Great way to see the Islands

Item: Pride of America
Rating: 4.3
Author: 804JandJ

Pride of America Cruise Review

804JandJ

Contributor Level: Third Mate

82 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 37

Overall rating:

4.3 out of 5

7 Night Hawaii (Honolulu Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 02, 2019

Ship: Pride of America

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9676

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

I would call this the Buffet of Hawaii. You can try a little bit of each island and really get a feel for each. We found we didn’t like Oahu as much as Maui and Kawaii.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Embarkation was super easy. Port was not crowded. Just had a small wait to get the room keys.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Food in Le Bistro(Jefferson’s Bistro) was great. Buffet layout was very odd. I would recommend only going there is you really need something quick and don’t care about the quality.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Staff were great but they were short staffed. Maybe NCL needs to rethink their schedules in this ship to retain quality staff.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Ship was smaller than other NCL ships. There are areas you can’t easily access from the same deck. Like the liberty restaurant. They are AFT and you have to either go outside or use the AFT staircase.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Room was on the smaller side. It had plenty of storage for 2 people. You got amazing views from the balcony of the coast as you sailed by at sunset.

Ship tip

If you enjoy self guided tours grab you a rental car at some of the ports and explore. Best excursions were had this way!

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Nawiliwili, Kauai

5 out of 5

Cruise Napali Coast, Kauai

5 out of 5

Hilo, Hawaii

5 out of 5

Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

5 out of 5

Kahului, Maui

5 out of 5

Honolulu, Oahu

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

Super easy. Picked the earliest tags and my bags were waiting when I finally decided to leave. Normally we do walk off and haul or luggage down the stairs.

5 Comments

MountainMama08 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

Thumbs Up 1

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66gt350ps 4 years ago

If they add more staff, rates will go up. Only US flagged ship in the world so staff has to be 80% Citizens as well as all senior staff with US labor laws on pay and benefits. All supplies from food to fuel have to brought in from 2400 miles away. No other cruise ship anywhere has this challenge. Price of paradise but still love it.

Thumbs Up 0

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willwork4cruz 5 years ago

Glad you enjoyed the "Buffet"

Thumbs Up 0

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gzurcher 5 years ago

There are a lot of interesting things to do at Oahu if you have enough time to explore them. My daughter lives there so she showed me around. We spent a day at the Polynesian Center which was really interesting. Another day we went to a Visit Temple in the "Valley of the Temples" . It is actually a huge cemetery with sections for various faiths and religions. The temple was interesting . Saw a large shark while kayaking in a bay . Visited the USS Missouri. I would like to take the submarine ride at Waikiki. How much of this you can do will depend on how long your port of call is. (We flew there.) My daughter takes her vacations on the other Islands. She says some of them are nicer. Guess it depends on what you like!

Thumbs Up 2

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NJCruiseGuy 5 years ago

Glad you enjoyed it. Many give this ship a bad rating and don’t seem to realize the cruise is about the itinerary and not the latest / greatest ship.

Thumbs Up 2

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Other reviews of this sailing

Beautiful Hawaii

Not so pride of America