Pride of America Photo Blog – March 2016 Post Drydock Cruise

Just wanted to let you all know that I am in the process of doing a day-by-day report of our Pride of America cruise from San Francisco to Honolulu from March 16 to March 26. This cruise was the first following an extensive drydock and was delayed one day due to work not being complete.

Rather than do a review here on Cruise Critic (as I have in the past) I am posting on my blog instead. I took hundreds of photos so even if you don’t like to read my overly long narration, ;) you might at least enjoy looking at the pretty pictures! Here is the link to the blog:

My Souvenir Memories Blog

I will be checking this thread so if you have any questions, feel free to ask. I have posted the Freestyle Dailies from our four sea days and may continue to post the others if there is interest.

Here is a quick rundown of what we did…and what I will be covering in the blog.

• San Francisco (4 days…including our extra “bonus” night due to the delay) – Dylan’s Famous Tour, Alcatraz Night Tour, Chinatown, Fisherman’s Wharf, etc. We also spent a lot of time just seeing the city by cable cars & street cars.
  
• Sea Days (4 days) – Lots of activities, crafts, entertainment, etc. on the Pride of America.
  
• Maui – Toured on our own with rental car and Gypsy Guide App. Lahaina, Iao Valley State Park, western Maui, blow hole, etc.
  
• Hilo – Volcano National Park, Rainbow Falls, Macadamia Nut Factory, Richardson’s Beach Park with rental car.
  
• Kona – Captain Zodiac Snorkeling Tour
  
• Kauai – Waimea Canyon by rental car, sail by NaPali Coast
  
• Oahu (4 days) – Stayed in Waikiki Beach and toured the island using rental car and Gypsy Guide App. North Shore, Pearl Harbor, Punchbowl Cementary, Eastern Oahu, Pali Overlook, etc.
  

I just published the post covering our day in Maui on my blog and included quite a few photos and also the Freestyle Daily.

Once we reached Hawaii, the ports were definitely our focus so the blog has much more information on what we did vs. "ship life." :)

Nice job on the blog ... great photos and interesting descriptions. Looks like you made good use of your day on Maui ... and what a nice surprise to come home to the wood carving that Bob secretly bought and had shipped home.:)

Looking forward to the rest of your blog .... I'm sure there are more fabulous photos coming up based on the itinerary that you described above!

4 of us will be cruising on the POA in August. Although we won't have the sea days, we have certainly enjoyed your blog and can't wait to read about the other ports! Thank you for taking the time to do this!

Could you tell me what type of camera/lenses you use? Your photography is spectacular!

Can't wait to read more!

Nice job on the blog ... great photos and interesting descriptions. Looks like you made good use of your day on Maui ... and what a nice surprise to come home to the wood carving that Bob secretly bought and had shipped home.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your blog .... I'm sure there are more fabulous photos coming up based on the itinerary that you described above!

Ha...I'm pretty sure he secrectly had the carving shipped home because he knew I would protest otherwise! We have so many carvings and masks that my little grandson went through the house giving them all names this morning!

4 of us will be cruising on the POA in August. Although we won't have the sea days, we have certainly enjoyed your blog and can't wait to read about the other ports! Thank you for taking the time to do this!

 

Could you tell me what type of camera/lenses you use? Your photography is spectacular!

 

Can't wait to read more!

Thanks so much. I love hearing that people are reading the blog...it keeps me motivated to keep writing.

Most of the photos were taken with a Canon SX-50. It is considered a "bridge camera"...kind of a cross between a point & shoot and a DSLR. The lens is a 50x zoom which is fun to play with. The camera does OK outdoors, but isn't great in low light. I don't consider myself a photographer at all...I just enjoy recording my memories! I take so many photos that some of them are bound to turn out OK!

I also used a Canon D10 underwater camera...both on land and in the water. I will be posting some of our snorkeling photos from Kona that were taken with this camera. The tropical fish we saw were amazing!!

Nice job on the blog! Love your narrative and all the pictures. I saw the pic of cabin 7556, obstructed view - that was my sister-and-brother-in-law's cabin. Nice to see all the updated decor on the ship!

Nice job on the blog! Love your narrative and all the pictures. I saw the pic of cabin 7556, obstructed view - that was my sister-and-brother-in-law's cabin. Nice to see all the updated decor on the ship!

Seeing your photos on your review was what made me pick that cabin originally when we first booked the cruise for last November! I love that people take time to share information online...it makes planning a trip so much easier...and fun!

Just caught up on your blog and am enjoying it and eagerly awaiting the next part. We leave in two weeks for Hawaii, our cruise starts in less than three weeks. Can't wait!

 

Ha...I'm pretty sure he secrectly had the carving shipped home because he knew I would protest otherwise! We have so many carvings and masks that my little grandson went through the house giving them all names this morning!

 

 

 

Thanks so much. I love hearing that people are reading the blog...it keeps me motivated to keep writing.

 

Most of the photos were taken with a Canon SX-50. It is considered a "bridge camera"...kind of a cross between a point & shoot and a DSLR. The lens is a 50x zoom which is fun to play with. The camera does OK outdoors, but isn't great in low light. I don't consider myself a photographer at all...I just enjoy recording my memories! I take so many photos that some of them are bound to turn out OK!

 

I also used a Canon D10 underwater camera...both on land and in the water. I will be posting some of our snorkeling photos from Kona that were taken with this camera. The tropical fish we saw were amazing!!

Thanks for the camera info!

Just caught up on your blog and am enjoying it and eagerly awaiting the next part. We leave in two weeks for Hawaii, our cruise starts in less than three weeks. Can't wait!

Ha!! :) I feel like I need to start writing a little faster to get more of the blog finished before you leave! I am envious of those who do LIVE blogs and keep them up to date as they travel. It seems to take me forever to get the photos organized and the reports written.

I did want to let you know that I just put up a very long post with a ton of photos from our day in Hilo. Seeing Volcanoes National Park was a bucket list item for my husband and he ended up with a day that was better than he could have ever imagined!!

Thanks for reading. I will continue to keep plugging away at the blog...

Excellent review so far....Mahalo!

Chuck

I just finished covering our day in Kona (my favorite day of the cruise) on my blog. I struggled to find adequate words to describe what a fantastic day we had so hopefully the photos and videos can tell the story! :)

The highlights of the day included seeing a huge pod of short fin pilot whales, beautiful tropical fish and also...a whale shark! And if that wasn't enough, dozens of dolphins played alongside the ship as we sailed away from Kona.

I am continuing to scan and post the Daily Freestyle for each day although I'm not sure how it compares to the activities on a regular 7 day Pride of America cruise.

Hi there, We will be traveling with our kids under age 5, on POA , the 7 night cruise , I was wondering if you could suggest a good itinerary or place that I could search for suitable sightseeing at the various ports. For Maui I found the "road to Hana" It looks beautiful but I'm not sure if that is do-able with a stroller , my youngest is below age 2. Any advice would be appreciated. I tried to find your blog the link won't open directly from this page. Thank u so much

Hi there, We will be traveling with our kids under age 5, on POA , the 7 night cruise , I was wondering if you could suggest a good itinerary or place that I could search for suitable sightseeing at the various ports. For Maui I found the "road to Hana" It looks beautiful but I'm not sure if that is do-able with a stroller , my youngest is below age 2. Any advice would be appreciated. I tried to find your blog the link won't open directly from this page. Thank u so much

Sorry you couldn't open my blog. Here is the link so maybe you could try again...

My Souvenir Memories Blog Link

My best advice is to start reading the posts on this Hawaii forum to get ideas of things to do. There is a thread further down the page where many people have posted their itineraries and plans for Hawaii and that might be a good place to start. Here is the link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2193040

The Road to Hana would require a rental car and a long day of driving. Not sure if your young kids would enjoy that so much. Another suggestion would be to check out the POA excursions offered through Norwegian. You can find these on the NCL website once you log in. The tours tend to be a little more expensive, but they are very easy to book and give you the assurance that you won't be left behind if something were to keep you from getting back to the ship on time at a port.

Good luck on your planning!

I enjoyed your blog.

Keith

Great blog and pics. I will be on the POA next year. Thanks for posting the obstructed view rooms. I will be in one but the one with the bigger life boats. I may change to a balcony room if we get a good deal.

Great blog and pics. I will be on the POA next year. Thanks for posting the obstructed view rooms. I will be in one but the one with the bigger life boats. I may change to a balcony room if we get a good deal.

I figure having an obstructed view is still better than no view. Who knows...maybe you will get lucky and they will offer free upgrades like we got!! :)

I just finished the blog about our first day in Kauai. We spent the day at Waimea Canyon and it was hard to narrow down the hundreds of photos we took. (I maybe didn't do such a good job of "narrowing"...there are a lot of pictures in this post!)

Freestyle Daily is also included in the post...

Awesome pics. I enjoyed your blog. I do have one question - does POA sail by Kilauea at night? 10 years ago on Pride of Aloha, we sailed by the volcano and I was hoping they still do that. Thanks!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Awesome pics. I enjoyed your blog. I do have one question - does POA sail by Kilauea at night? 10 years ago on Pride of Aloha, we sailed by the volcano and I was hoping they still do that. Thanks!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

I saw you asked your question in a new thread and found out that the lava is no longer flowing into the ocean. That must have been an awesome sight to see at night!!

Now the POA sails by the Na Pali coastline on the last day which was pretty incredible. (I now have photos of this on my blog.)

I have a couple more updates posted to my blog...

Our last day of the cruise turned out to be a disappointment due to the weather. We had chartered a plane to see Kauai by air but it was cancelled. :(

By afternoon, the weather had cleared (mostly) and our sail by the Na Pali coast did NOT disappoint!!

The next day our cruise ended, but our vacation continued! After disembarking, we checked into our hotel, explored Waikiki Beach and ended the day with a hula show and a gorgeous sunset.

Lots and lots of photos are included. In case you have the signatures turned off, here is the link:

My Souvenir Memories Blog

I just finished a post on my blog from our second day in Honolulu...(link is in the signature)

We started the day with a visit to the Punchbowl Cemetary, drove up Round Top Drive for an amazing view of Honolulu and the did some shopping at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet.

Later we used the Gypsy Guide Phone app, and did a tour of the North Shore of Oahu. We made stops at the Dole Pineapple Plantation, several beaches to watch the surfers, the sea arch near Laie, and then back to Waikiki to watch the sunset.

All caught up! Your pictures are wonderful; love the zoomed in shots.

All caught up! Your pictures are wonderful; love the zoomed in shots.

Thanks! Hopefully the blog will be helpful...like your review was to me when I was planning!

I just finished the last couple of blog posts for our trip...and it has only taken me about six weeks since we returned! :rolleyes: Here is the link one more time... My Souvenir Memories Blog

Our last full day on Oahu was spent touring the southeastern part of the island using the Gypsy Guide app (Beaches & Volcanoes Tour.) The views from that side of the island are so beautiful...

The guys also did the hike up Diamond Head and took some pretty incredible photos. I plan to go on our next trip to Hawaii...provided they have installed an elevator by then. ;)

Overall our first cruise on NCL was better than I anticipated, even with the delay and ongoing construction following the drydock. I'm not sure why I had such a negative impression of NCL prior to the cruise, but it was a pleasant surprise at how much we enjoyed it.

I think having the four extra sea days at the beginning of our cruise gave us a chance to really enjoy the ship which we would not have done on the regular POA route with all port days.

The sea days also provided a chance to actually get to know the entertainment crew. When we disembarked in Honolulu, they were all standing on the pier saying good-bye and gave us all hugs...something that has never happened on any of our other cruises. I felt like we were leaving friends...not just cruise staff.

Although others on this cruise have complained repeatedly about the loud construction noise, areas that were off limits, foul smells, etc. the only thing that really bothered me was the poor service in the main dining rooms. We chose not to pay to eat in the specaility dining restaurants, but would have liked to eat in the MDR most nights. Instead, we ate many of our meals in the buffet just because we didn't want to spend so much time waiting.

At this point we have received a refund check form NCL to cover the day that the cruise was delayed leaving San Francisco. I am still waiting to be reimbursed for our hotel costs for the extra night in a hotel. I have talked to a representative and been assured that we will get a credit in the amount of 50% of what we spent on the POA cruise to apply to any future cruise within the next year. All in all we are very happy with the compensation we are receiving from NCL. In addition we paid far less for this cruise (for 10 days) than what we would have spent to go on the regular 7 day route.

Thanks to everyone who has taken time to check out my blog. I love seeing the counter on the blog go higher and higher because I know "someone" must be reading! Even better...I would love to get your feedback and comments...either here on CC or on the blog itself!