KimberlyO

We are looking into booking the NCL cruise on the Pride of America for 12/17/05, but cannot find any reviews. Can anyone provide us with some information on this ship? Thanks.

travelinwifey

Pride of America is a new ship and won't start sailing until this summer. If you go to www.cruisemates.com you will find plenty reviews of the Pride of Aloha, the NCL ship currently doing the same route. But the PO America will be a new ship.

KimberlyO

Thank you so much for the information.

semiramis

If you want to read reviews of Pride of Aloha I would suggest www.cruisecritic.com.

travelinwifey

While the reviews are fine at cruisecritic.com I wouldn't suggest the message boards. The moderator is a nut bar that won't let you post anything negative about NCL and if you do be prepared to be attacked by a lot of folks

semiramis

Really? I have read a number of negative posts on on the Cruisecritic boards. Both sites are good.

travelinwifey

All the posts during the Pride of Aloha problems during their height last summer were removed by the moderator. You needed to be reading the boards every day to hear of all the problems because the moderator would wipe everything clean once per day. We were booked on the Pride of Aloha but later cancelled due to the bad reviews.

SteveS2

We are booked on Pride of America's
first voyage. Miami to LA. June 25th I'll let you know it was.

mikemo

Does anyone have any specific cabin advice for this ship?
M

bermudagirl

I sailed on Pride of America 8/13/05, very beautiful ship but service was HORRIBLE! I've been on over 10 cruises and I can truly say this was the worst experience ever!! I was traveling in a group and here is a short list of problems we encountered:
1. One of my girlfriends went to go to bed and had no sheets on her bed. It took over 90 minutes and 5 complaints to get sheets! The next morning we asked to speak with the Manager of Housekeeping and was told someone by the name of Inez would contact us, never did.
2. Another friend found a plate of half eaten cake in her room that was left by previous passenger.
3. Ship lost power which remained out for 3 hours one evening. Public areas had emergency lights but the cabins were pitch black. Also during this time their was no air conditioning, toilets didn't flush and the next morning no hot water. The Captain didn't even make an announcement to explain what happened or to apologize.
4. The ship had to leave Kauai early and cut out the scenic tour of the coastline due to propulusion problems;essentially the Captain "slow rowed" the ship back to Honolulu.

It was so bad a few passengers got off in Kauai, said they had enough, couldn't take it anymore.

I've also sailed with Carnival, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Costa Cruises and truly enjoyed myslef but this was my FIRST and LAST time with NCL!!

travelinwifey

Bermudagirl, please post your review on popular cruise sites such as cruisecritic.com - reviews and cruise-addicts.com if you have the time. The only way the ship will get better is by pressure from displeased cruisers. I want to try this itinerary so bad but NCL just cannot seem to get things running smoothly on the two ships.

mikemo

TW,
I too have been wanting to do this trip since the 70's, but the feedback on the original US flagged vessels went from bad to worse over the years and I have yet to hear any better news on the NCL/POA.
M

travelinwifey

Yes, I hear the same, and also have heard on a few cruise related websites that the ships have yet to make a profit, though I don't know if that is true. But the reviews sure are spooky

mikemo

NCL got a screaming deal on these two unfinished ships when the taxpayer funded pork project in Trent Lott's district (Pascagoula,MS) went belly up.
They (NCL) were also granted a waiver to have the POAs US flagged.
Now, they cannot provide service nor make a profit.
Best reason in the world to keep the US Gov't out of commerce.
M

travelinwifey

I don't understand why they don't get rid of that ridiculous 200 year old rule anyways.....

I just read an article where NCL ranked lowest out of 41 companies in a survey regarding satisfaction with airlines, cruise lines, hotels and rental car agencies. The link is here:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...cruise06m.html

Seems the Norwegian Dream also had plenty of problems in Alaska this season.

auntiemaria

We just returned home (Kaua`i) yesterday from a one week cruise on Pride of America.

Without going into details, suffice it to say that first-time cruisers will enjoy the ship and the tour -- but seasoned cruisers will not. Nice accommodations, but the service and food quality are well below average, IMHO.

offlady

Some friends of ours were just on Pride of Aloha. It wasn't their first cruise, but it was their first trip to Hawaii. They said it was a great and economical way to see all of the major islands in one week for first timers to Hawaii. They liked Maui the best and will probably go back for a longer vacation and stay at a hotel there next time.

However, it was their worst cruise ever. The ship itself was beautiful but the food on board was a major disappointment. They got tired of the same hamburger and hot dog BBQs on deck every day, and very little to offer in terms of variety in the restaurant menus. They also didn't like the freestyle dining because they had different servers at each meal and tipping became a problem. They were told that the unions demanded their own set of rules regarding the tipping policy, so people that deserved a share of the tip did not get their fair share. The unions have a real stronghold in Hawaii in just about every aspect of doing business in Hawaii making life difficult for everyone else except union members. According to my friend, the Disney cruise food was pretty average, but it was like a 5-star dining when compared to NCL's Pride of Aloha. That's pretty bad. Service was lousy. When they returned to the ship from a shopping excursion, they could not take on board with any open packages of snacks or drinks. The workers acted like they had this "I don't care" attitude and it appeared that majority of the workers were domestic hire (local US citizens probably on minimum wage) which explains the union's involvement. Service is very low priority. However, there was ONE worker on the ship that made their day, the "Waffle Hat Man" at the breakfast buffet. He was cheerful, pleasant, and made the passengers laugh. One worker. Imagine that.

Songdoc

I'd hoped to do an NCL Hawaii cruise -- but you've talked me out of it. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any other cruise line doing a similar itinerary (7 or 8 days -- RT from Hawaii). Am I wrong about this?

But I do want to point out that a previous post on this thread refers to NCL ranking last out of 41 companies . . . I went to that link and actually, it's ONLY ranking online customer service. It does not relate in any way to the cruise experience itself.

But I've read enough other negative reviews to steer clear. Bummer!

mikemo

I would love to know if NCL is getting ongoing US taxpayer support for their lame venture.
The HI's can keep their unions and the lack of service in the islands, imho.
M

offlady

I heard that NCL had been sold to a Singapore venture. Maybe that's why service is so bad--the new owners are inexperienced or unfamiliar and new to the business.