Supplement to Travel Trade
September 2004

Pride of Aloha:

A True Hawaii Experience

The Blue Hawaii Nightclub has a thatched roof and palm trees to give an outdoor tropical feeling.Pride of Aloha, which simultaneously was christened as a U.S. flagged vessel and launched the new NCL America brand on July 4, provides a cruise product that is essentially very different from anything else in the market.

Usually the mindset on a cruise is that the passengers live in the “mothership” and make forays into the ports of call, returning to discuss their adventures and to enjoy the life on board. Cruise lines now advertise days at sea and the ship as destination has become an established draw.

However, given the enormous amount of cruise experiences in port on NCL America’s Pride of Aloha, the situation is reversed: the ship has become the beautiful gift box for Hawaii, which is the focus of the cruise experience on and off the ship.

The U.S. flag difference can be felt immediately as Pride of Aloha pulls into its first port, Nawiliwili on Lanai. As passengers disembark early Monday morning, the usual warning for return is announced — with a difference. Guests must be sure to return before 1:00 p.m. — the next day.

The freedom to travel back and forth between the destination and ship is found in other places, notably Bermuda and St. Petersburg, but not in the same way. In Hawaii, once you are on the ship you are only a night’s sleep away from a spectacular dawn arrival and an average of more than 12 hours of exploration, a pattern that changes the rhythm of the cruise. Also, neither Bermuda nor St. Petersburg is a year-round destination. Because Pride of Aloha and the two ships that will follow her in the next two years, Pride of America and Pride of Hawaii, are dedicated year-round to Hawaii, the line between destination and ship has been blurred.

Another factor that brings the Hawaiian experience on board is the staff, the majority of which is Hawaiian. “These people are our competitive edge,” Colin Veitch, president and CEO of NCL, stated. And it is true that it is completely new to have the bulk of the crew from the sailing grounds, able to tell stories, share experiences and bring the passengers closer to Hawaii. The process of doing all this accentuates their pride in Hawaii.

A variety of dining and lounge choices include (top to bottom): the Royal Palm Bistro alternative restaurant; Crossings Restaurant, one of two main dining rooms; the Plantation Club, a cocktail and wine bar; and Pacific Heights a Pacific Rim/Asian Fusion alternative restaurant.

The crew has such a strong desire to please that passengers on our cruise immediately warmed to conversation with them. This is carrying the staff through the extremely difficult pioneering task of learning the cruise ship ropes without the benefit of the large percentage of highly experienced staff usually sent to start off a new vessel. Because of the stipulation requiring U.S. crew, NCL America had to create this staff from the ground up, rather than bringing in a “Dream Team” of top employees from other ships. So this debut was the most difficult the brand will ever face.

There has been some comment about the inexperience of the crew, but on our inaugural sailing we received very good service everywhere — from the stateroom to the dining venues, the bars and lounges, Internet Cafe and library. The staff showed themselves to be kind, friendly, capable and resourceful. They adapted menus for special needs, handled guest requests with grace and found their way through the maze of accents on board among passengers hailing from places ranging from the Deep South to Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.

Regardless of where they came from, passengers were enthusiastic about the explosion of island colors in the staterooms, where designers filled the rooms with aqua, rose, pink and gold. Images from the sea and islands fill the public rooms and hallways, decorated with schools of fish swimming forward that seemingly guide passengers to their staterooms.

Accommodations tend to be small but beautiful and well appointed, with coffee makers, refrigerators, safes and hair dryers besides the televisions and telephones in each cabin. Beds are quite comfortable.

There are no self-service laundries or ironing facilities, so passengers should bring plenty of changes of clothing or use the laundry and dry cleaning services on board.

Guests quickly got the hang of the Freestyle experience, flocking to every available dining venue as if they hadn’t been fed two hours before. Room service, too, was kept busy providing sandwiches, pizza, salads and desserts as well as breakfasts. The children’s menu, featuring comfort foods like grilled cheese, hamburgers and hot dogs, was well patronized by adults, as well as the numerous families sailing. Both the poolside grill and the ice cream bar appeared to draw half the ship during the afternoons.

There are two main restaurants: the Palace, with a color scheme of rose and pink, holding 530 people, and Crossings, with a three-level stained glass explosion of fish at the entrance, accommodating 574. Each restaurant has a different celebrity chef creation each evening, and the selections were diverse and well presented.

The alternative Kahili Restaurant, with decor inspired by the Hawaiian Royal Family’s European Victorian style, features high-end Italian cuisine and serves 84 diners. Just a little smaller, Pacific Heights focuses on the Pacific Rim/Asian fusion with modern local Hawaiian dishes.

The buffet is housed in the cheerful, brightly colored Hukilau Café, named for the traditional Hawaiian community gathering and a feast. It saw exceptionally heavy use on our cruise from early morning through the post-disco snacks. Poolside, the buffet and grill were jammed, but passengers who wanted a quiet outdoor meal could always find one at the small buffet and tables aft of the Hukilau. Sprinkles ice cream bar in the café was more than popular, as passengers made a beeline there coming back on the ship from shore excursions and the deep ice cream cones were almost as numerous as Aloha cover-ups by the pool.

The Kumu Cultural Center is used as an area of learning, for meetings and as a gathering place. The lounges draw from the same island imagery, either richly colored or in Victorian woods. Colorful leis are worked into the carpet of the Blue Hawaii Nightclub, with its shimmering starry ceiling and hula graphics on the walls. Like a beachfront Hawaiian dance club, the atmosphere is very relaxed and the club was generally full from late afternoon into the night.

The Longboard Sports Bar is filled with images and memorabilia of Hawaii’s Americana: surfing and baseball. Stargazing in the clear island skies is accompanied by libations at the Hoku (Star) Bar. The Stardust Theater offers Polynesian dancing as well as Vegas-style shows.

In the Aloha Club, passengers enjoy champagne and vodka along with hors d’oeuvres including caviar and pates. Teenagers have their own Teen Club, a dedicated disco at night.

The Mark Twain Library and Captain Cook’s Bar are richly paneled retreats. Adjoining the library is the Hawaii Conference Center, which seats 126 and can be divided into three rooms of 12-42 seats each. Conferences on NCL America ships have a strong selling point, since the tax advantages of a U.S. venue are available on board this U.S. flagged ship. The Kumu Cultural Center is used for meetings, as well, in an atmosphere of colorful and powerful island antiques and artifacts.

In the Outrigger Lounge, with its wonderful views, passengers created their own artifacts and Hawaiian experiences. Guided by the ship’s Hawaiian Ambassador, Kawika Niau of Kauai, as many as 60 passengers from 5 to 75 learned the rudiments of the hula, while 75 or more crowded the sofas and floor space to create leis, beaded bandannas and other Hawaiian crafts. After participants in the first crafts session appeared throughout the ship in their striking shell and kukui nut leis, other passengers wanted to join in. However, projects are not repeated, so tell clients not to miss the first meeting.

The Atrium Bar is a popular meeting place.For those who want to buy others’ creations, the shops have kiosks for home delivery, and they feature NCL’s joint venture with the Black Pearl Gem store. There are open hours every day, even when the ship is in port.

Since the time in port is so generous, passengers often opted for two or even three shore excursions, or rented cars and struck off on their own. Golf was high on the list of activities, with NCL offering a Golf of Hawaii program on all four visited islands. These include Ko’oalu on Oahu, Poipu Bay and The Prince Course on Kauai, Mauna Lani resort and Rapuna Golf Course on the Big Island of Hawaii and Kapalua and Wailea on Maui. The ship features golf equipment and shoes for rent, guaranteed tee times and golf balls, gloves and hats for sale. Onboard clinics with golf pros and three practice nets allow the dedicated to enjoy hours off the courses.

A huge range of offerings satisfied the desires of those who wanted their volcano experiences up close on land or in the air, those who adore chocolate and macadamia nuts, passengers whose passions were the history and culture of the islands (guests invariably raved about the guides), the shopping fanatics, natural history buffs and people who wanted active adventures.

Active adventures on the ship were equally popular: Pride of Aloha has a huge aerobics area, with spinning and Pilates equipment, very well used at all hours and featuring classes from stretch to Pilates. Next door, the resistance equipment, stair steppers and treadmills are also available 24 hours, and mats and even weights are set out in rich Hawaiian colors. The window walls in both rooms provide a beautiful backdrop to workouts on land or sea.

The ship’s Mandara Spa has a number of Hawaiian treatments; therapists trained in the islands and were quite assured in administering Hawaiian Pohaku (a variant of hot stone massage), Hawaiian Lomi Lomi, originally reserved for kings and queens, and other exotic possibilities.

Veitch has said that Hawaii, like Alaska, is best approached from the sea, and on a magical night sailing slowly by the really awe-inspiring volcanoes of the Big Island of Hawaii, with the spurting, spilling lava lighting up the sky

The powerful elements of Hawaii — Earth, Water, Fire and Air — are the real stars of the cruise, along with the Aloha spirit, which is neither a public relations fantasy nor a false veneer, but a bone deep friendliness and beauty that permeates the ship and the cruise alike.