Worst Ship EVER

Item: Pride of America
Rating: 2.8
Author: tmowry88

Pride of America Cruise Review to Hawaii

tmowry88

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 34

Overall rating:

2.8 out of 5

7 Night Hawaii (Honolulu Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 18, 2019

Ship: Pride of America

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 101150

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

This cruise was very poor quality and does not meet the standards of NCL. It seems like the staff have run this ship as if it was a 2 star motel. I would not recommend this ship to anyone, nor NCL. For the price of this cruise I was expecting much better service. Next time I will stick with RC and save myself a lot of money.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Embarkation was one of the easiest I have ever experienced.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

The buffet was lacking in choices for kids. The kids buffet was shut down the entire time we were on the cruise. She lived off of hot dogs and fries the full 7 days. I was very unhappy with the dining room servers. We never had to wait to be seated due to having a reservation each night, but the service was slower than I have ever experience on a cruise before. It would normally take 15 min for someone to come to the table to bring water. It would take the food about 30 min to come to the table once ordering. The servers never checked back until we were done eating and they would offer to bring the dessert menu and offer coffee. Most of the time the coffee was forgotten upon ordering and the dessert would take about to minutes to arrive to table.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

There were 2 pools on board, but one was adult only. The primary pool where my 8yr old could go was closed by 8:30 every evening. Other than splash academy there was nothing for a child to do once back on board after the day spent off the ship.

Entertainment

2 out of 5

Children's Programs

4 out of 5

My daughter loved the Splash Academy.

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

The room steward was amazing and the best I have ever had. That is where the good service stops. Most everyone from food staff to bar staff had an attitude as if they hated their jobs and could not wait to be done and off the boat. Jose at the bar on deck 13 was very rude with guest and the management staff did not care.

Ship Quality

2 out of 5

Needs a good deep cleaning.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Cabin was clean but did have a smell, but that is to be expected with any inside stateroom.

Ship tip

This ship to me does not meet the standards that other NCL cruises have. Based on this cruise alone I will never again cruise with NCL.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Honolulu, Oahu

4 out of 5

Kahului, Maui

4 out of 5

Hilo, Hawaii

4 out of 5

Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

4 out of 5

Nawiliwili, Kauai

4 out of 5

Cruise Napali Coast, Kauai

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

5 Comments

Cruisers4Lyfe 3 months ago

Thanks for sharing

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MountainMama08 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

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elsacruiser 5 years ago

We formed a group years ago and took this cruise and everyone think it’s phenomenal. Had great time on all port of calls and went snorkeling on all islands. Hawaii is beautiful and this is the best way to visit so many islands on one trip and won’t cost you so much money.

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ElizabethOregon 5 years ago

We have sailed this itinerary and it is much better than the 14 night cruises as you get more time on the islands and you don’t need to take as much time off work to go. It is sad that we too noticed the difference in being served by Americans, but still loved this cruise and highly recommend it, I’m sorry you didn’t have a good time. For other cruisers, this cruise offers long port days, take full advantage and use this only as a floating hotel, which is still less expensive than staying on island in most cases.

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CruzeFan 5 years ago

The cost of the cruise is due to the fact it is a US based ship so it can sail Roundtrip to Hawaii without visiting a foreign port as is required by the Jones Act. The cost for a US based ship is much higher than most other ships. That is why there are very few of them and most ships are licensed in Panama, the Bahamas, etc. If you sail any other ship to or from Hawaii it will likely be 15 or more days, with 9-10 of those as sea days.

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Other reviews of this sailing

Overall we enjoyed it a lot

Great Family Vacation

Definitely the way to see all of Hawaii