Hawaii Cruise Reviews

Have been on MANY cruises but never NCL. Worst experience ever. We were traveling with two other couples and we all agreed that NCL is the poorest of cruise lines. We actually met a couple who got off the ship in Maui to fly home saying that they couldn't spend one more night on the ship. Service was awful. Surly, rude waiters. Room service poor. Three days room not made up, breakfast dishes still in cabin in evening after numerous calls. Food was awful. Over cooked and never good selections.

Ship did not adequately care for my handicapped wife. We paid extra for a handicaped room whoch was fine, but the elevators were a problem as the only held 1 wheel chair or 6 people and ther were only 3 mid ship where our room was with 1400 people on board. Do the math this was not a pleasent experience to go deck to deck. Also deck 12, 11and 10 did not have access between decks unless you went down one end of the ship and back up the other. Barbeque meals were difficult to attend as they were between decks without an elevtor. Shuttles to shore on the two ports required my wife be loaded backwards down 12 steps with a rope around her and the wheel chair. Not an appropriare way to handle the departure/arrival back to ship. Upon arival the elevators were blocked from 5 pm - 8 pm so we were stranded between floors after an argument with the first officer (and an hour passing) we were finally allowed to go to our state room. The cruise was nice for the islands visited. The excursions were a bit pricey, but then we were a captive audience. Overall I would rate the experience a 6 on a scale of 1 - 10. I would not take the trip again as it really didn't provide the opportunity to spend much time at the islands. Thye cost is the reson to take the cruise as food, room and transportation would be 2 times the cost of the cruise.

This was our 4th trip with NCL, our 3rd on the Norwegian Wind. Food quality and service has slightly declined from the last trip on the Wind, but still far better than both on the Pride of America. During port days, not sufficient program on board of ship. The chocolate buffet was badly organized, with waiting time of over 40 minutes, and only 20 minutes left to eat from the buffet. This cruise has the best cost-value ratio. The pre-sailing communication with NCL was very bad. Numerous emails and calls over a 4-month period were left unanswered. What was rather upsetting for many guests was the effort of NCL to use every resource possible to make money. Selling water for $ 5 per bottle, high priced drinks, service charges/tips on top of service charges in addition to the automatic daily service charge, left a bad taste.

The Ship was so beautiful, new and modern. Lots of dining choices. Well kept, clean and easy to get around in. The only thing is this cruise needs to be 10 days so you can really spend enough time on each island. It would be worth more money and to really see enough of Hawaii.

big ship nice

The ship is new and beautiful. The crew is very friendly and helpful. It was extremely diffucult to make reservations for the specialy resturants. Buffet was OK but little variety. We have been on several NCL cruises. Every other cruise had a midnight chocolate buffet. This one did not and it was disappointing. My daughter loved the pools and water slides.

NCL made all passengers on our Airline flight carry our baggage thru the airport, down the street,and to the parking lot. This was after a 10 hour flight. The employees at the reception desk were not at all helpful in working out problems. The employees in the Photo shop were rude. The last day of the cruise, after talking to an Officer, were the best days. The dining employees were the only people that seemed to care about the guest.

Its the best way to see the Hawaiian Islands but the food is very mediocre. You end up spending a little more on the specialty restaurants because the dining room food is very ok. The atmosphere is very very casual. The show are ok. The cruise staff was very entertaining and the staff are very sweet. However, we all preferred Royal Caribean than NCL.

The dining experience on this cruise was not as good as what we experienced on our Carnival cruise, but it wasn't that bad either. Freestyle dining was a definite plus. The staff was friendly and tried really hard to meet our needs, though it seemed at times that they were either overworked or understaffed or both. This cruise had a great itinerary and was an excellent way to see the islands. There were two great bonuses that we really enjoyed: 1) After leaving Hilo, the ship slowly cruised past the island's active volcano and we got an incredible view of the lava flow at night! 2) We sailed past the Napali Coast of Kauai on the last day of our cruise and were treated to another breathtaking view. We even spotted a family of humpback whales there. Overall, a great honeymoon experience.

The ship was clean, and the service in the specialty restaurants was great. My cabin stewart was great.

The NCL Wind is and old ship but in excellent shape and very clean. The crew was always friendly and did their job in a way that made you feel they appreciated you the customer. This ship is being retired this year and it wll be a shame that spirit of this ship will be lost. This was my first cruise and I will cruise again and probably under the NCL freestyle cruising system.

The service staff was excellent. It was a older and smaller ship, and with that in mind I did not expect too much. The ports of call is what I was interested in. After looking and asking ppl that had visited Hawaii, many ppl had told me that it's pretty expensive. So I decided to take a cruise to save some money, and I believe I did considering the prices of food and drinks once we did reach ports of call. It's a good thing that the ship is going back to the "mother" cruise line to be converted into a casino cruise ship. Because compared to the newew fleet that NCL has it's a disgrace.

The ship was very nice and comfortable. Not enough under cover seating while dining at the upper deck pizzeria. Ice cream bar needed more space to adequately operate.

The ship was a beautiful vessel.. unfortunately the staff did not compliment the ships quality. 13 restuarants and 6 required additional fees. 24hr restuarant service did not exist all kitchens closed at 3am; so on st patricks day after returning to the ship no where to eat. room service only offered cold sandwiches / wraps. Activities were very limited... I understood the freestyle concept but my goodness could there have been any alternatives for people who stayed on the boat. And for those of us who spent hundreds of dollars to go on excursions as recommended by the staff only to be rained out or not have communication with the tours when they were actually cancelled was obsurd. The ship appeared to have limited inexperienced and unenthusiastic staff and you could fell every moment of it.

The lay-out of the ship was very good. The kiddie pool was well used by some of the youngest in our group. And, the large pool with the music closeby was just great. We held ping pong tournaments! And, "tea" was held by some of the oldesters with the 10/11 year olds. The days were spent touring the Islands, mostly, but we were all happy to be back aboard the Pride of Hawaii for the evenings.

Beautiful new ship with many luxuries! We both enjoyed the entertainment and foods offered. I would definitely do this again maybe a different ship company. Everyone told us this was not the best of the cruise experiences as far as service but I find most of these people complainers. I don't have anything to compare it to but really enjoyed what we got!

free-style eating should not mean waiting an hour to be seated and then another hour for your dinner. The boat was extremely short staffed and you felt it!! There were not enough activities for people who chose not to get off the boat. At lunch and dinner. unless you purchase a soda/drink card all they will offer you is UNSWEETENED ice tea or water. At the ice cream machine you had to dig into the box of cones toget one!! Talk about unsanitary!!! PLEASE BUY A CONE DISPENSER!!! The empolyees are young and not knowledgable about simple things like describing an item on the dinner menu. Best thing on the boat is the room service staff. GOOD LUCK!!

The crew was very friendly and helpful. our room was always clean. The food was good but service was slow.

Service was excellent, better than other cruise lines we've been on. Food was very good, nice variety. My husband liked the ice cream bar every afternoon. Entertainment was lacking, but didn't bother us too much since we were dealing with medical issues ourselves and were happy to sit and read most of the day. Mostly an older crowd, so young active people would have been bored. We renewed our wedding vows (after 30 years) and they did an excellent job arranging that. The captain was friendly.

Ship was well appointed, plenty of public rooms, variety of good restaurants.