11 day Pride of America San Francisco to Hawaii

Been on 3 NCL Pride of America cruises to Hawaii. Just booked the 11 day from San Francisco in March 2016. Can't seem to find any current reviews for this trip only the 7 day from HNL. It's 5 days at sea and wondering if there is entertainment, activities etc. to pass the time. We treat this as a floating hotel and have always had good experiences despite many negative reviews. Any info much appreciated.

I think that's because this ship (as far as I know) has only done strictly Hawaiian cruises. If so, you won't find any reviews of this specific trip.

Maybe it's going to the west coast next winter for a dry dock, perhaps?

Other cruise lines have lots of activities on the sea days between the west coast and Hawaii. I am sure that NCL will too

Been on 3 NCL Pride of America cruises to Hawaii. Just booked the 11 day from San Francisco in March 2016. Can't seem to find any current reviews for this trip only the 7 day from HNL. It's 5 days at sea and wondering if there is entertainment, activities etc. to pass the time. We treat this as a floating hotel and have always had good experiences despite many negative reviews. Any info much appreciated.

This is a one time cruise. This ship will be refurbished in San Francisco from the end of February 2016 to March 26th 2016. She will resume her regular 7 day cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. Thought about doing this cruise myself, but the room I have booked now couldn't be booked for this cruise, sold out. I am sure there will be entertainment and a lot of activities on sea days.

Have a great time.

Pride of America is not legally allowed to carry paying passengers outside Hawaiian waters unless she is going to a dry dock or returning from one.

Dry dock repo trips are not generally the most ideal cruises. The cruise line offers them only to defer the fuel costs of getting the ship there and back.

POA is normally a rather quiet hotel that floats between the Hawaiian Islands every week.

Will NCL America hire a bunch of extra staff and entertainers to cover a trip over and a trip back?

Maybe.

You might get a great deal, but there is an outside chance that the cruise itself will not be the highest quality experience.

There is also an outside chance that it will be a once in a lifetime mind-blowing experience.

Feeling lucky??

Pride of America is not legally allowed to carry paying passengers outside Hawaiian waters unless she is going to a dry dock or returning from one.

 

I hand't heard of this ... Was this a restriction written into the legislation allowing her to retain her US flag status even though being finished in Europe?

Aloha,

John

Pride of America is not legally allowed to carry paying passengers outside Hawaiian waters unless she is going to a dry dock or returning from one.

 

This is patently untrue. As a US flag vessel, and given the exemption to the construction requirement required by the PVSA that the ship was given by Congress, the POA can carry paying passengers anywhere in the US. The reason she doesn't is that there is no way she could compete with foreign flag ship pricing for comparable cruises. Given Hawaii's distance from any foreign port, the inter-island Hawaii cruises creates a unique opportunity to operate a US flag vessel.

This is a one time cruise. This ship will be refurbished in San Francisco from the end of February 2016 to March 26th 2016. She will resume her regular 7 day cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. Thought about doing this cruise myself, but the room I have booked now couldn't be booked for this cruise, sold out. I am sure there will be entertainment and a lot of activities on sea days.

 

Have a great time.

Thanks for the updates and info. We're pretty low maintenance and just would like some kind of entertainment in the evenings. They've had great local Hawaiian musicians, lounge and bar music we've enjoyed in the past.

The ship may be being refurbished, but our cruise is March 14-26, 2016, so it can't be in dry dock that long being refurbished. Our cruise consultant at NCL says they do that cruise only once a year in March. Who knows, I'm happy to be going again and looking forward to it.:)

Thanks for the updates and info. We're pretty low maintenance and just would like some kind of entertainment in the evenings. They've had great local Hawaiian musicians, lounge and bar music we've enjoyed in the past.

 

The ship may be being refurbished, but our cruise is March 14-26, 2016, so it can't be in dry dock that long being refurbished. Our cruise consultant at NCL says they do that cruise only once a year in March. Who knows, I'm happy to be going again and looking forward to it.:)

Your cruise consultant at NCL is dead wrong. The POA does not do this cruise "only once a year in March". Normally, since the ship is based in Hawaii, they try to do shipyards in Hawaii. This means using the US Navy's Pearl Harbor drydocks, which are contracted out to San Francisco Shipyard whenever the Navy does not need it. POA was scheduled for docking there later this year, but the Navy preempted the slot, so in order to meet the time requirement for drydocking, it was moved to March, and moved to San Francisco. This is the only time the ship leaves the islands.

As to the time frame, my friend who still works at NCL and was a former Chief Engineer on the POA, says that there will be a major refurbishment, as the new upper management wants significant changes to the hotel. I don't have any specifics as to what they are.

As to the time frame, my friend who still works at NCL and was a former Chief Engineer on the POA, says that there will be a major refurbishment, as the new upper management wants significant changes to the hotel. I don't have any specifics as to what they are.

Guessing cabin module swap-outs :confused:

This is patently untrue. As a US flag vessel, and given the exemption to the construction requirement required by the PVSA that the ship was given by Congress, the POA can carry paying passengers anywhere in the US. The reason she doesn't is that there is no way she could compete with foreign flag ship pricing for comparable cruises. Given Hawaii's distance from any foreign port, the inter-island Hawaii cruises creates a unique opportunity to operate a US flag vessel.

Chief,

You caused me to learn something new today. I got in touch with my old contacts at NCLA to get some updates.

I was on the original NCL Team that worked with Senator Inouye to set up all the special dispensations granted by the US Congress to allow NCL America to operate.

Since Congress had to grant many exemptions to the PVSA and other legal requirements for NCL's US Flag vessels, they also put in a few extra requirements.

Originally they required that the NCLA vessels could only operate with paying passengers in Hawaii (or on a dry dock repo cruise to the mainland). Congress was concerned that the NCLA vessels had an advantage over the few small coastwise American Flag vessels still sailing in Alaska, and the East and West coasts. Congress did not want NCLA to put those people out of business. (Unfortunately, some of them failed anyway, and the remaining ones do not look to be around too much longer.)

Recently the US GAO ruled that NCLA vessels need only make 51% or more of their sailing days in Hawaii.

Congress also originally ruled that if the NCLA ships ever changed their flags back to non-US, they would never be allowed to re-flag US again.

That apparently is changing as well. Latest news is that if they try to re-flag the Sky or Jade back to US, it will at least be considered by the US Congress.

Chief,

You caused me to learn something new today. I got in touch with my old contacts at NCLA to get some updates.

 

I was on the original NCL Team that worked with Senator Inouye to set up all the special dispensations granted by the US Congress to allow NCL America to operate.

 

Since Congress had to grant many exemptions to the PVSA and other legal requirements for NCL's US Flag vessels, they also put in a few extra requirements.

 

Originally they required that the NCLA vessels could only operate with paying passengers in Hawaii (or on a dry dock repo cruise to the mainland). Congress was concerned that the NCLA vessels had an advantage over the few small coastwise American Flag vessels still sailing in Alaska, and the East and West coasts. Congress did not want NCLA to put those people out of business. (Unfortunately, some of them failed anyway, and the remaining ones do not look to be around too much longer.)

Recently the US GAO ruled that NCLA vessels need only make 51% or more of their sailing days in Hawaii.

 

Congress also originally ruled that if the NCLA ships ever changed their flags back to non-US, they would never be allowed to re-flag US again.

That apparently is changing as well. Latest news is that if they try to re-flag the Sky or Jade back to US, it will at least be considered by the US Congress.

Yes, those restrictions were put into the omnibus appropriations bill in 2003, but have been pretty much ignored since, and as you say, the GAO has now ruled officially that POA can cruise a minority of the time outside Hawaii. NCL really saved Congress' butt on appropriations by taking over the two uncompleted ships, since Congress had made loan guarantees on them, and were looking at being stuck with being the owner of two cruise ships, and that NCL could not ask for any Title 11 financing for any of the three Pride ships. I don't see in the act where the ships were forbidden to be reflagged to US after being reflagged foreign, but that could be said to be implicit due to the time limitation placed on the reflag of the Aloha and construction of the Hawaii.

This is a one time cruise. This ship will be refurbished in San Francisco from the end of February 2016 to March 26th 2016. She will resume her regular 7 day cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. Thought about doing this cruise myself, but the room I have booked now couldn't be booked for this cruise, sold out. I am sure there will be entertainment and a lot of activities on sea days.

 

Have a great time.

I spoke to my NCL rep again this morning and she confirmed that yes, the ship will be in SF drydock to be refurbished from Feb 20, 2016 till we leave SF March 15th. Hopefully, it will be nice, clean and updated some. Thanks for the feedback and interesting comments.

I spoke to my NCL rep again this morning and she confirmed that yes, the ship will be in SF drydock to be refurbished from Feb 20, 2016 till we leave SF March 15th. Hopefully, it will be nice, clean and updated some. Thanks for the feedback and interesting comments.

Oops! Sorry. I was looking at the wrong dates. Have a great sailing.