Hawaii POA – Our Best Cruise Yet!

Just to preface, this review is my opinion based on my experience. I realize two people can see the same thing and interpret it differently…

We sailed Pride of America from April 9 – 16 and booked a two night pre-cruise package with Norwegian as well. As always, we research ships, itineraries, and ports well ahead of time thanks to Cruise Critic. It is important to know what to expect. Like many cruises there were positive reviews and negative reviews. Prior to this trip we knew the following;

POA was half built in the U.S. and half in Europe in the mid 2000’s.

It is not a mega ship and only has about 2,400 passengers.

It is an American registered ship with 70% U.S. crew.

The cruise is port intensive – no sea days.

Negatives

The only negative was the food in complimentary venues. A wide selection but poor quality. NOTE: we only ate in one specialty restaurant – Maderno where the food was excellent. Bar service was good but they did seem a little under staffed.

Positives

This was the best cruise that we have ever been on. The ship’s staff and crew were excellent. The American staff were much more engaging than previous cruises. The crew staff were helpful, friendly, full of energy, and fun. We’ve had good experiences before but this was much, much better. I think that having predominately American passengers and crew staff made the interaction more engaging both ways. The cruise director and her staff did a great job. The production shows were the best we have ever seen on a ship. The quality was superior. Lights Camera Action, Oh What a Night, and Las Vegas were wonderful. You could not find better singers and dancers anywhere. Michael (can’t remember his last name) the comedian was hilarious. Celebrity Dance Off was a blats! It is the people working on the ship who made this such a great cruise. It seemed like they were trying harder – and succeeding!

The ship was gorgeous. Yes a ship that age will show some wear even after dry dock but the refurbishment of the passenger areas and cabins were lovely. It is a very comfortable ship and once you learn the flow it is easy to get around. The new carpets, furniture, bedding, TVs, etc. made many parts of the ship seem brand new.

I will review our pre-cruise stay and ports of call next!

We were on that cruise too.Great cruise ,reviews coming soon.

Correction from previous post...

Celebrity Dance Off was a BLAST (not blats)!

Thanks for the review and I am glad to hear that your experience was great.

Quick Question: We are sailing POA on June 3rd and was wondering if they added cabanas to deck 14. From some of the post dock photos it looks like they did but was not sure if that was what I was seeing :D.

Thanks so much!

sunnyvegas

Can't wait! 13 days and I will see for myself. I can't wait to see pictures of the ship and your review.

Thanks for the review and I am glad to hear that your experience was great.

 

Quick Question: We are sailing POA on June 3rd and was wondering if they added cabanas to deck 14. From some of the post dock photos it looks like they did but was not sure if that was what I was seeing :D.

 

Thanks so much!

sunnyvegas

I'm not sure if cabanas were there before dry dock or not but there are cabanas on the deck. On our cruise, they were available to anyone.

I'm not sure if cabanas were there before dry dock or not but there are cabanas on the deck. On our cruise, they were available to anyone.

Thank you very much! It is good to know that they are available to all guests.

Pre Cruise

We arrived on Thursday about 2:30pm and by the time we caught the shuttle to the hotel we just looked around the hotel, ate dinner and walked Waikiki beach. NCL booked us with the Marriott Beach and Spa – a beautiful hotel one block from the beach. The rooms were large and lovely. We did not ask for water front but we had a good view of the beach from our balcony. There is an NCL office at the hotel which helped us with any questions. All transfers were included in our package.

Friday we rented a car from Enterprise (at the hotel) and drove to the North Shore. I had mapped out getting there through the valley but the rental car agent suggested heading east by Diamond Head. I’m so glad we went that way as it was a beautiful drive. We stopped frequently for pictures. The Polynesian Cultural Center was very nice and great to see – once. Maybe it was us but the schedule of shows was hard to coordinate. After PCC we went to Sunset Beach and the Banzai Pipeline. Of course we had fish and shrimp tacos from a truck! As we returned to Honolulu we stopped at Puu Ualakaa State Park. It is a beautiful overlook of much of the island. We were there 25 years ago and it was nice to get another picture. You don’t see much mention of this park but it is not to miss! After dropping off the rental card we walked to Dukes and had a great dinner on the beach.

Saturday (Cruise Day)

We had reservations at Pearl Harbor so we left our bags in the room for NCL to get to the pier and called Uber for a ride to PH. Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial are always very moving experiences. We had a pleasant tour and called for another Uber ride – this time to the port!

Sunday (Maui)

We rented a car at the airport and loaded with our GPS and tour app headed for Hana. It was something to do just once but made for a good day on the island. We’ve been to Maui before but have never done the famous Road to Hana. Obviously it is the journey and not the destination so we stopped often. We had a great GPS tour app that was wonderful and like having our own private tour guide in the car. We stopped often and enjoyed the scenery, waterfalls, beaches and food stops. Coming back there was a line of about 30 cars behind one very slow tourist who refused to pull over so for about an hour and a half we were driving at about 10 – 12 MPH. Other than that it was a great excursion but one that I have no desire to ever do again.

Monday (Maui)

Today we scuba dove the back wall of Molokini with Maui ProDivers. We had to be at the dock in Kihei at 6:30am so we had pre-arranged for a taxi since Uber was not available that early. We had a wonderful dive and although we saw nothing new, we were serenated by whale songs the entire time. They were so loud and nice to hear. Afterwards we returned to the ship by Uber and enjoyed the afternoon by the pool.

Rental Cars in Maui

As you may have read, there is no longer overnight parking at the pier. We were warned by the rental car agent that parking just anywhere could get us towed. That’s why we elected to rent the car just for the day. Some passengers parked across the street at the mall and had no problem while I heard of three cars that were towed. I just didn’t want to chance it. A few people parked overnight at the airport and then just took the shuttle back. That would have been too much trouble for us at 5:30am.

Tuesday (Hilo)

We rented a car and headed to Volcanoes National Park. We had a wonderful visit and saw everything we wanted to see and also did some hiking. Back in Hilo we went to Rainbow Falls and then Richardson Beach. Richardson was great snorkeling and turtle watching. If you go to the right of the snorkeling area there are a lot of big lava rocks. In the rocks are pools of water that trap the turtles at low tide. In one pool there were 8 turtles swimming. I got some great GoPro video of them.

Wednesday (Kona)

This was the only NCL excursion we purchased and probably one of the best they offer – Captain Zodiac Snorkeling. The boat ride is a blast in itself but the snorkeling at the Captain Cook monument was wonderful. Coming back we drove with a school of spinner dolphins. It was a nice morning. Afterwards we had lunch at Kona Brewing Company and then some shopping.

Thursday (Kauai)

Today we rented a car and headed to the Waimea Canyon all the way to the Kalalau Lookout. The sights were amazing until the last one which was buried in cloud cover. We could not see 10’ in front of us. It is interesting what just a few more feet in elevation could do! It was a wonderful trip with lunch at the Shrimp Station. On the way back to Lihue we went to the twin falls.

Friday (Kauai)

This was one of our most anticipated excursions – Blue Hawaii helicopter ride. It was well worth the money for a once in a lifetime experience. I video everything and as we flew around Jurassic Falls I thought I had the camera recording when it actually wasn’t. I thought “that’s okay the helicopter films our trip”. Upon landing the helicopter’s camera didn’t record – how disappointing. There was another helicopter which didn’t record either. Oh well, at least I have the rest of my video. It was a wonderful flight though.

Back on the ship it was time for the Napali Coast sail by. Don’t miss this as it is as good as they say. It was beautiful and we even had a rainbow over the coast that was very pronounced in our video and stills.

I would include pictures if I knew how as we have over 400 but this will have to suffice.

All in all it was our best cruise ever and again I believe it was due to the wonder crew and staff of the ship (especially the cruise director and her staff) as well as the entertainment.

I will be happy to answer any questions....

Sounds like you had a great trip! Thanks for doing a review.

Great review! In Maui is there anywhere easier you could suggest besides the Road to Hana, we would like to do some scenic or interesting route that's not too tiring or difficult , we have 4 young kids with us including a stroller. Thanks

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Great review! In Maui is there anywhere easier you could suggest besides the Road to Hana, we would like to do some scenic or interesting route that's not too tiring or difficult , we have 4 young kids with us including a stroller. Thanks

 

 

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We did Haleakala some years ago. I think kids would love it. The road is good and scenery is great. Who doesn't like a volcano and being above the clouds?

Don't forget the POA has already sank once so the odds of it happening again are slim. :lol Yes I know it was while it was still being built but hey.

http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2004/01/12/daily39.html

Pretty sure the cabanas are new and added during the drydock.

Were they still working on anything? Was the spa open?

Thank you for your informative review. The tour app you loaded on the GPS came from where. This would be our first time in Hawaii, so want to know if it is easy to get around in a rental car??

Oh what sweet memories you're bringing back . . . we can't wait to cruise POA again (hopefully with our kids next time around).

<snip>

This was the best cruise that we have ever been on. The ship’s staff and crew were excellent. <snip> It seemed like they were trying harder – and succeeding! <snip>

 

I 100% agree. Our POA cruise was hands down the best we had ever experienced.

We were on POA last summer, before the reno, and absolutely loved it. I'd go again in a heartbeat! Glad you enjoyed it. :D

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