Hawaii Cruise Reviews

The ship itself was impressive, large, and had a variety of things to offer. We enjoyed our trip overall, but we did not honestly enjoy the "freestyle" type of cruising. This type of structure mininizes a traveller's chances of socializing on a continual basis with a group of other travellers during the dining time, and we found that people often were hesitant to sit beside others in the buffet style restaurant and if they did, the conversation was minimal and often interrupted by others coming and going. Every other person who had a conversation about the ship with us while we were on our cruise said they felt the same way about freestyle in comparision to the traditional way of cruising. It does have it's benefits in not being tied to a certain time for eating, but the frustration with making bookings and the associated costs in the nicer restaurants and the lack of socialization outweighed that benefit.

The food was mediocre and lacking in choice. The premium restaurants would not accept group reservations (There were 24 passengers in my group.). The only two restaurants which did not charge a dining supplement, aside from the buffet which was sadly lacking, both had the same menu, meaning you really had only the buffet and one other menu choice if you were not willing to pay a dining supplement. There was no good traffic flow on the pool deck. You had to walk through the middle of the dining room to get from the rear elevators or deck to the pool or workout facilities. The dirty wine glasses in my room were not replaced, or washed, until the 4th day of the cruise. There was a lot more deterioration on the ship than on other NCL vessels on which I've cruised. If this had been my first NCL cruise, it would definitely be my last.

This was our first cruise so we have nothing to compare it to, but overall, we really enjoyed it. We loved waking up to a new port in the morning and being able to have the time to see the islands. The best part of the cruise was to be able to see the four islands of Hawaii. The only downside to the cruise was that there were long lines to get food and often no places to sit once you did get your food. It was kind of hectic, but if you ate in the restaurants, it was wonderful. It was a great trip for us, one we will never forget.

We have been on several cruise lines, this one was disappointing. In general it was good. Most of the staff were polite and helpful, but there were at least 4 times when the staff were rude and uninterested in being helpful. Especially the excursion desk.

The ship's layout is excellent making it easy to navigate from floor to floor. There is an adequate number of elevators and little waiting. The layout of the Waterfall Cafe made it easy to select choices and had adequate seating with great views of the ocean. Balcony staterooms seemed small and needed updating. Ship's staff very friendly and eager to assist in any way. Overall experience was excellent.

Make sure to talk to your travel agent about the age group before booking this ship. Really just not enough stuff to do while at sea. There is plenty to do when you dock thats for sure. Thank goodness for that. I had a great time because I was with my husband. The reason we went on the cruise was to go to a wedding in Maui and didn't want to be in Maui for all 7 days. Hope this helps

We recently travelled to Hawaii on Celebrity's Infinity. We had an unfortunate start due to the late arrival of the ship so we were all herded into the San Diego Convention Center for a sandwich lunch and registration. We thus lost an afternoon on board. We were told that the lateness was due to high winds, we subsequently heard that there was trouble with one of the engines. We put in for four tours on the day after embarkation and were subsequently advised that three of the tours were no longer available. A few days later two of our party received tickets for one of the tours which had previously been unavailable. We visited the Tours desk to say we needed four. We asked what happened to our fourth tour as we hadn't yet received our tickets. We were advised that we hadn't requested any tours. We pointed out that we had received a call saying three out of four were unavailable and that we would be put on the reserve list. We assumed we had the other tour. We were told it made no difference all tours were full so we were out of luck. We were however then given two further tickets to match the rest of our party to attend a Luau in Honolulu. After attending this we wish we hadn't as, although the entertainment was OK, the food was inedible. We mentioned this to the Tour desk the following morning so they would note it for future and they just shrugged and said you didn't go to a Luau for the food just for the experience. Our Cruise had already been cut by half a day prior to the start and having had a messy start we then had a further cut to our stay on the last Island due again we were told to high winds.We therefore took five and a half days at sea on our return journey. We received compensation of $100 each for all the upset. The one saving grace to the Cruise was the entertainment which was first class especially the full productions. Regrettably there were only three of those in the two weeks.

loved the ports and the opportunity to see several islands without having to change hotels or fly. The only way to see the islands is on NCL ship.

I just spent the past hour filling in allboxes just to be told my time has expired and you didn't get what I typed. If you rweally didn't want to know why did you bother asking?

The ship was great-staff extremely friendly and accomadating with one exception.

It is a marvelous ship. Very well structured check-in, check-out process at all the ports, including those where tender boats had to be used. There is no chaos or overcrowding pretty much anywhere. Ship is very well maintained inside and outside. Very good itinerary. The shore excursions offered by NCL are expensive. I'd recommend considering other options if cost is of a concern to you. We chose to rent cars in most places and explore ourselves. We had a great time.

The ship and cruise staff all wonderful - couldn't have ask for any better service - great job!

The ship was impressive and clean.

Small ship,wish we would have went on bigger and newer ship.This was the farewell cruise, we should have been told this. The ship was being stripped while we were still onboard. Giftshop closed early, while still at sea. Day of dismibarkment, workers had layed plywood down on upper two decks, carring large pieces of wood around us, and had large saw out, were draining pools while we on deck. How unproffessional.

Was very disappointed in appearance of the ship. Our cabins were kept spotless and seemed roomy , but at the buffet's there was never anywhere to sit, it seemed like the same food every day, and it was a free for all. You had to carry your plate and drink around looking for a seat, sometimes even taking the elevator to another floor. The freestyle cruising is a great concept, but the best place to eat was in dinning room where each meal took 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The entertainment was not very good at all. We were on a hawaiian cruise, once in a lifetime thing for our entire family celebrating my parent's 50th wedding anniversary and they couldn't even get a decent steak or a lobster tail. The ports were pretty,fanning island was very interesting to see, disappointed in the sponsored school, thought it could be more. It was not worth 2 1/2 days at sea EACH WAY only to get 2 hours to spend there though. This was our 2nd cruise with NCL and very well may be our last. We felt very cheated and short-changed...especially when we found out it was this ships last voyage. It seemed we couldn't get off the boat fast enough for them. They were stripping it at every port, no gift shops unless you wanted to buy the left-over Alaska shirts on clearance, no casino, it was usually too windy to be on the top deck. The crew was very pleasant and accomadating, but we were very upset and felt cheated on the ship, food, & entertainment.

Not much point in reviewing as it is already being turned into a casino ship for the Chinese and Malaysians.

Beautiful! We went for our 25th wedding anniversary and it is a memory we will always cherish.

The Pride of Hawaii was a nice ship, of course it is still in its inaugural year. The American staff attitude seemed to be a little more of 'this is work' instead of 'how can I help you'. One night we had gone to one of the shows before dinner. We wanted to get something to eat after the show so we went to the buffet around 8:40, not realizing it closed at 9:00. As we were getting our meal, one of the kitchen supervisors was going to each station telling the workers to get it closed it was almost 9:00. We thought it would have been nice had they at least offered to let us serve ourselves before they hustled the food away.

The Pride of Hawaii is a beautiful, new ship with some problems. The staff is poorly trained and supervised. No one runs a "tight ship". There is much that is done sloppily. Is this because the staff knows that they will receive a certain % as a tip and so they have no incentive----OR has the staff been poorly trained. Everyone seemed friendly enough, that was not a problem. No one went beyond the limit of their particular job.

it was not ket up as far as rust mold smell water damage