Hawaii Cruise Reviews

After a minor glitch of some type in Long Beach that delayed boarding for about 3 hours, the rest of the cruise was wonderful in every regard.  The service from the dining room staff and the cabin staff, in fact every employee we came in contact with, was superb.  They never failed to offer a friendly greeting and a smile.  Disembarking on our return was amazingly fast.  We waited in one level of the dining room and were led to the security point and from there to an easy customs check in.  Luggage was carfully sorted in the terminal by tag number and transportation outside the terminal was plentiful.  All in all, a good experience.

The itinerary suited us perfectly and was one of the main resons for booking this cruise.  We generally like sea days and this offered plenty of those.  We could kick back and relax or choose from a good selection of activities each day.  Most of the night time shows were really good, easpecially the production shows, which were fantastic.  The port times were excellent for our plans, especially Maui and Oahu.  If anyone is at all interested in history, I highly recommend the VIP tour on Oahu.  After visiting the Arizona Memorial ( a must in my opinion) we toured two  military bases that were involved in  the attack and had lunch at one of them.  We ended our tour at the Nationbal Cemetery at the Punchbowl Crater, one of the most beautiful and respectfully done of all  the National Cemeteries.  On Maui we rented a car and drove the Road To Hana.  The scenery is spectacular but be warned the drive is long and slow, 3 1/2 hours to drive 45 miles.  Worth the trip.  Consider packing a pinic lunch to eat at one of the overlooks or beaches.  There's only one restaurant in Hana.

If you are 65+ this is the ship and cruise for you!  Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the elderly, cause I'm 51 and I'm no spring chicken but this was a bit much.   I've been on about 10 cruise, I've been on Carnival 3 times and my overall experiance has been ok.  This ship was a big disappointment first off as someone else mention, getting on and off the boat took hours and we were outside in the heat.  The food was just ok, there were a group of about 10 of us and every night someone had to send their food back, not good or under/over cooked, I got to the point I just no longer wanted to go to the dining room.  The food on the lido deck was just ok same stuff everyday.  We spent 4 day at sea going and 4 at sea coming back and you would think they would have had more activities planned, there should have been shows every night on the main stage,  I would say 85% of the guests were over 60 and in wheel chairs & walkers,  I have never been on a cruise with so many wheel chairs.  There was even someone on there with his companion dog. This cruise is geared towards a much older generation the boat was dead by 10pm. The disco was always empty, there would always be my group and a few others.  The comedy club and bingo was the highlight of everyone's day because there was nonthing eles to do. Overall Hawaii was Beautiful I would love to go back but not one Carnival's Miricle.  If I were to take another cruise  I would rather fly there and get on a ship in Hawaii or just stay on land.  Not enough to do on this boat for 15 day.

What a wonderful 15 days on our cruise....Their were a couple of delays, but nothing to get upset about.  Very clean, no smells, and food was great.

Service was above board and staff friendly.  Especially our stewart Ernest...Always their when we needed him, and he knew what we liked....amazing.

I guess if I had to complain about some thing, it would be how cold it was inside the ship.  Had to have a sweater on. Next year we are going to go to Alaska....can not wait.

First of all, my wife and I have been cruising since the late 80s. This was our retirement cruise and we had a great time. I read another review where the gentleman was not very pleased with the food, entertainment or the service. Well guess to each his own. Our waiters (Jordan) and his staff were great. They attended to our every need. We decided to eat during the eat at your own time and found that to be great. The food was excellent during dinner as well as on the lido deck at lunch. The brunch we out of this world. Where else could you get steak and eggs.

The enter staff on the ship was great and I am staying with Carnival Cruises.

We enjoyed our visit to the 4 islands of hawaii and the ship was clean. However our bed in the our first  room was so uncomfortable- sagging in the middle we had to change cabins after one night of no sleep. The food in the buffet was good but in the various dining rooms we had poor to fair food and the servers would often say -don't order that because of numerous complaints.

Travelling on the ship & dinning was great I would like to give every employee a personel thanks as working with the public is extremely difficult to say the least in such close quarters & a short cruise. The staff of the ship could not have been more cooperative making the cruiser enjoyable knowing so many people were effected by the gov't shut down causing everyone to re- think the excusssions they planned at the gov't run excusions sites which is why most people plan this cruise to see these sites. You handled this delimena well & everyone was accommedated without to much of a problem we will be looking forward to another attempt to visit this area again & hopefully see the sites we missed we can only hope the gov't takes note of how much money the caused the cruise too loss & works out a plan for your cruise lines. Thanks the Butler family trip of six.

We enjoyed this cruise very much.     The service and food were excellent.  We enjoyed the entertainment, both in the theater and the lounges.

The ship was a little dated but very well maintained.   Very clean.

Robert & Ruth  Burford

There was not enough entertainment in the pool area. The theme partys were in smaller rooms and did not have enough room for all. The buffet was adeqate but the help behind the counter was lacking and they ran out of food often. The dining hall was better but sometimes you were not offered coffee or juice and your order was not taken promptly. The room was taken care of properly on my floor but some did complained. The evening waiters were very good and at our assigned table we were very sastified.The ship is old but kept clean. There could have been more activities during the days at sea. The cruise director liked to talk about himself and was adequate at best. Overall the cruise was fine but we have cruised many times before and this cruise was a little under our expectations.

We have no complaints! Our balcony room was nice, our steward was efficient, the food was really good. The entertainment we chose to see was good. The first time we have had the pleasure of cruising with Star Princess and we enjoyed our 15 day cruise.

The crew on this ship is the best we've ever experienced.  They were so attentive and cordial to all and at our disposal at all times.  The food was average at best.  The buffet reflected "leftovers" at lunch from the previous nights dinners.  Not very appetizing.  The diningroom meals were average as well ... well presented but little real flavor or taste.  Going to the "speciality restaurant, Crowne Grille" was a BIG disappointment.  We have dined at this restaurant on the Emerald and Ruby Princess ships and were very happy with our meals - on the Star the steaks were terrible - out of four filet mignons at our table, 3 were sent back!  Even cooked medium rare, the were DRY with no flavor.  The staterooms appear smaller than other ships (perhaps because its a refurbished ship) -- the bathroom was a joke --- the smallest ever but our balcony was very spacious.   Perhaps the worst part of the trip was the "tendering boats" that took us to port.  We were treated like cattle and had to wait 45 minutes to board and the same on the return, standing in line the entire time.  It was very hot and uncomfortable.  This difinitely needs improvement.  The fact that we couldn't go to Pearl Harbor (the biggest reason we were going th Hawaii) was a MAJOR disappointment but not Princess' fault.  The "royality" in Washington is responsble for that - we felt very sorry for the 90 yr old WWII vet in a wheelchair that took the cruise specifically to see Pearl Harbor.  A real shame!

To end the cruise I have to say that disembarking was a horrible experience.  The port of San Pedro has to have the absolute WORST organization of any port we've been to.  Getting our luggage and trying to find a porter what horrendous.  We ended up dragging our luggage outside ourselves (4 senior citizens) and the asked for direction to pick up a shuttle to our hotel.  We were sent to 2 different locations - seemed like blocks apart.....the place is a mess.  Needless to say, we will NEVER cruise from there again.  Our end to the vacation left a very bad taste in our mouth......

This is a great ship to sail around the Islands! The ship crew and executive staff are very accomodating and friendly. We had an inside stateroom that was very comfortable, especially the bed for a good nights sleep. The food in the main dinng rooms could use some more variety, especially dinner. The buffets for morning breakfasts were very diverse with many choices. Drinks were reasonable and if you wanted a little stronger, you were accomodated. The itenerary was good, with plenty of time to see the main attractions each island had to offer. Shuttles were available to take you into town, tour, or a rental car; free of charge. If you have never been to Hawaii before, and you want to see a bit of each island, this is the cruise to take. Hopefully there won't be another government shutdown, as this disappointed some cruisers if they wanted to see things like Pearl Harbor, and any of the state parks.

This was my first cruise and it met all of my expectations; it was relaxing, entertaining and comfortable.  The staff was courteous, the entertainment was outstanding, the food was very good and the excursions were interesting (if pricey).  As a single passenger, I enjoyed meeting many people, and found that the dinner seating and excursions promoted that.  My room was clean and my steward very accommodating.  The boat felt safe, and I appreciated the measures taken to prevent ship-board illnesses, like offering hand sanitizers all over the ship and as you entered many of the dining venues.

My only concern was that the ship shows that it has been in use constantly since its launching.  Nothing major was amiss, but there were many cosmetic issues in my stateroom that should have been taken care of and there was rust on many metal surfaces on the outside of the ship.

Overall very good cruise. Food, service, and entertainment better than expected. Long sea days. Island stops memorable. Definetley gives you a good taste of the Hawaii Islands and where you may want  to return for a future holiday.

The cruise was about average,by that I mean the service was ok except for the cabin steward was exceptional. The ship is old and outdated and needs to be modernized. (the satelite system was ancient,except for the sail and sign service work were ever we were.)The dining room staff overall needed to work harder at being more compenet.

It was a 15 day cruise and 10 of which were sea days and that was also the relaxing part of the trip! We had five days in Hawaii and everyday we were experiencing the beauties and uniqueness of each of the five ports of calls...the exhilarating and fun part of our journey indeed!

We have been cruising with Carnival over a decade and have developed a level of expectations and appreciations of their vessels and staff! No one is perfect and we did meet up with a few hard to deal with and not want to be there kind of staffers but I could count with one hand! We must not under-emphysize the hundreds of them who tried so tirednessly each and everyday in every aspect of our 15 day long vacation experience making it a memorable one!

We were 28 people in a group. Senior most 83 years   Photo will be sent by

leader of ouir group.

I cannot compare other cruise lines, because I never travelled.  I travellede

two times with Carnival.

Staff on both cruise lines were very friendly and courteous.

Food=  One cannot imagine different kind of food available on cruise. Some

people put on weight upto 8 pounds in two weeks.    Indian meal were also available.  We did YOGA   while on cruise.

Embarkation and dis embarkation were well organised  and guided.

We will definately another trip.

This cruise was a nice experience but would only recommend if you like being on the open sea for 5 or more days. It did become a little difficult by the 5th day. The food selections were very nice, staff extremely helpful, considerate, and friendly and the entertainment pretty good for the size of this ship. We had an inside cabin which we loved but it was very noisy. We could understand the ship noise from the walls as the ship moved but we could hear the people in the next cabin coughing in the morning and their TV late at night. That was not a very pleasant experience. The captain on this ship was very personable and seemed sincere when speaking to you. He gave you the sense that he enjoyed his appointment as captain and went out of his way to say hello to everyone as he passed by in the hallways. One suggestion was to have more telephones available to contact your loved ones in their stateroom. I had difficulty finding phones to place calls. Another suggestion is to have some type of communication device available maybe like a two way radio if you should get separated from your party and need to meet them somewhere. This ship was not too bad but the larger ones it's almost impossible to meet up again if you should get separated. All in all, the Islands of Hawaii had nice stops and we enjoyed it very much.

We were a little CONCERNED ABOUT THE QUALITY to be expected on a cruise operating WITHOUT COMPETITION - and then there WERE some NEGATIVE REVIEWS! This was A SET-UP to make the cruise SO MUCH MORE THAN WHAT WE EXPECTED! The crew and service personnel were all very friendly, courteous and likeable. There was quality entertainment. The food was well prepared and of sufficient variety to satisfy nearly everyone. Even though there were upgrades being made to the ship during the cruise, the other parts of the vessel were not neglected. This was a first rate cruise.

The trip was what we expected - fantastic views of Hawaii. We have cruised many times so it was a little different for us. This is definitely one of the best ways to view the state of Hawaii visiting many islands without having to pack and fly to another island. The entertainment was better than we expected since we were told there weren't any shows. The comedian was fantastic. The Aloha show was beautiful. The "Lights, Camera, Music" was excellent. Really enjoyed the "Oh What a Night Tribute" to the Four seasons. We ran into a few problems with our lights in our bathroom but our steward took care of the problem. We were a little disappointed with the food. We have been on other cruise lines that have been much better. Even though Freestyle dining is nice to fit into our schedules we really missed the set time to establish a relationship with a specific waiter. We had a few nights with wonderful waiters but we did experience three nights with waiters who didn't seem to take the time to make us feel at home. We did miss a casino on board but understand the state law. With visiting the 4 locations there wasn't much time "at sea" and we missed that part of a cruise. The tour personnel was helpful. The pool area was a little small for how many people the ship carried. The cost of the cruise is much higher than other cruises and the price to fly out to Hawaii really blew our budget so I highly doubt we would go again. All in all - if this is your first time to Hawaii it is a wonderful way to see all the islands without the stress of unpacking.

Having cruised with Norwegian several times we were expecting a beautifully maintained ship, great food and an efficient dining service. None of these were true. On many nights we waited 45-35 minutes before service even started, with at least a wait of 30 mins. between courses. Food was mediocre at best. Our best meals were off the ship. Our balcony stateroom, while kept clean by the cabin steward, needed attention badly, i.e. the rail on the balcony needed to be revarnished, The rug on the balcony was old and dirty. Over the years we have been on 15 cruises and have never comments like these.