Pride of America Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I liked the cruise because we got to visit several of the Hawaiin islands with the convenience of a floating hotel.  The food including specialty restaurants was great. Overall the cruise was great fun, the ship was well maintained, the island and ocean scenery was terrific (we got up early several days to watch the sun rise) and we plan to cruise again, probably with Norwegian.

On the negative side:

I did not enjoy the fact that several attractive entertainment options were only available late at night (10:00 PM).

Our daughter purchased the Romance Package for us. The package included in room chocolate covered strawberries on embarkation day. They were not delivered until we called to ask for them.  Also, we were to receive in room canapes and tea service on Friday but although we called on Friday  morning to schedule these, they never arrived. I had to call one of the supervisors to complain. We were given a bottle of wine in their place. Still, we were disappointed that the romance package was not delivered as promised. Poor service I thought.

Sincerely

Alan Otto

I would definitely recommend this cruise to anyone who wants a good overview of what the islands have to offer.  Good selection of excursions for seeing lots of amazing and beautiful sights.  The ship itself was ok, but not outstanding.  I guess that's what you can expect when there's no real competition allowed for other cruise lines to offer a similar trip.  Cabin was smaller and more crowded than other cruise lines we've been on, though it was clean and the cabin steward was great.  The food was only a step above mediocre but we loved all the fresh, juicy pineapple and other fresh tropical fruits available that we just don't seem to find on the mainland.

I was truly excited to go to Hawaii because I had never been there before. As recommended by a travel agent, taking a cruise was the best way too see most of Hawaii instead of flying by plane, which would be too expensive. The first day I arrived on the ship, I was so pleased with my room but that night following the entire time on the ship was a nightmare. 

As I recall, everyone upon boarding the ship had to fill out a short questionnaire regarding their physical health and I submitted the form as required. However, an elderly Japanese woman was right next door to me who was extremely ill and was coughing profusely that I was up all night. The second night was the same experience and I immediately called guest services and informed them that this woman really needs to be in a hospital and not on a cruise ship. I was told that Norwegian cannot force anyone on the ship to seek medical help. I stated clearly that this was not only wrong to ignore this problem but I was on vacation and this was also not fair to me. As a result the entire 7 days, I did not sleep and this poor woman who was ill, isolated herself in her room during the entire cruise. The cruise did have translators to visit her but the conditions remained the same. 

Also, Many of the shore excursions were early in the morning, so if I wanted to see many parts of the island I had to get up every day by 5:30am. Despite the nightmare of not being able to sleep while on my dream vacation to Hawaii, I was able somehow to see as much as I could but I am so glad to get back home and rest.

For the record, I have worked 20 years in healthcare in New York City where I live and I could never recommend Norwegian cruise line or any organization that disregards the welfare of others. I hope to return to Hawaii again but  I will never deal with Norwegian and will inform 200+ coworkers who knew about my trip to pick another cruise line.

All islands visited were were worth even more than we paid. Magnificent, especially Kauai. The ships crew are to be commended. We were only marginally bothered by the hurricanes, and I believe the crew did an admirable job.

The ship has to be rated "poor." My balcony had rust. The drawers did not slide or fit properly. We found old coffee in the pot when we first arrived. I've cruised before and always find staterooms and their bathrooms rather small, but on POA they are tiny, miniscule. We couldn't even find space for our suitcases. Announcements are made but not into the rooms. We'd here and have to go to the hallway to hear it.

The experienced wait staff was fine, but it seemed there were many "newbies" who were not sure of what to do in certain circumstances. The food selection was fairly good, and the quality excellent. The "paying" restaurants were wonderful, especially Le Bistro.

To cruise the Hawaiian islands is a dream come true, and should be done by anyone who can afford it (and I don't mean all the way from Los Angeles). However if Royal Caribbean or Princess starts up such a cruise, go with them.

The room was very small and we had a water leak and the carpet was soaking wet the first day we arrived. The leak was coming out of the room next to our room.Nobody was in that room due to the leak.They did put us in a different cabin. The food was good.I like the dinning times and you can go anywhere to eat.The entertainment was average and fun to participate in.Carnival had more of beter shows and entertainment.

Our family of six people all loved this cruise!  We have 1 teenager and 3 college age kids and NCL did exceptionally well in getting these age groups together to meet other kids and engage in fun activities (challenging in the 18-20 age group).  We have sailed on over 10 cruises, this our first NCL, and we chose this because of the Hawaiian itinerary.  The food was much better than the three other lines we have been on.  We thought the Cadillac Diner which offers a variety of choices for 24 hour dining was a nice option that others didn't have. The Pride of America staff were very friendly and efficient, and two of them went above and beyond and sent champagne and strawberries and wine and strawberries to our stateroom - one because he liked my commitment to the white party and the other because he found out it was our 25th anniversary.  This cruiseline did not "push" the drinks, pictures, and other extras, like we have found other lines to do. It did seem to be a little more quiet than we liked at night and the shops/photo studios/buffet line all seemed to close too early for our liking.  There really was not a central gathering place where you would go if you wanted to be around lots of people.  We appreciated the greetings we received returning to the ship at each of the ports of call, with music and NCL staff handing out water and cold cloths.  The frozen grapes on skewers and popsicles they passed out at the pool added a special touch too!  Cruising on Pride of America is definitely the best way to see the 4 major islands without the hassles of packing and unpacking and dealing with the airport.  We met the captain during the photo shoot and he was exceptionally friendly and seemed to really be interested in "our story".  I did not particulary like the freestyle dining because our kids all wanted to eat at different times.  On other cruises that did not have this option, we always ate dinner at our set time and got to know our waiters and the other cruisers who were seated at tables near us. I do want to try an NCL Caribbean cruise so I can compare to the other lines we have been on since Hawaii is a very unique itinerary being at ports every day.  I would highly recommend this cruise to anyone and everyone visiting Hawaii - you really should experience several islands and this is unquestionably the best way to do that!  We hope to do this again someday!!

Great staff. Very attentive to our needs and wants.  Top notch entertainment all around the ship. We were very well "taken care of" on our day trips and with our transfers.

Very Dissappointed... This was my husband and I sixth cruise and I was expecting it to be the best cruise ever. Maybe I was expecting more than I should but this was our first time on Norwegian and our last. First this was the most expensive cruise we have taken and to start my comforter on my bed was torn, my side of the bed had a dip in the mattress and had stains on it. The balcony room we had was spacious but right below were the emergency boats so they blocked the water view close to the boat not really that big of a deal but worth mentioning. Just make sure you are not on the 8th floor. Food was ok but if you are looking for coffee after 9pm you won't find coffee and cream at the same station it was always hide and go seek for one or the other. Staff were the most unfriendly bunch I have ever seen. No one would say a word to you. My husband would always say hi or how are you just so get staff to say something. The ship was also not as clean as other ships I have been on with other cruise lines. The elevators had mirrors on all three walls and they had the same smudges in them the whole time we were on the cruise. Common area bathrooms were never clean. The shows were unbearable my husband fell asleep in two of the shows and the last show we went to I got up and walked out it was so bad I was not going to waste another minute in there. One of the things I disliked was the fact that at the few shows we went to they were bad mouthing Carnival Cruise Line and I just thought that was unprofessional of them to do so. Some of the best cruises we have been on were with Carnival.  We spent most of our time with our friends at the outside bar at the back of the boat where we enertained ourselves. Other than the shows there were not alot of activities on this ship compare to others. NCL does have the best itinerary and the ports are the best. Excursions are expensive but can be found off the ship for a fraction of NCL'S price. We had a good time because we make the best of what we have and we had our friends to spend time with. This would not be a cruise I would ever take again nor would I refer my friends and family to take this cruise. If you can deal with all the things I mentioned above take this cruise if not pick an island and spend as must of your time there. That is what I plan to do on our next trip to Hawaii. As far as our next cruise we will be sailing with Carnival.

We enjoyed cruising to all of the islands what a wonderful way to see them all. The food was good but there could have been more of a variety for breakfast. The entertainment was not good. The performers could not sing. Would I recommend the cruise to others yes I would. Staff was kind, the ship was clean but the excursions were a little costly. Overall, we enjoyed the trip. Thanks for the memories!

This was our second Hawaiian cruise on Norwegian and our third trip to the islands. We had cruised the islands on a different Norwegian ship a number of years prior to Norwegian's acquisition of the Pride. The unique nature of a US-flagged ship allows for more time in Hawaiian waters and subsequently longer port stays which is what prompted us to book this cruise. Additionally, we have 2 young children so we thought a cruise would be a good way to introduce the kids to Hawaii.

As far as the ship is concerned, the overall appearance and common areas were nice enough. Elevators were a bit small especially considering the number of passengers. I did not like the all-American decor present throughout the ship versus the primarily Polynesian influence and decor we experienced on our prior Hawaiian cruise. The pools were relatively small and the toddler pool was miniscule. The cabins were a bit smaller than I expected and smaller than I have stayed in on previous cruises looking at a comparable category of cabin. Additionally, the cabin space and storage was not as well laid out as I have seen on other ships - more of an issue for us since there were four of us travelling together. The bars and lounges were adequate although most closed a little earlier than I would have liked. The fitness center was sufficient for my needs and was uncrowded at night when I used it.

Food was a bit disappointing. The buffet was adequate for breakfast, so-so for lunch and disappointing for dinner. The main dining areas were mediocre at best and the menu varied very little day-to-day. Each night there were perhaps one or two new appetizer and entree choices and a "regional" specialty however, "regional" did not mean Hawaiian/Polynesian, but was simply whichever type of cuisine they chose to prepare for the night. Having recently returned from a cruise on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, we found the food on this cruise disappointing.

Service in the main dining rooms was okay although at times the staff was less attentive than they could be and on more than one occasion I felt as if I was being rushed out of dinner. Our cabin attendant was excellent - the room was always clean, ice always refilled and we never wanted for anything in our stateroom. Outside of these areas, I found the staff as a whole relatively inattentive and less than helpful. Restaurant staff seemed poorly trained, tables were not bussed efficently and you could overhear various staff members  complaining about their assigned duties which is something that I have never experienced on any other ship I've cruised on. Staff members would almost never ask if you needed anything let alone be proactive at providing missing items or other forms of assistance. To illustrate my point, I attempted to schedule a reservation for dinner in one of the dining halls and was told by a gentleman in guest services that I could not schedule reservations after 5 PM. I then walked down the hall to the dining room where the woman working the dining room was able to place a reservation for dinner. At no point did the gentleman in guest services tell me I could go to the dining hall to schedule, nor did he offer to call the dining room to allow me to place a reservation - a little thing but something that speaks to the level of customer service experienced throughout this cruise.

"Freestyle dining" - in theory a good idea and in fact, on our previous Norwegian cruise, it was implemented quite well. On this cruise, if you didn't have reservations for dinner you could expect to wait for anywhere from 15-45 minutes unless you went to dinner very early (5-5:30). I attempted to make reservations every night of the cruise only to be told each and every time that there were no reservations in any of the main dining halls until 8:15 PM which is too late for young children. So invariably, we ended up going to the dining room and waiting, something which is also not easy with young kids. In addition, since we had travelled with another couple and their children (8 total) we had to sit at separate tables a few nights to avoid a very long wait. Meanwhile, upon being seated, we noted that at least a quarter of the dining tables were empty each night. I am unsure whether some of these tables were awaiting a reserved party or whether there was just not enough staff to service the tables. I have to assume that many people must have scheduled reservations for dinner each and every night upon boarding the cruise which defeats the purpose of freestyle dining. In my opinion, if you are going to advertise freestyle dining, you should not allow reservations or at least not for smaller parties of 4-6 people.

As far as ship entertainment, there is no casino since gambling is illegal in Hawaii and the ship does not leave Hawaiian waters. The evening shows were not something that appealed to either my wife or myself and certainly nothing for my kids so we typically had dinner and drinks and then bed for my wife and kids and off to the fitness center for myself.

Ports-of-Call/ Itinerary - This is the real reason to take this cruise. The Hawaiian islands are beautiful and there was a good amount of time in each port to experience each island. Having been on the islands before, we were familiar with the activities and sights so we rented a car at each port so that we could tour the islands on our own. As such, we did not participate in any shore excursions.

Overall, the cruise is a very efficient way to see the islands.  The value of only unpacking once was worth a lot me us.  

The meals on the ship exceeded my expectations.  We paid for premium resturant options twice on the cruise and thought it was worth the money each time.

The biggest disappointment was the overall cleanliness of the ship.  It only stands to reason that four hours between cruises is not enough time to give the ship a deep cleaning.  The carpets were always dirty throughout the ship, especailly the staircases.  There was a thick layer of dust on the top of our bedroom cabnetry.  We had one maintenance issue (slow shower drain) that was quickly repaired.

Overall, it was an acceptable amount of disappointment verus the value and ease of travel.

You get top honors when it comes to your service and staff.  They realy tried hard to fulfill each and every whim.  When we had a problem with our room your head supervisor Rudell was fantastic in responding to our complaint.

The food in the higher end restaurants was wonderful.  Food elsewhere was as expected, very good.  

The Hawaiian islands were magnificent, each on has it's own rewards.

We have just one complaint.  We realize due to legalities you can't have Gambling on your ship.  We were looking forward to Bingo but it was a major disapoiintment.  The prizes you were offering were a joke!  T-Shirts R U kidding???Did you notice how few people attended?

Overall a beautiful trip and experience.  We would definitely consider NCL once more.

Sincerely, Jim and Barbara Traina

The ship - the service - the FOOD - amazing! Superb!!!  I hated to leave.  I would recommend this trip 200% Thank you /Norwegian for the trip of a lifetime! We even slept perfect.....thank you, thank you, thank you!  We have been on a Carnival cruise before and enjoyed it but this was definitely a large step up to a whole new level of comfort and enjoyment!

The main reason that I decided to take this cruise was the convenience of visiting the major islands without the hassle of making my own transportation and lodging arrangements plus being able to travel to each island overnight, therefore not wasting any precious daytime for travel. As far as this goes, this cruise was great. In regards to the rest of the experience onboard, it was just OK. This was my second cruise on Norwegian, and again I only chose Norwegian for the itinerary of this cruise. The stateroom was cramped for 3 adults (buyer beware--the same category of cabin is not comparable to the same on another Norwegian ship, nor is the amount of obstruction with an obstructed view), although it was clean and the beds were comfortable. The room steward kept us supplied with clean towels twice daily, but the ice in the ice bucket was only replaced once a day and was usually melted by the time we returned to the cabin at night. The ship did supply beach towels that you could take off the ship which was a nice surprise! The ship itself was nice and clean. This crew was not as obsessive about cleanliness and sanitizing as our previous Norwegian cruise which was worrisome to some degree, especially when it came to cleaning the tables in the buffet. Don't choose Norwegian and expect good food. The food is only average to mediocre. We didn't eat at any specialty restaurants as I refuse to pay extra for meals on a cruise! We ate all breakfasts in the Aloha Cafe buffet to save time, although it was very crowded. We ate several evening meals in the more casual main dining room (Skyline) and once in the Cadillac Diner. Meal service was slow in both venues and we got very little attention from the wait staff other than taking our orders and bringing our food. Again, don't expect much from the food. We enjoyed the little bit of Hawaiian cultural information that we got from the few activities we were able to attend. I wish the lei-making classes had been scheduled a little bit later in the day as we were only able to make it back to the ship for one of them. The best entertainment, by far, was the "Oh, What a Night Tribute". It was fabulous! If you ever get a chance to see this anywhere, do it! If this is your first time to the islands, I strongly encourage you to take tours either sponsored by Norwegian or other vendors. They were reasonably priced considering and were well worth it. Again, if you want to see a bit of the main islands, I would recommend this cruise for that reason alone. Just don't have too high of expectations for the rest.

The  trip was both exciting and econonmical. The ship was beautiful and the crew was very accomodating to all our needs . The dining was comfortable and the food was excelent.  Thss hows were top quality and scheduled so  all passengers  could be accomodated,

  We took advantage of several on shore excursions and they were very enjoyable . the boarding and disembarking were simple and quick .

An Excellent Experience ! 

This is the second time that we went on a cruise in Hawaii. This time we did on the Pride of America which is supposed to be a bigger ship than the orignal NCL Pride of Aloha. But I honestly didn't see much difference between them.

The three big things for me on this cruise were:

1. You spend only about 10 hours in some of the cities. You dock at 8am and depart at 5:30pm in Kona (one of the most beautiful cities in Hawaii). The same happens in Hilo. In Kawaii you spend two days, but on the second day you leave at 1:30pm, so it is a very short day as well. In my opinion the days should be divided a little bit better to give us more time to visit the islands. You don't really want to wake up at 7am, have breakfast at 7:30am and leave the ship at 8am everyday in order to enjoy your stay. In my opinion it would be better if they dock at 9:30am and leave at 7pm. 

2. The restaurants are good, but not as good as they advirtise. During the cruise we wanted to visit all the restaurants that they had available. The complamentary breakfast buffet (Aloha Cafe) has the same food for ALL the 7 days. By the 3rd day I was already sick of the smell of it... The menu should definitely change during the cruise! The Moderno Brazilian Steakhouse is NOTHING close to a traditional Brazilian restaurant. The meat is not cooked the right way, they are not seasoned the right way - simply horrible experience if you ever visited any other Brazilian Steakhouse in your life. The Italian restaurant (Cucina) in my opinion can be graded B- for their good service and amazing views. The booths are right at the windows, so you sit down and eat enjoying the ocean view - that's a plus. But the food is very much compared to Olive Garden. It's Italian, but definitely not a 4-star Italian restaurant as they promote on the flyers. The other restaurant that we paid extra for it was the American Steakhouse that is supposed to be the best restaurant in the ship. You pay $30 per person to have a 4 course meal. It is a great deal, but the service was horrible. I literally had to wait 90 minutes to have my meal. They served bread and my appetizers came after 25min after being sitted, and our main meal 60min after that - we placed the order all together when we first walked in.

But the meat was really tender and well seasoned. So the food itself was great - but be ready to wait a long time on this restaurant...

3. Our bedroom was a too small. We rented a Balcony room for this cruise thinking that it would be better than the window room that we stayed at the Pride of Aloha. But the only difference is the balcony itself. The bathroom is the same size - SMALL! The bed is still two twin beds that they put together for couples, so there is like a gap in the middle - so uncomfortable!! So don't expect much for the rooms. They are small!

We could not have experienced so much in seven days had it no been for the Pride of America.  They did the "driving" for us getting us to four different ports which were both similar and unique.

Very nice ship with all the amenities.  People were very caring and helpful.  Food was great.  No complaints with that.  Clean and neat.  Rooms were always promptly cleaned and the stewards were great. 

We were  disappointed in this Cruise .We have been on 14 and this was the worst .The food and Luau was terrible We went in 1998 and it was better ,the Luau was on the beach and much better.Also, we were celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary and got no recognition.I stated several times that we would celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary.On other cruises we had champagne or chocolate covered stawberries in our state room.We went on NCL to Alaska and loved it .Highly disappointed in Hawaii.Would not go back.Excurisions too expensive.

After a visiting Hawaii in 1955 as a member of the US Air Force, I always kept the dream of returning some day again. This dream became real 59 years later when I recently had the great satisfaction of becoming part of this Norwegian cruise in the Pride of America with my wife and daughter. This is another great experience of traveling with this company since ten years ago, we had the satisfaction of visiting the Baltic Capitals in the Norwegian Dream.

Traveling with Norwegian has been, not not only fun, enjoyment and safety, but also all attentions and cordiality to our requests from all the crew members.

Thank you for everything.