What a blast from the past. I worked on this itinerary aboard the NCL pride of Hawaii on its first trip around the islands. I stayed aboard for almost 2 years. Some of the best times of my life.
I worked on this ship for about 2 year's back I'm 2010 and 2011. I had so much fun working and living on the Pride of America ship. There were some new crew members that didn't enjoy working on the ship, but I loved it! It honestly takes a certain type of person with a certain type of attitude to work on a cruise ship and be happy. I for one thrived in that sink or swim environment. I may try to go and work on a different cruise ship in the near future. If you are going to be going on this particular cruise ship make sure you take advantage of some of the day trips or shore excursions. One of the coolest ones is the helicopter ride over the Nā Pali Coastline and canyon on the island of Kauai, also known as the Garden Island of the Pacific. It is so beautiful, it's hard to even describe it. If you have ever seen the first Jurassic Park movie then you have seen a little of it. The first shot in that movie, where they are flying onto the island, that is the Nā Pali Coastline on the island of Kauai. Kauai is the prettiest and most unique of all the Hawaiian islands, at least in my opinion. The ship has two overnight stays, the first is on Maui, and the second is on Kauai. All the other nights the ship is sailing to the next destination, but on those two nights the ship stays docked from about 8am until about 6pm the next day. Have fun!
We booked last August for a 50th anniversary cruise, with two friends, leaving this Saturday, June 4. We paid in full back in January, and have been making all the preparations, including picking and paying for excursions, and other fees, for the last six weeks. On Thursday, NINE DAYS before departure, Norwegian sent us and our friends an email saying our reservations had been summarily canceled. We’ve spent the last five days unwinding all the other stuff - flights, hotel rooms, rental cars, etc.- around it. Apparently, NCL still IS cruising; we are just not paying ENOUGH to go along. We hope they hit an iceberg!
Oh no! We heard about this happening to other guests. We just got home from that June 4th sailing. We booked in March of 2021. I don’t know how they chose who sailed or got cancelled. The ship capacity was definitely about 50% as well as the staff. I hope you were still able to find a memorable way to celebrate.
Wow I am so sorry that happened to you 😞! Me and my mom have the cruise scheduled for August 2023 so it's still a long ways off. But I'm scratching my head trying to figure out why the hell they would cancel you guys' reservations?! But I guess it's still kind of iffy for cruising all together. That's why we pushed it back to 23 instead of doing it this year. Not to mention with airlines cancelling flights left and right as of late, or as I've also heard cruise lines (or really any place) being short staff and therefore can't handle a ship at full capacity 🤷.
It is a blessing in disguise. My husband and I just got off this cruise last week. It was a disaster and very expensive. Ship is not sail worthy. Only 40% of everything is up and running. Everything is basically cancelled. Only one restaurant is open and one bar. Staff is short and inexperienced. Ship was dirty and towels and garbage all,over. No entertainment and shore excursions limited. Be glad you got your funds back. We spent 10k on a trip of a lifetime and it was garbage. Norwegian should not be running this cruise yet. Shame on them!
Aug7,2022 just returned from the Pride of America cruise and was so disappointed. We paid full price for our balcony cabin. The ship sailed short staffed, Many of the specialty restaurants were closed. The shows being presented are sort of a one man show. Nothing spectacular. The waiting at the bars and restaurants are unreal. It wasn't what I expected from Norwegian. Before you go make sure they are staffed to give you a full serviced cruise experience.
