There are 3 cruises to choose from when cruising Hawaii: (Pride of) America, Hawaii, & Aloha. Which is best?

Question

These are the only cruises that start and end in Hawaii.

I've heard some bad things about this cruise (NCL) company.

In fact I havent yet heard anyone say anything good about them.

But I want to cruise so badly.

So I have to find the best of the 3.

And why do you think your cruise (name the cruise) is the best one of the 3.

Answer 1

The cruise line that we cruised on several years ago has since disbanded, so I can't really help you as far as cruises.  But, go to www.cruisecritic.com and bring up Hawaiian cruises.  You will get ratings from actual people like you and me that have been on the cruise ships and maybe you will be able to determine from this site what ship would be the best to go on.  I have heard good things about Norwegian Cruise Line, but have never been on one of their cruises.  So I may be misinformed.

Answer 2

If you can afford the time, it would be much better to cruise from the US to Hawaii (HAL, Princess, etc).  NCL's ships that are positioned in Hawaii have terrible ratings -- so much so that one of the ships is being repositioned elsewhere.

Or, if you really don't want to spend the time aboard the ship getting to the islands, consider flying to Fiji or Tahiti and cruising on Captain Cook or Blue Lagoon around the beautiful tropical islands in paradise.

You'll have a much better experience by avoiding NCL in Hawaii.  Any of the cruise review sites will reveal all sorts of horror stories.

Answer 3

As you have noted, NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line) owns all three ships.  The three ships are all American flagged, which requires an American crew.  However, Americans are not as service oriented as people from other countries are, thus the bad reviews you are referring to.

However, some people have had good things to say about these three ships.  Here are links to reviews of all three ships by actual passengers:

Pride of Aloha ...

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreview...

Pride of America ...

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreview...

Pride of Hawaii ...

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreview...

As you can see, most of the reviews are fairly good, while there are still some bad reviews in the mix.

Now here are some things about the ships that you might not know.  The Pride of Aloha was the first of the three.  However, it was not a "new build".  The Pride of Aloha began service in 1999 as the Norwegian Sky.  In 2004 it was converted to the Pride of Aloha and rushed into service because a storm caused the Pride of America (which is a "new build") to sink while still being built.  This rush to service is part of (but not the only) reason for the service problems which many people have experienced and reported.

The Pride of America was the second of the three "Prides" and it was a "new build" when it entered service in 2005 (delayed about one year because of the damage caused by the above mentioned storm).  The Pride of Hawaii is the third of the series.  It was built in 2006.  However, in February of 2008 NCL is pulling the Pride of Hawaii out of Hawaii.  It will be reflagged to the Bahamas and be renamed the Norwegian Jade.  It will then reposition to Europe through the Panama Canal in February 2008.

Hopefully, after pulling one of the three ships out of Hawaii, NCL will keep only the best of the staff, and the service problems which you have heard about will improve.

Answer 4

this site has good info

http://allcruiselines.info

Answer 5

I did travel to hawaii 5 years ago and we took the American cruise line from Honolulu and travel for 7 days around all the islands this cruise was real good typical hawiian style great food, great service ,great staff. You'll love it.