Hawaii Cruise Reviews

I recently sailed on the "Pride of Hawaii." This is it's innagural year and what a lovely ship. It was easy to manuver about, lovely to look at, and clean. All of the resturants and dining rooms were beautiful and the food was fabulous. The buffet was well fitted and made getting you own meal easy and fast. No long lines. Eating out on the deck for breakfast and lunch everyday was wonderful. Booking off shore excursions was a snap as you could do it via your TV in your room or go to the desk. Both were quick and convient. The excursion staff was amazingly informed and helpful! Our statemroom, while typically small, was comfortable and very pretty. The bathroom was remakably well fitted and the shower was fantastic! This was my first time with "Free Style" crusing and I really enjoyed it. Being able to come and go as you pleased was very appealing. The built in daily service charge was wonderful, no more figuring out tips at the end of the cruise. The staff, of course, was very good at meeting my needs. All I had to do was ask.

Although we were disappointed with the dinning situation I would still recommend the cruise because we were able to see and do more than we would have had we gone out on our own. Everything else was superb.

Decent, the spa was weak but fitness facility was very handy. Pool and Basket ball courts seemed to get a lot of use. Food was ok, nothing to die for but I think the staffing (with the exception of a few that liked their jobs).

We went on another Hawaiian Cruise and bragged so much about it, that my parents wanted to spend their 50th Anniversary on a Hawaiian Cruise. We had three adults in our room and asked ahead of time for a large bed and small bed on the floor (my daughter has RA) didn't get it, went to the front desk and the girl didn't want to help us out just said everythings booked, I'll put you on the list. I said I would even purchase a separate room for her, nope booked up. A friend of ours just complained about his room and got an upgrade. The food, if you didn't pay extra for a sit down meal, you had buffet or you had to call way ahead to get a reservation in a decent restaurant or eat at nine o'clock at night. It was like a feeding trough. They didn't tell you until you were on the ship that each person is charge $10.00 a day for each day for tipping, well compared to how we tipped on our last cruises they didn't get much, for the fact that I'm not going to be told how to tip. Our bathroom was always out of towels and /washcloths, we had to hunt someone down most of the time when we wanted to take a shower. Bed on top was only made twice on a seven day cruise. Everytime we booked an excursion it was like they show on T.V. cattle going here, cattle going there and you know that the cruise ship and excursions were in business with each other. No one came to meet us when we got off the airplane to take us to the ship, don't they care if people show up or not, we had to pay $45.00 to get from the airport about 4 miles away to the ship, people don't automaticley know what to do when they get off the plane. Last time we went on a ship, it was so relaxing, not rush, rush, rush, we wanted to get away from that world. If you want to do everything yourself then this cruise is for you. No personality, no welcome feeling, let's hurry up and get you through this cuz we got another one coming through. My daughter fell in the buffet-cafe because there was gravy on the floor and she slipped, another passenger helped her out, then a wait staff person alerted security , she said she was alright but her wrist hurt so we took her down stairs, the nurse and doctor took very good care of her then security came down and took pictures of her shoes all we wanted was to make sure she was okay and they treated us like we were going to sue. It was just one thing after another, with these people.

Cabins were too small. Requests for a couch or chair in the room were denied. I have had better food on other cruises. I enjoyed being there with my family in spite of my complaints.

The ship left on Sunday. Because of weather delays we joined the ship Wednesday am in Hilo. The cruiseline did nothing. They said work with the airline. United up-graded us to First Class. Because we missed the embarkation, we didn't get greeted, lei'd, or the photo op. It was just like any other port, getting on the ship, only we had to take our own bags up to Reception desk to check in. Very disappointing, seeing that we were handling our delay respectively, no drama, no blame, just happy to be there finally. But we got the "whipped dog treatment"; they sculked off in shame when we said we were just checking in. Then they gave us someone else's shipcards. The only compensation we got was for the 3 days of quarrantine - $200. [Thats $100 per person per 24-hr day in quarrantine.] Only one qualified as 24-hr: day 2 was 3 hrs shy; day 3 WAS 24-hrs, but the accounts were closed at 2am for debarkation. Wed from 6pm-Fri 3pm; Sat. 8:30am - Sun. debarkation.

The staff on the cruise were extremely friendly, however, I totally dislike the free-style dining. However, since I have been on NCL before, I knew what I was getting into. If you are a first time cruiser and are looking for a fantastic shipboard experience, I would not recommend this cruise line unless you are traveling with at least 6-8 friends. On most cruises, you get to meet and become friends with the people who sit at your table for dinner. That is such a nice feature that doesn't happen with free-style cruising. You also get to know your table waiters which also doesn't happen with free-style cruising because you never see the same person twice. The food is below par in every dining room that is free (included in the cruise price). If you want to pay the extra cover charge and eat in the speciality restaurants, the food is superb! You also have to make reservations to eat at the speciality restaurants and you can't always get a reservation when you want it. The last time I did this tour around the Hawaiian Islands, they had barbeques out by the pool, which were fun, and they had craft sessions, i.e. lei making, which wasn't available this time. Last time they also had Bingo, which wasn't available this time. They had a couple of good comedians that I enjoyed. But the musical show had a lot of technical errors, bad lighting, bad sound...not very professional. I love cruises and have been on 8 of them but I would not travel on NCL again.

Overall the ship was great. We spent most of our time onshore so we didn't indulge in too many onboard activities. The exercise room was the best we've seen. The buffet in the Aloha cafe was as good or better than Princess. We managed to make reservations at the Italian restaurant the first couple of night and that was good. Jefferson's Bistro was OK. After the first several days people were standing in line at 7:30 AM for reservations so we ate in the main dining rooms after that. They were okay, not great. The steward for our cabin was fine. He made up the room while we were gone and turned down the bed when we were at dinner. Just remember to set the wheel by the door. The only problem was that we inadvertently booked a cabin with two bunk beds. These were directly over our big bed and were up against the window. We didn't have any place to sit down as most cabins did. The cabin was clean and in good condition. Fortunately we made all of our stops pretty much on time. The itinerary was great. We especially liked the cruise along the Kauai Pali on the way back to Honolulu. Beautiful scenery, lots of whales, lovely sunset. We rented a car on most islands and did our own thing. That worked out very well.

A very good cruise. I recommend you take an excursion at Kaui or else your day is lost. The beach is just fair. Old people aboard.

the ship was small then some,but no gambling was good for me but maybe not for some. lines were always due to the free style crusing but mostly not more then 15 minutes. they will take reservations for dinner which i would do if i travled with children.

A little older, but well maintianed

The ship was great. The Captain was surprisingly young, but very professional and capable. All of the service people were great. The ship was very clean. I prefer a more formal atmosphere in the dining rooms. Open seating was o.k. The policy on tipping needs revamping. I suggest, raise prices $50 to $100, don't even mention tipping, pay the employees according to their due. If I wish to tip special people, I will do so.

ncl is the worst cruise line. Our filght was delayed 4 days ncl would not help or change our cruise. We had to catch our ship on it's third day We mised two nights pre hotel they would not change it two the end for us. Cruises only could not help and ncl just said to bad. We have travel insurance and they said we had to try to catch our ship because you can only get 1,000 per person for a delay. Save your money fly to hawaii it is easy to get from island to island on your own. I have been on many crusies and will never go ncl agian.

We found cruising the islands to be a super way to experience the different islands. We'd wake up each morning in a diferent port, have breakfast on our balcony overlooking a new and beautiful harbor, and then spend the day on ship run excursions including golf, trips to Haleakala's summit, a submarine to 130 feet below the sea surface, and many others. Shipboard entertainment was great as were the staff. The ship itself is brand new and beautiful. The only drawback was the food. Norwegian Cruise Lines advertised the cruise as Free Style meaning you could eat where and when you wished. That was not exactly true. There were three resturants where you could eat without having to pay additional money after paying for the cruise. The food was of relatively poor quality compared to other cruise lines at those three eateries. At other resturants on the ship the food was up to standard but you had to pay stiff surcharges for meals there.

The ship itself was very nice, as far as facilities. Staterooms were comparable or better than our prior cruises. Our unfavorable rating derives primarily from the evening meals, the cover charges for some restaurants, the apparent lack of training for wait staff, and inconsistent service.

VERY GOOD, OVERALL

Don't get me wrong, we had a wonderful time. The kids club was very good! The kids club staff were very nice to me and my kids. My kids loved it there. The food was soooo bland. I wasn't expecting gourmet meals, but I also was not expecting low end buffet. We were at sea and NO seafood. The 2 times we ate in the diningroom took forever. We ate at port alot, even though we had to pay for it, it was better then what they had on the ship. The ports were awesome! you may want to rent a car and go on your own. It was cheaper and alot of fun. Going past the volcano at night, is something my kids will newver forget! The ship is old and run down. carpet shows wear and linen are stained. Once again you are only in your room to sleep. So just keep that in mind. The staff was less then accomadating. We order kids packs for our kids 6 weeks before we got on ship. No one has any idea who we got them from where to pick them up or anything. At one point we were told if they a re not in your stateroom " to bad to sad". Serving staff in Dinningroom were bothered if you asked for anything... We read the reviews and were not suprised by the staff or staterooms. But the kids club and ports were way better then expected!!!

A great way to see so much in a relaxing atmosphere.

Overall a pleasent cruise. We did see more then we expected to see. A well planned schedule with plenty of time to do what we wanted without the preasure.

The ship is well organized for entertainment and stopping points at the various islands.