Hawaii on the POA: May 11-18

Did you use your phone while at sea and didn't get big charges automatically going thru 'mobile at sea' or whatever it is called? Is HI different in that you can use your phone and not rack up huge charges?

From what I've read, the Pride of America doesn't have a cellular tower, so if you're able to get a signal while on the ship, it's from a land-based tower.

Here's a thread that talks about it:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1615558&highlight=pride+of+america+cell+phone

I say again: from 7am in the morning to roughly 6pm at night you are in port and can call, text, and surf the web to your hearts content at no additional costs. Mothers day I got text from one son, talked with the other, talked with my Mom, DH talked to his Mom and all from the comfort of our balcony in port on the POA - with no roaming charges.

Remember: we are all on vacation - and most of our families hours ahead of us. Does anyone really need to talk to anyone else in the middle of the ocean at night??

Dalgirl, I would love to see photos of your cabin, if possible, because my parents will be in the same one in July!

I am going to try to get some photos up this weekend with DH's help:) Your parents are going to flip over the balcony!

I am going to try to get some photos up this weekend with DH's help:) Your parents are going to flip over the balcony!

Looking forward to seeing them! :)

Here are a couple of pixs of the large balcony - the room looked like a regular balcony room on most of the NCL ships - except Epic or breakaway, of course.

Here are a few photos of Waikiki beach...

Here are a few photos of Waikiki beach...

Sorry - photos did not make it for some reason. I will keep trying....

Sorry - I am getting a weird "security token" error:( Any ideas??

Thanks so much for taking the time to write your review. We too were on this sailing. Also, we stayed at the Outrigger after we returned to Honolulu. I would recommend this hotel and it was very convenient to everything.

This was our first time to sail NCL and I don't think we will do it again. I was very disappointed in the ship. Of course, it is a very port intensive week and you are not on the ship very much at all, mainly just to sleep, however I was not impressed. Our cabin steward did a great job and most of the staff onboard was great. The service in the main dining rooms was awful. It was like total chaos in there each night and many times orders were forgotten or totally wrong. I thought that since the ship had been in wet-dock for two weeks that it would have gotten a good makeover. The only thing that was changed in the cabins was that they added a small flat screen tv. The carpet was old, the bed was old and worn out, the carpeting was worn out, the small sofa in the room was dirty and worn...I was shocked. I think they have allocated almost the entire $30million on their luxury suites that are still under construction. Also, on the pool decks the deck chairs were old and showing wear. All in all, I didn't think the ship was in good shape.

That said, we did enjoy the islands, especially Kauai. Had a great time while in ports (well, except for rain Maui but even then we found some sunshine and beach time!) with great friends. Totally agree with all you had to say about the islands!!

Sorry - I am getting a weird "security token" error:( Any ideas??

dalgirl-

Sorry, maybe you mentioned this already in an earlier post...but what vehicle are you using to transfer your pics over? I always use Photobucket. Is that where you store yours, by chance?

Thanks so much for taking the time to write your review. We too were on this sailing. Also, we stayed at the Outrigger after we returned to Honolulu. I would recommend this hotel and it was very convenient to everything.

 

This was our first time to sail NCL and I don't think we will do it again. I was very disappointed in the ship. Of course, it is a very port intensive week and you are not on the ship very much at all, mainly just to sleep, however I was not impressed. Our cabin steward did a great job and most of the staff onboard was great. The service in the main dining rooms was awful. It was like total chaos in there each night and many times orders were forgotten or totally wrong. I thought that since the ship had been in wet-dock for two weeks that it would have gotten a good makeover. The only thing that was changed in the cabins was that they added a small flat screen tv. The carpet was old, the bed was old and worn out, the carpeting was worn out, the small sofa in the room was dirty and worn...I was shocked. I think they have allocated almost the entire $30million on their luxury suites that are still under construction. Also, on the pool decks the deck chairs were old and showing wear. All in all, I didn't think the ship was in good shape.

 

That said, we did enjoy the islands, especially Kauai. Had a great time while in ports (well, except for rain Maui but even then we found some sunshine and beach time!) with great friends. Totally agree with all you had to say about the islands!!

CGBCruiser-

I appreciate your honesty in your review of the POA. I am thinking about doing the Hawaii cruise in 2014, and considering NCL because it's a shorter itinerary than on other cruiselines. It also gives me an opportunity to spend time in Honolulu with family members who reside there that I haven't seen in many years. However....

After reading your comments about the ship, I'm really concerned. I think Pride of America is an expensive cruise to take for the accomodations to be unsatisfactory; even if you don't spend that much time in the cabins. For that kind of money, I agree that a really good makeover in ALL of their staterooms should be completed. You've got me really reassessing this trip. I don't want to hijack the OP's thread, but can you tell me some more about your experience on the ship, i.e. the food, entertainment, etc.?

CGBCruiser-

I appreciate your honesty in your review of the POA. I am thinking about doing the Hawaii cruise in 2014, and considering NCL because it's a shorter itinerary than on other cruiselines. It also gives me an opportunity to spend time in Honolulu with family members who reside there that I haven't seen in many years. However....

 

After reading your comments about the ship, I'm really concerned. I think Pride of America is an expensive cruise to take for the accomodations to be unsatisfactory; even if you don't spend that much time in the cabins. For that kind of money, I agree that a really good makeover in ALL of their staterooms should be completed. You've got me really reassessing this trip. I don't want to hijack the OP's thread, but can you tell me some more about your experience on the ship, i.e. the food, entertainment, etc.?

The food on the ship was just OK. Pretty standard fare. We did eat one night in the Teppanyaki restaurant which was good, but we still had to send the soup back as it was cold! We gave up on the main dining room after three visits and just ate at the buffet the rest of the time which is something we never do! The main entertainment venue for the shows was small but it was OK. My husband liked the size, but I still like the larger venues. Entertainment was OK but again, nothing to write home about. We didn't spend a lot of time out late at night on the ship but I don't think many passengers did. Because it's a Hawaii cruise there were very, very few children and I'd say the median age was 55-65. We chose NCL because like you, we didn't want to do 15 days cruising and this definitely offered what we were looking for. The ports were great and I really enjoyed seeing all the islands. It definitely is more expensive, but they have to staff this ship with 80% Americans and everything they purchase comes from Hawaii so that makes the costs higher. The size of the balcony cabin and everything else definitely did not spoil our cruise, I just expected more and especially since they just did a refurb. The common areas were well kept and I understand from some of the crew that the stores onboard were given makeovers. Of course, you don't get anything duty free/tax free like we're used to getting because you are never in international waters. If I were to do the trip again I would probably find a cruise line that was repositioning to Alaska and cruising in Hawaii. Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas was in port when we were sailing from Honolulu. But, you still won't get all the port days that you do on this NCL sailing. The ship was definitely a disappointment for us, but we did have a good time. I hope I helped answer your questions!

Dalgal we were also on this cruise. Loved reading your review. Will definately have to get my review done now as it was good to read what someone else on this same cruise thought.

Dalgal we were also on this cruise. Loved reading your review. Will definately have to get my review done now as it was good to read what someone else on this same cruise thought.

I would love to read your review! :)

cjdixon4 - I was downloading them directly off my computer onto the thread - it worked for the balcony pixs, but not any of the others. I emailed cruise critic, but still waiting for an answer.

CGBCruiser - I am sorry that you did not like NCL. We have cruised on 9 different NCL ships - some several times - so we have a more well rounded veiw of the ships and service. I told DH on the POA that it was a shame that someone cruising with NCL for the first time had the POA as their reference point. Other NCL ships that do a disservice to the line are the Sky (older ship used for short cruises our of Miami) and IMO the Jade in Europe (a "sister ship" to the POA and also not one of my favorites). I agree that they must be using all their money on the suites and Moderno, none of which were not in service when we sailed.

Other NCL ships such as the Pearl, Gem and Jewel are in much better shape than the POA. They have full service spas - one of the reasons I think that I had so many issues with muscle pain and migranes was because I could not go to the spa in the evening and get fully relaxed. The last 3 cruises we have had on NCL - Sun, Sky and POA - did not have the additional full spa, only "treatments" and I really missed my predinner spa experience. I can be completely exhausted, go to the spa for an hour, and then be ready to go out for the evening - but not on this cruise. They could have upgraded their spa facilities with some of that money:(

And freestyle is just not for everyone - being able to dine when, where and with whom you like can cause the dining rooms to run slower. We usually eat a little earlier if we plan to eat in one of the main dining rooms as service can be much faster. Also some don't like the casual dress of freestyle or maybe not having the same wait staff every evening - all valid concerns depending on your cruise experiences.

And I agree that the cabins looked worn - I expected that some of the money would have been allocated to upgrade the cabins. Again, this is not the case on the newer NCL ships.

We will be back on the Epic in Sept and December (a newer ship, but totally different from the rest of the fleet) and on the brand new Breakaway in May 2014 and the Getaway in Sept. 2014. These ships look like they will be fantastic, incorportating freestyle at its best.

DH and I discussed again that this was just a weird cruise - we were off the ship every day (missed those sea days!), in bed early every night, and we felt totally disconnected to the true "cruise" experience. And we didn't dance on this cruise!! Some of this was my fault, we planned too much to do. Alternatively, in Alaska on the Pearl we really felt connected to the ship and spent many happy hours on ship wildlife spotting, reading in the library, and enjoying a cocktail. I am really looking forward to some sea days:)

Dalgal we were also on this cruise. Loved reading your review. Will definately have to get my review done now as it was good to read what someone else on this same cruise thought.

I would most enjoy reading about your experience on POA. I'm in the process of making a decision about whether to book the Hawaii cruise with NCL or not.

dalgirl,

Thanks for your input and your review. I know that this ship is probably not something I should judge the whole NCL line by. I had already heard the negatives and positives before sailing. We actually liked the freestyle dining...we never had to wait on a table. Just getting served in an efficient matter seemed to be an issue on this ship. Actually some of the dining crew seating us got lost and didn't know where to seat us. Weird! That happened to us twice. I think I expected more out of the refurb and thought more was going to be passed on to passengers. I did let my TA know about the conditions of the cabin and my disappointment with it.

I totally agree with you about feeling a little disconnected with the cruising experience. I love sea days and definitely missed them. We didn't dance either...we were too darn tired every night! We had some first time cruisers with us and tried to explain to them that this was not a "normal" cruise experience. But, so glad we got to see as much of Hawaii as we did and wouldn't trade that for anything.

I missed meeting the Cruise Critic group at the Meet and Greet. I slept through it! I guess it was the time change...I just cratered that afternoon for about 1 1/2 hours!

NCL is going to be sailing out of Houston in the near future. I think it's the Jewel. Maybe I'll see if my TA can take me with her to have a look/see. We live just outside Houston so we often take cruises out of Galveston. NCL will be sailing Bayport cruise terminal built a few years ago but has been empty. Princess will also be using the terminal.

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. Would love to have met you all. - Charla

cjdixon4-we enjoyed this cruise so much I have already decided we will be doing it again in May2015 for DH 55th birthday. This will give us a chance to do the things we couldn't afford to do this time like helicoptor flights in Hilo and Kauai. Just remember it is not your typical cruise with sea days, it is full on -exhausting but fun .

Dalgirl,

Thanks for the nice review....the info about the spa is especially helpful and confirms we will be booking a suite with a hot tub when we go in 2014. We have been on three NCL cruises and LOVE the cruising experience especially the spa and sea days. I just need to keep in mind this is about Hawaii not cruising :)

Thanks again!

dalgirl,

 

NCL is going to be sailing out of Houston in the near future. I think it's the Jewel. Maybe I'll see if my TA can take me with her to have a look/see. We live just outside Houston so we often take cruises out of Galveston. NCL will be sailing Bayport cruise terminal built a few years ago but has been empty. Princess will also be using the terminal.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. Would love to have met you all. - Charla

The Jewel is one of my favorite ships - we sailed the Jewel for our 30th anniversary so its been 5 years. Hopefully it has held up well. I would definitely give it a chance - especially if you liked the freestyle. That seems to be the problem for most folks - they miss traditional dining.

"Other NCL ships such as the Pearl, Gem and Jewel are in much better shape than the POA. They have full service spas - one of the reasons I think that I had so many issues with muscle pain and migranes was because I could not go to the spa in the evening and get fully relaxed. The last 3 cruises we have had on NCL - Sun, Sky and POA - did not have the additional full spa, only "treatments" and I really missed my predinner spa experience. I can be completely exhausted, go to the spa for an hour, and then be ready to go out for the evening - but not on this cruise. They could have upgraded their spa facilities with some of that money:("

dalgirl, can you tell me a little more about your spa experience on the POA? So there aren't any saunas or other facilities for use that aren't a "treatment" in the spa, or free showers in the spa for one to use? we are 5pax in one suite, with only one standard bathroom...i'm trying to think outside the box in case i need an option to get a shower in elsewhere on occasion. does anyone have thoughts on this? From what I've been reading, most people say there is no spa pass on the POA, but I'm not sure if this is correct.

Thanks to anyone who could give me any information! :)

Mahalo!

Thanks for the extensive review. Booked for the Oct 11th cruise. My daughter and I are taking my mom for her 76th bday celebration. My first time to Hawaii.