How is the Pride of Aloha

[birdie16]

I would like to comment on what our Host said about the posts from this ship because it was "sick". If you go back and re-read my comments and the comments of the other cruisers I think you will find we were very fair. I can honestly say, with or without the ship being "sick", my comments would have been similar.

 

As for waiting to eat, one of the reasons I like traditional dining is because you don't wait for a table...ever. With my two experiences with Freestyle dining I have found it very common to have to wait for a table...or they would not feel the need to have remote pagers! True, if you eat when the restaurant first opens you don't have to wait as long, but if you want to eat at a normal dining hour you will have to wait up to an hour for a table. Also, not once, either in the main dining room or the two "premium" dining rooms were we offered coffee/tea with our dessert. In fact, it was very difficult to get coffee/tea at the end of the meal and if you asked for it you most likely did not get it until you were finished with dessert and ready to go. This has nothing to do with the ship being "sick"...this is training.

 

As for the tray situation in the buffet, this is true...they ran out and did not have trays. The reason we choose not to eat in the buffet most of the time was because with the staff serving us, you had to have a new plate for practically every choice and the only way to carry it was with a tray. Also, the line took so long that by the time you were seated your food was cold. This was all because of the "sick" ship. Host, you will notice that I did not put these negative comments in my earlier post because I realized it only showed a picture of what the POA is like when it is "sick". Believe me; I could fill chapters about the problems due only to the fact that the ship was "sick".

 

Sick or not...it is a very pretty ship with poor service standards and Freestyle dining...take it for what it is or see Hawaii another way.

[Adrift in Paradise]

I live on the northern edge of Escondido. Lot's of new condo's and homes being built around here but most are right on or too close to heavily traveled highways and I would find that unacceptable. One of the older ones in a more seculed area would be the better choice. Too bad you're just starting to look ... my sister just sold her 3br condo in RB. Double balcony and 2-car garage.

[Poconolady]

I find it very interesting that the people who are defending this ship have not actually taken a cruise on it in the last few months. Please, this ship has had some very serious problems recently and posters are just trying to get the word out to the public. If you haven't been on this ship recently--then don't be so quick to judge others who have, be as loyal to NCL as you wish, but recognize that maybe the conditions that you feel are so over exagerated are actually very real., be willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Look I was there and personally experienced the poor service--were you?

[Glittercat]

Seemed to me the OP was just curious to hear others views of the ship. I did not see many defending, but instead at best mentioning areas for improvement, and at worst tearing it down.

 

For my family, our cruise aboard Pride of Aloha will be our first cruise. It can be sort of overwhelming to read all of the horror stories, after everything is paid for. :( Seems very few have nice things to say about the staff of this ship. Still, it is our only real vacation in several years, and we intend to try and make the best of it.

[Adrift in Paradise]

Surely the virus has just about played itself out. Like I said in previous posts we were not there for the room but to get an overview of the islands with the prospect of returning to one later. (We're already looking into returning to Hilo or Kona). Basically we ended up returning to the ship as

late as possible and did not have time for the daily shipboard activities. We

were always late for dinner and barely made it to the late show. But it did

seem there were lot's of activities for children and plenty of fun parties for

adults. The pool deck is very nice... two pools and 4 hot tubs. The kids

pool is on deck 12. There's a place to swat golf balls, ping pong tables,

a basketball court, and I forget what else. The gym is nice and open 24 hours.

 

Pack a top sheet, your own pillow or extra cases for protection, robes, Purell or any hand sanitizer, anti-bacterial soap like dial, your own shampoo, etc. There's not a shelf full of freebies on POH. There's beach towels in

the room and you can sign out extras on the pool deck. You definately

need sun screen. We are quite used to a sun index of ten here in SD and are already tan. The index there is a 12 and very deceiving because it is not hot and very breezy. Saw a lot of fried tourists. If you go to any of the higher elevations take a sweat shirt. It was windy and 40 degrees at 9,000 ft. in Maui when we drove up to the crater for sunset.

 

You do get a hair drier... as with most ships they hide it in the desk.

If you forget anything there are actually K-Mart shuttles at every port. In fact we found that a real picture moment to send to our friends and titled

it "Hawaii ultimate tour".

 

We are small folk with small appetites and food is never a high priority. We only eat breakfast and dinner. We don't eat at the buffets on ships and I wasn't so annoyed at the slow dinner service so much as the fact that we either had to get up an hour earlier to have breakfast or stop at the buffet so we opted for the limited menu of room service to get off the ship faster.

 

We rented cars in Maui and Honolulu online prior to sailing. We used

Budget, with a fast pass our car was waiting, there's a shuttle at the ship

to get your there. Mileage was unlimited and the total cost with gas

averaged $60. This way we could linger or stop when ever we wanted,

unlike the bus tours where you see a great picture and just drive by or

get 10 minutes when you really want a half hour to explore. Being older

we're not into "young" activites like scuba, parties, horses, etc. We're

more into hiking and exploring. Most of the beaches, except the big

surfers beach on the North Shore at the Honolulu port, are not crowded, have a place to park, shade trees, and some have picnic tables, showers,

bathrooms or porta potties and BBQ's. Really nice.

 

We did our homework so knew exactly what we wanted to see on each island and how to get there. Take your cell phone for local calls. NCL's

site does not give good descriptions of their tours. If you are on any kind of budget using NCL's tours can easily cost $400 a day for a family of four. Go to individual sites online for each island/city and the information on tour alternatives or where to go on your own is very complete. Use map sites

to get directions and print them out. Then you'll arrive at each port fully prepared.

 

Just think of POA as a Extended Stay Motel that only services the room once a week. Although it is easier to get clean towels at Extended than it was on the 8th deck (and yet another dig huh?). POA isn't the best ship

for service but you have a place to sleep and shower and get meals

thrown in and dining may not be 5 star but it's good and you can order

two of every thing if you want. Even the lobster tails. Hawaii is the awesome part of this cruise. Stop your worry about the ship and enjoy your vacation.

[Adrift in Paradise]

Could someone please give me some instructions on how to make what I type come out in even lines? My posts look fine before I enter them then they

come out looking like I have a jittery finger on the "enter" key and all the

lines are broken up.

[newmexicoNita]

I would like to comment on what our Host said about the posts from this ship because it was "sick". If you go back and re-read my comments and the comments of the other cruisers I think you will find we were very fair. I can honestly say, with or without the ship being "sick", my comments would have been similar.

 

As for waiting to eat, one of the reasons I like traditional dining is because you don't wait for a table...ever. With my two experiences with Freestyle dining I have found it very common to have to wait for a table...or they would not feel the need to have remote pagers! True, if you eat when the restaurant first opens you don't have to wait as long, but if you want to eat at a normal dining hour you will have to wait up to an hour for a table. Also, not once, either in the main dining room or the two "premium" dining rooms were we offered coffee/tea with our dessert. In fact, it was very difficult to get coffee/tea at the end of the meal and if you asked for it you most likely did not get it until you were finished with dessert and ready to go. This has nothing to do with the ship being "sick"...this is training.

 

As for the tray situation in the buffet, this is true...they ran out and did not have trays. The reason we choose not to eat in the buffet most of the time was because with the staff serving us, you had to have a new plate for practically every choice and the only way to carry it was with a tray. Also, the line took so long that by the time you were seated your food was cold. This was all because of the "sick" ship. Host, you will notice that I did not put these negative comments in my earlier post because I realized it only showed a picture of what the POA is like when it is "sick". Believe me; I could fill chapters about the problems due only to the fact that the ship was "sick".

 

Sick or not...it is a very pretty ship with poor service standards and Freestyle dining...take it for what it is or see Hawaii another way.

WE have always or certainly most always been offered coffee or tea, if not, it is pretty easy to ask for it. As for being served in the buffet, I guess I am missing something here: what bothers you about the servers serving you? I could care less.

 

There is a reason for both kinds of dining; obviously Freestyle isn't for you but it may be something you will learn to enjoy as more and more lines start introducing it in one form or another. For many of us it has become the only way to dine. I just booked HAL for November and had to choose between 6pm and 8:15. 8:15 means going to bed with a full tummy and 6pm means 10 days of eating way earlier than we are accustom to eating. To each his own. NMNita

[grandma bev]

We agree that 8:30 is too late to eat for us "elderly". We booked HAL's jazz cruise, which is a full ship charter, for Oct. 28, and the jazz folks always choose to have dining at 5:30 and 7:30, which we're very glad to hear. Have always had fixed seating and times, since we usually are on a "theme" cruise, and we like to be sure and see the evening programs/entertainment. Friday P of Al will be our first experience with freestyle. Maybe we'll like it.

Bev

[HumanCookie]

We agree that 8:30 is too late to eat for us "elderly". We booked HAL's jazz cruise, which is a full ship charter, for Oct. 28, and the jazz folks always choose to have dining at 5:30 and 7:30, which we're very glad to hear. Have always had fixed seating and times, since we usually are on a "theme" cruise, and we like to be sure and see the evening programs/entertainment. Friday P of Al will be our first experience with freestyle. Maybe we'll like it.

Bev

 

Have a safe and healthy cruise. Enjoy the islands. Remember, Pride of Aloha is just a place to sleep, eat and a moving transport from one island to the next. Say Hi to "Liko" for me. He is the Hawaiian Ambassador, he'll be all around the ship but mainly at Kumu Cultural Center on deck 7.

[birdie16]

WE have always or certainly most always been offered coffee or tea, if not, it is pretty easy to ask for it. As for being served in the buffet, I guess I am missing something here: what bothers you about the servers serving you? I could care less.

 

There is a reason for both kinds of dining; obviously Freestyle isn't for you but it may be something you will learn to enjoy as more and more lines start introducing it in one form or another. For many of us it has become the only way to dine. I just booked HAL for November and had to choose between 6pm and 8:15. 8:15 means going to bed with a full tummy and 6pm means 10 days of eating way earlier than we are accustom to eating. To each his own. NMNita

 

We did ask for coffee/tea, however finding a server to ask was difficult and when we did ask they either forgot or brought it after we were finished dining. Being served in the buffet was very slow, this was something caused by the "sick" ship so I really don't hold that against them, however, you were not able to just run back and get another coffee or slice of cake, that would involve another long line (because nothing was self serve and it took twice as long). Because everything took so much longer by the time you sat down your food was cold.

 

Yes, Freestyle is not for me. My experience with Freestyle was much better on the Dream, but that was not an American Flagship.

[davidvc04]

My family's experience aboard the PoA was very negative (we left out of Honolulu on June 4 this year). Yes, it was during a time of sickness, but if you had witnessed how the ship's management dealt with the crisis, you would see very clearly that they did too little too late, especially since the cruise before us also underwent sickness. I imagine that, considering the drastic measures in place by the time we left, the following cruise went better as far as controlling the spread of norovirus--if only they'd taken that same care before we boarded. But if they improved service is another matter. Cleanliness and service were an issue throughout the cruise and left us with an exceedingly sour taste in our mouths. For example, we waited thirty minutes to have our orders taken at the Palace. We had the wrong food delivered to us almost every night we used a "sit-down" restaurant. Drinks went without being refilled for extended periods. The only good service we had was in the specialty restaurants, where everything went really well, the wait staff were polite, and we were attended to as anyone would expect. Otherwise, it was all around bad.

 

The one thing I can comment on that was positive was the children's program. My two nephews had a blast with it.

[davidvc04]

More power to ya! Of course, you know that kind of talk is mutiny around here. We might get pushed out on the plank.

 

Many users here know that my family and I were there during one of these cruises. Sadly, my account was discounted as meretricious. Even more sadly, the account was all true, and it didn't even include the stories from the remainder of my family. Bad practices aboard that ship let that contamination spread. There was talk aboard the PoA from a lawyer about a class action suit, but I'm not waiting around for that to materialize, if it ever does.

 

What people shouldn't do is to just shrug their shoulders and say, "Well, it happens." If people don't act, they won't be held accountable unless the govt does something.

 

I've already contacted one govt source and was directed to the Hawaii office of the FDA. I encourage dissatisfied persons to send letters detailing their experiences there, as well as following up with NCLA itself.

 

And if you're going on that ship, keep a journal and take pictures.

[dwrist]

Based on this prosposal of facts--what say you to my situtation--

 

I attended a wedding on Friday and Saturday, Flew to California on Sunday, Checked into Residence Inn on Sunday PM, became sick with Noro on Monday night and all day Tuesday. Who do I sue??? Who made me sick?? Was it the fault of the wedding party?? Was it the fault of Northwest Airlines?? Or better yet, since I got sick at Residence Inn, it is thier fault???

 

Get a life, people. Be thankful you can walk and talk and are not dead or being caretakers of some person in your life that has a terminal illness and in the prosess of dying.

[davidvc04]

Get a life, people. Be thankful you can walk and talk and are not dead or being caretakers of some person in your life that has a terminal illness and in the prosess of dying.

 

Wow, post both insults and is off topc. Let's look at forum guidelines...

 

Cruise Critic is committed to providing an online environment that is free from these types of harassing postings. Please, don't attack another poster or group of posters. Do not harass, threaten, embarrass, or do anything else to another member that is unwanted. This means: don't say bad things about them, don't keep sending them unwanted Instant Message notes, don't attack their race, heritage, or their sexual orientation, etc. If you disagree with someone, respond to the subject, not the person. Postings of this nature will be removed from the boards.

[JunPOA]

Ditto David.

dwrist,

"Get a life" is exactly what we are proposing.

 

Pressure the cruielines - where pax. stay on-board for usually one week (not overnite @ a "wedding party" dwrst.

 

During the past 3 weeks NCL had multiple opportunities to effectively carry our sanitation EFFECTIVE processes which would end with effecacious outcomes, e.g. ending the cycle ofthe vius. -

NOT continually infecting pax. and reinfecting crew with the Norwalk infectious agent. Until either they (NCL) voluntarily close it down for a week to perform an overall cleaning of the ship or a government agency mandates them close down operations to perform proper cleaning the infectious viruswill continmue to contamoinate pax. & crew -

ALL of which could have been prevented by now with effective cleaning measures.

 

Tell us dwrst - if NCL's cleaning methods are so effcetive - why do they still have the Norwalk virus after 3 consective cruise weeks ? Hmmmmm

[WEPunkin]

I agree with so many of the postings on this board in regards to the sickness on Pride of Aloha during the cruise to Hawaii. You can't really comment on the ship, unless you were or are actually there in my opinion.
We are only trying to warn and tell others what our experiences were. NCLA can and should do better. Are they trying to tell people that they don't care? Its like if you go on NCLA you should expect less, that if you go on NCL. Aren't they owned by the same company?

This ship was in drydock and for several days and should have been gone over for alot of different problems, not just mechanical. There was only 1 cruise before ours that sailed on 6-4-06. Why so much sickness, on that cruise? We have been on 23 cruises before and never had to worry about staying well. Why did we have to on this ship??? We believe they (NCLA)are not doing everything they should/could to prevent the sickness.

Of course, they are giving you information and saying they are doing everything they can, but when you are actually on the ship, you can see for yourself what is being done and what is not being done.

Some of the passengers got on in Maui 2 days ahead of us and then of course they got off 2 days before us in Maui. We got on in Honolulu (6-4) and got off in Honolulu(6-11). We were told that the ship's crew was going to fumeagate that 1/2 of the ship that got off in Maui. Duh, what about the other 1/2 of the ship where the rest of us was?

Shouldn't all the ship been fumegated either while in drydock or before this cruise began (6-4-06)??? (Knowing that they (ship) had a problem on the first cruise that went out after their drydocking in CA.)

We went on the Jewel in Nov./Dec. and never had all of the problems on this ship, like we had on the Pride Of Aloha. Service, food, cleanliness, sickness, etc. The staff seem to be very friendly for the most part.

We are scheduled to go on the Pearl in Jan. 2007 and if we go with NCL again after that, we will probably stay with the newer ships.

Pride of Aloha could be a nice ship to go on, but they have alot of improvements to make and its not just the ship itself.

For the ones going on POA in the near future, don't expect much, get as good as deal as you can get and plan on getting off the ship as often as you can. I can only say, I am glad we were not in an inside cabin on this ship. I can't think of anything more depressing, than to be sick and to be in an inside cabin.

[sweetpea-2]

[quote name='mikefast']We were on the Pride of Aloha. We heard many complaints of slow service in the dining rooms, we just made it a point of being there very shortly after they opened and we always had very good service. our meals rarely, if ever, took over an hour, and that included dessert. Some of our friends that were on the cruise went in later, like around 7 or so, and they complained that they had to wait up to three hours to finish eating. We enjoyed the cruise but we found it to be quite busy. We were wishing for some sea days. All in all it is a good value.[/quote]

[B][COLOR=magenta]that's good to know...I would love to do this cruise but really do enjoy sea days as well as port days....but then again I have always wanted to go to Hawaii ..........[/COLOR][/B]

[JunPOA]

WEpunkin - you captured my sentiments exactly and with such eloquence. Particularly the point that unless OPs were there they cannot attest to what cleaning easures we saw and did NOT see. Thanks again for validating.:)

[JunPOA]

WEpunkin - you captured my sentiments exactly and with such eloquence. Particularly the point that unless OPs were there they cannot attest to what cleaning easures we saw and did NOT see. Thanks again for validating.:)

[grandma bev]

[quote name='sweetpea-2'][B][COLOR=magenta]that's good to know...I would love to do this cruise but really do enjoy sea days as well as port days....but then again I have always wanted to go to Hawaii ..........[/COLOR][/B][/quote]

There are ships that do both. Leaving from San Diego or Los Angeles - you might enjoy the crossing - several days at sea.
B.

[Poconolady]

This is entirely supposition on my part-but since the illness started with the week of 5/26 cruising, and the weeks prior to that the ship had been in drydock , and the 5/17 week cancelled, could it be possible that the cancelled week was because of a massive bout of illness with the crew? That whole cancelled week still seems a bit strange, especially since the ship left San Francisco on schedule. Like I said, I'm just speculating.

[jacar]

We were told by several of the crew that the delay in sailing from 5/17/06 to 6/06 was because they had to get the ship "up to FDA standards". It certainly sounds like they failed in doing this. I find it ridiculous that Ford can't sell you a car that will kill you, a food manufacturer cannot sell you contaminated food, but a cruise line can continue boarding new "victims" on a ship that is infected and not have any responsibility or obligation to their customers. I filed a complaint w/CDC but they stated they had to forward it to FDa because they did nOT inspect this vessel. Two weeks after our cruise I just had my 2nd office visit to my physician today because I am still feeling ill.

[davidvc04]

[quote name='jacar']We were told by several of the crew that the delay in sailing from 5/17/06 to 6/06 was because they had to get the ship "up to FDA standards". It certainly sounds like they failed in doing this. I find it ridiculous that Ford can't sell you a car that will kill you, a food manufacturer cannot sell you contaminated food, but a cruise line can continue boarding new "victims" on a ship that is infected and not have any responsibility or obligation to their customers. I filed a complaint w/CDC but they stated they had to forward it to FDa because they did nOT inspect this vessel. Two weeks after our cruise I just had my 2nd office visit to my physician today because I am still feeling ill.[/quote]
What date did you board, jacar?

[lovetheocean21]

Do you think they may look at cancelling cruises on the Pride of Aloha???
I'm thinking they may cancel soon to clean the ship.

Dave

[JunPOA]

HI Dave,

Yesterday , as past pax. just off the Aloha June 16th, I spoke via phone with the (public service) Federal Government FDA Inspector in Honolulu, HI who was on the Aloha last week conducting the outbreak inspection. The point of Contact is : Gardner, Janice K [EMAIL="janice.gardner@fda.hhs.gov"]janice.gardner@fda.hhs.gov[/EMAIL]
Phone#: 1-808-522-8011 EXT. 102

She is extremely approachable and welcoms consumer sanitation related complaints & concerns related to the NCLA Pride of Aloha "affected" sailings. She related that the agency will be keeping a more than usual watchful eye on this particular ship. Perhaps Jan is a good person to speak to about your concern. I would not place a high degree of confidence or credibility on what NCL/NCLA tells you, that is
be cautious.:confused:

Hope this helps.:)