PoAm REVIEW! GREAT! June 3-10 (l-o-n-g)

:) We just returned last night from our pre-cruise stay on Waikiki and our 7 day cruise of the Hawaiian islands on the Pride of America. We had a FABULOUS time and were thrilled with the four ports we visited. We rented cars on each of the islands and explored just about everywhere we could drive! Thrifty was the best deal on cars we found and so very easy! Become a Blue Chip member (free and done online) and they take extra good care of you! We just breezed through pick-up and checkout each time. The last day on Oahu we did our own circle tour and had a fabulous day! We ended up at the Dole Plantation, but were too late for the tour so just enjoyed the store and took photos. We had spent our day on all the beaches and at the waterfall you can swim under at Waimea Falls Park run by the Audubon Society. Our flight did not depart until after 10 pm so we made good use of our extra day. So glad we did this as the rest of Oahu is NOTHING like Honolulu and Waikiki which is just one big CITY, all-be-it a beautiful one. The only shore excursion we took was in Kona where we did not rent a car. We took the Captain Zodiak snorkeling adventure and it was FABULOUS - more about it later in my write-up.

We boarded and departed from Oahu and we did a pre-cruise stay at the Aqua Palms Hotel and Spa which is just behind the Hilton Hawaiian Village. We had a 9th floor room with a great view of Diamond Head and the beach (distant and between several buildings, but still good). Great price (compared to Hilton Hawaiian Village and other hotels close by!) Very nice clean well-decorated room with a super-comfortable king size bed, free continental breakfast, coffee in room, and a lanai with great views! Walked or used The Bus (city bus) which is $2. per person and includes one transfer and picks up right in front of our hotel! We took it to Pearl Harbor and back and also to the entrance to Diamond Head for quite the work-out of a hike! A really nice Hawaiian gentleman insisted on giving us a ride back to our hotel from Diamond Head. He was very interesting and had lived on Oahu all his life. We learned a bunch of information from him! It really is true - Hawaiians are very friendly people! We took a taxi to the pier for boarding the cruise ship ($16. plus tip) on Saturday morning. I received a beautiful flower lei and my DH a shell one and they took our photos right after check-in at Aloha Tower.

We just can't say enough good things about the Pride of America. The boat is a joy to behold and the interior design is REALLY fabulous and absolutely UNIQUE! If you like Americana you will LOVE the Pride of America! The murals on each deck staircase are really wonderful and the grand entry way with the Great Seal and white staircases are very beautiful! We had NO PROBLEMS of any kind and found the food and staff WONDERFUL. I know I gained several pounds - the choices were very good and the desserts excellent (when we had room to try them!) Ordered room service sandwiches one day, and they were great too! The room service guy told me 45 minutes on the phone, but the food came in under 20 minutes! I have been on 10+ cruises and this is honestly our very favorite cruise vacation of all! Of course the itinerary has a lot to do with that. We had a mid-ship balcony cabin on the port side and enjoyed it immensely. This was our room stewardess' (Joy) very first week and she did a fabulous job. She really followed the message you left on your door thingee (you just rotate it to let your steward know if you don't want to not- be-disturbed, room made up, turned down, etc.) We forgot to move it a couple times, but we soon caught on to the routine! We had no complaints except that she could not get me a feather pillow even though I asked on the very first day. She did keep trying, she told me, but just couldn't locate one, but I did get a bathrobe to use the entire week.:) The coffee maker and Kina coffee in the room were a GREAT and welcome touch! She brought us all the coffee we needed, and we are heavy coffee drinkers. This coffee was better than what they had in most places on the ship, so we drank most of our coffee in our room or on our balcony. Great way to start each morning! We were some of the first passengers to board on that Saturday morning, June 3, and it was the simplest boarding procedure we have ever had. Loved the flower lei for me and the shell one for my DH with welcome photos taken right away. It took a couple hours before we got in our room so we explored the ship, made dinner reservations for the week, and then ate lunch. The food in the Aloha Buffet for that first lunch was EXCELLENT! I did not have a bad meal or item the ENTIRE cruise! Our days were PACKED because we planned so much to see and do on each island and this was our first time in Hawaii. There were plenty of activities to participate in on the cruise ship, but we had very little time to do them! Never got in a pool or a whirlpool on the ship but there were lots of them to choose from and wish we had had more time to try them out! Also, we never got to use the exercise facilities, although they were VERY nice! I always go to the gym on ships, but we were just too busy this trip! I hope I made up for it with the many miles of walking we did, however.

We loved the Free Style dining. We planned ahead from suggestions we got here on the boards and were very happy with our choices. Only extra-charge specialty restaurant we tried was the Steakhouse and it was EXCELLENT!!! We went on Sunday night which was half-price night and spent a total of $20. including a $5. tip. The filet mignon was the best I ever had, as well as the crab cakes! YUMMY! We both ate way too much that night - it was SO GOOD!!!! Had to skip dessert because we were so full! Had two meals at Little Italy - it is the FREE specialty resataurant and books up very early. Just fabulous! They make your ceasar salad to order at your table! We only had to wait to be seated one night - lobster night and optional formal night on Tuesday which we ate at the Liberty, one of the two main dining rooms - and that was about a 45 minute wait at most and they gave us a beeper just like at the restaurants here at home. The dress code was VERY varied! My DH dressed basically All-Hawaiian, all the time. I brought a couple long dresses, and so on "formal" night I wore one of those and my DH had on a Hawaiian shirt with a pair of long pants and dress shoes. At the tables near us I saw a couple of guys in tuxes, but then several guys nearby wearing shorts (which it says in all the literature is a no-no in the main dining rooms, but there they were!) We spent a lot of time on our balcony (more than I thought we would) but did go to the shows each night. Loved the juggler and comedians! The production shows were well done, but I've seen better. One of the four singers was excellent, but the other three were not quite up to the same level. One of the girl singer's voices actually hurt my ears at times. (We are probably more picky about this than many people as we both sing and our son is a professional singer/actor.) The second show was designed just for the Pride of America and was the better of the two, IMHO. Very moving and well-planned, with, of course, an American theme!

Our TA sent a voucher for a bottle of wine to for a Bon Voyage gift which was a nice touch! We had that the night we ate at the Steakhouse. Then near the end of the cruise another bottle showed up in our room fridge with a note "compliments" from the ship! have no idea why we got that free bottle of nice white wine. We had to leave most of that one in our fridge as we had no room to carry it off tye ship. Perhaps this second bottle was a mistake, but we were not charged for either bottle and I had brought a cork screw from home so we could just drink the second bottle on our balcony.

After boarding in Honolulu our ports of call were Hilo, 2 days on Maui, Kona, and 1 1/2 days on Kauai before returning to Honolulu. In Hilo we drove to VNP and then to several waterfalls in the area. There was plenty of time to do it ALL! That night the ship sailed by the volcanoes and they had a Hawaaian girl do a narration out on deck. They go by on the starboard side first, then do a 180 degree turn and you see it from the port side. At that piont we went and watched from our port balcony. Not a "super" big night for the volcano eruptions, but it was still pretty awesome and something I will never forget. A beautiful clear night so the flaming lava was visible for a very long time...

We had two full days in Maui and had our rental car both days. We were very fortunate and even though we didn't get back until late that first night we found a place to park at the free lot by the pier. We had heard some folks here on the board say that they had to return their car to the rental car lot because there were no spots left by the pier, but we found the VERY last one! The first day we drove to Iao State Park and the Iao Needle. Very beautiful and actually just a short drive from where we were docked in Kahalui, then we drove the north-western route around the entire coast to Kaanapali and Lahaina. We had read horror stories about the road, but had no problems at all! My DH loves to drive these kind of roads in mountains so he was in his glory! There were no unpaved sections, and just a few places where they were doing road work, so improvements have obviously been made recently. NOT recommended for white knuckle drivers...but my DH loved it and I never felt in any danger even though I was closest to the drop-offs on the passenger side! The views are incomparable and we had a perfect, clear sunny day to enjoy them all! We spent several hours walking around Lahaina which was a great town, That night we had pre-booked a luau at the Royal Lahaina Resort in Kaanapali (about 10 miles from Lahaina. We got there early and ended up being placed at the closest table to the show that you did not pay extra for and I was right next to the stage! WOW! Was that ever a fabulous luau!!! I HIGHLY recommend this luau! I think we pre-paid only $46. per person. What a deal! The ship's luau was over $100. and we did not hear such great reviews from our shipmates. The dancers and musicians were EXCELLENT at the Royal Lahaina Luau!! It was right by the beautiful beach and the food was outstanding and the drinks VERY POTENT!! My DH had to drive back to the ship (about 30 minutes) so he was very careful. They had coffee available after dinner so that helped a lot! We also sat across from a pastor and his wife so that kept us on our best behavior, too! The fire dance part at the end of the luau performance was FABULOUS and not a part of most of the luas we had researched. Also, we paid for this on the internet and it was less than HALF the price of most of the other luaus that do not even have a fire dance! The imu pig was a great show and tasted delicious, too! They had a great selection of yummy dishes, including the melt-in-your-mouth pork, terriaki steak, chicken, lom-lomi salmon, a variety of great salads and side dishes - and oh yes, poi, of couse - plus desserts and unlimited beverages (both alcoholoic and non). You could also purchase specialty drinks served in a pineapple or coconut plus pictures if you chose to. Each guest also receiced a shell lei when entering and they had fancy flower ones for sale, too. We had planned to just sleep a couple hours and get up to drive to the summit of Haleakala for sunrise. We did not make it. Skipped that and drove the Road to Hana instead. had a great day. Followed our Frommer's guide book and hit most of the featured sites. Explored Hana a bit before doubling back. Saved the swim under the waterfall until the way back. My DH did that one and I took photos and then took my under-the-waterfalls swim on Oahu at Waimea Falls on our last day.

In Kona we did not rent a car, but took the Captain Zodiak raft and snorkel adventure. That was so much fun and the only excursion we purchased through the ship. This was the best snorkeling I have ever experienced and the raft ride was a BLAST! I felt like I was snorkeling in an aquarium! Saw two sea turtles as well as an eel, plus THOUSANDS of the most varied and colorful fish imaginable! I snorkeled for at least a full hour before we rafted away from Kealakekua and the Captain Cook Memorial . On the way back we stopped at some great sea caves and lava tubes. Saw lots of great birds there too! Our pilot, Jack, and his helper, Star were so juch fun! Our raft was named the Black Pearl and we had a SUPER time. Afterward we went and had lunch on the ship, then took the shuttle to Walmart and then walked around the cute town by the dock area before reboarding for our cruise to Kauai.

We had virtually no rain and very clear sunny skies every day. One day on Kauaii we drove all the way up the beach as far as you could go to Ke'e Beach. We also went to several waterfalls and stopped at many beaches and other sites. Would have liked to see the Fern Grotto, but it is closed because of all the rains in March that washed out the dock and caused a falling rock problem. Several people were killed on Kauai back in March due to those rains and the resulting wash-outs. In the afternoon we drove up to Waimea Canyon (as well as just about everywhere else we could drive on the island) and the clouds were so thick we couldn't see the canyon views much of the time. It was clear and beautiful everywhere else we drove. Our last stop that day was at the Spouting Horn - an awesome blowhole on the beach.Iit was really going off that afternnoon!! Luckily, the next morning we had booked a flight over the island and got to see Waimea Canyon very clearly. They call it the grand Canyon of the Pacific and for good reason! I recommend the flight or, even better, a helicopter. We would have liked to get closer and down in the canyons which a helicopter does. The flight was cheaper so we booked that, but we should have paid the extra $$'s for the closer views. Still an awesome flight however, and we are glad we got that perspective on this gorgeous island, especially the napali coastline! We also swam at the beach near where the ship was docked and even too the free shuttle to Walmart for more film! Our afternoon cruise by the Napali coast as we left on the PoAm was awe-inspiring. Those 15 miles of coastline just have to be seen to be believed. It was such a beautiful clear day and words just do not do that sight justice! We had great window seats at Little Italy for dinner that night and we still could see the Napali coast.

We originally had booked a longer cruise - 11 days - on the Pride of Aloha, but that cruise was cancelled due to mechanical problems, so we took this one for basically FREE! All our cruise price was refunded. All we had to pay were the federal taxes and of course tips and our other on-board charges. Can't beat THAT!!! The only thing we missed out on were the four full sea days, but who's complaining?!!

There are lots of cruise choices out there, but IMHO you just can't beat the Pride of America! This was our first experience with NCL and free-style cruising and we LOVED IT! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask, and I will answer as best I can!

Forgot to mention the great shaved ices we had on the North Shoreof Oahu! The line at Matsumoto's was VERY long so we got ours at Aoki's down the street. YUMMM!! Loved the sweet beans I had at the bottom of my ice cup!

Wow, thanks so much for that very informative review, we are booked on POAM, but not until next February. I will print your review for references as where to go and what to see. It sounds like you had an awesome cruise, thank you so much for taking the time to write.

I have been watching the boards and there have been some reviews that haven't been nearly as positive as yours, so it was a welcome sight to read!

Thanks again, glad you had such a good trip!

Wow Lambs,

Thanks for such a great review. It's reports like these that get me even more excited.:D

You are going to LOVE the Pride of America, JNV & CRUISENEWBIE! Go with a positive can-do attitude and you are sure to have a great time! We just loved the American kids working on board. It was great being able to strike up conversations with them. Many are doing this for the sheer adventure of it and they say they are making good money too. They even get time and a half for working over 40 hours each week. Sure, they have tough demanding schedules when they are working, but then they get about 5 or 6 weeks off before their next enlistment. We also tipped a little extra in the specialty dining rooms and always got super service! The same goes with room service. I'm just talking a few bucks here and there. No biggie. I made sure to bring about $60. in ones so that I could tip when needed. The ones were also useful when using the $2. bus in Honolulu or picking up some really reasonable souvenirs at the ABC stores at each port!

We loved eating in the Cadillac diner, too! It was so cute and cozy and they had great western omelets for breakfast and good fried chicken and chili and corn chips at lunch time. They also make a great brownie sundae there! We just couldn't find anything about the Pride of America that we DIDN'T like!!!! This was just a dream vacation for us and we only wish that we could have stayed on the ship longer. The itinerary in Hawaii is so packed with great destinations each day that we had far too little time to enjoy this beautiful ship and the positive staff! We honestly did not run unto one negative crew member the whole trip!! I can not say that about any other cruise I have ever been on, so that is really a super endorsement of NCL America and free-style cruising! Be organized before you sail. Research and KNOW what restaurants you want to eat at each night and make reservations that first day. be sure and WRITE those reservations down and keep them in plainview in your stateroom or your wallet. They do charge you $5. for not keeping a reservation at the pay specialty restaurants. I made sure to find out what nights were 1/2 price at the specialty restaurants and lobster/formal night the week before we sailed. For us Sunday and Tuesday were 1/2 price at the specialty restaurants and Tuesday night was lobster/formal night. This may change if you are booked months from now, so keep checking the boards and ask others who have recently cruised these questions. We even requested window seats in Little Italy (the free specialty restaurant) and our requests were honored both nights we ate there. On Friday night if you eat early enough you will be able to still view tha Napali Coast as Little Italy is on the port side of the ship. Be sure to know that the menus in Little Italy were the same for both nights, but we tried two different entrees on our visits, so that was great for us! It always pays to be a bit flexible, too. If something is not to your liking just ask for an alternative dish! We never had to do that on this cruise, but we have before and it worked out fine. I always eat WAY more than is good for me on cruises anyway - but that is part of the FUN! I think I only had room to try dessert a couple times, but they really looked scrumptious and the ones I tried were EXCELLENT! After all, your on a FABULOUS vacation! HAVE FUN and go with the flow!!! Can you tell I am still really psyched about the fabulous vacation we just returned from? Please ask any more questions you may have.

Thank You Lambs2 for one of the most informative reviews I have read about the POAM! This is our first cruise on NCL and we will be onboard POAM in 11 days. We are looking forward to a new cruise line - especially since reading your review. Once again Thank You for a POSITIVE realistic review.

Wow you guys really fit a lot in. It leaves me hope for my aggresive itinerary for our trip in August. If you don't mind would you tell me how long your trip to Hana and back took. Thank you so much for the review.

Thank you so much for posting this wonderful, informative and POSITIVE review! We sail this Saturday on PoAm, & you made it sound absolutely fabulous. It's great to hear from folks who had a good cruise, with no negatives.

To those of you sailing on the "Pride" ships- be sure to check out the HAWAII forum under "Ports of Call". You will find TONS of useful information!

Right, Lambs?

I know that I have pretty much been able to plan my trip around the advice I have gotten on that board.

KML

(And thanks again for the awesome positive review, Lambs. It makes me smile each time I read it.)

Lambs,

By chance do you have any menu information from your cruise?

Thanks for the review, Lambs 2 ... We're really excited about our trip in Oct. ..

What time did you go to dinner so you could attend the shows at night?

You said you got the last parking spot in Maui, what time did you arrive? Also, for those not getting a spot would need to return their cars?

Thanks for your help ...

I brought the cruise dailies home but not any menu information. I do remember a few more things: In Little Italy they offer a great variety or pastas with numerous sauces, also medallions of beef (very good!) and a DELICIOUS lasagna spiced excellently with spinach and beef in it. Yumm!! It was seasoned so wonderfully! I make really good lasagna, but my DH loved theirs even BETTER! Never got to try their desserts in Little italy. Was always too full! But they looked divine! Also, the Lazy J specialty restaurant has large main lobsters. I believe you pay $20. for them (but that would be only $10. on half price nights!), also they have a surf and turf - steak and lobster tail available for, I believe, that same price. We only tried the free lobster tails on Tuesday night in the main dining room, but it was tender and delicious! They also have filet mignon in the Lazy J that was so tender I could cut it with my fork and some of the best crab cakes I have ever had in my life!

In the main dining rooms, Liberty and Skyline, we only ate a couple times there, but the food was very good and the desserts were yummy!The salads in ALL the restaurants were some of the best I have ever had! They used some really good and varied lettuce types and I was very impressed with each order. Also, their soups were EXCELLENT! I know I tried several over the week and was never disappointed. They had a cold fruit soup one night that was scrumptious! Their cream soups were also delightful. I remember the first night in the Liberty main dining roomI had a steak that was delicious and the dessert was WONDERFUL! It was some kind of chocolate mouse in a flaky pastry crust with three different dipping sauces drizzled attractively and artistically on the plate. Delightful!! I remember telling our very attentive young waiter, Josh, that it was the best dessert I had ever had on a cruise ship, and I meant it!

So, I can tell you from personal experience that we were always impressed by the great variety of food offerings and their delicious taste! Bon Appetit!:)

We are sailing on Pride of Am next saturday (24JUN)...we are from Australia and looking forward to some sunny weather...is it warm enough to swim and get a tan ?

Lambs, the food was good, but how was the service in the various dining rooms in terms of waiting for a table and then the food? People have complained of slow service and missing shows thereafter. What about you?

Lambs,

Have you posted your dailies somewhere? It would be great if we could see them so I can get an idea of what the activities look like.

We had reservations for 4 of the seven nights so we got right in and the service was always fast.. The very first night we ate in the Liberty - no waiting at all . the service was ALWAYS very good and fast for us - perhaps just a tad slower between courses on the Lobster/formal night. We did have to wait to be seated on Tuesday, Lobser/Formal night. but they gave us a beeper. The longest we ever took to eat dinner was an hour. I think that they were trying to please everyone EXTRA hard on the week of our sailing because of some of the previous weeks' bad reviews. We saw ship's officers EVERYWHERE - even handing our menus and sometimes waiting tables! They were a super friendly bunch! We never saw one grumpy or too-tired looking crew member on the whole cruise! I know this sounds too good to be true, but was absolutely our experience this past week! Most times we made the 7:30 showtime. usually there was a 7:30 and then an 8:30 show. A couple of times they only had one show time - like the first night - because so many guests had jet lag and the auditorium was only about half full with just the one show time. We had been in Honolulu fior a couple days pre-cruise so we had no jet lag and were definitely on Hawaii time by the time the cruise started.

I did not scan the dailies and my digital camera is acting up...sorry....

Hi Nerell,

Yes! We had absolutely beautiful weather and the water was a PERFECT temperature for swimming! It actually was VERY warm on several of our days. More like it is in my home state of Florida!

Just a little warning: Be very careful and wear sunscreen. I wore 50 sunblock all the time and still got a tan! However, I saw some fellow cruisers who looked more like lobsters after the first few days! OUCH!! I am very conscious about sun protection because my 25 year old daughter had a malignant melonoma a few years ago! She had it removed and gets full body scans every year and is doinbg very well - even has two baby sons - but that was a real scare for our family. We are from Florida and she grew up on thye beach and in the sun.

Oh you are very sweet, I burn very easily too...I will be sure to slip,slop, slap as we say in Australia...Thank you for your review, poor Pride of Am has not been getting a very good wrap, but I am soooo excited

Have a WONDERFUL, safe and healthy vacation!! :)

Lambs..want to make sure I understood something.....did you do your tipping "as you dined" or at the end of the cruise?? Did money actually pass from you to the dining staff?? Most cruises have tried to do away with that by just charging a lump (which you can change) sum to your bill at the end of the cruise and I DO want to be prepared. Your description of our trip has made me even more anxious for 10/21/06 to get here!!!!!

We did the automatic tipping thing ($10. per person per day) on our bill. However, we had some extra $$'s (mostly just 1's) that we spread around to wait staff that did an extra special job, in our opinion. We felt that some of them, especially in the specialty dining rooms, went above and beyond and we tried to reward them. You see, the way the automatic tipping is distributed there is no differentiation between those staffers doing an extra good efficient job and those that are just doing the minimum required. Hence we rewarded some of the higher achievers from time to time. I think a lot of the people cruising on the pride ships do the same thing. at least I have read it here on the boards often enough and I saw some other tips left on tables in the specialty restaurants.

Was on the same cruise and have to agree with almost everything she says. the Filet in Jefferson's Bistro was by far the best steak I've ever had on a cruise. Made reservations for formal night as soon as we got to cabin,were seated on time, palmed the waiter a $5 up front and had our food almost faster than we could eat it. Very tender and tasty lobster tails, don't miss out on this. First day, made friends with one of the barteneers in each bar(little more palming here) and had the strongest drinks I've ever had at sea or dry land. It was explained to me that they pool tips signed to tab but keep the cash tips, so I always tipped in cash. We had one of the cabins with no coffee maker(had read lots of complaints about this here). after 3 calls was told there were none available. My reply was "send someone to walmart and get some" at least got a laugh. Not really a problem, called room service every morning, they sent a Large pot and a pitcher of ice(for my morning toddy) within 5-7 minutes. Spent a lot of time on the balcony, just chilling , and admiring the scenerybefore and after touring the islands. was on starboard side, had a great view of nightime volcano sail by, but had to go up to deck 13 port side for the cruise by Napali coast, amazing is the only way to describe this. Flew back over to Kauai for 4 days after cruise, IMHO the most beautiful of the islands. Very relaxing and a good way to finish off a wonderful vacation. Be glad to answer any specific questions.

Thank you for the great feedback. I am going in September with 12 others… we have a big group, and I need to organize some of the dinners. How would I know which nights are ½ price in the specialty restaurants? Is there more than one night ½ off ? Also, is lobster night in the main dining room? Is that the same as the formal night? Is this information available before, or when we get on the ship?

I am sure I will come up with more questions, I am overwhelmed as nobody in my group has been on a cruise before..:)

Juliana

Thank you very much for such a detailed informative trip report. It was very helpful to me. We are crusing in Nov/Dec and were booked on the POA, but think the POAM may be more for us. Now I am almost positive of it!

Just curious - we really want to see the penquins at the Hilton Hawaiian Village - can you just walk over there from the hotel you stayed at? :rolleyes:

L.A.S.T.

So happy to find a positive experience on the NCL ships to Hawaii. My DH and our best friends are booked on the America for New Year's and we are really excited. The guys are going to golf in every port and the ladies are looking to the water for their fun. I've only discovered these boards within the past couple of months and they are awesome.