On POA now will post daily

[luvmytigs]

7th floor balcony 7020 and 7022-rooms

smaller than Jewel tiny bathroom as well

huge balcony. Staff seems very nice!

Ethel our steward has already stopped in. Odd

that we don't have robes in balcony cabin.

Looking forward to Maui tomorrow. Luau and

Road to Hana .

[mianmike]

Looking forward to your posts! We are currently planning our POA cruise and any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[kezza]

I shall looking forward to your posts daily. We go in 9 days.

 

Kerri

[twinnurses2]

hope you having fun on your trip....we will be leaving in october 2009.

 

any chance you could scan pictures of different ports and also daily newsletters provided

[smrtypnts]

Thank you for posting. I look forward to hearing everything! Sorry to hear about the robes. I am looking forward to that and would prefer not to have to ask for them.

[luvmytigs]

hope you having fun on your trip....we will be leaving in october 2009.

 

any chance you could scan pictures of different ports and also daily newsletters provided

 

Sorry, I don't have my laptop so I can't

scan until our return. There are tons

of activities, music etc but we spent morning to

night doing the circle around West Maui. Rented from

Alamo, $36 per day try Costco for full size car. Went to Iao

State park (5 miles from ship) beautiful!!! Ate early

lunch at Aloha Cafe the off to west Maui.

Road was crazy-low traffic and wonderful sites.

We followed Maui revealed tour backward.

Ended at Royal

Lahinia luau- enjoyable for

the family.

My son lost his glasses on the beach--trip

to Hana today abandoned. Heading to lenscrafters.

Pray for us ! Hopefully we can do some of

the quicker Hana waterfall hikes late morning with

new glasses!

 

Love the staff..clearly older ship but clean.

nice, just old style pools and smaller rooms.

In Hawaii it really is a floating hotel .

[kezza]

Thanks for the post. Hope you get new glasses. Nothing worse. Friend last year went under the water on Waikiki, forgot he had his script sunnies on and lost them. Took 10mins or so but we found them on the sand floor. Verrry lucky!!

 

Looking forward to your next post.

 

Kerri

[ohioNCLcruiser]

tell the reception desk that James says hello for me!

[cruisin' judi]

tell the reception desk that James says hello for me!

 

Hi James,

 

Are you on a different ship? If so which one.

 

Judi

[ohioNCLcruiser]

Hi James' date='

 

Are you on a different ship? If so which one.

 

Judi[/quote']

 

I'm in Australia now. I go back to the ship Aug 23rd.

[luvmytigs]

Okay. Here it goes. Ncl freesyle is awesome. Great

prices. Beyond that something is still missing. Hawaii is amazing

yet we still use "fine" and "I wish" when talking about the ship, staff,service.

Ethel our steward is the worst in 6 cruises. Normally we love our attendants! She won't fil the ice, doesn't replace dirty towels, never cleans the coffee pot and todya didn't empty the trash.

Today we met a lady who slipped and fell on board and required surgery for her horribly broken ankle. After two ambulance rides, the couple called NCL begging for a ride back to the ship. "sorry, we don't provide that service" was the answer. No one mentioned Aloha travel assistance who boarded POA twice recently to tell of free traveler services. I witnessed the tended guys complaining about carting her wheel chair in KONa--they were nicer on the post surgery return.

Bottom line, ncl seems more interested in upsell

than wow service. I said the same thing on the jewel in June.

 

 

"fine" and "I wish" don't cut it in a down economy. We won't return to NCL but cannot wait for more trips to Hawaii and Europe!

 

 

Yes...it is risky posting from the ship as the staff reads

the posts. Hopefully we won't be thrown overboard :)

[ohioNCLcruiser]

Make sure you bring any problems to the attention of the front desk staff. It's their job to fix problems and would be more then happy to help.

[Cruisincop]

I hope they get it together. We don't go until Feb. 2010. We took the Jewel last year and we enjoyed it. Hopefully I will be spending very little time on board but when I am aboard I expect the necessary accommodations. Please keep posting, I'm very interested.

[luvmytigs]

Make sure you bring any problems to the attention of the front desk staff. It's their job to fix problems and would be more then happy to help.

Pursers desk folks are very nice, aloha cafe and restaurant staff

are friendly.oddly enough, last day Ethel was smiling and friendly this morning...hmmm.

 

Overall there is just something inconsistent

about NCL. No WOW factor or really special touches. This isn't the fault of staff and if cruising to Hawaii, you will love it!

 

 

I always rank them high on value for price paid. Example, celebrity showed video of the cruise director at the next port of call walking through the sites. Great orientation! Holland greats you at the Pier daily with icy towels. On NCL food is good but you always hear the "foody "passengers complaining and comparing against Carnival and RCL.Aloha Cafe ice machine works half the time. Regardless of no wow factor, we have been pleased with the cruise and had a wonderful trip. For a floating hotel, poa Is excellent. For those looking for amazing....

[DAGVBSB]

We are in the process of booking the Pride of America in July 2010 with our big family group. (about 22 right now). Our travel agency is working on it. We have a new agent at the old agency.... our travel agent for many years who helped us through all the problems passed away in April... she was in her 80's and still working everyday.

 

We were on the Pride of Aloha on her maiden voyage from San Francisco to Hawaii way back in 2004. It will be interesting to see how the POAm is different from the POA. (POA will always mean Pride of Aloha to me...)

 

We looked a suites, but NCL's suite prices are so much higher than RCL. On RCL, it was only slightly higher to get a suite instead of two balcony cabins... on NCL it is almost double. No suites for us on NCL, so no way to compare NCL suites with RCL Suites.

 

I will keep you posted..... now I just have to remember how to update and change my signature....lol.

[salty dingo]

Yes...it is risky posting from the ship as the staff reads the posts. Hopefully we won't be thrown overboard :)

Whatever you are smoking... I want some!

[luvmytigs]

Sorry if my posts seemed to ramble, no drinking or

smoking. I was posting from my balcony using my iPHone before taking off for the day in port.If you have a question, feel free to ask. There are pros and cons with any trip. We hear

complaints about wind, the boat rocking, runny eggs etc. And when traveling, try to look at the overall situation. I asked for no credits and paid all gratuities without question. All in all

if the itinerary is good, the rooms are clean and the food

edible, we are a happy bunch. One has to consider value for price paid in deciding ratings. Overall, value is still good. I prefer other lines but

for our Baltic Cruise in June and Hawaii in July, Ncl was "fine" and "good". The itineraries were "amazing" and "wonderful".

 

In addition to the four cruises over the last year, we have done escorted land tours in Europe. We travel extensively and try to go with the flow.

 

Cc folks want information down to the level

of detail that prepares them for their cruise. There were many large groups aboard that seemed to be well accomodated.

 

This cruise, last week, was

fine (except for our particular steward). I would

not go on POA thinking luxury or special however

I did find the staff very friendly (compared to other reviews).

[kezza]

I'll be interested to see how POA rates compared to Pacific Sun/Dawn/Sky & Star!!

 

they're all pretty much 3.5 star ships so it'll be an interesting comparision.

 

Kerri

[babsroth]

Can wait to see your photos!

 

Just saw your thread this a.m. and thought it was cool you were staying in the room we have selected. #7020

 

Our first time in Hawaii and cruising with NCL. We don't go until May though...

I'm ready to go!!

 

Barb