Pride of Hawaii

[nadimusa]

Before I set sail for Hawaii I checked all of the reviews for NCL Pride of Hawaii. I was surprised at how many bad reviews the ship had I thought to my self damm complainers!!! Thhe bad reviews are due to it being a new ship they certainly have the bugs worked out right WRONG!! Well here goes I just returned from my sailing on Pride of Hawaii on Aug 25- Sep 4. I now understand why people are complaining!!!

Since I had read all of the reviews I knew I had to make dinner reservations ASAP.

We were one of the first people to board the ship we boarded about 12:00PM. As soon as I boarded I asked about making my dinner reservations. I was told just go to any restaurant and you can make your reservations. Well first restaurant said no you have to go to jasmine’s to make reservations. I got to Jasmine’s and they said oh no if you have 7 in your party you have to make reservations at the information desk. The information desk said oh no they don’t make any reservations you have to go to the Blue Lagoon upstairs. I get to blue Lagoon and they give me a pager??? I said I don’t want a pager I am just trying to make dinner reservations. They then informed me that you have to wait to get an appointment to set up your dinner reservations just go and find your state room and relax we will call you when your appointment is ready. No one seems to know what is going on.

Great I now go to my stateroom and surprise none of the keys for neither of the 2 staterooms will work. Now I am back to the information desk to get new keys. All this time we are carrying our carry-ons all around the ship.

I then go back to the blue Lagoon to check on my Appointment to make my dinner reservations. They tell me it will be a few more minutes. I finally get to talk to the reservation person. I pick my reservation for Monday night she tells me no its all booked the earliest available is 8:30 or 9:00 PM ok now Tuesday oh that is booked also What??? Ok how about Wednesday yes you guessed it booked also!!!! I then asked how can it be booked up if I am one of the first people on the ship? Then she told me if you have a large party 6or more (we had 7) you are restricted to reservations before 6PM of After 8:30PM. What happened to Freestyle Cruising® have freedom dine when you want that’s BS. I had to tell my self to relax because I was getting real upset you are not supposed to go through this stress during a vacation.

Our first night at dinner at 8:30 PM we went to Grand Pacific Dinner. We sat down and ordered our dinner 9:00 PM and still no appetizers no bread, no salad. Finaly I asked and the bread came around 9:30. 10:00PM 11/2 hr later still no dinner. By this time the kids had fallen asleep at 10:15PM we decided to leave it had been almost 2 hrs and no dinner. I spoke to the materde he apologized and said he would look into it. He told us there was the 24 hr café Blue Lagoon. I arrived at the blue lagoon and I was informed oh no our party was too large and they could not accommodate us they only had tables for 4. I said ok then give me 2 tables for 4 she said oh we can’t do that. I tried to explain our situation that we have not had dinner her response was IT IS NOT MY PROBLEM! What kind of response is that? I insisted on getting the 2 tables and finally was able to get the 2 tables when I refused to leave. By the way both tables were side by side they could have been easily joined together. But they were not we ordered from 2 different waiters. One table got there food and the other one did not. We had to reorder food from the first waiter. It is now 12:00AM this is not what I had in mind about Freestyle Cruising®.

Second night we went to the steak house Cagney’s ($15-$25 Cover charge per person) 9:00 PM Reservation. Again it took almost 11/2 hr to get our food. The food was good but the kids fell asleep before dinner arrived at 10:30PM.

Third night we went to Jasmine’s this is the Asian restaurant ($10 Cover charge per person) food was good, service was OK.

Fourth night we went to Grand Pacific Dinner I guess I did not learn the first time however we got food this time lousy food but we got it.

Fifth night we went to the Teppanyaki restaurant 9:00PM reservations($20 Cover charge per person) Food was good service was marginal at best.

Sixth night Papa’s Italian food service was horrible food was ok nothing special.
This is my 24th cruise therefore I am not new to cruising.

This was a very bad experience. My recommendation is stay away from this cruise ship especially if you have a large party of more than 4 persons hell just stay away period.

This is supposed to be a vacation and this Freestyle Cruising® is an absolute joke “dine when you want†yea right!!

By the way we missed most of the on board shows because they were mostly at 9:30 PM during our extended 2-3 Hr dinners.

This is a spectacular itinerary of the Hawaiian Islands beautiful landscape volcanoes at night. However, there are many good people working on this ship then there are a whole lot more who don’t have a clue or simply just don’t care! I don’t know if it is because it is an American ship with an American crew? This is the first ship I have sailed with an American crew. I think this ship needs to be reregistered in a foreign country and hire a new workforce. Sorry to say that but the service is not there most of the crew simply did not care. Maybe if they started to fire the bad apples it may get better. I However did not appreciate being NCL’s Ginny pig. Especially when I am paying the bill!!!!

 

[newmexicoNita]

sorry, you had such a bad experience. It seems that the POH is having more problems that tne aloha or the POA. The POA is been sailing now for 2 years and gets mostly positive reviews: yes, the crew on Hawaii seems to have some problems. I dont think anyone has the answer and I hate to blame it on the American flagged ships and American work ethics, but it does seem to make a difference. On another board someone made a comment, the only way to make an American flagged ship a success in Hawaii is to consentrate on small, upscale ships with hefty price tags. that may be the only way to go. Every cruise line that is American flagged is very expensive as they have to pay the crew considerably more than other ships sailing under different flags. As for whiners, I have read reviews where, of course the posters are whining about stupid things, but this isn't always the case. It does seem NCLA has problems. One thing though, I bet you thought the ship was beautiful. NMNita

 

[lindajeff]

The more that I reflect on our 9/11 cruise, I'm convinced that the "problems" with the PoH have less to do with the all-American crew and more to do with the entire freestyle dining concept and whoever is in charge of recipes/menus. If all (yes, including the 3 coverage charge venues) just operated on a first-come-first-served basis, I truly believe that the dining experience would come closer to whatever NCL envisioned when they came up with it. Then, they will just need to find someone who can cook.

 

[newmexicoNita]

As we have all said, food is very subjective: that being said, overall the freestyle concept is very popular. That is why other lines are now turning to some form of freestyle. HAL is testing it starting January, Princess already has personal choice and rumors are a couple other lines may experiment with flexible dining. thus I don't think it is freestyle that is the problem, but perhaps the menus or the cheifs. I say this to those who have been unhappy with the food. Many are very satisfied. As for operating the specialty restaurants on a first come, first serve basis, that would refeat the purpose of the upscale dining experience. No line does that for their specialty dining rooms. Of course reservations have to be required unless one chooses to eat after 9pm. NMNIta

 

[dwrist]

[quote nadimusa]
Fifth night we went to the Teppanyaki restaurant 9:00PM reservations($20 Cover charge per person) Food was good service was marginal at best.

[/quote]

How can the service be marginal at Teppanyaki when they cook it in front of you?? The Chefs serve it directly from the grill to the plate in front of you.

Sorry you had a bad time with NCLA.

 

[newmexicoNita]

Maybe it took a few exta minutes to get that huge salad and bowl of soup? LOL

You know it is statements like that which obviously are very hard to beleive that makes me doubt so many of the reviews. NMNita

 

[fouti123]

We are celebrating our 30th anniversary on the POH in October. The itinerary can not be beat. I have been on all the RCCL Radiance class ships,Princess,Carnival & Celebrity. I like them all for different reasons. I truly think all the food is about the same. We were told and read that Celebrity's food was outstanding and we found it to be the worst. We were on the Constellation for two weeks and I have to say not one of the meals was memorable. Yet, I still liked the cruise.(however,my least favorite)
Now my friends are on a 108 day cruise on Chrystal. I would hope their food will be outstanding. We will soon find out.
I just think circumstances change any cruise. Crew training, personality etc.
Foreign crews may be more grateful for a job, but sometimes their stories break my heart. On the Grand Princess we snuck our cabin steward in our room and she had many meals with us. She was the same age as my daughter(early twenties) and she cried all the time because she missed her family. We loved her and I gave her a fabulous tip. Other people would find this unacceptable.
With all that being said our agent(skyscraper tours) who we have always used said she is getting great feedback from her clients about the POH. Three people at work loved it and cruisecritics member reviews are almost all favorable.
We originally booked a 12 day Tauck tour for this trip but changed it to a cruise and land trip in California.
Mainly, because we just loved cruising because there are always pros with the cons!!!