Hawaii Vacation Specialist-Chris

I had gone on the Pride of Hawaii in December of 2007.  This ship is no longer sailing but her sister ship The Pride of America is, which does pretty much the same itienrary as the pride of hawaii did and is also freestyle cruising.

I enjoy the freestyle cruising and I think it is actually the perfect way to cruise hawaii.  Hawaii is very laid back and a vacation where it is time to relax kick back enjoy the sun, get rid of the heels and throw on the "rubba slippahs".  Being freestyle in my opinion helps to add to that.  You eat when you want, when you are hungry, not when someone tells you to.  You don’t have to dress up if you don’t want to but you have that option if you do.

It was my son’s 6 year birthday and reason for taking the cruise to celebrate and he had a wonderful time on the ship and on each of the islands.  Here is some of what you can expect on the 7 day NCL cruise.

Upon boarding our room was not yet ready so we went to the buffet and we had some lunch while we waited.

View of the pier in honolulu in the background.  He thought it was great he could get a pizza and a burger!

When our room was ready we went on up.  Our bags werent up yet so we just went to check out our cabin and then went back out to explore the ship.  Our bags came up a little later in the evening. (from our balcony we could see the bags on the pier.  Those guys work hard with that luggage..BE PATIENT).

When our luggage came up we unpacked and our luggage fit nicely under our beds and out of the way.  We got ready and went to dinner and to check out the kids club.

The kids club was great and free til a certain time and then you could opt to pay them to babysit til 1am when the bars close so you can go out and enjoy.  (No need to feel guilty either as some moms on the ship did). They had movies and a nintendo Wii onboard…he didn’t miss me at all!  The crew for the kids club was fantastic and a fun bunch.  We could always here them when walking up having fun just by themselves…very enthusiastic for the kids.  The nights were themed and every day on land my son made sure we went back on time so he didn’t miss his party every night.  They even took them to the magic show onboard one night which they loved.

entrance to kids club              
"Unbirthday , birthday night"                                  

"Prince and Princess night"                
                                "Pirate Night"

"Pajama party night"-rough night apparently.              

     This was his real birthday night in the grand ballroom, his free birthday cake and they all came around to sing happy birthday to him.
                                                            

We got off on all islands and just rented a car and went out exploring on our own. We hit volcanoes national park on the big island.  In Maui a friend flew up to visit us and we all stayed at the hyatt overnight , we went to kauai in search of Puka Dogs.  A freak storm did pass through hawaii just in that week we were on the ship so it did storm a lot while we were sailing which was out of the blue weather that happened and couldn’t be helped, but we made the best of it anyways.  The captain did a great job of finding calm waters and sunny patches so the guests could still enjoy the pool and outdoor amenities on the ship.

Shirley our cabin steward was great.  She always made sure she left my son a towel animal everynight and would stop and talk with us while she showed us how to make them.  She did an amazing job with our cabin and it always seemed a lot bigger when we returned as she cleaned it so well and put things away seeming to create more space for us.

Of course we visited the bars onboard the ship.  The bartenders were great.  We frequented one certain bar because the bartenders were a lot of fun..but we did go dancing one night in the dance club on board.  Our great bartenders even did a cocktail pose for me. (no they don’t really flip the bottles onboard but its a fun picture anyway)

Our bartenders flashing hawaii’s "shaka"              Our bartenders doing th cocktail movie pose for us.

We caught a lot of beautiful sights from our balcony which I would recommend getting.  Since the seas were rough the boat rocked a bit but mainly from the storm.  Even though it was rough no one really got sick onboard, but sitting out on the balcony definately made me feel a little better sometimes.  Because it was during whale watch season we even caught sight of some whales as we were leaving kauai….almost like a free tour!

We did dinner one night at the teppanyaki which was a ton of fun and one of the cover charge restaurants, but well worth it.  Other than that we ate at the places that were free meals and we had a to of selections of free places to eat as well.

We had a great cruise all in all.  I would definately do it again if I had the chance.  We did not encounter any rude staff contrary to what people post on websites which is a concern I find people ask a lot.  They were all very friendly and were like friends by the end of the cruise.

Cruising the hawaiian islands is a great route to go, especially for those people looking to do either many islands in a short amount of time or for those looking for that vacation with your meals included for hawaii.

To book a hawaiian cruise vacation call 1-800-843-8771 ext. 32 for great cruise rates.