Need help planning to take the Norwegian Cruise (Pride of America) in October, 2007.?

Question

I have gotten mixed reviews about the ship/ its service and the food served. It sails through the islands of Hawaii....Does anyone have other websites or personal experiences they can share? I have checked Travelocity & other major online travel booking sites, Lonely Planet, Cruises.com etc.

Answer 1

I'll be honest, take it for face value. The ships are nice, food is terrible, service is terrible. But it's a great way to see the islands for a decent amount of $$. Use it as transportation and your hotel. Don't expect much more. We took one of these for New Years and we went into it with eyes open and were not expecting much, and got what we expected. Please consider all of the bad reviews, but take it for face value and don't expect Royal or Celebrity (or even Carnival for that matter) treatment.
I bought mine on ebay from these people:
http://stores.ebay.com/Luxurious-Journeys
They were a wealth of information and were totally honest and up front about the ships and sailings.

Good Luck!!!
Mahalo!!!

Answer 2

I despise Norweigan. If you've never taken a cruise on NCL before, you will be in for a treat. The service is outrageously rude (you have to request to have someone clean your room and fresh towels, they rip cakes off the buffet while people are cutting into it, since freestyle cruising you now have to wait for a table if you want to eat between 6-8) the food is sparce (I ordered everything on the menu at dinner just to be filled and they had huge time periods with no food and no midnight buffets--no other cruiseline does that), the ship is tiny--the smallest cabins in the industry I've heard. I lived in a dorm room at the time and the NCL cabins were so tiny that if my cousin came out of the bathroom I had to jump back on the bed or get hit by the door.

Norweigan is also having the worst time with the norovirus and other stomach flus on the Hawaiian ships. My aunt and uncle had a Hawaiian cruise that most of the ship had a terrible stomach virus based on food prep and had to cancel 2 of the port shops--most of the ship was down for 3-4 days. NCL offered them 10% off their next cruise as repayment for 2 lost ports/islands in Hawaii. My aunt and uncle didn't think that was as generous as NCL seemed to--as they missed half of the ports.

My first cruise was on NCL and if it werent for all the multiple cruisers on board telling me that I shouldn't let that experience mar my opinion of cruising--I might not be planning my annual summer vacation cruise now.

I can't begin to say enough bad things about NCL--in fact there wasn't one favorable thing I could say-- but I will never take another one on any of their ships. I have had nothing but wonderful experiences since then.

Answer 3

www.newcenturyworldtravel.com