Pride of America Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The hawaii ports we're wonderful  !!! The rusty ship & poor customers service !!! Entertainment was poor !!!! The balcony door was hard too open  !!! The room attendant pop the sheets!!!! Rust all around the ship  !!! Poor maintenance  !!! Never again will I step on this ship !!!!!

it was a great itinerary but the food and entertainment weren't so good. We still had a great time on our excursions and you make your trip what you want, we chose to have fun and we did! Staff were nice, boat was refurbished in 2016 but not all of it. The shower was very small but balcony room was ok and had enough storage space for 2.

This was our first trip to Hawaii and we wanted to experience as much of it as possible.  We took the cruise out of Honolulu after spending a few days on Waikiki Beach and spent another couple days on the north shore afterward to get a good feel for Oahu.  Seeing the rest of the major islands without the need to pack/unpack is definitely a convenience.  Our balcony cabin was clean and comfortable and the steward service was outstanding.  We did a mix of tours both through the ship and on our own and pretty much enjoyed everything although I wouldn't do the bus tour to Waimea canyon through NCL again.  Look for a small group tour that can get you to more places than their tour bus.  The beautiful canyon itself wasn't the issue but we spent more time on this tour at gift shops.  The entertainment on the cruise was pretty good and diverse although there is no casino on this ship due to Hawaii law I assume.  The public areas of the ship were clean and well maintained if a bit too chilly for my wife's taste.  I did hear of an incident where maintenance personnel were sanding a deck rail near the children's pool on a windy morning resulting in fine particulates spreading across the water while kids were in it.  A complaint by a concerned parent immediately halted the work but that shouldn't have been needed.

My biggest disappointment was really about food and drink.  Naturally, I expect to pay ball park prices for drinks and was not surprised in this regard.  However, running out of their draft IPA halfway through the trip seemed like poor planning on their part.  The increasing use of "specialty" extra charge restaurants is seemingly being encouraged by the cruise line through the declining quality of their overall food options.  While a good burger could be had at the Cadillac Diner, a 24/7 no surcharge small restaurant with a limited menu, they were routinely overdone at the regular grilling stations.  While no one is going to starve on a cruise, the buffet dining is mediocre at best whatever meal you choose.  The restaurant food is better by a good bit, but service was only so so.  This isn't my first NCL cruise and I have also experienced cruises with four other companies.  This was by a good bit the worst I have yet experienced and was significantly worse than an NCL trip a few years back in the western Caribbean.  Prior to this trip I would have said that a highlight of the cruise experience was dining.  That wasn't the case on this trip.  Unfortunately, it wasn't just the quality of the food which as I said wasn't bad in the restaurants.  On a couple of occasions we sat in a less than half full bar for longer than 10 minutes while staff conversed waiting for attention.  I guess when the 18% gratuity is automatic and the staff are predominantly American this is to be expected, but it is not what I have come to expect when cruising.   The limited cruising options in Hawaii still make this a very desirable and enjoyable cruise the islands are beautiful.  Just don't compare the on board experience to any other cruise you have taken and you won't be disappointed.

It is hard to say what I loved most about the cruise, I loved sitting out on our balcony listening to the ship go through the water, I loved the buffet and was sorry I did not discover the Asian food earlier, I loved the Liberty Restaurant and our favorite waiter, David Main.  I loved sitting at the bar on the fifth floor, ordering the special of the day, I loved walking into our cabin at the end of the day finding a neat towel sculpture sitting on our bed.  The cruise was a great way to visit the Hawaiian Islands.  Everything was so well organized and well thought out.

It was nice to spend more time in each of the ports compared to most cruises.

Food was plentiful but not outstanding. 

Food on Buffet not hot enough and restaurant choices limited unless you wanted to pay extra

Entertainment was excellent.

I have no criticism of any part of our cruise.  The suite was fantastic, as well as our butler and cabin steward, Deck plans were easy to follow..

We ate as V.I.P.'s in your high end restaurants as well as your regular dining rooms and the food was exceptional.   The entertainment aboard was top notch as well as the various activities.

My wife and I attended an on board art art auction and purchased three painting at  very reasonable prices.

Thank you for providing us with such wonderful memories,

Marc J. Sapers 

Some of the cruise directors staff was amazing with the activities and shows they provided. The wait staff wanted nothing to do with you unless you were buying alcohol. An area of the ship smelt of urine and feces constantly. Would tell everyone not to travel Norwegian. Bought my tickets on cheap cruises thought it included everything but was charged 80.00 per person for additional gratuity on board the ship $14.95 per person per day. 1 star because they would not let me leave it blank.

The excursions where awesome! There was so much to do we left the ship first thing and arrived at end of day. When we where on the ship the dinning was great! Especially the extra dinning. The entertainment was also excellent. Didn't do much else on the ship. One of the best parts of the cruise was when the ship, at night, turned out the lights and went by the lava pouring into the ocean. It was not expected!  

Cheaper to just stay on one island and rent a comdo. Shore excursions are overpriced. Food was average. Service was mostly good but many of the workers seem very tired. 

The ports. 

The food could beetter. Bacon was very greasy and most times undercooked. Selections of meat was not the best most of the time. 

I would recommend this cruise for people people who are interested in visiting all of the islands. Wish more time was spent on the big island and less on Maui

cabin and balcony were not the best I have had. Overhang caused taking pictures difficult at times

One of the excursions we had booked got cancelled the morning we arrived in port due to weather, but we were able to book another tour and it was spectacular - crater hike; our tour guide was wonderful as well and threw in some bonus sights including a waterfall.

The Pride of America sailed to the other side of the island so we could see the volcano irrupting into the ocean - it was spectacular. 

This was our 2nd cruise (both on Norwegian) and it was wonderful - the staff are so great and took excellent care of us.

We can't wait for our next cruise aboard Norwegian!

The venue..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

NINE OUT OF TEN CREW MEMBERS COULD CARE LESS IF YOU WERE THERE.   ROOMS WERE DIRTY & THEY WERE SLOW TO RESPOND TO FIX PROBLEMS.  THE FOOD WAS OK BUT NOTHING OUTSTANDING EVEN IN THE SPECIALTY RESTAURANTS.   THE SHOWS WERE GREAT ESPECIALLY THE COMEDIAN!  I GUESS SINCE NORWEGIAN HAS A MONOPOLY THEY DON'T HAVE TO MAKE YOU WANT TO CRUISE WITH THEM.    THE ISLANDS WERE BEAUTIFUL & WELCOMING.  WE USED ROBERTS HAWAII TOURS THEY WERE TOP NOTCH!

We had a great time. The ship was always clean and the crew friendly. Meals were wonderful and always plenty to eat. The tours were outstanding. We had great weather all the time.

Our only reason to cruise Norwegian was the itinerary (7 day round trip out of Honolulu).

The onboard (pool side) entertainment was very loud, as was the dining experience in the Skyline restaurant. As a result, we ate in the buffet all but once. The food was OK but not great...minimal salad bar.

It seemed that Norwegian is trying to appeal to a younger crowd. Overall, we'll not likely cruise with Norwegian again. We feel that there is better value with other cruise lines.

Absent the beautiful ship, the great ports and activities on and off the cruise ship. The members of the NCL family make being a passenger a wonderful experience. The entertainment and caliber of the team members are second to none!! My experience on other cruises were fun and filled with great memories however this specific bunch of folks who are at your ready on this ship are there to make sure you have a a fantastic time and an opportunity to make new friends!! I am going to do this cruise again and again because it was that kind of good.

Hawaii is beautiful and there is no better way to see it than with the NCL Pride of America!!! The shore exclusions were excellent with very knowledgeable tour guides. The cruise ship was nice, the food was great and the staff exceptional!

I would highly recommend this tour.It is a great way to see 4 islands.The food was good and the staff was friendly.

There were a couple of unexpected things that we saw on the cruise.Those were the volcano erupting and the Napoli coast.

This cruise is a good way to see the islands.  Very comfortable cabins, lots of onboard activities, and extremely attentive staff. The food could use some work. The prepaid restaurants have basically the same menu. The cafeteria offers more choices but after I walked in and saw a poor little roasted baby pig, I skipped it all together. 

I bought this cruise for the opportunity to see the various Hawaiian islands.  It was effective for that.  However, you're getting half of the value of the cruise (compared to a similar length caribbean cruise) for twice the price.  The cruise ship itself and entertainment aren't that great (probably because you're at port a lot, which is a great thing); but you're getting less value from NCL itself and they're jacking up the price just because you are in Hawaii.  If I were to do it again I would just get hotels and flights/ferries to see the various islands.