Jan B's family and a bunch of friends got the big idea that it would be nice to fly over to Hawaii and cruise on the "Pride of America" some time in 2008.
Well it became my job to check it out.
I have been working with a TA trying to get group pricing etc. Well today she called me and said she would not book a cruise on this ship, because if she did we would all hate her for doing it.
They get some sort of weekly reports and they are always terrible about the Pride of America. Almost all the complaints are employee related.
It is to bad that NCL tried to make it an "American" cruise ship and they are having these kinds of problems.

Jim what a good TA telling you her feelings - you dodged a bullet yes???

Jim, have you read any of the reviews on Cruise Critic? For the most part, they are very positive. Especially if you book a penthouse suite or above (which would be at least the equivalent of a standard Regent suite).

That being said, once again, we are going into our Pride of America cruise with appropriate expectations. The *only* reason we booked this cruise was for the 7-day Hawaiian itinerary (which is IDEAL for exploring Hawaii), and because it falls from a Saturday-Saturday during the week of Thanksgiving, and we had only 3 days of vacation left to burn in 2007. (T'giving and day after are both holidays for us.)

I really wish Regent or Silversea did a round-trip cruise within the Hawaiian islands - going from the West coast to Hawaii just takes too much time, and we don't have that much time off from work. I think NCL gets several of us to try them just because of this fact.

Krisitin, I recently read (TL or CN) a luxury (small cruise line, dam can't remember the name--not one of the big 3) is going to cruise the Hawaian Islands--all inclusive, if memory serves, 86 pax...if I remember, will post..r/wes

I find it strange that more cruise lines don't do a Hawaiian islands cruise, even if combined with a crossing. I would think there is demand for that kind of trip. I would certainly be interested. Does Regent even do that?

Wes, that would be great!

María, one of Silversea's 2008 World Cruise segments is going from San Diego to the islands - here's the link to the itinerary:

http://www.silversea.com/silversea....ype=worldvoyagedetail&page_id=wc2008

Which is getting close to what we want, but I really would like to see an itinerary that starts AND ends in Hawaii.

A while back I started a thread asking
"what if" Regent would do a Hawaii cruise from California once in awhile instead of Mexican Riviera. Maybe trade off every other year or something.
The response from LCT'ers was great.
I have sent suggestions to Regent, and when filling out their surveys have added it under comments.

One of the reasons RSSC can't do Hawaii from the West Coast, and other cruise lines for that matter, is because of the "Jones" act, which states that ships not registered in the US cannot pickup and disembark passengers in the US without first stopping at a foreign port - thus the reason that other lines all make a stop in Mexico or Vancouver before going to or from the Calif. for most of them its like a "service call" where they just stop for something like 4 hours or so, which then meets the requirement.

Its an old old law, probably outdated. NCL is allowed to do this because there was a special bill passed in Congress to allow them to on the ships that start and end in Hawaii - they are replacing the old American Hawaii line. However, those NCL ships are registered in the US and must employ American crew. Until the bill was passed, NCL had to make a stop at Fanning Island on their 7 day Hawaii cruises, which then met the requirement.

I would only recommend the Pride of America to folks who just want to use it as a floating hotel in order to visit three other islands. You spend every day in port except for the sail past Kauai's NaPali coast the afternoon prior to returning to Honoloulu.

We joined a family group in June 2006 and had a good time. However the shipboard experience left a lot to be desired. The American crew, many of whom are there to have a good time personally, are not very service-oriented. The general understaffing of the facilities handicaps the "anytime dining" experience. The two main dining rooms are listed as "full" very quickly each evening. But after waiting 30-40 min. with a beeper for entrance, we would find that the venues were in actuallity only half full. And then there would be a long wait for service and dinner.

We ended up renting daily vans -- very convenient and inexpensive -- and going where we wanted to go. Most of us had either lived in or visited Hawaii before (and the signs and guide books were in English!) so we could all do our own things.

I've noted that NCL plans to pull one of its three ships out of Hawaii service and put it in its international fleet -- so maybe things aren't working out. I'mm not surprised.

(And yes, Sen Inouye and friends got special legislation passed that allowed NCL to create a subsidiary -- NCL America -- and circumvent the Jones Act as long as the ships were registered in the US and used US crews. It was interesting that at the time of our cruise, the American crew had no bidding rights to switch over to the international crew rolls. So many of them when they had their fill just left, without completing their contracts. One of the managers said the crew turnover was horrendous.)

Well aware of the Jones Act and that would not change anything if Regent went from CA to HI with a stop at the foreign island along the way. Right?

Kiribati (Fanning Island) is about another 2 days sailing west past Hawaii. Might make the cruise quite long. Not sure if many people would go for that many sea days. Though we'd love it. :)

Masaki

Hmmm.
Did not realize Fanning Island was that far from Hawaii.
You might be right about to many sea days.

Fanning is actually 900-1000 miles south of the Hawaiian Islands....

That sure would change things in Regent trying to do something like a 7 or 10 day cruise huh?

Both Princess and HAL do Round trip LA to Hawaii. They stop in Ensenada Mexico to comply with the Jones Act.

I've just recently come across American Safari Cruises. They have a yacht that cruises Hawaii with 39 passengers.

Yes, several cruise lines use Ensenada as the foreign port. Sometimes the spend an hour there, sometimes more.

Regent, are you listening?

WE WANT WEST COAST TO HAWAII!!!

We second that one!! West Coast to Hawaii would be a big PLUS for Regent!

Beth, American Safari is the line I mentioned above but forgot...it is all inclusive...but no
balconies...thanks..r/wes

American Safari looks interesting...thanks, Beth and Wes. I just wonder if that small of a ship (yacht) would be a little TOO intimate?

Kristin, I think tips aren't included in the fare. The American Safari line looks like a great bunch of ships for you and a small group of friends to enjoy. The ports don't look to be the BIG ports offered by most cruises, but more eco-friendly excursions.

Wes, the big picture windows in the suites are sliding doors according to the website.