POH...So Many Negative Remarks...Any Positive

[Greyhound Rescuer]

I have been reading negative remarks regarding the POH, and very few positive. I know we like to focus on whats wrong but how about some postive thoughts. We have been on 4 different cruises and all have issues. Seeing this is a new ship lets give the staff a little credit. I am sure not everything on the cruise was bad. Lets hear some positive.

We are leaving on 7/24 celebrating our 25th wedding anniversay and I don't want to feel this was a mistake...:o

[Kapuna]

I have been reading negative remarks regarding the POH, and very few positive. I know we like to focus on whats wrong but how about some postive thoughts. We have been on 4 different cruises and all have issues. Seeing this is a new ship lets give the staff a little credit. I am sure not everything on the cruise was bad. Lets hear some positive.

We are leaving on 7/24 celebrating our 25th wedding anniversay and I don't want to feel this was a mistake...:o

Certainly . Just see my recent review of the POH June 5-12 cruise .

[honestguy]

I'd sail on a barge full of garbage to see hawaii. thats how beautiful it is. go expect 3 start service and you'll be fine

[wwleader]

We just came off the POH June 26 sailing; the ship is berautifu; we enjoyed the shows; the public rooms are very nice; one thing, make reservations for dinner as soon as you board; and you may want to make them for the formal night in the dining rooms; they book up...but we didn't mind a bit of a wait; you get a beeper which goes anywhere in the ship so have a drink and relax...when on board definitely check out the piano bar; Taylor, he should still be on board is great and a real nice guy. My husband and I were there every night while our 14 year old son amused himself in the arcade and going to the shows...the shows were good...we had a fantastic vacation and it is the best way I think to see this much of Hawaii and we had a small inside cabin...don't miss the volcano siting on the night out of Hilo....spectacular....:)

[sandyneck]

wwleader, we are in an inside cabin also. I know it is small, but can you prepare me? How close is the wall to the foot of the beds? There are four of us, 2 are 10&11, I know it will be tight, but I saved $1100.00 by giving up our balcony so I am prepared to be a little squashed. Thanks

[cruisingmommie]

wwleader, we are in an inside cabin also. I know it is small, but can you prepare me? How close is the wall to the foot of the beds? There are four of us, 2 are 10&11, I know it will be tight, but I saved $1100.00 by giving up our balcony so I am prepared to be a little squashed. Thanks

 

We also are family of 4 to little kids in an inside. Please let us know what to ecpect. We are the type that are gone in port all day, just come back to eat & sleep. SO we are saving the $$ for excursions. Has anyone tried the kids program?? How are the pools? ANy otehr info for families with kids would be helpful.

 

Thanks we sail POH in October.

[NCLcruisefan]

wwleader, we are in an inside cabin also. I know it is small, but can you prepare me? How close is the wall to the foot of the beds? There are four of us, 2 are 10&11, I know it will be tight, but I saved $1100.00 by giving up our balcony so I am prepared to be a little squashed. Thanks

 

WEll in the balcony cabin there was a max of 2 feet from foot of bed to wall. not sure about inside though

[PhillyEagle]

I have been reading negative remarks regarding the POH, and very few positive. I know we like to focus on whats wrong but how about some postive thoughts. We have been on 4 different cruises and all have issues. Seeing this is a new ship lets give the staff a little credit. I am sure not everything on the cruise was bad. Lets hear some positive.

We are leaving on 7/24 celebrating our 25th wedding anniversay and I don't want to feel this was a mistake...:o

 

Do a search for posts by zimmerjulie - she links to a bunch of the positive reviews of the ship, including her own - she thought it was great.

 

I think her count of POH reviews was something like 18 mostly positive, 4 some good/some bad and 5 mostly negative.

[newmexicoNita]

Remember the bad reviews are the ones we seem to remember and many that we have seen are just plain nit picking about many things. As I and others have said many times, sailing on an American Flag ship is going to be a differenct experience than sailing most ships. This is the same when you sail Alaska or New England instead of the Caribbean. No, these are not American flagged ships, but do offer a different experience and one you need to be made aware of. Think Hawaii, think fun and go intending on having a wonderful time.

 

BTW, for those of you cruising with 4 in an inside cabin; I know you are already booked, it is too late to change, but you are going to be packed in so expect that, you may be a little uncomfortable but you will still be cruising. NMNita

[mikedw]

When people see the negative reviews of some of these ships, they should realize that, that's a small percentage of people in general. These ships carry over 2,000 passengers a weeks. The POA has been in service over a year and the POAH for two, and there's less 200 reviews on each ship.

[Squirtreena]

WWLEADER I was just curious why you said book the dining room for formal nights? i thought NCL had no formal nights? freestyle? also what is the difference between NCL and NCLA?? tia

[dwrist]

Go and enjoy Hawaii. As another poster said, it is a couple of people that have written negatives, the majority of the cruisers are not on these boards. If the cruise was that bad, they would not be sailing full ships. You will have fun with your family and all the things to do on the islands.

 

Have fun all of you!!:)

 

NCL is international flagged and crewed and NCLA is American flagged and crewed. Separate entities under the same parent company.

[Squirtreena]

HI...so the POH is NCLA then??

[dwrist]

Correct, POH is NCLA.

[thecruisers723]

Before we went on our POH cruise, it totally annoyed me to read the negative reviews and I thought the people must just be miserable in general and looking for things to nit pick about. I will say that we thoroughly enjoyed our Hawaii vacation. But after being on the 6/26 sailing on the POH, I understand why there were complaints from others before we left. We too had a whole slew of issues to deal with that we've never had on our 5 other cruises with RCCL and Carnival. There are some improvements that need to be made on POH. We talked to many, many people while we were on the ship and this opinion was pretty much across the board. If you go into it knowing and accepting this though, you just work through the issues as you go like we did and enjoy every minute of your cruise regardless.

 

As for positive things, it's a brand new ship. It's beautiful and clean and luxurious. The entertainment was the best we've ever seen on a cruise ship and I highly recommend seeing every show. The anti-pasta cart in Papa's italian restaurant is excellent. The banana's flambe in Cagey's is excellent, the chicken fritter appetizers in the dining room on lobster night (Thurs.) are too good to miss and the BBQ taquito's in Paniolo are awesome too. We found the servers to be friendly at each restaurant with the exception of one girl who never smiled or acted friendly at Papa's one night. But the guy we had the other night at Papa's was one of the best servers we had all week. Cagney's has an excellent view of the sunset on what I believe is the Starboard side of the restaurant. And if you're there and want your server to take your picture with the sunset in the background, they'll run right outside with you as there's a door right there and will take it real quick. The sun sets fast. So it has to be quick. This is the first ship we've been on with doors on the showers. And they're really pretty showers too. They have bright blue tiles and wood grain walls with glass shower doors that have a design on them. They were the best showers we've ever had on a ship. It sure beats having the plastic curtains that fly in and stick to your legs while you're showering.

 

The inside cabins are small. We are two people and our cabin had a murphy bed on the wall and a roll away bed tucked under one of the twin beds. My husband and I both said that we couldn't imagine what it would be like if we'd have brought 2 of our kids and had to try to fit everyone in there. It's going to be tight for 4. So just be prepared for it and spend as much time outside of the cabin as possible.

[sweetpea-2]

I'd sail on a barge full of garbage to see hawaii. thats how beautiful it is. go expect 3 start service and you'll be fine

 

:D so wouldn't I,lol !!!

[Greyhound Rescuer]

Thanks to all for the positive remarks and to you The Cruisers 723, I am really starting to feel better.:o

[thecruisers723]

Thanks to all for the positive remarks and to you The Cruisers 723, I am really starting to feel better.:o

 

You should feel better. You have one heck of a vacation ahead of you. It's really all about the ports and what you make of them that make the vacation your dream come true and not the ship anyway. But the ship isn't horrible either. You may just have to ask for an empty shampoo dispenser to be filled twice or something insignificant like that. But that will have nothing to do with how much fun you have on your vacation and in all the fabulous ports. There's so much different stuff to see and do on all the islands and that's what your mind is on most of the time. And what you will have the most and best memories of when you return. Have a great trip and don't worry about a thing. Just enjoy the anticipation of your upcoming vacation. That's half the fun.

[Cabana Girl]

If you pay attention to the negative comments (which are generally on target with what we experienced), you can develop a plan to make your cruise more pleasurable. I wish I had checked the boards before we went and we would not have gotten all dressed up to be stuck eating in the buffet!

 

1. Book dining reservations if you don't want to eat at the buffet. Freestyle is broken on POH. You need reservations for even the regular dining room and Alizar. There was almost always a crowd at the doors and they handed out pagers (our one pager experience was 1.5 hours). The problem is getting in the door of the restaurants. We were only a party of two and could not get in..... We booked every night at a specialty restaurant after the second day to avoid disappointment and frustration. Once inside, almost every meal was wonderfully prepared and cheerfully served.

 

2. Don't expect the typical room steward service. If you need towels, TP or anything - call the front desk or housekeeping and get a supply. Be proactive so that you won't be driven insane and waste time that could be spent having fun!

 

3. Book your excursions before you go. There were huge excursion lines. We booked online with NCL and arranged all of our rental cars before we went and had no issues.

 

4. If you are a Lattitudes member, don't expect ANY perks unless you are willing to stand in line and register for them during a one-time two-hour window. We could not be there and did not even get invited to the usual cocktail party. I don't understand their logic on this one.....

 

5. There are not many activities during the day or at night. Everyone is busy with their shore visits, etc. There is usually some kind of music in the disco, sometimes a show and a truly misguided attempt at karaoke - they are selling Singing Head DVDs for $20. ???? We usually like the karaoke but it never even got off the ground. There are some other entertainers around the ship, but not that many. You do not see the cruise director staff like on a usual cruise. Oh, and the pub crawl is at 4pm on two separate days.

 

6. Resolving issues is a problem in general. Pick your battles and let the rest go. There was a lot of frustration on the ship - from the passengers and the crew. They are really trying to do a good job, but I don't think they have the system or people in place to handle everything.

 

7. Make sure you see the night time cruise by the lava flow - it is incredible and they get really close. The Na Pali coast cruise is also great and will be off of the port side. Bring those Binoculars!

 

Overall, we had a good time because Hawaii is beautiful and fun. We did experience a lot of frustration with the POH problems and ways of doing things. We expected it to be like other NCL cruises and it is not. Do not assume they will do anything the usual way. Being served by Americans is different, less formal and very interesting. It did seem that every staff member we spoke with was brand new and started on this ship in Germany or later. We also spoke with a few who left the ship with us.

 

It does not seem like there are enough personnel to do all of the jobs on the ship and the crewmembers were bearing the brunt of this (my opinion). We truly felt bad for them. I think NCLA should not fully book the ship until they can handle the load; its not fair to the paying customer or the crew (also my opinion).

 

Bon Voyage!