9/17-9/24 Pride of America OKAY??????

[gzyteck]

We had booked a 2 night pre cruise, seven night cruise with airfare on Pride of America, our first NCL Cruise for Sept. 17-24. We flew direct from Houston, TX to Honolulu on Continental and were met by the NCL rep at the gate. After getting our baggage we were taken by van to our hotel, The Radisson Prince Kuhio on Waikiki Beach. We did have a great view of the beach, since our room had been upgraded to an oceanview. The only negative with the hotel was the fact that several of the elevators were being worked on which which made the other elevators very slow. TIP-Use the garage elevator for faster service. We rented a car and took in Pearl Harbor, USS Missouri, Punchbowl Cemetery, Diamond Head, North Shore, Hanmanua Bay and several other sites. We got to Pearl Harbor very early and were in the first group to tour. TIP- Traffic gridlock early in the morning on H1. The day of our cruise we were picked up at 1 pm and taken to the ship. The line was long for check-in but moved pretty fast and soon we were aboard. I immediately booked reservations for Little Italy (no extra charge) for the first night and Friday night (NaPali coast sailing) for 6 pm, a tip I received on Cruise Critic. Our balcony cabin (8690) was ready and we dropped off our carry on luggage before heading to the Aloha Cafe for lunch. Great bolied shrimp! Lots of variety! Unpacked after lunch, our bags were waiting for us. Explored the ship! Dinner and service in Little Italy was very good! Attended the show, juggler was okay.

Arrived in Hilo at 8 am and had booked a tour (Hilo Volcano Tour and Akaka Falls) independent of the ship. We used Tony Patao with Green Travel and Tours (www.greentours.com), he did a fantastic job. He picked us up at the dock in a small van and we enjoyed the whole day with one other couple. He was a wealth of knowledge and took us to many places off the beaten tourist path. I highly recommend Tony and Green Travel and Tours. That evening we sailed by Mt. Kilauea and saw the lava flowing into the ocean, a memorable site.

The first day in Maui we had booked the Molokini And Turtle Arches Snorkel Trip excursion. We arrived at Molokini crater a prime snorkel spot to find the water was very rough and not good for snorkeling, so we went to Turtle Arches. The boat ride was pretty rough. We did see lots of green sea turtles, but were disappointed that we did not get to snorkel Molokini Crater.

The second day in Maui we had booked independently with Bike It Maui (www.bikeit@maui.net) for the Sunrise Bike Tour down Mt. Haleakala. Rob picked us up at 2:30 am at the ship and we made our way up to the top of the crater. Coffee, hot chocolate and muffins were served as we waited for sunrise. Sunrise was SPECTACULAR and worth getting out of bed in the middle of the night. Dave gave us our equipment-bike, coat, gloves, helmet, pants, and safety instructions. We took off down the mountain, 38 miles downhill behind our fearless leader, Dave. WOW, what a ride!

After the ride they took us to Charley's in Paia for breakfast which was ordered earlier. Great food! Highly recommend Bike It Maui - Peta, Rob and Dave - first class tour! They are cheaper than the ship excursion and include a great breakfast.

In Kona we booked the ship excursion - Captain Zodiac Raft and Snorkel Adventure. Great snorkeling and a wild raft ride. Got to see lots of spinner dolphins. We walked around Kona, shopped and had lunch at Bubba Gumps Shrimp.

In Kauai we had booked the NaPali Snorkel, Dinner and Sunset Sail which was cancelled and the Journey to Waimea Canyon. We decided to rent a car, cancel our tour, and do the island on our own. We caught a Budget shuttle at the port and it took us to the airport to rent a car. We rented a convertible for the day and drove almost 200 miles. Waimea Canyon was fantastic! The traffic was easy, but we needed a better map.

The second day in Kauai we had an early departure at 3 pm, onboard at 2:30 pm so we just did some shopping. Shuttles take you in to town. We had booked Little Italy for 6 pm and requested a table by the window for the NaPali Coast cruise. Great dinner with breathtaking scenery!

If you are looking to be pampered this is NOT the cruise for you, but it is a good economical way to see the Hawaiian Islands. We were lucky, our cabin attendant was very good, but heard horror stories from other passengers. Our room was cleaned, a top sheet was placed on our bed as per our request, ice bucket full, cleans towels, etc.......... The bad news is that our cabin attendant is leaving the ship soon. The balcony cabin (8690) was small, but okay for the two of us.

Food was best in the Aloha Cafe, boiled shrimp fantastic! Service in Liberty and Skyline was really hit and miss. One night we had a woman that must have worked at a Texas truckstop, she was serving like she was slinging hash! Service was not even close to service we received on other cruise lines - Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Radisson. We opted for the Aloha Cafe several nights. We did not enjoy the Freestyle dining, missed meeting new people and interesting conversation at dinner.

The high points of the ship - Gym the best I have ever seen and not used, Coffeemaker in room convenient, Good hairdryer in cabin, cold, cold milk in machines, Lattes free in Aloha, Comfortable bed - request a top sheet.

The low points - Service, service, service!!!! Poor food quality and selection, lack of dance music and places to dance, cabin small, Photo gallery photos low to floor and hard to view, fireproof cabin doors extremely heavy, lots of chemical in hot tubs - will fade swimsuit, pools small, lack of fresh tropical fruit on tropical island cruise.

TIPS - Bring power strip, only two plugs in cabin. We needed one for curling iron, cellphone charger, camera battery charger) Buy cokes in Honolulu and bring on ship, much cheaper than softdrink card, Bring extra hangars

Cingular cell phone worked great on cruise!

 

The ship is new, but my fear is that it won't be long before it gets run down because of lack of good maintenance and cleaning. Carpet in elevators was soiled and stained already. I'm gald we cruised while the ship was still new. We had a good time and saw the beauty of the Hawaiian Islands, but would not cruise with NCL again. A cruise is really what you make it, so go with a positive attitude and you should be fine. We were on the go so much, we need a vacation now to recover from the cruise!

[crewsin250]

For your reveiw, we will be sailing in Dec. and I was curious about your air deal booking it through NCL. When did you get your flight schedule and what time did you leave Houston and Honolulu.

Thanks Paul

[Ali70]

Gzyteck,

what's the range of food like at the Aloha Buffet? I will probably eat there most of the time when I sail on The PoAm. I am a solo traveller who doesn't like to spend 1 or 2 hours over dinner. I just want to eat and get out.

[gzyteck]

For your reveiw, we will be sailing in Dec. and I was curious about your air deal booking it through NCL. When did you get your flight schedule and what time did you leave Houston and Honolulu.

Thanks Paul

 

We received our travel documents about a month before we left.

Depart Houston 9:35 am Arrive Honolulu 12:45 pm

Depart Honolulu 9:15 pm Arrive Houston 9:55 am

We were very pleased with our airfare after talking with other passengers traveling from other parts of the US that had crazy flight schedules with several stops. The direct flight was great, just long!

[gzyteck]

Gzyteck,

what's the range of food like at the Aloha Buffet? I will probably eat there most of the time when I sail on The PoAm. I am a solo traveller who doesn't like to spend 1 or 2 hours over dinner. I just want to eat and get out.

I thought there was a good variety

Breakfast - Eggs, muffins, fruit, oatmeal, cold cereal, fresh fruit, bacon, sausage, (Omlets at the Aloha on the aft deck only)

 

Lunch and Dinner - Salad Bar, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Pizza, Soup, Different selection every day - Chinese, Fish, Pork Loin, Pasta, Sandwiches, Chicken, Vegetables, Desserts, Ice Cream, Boiled Shrimp

 

You are right, we were on the go so much that we often opted for the Aloha for a quick bite.

 

Check out the Aloha aft, you can sit outside an enjoy the beautiful view if you wish or maybe just have a cup of coffee.

[hot cookie]

We also found the food at the Aloha Cafe to be very good with a nice selection for a buffet. In addition to the above mentioned items for breakfast, there is also grits and biscuits and sausage gravy (for those Southern folks and want-to-be's!!), sliced ham, bagels, hash, and some sort of potato patties (that really weren't too good....) Every morning I made myself a tasty bagel sandwich with ham, eggs, cheese and tomato.....yummy!

 

If you like deserts with lunch or dinner, there was an entire buffet station set up with assorted cakes, pies, cheesecakes, brownies and other delicious things. At one end, there was even a nice selection of sugar-free items for diabetics.

 

And of course, ice cream and cones are always available.

[karfest]

Thank you for the review! Each week I am getting less apprehensive about this cruise.

 

I have been researching the sunrise bike tour in Maui- is it crowded? It seems there are hundreds of companies doing this tour, although the one you took looks to be the best deal. This will sound silly coming from someone who lives in the "frozen tundra", but was it cold?? I'll be there in January and really don't want to be freezing- I get enough of that at home!

 

Also, I couldn't get the link for Green tours to work and couldn't find them by googling. It sounds like the type of tour we are looking for. My parents (age 70 & 75) will be with us on some tours so I can't be adventuresome all the time. Do you have any other way of contacting Tony?

 

Thanks again for all the info-it is much appreciated:)

[gzyteck]

Thank you for the review! Each week I am getting less apprehensive about this cruise.

 

I have been researching the sunrise bike tour in Maui- is it crowded? It seems there are hundreds of companies doing this tour, although the one you took looks to be the best deal. This will sound silly coming from someone who lives in the "frozen tundra", but was it cold?? I'll be there in January and really don't want to be freezing- I get enough of that at home!

 

Also, I couldn't get the link for Green tours to work and couldn't find them by googling. It sounds like the type of tour we are looking for. My parents (age 70 & 75) will be with us on some tours so I can't be adventuresome all the time. Do you have any other way of contacting Tony?

 

Thanks again for all the info-it is much appreciated:)

 

There are several companies that do the bike tours, we were #9 to go down the mountain. Lots of other people go up in cars, vans, tour buses just to see the sunrise, so there is a crowd. They very carefully space out the bike tours, so we never felt like we were in a crowd. Dave was our leader and Rob drove the van which kept any traffic from coming up behind us unexpectedly. After every stop the van would block the traffic lane so we could pull out. It was in the high 40's up at the top, but they provided nice warm jackets, gloves, pants and we wore long pants and light jackets. I wore a warm up suit with a t-shirt under my warm up jacket. I was never cold! By the end of the ride I was down to shorts and my t-shirt, it was warm at the end of the trip.

Green Tours can be found at www.hawaiigreentours.com, I dealt with Kai and he was great. When we boarded the ship I asked an ship officer what time we would arrive in Hilo, he stated it would be 10 am instead of 8am. I got on my cell phone and called Kai to change our pickup time to 10 am. Well we arrived in Hilo at 8 am, so again I was on the phone to Kai to tell him of our early arrival. No problem, Tony showed up and we had a great tour. I have heard that Pride of America usually gets to Hilo late, but that day we were on time. Tony Patao is a native Hawaiian and is full of knowledge. We had a great time for the price.

Let me know if I can be of any additional help!

[nicknack]

Great Review. Between what hours was the best NaPali viewing?

 

Is the 3:00 PM Kauai departure now standard? Previously it appears to have moved from 6:00 to 3:30 to 2:00. Do people rent cars the second Kauai day even thought the ship left at 3:00?

[gzyteck]

Great Review. Between what hours was the best NaPali viewing?

 

Is the 3:00 PM Kauai departure now standard? Previously it appears to have moved from 6:00 to 3:30 to 2:00. Do people rent cars the second Kauai day even thought the ship left at 3:00?

 

We arrived at Little Italy just before 6 pm and the viewing started about 6:10 pm. The viewing lasted between 30 - 45 minutes, port side only.

The second day in Kauai all aboard was at 2:30 pm and we left at 3 pm.

We rented the car for the first day and toured all day, almost 200 miles. We turned the car back in that night, parking at Kauai was $10 for a rent car and we had seen all we had planned on. The second day we slept a little later and went in to town to do some last minute shopping. Shuttles from Hilo Hatties, WalMart, several malls can be taken from the ship dock.

One thing you have to watch with renting a car on a day the ship leaves is getting caught in traffic. The lady at Budget advised us to go toward Hanalei and Princeville in the morning and head toward Waimea Canyon after lunch because of traffic. Worked out great! We rented a convertible from Budget for $66.00 plus tax. A great way to take in Waimea Canyon!

We talked to some people that had booked "Journey to Waimea Canyon" as a ship excursion on the second day and they had to leave at 6:45 am and the tour on a big tour bus took seven hours. Not my idea of fun! That tour cost $49.00 a person, so the convertible was a better deal, and we traveled at our leisure.

[bankofdad]

Thanks for posting a great review! A lot of your tips are very helpful!

[karfest]

Thank You!

 

Based on your great review, I think I'l go with both of these tours. I love this board:D

Now I just have to get that clock to go faster...