Pride of America Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The trip was what we expected - fantastic views of Hawaii. We have cruised many times so it was a little different for us. This is definitely one of the best ways to view the state of Hawaii visiting many islands without having to pack and fly to another island. The entertainment was better than we expected since we were told there weren't any shows. The comedian was fantastic. The Aloha show was beautiful. The "Lights, Camera, Music" was excellent. Really enjoyed the "Oh What a Night Tribute" to the Four seasons. We ran into a few problems with our lights in our bathroom but our steward took care of the problem. We were a little disappointed with the food. We have been on other cruise lines that have been much better. Even though Freestyle dining is nice to fit into our schedules we really missed the set time to establish a relationship with a specific waiter. We had a few nights with wonderful waiters but we did experience three nights with waiters who didn't seem to take the time to make us feel at home. We did miss a casino on board but understand the state law. With visiting the 4 locations there wasn't much time "at sea" and we missed that part of a cruise. The tour personnel was helpful. The pool area was a little small for how many people the ship carried. The cost of the cruise is much higher than other cruises and the price to fly out to Hawaii really blew our budget so I highly doubt we would go again. All in all - if this is your first time to Hawaii it is a wonderful way to see all the islands without the stress of unpacking.

Having cruised with Norwegian several times we were expecting a beautifully maintained ship, great food and an efficient dining service. None of these were true. On many nights we waited 45-35 minutes before service even started, with at least a wait of 30 mins. between courses. Food was mediocre at best. Our best meals were off the ship. Our balcony stateroom, while kept clean by the cabin steward, needed attention badly, i.e. the rail on the balcony needed to be revarnished, The rug on the balcony was old and dirty. Over the years we have been on 15 cruises and have never comments like these.

The cruise was great! The "Pride of America" staff were very friendly and provided excellent service. This is a great way to see the islands and spend time on the shore excursions. Recommend you go snorkeling off one of the islands!

The cruise was overall quite disappointing. It is clear that Norweigan is abusing the monopoly situation they are locked in and are not investing in neither the infrastructures nor the service. Needless to say that the Hawaiian islands are charming but even this did not seem enough to distract us from the cruise line shortcomings. Infrastructures The cabins are in need of a lot of maintenance. Out of the 4 cabins we had 3 had defective safes. The toilet was malfunctioning in one of them and there were a lot of rust patches in the bathrooms and balconies. Room service: The linens were not changed in neither our cabin not those of other family members. Our soap dispenser ran out of soap and shower gel and it took a day until this was noticed and replaced. Dining Service: Slow...irritatingly slow and some days the food itself was mediocre at best in the main dining rooms. At the Aloha cafe the food was often better but don't expect the empty plates to be removed fast enough. The itinerary: Excellent itinerary and good (but definitely overpriced) shore excursion. We did a few with a competing company called Roberts Hawaii that were certainly better and less expensive than those of NCL. This cruise was our 15th and certainly one of the most expensive. We were disappointing to see corporate monopoly decisions ruin small yet irritating details of what could have otherwise been a perfect cruise.

I have been on many cruises. This ship was mediocre at best, service in most free restaurants was really bad.. The ones you pay extra for were great. why should I pay extra for what I should already be getting. The photographers were rude and didn't do a very good job. The restrooms on the main floors were out of service 80% of the time.. There were staff members just sitting around wandering around on deck smoking.. Just not very professional.. Stopping at all the islands was great.. The rest , Not so great..

Pride of America is a wonderful ship. Very clean and well run. The dining experiance was not as good as I expected as some of the meals were disappointing. The buffet dining was just as good as the sit down dining rooms. The shore excursions are expensive and they seemed to be more interested in sales than making sure you could do the excursion. We had to discontinue an excursion as my mother could not physically handle it despite repeated assurances from our advisor that she should be able to handle it. Overall though, a woderful experiance.

I did not feel that.this cruise was worth the money, that they charge. The food did not meet expectations. I would not recommend this NCL to anyone.

The cruise was generally very good kind of a rocky ship most people on the cruise were very polite when the outbreak of the many outbreak of the virus broke out I became very nervous I was very upset when it took over two days just get a toilet working

I have gone on several cruises, this was my firts with Norwegian. I loved the itinerary. Ship seemed very clean with the exception of a few of the public restrooms which if the wind was right, you would get to breathe in the unpleasant odor! Crew was nice and helpful and it was nice to see a lot of Americans at work on the ship. This was my first time with the Freestyle Cruising, I liked that we could eat dinner at our convenience, but service was sometimes slow. I did miss the entertainment by the dining staff that comes with the more traditional cruising style and the efficiency of serving each part of the meal. There were not a lot of kids on this cruise (could be due to school not being out yet), which was nice, on the other hand this cruise seemed to draw a much older clientele - many seniors. We did several excursions - through Norwegian - and all were fantastic, only did one that I would most likely not recommend. Overall: I loved it and would do it again.

The cruise ship was good. It was small with very little outside activities. Food was good. Ship was clean. Service was good. The bad part....... The excursions were booked full before we could get there. Due to a very long travel, we were not able to get on the ship until late in the day and the long lines at the excursion desk made it impossible to get the "Road to Hana" excursion. I think NCL should consider reversing the cruise itinerary and have Maui the last two days. Also the Pearl Harbor excursions were all booked. We were able to arrange off-ship excursions for most of the places we wanted to see.

Our first day on board as we were about to enter our room, the steward was right out side of our room and informed us we could not use our bathroom as it was not flushing properly. Later that day it was working. The second day after our excursion when we came back to our room, the toilet would not flush once again. I called and reported it but no one came. Our neighbor knocked on our door and ask if we were having problems. So I told him yes. He said his hadn't worked all day. Since we were gone for most of the morning we weren't aware of this. They finally fixed it later that day. The dining experience was not really super either. The first night the food was great. From then on it seem to go down hill each night. The female wait staff were always in a hurry and were ready for us to hurry up and leave. The two male wait staff were much more friendly and willing to give our information. Christopher was really great and so was Jon Michael. We got great service from both of these young men and were very happy with their help. Other than these things, the cruise was really nice.

First of all let me start by saying that we are newly retired folks who enjoy being on a cruise ship. Although we have done a fair bit of East Coast travel we are always looking for a reasonably priced, clean, and updated room. We do not stay at five star hotels and eat modestly at family restaurants. With that in mind, let me begin..... We have now sailed on THREE NCL cruises and have found them to be very good!! Embarkation was a breeze and the rooms were ready very early in the day (by about 1pm) for a 7pm departure. WE arrived at the pier at about 10:30am and the porters took opur bags immediately for checkin. For the small tip involved, we avoided a line up for the regular baggage checkin, which did not open until 11am. At 11am we allowed through security and on to the registration desk to get our room keys. At noon we were able to go onboard for lunch. Very restful and unhurried!!! Our room was a balcony cabin 7034 which is right above the Mardi Gras lounge, a bit of a concern for us, BUT we never heard a sound at any time of day!!!! Great view of the Lava Flow right from our balcony!!! The restaurants offer a wide variety to suit most tastes (sorry...not the gourmets among you!!!) and of particular interest to us is the freestyle dining option wherupon one can use the Aloha Cafe (buffet style) or one of the two main dining rooms. The Cadillac Diner is open 24 hours a day.... The evening entertainment was quite good, with a very special shout out to the cat of "Oh What A Night" for any Frankie Valli fans. The main shows with the ship cast were good and the additional activities rounded out a good overall entertainment package. Since you are in PORT every day, the day time activities are much lighter than usual and because the ship does NOT enter International waters, there is no casino and the onboard shopping is quite "light". We found the staff to be friendly and quite good in their upkeep of cabins and general areas. The cruise director, Silas was very good. The wide open area found mid ship on decks 5 (registration desk etc) and 6 (Pink's Champagne Bar) provided for an excellent spot to meet and relax. During our cruise, the piano stylings of Michael Masci were EXCELLENT!!! We have found NCL to offer a very good product at reasonable prices geared to a mid level market. WE have not found them to be "party ships" with drunken fools nor stuffy and stilted like some higher end market cruise lines. For us it was a great middle balance. ENJOY. In order to see the islands either rent a car and explore on your own or "spring" for a few excursions.

The food was not good. There was not a big selection. The crew was not like on the other ships. They did not have to work for their gratuity, it was automatic. The room was so small we could'nt move.

The dining rooms did not offer the quality of food expected, and the quality of service was lacking. quanity yes, but quality, no The ship is nicely done, and very attractive. Our room was small, but we had asked for only a "guaranteed room. It was attractive, and very comfortable, just small. Staff was not as friendly as those we had incountered on numerous cruises with Royal Caribbean line. Enjoyed the entertainment, and several good classes given.

We recently cruised on the NCL ship, Pride of America , through the Hawaiian Islands. We experienced four different ports during our seven day cruise. We reserved a rental car at each port so we could explore the islands on our own and not have to worry about a group of people. Each island that we visited had a lot to offer and the cruise gave us plenty of time to explore. Sailing was at night while we were sleeping, so each morning we woke up in a new place! This was the best way to see different islands and not have to pack up your suitcases and fly to another island. It was a great cruise, food was good, and very good entertainment. Purchased drinks were expensive to buy and a "service charge" was added to each bill. It was a great way to see Hawaii for the first time.

Our cabin wndow was obstracted by small boat and can not see the ocean. If we know it is like that we can just get an inner cabin instead iit is less expensive.

This was a great way to get to get a flavor of the islands without having to pack and repack clothes and add additional travel time and expense which would have been required in island hopping. Loved the excurions wihch were offered.

Overall the Cruise itself was wonderful, but there were a few hiccups. Cruise Only did not live up to its agreement. We were promised certain benefits that were never delivered. As part of this cruise we were to be given a book of gift certificates totaling between $350-400 that were ne'er delivered, and further once the cruise was booked no followup from Cruises Only occurred to make sure everything was satisfactory. Only after the cruise are they interested, I am not sure I will use Cruises Only again. To further exacerbate these challenges, if I had a problem, I facilitated follow up which is good, but no proactive interest was given to ensure satisfaction was noted. The Cruise itself was awesome, and this helped to make up for the lack of customer service. As always NCL was great. The only criticism I have is that even though we spent over $2000 on shore excursions, we had to pay $3.00 each time we wanted a diet coke, really? Some sort of trade off with NCL, based on your on board purchases, should afford you some of these benefits, I am not suggesting free drinks like alcohol, but soft drinks. Finally, during our meeting for Shore Excursions, there was a lot of disarray in the meeting area, even so much that some of the NCL staff was rude. No one greeted us and instructed where to sit, rather relying on the speaker to repeat over and over the same instructions when people came into the room. When we sat in a wrong area, we were rudely treated on scolded that we were sitting in the wrong area as we were not with a specific tour. There was a lack of organization, which could have been addressed by someone meeting people upon their arrival.

As other reviews have stated, and correctly in my opinion, the ship, service and food leave a lot to be improved upon. But, the islands are beautiful and NCL is the only cruise line that does the islands without sailing from the mainland. I didn't expect much in line of food and the ship and I wasn't disappointed. The ship was dirty, old and small. The cabins were extremely small compared to other cruises I have been on. The cabin steward was friendly but did a horrible job cleaning the room. I had to call her supervisor to get the hair and dirt from the previous occupants cleaned out of the bathroom. I never did receive the extra bath towel I requested the first night we were out. The food was mediocre and the service was extremely slow. We got coffee with no spoons to stir it and gave up after 15 minutes and went to the Cadillac Diner. The Cadillac Diner was the exception on the ship - the food was good, the service extremely friendly and the food was delivered to your table quickly. The excursions were great and the sites to see fabulous. If you want to see the islands without sailing from the mainland NCL will get the job done. But don't expect that you will have a true cruise experience with the pampering, fabulous dining and beautiful shipboard amenities.

The best part of this cruise is the fact that the ship stops in Maui and Kaui overnite so you actually have 2 days in each port and not have to rush back to the ship. Also loved going by the volcano at night and the coastline of Kaui in the day time. The food was ok, some of it actually very good. The steaks in the main dining room were poor with no real taste. Service was good. We had heard that since the cruise was based in U.S. the staff weren't attentive which we didnt find to be true. They were slightly understaffed becuase the ship was trying to prevent the spread of a stomach virus (which my wife got anyway) so all buffets were plastic wrapped and no passagner could touch any food. It was all handed to you by waitstaff. The ship needed some updating and it is going in for refitting shortly. The shows were also medicore but we weren't there for shows, the real treat were the Hawaiian Islands.All in all it was a good time for us and I would recommend it.