Celebrity Hawaii vs NCL Pride of America

[gordylad]

Really fancy trying a Hawaii cruise and I am between the two in the title. Looking for any help in deciding from people who may have experienced both cruises or one of them. If Celebrity or NCL timing would be around Sept.

 

Thanks

[rollie]

Big Celebrity fan here, but that being said, taking NCL would be a no brained for me.   NCL is able to do the Islands in 7 days not leaving the Islands. Celebrity must visit a foreign port making a cruise at least 10 days. A lot of sea days, and you don’t see as much of the Islands. 
 

Rollie

[ScottC4746]

2 hours ago, gordylad said:

Really fancy trying a Hawaii cruise and I am between the two in the title. Looking for any help in deciding from people who may have experienced both cruises or one of them. If Celebrity or NCL timing would be around Sept.

 

Thanks

Having been on neither I cannot compare, but as far as ports, NCL has special permission to only do Hawaii while other lines must start or end elsewhere that is not part of Hawaii, that is you can end in Hawaii, or start in Hawaii on other lines, but not both like on NCL

[cruisestitch]

Look at their smoking policies

Is a casino important to you

NCL will require flying both ways

celebrity gives you lots of sea days

 

these are some things to consider

 

[ScottC4746]

12 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Look at their smoking policies

Is a casino important to you

NCL will require flying both ways

celebrity gives you lots of sea days

 

these are some things to consider

 

We had booked HAL for an 18 night Hawaiian cruise from San Diego.  It was about a week in Hawaii with the remaining days at sea trying to get to and from Hawaii.  Sadly, we had a family emergency and we had to cancel.

[1025cruise]

Major differences. Celebrity will be a 2 week cruise leaving from the West Coast, whereas NCL will start and end in Hawaii on a 7 day.

NCL will be staffed by mostly US Citizens. Also note that NCL is having issues staffing the ship right now, so the experience is not the normal.

 

[gordylad]

I like the casino and it seems Pride has none on board in fact its says gambling is illegal in Hawaii. Does that mean Celebrity closes the casino when reaching the Islands or do they get around it in some way?

 

thanks

[cruisestitch]

NCL Actually had to cancel a couple of Hawaii sailings because of staff issues. One would hope that by September it will all be fixed, but right now who knows?

[ScottC4746]

1 minute ago, gordylad said:

I like the casino and it seems Pride has none on board in fact its says gambling is illegal in Hawaii. Does that mean Celebrity closes the casino when reaching the Islands or do they get around it in some way?

 

thanks

I believe every cruise line, or at least the ones I have been on, RCCL, HAL, Princess, all close shops and casinos when in port and a certain nautical mile away from ports.  Thankfully the lounges will be open.

[lola2013]

We did Celebrity Solstice a few years back and it was amazing.  We flew to Honolulu for about 4 days pre-cruise...cruised around the islands with 4 stops (Maui was overnight) and then sailed five days across the Pacific to Vancouver.  I loved the sea days...we booked SVs and were able to watch the sunset from our balcony every night.  We chose the eastbound itinerary so that we could get the long (ten hour flight) out of the way...and then just four hours home at the end of the trip.

That said...my mom and dad did NCL long ago and totally enjoyed that also!  They likely would not have appreciated all the sea days so this worked for them.

Any cruise that involves Hawaii with a winner!

Enjoy.

[canderson]

1 hour ago, ScottC4746 said:

Having been on neither I cannot compare, but as far as ports, NCL has special permission to only do Hawaii ...

Not special permission.  It's a (uniquely) U.S. flagged cruise ship.  NCL decided it was worth jumping through all of the extra hoops that this entails in order to work exclusively in Hawaii.

[dani negreanu]

I've done the Pride of America, knowing that NCL is not my preferred line.

 

For the "price" of seeing 4 islands in one week, I was willing to "settle" for a very smelly and unpleasant ship. I went with very low expectations and they were not exceeded....

 

Kauai and an overnight in Maui for seeing the OLL were my main interests.

 

10 sea days are too much for me. YMMV 😉

 

 

[WorkerBee74]

2 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Look at their smoking policies

Is a casino important to you

NCL will require flying both ways

celebrity gives you lots of sea days

 

these are some things to consider

 

 

I'd love to take a cruise where I didn't have to fly both ways.  😄

[_Rick_]

1. My wife and I are planning in 2024 in fly over to Hawaii from east coast, spend a about a week island hopping staying in still to be determined resorts . Then we are taking the NCL POA cruise for a week.  Then we're going to spend four days in Honolulu and catch the Celebrity Summit for the 11 day around Hawaii and back to Vancouver and fly home from there.  The cruises are booked, still looking at where we are going to stay on land.  Really looking foward to this trip.  Will be my first time in Hawaii.

Edited July 22, 2022 by _Rick_

[gordylad]

sounds like a great trip

[1025cruise]

My understanding is that yes, the casinos are closed while in Hawaiin waters.

[steamboats]

I´ve done the Pride of America in May (more here). And I also cruised with Celebrity. First of all, of course, Celebrity is a bit more top notch than NCL. The Pride of America is very special due to the fact that you need an all American crew (basically). Currently they do have problems staffing the ship and therefore they only go with 45-50% of the regular capacity. This will last on til at least the end of October. This results in the fact that only the buffet and the 24/7 diner are open for all meals. Only one of the two main restaurants is open (dinner only) and only two specialty restaurants (Steakhouse, French Bistro) are open (dinner only). Same for the bars. Only one outside bar (at the pool) is open til 6 pm. Then two inside bars plus the café in the atrium are open. NCL has not cancelled any cruises but single cabins to limit the passenger load.

 

For me it was the best way to see the islands. Flights don´t matter as I have to fly to the US anyway from Germany.

 

The Pride of America is the only larger cruise ship which sails 7 night cruises out of Honolulu. All other cruise lines have to come over from the West Coast or Canada which is at least 5 days at sea. Some cruise lines also go back. I think only Princess and HAL have regular cruises to Hawaii and back. All others do Hawaii mainly as repositioning cruises. Therefore you can´t choose the date. It´s just one cruise in fall (after the Alaska season) and one cruise in spring (coming from Asia/Australia). The Pride of America is doing the cruises year round.

 

Yes, there is no casino on the Pride of America as Hawaii does not allow gambling (that´s why the Hawaiian people fly to Vegas).

 

If you do have any specific questions. Please ask! Yes of course, currently service is pretty limited but anyway we had a great time. We did know in advance and were prepared for it.

 

steamboats

[Virginia100]

1 hour ago, steamboats said:

I´ve done the Pride of America in May (more here). And I also cruised with Celebrity. First of all, of course, Celebrity is a bit more top notch than NCL. The Pride of America is very special due to the fact that you need an all American crew (basically). Currently they do have problems staffing the ship and therefore they only go with 45-50% of the regular capacity. This will last on til at least the end of October. This results in the fact that only the buffet and the 24/7 diner are open for all meals. Only one of the two main restaurants is open (dinner only) and only two specialty restaurants (Steakhouse, French Bistro) are open (dinner only). Same for the bars. Only one outside bar (at the pool) is open til 6 pm. Then two inside bars plus the café in the atrium are open. NCL has not cancelled any cruises but single cabins to limit the passenger load.

 

For me it was the best way to see the islands. Flights don´t matter as I have to fly to the US anyway from Germany.

 

The Pride of America is the only larger cruise ship which sails 7 night cruises out of Honolulu. All other cruise lines have to come over from the West Coast or Canada which is at least 5 days at sea. Some cruise lines also go back. I think only Princess and HAL have regular cruises to Hawaii and back. All others do Hawaii mainly as repositioning cruises. Therefore you can´t choose the date. It´s just one cruise in fall (after the Alaska season) and one cruise in spring (coming from Asia/Australia). The Pride of America is doing the cruises year round.

 

Yes, there is no casino on the Pride of America as Hawaii does not allow gambling (that´s why the Hawaiian people fly to Vegas).

 

If you do have any specific questions. Please ask! Yes of course, currently service is pretty limited but anyway we had a great time. We did know in advance and were prepared for it.

 

steamboats

Thanks for the info! I always go Celebrity but booked NCZ POA for the Hawaii cruise 7/13/24. This promotion includes free airfare for second person. They let you know the flight times about 30-45 days prior to departure. It will be a 1 stop flight. I liked the 2 overnights and seeing both sides of the big island; Hilo and Kona. I don’t expect it to be like Celebrity but all the others have many sea days coming from the west coast. That’s a big no. I booked out 2 years just to let everything get back to normal like staffing levels. Plan to arrive several days early to adjust to the time coming from the east coast. No casino, no big deal. How were the excursions that Ncl offered? Favorite ones?? I assume the 2 overnights are to attend some Luau’s. Haven’t been to Hawaii in about 30 years!!

[dani negreanu]

42 minutes ago, Virginia100 said:

I assume the 2 overnights are to attend some Luau’s.

 

On the overnight in Maui we went to Old Lahaina Luau. It was awesome.

 

The other overnight (Kauai) we just toured all day, since the island is breath taking beautiful, especially the Waimea canyon.

 

The sail by Na-apali coast is also something I'll remember to my last day.

 

[hcat]

Go with Celebrity..

We did a RT from San Pedro..awhile ago..on Summit...it  involved very many sea days but we did not have to fly to or from Hawaii..esp after flying out to the west coast pre cruise.

 

We had a great on board experience with our Hawaiii ambassador. 

( Paki)  Had lectures and activities every day ...made leis and crafts..learned abt geography, geology,  culture, etc.  Took hula lessons and performed in the theater.

Great meals and parties on board.... cruise days passed by so nicely esp with time zone switches.

 

Excellent choice of excursions and  we passed by volcano lava flow at night..deck party.  Loved volcanoes natl park, whale watching, snorkeling, black sand beaches great flowers in Hilo, Diamond head,  Pearl Harbor was a lifetime memory....a must do! One of our best vacations ever..even with short time for Hawaii itself

 

On one excursion, we spent the day with staff from the Pride..very nice people but very unhappy crew.  They do get paid more than X staff but  mentioned lots of labor issues and unhappy conditions on board with the ship and the programs..convinced us we made the right choice going with X...

[TrulyBlonde]

5 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

I've done the Pride of America, knowing that NCL is not my preferred line.

 

For the "price" of seeing 4 islands in one week, I was willing to "settle" for a very smelly and unpleasant ship. I went with very low expectations and they were not exceeded....

 

Kauai and an overnight in Maui for seeing the OLL were my main interests.

 

10 sea days are too much for me. YMMV 😉

 

 

We took the NCL Hawaii cruise years ago. It was only a floating hotel for us and having never been to Hawaii it allowed us to visit the different islands and decide which ones we would like to vacation on our next land trip.

Prior to embarking in Honolulu, we stayed at the Halekulani hotel and loved it. We also rented our own car on each of the islands and explored on our own. We would lunch at Four Seasons resorts and find other high end hotels to spend time at to help in our decision making on when and where to return to.

 

It provided a perfect introduction to the islands and now we just fly there and stay on land.

[steamboats]

13 hours ago, Virginia100 said:

How were the excursions that Ncl offered? Favorite ones?? I assume the 2 overnights are to attend some Luau’s. 

 

So first of all, we only booked shore tours with NCL - basically due to the fact that we simply wanted to be on the safe side regarding the current situation. All of the tours were operated by local tour operators and some of them you might be able to get cheaper booking them independently. All of the tour guide were very good and we did learn a lot about the islands, the language and the culture.

 

Some of the tours are small group tours and some even focused on sustainability (and this is not advertised). We did the O.K. Farms and rainbow falls in Hilo (only 12 people and lots of tasting) and the katamaran snorkeling tour in Maui (operated by a non profit organization which is focusing on whale research, with the money from the tours they fianance research and also free tours for local kids - you don´t protect what you haven´t seen). This was a really nice surprise for us. 

 

The only tour which we didn´t really like was the last one - Oahu island tour with airport drop off. Actually we only stopped at one sightseeing point for photos. All other stops were shopping or lunch. Sorry, but I don´t need four stops for buying souvenirs, my bags are already packed and ready for flying on a tour which ends at the airport (o.k. we didn´t fly until the next morning but almost all others did). The best part was the stop at a shopping mall were a malasadas bakery had a food truck. So we all got to buy malasadas (and ate them of course).

 

I had a little mixed feelings about the Kona Mocha tour. While the first stop at the cocoa farm and soap factory was very interesting (but hardly any tasting), the second stop at Kona Joe´s was a bit disappointing (yeah, we all got a mug). The driver/guide Glenn was the best of the tour. He´s baking for his guests - cream puffs and banana bread - and he shared some of his recipes. At the end of the tour we asked him where to get a real good poke. He said, no problem, stay on the bus, I´ll drop you at a local supermarket. That´s where the locals get their poke. And it was really good.

 

NCL is offering a Luau in Kaua´i - the Luau Kalamaka (which is app. 10 min by car from the port in a shopping area). We originally booked this but had to cancel. Actually we were part of a media group and NCL did organize a dinner on shore for this night.

 

You will find lots of photos in my review.

 

steamboats

[terrydtx]

My sister and BIL did a POA NCL cruise this past June and were so disappointed.  The following are some of her remarks back to us.

 

The ship was at 60% occupancy and so understaffed.  Most bars had a 20 minute or more wait in line for drinks, no table service around the pools and half the specialty restaurants were closed because of staffing issues. The food in MDR was just average and service terribly slow. Senior staff members said they are having a horrible time recruiting people to work on the ship since they have to be US citizens and people do not want to work anymore specially in Hawaii. Half the shore excursions they pre-purchased were canceled last minute with no alternatives offered.

 

She said she is one and done with NCL and will be sailing with us on the Reflection next month.

[steamboats]

Actually the Pride of America is at 45-50% occupancy and 60% crew. Yes, there is no table service in any bar (not just the pool bar).

 

We didn´t have any shore tour cancelled.

 

steamboats

[terrydtx]

6 minutes ago, steamboats said:

Actually the Pride of America is at 45-50% occupancy and 60% crew. Yes, there is no table service in any bar (not just the pool bar).

 

We didn´t have any shore tour cancelled.

 

steamboats

We have been on 2 Celebrity cruises post Covid with 40 and 50% occupancy, but had no problems with table bar service anywhere on the ship or with meals. Having to wait in line for 20 or more minutes for a drink would be totally unacceptable to me.