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Onboard the Pride of America 13-Day Panama Canal Cruise

livermorenancy

By livermorenancy,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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livermorenancy

livermorenancy

Posted
Posted

Hi all! Greetings from onboard the beautiful Pride of America. This ship is absolutely beautiful. Any questions from the next couple cruisers?-I'll do my best to answer them.

 

Embarkation went beautifuly. We are in a suite so the conciege met as at check-in and escorted us to our room after we registered and got our key cards. They greet everyone with flower leis and you can ave your pic taken boarding. After taking the "red eye" from SFO to Miami, we opted out of that photo. Our room is fantastic. The regular rooms are very, very small with adequate balconies. With so many clubs, restaurants, an activities- I think they built the ship with the idea of you not staying in your room.

 

We are in the Grande Suite so we have more than enough room- over 1300 sq.ft and a huge balcony. We have held get togethers for up to 25 people so far and there was room to spare. Butler service provided trays of veggies and cheese and crackers, along with mixers for drinks.

 

We have eaten in the Jefferson Bisto and the service and food were excellent. We also ate in Little Italy. We had a 5:30 reservation. We told our server that we had a cocktail party at 7:00 and asked how many courses should we plan on so we could be there on time. They suggested 3 and then if time-do dessert. They were very promt and we were done by 6:25 so we opted for coffee and dessert.

 

I am with the CCGroup from roll calls- the Cruisin' Eagles and we have all had a great time meeting each other. We have met at the VIP Party, in lounges, and in my room to date and tonight is our first official Cruise Critic meeting arranges by the concierge.

 

Being a new ship-there are a few things that need "tweaked"- just like a new house or car. Someone's room in our group wasn't cleaned, another one' air conditioning wasn't working right away, but the crew has fixed eveything so far. My piano (it's a player piano) doesn't work- it electronics and they can't fix it this cruise. Electrical esystem/computer systems go ou from time to time but they just ring you up the olf fashioned paper/pencil slips. Any time we have reported a problem or repair- they have been on top of it. That is what I have heard from the others in our group. One shore day had everyone's tour sceduled with 30 minutes of each other so breakfast was a nightmare that day. This is the 2nd shoreday and they had breakfast better covered for the large crowds.

 

I have no complaints about the food, but I am not a gourmet cook. Everyone in our group seems satisfied. One person couldn't find any pizza at 9:30 at night but another one had some at 1:30 in the morning. You need to find where things are located.

 

As we go on our way, I'll try to let you know what's up.

 

The ship, crew, and trip are what you make of it- go in with a positive attitude and a nice compliment and they go a long way!

 

Towel animal questions- our room stewad makes us a new one everynight since she is more experiences while some cabins get none and some only know how to make swans.

(Sorry-no time to proofread.-Forgive spelling errors)

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mcfloat

mcfloat

Posted
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Thanks for the updates...we will be on the SF to Hawaii cruise in a few weeks...we have one of the owners suites...can you tell me if these rooms are have wireless internet connections so that I can use my laptop in the room or will I need to use their internet cafe...Thanks...Bill and Tiffany

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marilynbn

marilynbn

Posted
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Hey Nancy, I have been waiting to see you post. You are so good at keeping in touch on here while on vacation. I remember finding you with your laptop one morning while we were on our 4 day at sea trip to Hawaii last year. I am so glad to hear that all is well with the POAM...better than the POA I presume? So are eagles as much fun as flamingoes? Have a great time in your palatial suite! 'Mingo Marilyn :)

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norcalgal

norcalgal

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Woo-Hoo Nancy! I'll be on the POAm 7/23 & looking forward to it! I'm sure I'll have some questions for you! Keep posting - I'd love to hear about the specialty restaurants.

 

(btw - we're finally getting temps in the 90's here at home!)

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4 cruisers

4 cruisers

Posted
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Nancy, you wrote so well...no need to worry about proofing!!!! I am so happy to read your post! We too should be posting from the Pride of America's July 12th trip and I hope my spelling is half as good as yours! :o

 

Any posts you have time to make to us, we will enjoy!!!!! Thanks so much!!!

 

Nanette and family (from the "Lucky Devils" July 13th sailing!).

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Aloha Girl

Aloha Girl

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Hi Nancy!

Sounds like you are having a great time. Thanks for osting info, we will be leaving from SF in only 13 days...we can hardly wait. I know that you soaring eagles are going to have fun, we flamingos certainly did. Have you met any of the staff that was on the Pof A when we went last year? Is the food on par with last year? I will be looking forward to hearing more about the ship etc. Love, Georgie

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cruzegirl

cruzegirl

Posted
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Awesome job Nancy....... So glad to hear reports from the ship.... 3 months til our cruise.......how are the dining rooms? it sounds wonderful...... at least we're getting a review from this cruise.... Don't understand why the R/K group haven't reported more.... I'm starting to think there's a "gag" order....lol.....:D

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herb

herb

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How wonderful that things are shaping up nicely with Pride of America. Reading a review like this makes me glad that I booked for next summer :D

 

Question: We booked a balcony cabin on Deck 9..... towards the front of the ship. According to deckplans it seems that those balconies are larger than those midship (even though it's the same category - BC)...

Could you take a peek at cabin 9028 and tell me what it looks like??? (Only kidding...don't want you to get in trouble :D )

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise....

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BillandLaura

BillandLaura

Posted
Posted

Nancy:

 

So glad to hear you are having a good time! It sounds like last year, with the parties at John & Nancy's!!! We just watched our DVD a couple of weeks ago. It made me miss you guys and all of the flamingos!! Now, I just started (it only took me a year!) to scrapbook our cruise!

 

Tell Al hi from all of us flamingos. By the way...any Heathers in sight? I have a Heather picture that Bill took...would love to get it to her, if I knew how to contact....

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livermorenancy

livermorenancy

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No Heathers from photo place- the photographers are subcontracted.

 

We have eaten the the Jefferson Bistro ($10.)- fantastic!!!! In the Lazy J Steakhouse($15. but $10 for the special course of lg.whole Maine lobster) we had 1 lb. and 1/2 lobsters-out of this world! Little

Italy has no surcharge and we all enjoyed the food. Tonight is the East Meets West ($10)-some of us are going to the Tapanaki room and others to the regular Japanese food area and sushi areas so I"ll have to get back to you on that. We have done reg. Skyline restaurant only for lunch and no problems and we ate at the Liberty Restaurant (BEAUTIFUL!) for dinner and the food and service were great. We did eat rather late that night so not sure how the wait time is at regular times. Do let them know when you sit down that you have a time schedule to meet and order a limited amount of courses.

Entertainment has been good. I can sit every night in the Pink Champagne Bar and listen to the piano player/singer or on other evenings-the guitar player/singer.

Canal was nice. Thanks for posting the pix already!!!!

Off to get ready for dinner.

I'll try to let you know about other cabins. I was in the aft balcony cabin for a while today-8706-just slightly bigger than reg. cabins and nice size balcony-5 of us were very comfortable and more could have fit-BUT -no air movement. Sweat was dripping down my back-it was so hot. Our side balcony didn't seem that bad. (Suggest take a long extension cord and a fan in your suitcase.)

The woman in the cabin next to me on the POAloha is next to me again this year-what a small world.

PS_I did hula lessons this morning Flamingoes!

Bye all!

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KeystoneCruiser

KeystoneCruiser

Posted
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Nancy: Sounds like NCL has worked out all the problems that they had with the start up of the Aloha last year. Like I have always said: a good company learns from their mistakes and corrects them and it appears that is what happened here.

 

Are there many crew members who transfered over from the Aloha? There are a couple that I would love to sail with again. (mainly wait staff)

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bankofdad

bankofdad

Posted
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I'll try to let you know about other cabins. I was in the aft balcony cabin for a while today-8706-just slightly bigger than reg. cabins and nice size balcony-5 of us were very comfortable and more could have fit-BUT -no air movement. Sweat was dripping down my back-it was so hot. Our side balcony didn't seem that bad. (Suggest take a long extension cord and a fan in your suitcase.)

The woman in the cabin next to me on the POAloha is next to me again this year-what a small world.

PS_I did hula lessons this morning Flamingoes!

Bye all!

 

Thanks Nancy!

 

Just like last year, we appreciate your review as we get ready for our October cruise! We're in cabin 8204 on the aft of the ship (four cabins away from 8706) and we really appreciate the comments!

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