Questions on Pride of Aloha

M

MarkS

Guest
I just booked my family on the Pride of Aloha on Jun 26th. This will be our first NCL cruise in about 5 years and my first freestyle cruise. The last NCL cruise was OK, but I had my share of complaints. I booked this cruise because we have not been to Hawaii and I had some compass points I needed to use. However, I'm still a little concerned about NCL because of many of the recent comments I see on this board. We have gone on RCL the last 4 years and been very happy with their ships and service, so this may be NCLs last chance to impress me.

I have a few questions on the Pride of Aloha:
1. How is the ship overall? The styling doesn't look too modern.
2. Can anyone comment on the service recently. Has it improved?
3. Do they have Bingo and Art Auctions on board?
4. How is the teen program?
5. Which resteraunts are good/bad? Are there particular times that you have to wait a long time.

Also, please recommend any excurions that you feel are worth taking. We would prefer something active. The kids are late teens and can get bored with tours, museums, etc.

-Thanks!
 
F

Fisherwoman

Guest
I have cruised 20+ times. Although I am not thrilled with NCL, we did go on the Pride of Aloha August 29th. The ship itself is really quite nice. The rooms are very short of drawers and storage space. The customer service on our cruise was not up to standards that you would get on other cruise lines but the employees really tried and were very friendly. On our cruise there was no bingo but we did have a few art auctions. The art auctions did not go well and I understand Park West was thinking of not doing them anymore. Call Park West if you want to know. There are too many hours in port and no days at sea so it was hard for Park West to get a good crowd.

We ate most of our meals in Crossings, if you went early or late there was no problem getting a table. Service was slow and the menu hardly changed. We didn't like the buffet at all. The pay restaurant was excellent. We don't have teens so I couldn't comment on the teens program.

Would I do it again, in a heartbeat. If you ignore the "little things" you will have a good cruise. This itinery is excellent! I loved the port time. We rented a car almost everywhere. Make sure you rent your car BEFORE the cruise! The shuttle busses will pick you up at the dock. You can park close to the ship if you need to return for anything. We did our own tours, found our own beaches. There is so much information on the web you will have no problems. Figure out what your kids want to do and do it yourself. You will save a lot of money. Tours were very expensive. I posted a review on this site. If you have any more questions, please email me.

Linda
 
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