Overall, it was a wonderful cruise. We do feel that NCL's Pride of America was overpriced as compared to some of the other NCL cruises. This was our 4th cruise with NCL.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
no flower leis (have read that other cruises did receive flower leis)
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Aloha bar only had one bartender with many customers, while other bars had multiple bartenders, causing long waits at Aloha bar
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
limited activities available
Entertainment
1 out of 5
virtually no on-stage entertainment. One piano bar singer was very good. Atrium singer was mediocre at best.
Children's Programs
no children with us
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
stateroom steward did a satisfactory job for the most part.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
2 out of 5
smallest balcony cabin we've experienced on NCL (4th NCL cruise). Constant sewage smell that was reported by other passengers as well. We asked for extra pillow which we did get, and a mattress topper to cover separation of beds which we did not get.
Ship tip
don't expect ship to offer similar experience as other NCL cruises.
We did private tours. NCL stated that volcano national park tour did not include the lava tubes and that transportation was a 50 passenger tour bus. When we questioned NCL via phone why they did not do the lava tubes, we were told by NCL representative that no tours did lava tubes because it was too dangerous. We researched private tours, most of which did do lava tubes and we chose one that offered a 22 passenger van which included lave tubes, a more in depth experience, and noticed that their lava tube parking lot had no buses parked, therefore we believe it was a tour bus parking issue, not because it was dangerous, and it was cheaper than NCL's cruise tour.
Weather conditions were predicted to be high surf in afternoon, so we did not tender and proceeded to sail towards Kauai with a narrated tour of a local islands (narration sound was of poor quality on outside decks. NCL submarine excursion was canceled
In regard to the pricing compared to other NCL, True. Reasons include fuel and food supplues cost twice as muxh as closest supplies cone from 2400 miles, Jones Act costs for getting suplies, only US flag requiring wages and benefits way aboce other ships. But the cruise and Hawaii are wonderful. Done it 6 times. Leis and flowers were hard to get because of May 1st Lei Day, proms and grad events and supply shortage.
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