We packed on Saturday and called a taxi for the four of us in the afternoon for our fifteen-minute drive to the Aloha Tower to board Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America, our new home for seven days of cruising.
I’d actually seen this ship before: a few years ago I sailed from San Diego with Holland America’s Veendam, on a Hawaii circle cruise, landing in Hawaii, where we docked in Honolulu, Maui, the Big Island and Kauai before heading back to San Diego. We were parked next to this ship during our journey, and our little 1,200 passenger ship looked like a baby next to this monster, which holds 2,600 people I’d never been on such a big ship and was curious to see the difference. It was thrilling to sail across the Pacific on the Veendam, and I enjoyed the tranquility of the sea days, though I understand some people don’t enjoy them. We were very busy when we were in port. This will be a different experience as this ship only sails at night. We will have no sea days .
We were to spend two days each on Maui, the Big Island of Hawaii and Kauai, and arrive back in Honolulu Saturday morning. My sister and brother-in-law have taken this cruise several times, but for Craig and me, this was a first. It was also Craig’s first time cruising on a big ship.
We got at the port at about 1:30, a little later than the first rush of passengers, so there was no line. My sister and brother-in-law had a cabin with a balcony, and nephew Craig and I had a suite with an obstructed view. My sister made all the arrangements. When we checked in, we discovered that along with the suite, we also got a butler! We also got a package of other goodies, which I’ll explain later
The first thing we did when we got on board was check out the views from the balcony in Beatrice and Ed’s room.
Then we went to the suite and met Jeffrey, our butler. He gave us his card and said to call if we needed anything. Our room opened to two doors. We each had our own self- contained quarters. Craig chose the twin bedded room with two bunks. He had a TV, phone and bathroom. My room had the big bed, a couch which could be made into a bed for two, a desk area with mirror and hair dryer, TV, bathroom, lots of closet space and drawers, and an espresso machine! Such luxury! There was also a bottle of champagne for us. I’ve been booking inside cabins on my cruises of late, so this was a real treat. These cabins usually have eight people sleeping in them.
I also had two large windows so there was a lot of light coming in, in spite of the two lifeboats.
One of the perks of having a suite is free entry into the extra cost dining venues. We had three such entries, so Craig and I wandered around to see what suited us. I’d already decided on the French bistro and the Italian restaurant and he was intrigued with the Asian offerings, so all we had to do was make reservations during the week. We four met up in the buffet for our first dinner, then checked out the views from various as we sailed away.
Next stop: Maui in the morning.
Is that Jeffrey, the butler, with the bottle of bubbly?
No, that’s my nephew Craig, who eventually opened the bottle when we invited his parents in for a toast.