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POA 8/25 Review


Ander026

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Good evening to all CC. I have recently returned home from my first NCL cruise on the Pride of America. I had a great cruise around Hawaii.

 

Here is the background. I am from FL and cruise at least 2-4 times a year. I have cruised on HAL, Carnival, and RCCL. I mostly cruise with RCCL where I am at Platinum status. This cruise included my family - Mom, Dad, Sister and Nephew. The last cruise all 5 of us were on was last year on the Freedom of the Seas.

 

We had 2 aft balconies wich wear JR Suites. More on that later. This cruise was also booked about a year ago.

 

This review I will to a review of the ship Pride of America, the ports that we visited, the tours that I did, and my overall review of the POA and the crew.

 

During the review I will also be including pics.

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Well my Family and I ended up getting to Hawaii 3 days before the cruise for a pre-cruise stay at the Disney Vacation Club. This was a great resort with a fantastic room, pool areas, and bar/eating areas as well. My Dad and I also played golf at the course next to the DVC.

 

We used Private Limo Company for transportation from Airport-DVC-Port-Airport for our transportion needs. The company did a great job.

 

We did have a great pre-cruise stay as well. During the pre-cruise I played some golf and relaxed. I also caught up with a former co-worker as well.

 

On Saturday 8/25 it was time to go and check in for the cruise. The check in did have a different feel in that you did not need a passport for this cruise. First we checked our baggage which got to us before dinner, then we checked in. We were able to check in as a family. Once checked in we had to wait about 15 minutes till our number was called. Once on the POA we went to the guest relations to get new cards printed as we re-adjusted the cabin roomates of the 2 cabins. This whent fast.

 

After that we went to the buffet and met up with a solo cruiser and waited till our deck was ready and called. To me the buffet area never got full, always a seat available.

 

That night I went back to the buffet for dinner because I was watching sail-away at 1900. After that I went to the welcome aboard show to meet up with my sister and new friend the solo cruiser (SC). I was picked by the comedian to come up to the stage that night. After the show we went to the Waiki Ki Bar to finish up the night.

 

This was a great first day because my family practicaly adopted a solo cruiser on the first day. That solo cruiser would hang out with my sister and me thoughout the rest of the cruise. That SC would also be with us once for dinner during the week.

 

Next up photos of Day 1

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Here are some photos from Day 1 - Embarkation Day. Note the captions are at the bottom of photos.

 

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This is the check in area for the POA

 

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A view of the front of the POA from the dock as I was boarding

 

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A view of the Gangplank to the POA

 

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The gangplak is removed and ready to sail.

 

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Pulling away from the dock

 

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A view as we are pulling away to start our cruise vacation

 

This was a great sail-away. Was able to get alot of great shots. I will include more shots tomorrow when I get home from work.

 

Well that is all for tonight more tomorrow.

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Thanks for taking time for your review ~ I thought the last picture when you were leaving was beautiful ! We will be sailing November 10th and I'm getting all ramped up :-)

Can't wait for the next "installment" of your review ~

 

Cindy

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We will be on it march 2013, and staying also at Ko Olina !

 

Anything you can tell us about that ship will be so great.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. it is really really appreciated :D

 

ps: would you have the daily journal that they deliver to your room ( sorry, dont remember the name on ncl )

 

Thanks again,

 

Josee

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Good evening to all,

 

Here are some more of Day 1 Embarkation day. We arrived around 1130 and got on the ship around noon. After a stop at Guest Services we made our way up to the Aloa Diner which is the buffet. We found a table of 6 and was able to stay there till our rooms were ready around 2pm.

 

As I mentioned before we had Aft Balconies. My Parents said that they were JR Suites, but to tell you the truth I thought they were smaller than an E-2 on the RCCL Voyager Class ship. The balcony was huge though. The aft balcony had 2 regular chairs and 2 loungers.

 

Below are a couple of photos of our stateroom where my Sister, Nephew, and I called home for a week.

 

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Here is the Stateroom where the bed was together. We got that seperatated and the couch pulled out for a 3rd bed

 

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Here is the balcony facing aft. Not a bad stateroom but I now prefer a bacony on the side and on a hump if available.

 

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Tonight was also the first theme night at the Waikii bar. This bar was outside on deck 13 aft. Tonight was the Toga Party. The Cruise Director Staff participated in this event.

 

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Here is another shot of us leaving port on the first night

 

Next some photos of the other areas of the ship

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Here are some general ship photos that I took during the first couple of days. These photos show the general guest areas.

 

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First is the Oasis Pool which I think is the adults only pool. However I never went in the pool and never saw anyone in the pool. This pool is deck 13 aft right below the Waikiki Bar

 

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These next 2 photos show the outside Promanade. This is on Deck 6. This walkway is very wide and does goe all the way around the ship. In the front it is coverd but in the back you do have great open areas to take pics from.

 

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This next photo is of the main swimming area, This is a small area but greatly utilized. In this area you do have 4 hot tubs and 2 pools. This area also has its own bar as well. I did go in the hot tubs and pool. It did appear that the pool is fresh water (I tasted).

 

Well that is all for tonight. Tomorrow I have to uploade some more photos in Photobucket so I can continue this reveiw.

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We will be on it march 2013, and staying also at Ko Olina !

 

Anything you can tell us about that ship will be so great.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. it is really really appreciated :D

 

ps: would you have the daily journal that they deliver to your room ( sorry, dont remember the name on ncl )

 

Thanks again,

 

Josee

 

Unfotunatly I did not keep the daily journal.

 

You will enjoy the stay at the DVC. They had a great pool area and ocean area as well. If you play golf they have a golf course that is 10 min walk from the resort alont with a great ice cream shop. Also the Luau show is also a 10 minute walk from the DVC resort.

 

Unfotunatly I will not include any pics from my stay at DVC as it does not pertain to the current post. If you want pics from the resort let me know and I can email them to you.

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