthcare in New York City where I live and I could never recommend Norwegian cruise line or any organization that disregards the welfare of others. I hope to return to Hawaii again but  I will never deal with Norwegian and will inform 200+ coworkers who knew about my trip to pick another cruise line.