Hawaii Cruise Reviews

Plusses: Clean ship, great entertainment, good food, being greeted with flower leis and Hawaiian music at embarkation was nice. We also appreciated the wheelchair service.

Negatives: Poor service. When we got on the ship the cabin was cold.  I asked for 2 extra blankets. It took 3 hours, several phone calls and 2 visits to the customer service desk before I finally received the extra blankets.

We had a balcony cabin which was a waste of money. The ship docked for 2 days at Kahului, Maui, and for 2 days we looked at Matson containers on the dock plus had to listen to all the dock noise. We had a similar experience on Kauai, except that there were fewer Matson containers. Sailing along the Napali coast was great but we should have had more daytime sailing rather than sitting in a noisy port. There were too many overpriced specialty restaurants. At the New Year's party the music was so loud you couldn't talk or understand anyone.  The volume was way too high.

Highlights for me;

  Being with my family on an amazing Vacation.

On the way to the islansd on the first formal night I had an amazing experience.

While dancing at the ONE5 a man colapsed near me of an apparent heart attack.

I am a registered nurse, Knew CPR so I assessed the man and began CPR.

Soon a paramedic arrived and I continued chest compressions until the rest of the team arrived..

I learned the next morning that the man survived, would need medical care but would be ok.

I have to commend the Emergency Responce Team on a job well done.

TEACH ALL YOUR EMPLOYEES TO DO CPR

I too will spread the word.                                                                           Susan Pokorney

We enjoyed our Hawaiian Cruise and consider this as great as our cruise we had in Alaska!  Our cabin was clean and well maintained. Our excursions were FANTASTIC!!!!  This was the first time we had cruised with Norwegian and we will consider cruising again on Norwegian!  

Great cruise.  However our complaint is the same as the last cruise.  There is just not enough entertainment of good quality.  The first cruise we went on in 2010 there was a performance every night - a fabulous production.  Every cruise since it has gone down hill.  Also you had other entertainment of good quality in side rooms.  This year some of the quality was lacking and there wasn't enough of it.  We expected on a 15-day cruise there would be LOTS to do.  This wasn't the case at all.  We don't drink or gamble so find it hard to enjoy being in those rooms with people who do.  The band, however was wonderful, as was the asian singing group.  And the ventriloquist was VERY good.  Last cruise you had a singing, gospel group that was open to everyone one night.  That was the best thing ever.  Wish you had more of that.

Otherwise the staff, stewards, food was great!

I would recommend this cruise.  Nice, clean ship and the staff was friendly and helpful.  The food on board was okay.  A lot of variety on the buffett line but the same over-and-over for breakfast.  They need more late night food options too.  The dining room staff was very attentive to dietary restrictions.  The food was pretty good in the dining room.  The shows on board were very, very good.  Some of the best I have seen on a cruise ship and the comedians were a lot of fun!

Overall, for the value and price paid, very reasonable.  This trip is worth taking.

My wife and I took our 2 boys (9 and 12) with us on this, our third Carnival cruise, their first.

We had a wonderful Hawaii cruise.

We were disappointed in the lack of recreational things on the Carnival Miracle like we had seen on the Carnival Magic.  Sports court was very small with a netting to low to play any kind of real basketball or volleyball on.  (We are an athletic family)

Disappointed that the adult Serenity jacuzzi closes at 10 PM while the two overcrowded ones at the family pools stayed open till 1 AM.???  Why?

Food was as to be expected on Carnival.  Passable, but not cuisine class.

Everything else was to be as expected also for a Carnival cruise.

All in all, we had a wonderful cruise.  I just wish there were more recreational stuff on that boat.

We are dissappointed that the Miracle will be Carnival's ship for the next year at our home port of Los Angeles. 

We will not cruise it again as it does not have the recreational facilities we want.  We will either take another cruise line from SoCal or go to Galveston or somewhere else to get on the larger Magic or similar Carnival ship.

The food was excellent in the dining room.  I loved having the ice cream available at no cost.  The staff all over the ship was great. The guest speakers and Hawaiin craft teacher, were all superior!   My one and only complaint, is the mattresses!  I had 3 different mattresses, due to my complaints, and they were all lousey!  Buy new mattresses!!!!!!

We loved the cruise. Everything was clean and The first stateroom was small and had bunk beds but when we needed a second room, the cruiseline moved two of us at no charge.

We never took the cruise as there was an ice storm in Dallas and all flights were cancelled.  The ship departed without us.  What else can I write to reach 150 characters.

Ship is old and in dire need of rehab.  Carpets and upholstery were stained ragged and just plain dirty looking. Heavy handed use of disinfectant sprays scented the air but I failed to see actual cleaning performed.  Dining room chairs need legs tightened and to be reupholstered.  I felt like I was sitting in a wobbly hole every evening at dinner. The Aqua Spa for breakfast and lunch was fantastic.   It served light meals that hit the spot.  On-board entertainment was poor.  Singers had no breath control and poor enunciation. I've seen better costumes and stage scenery in high school productions.  We did have a Hawaiian crafts person June who was excellent and very entertaining.  Chelsea was very knowledgable and a great speaker. Astronomy lecturer was monotone and boring. Dining room and shore excursion staff were very polite and had great customer service skills but were extremely disorganized. Almost seemed like they were trainees.   Food quality was good, portion size small, which I appreciated, but menu selection especially for light meals was non-existent.  You wanted to eat light? One selection only. We experienced rough seas but the captain chose not to use the ship stabilizers. He finally put them out when we were in  a gale with 25-27 foot waves. Drinks were over priced: 1 small martini $11. The cruise director and his staff did a poor job arranging activities especially considering we had 8 sea days! We cruise a great deal and have been told we had to go on Celebrity as it was the best!  I was disappointed and will not cruise with Celebrity again. 

We enjoyed the cruise very much. The entertainment was wonderful.Of course,all of the staff couldn't have been nicer.We especially enjoyed talking with alot of the staff enjoying the fact that they were from all over the world.

I was quite sea sick the majority of the cruise. I went to the spa and had accupuncture treatments by Jonathan. He was so nice and concerned about helping me feel better. I want to him many times. He treated me like I was his only patient. 

The only thing I was a little disappointed was the buffet. The food was good but too much of the same menu everyday. I thought you could have had more variety. A little change would have been nice.

One of the best cruises ever.  Outstanding food and service.  Entetainment excellent.  Staterooms roomy with plenty of space for all belongings.  The staff was very concerned about keeping us healthy as well.  This was our first cruise with Holland America but definitely won't be the last..

We had a wonderful time. The cruise part was excellent in all areas. Our problem was with Honolulu shore booking with Cheap Cruises.  Vendor went out of business 4 months earlier. We lost our money on that booking

From the missing promised $300 on-board credit to downright grouchy staff and sub-standard food this NHL cruise was a great disappointment!  Entertainment was not even up to the standard we have seen on several other cruises.  These folks have allowed the lure of the Hawaiian Islands to replace good business practices, and it will hurt them mightily over time, once people realized how little they are getting for the inflated prices NCL charges.  We won't be back, and very likely will not cruise with NCL again.

Very choppy weather created a downtime experience for many of the sea-sick passengers (and crew) for at least one day, and large swells prevented the stop we hoped to get at Mauii. It's a lot of time at sea, so if you lust for land, this isn't your cruise. Otherwise, the passengers were kept well occupied. The food is good, not great, and tends to read better on the menu than it actually tastes. Still, I had a very good time (even though my travel companion and I were both sick for a day, and even though we missed a stop in Mauii. The crew was very courteous, and the activities are plentiful.

This cruise was a celebration of our 5 year anniversary, so we wanted it to be extra special.  We booked a penthouse with a large private balcony, Living room, king-size bed, a double sofa bed, CD/DVD library, walk-in-closet and bath and shower. We did not realize it would be so nice or that we would have our own butler and concierge service. I must say, we are completely spoiled rotten now.  Everyone was so friendly on this cruise and they went out of their way to make us comfortable. 

We thoroughly enjoyed every port on this Hawaiian cruise.  We had shore excursions planned every day and the bus drivers were very friendly and knowledgeable and shared their love of the islands.  We would definitely take this cruise again and recommend it to all our friends. 

Great Captain -- lots of interaction with passengers.  Enjoyed his daily talks about the sea and weather. Excellent Room Steward, dinner Waiter and Ass't. Waiter.  Filled out commendation cards onboard ship for all three of these employees.  Good Cruise Director.  Enjoyed his port talks.  Entertainment was OK for the most part.  The Ass't. Cruise Director was very funny -- great personality.The Princess singers and dancers are always enjoyable.

We have always had late traditional seating, but we are changing to open seating our next cruise.  We find we are missing too many activities that take place between 7-9:30 p.m. each nite.  We notice that others must feel the same way because on this cruise and our last Princess cruise (Sept. 2013), the dining room was fairly empty at 8:00 p.m.

We only took two excursions since this was our 3rd visit to Hawaii.  We took the Atlantis Submarine excursion and the Fern grotto/luau run by the Smith family.  Both were costly, but we feel we got our monies worth.

We enjoy this cruises with star princess the service was excelent and the food was delicious  and one of many places we visited the aquariumi and the beutiful colored fish we saw

Very comfortable ship,  great staff, and great food!  Weather was not the greatest which is not Celebrity's fault.  The Ensenada stop was strange - 5 hours, from 7 PM - Midnight.  Need to arrive earlier.

Our cruise was very relaxing, exciting and fun. The staff was very friendly, courteous, and attentative. Anything you ask they had an answer for you. If answer not known, they would ask someone else to get an answer The food was excellent as well.

Everything was great! Very clean, and sanitary.