PoAmerica Sept.24 cruise

[Aussie Bruce]

:p Hi all:

 

For all those apprehensive about their bookings on Pride of America: We just got back to Australia today from our Sept. 24 cruise and we can report it was simply the best. I wanted to get this brief summary on line asap.

 

We even went through the tail of a couple of hurricanes and the ship handled the 12-24 foot waves and the Force 8 gale with ease and comfort.

 

The suite was immaculate. Everything perfect. We were on Deck 10 and could not have asked for better service. None of the problems detailed so graphically earlier that had us wondering if we had done the right thing. No strange smells, no fingerprints on the mirrors or dust on the tables. We had friends on Deck 4 who said exactly the same.

 

The food was excellent, especially the Jefferson restaurant which we used twice - once the first night and again on the last because we enjoyed it so much. The service was first class.

 

The entertainment was up to standards set on other ships we had cruised on. Especially the comedy of Chris Alpin and the cruise directon Rich Besen. The stage shows were aimed at a younger crowd than was on board and may have missed the mark a little but the enthusiasm and talent was very strong.

 

The ship is rightly named Pride of America and all Americans should be proud of the staff who are trying so hard to make it a success. They are raw in experience and they need every bit of support in these early stages. Some are just kids but they have a fair smattering of older crew who work just as hard. Those who go on board ready to knock the ship and the crew should take a good hard look at what they are trying so hard to achieve - and they will make it work.

 

Ignore the little hitches. You might have to wait a few minutes for an omelette in the morning but so what. You've probably eaten too much anyway. It's a vacation. Enjoy and be proud of the ship and its crew. They do a great bloody job.

 

I have never seen so much devoured by so many people. Americans love to eat and what they put on their plates is simply amazing. It would feed a small African nation for a week. The Chocaholic afternoon was gluttony glory. And everybody was back for more for dinner. These were serious eaters.

 

I repeat. The ship is great. Don't be put off by those who had bad experiences early on. The sail-past of the volcano was a once in a lifetime experience as was the Na'pali coast. Don't miss the chance to see some ofd the wonders of the world and you can do it in style.

 

Any questions I will try to answer. Shore excursions worked out well, we even shared a trivia questions prize with a couple of our new friends on board.

 

If you are booked already and a bit apprehensive I can only help you have as good a time as we had.

 

Aussie Bruce

[penorment]

Thank you for your great review. It makes me more hopeful for my cruise. It seems most of the recent reviews have been much more positive. Since you had a suite did you use the serivces of the concierge and butler much? Did you book the specialty restaurants on your own or through concierge? I'd love to hear about your shore excursions. Trying to decide on what to do in December. What time did your cruise leave Kuaii? Thanks for any feedback.

[karfest]

Bruce!

 

 

Thank you-thank you-thank you!!! I feel soooooo much better after reading the last few reviews that have been posted. I hated the feeling of dread while planning this cruise and your review has lifted my spirits:D

 

I'm glad you had a great time!

And...not ALL Americans are gluttons, it just seems that way. :eek:

[Aussie Bruce]

Yes. We did use the Concierge for some of the bookings. His name is Eric Anderson. Top bloke. Really works hard. He will contact you, or phone him as soon as you can. Also great help on getting on and off the ship at each port and disembarkation.

 

Shore excusions. We did the Best of West Maui - Good but not memorable. Iao Valley was fascinating and the Maui Ocean Centre was interesting but we have seen a lot of aquariums....The walk through the shark tank was the best part.

 

Hawaiian Eco Safari in Hilo. Okay. Never saw the White Tiger. Some good parts. I am trying to be honest here and not putting down any tours but in these cases it might be better to do your own thing by car with a good map.

 

The best was the Hollywood in Hawaii in Kauai. You could not do this one in your own car without missing tghe best parts.If you are a movie buff or just like good films, you will enjoy this one. It is great top to sit in the coach and watch an excerpt from a movie and see the actual location outside. Elvis fans will have a treat on the Blue Hawaii set for the wedding scene at the Coco Hotel which was wrecked by Hurricane in the early 1990s but is about to be rebuilt.Gilligan's Island , South Pacific etc. A top tour and an excellent guide and driver. Not rushed and you can singalong if you like to all the tunes.

We left Kauai at 6 am on the Friday. Our cruise was a different schedule to most so we did not get the sunset sail past of the Na'pali coast but still the cliffs were rain-shrouded with rainbows, waterfalls and brilliant sunshine at times. I won't bore you with the pix.

[oregongirl]

Thank you for your balanced review! We are booked on the 10/15 cruise. I have been wondering about Deck 4..we are in 4600. I've read about the foul odors and inadequate room conditions and everyone who had good things to say were up on higher decks. Has anyone else stayed on Deck4??? My husband and I plan to go with a positive attitude and make the most of it! Thank you everyone for all the helpful hints!!

[Aussie Bruce]

Thank you for your balanced review! We are booked on the 10/15 cruise. I have been wondering about Deck 4..we are in 4600. I've read about the foul odors and inadequate room conditions and everyone who had good things to say were up on higher decks. Has anyone else stayed on Deck4??? My husband and I plan to go with a positive attitude and make the most of it! Thank you everyone for all the helpful hints!!

 

I can only refer to our friends who were on Deck 4 midships - I think 4584 from memory. They said there were no bad odors, the cabin was clean, the service good, it was a bit tight for luggage but there was plenty of staorage space under the bed for luggage not in use but from my view it wasn't much different in size from the balcony cabins and had a large picture window. They said was about 8-10 feet above sea level.

 

Aussie Bruce

[sapsucker]

Did you use the butler during the week for any meals?

[sconie]

Thank you for your positive comments!! My husband and I are sailing on the 15th of October (cabin 11036) and I've been very worried after reading all the negative reviews. This cruise will be a big deal for us (no kids) and I would just hate for all that money to be flushed down the toilet, never mind that we don't know of another time that we will be able to get away without the kids!! So, thank you so much for helping me feel more comfortable leaving in 10 days!!

 

Laura

[sugs]

aussie bruce,

what excursion do you recommand? did you book outside of ncl and was that a problem

 

my husband and i are sailing 1020/05 and are were upgraded from deck 7 cat g to deck 10 ba and are concerned now about noise and are thankful for the upgrade and are now need advice

 

we could pay extra and get the next upgraded room which would be a larger cabin

we're also considering staying in maui or kauai overnight at a resort

do you know anyone that did that? either way can you reccomand a nice resort?

 

thanks

sugs

[strawberryblonde]

I loved reading your review. We just got back from the Oct. 1-8 cruise on POAM.

 

The chocolate buffet was alot of fun. We took the kids through with us. I ended up taking a chocolate covered strawberry from a tray here and a tray there. The strawberries always looked better than the other treats to me. I ended up with 6 small sized chocolate strawberries on my plate and nothing else. That was the best treat and I didn't feel stuffed afterwards. My kids did the same, just a few strawberries plus they took gummy bears from the sundae table. My husband had some fresh fruit dipped in chocolate on his plate. We took it all back to our cabin and ate it while watching "I love Lucy" on TV.

[geraldbo]

what day and when was the chocolate buffet? I think we have excursions booked for all day. wish it was on fri when everyone is on board.

[Aussie Bruce]

aussie bruce,

what excursion do you recommand? did you book outside of ncl and was that a problem

 

my husband and i are sailing 1020/05 and are were upgraded from deck 7 cat g to deck 10 ba and are concerned now about noise and are thankful for the upgrade and are now need advice

 

we could pay extra and get the next upgraded room which would be a larger cabin

we're also considering staying in maui or kauai overnight at a resort

do you know anyone that did that? either way can you reccomand a nice resort?

 

thanks

sugs

 

The tours we did I mentioned in the earlier posting and the movie tour in Kauai was by far the best. We were lucky to get it as on the evening before the port they were desperately trying to get people to give up their positions in return for incentives of other free tours and waiving the cost of an earlier tour. They said it was overbooked. They got no takers. We booked the three tours with NCL beforehand and the tickets were waiting in the cabin when we got on board. (I should mention that two of the tickets were missing but I went straight to the tour desk and they fixed it immediately. Computer problems! they said). If you have not booked tours beforehand I would suggest you go straight to the tour desk when you get on board as there was no line but later on that evening it stretched for about 40 yards. At each of the ports there were tour companies offering similar tours on the wharf but I did not check the price difference.

 

Many people hired cars and there were shuttle buses running to and from the wharf as they have no facilities at the port to have hire car companies.

 

Congrats on the upgrade. We heard no noise from adjoining cabins but we were opposite a doorway which the crew used to move the baggage off and on and also the cleaning trollies. No great problem and no noise at night.

 

Some people did stay overnight in Maui. Personally I could not see the sense of it as the ship in Hilo was near the port and it seemed a lot of effort just to get off for one night- especially when you had paid for the seven nights on board.. A personal choice. I could not recommend as I did not look into it.

 

I don't think anyone stayed ashored in Kauai as our schedule was different to most cruises and we docked at 8.30 am on Thursday and sailed at 6 am on Friday. Most other cruises have a different timetable. If you don't do a tour I would suggest a rental car and a very good map as you can cover a lot of the island. Waimea Canyon is a must as is the Princeville region and Hanalei Bay. I would do the canyon in the morning and head back to Princeville in the afternoon for the sunset.

 

You can check out many of the movie locations tourself. There is a book called The Kaua'i Movie Book by Chris Cook with photos by David Boynton.

Published by Mutual Publishing. 1215 Center Street, Suite 210, Honolulu. http://www.mutual publishing.com . I think it costs about $22. I saw it in the book shops at Honolulu Airport and also on Kaua'i. It has a good map and all the history of 40 feature films made on the island since 1933. Proceeds from the book go to the Wilcox Hospital Foundation.:)

[Aussie Bruce]

Correction.:confused: I read my recent message and the web page for the movie book should be www.mutualpublishing.com and the email is mutual@mutualpublishing.com

[strawberryblonde]

what day and when was the chocolate buffet? I think we have excursions booked for all day. wish it was on fri when everyone is on board.

 

Your Kona day, I believe that is Wed. at around 2:30pm. We didn't get in line until 3pm. It moved quite fast and you could look for your photos in the photo gallery as you waited. There was plenty of everything. Friday would be a better time for it. Perhaps NCL is trying to keep it less crowded, more people would go on Fri.

[sugs]

Aussie bruce,

 

thanks for the advice-what type of suite did you get-we're also considering a upgrade-again we're in the highest balcony level BA on deck 10

which the ship upgraded us to-

 

 

 

thanks for the referral about the book-my husband said we could do our own tour-

 

thanks

Sugs

[Aussie Bruce]

Aussie bruce,

 

thanks for the advice-what type of suite did you get-we're also considering a upgrade-again we're in the highest balcony level BA on deck 10

which the ship upgraded us to-

 

 

 

thanks for the referral about the book-my husband said we could do our own tour-

 

thanks

Sugs

 

We were in 10534. It was a handicapped cabin which I did not know about until we were on board and it was extra wide and had a bigger shower and balcony. We were very lucky.It was forward on the port side. I all the B cabins are much the same size with balcony but the BA would be the best position on the ship.