Pride of America Review with Pictures

I am so overdue on this that it is not even funny! Due to circumstances beyond my control, I just now got access to my pictures from our May 2012 cruise to Hawaii on the stunning Pride of America. Before you get too involved in reading this multi-post review, I have to be honest in saying that I did not take a lot of pictures at all of the ship. I just felt that there was so many other things to take pictures of rather than wasting my time with pictures on the ship (which you can find at countless sites on the internet). I will give my opinion on the ship and cruise itself at the end, but this review is mostly about the ports and excursions.

Also, some background on us. My husband surprised me with this vacation for our 10th wedding anniversary. Hawaii is a place that I've always wanted to go. We spent over a year planning, reading reviews, and counting the days. The only other cruises we have been on prior to this one was a one night party cruise through Norwegian out of NY, and a 7 night Bahamas cruise through Carnival. My father and stepmother, Rex and Deanna, werew also going. However, they were lucky enough to be flying into Honolulu the day before us, and staying 5 days after the cruise in Kona. So enough of the boring stuff! Here we go!

THURSDAY:

We were able to get from Central PA to Hawaii in just two flights the Thursday before the cruise left. First, from Harrisburg to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Honolulu. We flew Delta, and honestly have no complaints (other than the fact that I am deathly afraid of flying :eek:). We found all staff and accommodations to be excellent. A little side note about the flight from Atlanta...it was advertised as providing refreshments and lunch in flight. The truth, however, is that they stuff you to the gills. A round of drinks, then lunch (chicken or pasta), another round of drinks, a round of drinks and snacks, another round of drinks, then sandwiches and chips about 1.5 hours before landing in Honolulu. All food was pretty good for airplane standards.

Landing in Honolulu was incredible. Even though I was scared (Xanax can only help so much), those first few seconds of coming below the clouds and catching a glimpse of that beautiful shoreline just made all of my fears go away. It was a bit windy during the landing, but our pilot did an excellent job of getting us down safe and sound. I think that by this time I was so excited that I didn't even care.

As I said, Rex and Deanna arrived the day prior to us. I hired Hawaii23 Transportation to pick Rex and Deanna up at the hotel, then pick us up at the airport. Mark made sure to be early so we did not have to wait one minute. We had then asked them to take us for a mini tour of the Honolulu/Waikiki area to catch some highlights. Two must do's on my list: get a beer after a long day of flying (most important), and see Dog the Bounty Hunters House. Laugh all you want...I do not care! Mark took us to Kona Brewing Company first for a few...refreshments and a snack. What a lovely place located on the marina. Very good food, very nice bartender, excellent beer. Our other stops included DTBH's house :D, Diamond head, Duke's statue, the palace, and a few others that I just cannot remember. Hawaii23 offers very inexpensive airport transfers, and you do not have to have the tour like we did, though I defiently would recommend it. I wasn't too jazzed at the idea of a couple of hours in a van after long flights, but there were plenty of stops and chances to stretch the legs. Anyways, moral of the story, what ever you decide, use Hawaii23!

We were dropped off at our hotel, Hilton Hawaiian Village. I must say, this hotel is impressive walking up to it. It really is like a little Village of shopping, swimming, bars, and restaurants. Don't forget to check out the penguins! So cute! We had a pretty standard room with two double beds and a balcony. Nothing to shake a stick at, but it was clean and comfortable. We did have quite the amazing view of Diamond head and Waikiki Beach from our balcony. The staff at all the bars were very nice and made pretty good frozen drinks (yes, you will see a pattern with me referring to the quality of bar service throughout this review). We decided to walk to downtown Waikiki, which was a 5-10 minute walk. This is truly a shopper's paradise. Gucci, Coach, Prada, you name it, they have it. We made our way down to the International Market Place. Honestly, I wasn't too impressed with the shopping aspect. Now food, that's a different story! Go for the food, hopefully you see something you like to purchase along the way.

By about 9PM my husband and I were so tired that we were on auto pilot. I felt like a zombie! We shuffled back to the hotel, enjoyed a smoke and a drink on the balcony, then hit the sack. I never slept so good in my life!

Everybody say Xanax!

Gate open and everything!

View from our balcony at the Hilton Hawaiian Village

Looking forward to the rest of your POA review! We are sailing on it next summer.

Looking forward to the rest of your review, however, your pictures are not showing up..says "unavailable".

Let's try this again...

It worked! Here's the rest!

Every one smile and say Xanax!

The gates are open!

A view from our balcony

Another view from the balcony

My view while laying back at the hotel pool

Penguins at the hotel

FRIDAY PART ONE

Today is the day I dread the most besides the flying days. Today my husband and I rented a scooter from hawaiianstylerentals.com. We got there at 8:30 when they opened, and we were off in less than 15 minutes. Navigating the highways through Honolulu was well...scary, and I wasn't even driving. My husband claimed it wasn't that bad. Once we were out of Honolulu the scenery turned absolutely beautiful, and there was much less traffic. Beautiful mountain views as far as the eye can see!. We headed to the North Shore for some swimming with the sharks. Ugggggg. We reserved through hawaiisharkencounters.com, and caught our boat in Haleiwa. For the life of me I cannot remember the Captain or First Mate's name. The Captain was alright, didn't really interact with us. The First Mate, however, was fantastic. He was a native of the area and was very happy to answer any questions we had, shark related and otherwise. As for the shark experience itself...the water was pretty choppy. My husband and I both took drammamine about a half hour before we got on the boat. My husband is prone to seasickness, but I am not. Neither one of us had a problem on the boat ride. It was about three miles out to our swimming spot. Once we got there we saw our cage bobbing in the ocean. IMMEDIATELY we were greeted with at least a dozen sharks. This company does NOT chum the waters in case you were wondering. There was 10 in the group altogether, so we went in two shifts. I opted for the second shift LOL. We were given snorkel masks with the breathing tube. After what seemed like an eternity of standing on the ladder in the cage, I very carefully stepped off into the water. Now imagine, you're in the middle of the ocean, the waves are moving pretty good. You have to hold onto the cage to keep yourself still, but without allowing your arms or legs to hang outside. In the meantime, waves are rolling over the top of the cage, making it even more difficult to steady yourself. I am afraid of the ocean, petrified of sharks, and not the best with snorkel gear. Great. It took me a while to put my face under because I knew what would be right there. I finally decided to do it, and what an incredible sight it was. The sharks really are beautiful creatures. They are were much larger than I was expecting, but very graceful in their movement. Curious little suckers too. When I say that they came right to the cage, I mean right to the cage. It truly was an amazing sight. I will be honest and give you the whole story...after about 15 minutes in the water I surfaced to fix my mask. I put my head back under the water and was not prepared for the shark in front of me. Clearly he was not prepared for me as he skittishly turned his body, and his tail smacked the cage in front of my face. Well...that's it for me. I'm out. The rest of my group stayed in for another 5 or 10 minutes. All in all, I'm overjoyed that I got to share this experience with my husband (who had a fantastic time), and would recommend this tour to others.

Hubby all too eager to get in the water

Surrounding the boat

I told you...magnificant!

Probably the most freaky part was them swimming under us

I like them better when they were far away :o

At the recommendation of our first mate, we hopped across the street from the harbor and grabbed lunch at a shrimp truck. You can't miss this thing. It's a school bus painted blue parked in the parking lot of a 76 gas station. Didn't look very promising, but WOW. Best meal of the trip. I wish I would have taken pics of our food. I got the garlic shrimp meal for $11.99. I got at least a dozen JUMBO shrimp smothered in a buttery garlic mixture, a heaping pile of rice, a side salad and some garlic bread. Instead of shrimp the hubby got steak, and from what he says it was fantastic. I think his was $9.99. Can't beat that! Side note on the cost of things...once you get out of the Waikiki/Honolulu area, things really are not that high priced. We bought a bottle of Dasani at that 76 gas station for $0.76.

FYI...these underwater pics were taken with my iPhone. My husband and I got LifeProof cases for our iPhones. They are completely waterproof, and worked out fantastically on this trip.

FRIDAY PART TWO

Another bucket list for my husband...jump off a cliff or rock into the ocean. Since we were at the North Shore we decided to stop at Waimea Bay. There is a huge rock in the water that is pretty popular for jumping off of. The beach itself is beautiful; soft sand, clear water. There is a lot of parking there too with some food vendors in the parking lot. I didn't use them, but there are bathroom facilities there. Our only purpose for stopping was to climb this rock and jump off. There was a ton of people at the top, most just watching with a few jumping. A lot of the people jumping were local kids, maybe as young as 10. Maybe to pros it wasn't a high rock, but it seemed like it was about 100 stories up. My husband and I hung out at the top for about 20 minutes or so watching people jump off. I felt like I could get sick at any moment. Yes, you guessed it, I'm afraid of heights (there really isn't anything I'm not afraid of). I kept telling my husband to go, and he just kept looking over the edge and shaking his head no. At this point I really was not interested in climbing back down this stupid rock. I figured that if I jumped then my husband, knowing that I'm scared of the ocean, would quickly follow and come to my rescue. I walked to the edge and without even pausing jumped off. Some butterflies on the way down, but it was over quickly. I came to the surface with a smile and looked up at my husband. He had a look on his face that was a mixture of shock and terror. With one more shake of the head he backed up and dissappeared. I hung out in the water for a few minutes then made my way in. He met me at the bottom of the rock :p He just couldn't do it.

We headed back to Honolulu, returned our scooter, and headed back to the hotel. We had dinner reservations with Rex and Deanna at Bali By the Sea, which is the upscale restaurant inside of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. I will say that the atmosphere and decor was extremely nice. The restaurant itself was pretty open to the outside, creating a very open and airy feel to the place. The staff were very attentive and accommodating. Portion size for the food was pretty good for such an upscale place. Usually you leave these places hungry. The food quality was just OK. For a normal priced meal I would say it was good, but at the prices they charge there should be a fiesta going on in my mouth as I chew. Not so much. I hate to say this, but I would not recommend this place, only because I do not think the quality matched the price. Maybe the chef was having an off night...

After dinner we watched the fireworks from the beach (every Friday night at 7:30), then spent some quality time at the bar by the pool. Another smoke while finishing our drinks on our balcony and off to bed we were. I think we might have made it until 10PM this night!

Can't wait to read some more of your review as I will be taking this cruise4 with hubby and friends in May 2013. :)

Really enjoying your review! Love the details, perspectives and opinions. We sail this cruise next June. :)

Great review so far. Neat seeing Dogs house. Didn't research that.

Can't wait to read more

Great review so far. Neat seeing Dogs house. Didn't research that.

 

Can't wait to read more

When I asked him to take me to see Dog, I was actually expecting him to take us to the Bail Bonds business in downtown Honolulu. I was not expecting him to take us to the house. It was pretty cool!

Really enjoying your review! Love the details, perspectives and opinions. We sail this cruise next June. :)

Thanks so much! I have no doubt that you will have a fantastic trip in June. The weather should be great!

OMG that gate at Dog the Bounty Hunter's house (does one just refer to him as "Dog"?) is too hilarious!!! Hahahahahahaha.

This review is awesome, it's bringing back great memories. =)

I take Xanax on flights too!

We also used Hawaii23 at the recommendation of CC members.

Can't wait to read some more of your review as I will be taking this cruise4 with hubby and friends in May 2013. :)

I am so excited for you! You're going to have a great time!

Enjoying your review, looking forward to the rest.

That is a great thing to do. We have seen his house often enough on tv too.

When I asked him to take me to see Dog, I was actually expecting him to take us to the Bail Bonds business in downtown Honolulu. I was not expecting him to take us to the house. It was pretty cool!

How awesome. My DW and I are big fans. When we take our vacation and cruise in January, we plan on visiting his store at the Koko Marina Shopping Center. Would love to get a picture of his house. How hard is it to find?

How awesome. My DW and I are big fans. When we take our vacation and cruise in January, we plan on visiting his store at the Koko Marina Shopping Center. Would love to get a picture of his house. How hard is it to find?

From what I understand his address is not listed (which I cannot blame him), but I can't say that I ever really tried to research his homes location. It's about 10 minutes outside of the Waikiki area, I think heading South. I think we just got lucky with a local who was familiar with this.

Thank you for this review, we are considering taking this cruise so this is research for me.

Congratulations on facing your fears and jumping off that rock!! Plus you have bragging rights on your hubby now!:rolleyes::D

Enjoying the review-keep it coming!

I'm enjoying your review! Great write up and Kudos to you for jumping off of that rock, I was picturing it in my head as you described it! :D

SATURDAY

Still on East Coast time, we woke up pretty early. Walked across the alley and waited for the ABC store to open. We grabbed some donuts, muffins, OJ and milk for breakfast (we're pretty easy to please). Check out was at 11, but the hotel was nice enough to hold our luggage so we could go and enjoy the beach until it was time to head to the ship. The beach at the Hilton Hawaiian Village is nice. There is a "protected" swimming area there, which I felt pretty comfortable in. You have to understand, I love the beach, but hate the ocean. Our family vacations in OBX for a week each year and I do NOT get in the water due to my severe fear of sharks, which now makes me giggle (see Friday's post). There is a stand there where you can rent chairs, umbrellas, floating things, and probably other stuff. I didn't take notice of the prices, all I need is a towel and some sand. We spent a couple of hours swimming and tanning, then headed back to the pool. The pool area is very nice. Plenty of loungers in the shade for the more pasty vacationers, such as my husband. Wait staff was always around to take drink and food orders, no need to get up at all. I could spend a week right here.

We headed for the boat around 1. The hotel staff promptly got out luggage, and happily hailed us a cab. We hit a little traffic on the way to the pier, but the trip only took about 15 minutes. I love the feeling you get as you're pulling up to the pier and you can see that ship! Butterflies!

As I said earlier, I did not take a lot of pictures of the ship, which I partly regret now. I'll describe stuff as best as I can, but I will warn you that I do not know ship lingo.

I heard some horror stories about how long it takes to board the POA. Fortunately we only had to wait in line for about 10 minutes, and the actual check in process only took about 5. Off we go! My first impression when stepping on the ship was pretty much being in awe. Her decor is not like the other ships I have been on, but I particularly like the patriotic theme. The main level with the customer service desk and grand staircase is nothing short of stunning. Lots of bright whites and reds. Our room was ready when we stepped aboard. We chose a mid ship balcony. Not really any bells and whistels, just a standard cruise ship room. I did read some other reviews of people saying that the POA rooms were much smaller than on other ships, but I really didn't notice a difference from the balcony room we were on the Carnival Pride last summer. The room was clean, including the bathroom, and there was already ice in our bucket! Our room steward, Corazon, greeted us right away. She was very nice and attentive all week long, but without being overbearing. We dropped off a few things and headed to the Aloha Cafe to meet Rex and Deanna for lunch.

The buffet was nice. It's pretty much where we ate breakfast every morning, and dinner a lot of the nights. I can't say that I had anything that wasn't cook well or that was cold. Everything was fine for us. Here's a good tip...there is an extension of the Aloha Cafe that is outside in the rear of the ship. Most people didn't realize this until the third or fourth day. It was much less crowded than the main buffet inside.

After lunch we headed to the pool and were greeted by the towel stand attendant, Avelino. This is kind of a funny story. My dad and step mom passed him first. Avelino gave them a very warm greeting, then gave my hubby and I a nice greeting as well. Only he stopped us, and starting talking about the Pub Hop later in the evening. My dad started joking with him about why he didn't mention the pub hop to them. It turned into a week long inside joke about them being the old people. Avelino energetically signed the four of us up for the pub hop. We ran into him several times throughout the week. Each time he remembered our names, joked with us, and always made sure we had everything we needed.

Now, my husband and I are smokers. I will warn all other smokers that the POA is not a smoker friendly ship. I am not complaining at all, I completely understand the reason for this. Sadly, not all smokers are considerate of non-smokers when they are feeding their habit. The only area you can smoke is the Waikiki Bar, located at the back of the boat, and toward the front of the ship on one side. Thank GOD we opted for a balcony room! There is a smaller pool at the Waikiki Bar, so this area is pretty much where we stayed while on the ship. The couple of bartenders that rotated at the Waikiki Bar were very attentive and it didn't take them long to learn what we liked to drink.

Unfortunately, my CC Roll Call group decided to have their meet and greet during the Pub Hop hours. Sorry CC friends, the four of us were not missing the Pub Hop for anything. $25 gets you a drink at 5 different bars. You show up at the Saloon, and are promptly given a very...adult name written on a large piece of tape and placed across your chest. Hysterical! They basically parade you around the boat from bar to bar, and you get full drinks at each one. Along the way there are games and challenges that you participate in. Oh, and there are rules. Dear God, do not break the rules. You could end up having to walk around the ship wearing a feather boa and fruit hat, like I did. Do NOT go to this event if you are easily offended, or if you are not prepared to be a good sport and participate. Let loose, have fun, and start celebrating vacation. Most likely you will never see any of these people again, so who cares?!Anything after about 7PM gets a little fuzzy. There was a toga party at 10 (togas provided), but I don't think we made that. We woke up in the morning with an empty pizza box on the bed. Guess we ordered room service :confused:

I don't really have a lot of relevant photos for this post, so here are some randoms that we took.

swimming in the ocean at the hotel

hubby and Deanna relaxing by the Waikiki Bar

Keep it coming...planning on doing this cruise in the next year or so.:o

Hubby has decided we should do the pub hop. What drinks do you get to have, beer or cocktails? It sounds like you had a great time on this activity. Can't wait for the next installment.