Who has gotten back from "The Pride Of America"

Hello,

Who has gotten back from a trip on "The Pride of America"? Any infor....would be appreciated.

Thanks

Ruth, I think you need to wait a couple of more days. The first "pay" trip aboard the America docks today in Los Angeles (the Miami-Panama Canal trip). I know that CC Member Nancy is on board and if I know her, she will be posting a review very shortly. The only other America trip to date has been the Regis & Kelly tirp.

Hello,

Who has gotten back from a trip on "The Pride of America"? Any infor....would be appreciated.

Thanks

The passengers are disembarking her as we speak, eh, type :eek: Maybe later this evening or tomorrow. I'm not sure how many CC members were onboard though.

Great, We are on board the July 30th "Pride of America" but leave FL July 26th..So I will be looking for there messages...Can't wait....

Happy Cruising....

Hi! We just got back today. What a beautiful ship. Check out the thread that Nancy started while she was still aboard the Pride of America. What would you like to know? Where is your cabin?

Hi! We just got back today. What a beautiful ship. Check out the thread that Nancy started while she was still aboard the Pride of America. What would you like to know? Where is your cabin?

Hello,

We are on Deck 9 Front of the Ship....How was the Service at Dinner....How is the service working for the Freestyle Dining....

Thanks, All the Best.

Hi Ruth, I soared with Mary last week and was on Deck 9. Our room was 9036, I miss it already! It worked out well. I thought we had smooth sailing, but some of the neighbors a few doors forward of me thought it was very rough. I'm really not sure what they were comparing it too! We had the extra overhang over our deck. It was sure nice during the rain storms, we could sit on the deck and watch the storm, and never got wet! I loved not putting on sunscreen!! :) The other thing I did like was that the interior cabins next to us were on a hallway perpendicular to us. They were not occupied during our cruise, but I think it would cut down on some of the hallway noise I had heard on other ships.

Freestyle dining was fine for us, but we did not have a full ship. Dinner was slow a few times, but they always tried to make up for it. One night in the Jefferson Bistro, we were only charged for one dinner because it was so slow, but that was after she heard that we are a part of this site! Don't know if the charge would have been cut without that knowledge!! (I told her I knew to order the chocolate fondue because of reading about it here....). Another night the Teppenyaki Grill was out of the large sea scallops. We went back another night, Terrence remembered us and since they had now found the shipment, gave us extra scallops to compensate. It was not perfect, and that really bugged some people, but hey, we're on vacation and had fun! If you look for the good, you will find it, if you like for the bad....you'll find that too! Have fun!

Enjoy your cruise, we had a blast! :)

Kristy

Hello,

Who has gotten back from a trip on "The Pride of America"? Any infor....would be appreciated.

Thanks

I went on it yesterday for a loook round when she was in LA! She is MAGNIFICENT! WOW!

Ruth,

The service for Freestyle Dining was good to excellent! It wasn't the same as assigned seating on other ships because I had different servers most nights (mainly because I kept hopping around to all of my choices of places and times for dinner!) Anyone that brings me my food the way I ordered it and keeps the drinks coming is all right in my book. Some times it was a little slow between courses, but hey...I was there to relax, not get a McDonald's speedy meal. I enjoyed the flexibility of dining choices and table mates. You have to realize that many of the employees have never worked on a ship. They are enthusiastic after spending weeks in training to want to make you happy. The few errors or slowness were not due to bad attitudes: just inexperience. When a server brought me an omelet with extra ingredients I had not ordered because she wrote "with everything", you should have seen how apologetic everyone was. It really wasn't that big of a deal: just a mistake that was easily fixed. I admire NCL America for the time and money they have invested to improve their reputation. I would sail on the Pride of America again in a heartbeat. Stay open-minded and you will have a blast!

You will love your cabin location on deck 9 if it is a balcony. I admit to spending some time drinking champagne on Stargazers' balcony during our passage through Gatun Lake. You are close to the elevators and/or stairs to go down to decks 5 and 6 where you will spend most of your evenings dancing, listening to music, or seeing the shows. Let me know if you want to know anything else. I counted hangers in closets, shelves, plugs, drawers...etc. Have fun!

Mary,

Your reviews are very informative and you've covered a lot. How did your group like Scott Hanby, the HD and Rich Cleasen, CD?

Rich was our very first NCL cruise (the Wind) CD back in '01, pre-freestyle, and, though it was my first "big" cruise, we thought he was just outstanding. Our opinion was reinforced over & over on the Dawn Aug. '03 as he was really in his element on the large freestyle ship. Boy is it good news that he's back with NCL.:D

Thought Scott was an absolute gentleman and ran a very professional operation both times I've sailed with him on the Sea. Big friendly smile and that Texas hospitality.:)

Just wondering, with all the huge responsibilities that come with opening up a new ship, whether these guys had time to meet the CC'ers. It always adds so much to the experience, doesn't it?

Does POAM have one set menu for the main DR - with a few rotating dishes - or does the entire menu change every night?

And just to confirm, they are using the $10.00 pp/day svc charge? I think that's so much easier than worrying about the tipping as you go that I've read about over on POA. I wasn't sure which system they would roll out on America.

Could you comment on the ports of call?

Also was there Hawaiian "culture" classes onboard? What was your experience with onboard activities?

Thanks again!

Thought I would jump on board here - we just got home Friday to LA off the POA - I 'flew' with Mary, Nancy and Kristy on the PO America thru the canal....it was such a great experience 'talking' to all the CC'ers for months before the cruise and then actually meeting them on board. WE had a great group - all very compatible - and spent lots of time together as a CC family.

Nancy had signs made for all our cabin doors and a few of us decorated our doors for July 4th also. We were invitied to several VIP events due to our CC affiliation; Al the Concierge treated us like royalty (VIP tender tickets, invitations to parties, VIP disembarktion, etc) had a CC cocktail party with the upper staff members and Scott Hanby was great...very funny, personable super guy. Rich was an awesome cruise director. Full of energy, funny, looked alot like Pee Wee Herman and Gilbert Godfrey combined...couldn't have asked for a better CD.

The CC'ers met several times for cocktails, shore excursions, drinks, trivia games, bingo, sail away parties, etc and Nancy presented us all (approx 30 of us total) with Ty Beanie Babies of an American Eagle on the last night, since we were called 'Cruisin' Eagles'. THANKS AGAIN NANCY FOR EVERYTHING!! We also took a group photo to commemerate our voyage. Being a part of these boards gave us lots of info and immediate friends on board - I would highly recommend joining in on the chats.

The Panama Canal trip was super - with a balcony cabin you felt like you were part of the event and got a close up look of the action. We did a private tour in Puerto Limon with Oscar Brown tours and would recommend him He was on the pier waiting for us, sign in hand, had a near new van with great AC. (canopy, canal boat ride, banana plantation and a stop for coffee purchases for only $115 each).

We were on deck 10 midship with a balcony - it was supposed to be 233 sq feet with a 95 sq foot balcony, but it wasn't. - it was the smallest cabin we have ever had in over 20 cruises. There were 3 of us in our cabin and only one person could move at a time, others had to sit or stand out of the way to move across the room or go onto the balcony, and your arms hit the shower wall when trying to wash your hair....nothing that can be done about this now, just be aware - book the biggest cabin you can afford!! One great thing is you could sit on the toilet and brush your teeth at the same time.....great time saver!!!

Being a new ship offered some challenges - some things like the ice cream machine broke down daily; crew was new and as lost as us for the first few days; dining service was pretty slow, but as Mary said we weren't in a rush; speciality restaurants were all excellent; our room steward was the worst (had to find our own toilet paper, towels, room not made up on several days, etc) but others were excellent and even made towel animals; Aloha Cafe is open 24/7 but watch out for the slick floor (I looked like a beached whale when I slipped in syrup and coffee that had been spilled and fell! - Luckily didn't get hurt); medical staff was very professional and accomodating (husband had to get stitches after the canopy/zipline tour); entertainment was very good - lots of comedians, jugglers, piano players, only 2 production shows but very well done; Marsh the artist was on board for caricatures; photo staff was excellent and very fun;

Hope that covers some of the questions - feel free to ask anything I didn't cover.

Dolores:o

Glad you have told us about the tiny winy cabin; we booked a room in Kauai; now I guess I will have to book one in Maui too. We do not like tiny winy cabins for 3; not what we thought we were getting!

Oh, well, guess NCL royally goofed on posting cabin sizes and this is what we have heard from others and this totally verifies this!

Anyone complain about the tiny winy cabin sizes; we thought our's was going to be one of the best balcony cabins too!

Glad you had so much much with your cabin mates, etc!

Donna,

Could you direct me to where on NCL's site they post the sq. footage of the cabins for POAM? On the "fleet - deck plans" page, all I can find is a description of the room and how many in each category.

Then I tried the "Voyages & Pricing" area, putting in a fictitious cruise, and hit the little "i" for information on the particular room category, and again, no sq. footage.

What am I missing?:confused: Thanks.

Mary-I can't believe you counted the hangers!!! :) Of course, your closet wasn't stuffed like mine so you could see in it!! :D

Both Scott (I'm from a small town in Texas) and Rich came to our CC events. We enjoyed getting a chance to meet and visit with them. All over the ship, when staff heard we were CC'ers, they would comment that they knew about our site. I felt like we got extra attention, and I know several had read our roll call. As Mary and Dolores said, join the roll call before you go. It made the planning so much more fun (My coworkers were glad not to hear me talk about it so much....) and we really enjoyed the new friends we made.

Kristy :)

I'm confused, Donna - why in the world would you book a room to pack/unpack when one of cruising's greatest advantages is the ability to only unpack once? I would think it would be a huge waste of money to buy all these hotel rooms. Why not take that money and apply it to an upgraded cabin, perhaps a suite?

We booked a room in Kauai at the Sheraton; got a good rate--with taxes I think it will come to about $200; the beach is supposed to be one of the most beautiful in the world and of course there is a pool and laundry room, etc.

The penthouse cabins are really expensive and I doubt that there are any left.

We never would have booked such a small cabin for 3 or us and so we will make the best of it and have a hotel room for one night. We have an 8 year old who loves the beach and a big pool etc. We actually booked it before we found out the cabin was so tiny, but now we are really glad we did.

Luxury hotel rooms in Maui are really high for the date we will be there, so we will probably pass on getting a room there.

I guess it is different strokes for different folks; I know one couple that is going on the Cal - Hawaii cruise has kids and is booking hotel rooms for 2 nights. So I am not the only one that is doing this.

Also there is little storage room in the cabins, so we can take less clothes, since we will be able to do a little laundry Thursday.

We would rather do this than spend money on the helicopter tour (which I think would be a lot more at $150 per person). Although I hear it is spectaculor!

Donna' date='

 

Could you direct me to where on NCL's site they post the sq. footage of the cabins for POAM? On the "fleet - deck plans" page, all I can find is a description of the room and how many in each category.

 

Then I tried the "Voyages & Pricing" area, putting in a fictitious cruise, and hit the little "i" for information on the particular room category, and again, no sq. footage.

 

What am I missing?:confused: Thanks.[/quote']

 

 

Click on the cabin number when you get to the cabin selection step. As you can see there is an issue. The 227 includes the balcony.

 

Cabin 9014

Safety Deposit Box (1)

Shower (1)

Duvet

Hair Dryer (1)

Telephone (1)

Refrigerator (1)

Television (1)

Forward Section

Pier forward

Sitting Area

Private Balcony (1)

Crib (1)

Convertible Lower Beds (2)

Convertible Single Sofa Bed (1)

Balcony Square Footage (89)

Cabin Square Footage (227)

Oceanview Stateroom

Starboard Side

Floor to ceiling sliding glass doors (1)

Sprinklers

Internet access (1)

Yeh and I think my cabin was supposed to be even bigger; I think 230+ and 95 ft balcony. This compares with the skysuite and balcony cabin we had on our last cruises with Disney and Celebrity. But now it will be about 100 square foot less.

At this point, to be honest, I think they should make it up to us all, too, since I think it is quite a big misrepresentation.

But I think trying to get them to do something would be a waste of time.

We will have a great time in spite of this disappointment.

Snorklin'Barb,

I think my fellow Cruisin' Eagles have pretty much covered how coolit was to have Rich as our CD. Scott Hamby attended all three cocktail private parties that our CC Group was invited to. He also attended a Q&A session of department heads that was held for any passenger that wanted to attend. The most hysterical thing that our friend from TX did was to participate in one of Rich's zany entertainment schemes called The Liar's Club. He was a very convincing liar, and SO funny. If it weren't for Rich's zany impersonations of Pee Wee Herman, Rain Man,and Glibert Godfrey, he would have been the funniest man on the panel of "liars".

Dolores! I admit to having brushed my teeth when sitting on the toilet a few times too. It was a timesaver!

Donna, The cabins are small: about as small as on RCCL Monarch of the Seas Superior Ocean View Rooms, but we spent very little time in the cabin. We spent whirlwind days of activity, and then collasped to bed around midnight. Sometimes during the early afternoon we retreated to our balconies. You'll be in HI, so you'll never be in your room except to sleep. Save your money for shore excursions. You'll manage. Take that from someone who is tall and smacked her hands on the bathroom ceiling several times when getting dressed when she got out of the shower. The cabin was small, but I've actually stayed in even SMALLER ones and survived!

This was my third cruise and we were on the inaugural cruise with Regis and Kelly, but, weren't those cabin doors hard to open???

 

.......much cut from post.....

 

Being a new ship offered some challenges - some things like the ice cream machine broke down daily:eek:;

 

....more cut from post

Dolores:o

:eek: You'd think NCL would change ice cream machine makers. The Dawn passengers seem to still indicate the darn thing is not working. I have a feeling it may not be the machine as much as no one is filling it up...but I have no real idea either way. Does NCL sell other ice cream? if so maybe they are trying to make some money from ice cream and don't want to give it away. No big deal, just wondering.

Hi- we just came off the Star and while we were on there, we booked POA for next summer in Hawaii. The Star's mini suite was small for three of us (not so much small, but badly configured), so when I asked the guy on the Star about room size, he said the PO America rooms were larger than Pride of Aloha. Is he correct? He also booked us a BA cabin on the back of the ship and said it was larger, for the same price as those on the side. He also said when I asked for a cabin with a balcony on 11 that there weren't any. What do you all think?

He also said when I asked for a cabin with a balcony on 11 that there weren't any. What do you all think?

Well on the deck plan there are a few cat BA's in the forward section on deck 11... maybe he thought you were asking for an aft facing balcony on deck 11- if that was the case then there are none

Thanks for clearing up the room size issue, shoreguy. I couldn't remember the last step to getting the sq. footage! And I don't even qualify yet for a "senior moment", oh dear!:eek:

I was confused because I thought last yr with all of the POA issues that one of them was people felt like they were being "downsized" when they were transferred over to Aloha from America to "smaller" cabins. I've stayed on the Sky (pre-Aloha), so was just trying to get a sense of POAM's cabins.

It also depends on the configuration and "feel" of the room, as someone else mentioned. Hopefully the staterooms are laid out to utilize the space well.

Mary and others, sounds like Scott & Rich haven't lost their touch one bit!:) So glad they helped make your cruise so memorable.

As for balconies on Deck 11, we stayed in 1 (11044) and I would stay there again in a heartbeat. It was in a GREAT location. Maybe there were no more available for your dates, or it's because you wanted one aft (which doesn't exist). I would highly recommend that you DO NOT BOOK aft balconies for a Hawaii cruise. There were some people in our group who had one on Deck 7 for our cruise (for sort of the same weather as HI) and it was sweltering: no breeze! Yet, we were quite comfortable on the side of the ship. Maybe it woldn't be so bad if you had a suite that wrapped around the edge, but I would say to save the aft balconies for cruises to Alaska. As for comparing the Aloha to the Pride cabin sizes, hopefulky Nancy will see this thread and answer that. She was on the SF to HI las year, and Panama with us this year....As for the ice cream, there isn't any for sale elsewhere on the ship, but you can get it for dessert in the dining rooms. I know that they kept the machines full, but they would freeze up and not let anything out. They were constantly working on them...and it's not like I was going to die without any. I did find that they sold milkshakes in the diner, but I didn't get one. ( I really didn't like the diner that much...it was average compared to everywhere else in the ship. I only ate there twice.)