Pride of America review 11/30/13-12/7/13

[BinaBo]

We had no plans for this day. I had read that there were touristy gift shops right near the pier, so we planned on getting our souvenirs here. We woke up to a beautiful sunny day so we decided to just hang out on the ship by the pool for an hour or two and then get off. We really enjoyed just laying around doing nothing (since there are no sea days on this itinerary).

 

The girls made it to Cagneys with us this morning

 

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we had pool to ourselves for a while

 

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no chair hogs here ;)

 

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I watched the tenders come and go from my lounger....loved how blue the water was:

 

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we moved back to the Oasis Pool for a while...there were a couple people there, but no one in pool:

 

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we watched parasailers from here :)

 

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We grabbed some lunch at the buffet and decided to head into town. The tender was very quick and there was a tiny beach right at the end of the pier. We went towards the right as one of the waitresses at the pool sent us on a mission to find the bartender she "likes" at a restaurant there :). We did some shopping and stopped in the restaurant for a few drinks and some appetizers.

 

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We found the Fish Hopper (and her bartender:D although he told us he has a girlfriend :().

 

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There is an ABC store there where we got some more drinks and snacks, and this store, which had tshirts and such. We accomplished what we wanted to today...sun and souvenirs.:)

 

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The girls waded in the water at the small beach before we got back on the tender:

 

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Goodbye Kona!!

 

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Oh my goodness, this review is so much fun to read! I am truly enjoying your photos and learning little things about how to take in and capture the "small stuff" when we go. For example, the photo of the wet footprints on the aft pool deck... such a neat expression-both literal and figurative-of your journey. Very playful! And sitting at the bar at The Fish Hopper... are those S'mores martinis? With toasted marshmallows for garnish? Genius! Were they delicious?

 

I do have one issue with this photo however... Ray Lewis is photo-bombing you! How dare he make an appearance during your Hawaiian excursion? Can't recall if our Giants made it to the Super Bowl that year but it's good to know they got some support from you all those miles from home!

[Sunflower & The Scientist]

I noticed in one of your suite photos that there were balloons in your room. Were those something you brought along....or something you got onboard? The reason I ask is because I called NCL to find out if they decorated with balloons onboard POA, and they assured me they do not decorate with balloons. I have a lethal allergy to latex and balloons are the most dangerous things I can go around. I understand anyone can bring their own balloons onboard but would have them in their private rooms.

 

Just checking ....thanks for any info you can give me.

[BinaBo]

I noticed in one of your suite photos that there were balloons in your room. Were those something you brought along....or something you got onboard? The reason I ask is because I called NCL to find out if they decorated with balloons onboard POA, and they assured me they do not decorate with balloons. I have a lethal allergy to latex and balloons are the most dangerous things I can go around. I understand anyone can bring their own balloons onboard but would have them in their private rooms.

 

Just checking ....thanks for any info you can give me.

 

Hi Sunflower and the Scientist. The original poster of the photos is ksimpso3. You may want to direct your reply to original poster to be certain that person sees your question and can answer it for you.

[Sunflower & The Scientist]

We heard that all staterooms were ready while we were still at lunch, so that is where we headed as soon as we were finished. We met our butler, Jose, who seemed very pleasant. We noticed that my pre-cruise concierge requests for bucket of Bud Light, fridge emptied, and egg crate for the 2nd bedroom bed were not fulfilled, but Jose stated he would take care of it. While looking around the suite, we noticed that it didn't seem to have been cleaned properly (found a used make-up remover pad on the floor by a night stand, opened and used bottles of shampoo and conditioner as well as hair in the shower, and the carpet needed to be vacuumed.) This was brought to the attention of Jose. A short time later he brought our beer and we met our steward (along with the head steward-Maria Cruz!) Jose must have alerted her to the issues, and she arrived with Gary to find out what went wrong. I felt bad for the poor guy because I figured it was his "fault" that the room wasn't ready. We mentioned to Maria about the egg crate also, and was told it would be no problem. She said she would give us a bottle of wine for our "troubles". We told her it was completely unnecessary, but she insisted. Gary removed everything from the fridge. We also asked if there was a place to store all the pillows and blankets for the 2 couches as they were just piled on top of them. Jose said there was a store room right next door where they would be kept during the day (although Gary didn't seem to have any idea what he was talking about, so we would just shove them under the living room couch every morning). Also, I forgot but when we checked into Cagneys for lunch, they asked our name and we told her and she said "In suite 8702?". We said "no, we're in suite 8202". She asked if we were Linda and Steve (or something like that), and we said "no, Don and Kelly". They had us listed in suite 8702 and some other couple booked in suite 8202 with connecting room 8204. They said they would figure it out, and our cards worked for 8202, so we thought it was okay. There was a welcome letter on the vanity in master bedroom with the other couple's name on it and the connecting room door was unlocked, so we weren't sure what was going on (and we did have the same mix up with several other mailings left throughout the week). So far we are off to a bit of a rocky start, but we aren't high maintenance so we weren't that bothered by it.

The suite looked to be newly refurbished. The couch in the living room looked brand new. It pulled out to a full bed and my older daughter(26) slept there. We folded it up during the day so we would have somewhere to sit as it is the only seating in the suite other than beds and a couple vanity chairs. The master bedroom was big with a nice vanity area and closet and kingsized bed. The 2nd bedroom had a loveseat sized sofa that pulled out to a bed. We told Gary to just leave it as a bed all week since we weren't in room much during the day. My younger daughter(24) slept on that bed. It wasn't very comfortable, but I assumed once we got the foam topper it would be okay. (We didn't get it until the 4th night as no one seemed to understand what we were talking about. Gary tried by adding more and more comforters underneath, which did help somewhat.) The vanity area was perfect for the 2 girls and they were actually able to get all their clothes in the drawers and closet. We stored all the suitcases under the bed in master bedroom (which took some effort because we had a couple 28" hardside cases and there isn't a lot of room along the side of the bed;)).

The balcony was the highlight of the room, and the main reason I booked this suite. It was huge. It had 4 chairs and 4 loungers on it along with 2 small end tables. It never felt crowded. The area on the side of the ship was private, and the only time anyone from above or below could see you is if you were standing at the railing.

 

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2nd bedroom

 

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suite from balcony

 

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private area of balcony

 

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couch in living room

 

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ksimpso3 I should have addressed my question to you...(Thanks BinaBo!) so I'm going to repost it this way, hoping this is correct.

 

I noticed in one of your suite photos that there were balloons in your room. Were those something you brought along....or something you got onboard? The reason I ask is because I called NCL to find out if they decorated with balloons onboard POA, and they assured me they do not decorate with balloons. I have a lethal allergy to latex and balloons are the most dangerous things I can go around. I understand anyone can bring their own balloons onboard but would have them in their private rooms.

 

Just checking ....thanks for any info you can give me.

[Haysiedaze]

Do you know if the bed in the Master bedroom can be made into 2 twins?

 

Thanks

[BinaBo]

ksimpso3 I should have addressed my question to you...(Thanks BinaBo!) so I'm going to repost it this way, hoping this is correct.

 

I noticed in one of your suite photos that there were balloons in your room. Were those something you brought along....or something you got onboard? The reason I ask is because I called NCL to find out if they decorated with balloons onboard POA, and they assured me they do not decorate with balloons. I have a lethal allergy to latex and balloons are the most dangerous things I can go around. I understand anyone can bring their own balloons onboard but would have them in their private rooms.

 

Just checking ....thanks for any info you can give me.

 

Hi. Sort of hi-jacking the post, my apologies to original poster, but I wanted to let you know that since we last posted on this thread, my husband and I have sailed on the POA to Hawaii in the Deluxe Owner's suite #12006. It was our anniversary celebration and our room was decorated with balloons upon our arrival. We did not take them onto the ship with us. I do not know if they are latex, but since I have never known of any other type of balloon, I assume they were. Our trip was amazing and I will reviewing it over the next few weeks.

[Sunflower & The Scientist]

BinaBo THANK YOU! How sweet of you to pick this up and give your input this much later. I really appreciate that. I'm sorry, didn't quite catch were the balloons in your suite? It's a good reminder that it is nearly time to contact NCL again as our cruise is coming up in less than 60 days. We are in a suite so perhaps the contact we get from the concierge (hope they still do that) via email before we sail, would also be a good time to talk about that.

 

Looking forward to your review!