Hawaii Cruise Reviews

Pride of America is a beautiful ship. Our stateroom was lovely, the public rooms were spacious and well-appointed, and there were plenty of choices for activities and places to dine onboard.

This was our first cruise and my husband and I loved it. Our biggest problem is that we planned a shore excursion for most days and had reservations for dinner the first few nights which meant that we were constantly having to be somewhere. There is something to be said for a day at sea to relax. Aside from that our room was great and Paul took care of us every day and we always got animal towels. We learned on day one to go to the buffet and get breakfast and eat it on our balcony every day. We really enjoyed Cagney's Steak House and the Japanese Steak House. But we also liked each of the other restaurants. Our favorite shore excursions were zipling Maui and the helicopter ride in Kauai. I would recommend this POH cruise soon because at the end of January this ship will be moved to Europe. The ship was always clean and the staff were friendly and I would recommend this ship. The price for clothes in the gift shop was outrageous but I would imagine that is the same for all ships.

The ship was fine. Getting on and off the boat was not fine....too much security.....and a lot of wasted time standing around......not something I like having to pay for! The final day trying to leave the ship was a disaster! Crowds of people....and more than 45 minutes to get off!!! It made no sense at all!

This ship was clean, well managed and fun place to be. It was exciting to look forward to the next day seeing ports from the ship was so different than my experiences of seeing them from land. Being able to enjoy each day with my wife without having to attend to the routine houskeeping and food preparation chores was a great break from our normal living routines. This is a cruise that we would like to share with family members in the near future.

If you take this cruise without any special requests and fairly low expectations you will not be disappointed. The itinerary was a great way to get a taste of each of the islands. We lost 5.5 hours of shore time from original booking to departure but gained 3 hours back in Hilo which helped a bit; so be careful when making your plans.

The Pride of Hawai'i was beautiful. Much thought went into a design that evoked the Hawai'i theme. The ship was spotless, the crew was friendly and enthusiastic for the most part. The itinerary couldn't be better. Great to unpack once and see all of the major islands. If you are used to the traditional "cruise experience" Freestyle Cruising may NOT be for you.

We took this cruise as our 5th time with NCL in Hawaii. During the first night, we woke up with numerous signs of illness. Although we contacted house keeping, room service, reception, hotel, front desk, engineering numerous time, there was no follow-up from any department. The whole trip continued with the same symptoms, including fever, diarrhea, congestion, coughing, etc. We even slept one night on deck, since our room was inhabitable. We missed most shows, several sit-down dinners and lunches, since we could not stay inside for long due to our infection. We finally decided to disembark three days early. It took us another 4 days at home to get well again.

I was very impressed. I've been on other cruise ships where service and food quality were marginal. the food in the specialty restaurants was good and the service in all the areas of the ship was good. My cabin mate ordered the wine package and there was constant confusion about it. (this may have been that we didnt hear it right from the beginning). There was also much controversy about the tipping procedure in the restaurants. I spoke w/ The Waffle Man about it and I believe he was looking into it. We asked several of our waitstaff and 2 managers & the front desk and got a different answer from all. Waffle man had a completely different policy/procedure than the others.

Ship was very clean and decorated nicely for the holiday season. Not a glamorous ship by no means.

Overall, the ship is beautiful. It is large with many differing spaces and options. At the same time, its not so big that it becomes overwhelming. It's not the biggest or the most elegent ship, but its really very comfortable and perfect for these Hawaii cruises.

NCL's ship and crew should try to be as beautiful as the Hawaiian islands it visits. The Pride of Aloha is a training ship and it shows. The American crew is not attentive to passengers while some crew members make it clear that they do not want to be bothered by their answers to questions. The ship itself has an odor problem in the aft section - going to the main restaurant the odor was obvious as soon as you stepped off of the elevator. Oh, yes, the food was mediocore at best, including the specialty restaurants. The ship ran out of certain foods, and even though we were in port, the food was not replenished. The only good thing about the cruise was the beautiful islands we visited.

We got a phenominal last minute price of $600 for an 11 day cruise with an ocean view. NCL tried to say it wasn't available, but we did get it, and they held up to their word and gave us an ocean view. I've never been on a cruise and was very impressed. The people who worked there were great, there was food everywhere and any time you could need it. I loved going to Fanning Island and going some place so remote--it was just a shame that it was such a short time, and some of the people on the ship had the mentality that there was "nothing to do" on this amazing, remote atoll. The food was good or OK depending on where you went, but I thought it was wonderful for what we got. We did the paid restaurant one night, and some of it was slightly better, but not in general worth it. The buffet has ranges of food. The worst thing about it were the passengers who created great big lines by getting in them and waiting instead of going to what they wanted, thus causing big delays. The ship needs a great big sign on the buffet saying NOT to get in line and just go get what you want. My ONE problem is the air conditioning inside. I did NOT pack my winter clothes to walk to my room, eat, or watch a show, so had to wear a sarong over my shoulders. WHY is it so cold? It was wonderfully temperate outside, and always too cold inside. The pint of travelling to warm climates is to wear little all of the time, not to have to dress all of the time.

This was our 5th cruise with NCL, and all others were what we expected. On this ship, most dishes served for dinner, lunch, breakfast were cold. Waiting time at the table was up to 40 minutes before entree was served. We got seriously ill the first night, nobody of the management followed up to our complaints, nobody helped. We had diarrhea, fever, congestion, sore throat, but nothing was done about the illness creating situation of our cabin. We offered to pay for an upgrade, no response. We had to disembark early, filled out the paperwork, again no response, no questioning why we are leaving.

I was very impressed with this ship, we had heard so many negative things before we left, so we were surprised by how clean and smoothly everything went. I must say, the room stewards are not always the best, but I would suggest using your outside dial to get the room cleaned!!!

Ship was in great shape and well kept by the staff.

It was outstanding in every way; we simply had no criticism of the ship or it's staff at all!

The ship was nicely decorated and well maintained. The staff was friendly , helpfull and knowledgeable about the Isands and the activities on the ship.. Getting on and off the ship was well organized and there was never a backup or delay in getting to the tenders or tours. We had a precruise stay at the Marriott and all of our transfers were taken care of by NCL and everything went as smooth as clockwork. We were picked up at the airport (on time) driven to our hotel and the next morning driven to the ship where we boarded early because all the paperwork had been done the night before at the hotel. After the cruise, we were met at the pier and taken back to the airport (on time) .We had purchased the easyfly package on the ship. Our luggage was picked up the night before desembarkation and we didn't see it or have to deal with it again until we arrived at our home airport. What a terrific program. Everything was as promised and there was not a glitch. What a great cruise.

What a great trip! We so enjoyed our time together as a family. It was full of great food, lots of activities, tons of pool time, and hours and hours of just "hanging out" with the family! Both my husband and I work full time, and it was so great to be away from everything, even cell phone service. The kids hung with us most of the time, except for our 17 year old - who found a great group of friends on day one, and was hard to find after that! We mostly hung around the terrace and kid pool at the aft of the ship, and enjoyed the peace and quiet there. Hawaii was great - as always! We rented a car three days out of the five, as I used to live in the islands, and knew my way around. Would highly recommend the Molokini trip (Maui), where we went SNUBA diving, and that was awesome! Great staff and good fun, it was a memorable trip. We took the afternoon tour, which was MUCH less crowded than the morning tour - don't know if that is normal, but it was great for us, TONS of personal service, time and space! We loved the sea days, totally relaxed, and doing whatever you chose. The only downside to me was that the sea days, to and from Hawaii were very cool, gray and not enjoyable outdoors. This was a bummer. Coming from Alaska, we were really looking forward to a TON of great, warm and sunny days. Hawaii was sunny, Ensenada was sunny, and that was it. I didn't know it would be like that. I may have chosen a different cruise if I had known. My best advice: lay everything out on your bed that you WANT to take, when you are packing - try to get it down to the MINIMUM on which you think you can survive for the duration of your trip - then.... take HALF of what you've laid out and DOUBLE your money! I always take too much! You can (and will) buy things that you like, and you tend to wear your favorites, don't burden your trip with TONS of stuff! Have fun, enjoy, and take the line dancing class, I wish I had done that....

Very understaffed. Took 3 days and numerous phone calls to get a flower delivery that was supposed to be there upon arrival. Never met room attendant during whole cruise. Buffet was very disorganized and very hard to find a table to sit at. Staff was courteous but not informed enough to answer some simple questions. Made reservations in dining room for specific waiter (chose a time he was available which was later than what we wanted), and twice was seated with another waiter and told he was not available.

This is a different cruise. If you like a very relaxed atmosphere, this is it. There is not the constant pressure to buy drinks; in fact, I was only asked if I wanted drinks while I was sitting in the performance venues. The entertainment was marginal, and there was not very much entertainment offered. There was little variance in the food. The buffet was mostly the same every day. We had a noise problem with our room and they moved us to another room the next day... very responsive. The predominantly US crew did not appear to work as hard to make the cruise enjoyable... they were not overly friendly. Our room was clean, but the public areas were not.