Hawaii is magical
Pride of America Cruise Review to Hawaii
7 Night Hawaii (Honolulu Roundtrip)
Sail date: May 27, 2017
Ship: Pride of America
Cabin type: Suite
Cabin number: 8500
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
The best part of this cruise for me was the Big Island. Volcano National Park was amazing and had active lava flow while we were there. Kona was incredible. Sea turtles were everywhere while driving and stopping on the side of the road to explore the black lava coast. Please know that when you get to Kona you will need to be tendered into port so allow extra time. My advice is to get off early and walk over to Lava Java for breakfast. Great food at an open air, on the coast restaurant with a live musician playing a Ukolele. Then head over to Fun in the Sun Rentalz and rent mopeds to cruise Kona. It's pretty inexpensive and great service and they offer military discounts. You can also rent snorkel gear here too for $5. Then moped over to Kahalu'u Beach Park for some excellent snorkeling... for free. My son had curious sea turtles swimming right up to him.
The cruise ship itself was fine. It's basically a floating hotel. You don't really spend much time aboard. There was one night that we went to a magic show and it was pretty good. The musicians were cruise ship standard. The bartenders at the Waikiki Bar are pretty entertaining and fun. If you are a smoker, you will get to know them well as this is the only place you can smoke aboard. If you are heading to Hawaii on the Pride of America, say hello to Marla from Connecticut and Dave from Hawaii at the Waikiki Bar.
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Remember, you will need to get a tender ticket for a time to get off the ship in Kona. Get an early time so you can maximize your time in Kona. Go to Kona Brewing Company for lunch. The pizza is delicious! The beer is pretty ok too. ;)