Norwegian
Pride of Aloha
Hawaiian Islands

Sheryl Ryan

Age: 36
Occupation: Teacher
Number of Cruises: 1

After hearing about amazing cruise trips from friends and family over the years we decided to insert a 7 day cruise into the middle of our wedding trip. Our original plan was to get married on board and add a few days in Oahu at the beginning and end. What a mistake !

We were very lucky that before our trip I had decided to hire an outside group to arrange a wedding on the beach while overnight in Maui. They were absolutely perfect, I won't mention the company's name here because they don't deserve to be associated with this tub.

Ok, first we arrive on board and notice that everything looks worn and dirty. The cabins are very tiny and look like a ferry I commuted on for quite some time. There was no hot water in our cabin and it took a trip to reception and long lineups at the desk to get it fixed. We had asked for an upgrade as suggested as we were getting married on board and was told nothing would be available. There was absolutely no acknowledgement during the entire cruise that we were there for our wedding/honeymoon as others had received on other ships.

The cruise ship had no formal wear at all... I had to go pick up a tux onshore on the morning of the wedding day.

We had been traveling for 7 days at this point and wanted to wash a few T-shirts, etc. but was told there were no facilities to do our own. Everything had to be cleaned through the laundry service. (Also no irons allowed. I overheard several passengers state they would 'kill' for a travel iron)

The second day we awoke to find no water at all in our cabin. I ventured again to the front desk and spoke to a nice but apparently very new front desk staff. One woman said she had just started. They were apologetic but I asked for the manager anyway. She had a very poor demeanor and simply stated she did not know what the cause was as they were working on the water system on the sixth floor, not the seventh ...... She said she would send someone to check on it. When we returned two hours later the water was running and she called to say the repairman had 'found nothing wrong'. She insinuated that we had been wrong in the first place. Incredible. She would not even suggest that it may have had something to do with ongoing repairs below. Given the fact that we were getting married in two days I was getting worried about having any working plumbing on the big day. I was fuming but didn't want to ruin what should have been a special time.

At this point I would have gotten off the boat if possible. The housekeeping was definitely below par as was the bar service. The bartenders were the crankiest group I had ever observed on land or sea. they all seemed to be as unhappy to be there as I was becoming. The food service people were the only bright spot as they seemed to be making a serious effort to be helpful and professional.b The cruise director was actually pretty entertaining and deserves a placement on a real cruise ship soon.

About the food... there are two restaurants that are free but there are three others that not only require a 10 dollar cover charge but you have to pay for every meal! The two that do not charge actually have the exact same menu except one is written in Italian to look different !

We also paid 35 dollars for a card to drink pop while on board but were only allowed one small glass of coke for each trip to the bar. There was only two of us but we still had to line up separately each meal to get a drink of pop.

I immediately booked a room at a hotel near the wedding site as we both agreed we could not spend our wedding night onboard. The wedding was perfect as was the night at a hotel where they treated us incredibly well with many special perks and considerations from the minute we arrived. It could not have been better. Unfortunately we had to return the next evening.

I thought it might have just been a case of just me being hypercritical but we ran into two couples on the dock (one of which had just gotten married as well) who echoed the same sentiments and well as tales of vomit smelling rooms they could not change and others I'll let them recount later.

AVOID THIS SHIP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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