Review: Pride of Aloha 11/26-12/03

This was our first NCL cruise. We have cruised 35 times in the past; 27 Royal Caribbean, 3 Celebrity, 2 Princess, 2 Carnival and 1 Holland American, so we have a lot of other cruises to compare NCL too. We have been reluctant to cruise NCL as we have never heard nothing but bad things about the company. However, after all of our other cruises, I will say that this was one of our best cruises yet. I think it was more because of the itinerary and the long port times, but NCL exceeded my expectations in many areas and I wouldn't hesitate to cruise with them again.

EMBARKATION

We embarked in Maui which I thought was the easiest embarkation we have ever experienced. We stayed the day before and we took the car rental shuttle to the pier after returning our car. Not much more to say because it was so easy.

DINING

The food was very good, both in the main dining room and the specialty restaurants. Anybody who complains about a $10 service charge in the specialty restaurants is crazy. The food and service was outstanding and when compared to other cruise lines who charge between $20 and $30, it’s a great deal! The freestyle dining worked well for us because we usually ate late, around 8:00PM. I heard many people complaining about having to waiting for the dining room, but this was the 5:00 to 7:30 crowd. At times I did miss the chance to get to know people as you do when you have the same assigned dining times and tables.

On the negative side was the fact that every night NCL ran out of food, whether it be in the dining room, a specialty restaurant or the buffet. When the buffet ran out of hot dog buns a gentleman asked if more buns could be brought out. The server immediately set out a loaf of bread and told the gentleman he wasn’t going to get hot dog buns because it would take too long. I have never seen this happen on other cruises. Very curious as to why this happens on a frequent basis, at least on the Aloha.

Another negative was the dining room and buffet service. This staff is very young because of the turn around due to a lot of workers quitting. I was very embarrassed of the American work ethic. Some of the buffet and dining room staff were very lazy. We saw many of them fighting among themselves, or just standing around talking or laughing. Some just didn’t have any personality at all. This didn’t bother me too much at first, but when it became a usual thing it was very disappointing. On the positive side, we did have several outstanding waiters in the dining room. Our waiters in Pacific Heights and Le Bistro were outstanding. When we dined in the Kihili restaurant, I was amazed how bad the service was. I‘ve had better service at Denny’s. Very poor service; slow, inattentive, just didn’t care. While standing in line for the chocolate buffet, an Assistant Maitre D began a conversation with me and asked me my opinions on the dining and service. Of course you know what I told him. He admitted they have an ongoing problem with the food servers and are trying to correct the problem. I then thought to myself that the Pride of Aloha has been sailing for 18 months and if NCL hasn’t been able to fix the problem by now, then it will never be fixed, which is unfortunate because I believe NCL would be an outstanding cruise line.

Great pool side BBQ with some of the freshest hamburgers (hand made patties) I have ever had on a cruise ship. Great Job!

ENTERTAINMENT

The entertainment was very good. I liked it a lot, but my wife wasn't impressed. She really likes the Broadway stuff, but I found the productions show to be very original and I liked the change from the same old Broadway songs I‘ve heard on every other cruise line. The guest entertainment was also very good. We found the pool area to be a very nice place to relax with not a lot of lounge chair saving going on. The cruise director staff did a great job entertaining at the pool and also at night.

CABINS

We had booked at the last minute so we got a very small aft cabin on deck 10. Good location, just very small. No big deal because I was on a cruise in Hawaii! Our cabin stewards were very friendly and attentive.

This was a very nice cruise and I would recommend it in a heartbeat. Although I was disappointed in the food service, it by no means keep me from enjoying my cruise. As I said before, NCL exceeded my expectations in many areas which made for a very enjoyable cruise. I have never had a cruise where everything was absolutely perfect. Some have come close and I think this cruise is in my top ten.

Thanks for the review. Lots of good information. ;)

Very useful review! I felt it gave me a feeling of what the experience would be like. I have been on NCL ships a couple of times but never on NCLA - and I am considering a Hawaii cruise for 2007 - so I am trying to get a feel about the differences.

EMBARKATION

We embarked in Maui which I thought was the easiest embarkation we have ever experienced. We stayed the day before and we took the car rental shuttle to the pier after returning our car. Not much more to say because it was so easy.

We're embarking from Maui this Saturday. Could you tell us what time you got to the pier and about how long the embarkaction process took?

Also, did you get off the ship in Honolulu? If so, did you have to wait in the long embarkation lines to reboard or was there a quicker way for passengers to reboard?

Thank you for the advice

bobnsandi

We got to the pier around 1:00PM. There were only 10 other people ahead of us and our embarkation process took only 10 min. at the most. Apparently there are only 300 people on average that embark and disembark in Maui, so the process is very quick. I heard most passengers arrive around 11:00AM and it can get crowded.

As for Honolulu, we got off the ship around 10:00AM and saw only a few people waiting to embark. We took a taxi to Waikiki and spent the day on the beach. We then went to Chuck's Steak House in the Outrigger hotel and had an appetizer while watching the sunset. This was definately one highlight of our trip. I'm not sure if there was a separate line for passengers who embarked in Maui. We got back to the ship around 7:00PM and there were no crowds at all. Walked right onto the ship. I would imagine there would be lines in the early afternoon as Approx. 1700 passengers embark in Honolulu.

We are sailing on our first cruise aboard the Pride of Aloha next month. I was hoping you could tell me if there is a laundry special during the week and if lobster is served on the buffet during "lobster night", as well as in the restaurants.

Thank you for your great review. Any other recommendations or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Don

DCP81

I didn't see any "laundry Specials" during the week, but that doesn't mean there wasn't any. If other NCL ships have the specials, I would think the Aloha would also. You might try asking the guest relations desk. I did use the laundry service 3 times with no problems.

As for the lobster, I didn't see any at the buffet on lobster night. However, they did have hot crab legs which I thought were the best I ever had on a cruise. They were good size and easy to eat. The lobster in the dining room was very good. It wasn't the usual lobster tail. It was local lobster that were on the small size. They served three half tails which was plenty for me. Usually cruise lines have difficulty cooking lobster right because they serve so many. I was expecting it to be over cooked or mushy, but it was very good. I enjoyed it very much. We didn't have the lobster in the specialty restaurants. I had heard from several people that it was cooked badly and there was an extra $20 charge above the $10 service charge.

We then went to Chuck's Steak House in the Outrigger hotel and had an appetizer while watching the sunset.

I've never heard of this place. Which Outrigger property is it located in? I'm always up for trying a new steakhouse:D ! Was this indoor/outdoor dining?

Bankofdad

Chuck's steak house is in the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach directly across from the International Marketplace and next to the Sheraton Moana Surfrider. It has indoor and outdoor dining. There is another restaurant, Hula Grill Waikiki that's on the beach. We sat at the railing and watched a spectacular sunset. We had the Teriyaki Steak appetizer. It was very good and a large portion.