Live from the Pride of Hawaii!

[Graf Eberstein]

Time to Travel. This is my first post, so I am new. My husband and I will be on the Pride of Hawaii June 19th. This trip is to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Thanks to Kat for all your post, I enjoyed them very much. This is only our 2nd cruise ever and first time to Hawaii, so we welcome any advice. I can't wait!!

 

Congratulations on your 25th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

There is a "Roll-Call" going for the 6/19 cruise (there are two threads, actually), in case you're interested and wish to sign in on it :)

[zimmerjulie]

Flip Flops:

Category- Footwear

foot shaped, flat piece of rubber (usually) held on to a foot by two rubber (usually) straps coming from each side and meeting in between the first and 2nd toes.

 

Makes a distinctive "FLIP"...."FLOP" noise as it thwacks against the bottom of the foot when walking.

 

A picture is worth a thousand words:D , but I couldn't get my picture to appear, so...anyone?

[thecruisers723]

Maeve619 or Kat28 or anyone else who may know. Do you know how to go about getting the cruise directors email address to contact him about making arrangements for your cruise critic meet & greet on the ship?

 

Any info would be most helpful as we cruise on the 26th and our cc group is growing and we're trying to plan a get together.

[Valentino Rossi]

Julie, I owe you more than a beer;)

 

..I love flip flops! I think I have maybe 15 or more. :o

 

We call them "infradito" and during summer they're quite popular over here, the last 2/3 years also Prada, Gucci and D&G made their leather F. F. trendy enough!:cool:

[Molokai-Chuck]

Then there are also.....zorries....slippas.....

 

Chuck

[Maeve619]

Maeve619 or Kat28 or anyone else who may know. Do you know how to go about getting the cruise directors email address to contact him about making arrangements for your cruise critic meet & greet on the ship?

 

quote]

 

Sorry, I don't know. Bob and Sandi did it for our cruise, I think. Personally, I'd just call Norwegian and ask.

 

-Maeve

[hollym]

Shoot Kat, we thought Teppanyaki was the best of the specialty restaurants on the 6/5 sailing but I did think the $20 pp was a little much. (Hey, I still have a hard time understanding why Freestyle isn't FREE.) If you go there, by the way, don't walk into the restaurant through the door in the corridor that has a sign for Teppanyaki on it. Go to the maitre d at the desk near the Sushi bar. Its confusing and I guess you know who did the former faux pas. Duh. FYI, on the 6/5 sailing, you couldn't even get into Papa's unless you'd booked right when you got onto the ship. It was full the entire week. We never got to try it. :(

[Kapsgirl]

We will be on the same sailing, Lady Jag - I keep checking for a roll call but no one has started one. Will have 2 adjoining inside cabins (no mini-suites :(). Can't wait!

 

I called NCL and was told the only adjoining cabins were oceanview and balcony cabins. where did you find yours? what category/deck? Why doesn't it show up on the deck plans? THANKS

[Ga_Girl]

Funny...we called NCL and were told that the only connecting rooms were inside!! :) I know there are some on the 5th deck...waaaay down!

[DrivesLikeMario]

It might depend on what ship you're talking about. If it's the POH, just look at the deck plans and look for the little black arrow going between cabins. They have TONS of adjoining cabins in just about all categories.

 

We have two adjoining mini-suites on Deck 11 on the starboard side, just forward of the mid-ship elevators if you want to find that little black arrow so you know what to look for.

[kabookie]

Then there are also.....zorries....slippas.....

 

Chuck

 

Growing up in LA, we called them "thongs" - but then that name seems to mean something else these days.....:cool:

[wwleader]

I was so anxious to see reviews of POH; my husband and our 14 year old son and I are sailing June 26th and it is our 9th cruise; first with NCL and first to Hawaii; I guess from your review it was pretty amazing...did the alternate restaurants require reservations; and did you have a formal night? Our son actually wants to get dressed up one night....all in all, how was the service, food, crew? Because we had heard when Pride of America first sailed it was a nightmare...

[Sl1d4]

Shoot Kat, we thought Teppanyaki was the best of the specialty restaurants on the 6/5 sailing but I did think the $20 pp was a little much. (Hey, I still have a hard time understanding why Freestyle isn't FREE.) If you go there, by the way, don't walk into the restaurant through the door in the corridor that has a sign for Teppanyaki on it. Go to the maitre d at the desk near the Sushi bar. Its confusing and I guess you know who did the former faux pas. Duh. FYI, on the 6/5 sailing, you couldn't even get into Papa's unless you'd booked right when you got onto the ship. It was full the entire week. We never got to try it. :(

Papa's was pretty good, Mom and I went late the first night right before closing. Chicken Parm..mmm. My favorite food was the Sushi, but thats a normal thing for me.

[zimmerjulie]

originally posted by hollym

(Hey, I still have a hard time understanding why Freestyle isn't FREE.)

 

Aside from the revenue-generating aspect, there is also a crowd control aspect. Adding a surcharge to a certain venue immediately decreases the demand for that venue, which results in less people having to be turned away when the restaurant is full. That's one reason why NCL has both free and surcharge specialty restaurants.

 

Princess tried having multiple specialty restaurants with unique ethnic menus (like NCL's, but less extensive) under their "Personal Choice" program. The Steakhouse (Sterling), Santa Fe, Italian, and Asian restaurants garnered no extra charge on their new Diamond and Sapphire Princesses Ships in '04. (Princess also retained a choice of "Traditional" seating with the traditional cruise menus.)

 

They received such a negative response from people angry that they could not get into the restaurants of their choice, that by the time I cruised them again in '05, they had drastically changed the program, dropping all but one of the ethnic selections from each restaurant and serving primarily the traditional menu shipwide in all of the free restaurants.

 

It's not simple giving people all those choices:D .

[hollym]

Funny that you mentioned the Diamond Princess. We had a group of eight friends that did one of the inaugural cruises to Mexico on the Diamond Princess out of San Pedro. We elected to secure second seating in the main dining room and only went to Sabatini's one evening and ironically the former was our venue of choice. We had such excellent fare and service in the main dining room there and somewhat sketchy substance of both in Sabatini's. We never ventured further afoot. Why bother?

 

On this 6/5 POH cruise, I couldn't help but compare things coming out of the kitchen to our experience on the Diamond. Princess somehow got a lot of it right. The food coming out of the kitchen there was amazing. POH was, I'm sorry to say, strictly hospital fare and unfortunately nearly everywhere including but not limited to Cagneys. When we asked wait staff what on Earth was going on that was causing this, they told us every week the kitchen management decides things are not working and they need to implement a new management plan. The chefs cannot keep up with the changes. Boy, someone up on top needs to step in and put a foot down. Food on your sailing may have been fine. On ours, it was not and people were furious and vocal. Not me, I was merely disenchanted, but I can't say I did enjoy being a guinea pig at the price we paid.:p

 

DH advises all, take advantage of the overnight stays on Maui and Kauai and eat off campus. You'll be glad you did.;)

[zimmerjulie]

hollym,

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.:)

There is no way that, for my palate, Pride of Hawai'i went from what I ate to Hospital food in a few weeks. I might entertain the possiblity for a second, but upon reading some of the comments from others on your sailing I am certainly reassured.

originally posted by Kapuna

Just returned from her 1st island cruise . We expected service problems etc. but encountered absolutely none !

 

We tried 7 of the 10 restaurants and received excellent food and service in all ( well , the buffet needs a little fine tuning ) . The weather was perfect , so that views of the Na Pali coast and lava flow were spectacular .

 

Everything went so smoothly that we would have to rate it as one of the best cruises in years .

 

But like on every cruise ship some people will love the food, some people will hate it. (People at the next table on the Sapphire walked out muttering about "Garbage"). I certainly disagreed.

 

originally posted by hollym

they told us every week the kitchen management decides things are not working and they need to implement a new management plan. The chefs cannot keep up with the changes.

Frustrating. Since long waits for dining have been an issue since the beginning, I am sure they are trying to find different ways to streamline the process. Must be tough and it's a shame that you were let down.

 

originally posted by hollym

DH advises all, take advantage of the overnight stays on Maui and Kauai and eat off campus. You'll be glad you did.;)

 

Thanks, but I'll respectfully pass on that recommendation, when I get the chance to sail Pride of Hawai'i again. I really loved the food and the dining experiences.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Growing up in LA, we called them "thongs" - but then that name seems to mean something else these days.....:cool:

 

I am dying laughing at that!! Whenever I call them "thongs", my boys give me the strangest looks! I've learned to catch myself and say, "flip flops" because they don't know what zorries are either!! Guess it's a So. Cal. thing! lol

[cosmo1027]

I am dying laughing at that!! Whenever I call them "thongs", my boys give me the strangest looks! I've learned to catch myself and say, "flip flops" because they don't know what zorries are either!! Guess it's a So. Cal. thing! lol

OMG -- I forgot that flip flops used to be called thongs until I just read this. And I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. Yes -- we called them thongs too when I was a kid. I can just imagine the looks I would get if I referred to them as that today. Conversely, can you imagine what we would have thought back then if someone described to us what item would have that name today!!!

[thecruisers723]

I was so anxious to see reviews of POH; my husband and our 14 year old son and I are sailing June 26th and it is our 9th cruise; first with NCL and first to Hawaii; I guess from your review it was pretty amazing...did the alternate restaurants require reservations; and did you have a formal night? Our son actually wants to get dressed up one night....all in all, how was the service, food, crew? Because we had heard when Pride of America first sailed it was a nightmare...

 

wwleader, we're on the June 26th sailing of POH also. It's only 12 days away. We're so excited. We can't concentrate on much else these days. Come on over to our Roll Call Forum on these boards. We have lots of people posting from our sailing.

[thecruisers723]

Sorry, I don't know. Bob and Sandi did it for our cruise, I think. Personally, I'd just call Norwegian and ask.

 

-Maeve

 

Maeve619, I think we're giving up on organizing anything through NCL. I've waited on hold twice for over an hour each time. They transfer you to "Passenger Care" and no one ever picks up. So I guess we'll just do our own thing since they evidently don't have enough time to take calls.

[beachchick]

Just a tiny FYI, in Hawaii flip-flops are typically called slippers. (When I was growing up, we called them thongs too.)

 

beachchick

[sarah191]

Maeve619,

I'm taking care of our 7-3-06 on the POH party and I emailed the ship coordinator(sp?). The email is shipcoordinatorhawaii@ncl.com , or replace hawaii with whatever ship you will be on. She was really helpful and is going to do what ever we want! So email her ( it took about 3 days to get a reply ). It sounds like our party on 7-3-06 is going to be great, if there is anyone else out there that hasn't checked out the roll call, please hurry!!!:p

 

Sarah;)

[Cruiser from MN]

Many thanks for your posting....looking forward to your others.

 

My wife and I are also booked in an AB on the POHawaii in July. Is there a self service laundry on this ship ? If there is....where is it located.

 

Mahalo....

 

Chuck

 

Just got off the Pride of Hawaii and it was wonderful! They do have self service laundry facilities. There is no charge to use the washer or dryer. There is also two irons and ironing boards in the room. If you do not bring your own detergent you can buy onboard and the charge is $1.00 for a box of Tide. The box is only enough for one load. Hope this helps.

[DebraDot]

"But like on every cruise ship some people will love the food, some people will hate it. (People at the next table on the Sapphire walked out muttering about "Garbage"). I certainly disagreed.

 

I really loved the food and the dining experiences.

 

Thank you for your perspective. I don't blame others for negative reviews, but it is nice to get this perspective and know that all is not lost. There is hope!

 

Your post brought a much needed smile to my face.:)

[Shiraz]

(I'm from 6/5 POH) We were on port side -- lava viewing was from both sides but apparently we couldn't flip that U-ie for both sides at Na Pali. We had a fantastic view from our balcony. I thought there was an announcement that the narration would be on the tv but we never found it. We ran through the channels every 5-10 mins to see if we heard wrong. Oh well! It was nice to put our feet up and just gawk & snap photos.

 

Midcruise we made a res. for Papa's and all that was left was 9:30 so we had to go with that. It was worth waiting for -- yummy!! I had Hawaiian pizza. DH was sick, laid up in cabin so I had to dine solo. (BTW, he was fine the next day **happily** I was kind of worried but I think the heat and exhaustion just did him in).

 

Re Paniolo: Another night, I went looking for a buffet-style food service because hubby wasn't hungry. I guess I misunderstood something in the literature because no buffet was happening!! At any rate, the host at Paniolo helped me out and placed an order for a chicken quesadilla for me to take back to my room since I wasn't dressed for dinner nor did I have a reservation. This would fall under service/American crew also -- David was his name -- was quite attentive in bringing me something to eat which was, incidentally, excellent tasting including the guacamole!