We are Judy and Erling. We love to travel and enjoy the outdoor lifestyle; hiking, sailing, or just enjoying a campfire with friends. We started Travel Trail Sail so we could share what we learned with you. Join us here, on our blog at traveltrailsail.com or on your favorite social media channels.
We did this cruise in March 2023 and loved it! You need to remember that this is NOT a Caribbean cruise. It is very port intensive. For us, the ports were more important than the ship itself. We treated the NCL Pride of America like a floating hotel. No idea on what the entertainment was because we’d get back to the ship each day, relax a bit, eat dinner, sit on the aft deck behind the buffet area and then head to bed and get ready for the next days activities. We typically ate breakfast and most dinners on the ship but had lunch on whatever island we’re on. Try all the different foods that you cannot get back home. Try a shave ice. Do recommend getting there a few days early to tour Oahu & take in the sites. We stayed in Lai’e at the North Shore Courtyard Marriott. Just a walk across the street and you can be at the beach and it was way more relaxing & less crowded than any beach in Waikiki. Another recommendation is to get a day use hotel on your last day there. There are a couple of websites for this. It was a normal hotel but they had some rooms that they make available just for the day. We had the room from 8-6 but the hotel clerk gave us an extra hour without us even asking. A lot of flights back to the mainland USA are really late at night. We got off the ship, took a taxi to the hotel we reserved , dropped off our luggage and explored Waikiki. Swam on the beach, took a dip in the hotel pool, were able to take showers and then checked out at 7 pm. Headed to the airport for our 11:30 pm flight home. We came from the eastern time zone. Saw many sunrises but very few sunsets. Didn’t suffer from jet lag until 2 days after we got back home.
Awesome! Sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing. We also enjoyed visiting all the islands and experiencing great foods like shave ice. Appreciate hearing about your experience and your tips.
We did the same trip as you but had a very different experience. We didn’t book any excursions as we found them expensive. The best way to explore is to rent a car from “TORO”, it is a fraction of the price. We drove all over the islands. There are homeless people and garbage everywhere. Miles and miles of homeless encampments on some of the beaches. One day a boat excursion was canceled do to a traffic accident, that is what the tourist were told. It actually was a deranged person shooting people in the street. Excursions avoid all the bad areas of Hawaii. The Pride of America was great, we had lots of good things to say about it. This trip to Hawaii was on our bucket and what a huge disappointment. Hawaii is a tourist place and I believe Covid-19 shut it down and it may never recover.
I’m sailing on her July 12 2025. I like that it starts and ends in Hawaii. I normally sail on Carnival. But their Hawaii cruise leaves from LA. I don’t want to spend extra sea days, when I can’t be in Hawaii.
Sounds like you are getting a great trip planned. We hope you have a great time! Maybe someday we'll do a cruise from the West Coast to Hawaii but this one from NCL that focused on just Hawaii was great.
We were on deck nine. Toward the aft (rear) of the ship, there are a group of rooms that are shifted out a bit from the middle rooms. They are 9666-9696. These rooms have easy access to stairs and elevators. In addition to a great view, these rooms seemed pretty quiet. On deck 9, you have staterooms above and below. Since they are aft of the stairs you are less likely to have people walking in the hallway outside your room. Hope that helps.
If I might...If you are going to do reviews, can you try to remember some folks travel with handicapped folks in wheelchairs. Knowinf if a pool has a lift, or if they have handicap restrooms, it would be such a great service! Thanks
Appreciate the feedback and the request. We try to share accessibility information and will work to get better at it. On this review, we pointed out the tight bathroom entry but failed to mention that there is an accessible bathroom nearby. In addition to the pool lift, what kinds of things do you find most helpful to know?
Thanks for the question. Short answer - I think Uber would work for your ride to the port. Longer answer. We had arranged shuttles & taxis for our transportation between the airport, hotels, and cruise terminal. Those generally worked well. However, we did have a few issues. When we ran into an issue with our shuttle from the port to Aulani, we used Lyft and it worked great. And, the Lyft ride, similar to Uber, ended up being less expensive than the transportation we had arranged. Since you asked specifically about Uber, you may want to check out this article from Uber on transportation in Honolulu. www.uber.com/global/en/r/cities/honolulu-hi-us/ Hope that helps.
Planning on going on this cruise. You mentioned you were on the port side of the ship. Would you say this is the best side to see the islands from your room? Or is the other side better? Also, did you sail past the Na Pali coastline on Kauai when either arriving or departing Kauai? Glad you enjoyed this cruise.
We hope you have a great cruise! We thought a balcony was a great option. We entered ports early in the morning and the balcony enabled us to enjoy watching the view of the islands and port before heading to breakfast. Either side is probably OK. You'll often have a view of working ports meaning you may see containers and shipping activity. In Kuai, the port side seemed to have a much better view. We also selected port so that we could better enjoy the Na Pali coast. However, on our cruise, we left later port later in the day and did not get to experience that view.
@traveltrailsail Thanks so much for your reply. Your video popped up on my recommendations and I really found all your videos on your cruise very helpful and enjoyable. Hope you make it back to Hawaii soon.
There's some other US Flag ships! Just not the same size 🙂 Linblad Expeditions/National Geographic has the Sea Bird, Sea Lion, Venture, and Quest, and then American Cruise Lines is all US Flag. 🙂
This is the only NCL ship I would want to go on, because she is flagged in the USA!! Their other ships are Flag of Convenience. Good to support all those American jobs, since the requirements to be US Flag are that the entire crew has to be US citizens. 😃 Hawaii is generally too hot for me; I have been to Pearl Harbor a couple times, on the submarine USS Florida SSBN-728....I would do a Hawaii cruise during their colder months, though. 🙂 I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so it wouldn't be too long of a flight. I haven't been out there since I got out in 2003. Maybe I will return some day 🙂
Thank you for your thoughts on pride of America We are Coming from Australia and booked for the 1st Sep After watching I’m not as concerned as I was because of some of the other reviews I’ve seen so thank you😊
Can I get off the ship in Maui at 2:30am? We have 4 people that want to go to Haleakala for sunrise on our own. I called NCL and I have had 3 different answers!
I wish I had a clear answer for you. We didn't leave the ship at night. However, I'm pretty sure I have heard that you can come and go from the ship anytime during the two overnight port stays in Maui and Kauai. Unfortunately, like you, I wasn't able to find an official confirmation. I checked through out Freestyle Daily's, too, but they didn't provide anything specific. We hope you enjoy your cruise.
How many total days was your Hawaiian vacation? We have heard 10 days is a good length. Seven of those would be the cruise itself of course. Anxious to hear how many days you all spent. Thanks!!
We had three nights in Waikiki, seven nights on the cruise, and then two nights at Aulani. We highly recommend arriving 2-3 nights before the cruise if you are travelling from a long distance. The post-cruise stay was a nice addition and gave us a chance to see a different part of the island. Keep in mind that travel time may add to the total time you need for your vacation. Hope that helps.
Thank you so much for all of this help!! I have written down so many things from your videos. We are going to check out the exact hotels y'all used even.
The rate for the Waikiki Beach Marriott is just listed as "Ocean View King Room with Breakfast". The breakfast was great. We also used the resort's beach chair program which allowed us to use two Tommy Bahama beach chairs for our day at the beach. Overall, we really liked our stay here. A few additional things to consider. In addition to the room rate and taxes, this hotel does have a daily resort fee. Our room was booked by our travel agent when she booked the cruise. Unfortunately, the way it was booked meant we did not earn Marriott points for our stay. You may want to consider booking it on your own if you frequently stay at Marriott hotels.
SO helpful!! How much is the "Free at Sea" option? I would love for us not to be worrying about gratuities, drinks and the specialty dining!! Thank you for all your videos! I asked a couple questions on another video-I hope you will see and answer those those too-😀
Thanks for your questions. We appreciate it. Free at Sea is a promotional rate offered by NCL. We found it worked well for us as the things it included were things were a good fit for us. On prior cruises, we would typically have a bill for things like gratuities, dining, and beverages. While we likely didn't get the maximum value out of all of the perks, it was great to have no surprise bill at the end of the cruise. The alternative is to book a basic cruise. NCL calls that a sailaway rate. It appears that with that rate, you may get the lowest fare but you may not be able to select your stateroom. To find out how much Free at Sea costs, I guess the best thing would be to price out the cruise two ways. Once with selecting your room and including Free at Sea. Then try it a second time with the basic rate plus gratuities. To that, add on things you are likely to do such as purchase water, soda, a glass of wine with dinner, etc. While that isn't an easy answer to how much it costs, I hope that helps.
Thank you for the tips, I have read that renting a car and exploring is the best way to see the island and it appears as if you utilized tour guides which is fantastic! If you could do it over, would you rent a car and explore or do guided tours?
This was our first time in Hawaii. We opted to do excursions for most of our adventures. It worked great - we had good guides who explained things we likely would have missed. We did rent a car one day in Kauai which gave us a bit more flexibility and enabled us to spend more time at Waimea Canyon. If we are lucky enough to go again, we'll likely use a mix of excursions and exploring on our own. As the ship is in port overnight in Maui and Kuai, exploring on your own there might be an option. If you want to see what we did, check out our NCL Pride of America Excursions video.
If you’re a complete noob like I am who bought their first trailer and then bought the furrion just for easy install then don’t forget that these are powered by running lights! (maybe different for other trailers) I installed it and thought some fuse or something needed upgrading because it wouldn’t turn on. Disappointed but then dealer told me it’s powered by running lights. Sigh. I don’t think instructions to install even say anything about running lights needing to be on
You aren't alone. It can be pretty frustrating to figure out why you aren't getting a connection only to realize that you have to turn on your lights. The automatic light setting won't power on the camera.
I plan on getting this camera, thanks for the review. My car has a USB C socket, no USB A type, so I would have to get a USB C-USB C cable...will any cable work ?
Glad you found it helpful. I am pretty sure any cable would work. However, the one that came with our dash cam has a 90 degree angle on the end that connects to the camera. That might be better than a straight cable as it could direct it down toward the plug.
I'm, 62, divorced, no children and a first-time solo cruiser, any suggestions what I can do when I first get on board? Since we're stopping at a different port everyday, how will I know how to get to various excursions off the ship? In your video, you said you had some issues with the wifi package, can you be more specific of what you didn't like about the wifi package because I already pre- purchased my wifi package? I'm going on the Pride of America June 22-29, 2024. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks
Bet you are looking forward to your upcoming cruise. We hope it is a good one. Thanks for the questions. We'll try to answer them. What can I do when I first get on board? There are so many options and it really depends on what you enjoy doing. You'll likely have a few hours before your stateroom is available. You could head to the pool. If you want shade, be sure to head there early. If you prefer some quiet time, there is a large library. We saw a few people enjoying a book in the library after boarding the ship. If you are eager to try out the drink package included with Free at Sea, you might had to Pink's Champaign Bar. If you are hungry, maybe check out the main dining room which is open and available to serve a full three-course meal. At around 5:30, you'll be able to enjoy the sail away celebration with musicians and hula dancing. It was a nice show. For solo travelers, they do offer solo traveler meet-ups. On our cruise, that was offered at 7:00. According to NCL "this is the best chance to connect with like-minded individuals who are also exploring the vessel on their own". When in port, you'll exit the ship on deck 3. Once off the ship, you'll walk to an area where the excursions start. There will be ship staff available to provide directions. In Kona, rather than walking off the ship, you'll have to take a tender boat to the excursion area. You may be directed to gather in a waiting area designated for your excursion. Excursions are often on small or large busses. Each should have a sign indicating the excursion. The driver or guide for your excursion will greet you and get you checked in. As for wi-fi, we had the basic package included with Free at Sea. The package provides a number of minutes of wi-fi for you to use. Each time you want to access wi-fi, you'll need to sign in. After you are done, you'll need to remember to sign out. We had a bit if difficulty with the technology used for that sign-in and sign-out process. In the end, we didn't use the wi-fi much on this cruise. Instead, we just used our phones with cell service on land for our communication needs. However, there is a person available at the internet cafe on deck 6 who can assist you with wi-fi if needed. Hope that answers your questions. Looking forward to hearing about your cruise.
Pride of America is a US-based cruise visiting only islands within the state of Hawaii. If you are a US resident and stay within the US, you would not need a passport. Residents of other countries need a passport. Be sure to follow the latest guidelines for travel. It sounds like starting in May of 2025, the requirement to have a Real ID drivers license or passport for air travel will go into effect. Hope that helps.
Glad you found it helpful. The box lunches we had were provided as part of the shore excursions. Overall, they were pretty good. Usually a sandwich and chips. Hope you have a fantastic trip!
Me and my mom are currently in the beginning stages of planning for our return trip there in 2026 (no concrete dates yet). We first went there last year in August 2023, but got waylaid by the Maui Fires & hurricane winds unfortunately 😔.
We were on the Pride of America cruise in October 2023. The weather was beautiful. While your experience might differ, we had mostly sunny weather & warm weather - perfect for shorts and t-shirts. Well, except when we watched the sunset at Haleakala where it was pretty chilly.
My husband and I are planning to take this trip at the end of September. Can the road to Hanna excursion be taken the second day in Maui? I’m confused because the ship departs at 3pm right? So I’m not sure how we can take the 2 excursions you mentioned: the crater sunset and the road to Hanna those 2 days in Maui. Thank you for your video, very informative!
Thanks for the great question. I'm sure you are looking forward to your cruise in Hawaii. Great that you are doing some research and planning ahead. While the ship does pretty much the same itinerary every week, it could be that there are some schedule variations. If I remember, when signed in to your cruise planner, the NCL website showed which excursions were available for each day. Here was the schedule for Maui. The ship arrived the first day at about 8:00 am. We had time on our own until the Haleakala Sunset excursion departed at 3:00. We arrived back to ship around 9:00 pm. The next day, our Road to Hana excursion left early, at 7:00 am. It was a 9.5 hour round trip which got us back to the ship around 4:30 in the afternoon. All aboard time that day was 5:30 so we got back with time to spare. One of the reasons we usually book excursions is that the ship is supposed to wait if your excursion is delayed. If you are on your own, you might miss the ship if something happens. Hope that helps with your planning and that you have an amazing trip.
Thank you! I was worried about my second day in Maui because I read it departs at 3pm, but you’re right if I take the excursion with NCL it shouldn’t leave us behind 😅
We just rented a car the one day in Kauai. You can pick up your rental car at the airport which is about 3 miles away from where the cruise ship docks. There are several car rental companies available.
