A disappointing cruise
Pride of Aloha Cruise Review to Hawaii
10 Night Hawaii (Honolulu Roundtrip)
Sail date: January 23, 2008
Ship: Pride of Aloha
Cabin type: Inside
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 16 years ago
Review summary
Before booking this cruise we had read that this is slightly smaller ship than the mega ships, that it had been redecorated but could use it again. The freestyling dining may not be for everyone and the food could be better. We were willing to accept some minor inconviences after having sailed on ships that were excellent in most of these areas ( one cruise line which had a modified freestyling dinning which was fine), but we did not expect it to be as disappointing as it was. The service in the 2 main dining rooms was most unsatifactory. More times then not, we had to wait in line for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then after waiting were given a pager to hold on to and told it would be another 20-30 minutes. ( The first time we received as pager we were told it worked in all areas of the ship-just not the staterooms. We went to a show and after 40 min returned to the DR when we had not gotten paged. They said- "Oh we were wondering what happened, we paged you" When we said it had not worked, the other staff person said it did not work in the showroom.) Sometimes we could see many empty tables in the dining room so they must not had enough wait staff and/or cook staff. Usually at all meals we had to wait a long time for each of our courses and after the main entree dishes were cleared we always waited 20-30 min before receiving our desserts. At one breakfast after we were seated we waited a good 15 min and no one came to fill our water glasses or offer us coffee, even though we could see the wait staff (6-8 talking among themselves when they should have been waiting on the passengers). We decided to get up and leave and at that time, the restaurant manager came and offer apologies. There were 3 other restaurants on board that required reservations and a cover charge ($10-15 pp). There the food was excellent when in the 2 main dining rooms it was often not very tasty. There was also a buffett on the top deck with indoor and outdoor seating. There was two different entrances and lines but different foods served on each line, so you had to stand in line with one and then if you wanted something on the other side you had to go and stand in another line. They did not provide any trays so once you received your plate and silverware, you had to find a table, set your food down and then stand in another line for drinks. Staterooms were small but acceptable except if beds put together to make a king, the person on one side had to actually climb over the end of the bed to get to the head of the bed. The bathrooms were find- in fact the shower was larger than most. Decor in the rooms and elsewhere was in the Aloha theme but very worn such as the carpet, holes in the walls. They had few activities such as exercise classes - only one yoga class and a few dance classes- about one every other day. Bingo was outside by the pool but wind was blowing so you could only hold on to once card at a time. Seminar on whales was cancelled twice. We had one unexcpected day at sea when we were not able to dock at Hilo due to high winds. They said they would add activities but other than music on deck, one bingo game and several announcements about the shopping you could do or the art auction on board, I really did not see much addition. Many little things could have been better. if you asked for mustard at the buffet at dinner time, we were told it was not available, but yet it was set out at lunch time. Asked for granola one morning when it usually was available but told they were all out. It showed up the next day and we had not docked anywhere.Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ports of call
Pros: The price for a 10 day cruise; itinerary- always in port during the day except for one planned day at sea.
Cons: The freestyling type program for meals, activities, etc
Recommends Pride of Aloha? No.
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