Tips for Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America:
No self-service laundry
Friday Photo Special: Buy 4, get 1 free
Gold Rush Saloon has overflow seating for the Aloha Cafe buffet in the morning.
If you go to Cadillac Diner, get the Brownie Sundae for dessert. Don’t get a milkshake.
Wednesday (Kona) night is lobster night
If you don’t like the iced tea (which is from a mix), ask for hot tea and 2 glasses of ice to make your own.
Included restaurants/food: Key West Bar and Grill (pool side sandwiches & salads), Cadillac Diner, Aloha Cafe (buffet), The Liberty Dining Room & The Skyline Dining Room
Speciality Restaurants: Jefferson’s Bistro (French $20), Lazy J Steakhouse ($25), East Meets West ($15), Sushi Bar ($15), Teppanyaki ($25) and Little Italy ($10). Menus available at Dining Desk next to Guest Services.
Reservations for speciality restaurants: If you are in a suite, you can have your concierge handle reservations for the whole week. However, folks in balcony and mini-suite cabins can make specialty reservations 48 hours ahead. Inside and window cabin folks can only make specialty reservations 24 hours ahead. Call Reservation Hotline at 5101 from 7am-9:30pm. Same day reservations accepted until 4 pm.
Speciality Dining Package: Culinary passport for $60 pp plus tax. You get a dinner at Little Italy, East Meets West, Lazy J Steakhouse and Jefferson’s Bistro. You save $10 this way and can make all your reservations on Saturday. Upgrades for teppanyaki or sushi available for additional fee. Purchase from Dining Desk next to Guest Services.
BLT from room service, burgers/pizza/fries from room service or pool, pretzel rolls at buffet
Robes provided for balcony and above cabins. If it’s not in the closet, ask the room steward for them.
You cannot order bar setups in your cabins on the POAm
You cannot bring your own alcohol (except wine) on the POAm
You can bring wine onboard, pay a $15 per bottle corkage fee, and enjoy your wine any place on the ship.
You can bring all the bottled water and soda that you want on board with you to enjoy in your cabin or anyplace.
You can purchase alcohol at many bars/lounges and in the dining rooms onboard. You can then take those drinks back to your cabin if you want.
They do have an “honor bar” set-up in the refrigerators when you arrive with overpriced soda, candy and the little alcohol bottles. If you drink it, they will charge you and replace it.
If you don’t want to use the honor bar and would rather use the fridge for your own items, then simply tell the room steward that you wish it removed. (This is especially important if you have kids who might secretly snag a candy bar or a soda.)
Tips automatically added onboard account
INTERNET PLANS (6/2009)
Cost to setup account for POA (same as for all NCL ships) is one time account activation fee for the duration of the cruise is $3.95 (“applies to all users on first login only”)
Time Plan 1 is $100 for 250 minutes @ $0.40/min.
Time Plan 2 is $55 for 100 minutes @ $0.55/min.
Pay as you go is $0.75/min.
Printing is $0.50 per print job (regardless of # of pages ?? / not sure as never used it)
All prices for POA internet services do not include HI state sales tax of 4.166%
All staterooms are equipped with an Ethernet port (RJ-45) – bring your own RJ45 cable, also available at the Internet Cafe during manager’s desk hours & to be return by 10 pm Friday night (before debarkation) or you will be charged for it. Wireless is available in public lounges and users can connect to SSID “mtndsi”. Internet Cafe has 10 computers that print, headphones, 1 media card reader, and 1 usb port for connection.
is there a charge to connect pc in public areas.. I just got a laptop new and havnt used outside of home.
john and mary
Yes, there is a charge to use internet onboard, regardless if you use their computers or your computer.
Rebecca, I see a mention of pulling cash from the “casino.” I don’t think the POAm has a casino. This may be old information about another NCL ship as I think all ships charge fees for pulling from the casino no matter what line you sail on.
Lisa – Thanks for catching that! POA doesn’t have a casino so it doesn’t apply. I have not been on an NCL ship with a casino yet but people on CruiseCritic have said that you can get slot machine vouchers from the Cashier, put them into the machine, hit cash out, and exchange the new voucher for cash. That’s how you can avoid paying the fee to get cash from our onboard account.
Just loved your web site and all your kindness in sahring. We have spoken before but I have one ? for HAWAII………IF YOU DONT DROPOFF LUGGAGE IS THAT A PROBLEM WITH THRIFTY GETTING YOU BACK TO THE PIER
JOHN
John – Yes, you’ll be fine if you don’t dropoff your luggage. The Thrifty shuttle to the pier is a full-sized bus that you see at airports so there is plenty of room for your luggage.
thanks and you are such a nice person. I truly wish you and your husband at least as many years married as mary and I ()……
39years.
..Thanks forall your help and will let you know how our `15 days in hawaii went
Alcohol – I can’t find any prices for drinks, like Mai Tais, Margaritas, rum, beer. On our last RCL cruise, there was a special on a bucket of beer. If we wanted a couple of night caps in our room, would we have to purchase them at the bar and bring them to our cabin ourselves? or is there room service for these drinks? You have a wonderful review and I am enjoying the experience thru your website. We are on POA January 2012. Thanks. Sn0flake
Sorry to bother you, but do you have ANY alcohol pricing information?? All
I read about is how expensive they are but no specifics. Can’t seem to find anything on the web.
Thanks
Sue
It’s about $7-9 for cocktails, including the mandatory gratuity. You can find a recent bar menu here:
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1586768