A Nice Cruise in Hawaii
Written: Dec 15 '05 (Updated Dec 19 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Free style, eat and disembark when you want.
Cons: Long working hours for the crew.
The Bottom Line: We enjoyed NCL. One could disembark, eat and wear pretty much what you wanted. Internet prices were HIGH!
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This review will be about the ship itself. I will cover the ports and activities in separate reviews.
Hubby and I have been looking to take a trip to Hawaii for several years. This year we found a fare we could not resist and decided to book. Our booking included both the cruise and airfare through NCL. If we had to do it all over again, we would have booked our airfare directly through the airline, as it probably would have been cheaper. As well, we had originally decided to leave from Seattle or San Francisco, and later decided to leave from the Midwest. This caused our airfare to double. As well, we wanted to extend the length of our vacation by about 4 days. We could only do this directly through the airlines after we began our trip. We thought that the extra $100 per seat was reasonable.
Arrival in Hawaii
We arrived at the Honolulu Airport (HNL) and were greeted at the airport by the NCL greeters who were holding signs stating “Pride of Aloha.” They took us down to the baggage area and they showed us where the transportation bus was. We went to retrieve our luggage. One piece was missing. We were told some of the luggage was taken to another area, where we found it.
Embarkation
We arrived at the Honolulu port about 5PM. Our bus was full of people, but the check in went smoothly. We showed some ID and then we were leid. A person spoke to us about financial arrangements. We had to give a credit card and everything onboard would be charged to this. Our room key would act as a credit card for everything from a bag of potato chips or an alcoholic beverage to an excursion. Even the $10 per person per day tip for the employees would be charged to this. I asked what would happen if we didn’t have a credit card. We were told we would need a cash deposit of $300. Shortly thereafter, our luggage began to arrive outside our cabin door.
Speaking of cabins, our room was 9209. We started looking on the opposite side of the ship, thinking it was just down from 9101. We got to the aft end of the ship, and found 9209 was on the forward starboard side of the ship, not the aft port side.
Arrival
We hadn’t really eaten much, except for junk food on the airplane, since we left home about 12 hours earlier. We went up to deck 11, the casual food deck. A band was playing music, and grilled food was there for the taking. Hamburgers, ribs, salads, vegetables and delectable deserts called out your name. If you want pop, bottled water or soda, you will be charged for it. A pop card is available for the duration of the cruise, but I was too cheap. I bought a 12 pack of soda at the first port, that lasted throughout our voyage. I didn’t realize for the first couple of days there was a small refrigerator in our cabin, located alongside the desk. You might want to check with your travel agent or NCL first if one will be in your room. This would also be a nice place to store your lei.
Our Cabin
The cabin was adequately sized, especially since most folks spend a lot of time outside the cabin. We had a king sized bed that was capable of dividing into two twin beds. There was a small end table on each side of the bed. You could access both room lights and reading lamps from near the headboard. We had a small round coffee table, and a loveseat. Usually our luggage was divided up between being set on the loveseat and the coffee table. The hangers were the kind that come off the stationary hook. There was a safe in the room, but we didn’t use it. Our bathroom was small but adequate. It contained a stool with a flush button directly in back, and a small shower. There were soap and shampoo dispensers anchored to the shower walls. The sink had an anchored soap dispenser. Our bathroom sink was slow draining. I mentioned it to housekeeping, but it never got fixed. I guess the sink draining in about 10-15 seconds was adequate. The cabin was clean. Housekeeping made our bed by about 10 A.M. When we came back at night, the covers had been turned back to form a V in the middle of the bed. There was an Andes mint atop a paper coaster on each of our pillows. One day there was a towel bunny atop the bed.
Personnel
Since the Pride of Aloha only docks in American ports, she must be registered in the United States. Hawaii or another governmental agency said since the ship will be cruising the Hawaiian Islands, the crew must be American. Conversing with the help, I found that about 20% of the crew have green cards. I do not know if the balance have to have United States addresses or if they need to be U.S. citizens. There was help from all over the world. Each would have their nametag with their city or country of origin.
Food
The food was good. Sometimes it was just cafeteria food, other times it seemed better. Muesli cold liquid cereal was available for breakfast, as well as various fresh and canned fruits. Croissants, breads, juices, breakfast meat, scrambled eggs, yogurt, milks, juice, coffee and occasional specialties also came up. Since Hawaii is noted for poi, I asked if it would be served on this cruise. Most of the staff I asked seemed perplexed, neither not knowing what poi was, nor if it would be served. Most food service employees mentioned it was their first week on the ship.
Fine dining is available, as well. Hubby saw a special for ˝ off fine dining at one of the two exclusive restaurants. Normally the price is $10 per person, but it was $5 per person on Monday and Tuesday. Since I didn’t like fish, only one dish was available for me, some sort of steak, and this had an oyster. I asked the oyster be left off and all was well. They could either speed the service up or slow it down, to your desires. Service was great.
We also ate at the formal dining rooms. A person takes your request, then another person seats you, either dining by yourself, or with another couple or two. Service was good for the most part. Occasionally it could be hard to get the waiter’s attention when he forgot to bring something like the toast you ordered to go along with your easy over eggs or the grits, just because you wanted to try it out.
Occasionally food would be served on the deck, alongside the pools and hot tubs. Most of the time we ate in the cafeteria on deck 11. You can go any time you are hungry, provided the cafeteria is open. Occasionally we would go for finer dining on deck 6. Even though the tickets said otherwise, there is no such thing as early or late seating. You can either elect to sit alone at a table or with another couple or two. We did a little of each. I really didn’t care for the ice tea. It had a taste of its own. Generally the largest glasses available in the cafeteria dining were 4 or 10 ounce glasses, depending how busy the kitchen was. There are also ice cream and cookie stations, pasta station, dessert station and omelet, depending on the time of day. Room service is available 24 hours a day, but you can wait up to an hour.
Entertainment
There was a program to learn the hula, making a shell lei and other programs I did not participate in. We did enjoy Scott Alexander’s magic shows, Kermit’s clean mouth adult humor, and somewhat less, The Liar’s Club. Four entertainers sit on stage. They are given a word beforehand, a word none of the audience members have heard of. One of them is telling the truth, the other 3 are lying. The audience is supposed to figure out which one is telling the truth and which one is lying, and shout out “liar!” appropriately. Some of those explanations!!!
We booked our shore excursions while still at home. We chose Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park excursion where you walk over 3 miles to the lava flows, the Hawaiian Luau, and the Glass Bottom Boat in Kona. I don’t know how much some of the tours would have cost if we booked them directly, but the glass bottom boat was only about $4 more than we could have booked it for ourselves. I thought that was reasonable enough.
Internet
Speaking of being reasonable, one thing I thought was TOTALLY ridiculous was the price of connecting to the internet. Prices on the ship were about 75 cents per minute. Of course, you could buy a package deal and get access for only 49 cents per minute, or some much ridiculous fee. The same prices were for wireless as well. We found an internet café in Hilo about a block or two from the ship for about $8 per hour. That may be high by some standards, but it was what we needed and helped us secure reservations for our car and lodging. I can’t seem to find that one in superpages but another is: Beach Dog Computer Center 62 Kinoole Street, Hilo, HI 96720 (808) 961-5207 (808) 961-5113 (fax). This is not the one we went to, but I called her and got her rates for you to compare, $2.50 for 20 minutes, with other plans available.
Disembarkation - or Getting Off the Ship
Some folks joined the cruise from another island on Saturday, we joined on Sunday. You need to get color coded tags for your luggage. Certain colored tags were called at certain times. I never heard "We will disembark after Mr. and Mrs. (name your minority name) comes to the XXX office. Most tags were coded by your deck. Others were coded by your flight time. Disembarkation went smoothly! I think we left somewhere around 9 or 10 A.M.
Motion of the Ocean
Leaving Maui, there was a little bit of motion, causing just a little queasyness. It was over in about an hour or two.
All of the help was friendly. Some seemed to be a bit spacey, but if you were working 12 hours with only 4 hours sleep, wouldn’t you be spacey, too?
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
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Epinions.com ID:
remnjava
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Member: Carol
Location: Hildegaard 4-96/04-06 I MISS YOU!
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Zekiah born 11-3-03 6lb 14 oz 19 3/4" dark curley hair blu eyes
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