Hoo! I'm stressing and anxious about my upcoming first cruise, and we have a balcony stateroom, and I've been so nervous about feeling claustrophobic and maybe not having our own bathroom. This video has put to rest some of my fears! Thank you!
Thanks. We were also on deck 9, Port side, toward the aft (rear). It was a great location. We can't wait to share the shore excursions and are working hard to get that one ready.
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.
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.