Pride of America Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The ship was very good overall.

The best way to visit several islands.

I had an excellent time on this cruise. It was a great value for all the sights we we able to see.

The overall staff was very distant and unconcerned about the satisfaction of the guest on the ship. Hospitality was definately not a concern, it was more like getting a cattle herd on and off and or fed. The freestyle was very disappointing, all resturant served the same menu and there were four that were included in the original price(one which only seated 34 people and you had to make request to be seated at least two hours after your arrival. The remaining resturants all required an additional charge and reservations...if you could get someone to answer the reservation line. House keeping seemed to always be behind and had little concern about caring for the guests. A better name would have been free for all rather than freestyle. If not for the ports I would rather just stayed in a hotel.

We liked that the ship went past the active volcano at night as we were leaving port and also the ship went along the Na Pali coast when leaving Kauai. Both the trips were out of the way for the ship to the next port.

The Pride Of America is a new ship, so everything was very new and clean looking. I think the gift shops could be improved. There wasn't much of a variety in products, and the prices were too high. I did enjoy the shows. The staff wasn't as friendly as they should have been, with the exception of our housekeeper who was just great. The public bathrooms on the ship were often dirty and smelly. The beach at Maui that the free shuttle took us to was terrible. The second day we payed a taxi ALOT of money to take us to the other side of the island where the beach was just beautiful. A few of the ports were very ugly and very loud. Overall, I think NCL needs to improve the staff and have more activities, especially for the kids. I don't think I'll take another cruise with NCL.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Pride of America. The staff was very friendly and helpful, even though we could tell they were working long hours. We would see staff from restaurants working other duties at various times of the day, so I know they squeeze every hour they can from their schedules. The buffet food was surprisingly better than I expected. It's hard to keep food tasting fresh and not dried out on a buffet service, but the crew did a good job of keeping it fresh by rejuvenating the dishes and replacing them when needed. They kept the service counters continually cleaned, and would hold friendly conversation when approached with questions. Specialty restaurants were overbooked, but we got in with a bit of schmoozing. There were always cancellations or no shows, so with some patience we always got a table. I was amazed at how rude the passengers could be toward crew. Evidently, many in America haven't been trained in etiquette, and haven't learn the art of the language. Sugar catches more than vinegar, yet I heard so many demanding and crass people just blasting at crew members for insignificant things. I've read other reviewers who were hard on crew members, but from what I experienced, I think much of the fault of poor communication began with passengers who are overdemanding. I listened to one lady reeming out the staff - who had answered her questions to best of their ability, and with what I thought was reason - who was simply out of control If I was a crew member, I'd have thought seriously of making her an example of sea survival and tossed her overboard. Overall, we loved the cruise - although with only two days left, my wife had a moped accident and cracked four ribs. In spite of this, she attests to the trip being grand and the experience of the ship and Hawaii well worth it!

The ship was new and pretty but we had more problems than we should have. Many of the crew members were grumpy, we did not have the service we received on previous cruises. We were treated rudely by more than one crew member. There were so many errors on the ship it got to be a joke. They advertised a sale on their jewelry (in the daily newsletter) from 4 - 8 pm. When we went to shop at 4 pm, they rudely said the sale was not until 6 pm, even 'tho' it was advertised differently they did not honor the published time. The television announcements said there was a half-price sale on the fee for the specialty restaurants from 5:30 to 6:30 but when we went to eat, we were told, sternly, that the sale was from 5:30 - 6:00 and, again, tney would not honor the price advertised on the T.V. Another example of the errors made was that they sent around a flyer about a couples event, learning how to give each other a massage. The price on the flyer was $61. We called to make a reservation and learned that the price had been printed wrong, it was $102 instead of $61. We did not go. Our T.V. did not work for 3 days, we had to call and nag and call some more to get it fixed. Many of the functions of the cruise such as reserving shore excursions, making restaurant reservation, etc. could be made from the TV, but since ours did not work, it made for a difficult time. Four of us were traveling together and had adjoining rooms. The desk charged the wrong things to our account. Shore excursions and the daily fee from some of our traveling companions were made to our account.

The ship was wonderful with spectacular ports of call. If your not looking for outstanding (or even good) service. The all american crew is about what I expected nothing great about service and mostly unfriendly.

Overall satifactory presentment

The ship was almost brand new and still in excellent condition. The crew on the ship was almost totally American and eager to please. All of the staff spoke very good English and there were no communication problems. From the time we arrived at the airport to our departure, we were well taken care of. There were very few problems. My one major complaint was the food. The onboard cafes were just mediocre at best. I did get into the upscale Italian (unable to remember name) Cafe was the worst of the bunch. I had to have a late reservation, and the food was unpalatable. And to make it worse, we had to share a table. I did not eat in any of the other extra charge establishments, as we were unable to make reservations in time. I really liked the "freestyle" cruising, but absolutly abhor the extra charge restuarants. For the price they should be included. I was a little put out over security constantly check to see if alcohol was being brought on board. Seems as if this is all they were checking for.

M:y stateroom was cleaned and pickedup everymorning. The crew too the last person went out of their way to Help!!! Can hardly wait for the next Cruise on NCL!! Thanks Again Michael

The ship was beautiful. The rooms were very functional but a little small. The food choices at breakfast and lunch were very adequate. The food choices at dinner were downright awful. Most of the time we were off the ship exploring an island all day. When we got back on the ship, there was no place to go to get a small snack other than the Cadilac Diner, which had awful choices and lines were out the door since they were the only place open. No place to get snacks from 2:30pm-dinnertime and no place after 9pm One station on the Aloha line could have been left open to get a slice of pizza or piece of fruit

Our only previous cruise was on an ancient, tiny, dirty ship out of Florida to the Bahamas, so it was with some trepidation that we decided to cruise again. We're glad we did! Pride of America is state-of-the-art with a super crew, great food, and carefully planned shore excursions. We're looking forward to cruising with Norwegian again.

The ship was nice but looked as though it was "rundown" for only being a 2 year old ship. The ship looks like it is more 5-10 years old. It had a great variety of restaurants. I thought the service and concierge people were great, however the people at the excursion desk were untruthful! Embarking and Disembarking was the best I have ever experienced.

The ship was is great condition, the crew were very helpful and friendly, the food in the Lazy J steakhouse and Little Italy restaurant was terrific, the production shows were the best I have ever seen on a cruise ship (this was my 8th cruise), by far the nicest and largest fitness center I have ever seen on a ship. Book the steakhouse, italian and Asian restaurants when you first board the ship if you want to dine before 930pm.

I think management was lacking for the workers. Many did not know what was going on. If there is a list for things to do in staterooms, it was not being followed. Overall, employees did not seem happy?

This is the 4th cruise we've been on and it's the most disappointing one.

This wasn't the best cruise I've ever gone on. The buffet options were very limited and they continuosly ran out of stuff. The pool bar closed at 6pm which is very early in my opinion. The majority of the staff was unfriendly. They acted as if you were bothering them. The stateroom was great.

The Pride of America is a beautiful ship but our experience was a disaster! Our Hawaiin cruise had some difficult times - The first morning of the cruise in Maui was the earthquake (Oct 22, 2006) We were told we had to stay on ship since the island had no power. All shore excursions were cancelled that day. The next day the shore excursions were cancelled because of the heavy rain. But we were assured by the captain the earthquake results had been cleared and we were going on to Kona the next day as scheduled with all shore excursions a "go". Later the captain back-peddled on this, telling us that we weren't going to Kona because "something" was under the ship and divers were going down to investigate. He said "I don't know when or where we are going". To add to the earthquake confusion it turned out the ship had run over a buoy in the port of Honolulu during departure. It snagged not only the buoy but also the heavy chain, and the huge concrete block buoy anchor, then dragged the whole thing all the way from Honolulu to Maui damaging one of the ship's propellers. The captain then announced, "I apologize for the inconvenience we have caused all of you." The captain sent out a letter that since we were not going to the Big Island, each cabin would receive $100 shipboard credit. Too little! I guess he thought everyone would use that on drinks and get drunk enough to enjoy the Scrabble, Bingo and Monopoly they were offering to replace the shore excursions. Then there were a series of half-truths to all-out lies by the staff about the situation. We had to get home and on the internet to find out just why we didn't go to Kona. We had asked at least 10 ship employees to explain just why we were not going on to the big island. They gave us a "no comment" answer or "I'm not qualified to answer that" like we were too unintelligent to understand the truth. There was a revolt by the passengers who had a group meeting where the captain tried to make us believe that the buoy system, which we all saw the divers take out of the water in Maui, was one from the Kahului port and it was caused by the earthquake. Many passengers witnessed this and one even had a video. We had already read in the local paper that NCL agreed to pay $6000 to the port of Honolulu for the buoy system that had been hit and dragged. We certrainly do understand the problems connected with the earthquake. Luckily the earthquake was not a problem for this ship. But the deplorable way the administration and employees handled the communication concerning the buoy incident to the passengers was unexcusable. The "whys" were never answered. The announcements were not clear. This led to great passenger confusion and left us with the feeling that NCL cared more about their schedule and their profits than they cared about customer service. No more NCL for us.