Starting to panic - should we go?

[kerryw29]

My husband and I have been on 3 cruises (RCCL, Carnival, and Princess all to Caribbean). We are planning a cruise for next summer - and were thinking Hawaii.

 

Well I see NCL is our only real choice.

 

I just keep reading horrific reviews of the trips (from last month). The food is bad, the ship is bad, the service is bad. Is this true or are people just complainers?

 

I find people can complain about anything!

 

We have loved all of our cruises. We will not cruise with Carnival again - we didn't care for that cruise line. Royal Caribean has been our favorite and we really liked Princess.

 

I really don't want to spend the money on this cruise - if it is as bad as people seem to think it is.

 

I have a personal friend who went - and it was their honeymoon - and they loved it. They said they would totally do it again.

 

Please help!!

 

Thanks

Kerry

[karfest]

I was also very apprehensive about going on the PoAmerica. I worried for nothing--we had a great time. it wasn't perfect, but I wouldn't expect any vacation to be perfect. Everyone has different standards and expectations so you can't take every review as gospel.

 

I would certainly listen to a personal friend over a group of strangers on a message board..do you research and you'll be fine:D

 

(of the cruiselines I've tried, I felt Princess and NCL were the most similar)

[kerryw29]

Thank you Karen - I agree - I should go with my friends advice.

 

But I didn't say - I had a ton of other friends say - just fly to Hawaii an dbe there - don't go on the cruise - but alot o fthem don' tlike cruises in general!!

 

Thanks for your advice-

I appreciate it :)

[dwrist]

My husband and I have been on 3 cruises (RCCL, Carnival, and Princess all to Caribbean). We are planning a cruise for next summer - and were thinking Hawaii.

 

Well I see NCL is our only real choice.

 

I just keep reading horrific reviews of the trips (from last month). The food is bad, the ship is bad, the service is bad. Is this true or are people just complainers?

 

I find people can complain about anything!

We have loved all of our cruises. We will not cruise with Carnival again - we didn't care for that cruise line. Royal Caribean has been our favorite and we really liked Princess.

 

I really don't want to spend the money on this cruise - if it is as bad as people seem to think it is.

 

I have a personal friend who went - and it was their honeymoon - and they loved it. They said they would totally do it again.

 

Please help!!

 

Thanks

Kerry

 

The red quote says it all. There are more good than bad recently. Do a search and in a couple of posts down, there are more questions answered about the Hawaiian cruises.

Enjoy your cruise and come back and tell us about it please.:)

[benchmarklearning]

I just posted a very positive review on this board from our trip last week on the Pride of Aloha. I hope it relieves some of your anxieties.

 

I would say that many people complain too much. My only complaint about the cruise was the other passengers. Although most were fine, there was an unusual number of obnoxious passengers :mad: - and I suspect they would be the ones complaining.

[tomluvsaida]

Read this ENTIRE thread!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=389953

The so called "reviews" that this person was scared of quickly got shot down by people that have been on a cruse. I also included 7 mostly positive reviews, all from last month (July '06) They just had a few minor problems that for the most part got taken care of. Also notice that some of these were on the same cruse as the two bad and hard to beleive reviews.

[karfest]

I just posted a very positive review on this board from our trip last week on the Pride of Aloha. I hope it relieves some of your anxieties.

 

I would say that many people complain too much. My only complaint about the cruise was the other passengers. Although most were fine, there was an unusual number of obnoxious passengers :mad: - and I suspect they would be the ones complaining.

 

We also noticed a disproportionate number of complainers on this cruise versus others. We think it is the combination of the long flight, time change, and less butt kissing by the crew. I am in retail so I am always watching to see if the people who are jerks while buying groceries are jerks on vacation. I have found that, yes, they are. It must be miserable to go through life always being miserable.

 

Get me away from work, cook my food, make my bed and take me to an island and you'll get NO complaints from me:)

[flag fan]

My approach is to pay attention to only those reviews that give very specific descriptions of problems. I consider the odds of having a similar experience (based on the number of posts with the same complaint) and then how much that particular problem would mean to me. And finally, whether any posters had suggestions for minimizing the problem. For example, complaints about long waits in the restaurants have me concerned, but a number of posters mentioned eating early or late and making reservations the first day. It sounds like that problem can be avoided or minimized. The problems of unmade rooms. Not that big a deal to me; I have had hotel rooms that were not made up. It would really bother me if it happened two days in a row, but few posters seem to say they have gone three or more days with poor service. I am sceptical of the proposed solution--complain to a higher level; I have had too many experiences of problems not being solved merely through complaints. But because an unmade bed would not ruin my vacation, this problem does not dissuade me. The mixed reviews of the quality of the food do not concern me; I have simple tastes and have yet to find a pizza I didn't like. However, you may want a cruise where you will be pampered and are fed gourmet foods and those concerns may be more important than the Hawaii itinerary. I think you should not worry just because there are a (perceived) lot of bad reviews; look at the specifics of each review and weigh the benefits of a cruise against the possible problems you may encounter and the likelihood of encountering the problems. (And that is taking for granted the accuracy of the bad reviews and discounting the good reviews from persons who did not encounter the same problems.) For me, I have no second-thoughts and am looking forward to going. Also, I have yet to read a review from someone who was worried and went anyway and regretted going. Every review I have read of someone who said they were apprehensive wrote how glad they were that they went.