Pride of America Disaster at Sea

[eroller]

I don't doubt that the original poster didn't enjoy his cruise. However, when I read the title "Disaster at Sea" I thought there was some kind of death or the ship had been involved in an accident. I'm so relieved to read that it was just slow dining service and cold spaces.

 

 

I thought the same thing Cecilia. This was hardly a "Disaster at Sea", and lets keep that terminology to the horrific events that truly justify it.

 

I do think the OP encountered some deficiencies that need to be addressed by NCL. As much as I loved the POA, the housekeeping in my cabin was dismal during my short 2-night preview cruise. This said, that was my only "issue" with the entire ship. I LOVED the ship and the American crew. In no way did I find them lazy (except my cabin stewardess) and lacking. They were the most friendly, young, and energetic group of service personnel I've come across in a long time. They were not perfect, but a new crew on a brand new ship is never going to be perfect, regardless of their nationality. One must also keep in mind that POA is a one-off design. Not only is the ship brand new, there haven't been 3 or 4 ships like her to learn from. It's kind of like QM2, another one-off design. There is no testing ground so there are always going to be more initial problems. You don't hear about too many problems on the latest Carnival and Princess ships ... and this is because there are already many replicas already sailing of the same design. Most all the challenges have already been dealt with. There are also not the additional challenges of hiring and training an all-American crew.

 

I must also say the introduction of AMERICA was nothing like ALOHA. NCL did learn it's lesson, which is why they created the crew training facility at Piney Point Maryland. All NCL America crew now go through several weeks of training at Piney Point before joining the ship. The turnover is high there, but those that do graduate are the top of their class and really want to be there. They also leave with a very good understanding of what shipboard life will be like and the long hours that will be expected of them.

 

Not all crew members on ALOHA have gone through Piney Point, since some were already onboard and working on the ship. They will have to go to Piney Point if they sign on for another contract, and of course any new crew to ALOHA and AMERICA will have to go through the training course. Piney Point is the most extensive crew training facility ever created. Nothing like it compares with it in the cruise industry, and this alone shows NCL's commitment to addressing the staffing concerns of passengers and crew alike.

 

I think NCL America has come a long way since PRIDE OF ALOHA, and the product will continue to get better and better. Next will be PRIDE OF HAWAII which promises to be a very exciting ship ... then hopefully a reintroduction of the laid up SS UNITED STATES. If SSUS is brought back to service (and I do have high hopes she will be), you can be assured I will be the first to book!

 

Ernie

[zimmerjulie]

originally posted by Host Cecilia

I don't doubt that the original poster didn't enjoy his cruise. However, when I read the title "Disaster at Sea" I thought there was some kind of death or the ship had been involved in an accident.

 

My stomach sunk when I read the headline. I was concerned for the people I had met only last Monday and Tuesday and the beautiful ship. They became dear to me very fast and it was with dread that I clicked on the thread headline.

 

Markandrews, thank you for the bit of rumor control.

 

I loved the crew of the Pride of America and thoroughly enjoyed sailing with them on this amazing ship.

 

Wally, sorry you did not enjoy your experience. That is a true shame.:(

[Zeno]

Sorry that you did not have a good time but I too wish you had chosen a more appropriate title - I had the same reaction others did -"OMG did the ship sink?" Overly melodramatic review titles put me right off.

[Splatitudes]

You can't even begin to compare this to the ALOHA intro. Night and Day. Check the reviews on the boards - primarily positive, from very established sources. No comparison to Aloha. Most complaints are nothing beyond any inaugural sailings (AC, slow service, etc), especially, as eroller said, on a ship that's a totally new design.

 

Welcome to the boards.

[marylc]

I just returned from the maiden voyage on Pride of America. Experienced a few problems as well. Out cabin steward would frequently forget to give us a supply of coffee for the morning along with cream or stirrers. On one occasion, she forgot to give us clean towels. No biggie. Just picked up the phone each time and called "housekeeping" and within 5 minutes supplies were at the door. Bottom line--all new employees and new ship. Have to be somewhat flexible. Also took the tender to Cabo San Lucas. There may very well have been a problem, but I was not aware of it. I was aided both in and out of the tender by gentlemen on the ship side and in the tender.

 

Our cabin gal has a bit to learn but was so extremely apologetic each time she forgot something. Poor thing, I felt sorry for her. Think she was a tad overwhelmed by this first cruise experience.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed the crew, the ship, the entertainment and the food. For those of you taking the Hawaiian cruise, stop in at the Pink Champagne Bar in the evening and listen to the wonderful voice of W.T. Greer. Absolutely wonderful. Great entertainer.

 

Aloha and Bon Voyage.

[KeystoneCruiser]

I don't doubt that the original poster didn't enjoy his cruise. However, when I read the title "Disaster at Sea" I thought there was some kind of death or the ship had been involved in an accident. I'm so relieved to read that it was just slow dining service and cold spaces.

 

I forgot to mention that as well. I do think the title is inappropriate and brings the wrong conclusions. Like so many others, I immediately opened the thread fearing the worst, especially with the unfortunate history of this ship (sinking in dry dock after being originally started by a now defunct company.) I was scared this ship was jinxed. Glad to see that is not the case.

[stargazers]

I was on the same cruise-I think- as Wally, and came away with completely different feelings. Herb, Julie, Donna and others, please do not let any of our reviews influence your experience. I was on the same ship and came away feeling fantastic about my vacaction. If you allow yourself to look for the good things you will find them and have a great time. If you focus on the bad (And there is a good possibility you will find some) you will come away with a bad experience. Things were not perfect, I did not expect them to be. We found that a smile, a calm and polite voice was all we needed, and the staff bent over backwards to help us. I was on deck 9 and there were maybe three times that they came and tested our air-conditioning. Usually we were on the balcony reading, and once my husband was in the shower getting ready for dinner. The test never lasted over an hour, and was often shorter. I don't know, maybe they came while we were out of the room, but that was our experience. I felt the public rooms were cold, but hey, my husband and I can never agree on the perfect temperature, let alone what will work for hundreds of people! Like marylc we did not get hand towels and washcloths one night. Our steward appologized the next time we saw him, and said that for some reason they had run out of clean ones. We did have slow service at dinner, but went with the flow. We enjoyed the people we were with, and fully expected this cruise to have its share of start up problems. One night in the Teppenyaki Grill the chef did not have the large sea scallops. Two nights later, they had found the box (Was stored with boxes from a different restaurant), Terrence remembered us, and to make up for not having them the first time, he gave us extra. (The filet mignon was about the best I have ever had!!) As for tendering in Cabo, it was about what I had experienced before with Carnival.

 

I'm sorry that you had trouble getting to the airport. We waited in our cabin (One concern we had was that we could not hear announcements in our room and often went to the hallway to hear them), and headed down when we noticed that people with pink tags were starting to get off. (We booked our air through NCL and had airport transfers) Was it well organized? No, not really. But they are learning and had to do extra paperwork with some of the crew. We were at the airport I would guess by 11:30-11:45, but then we didn't have to go get extra 'beverages' that needed to be stored for us. We had time to get something to eat while we waited for our 1:45 flight.

 

I enjoyed the ship, had fun exploring it and loved that it has a sense of humor. The guys had extra 'art' in the public restrooms, and I thought the rubber ducky outside in the shower on deck 13 (I think) was a fun touch. I loved the sea days, watching the water always gives me peace. We really enjoyed the Waikiki bar at the back of the ship. Very laid back, quiet, and we had some nice chats with the bartender Jeff. We found the staff for the most part to be young, about the age of our kids, and a few were homesick. They opened up when you asked where they were from (Their base city is listed on their name tag), and almost always had a smile. We did see some crew leave; our steward left in L.A. (Though we saw him on the dock in San Diego when we showed off the ship to family!) and we saw new crew getting on in L.A.

 

Bottom line, would I cruise this ship and this line again? Absolutely. I'd go again tomorrow, start up problems and all.

 

Kristy :)

[seahorse]

Thank You Stargazers,

 

What a refreshing review:) You sound like perfect cruisers, go with the flow, enjoy the ship, the crew, and each other.

[norcalgal]

Thank you Kristy! I was a little panicked, reading the OP! You calmed me down a little! We set sail on the first 7-day go-'round of the Islands on 7/23. We are not planning on it being the "perfect cruise". We have sons in their early-mid 20's, so we'll probably relate to the workers. I will remember to bring a rather generic sweater (I was planning on only a shawl). It's a good thing that my husband is too busy at work to read these boards - he needs to relax once this vacation starts!

 

PS - the the OP - change the title of the thread - I thought the ship had sunk on its' way from SF to Hawaii!

[Host Kewlguy]

Honestly, I'm ALWAYS suspicious of members with 1 post criticizing a ship.

[shoreguy]

Honestly, I'm ALWAYS suspicious of members with 1 post criticizing a ship.

 

One post wonders - Good or bad you have to wonder.

 

Like so many others my only issue is the header. Disaster is not what this thread is about. Someone who did not accept the quality of the first cruise is what it is about. Nothing I would not have expected. OP has every right to be upset but if you are looking for a well oiled machine give it some break in time.

[gregandamy]

who thought it was strange that one complaint was that the coffee pot wasn't rinsed and grinds left? I usually order room service in the morning anyway.

 

I agree, the title was overkill.

[sunshine 229]

who thought it was strange that one complaint was that the coffee pot wasn't rinsed and grinds left? I usually order room service in the morning anyway.

 

I agree, the title was overkill.

 

Not that it is a big thing but I don't know why the complaint about the coffee pot was so strange. It isn't something that would ruin my cruise but it is something I would expect the cabin steward to clean up. Why exactly did you find it strange?

[tumeroll]

Ah, the joys of working with an American crew. The reason why Hilton Hotels hires mostly German Managers is because they understand service and supervision. In order to fully staff a new hotel in this country with several hundred American workers the management team must interview several thousand applicants.

 

NCL will rue the day they decided they could make an American crew work even half as well as their multinational crews on the rest of their ships.

[gregandamy]

Sunshine 229

 

I would expect it be clean from the previous occupants, but it's simple enough to rinse it yourself. Hey, maybe it's me, who knows?

[smeyer418]

Ah, the joys of working with an American crew. The reason why Hilton Hotels hires mostly German Managers is because they understand service and supervision. In order to fully staff a new hotel in this country with several hundred American workers the management team must interview several thousand applicants.

 

NCL will rue the day they decided they could make an American crew work even half as well as their multinational crews on the rest of their ships.

 

Yes but who won the last two world wars. They interview thousands of people for the jobs on foreign flagged vessels. They have problems with training them as well.The American worker is just as productive as any one else. The agreement to allow US flagged vessels requires an American crew. I don't think NCL A will rue the day....it just takes time to get the crew used to this. When you go to Vegas most of the "crew" you see at the hotels are American...

[budgetED]

It sounds like most issues are due to it being a maiden voyage. Hopefully NCL will improve on its dining service and AC problems by the time the Hawaii itinerary begins.

[donna@donnaanderson.com]

As far as I am concerned; 50 percent said it was okay with some negative areas and more postive ones; 50 percent said forget it, this is horrible.

It seems to me that the jury is still out.

Where is the objectivity here; where is the judge?

Wait and see; book later, afer more have reviewed. 50% postive and 50% negative is not good enough for me, but then again, I expect good service; am 55, and been around the block and do not want to be a genny pig--that said, I do not expect perfection.

Honesty is definitely good here, though and should always be complimented and never flamed or deprecated!

[rph9168]

NCL should be ashamed for charging full fare for this cruise. I felt like I was on a "trial run". This was my seventh cruise and I have never seen a ship and crew less prepared to provide a quality experience.

 

I did not pay to experience "little inconveniences" or constantly be asked by crew members and the cruise director to be patient. I did not pay for cold food, outages of items on the menu, lack of hot and cold water, ac problems, poor service and poorly cleaned rooms. If I wanted that I could have went to a discount motel and saved a lot of time and money.

 

When I spend my hard earned money for a quality experience I think that is what I should expect, not overlook obvious problems and lack of performance. Most hotels would gladly refund your money for such an experience or make some attempt at compensation. NCL has to know there were many problems. I am waiting to see how they handle what was obviously a bad situation.

[donna@donnaanderson.com]

I wholeheartedly agree that compensation is in order!

Flame me if you will, but if we go along with low level of service it will never get better and he and his family paid for at least an average level of service; he clearly did not get this. To keep mentioning the coffee pot thing is ridiculous to me; he mentioned many other things; if this was the only thing he mentioned then clearly he was too picky; read the whole review. It was one bad thing after another! Come on people, smell the coffee! And do not let NCL get away with this.

Maybe instead of the Regis and Kelly thing they should have had more time to get their act together--don't you think?

[smile4fun]

What has become of these great ocean liners? In my day, this level of service would simply be unacceptable. I mean, how is it that NCL and NCL America have all of these loyal customers yet constantly have such terrible service? What's even more troubling to me is that when the bad service occurs, everything negative that has ever been said on this board happens to them. It's almost as if they are making it up.

 

It is too bad that some individuals just happen to have the absolutely worst cruise ever. In all truth, it's a little known fact, but these posters have actually had an absolutely horrid time. It's true, I know.

 

You see, I am a producer for the MTV show Punk'd and the new season is currently being filmed on POAmerica. Regis isn't the only one that loves to cruise. So far, my favorite episode is the one where people don't wash their hands and get a "runny tummy". All week they are complaining that it's NCL's fault.

 

So, now that you know the truth, I simply ask that we take it easy on these one post wonders and realize that they were simply Punk'd.

[wiseguy]

Maybe the bananas and toilet paper were for your grandson's "runny tummy"...air conditioning too cold and slow dining room service....maybe someone should stay home and run their own ship!

 

I can just see Mr. Wally with his note pad and pencil making check marks while polling the passengers about their "runny tummies"!

 

I shake my head and wonder sometimes!

 

Go ahead and flame me! I can take it!

 

Relax - take a breath - and enjoy your cruise!

(On a positive note.... I bet you never ran out of bananas and toilet paper!)

 

Cruising next week for 16 days on the Sea! I can't wait!

Not gonna let my cruise turn into a Disaster At Sea!

[donna@donnaanderson.com]

Why accept mediocrity?

I say let us know the good and bad.

When I was young, I would have said WOW I am seeing the Hawaiian Islands and who cares if I am on a ship with poor service and deplorable cabin service, restaurant service etc; and especially if I were staying in a Pension in Europe or roughing it camping; gosh; if you pay a lot, expect a lot.

Please stop making excuses.

I know my cruise including flights from Tucson, 2 day precruise at the Radisson and 1 not post cruise at the Marriott for the balcony cabin is close to 7K for my husband and I and our 8 year old. If the service was above average and the cabin size is what it was supposed to be this would be a very happy cruiser. But if I have poor service and a small cabin, I will not be a happy cruiser and I will tell you about it and tell NCL. If it is good, I will forgive them for publicizing that they have a much smaller cabin than I got. If sometimes the restaurant service is a little slow, I will forgive it; if it is cool in a few areas of the ship, I will forget it; if I wait 1 hr for room service once I will forget it, but if the service is constanty poor, I will not excuse it!

And if I think we should thank those who are honest and state their views; if NCL hears about it, it gives them a chance to make amends to the cruiser and improve their service.

Should I expect at least average service; you betsya!

[e.durban]

It just plain sounds spoiled to me when a cruiser tries to smuggle liquor on board...then complains about delays in getting it back!

[donna@donnaanderson.com]

Some folks do not realize you can not bring it on board since you can with Disney and Celebrity, etc. Some do not read their docs closely before leaving.

Give them a break!

We always brought 2 bottles of wine on our cruises; we have cruised 6 times before; never a problem; had I not joined these boards I would have done the same thing this time. Now that I know I will not bring booze on board.

Let us encourage all reports, good and bad, so that we can get a clear picture of what to expect and so that NCL can maybe read these boards and change things.

I would say stop finding fault with the poster.

Should I put on armour before I post when I return if I do not give NCL high scores in everything!

Come on; please let's be reasonable about this!