NCL Pride of America Embarkation
At just about noon, we asked the front desk at the Hotel Renew to call a taxi for us. I gave the desk clerks a few origami cranes as a thank-you, and we headed downstairs. A white limosine was waiting for us. I wondered what lucky honeymooning couple was going to have that - and it turns out it was for us! It was the standard $25 taxi fare, going first class. We were quite happy :) It also fit the golf club bag nicely!It was about a 15 minute drive to get from the Waikiki beach area to the dock area. There were literally only one or two people getting bags out of their cars by the security gate. They looked at our photo IDs and boarding pass, then waved us through. At the next station there was no wait at all to put our bags on the carts. Then there were two lines for Latitudes and non-Latitudes members. Both went through very quick airline security type checks with metal detectors. We checked in our four bottles of wine here and signed for the corkage fee. They gave us a receipt which listed the full name of each bottle on it. Then on to the main check in! We avoided the photo op area and literally there was no line at all for either side. We walked right up to the completely empty Latitudes desk. We hit there at 12:42pm. About 5 minutes later they had checked our passports, taken our credit card, taken our photos for our records and handed over our key cards. We were set!
We took the escalator up and about 1 minute later we were stepping on the ship. This has got to be the easiest time getting on to a ship ever. Apparently they say between now and 2 things get insane, so getting here "early" seems to really pay off. We went to the dinner reservations desk which was right there and made our reservations for tonight and tomorrow night. You can only do one night in advance for reservations.. For tonight because we had the Expedia buy-one-get-one-free coupon that was only good on the first night, we got Teppanyaki (Japanese table cooking). They do have 50% off specials each night but they always exclude Teppanyaki, so we decided to grab it while we could. For tomorrow night we reserved Little Italy - this is a free restaurant but they require reservations, and because it's small, good and free, it fills up REALLY quickly once people discover it. We set times of 6pm for each - just after sunset, but early enough so we could see us sail away at 8pm (Sat night) and get to our Meet & Greet at 8pm (Sun night). Note that Wednesday night is the "steak and lobster" night in the main dining rooms (i.e. the free ones) but our experience on cruise ships is that they get cheap lobster and it's not worth singling out.
Dress code is collared shirts in all restaurants, and nice jeans are OK everywhere but the large Liberty restaurant. On the very first night anything goes because they assume you might not have gotten your luggage yet. I will note that I talked with two people who ate in Jefferson Bistro (the fancy French restaurant) the first night and that it was disconcerting to have a formal lovely dinner with people in loud t-shirts and flip flops next to you. So if you're going for the ambiance, I'd suggest not eating here the first night.
Great! Now up to the Aloha Cafe for some food! There was Christmas music playing throughout the ship - the hallways, the cafe, etc. The cafe was nice enough in its decor, with tropical colors. I was a bit disappointed with the salad bar - it had two types of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, maybe 2 or 3 other items and a few dressings. Vegetarians might find it a bit rough to build a nice salad here. They had a meat carving station, a deli area, a pizza area, a burger area and a dessert station.
The battered cod was soggy, and the risotto had hard bits in it and was lukewarm. The island fruity rice was so-so. The sauteed bok choi with mushrooms was really good. The broiled mahi with fruit was tasty, with a nice peppery flavor. The broiled tri-tip was nice as well. The pizza was a little "bakey". The mashed potatoes were lukewarm. The burger station seems well laid out with chili, sauteed onions and lots of toppings.
The biggest plates are by the pizza station if you are looking for a big plate. The salad area only has small plates, hard for someone like me who likes a salad as a main dish. You have to go seek out a bigger plate. They don't have trays. There are no buy-one-get-one free drinks at all on this first day, nor are there coupons for bogo. I went down the hall a little to the bar for a glass of sparkling wine!
We have the very back center balcony on deck 8, and the balcony is REALLY large. It was a great upgrade from our "guarantee" of the lowest level balcony available. We had only just gotten out on the balcony when we got sprayed from the right balcony :) Apparently maintenance was out there spraying off the salt. It was only a short while later when they came into our room to spray our balcony clear of salt and such. We put our bottles of wine in the fridge and were pleased to find a bottle of Champagne waiting there for us! A nice treat :) There was also a flyer saying we were invited to a special party on Monday evening at 7pm. I guess our Monday evening is becoming a little more booked with social events!
Our luggage wasn't here yet, but we unpacked our carry ons and settled in to relax a bit before the 4pm life jacket muster drill. I have a Verizon Wireless internet adaptor, so I hooked that in - the laptop connected perfectly to the web, and I was able to upload photos! Our first luggage piece was delivered at 3pm. We do have a noise meter with us, but as the ship is sitting still, this back aft balcony is very quiet :) The closet layout is very nice - but there are very few "drawers" for clothes. There are two little ones next to the closet, and two little ones underneath the fridge. The drawer above the TV holds a safe.
Photos from Embarkation - including today's dailies!
Hawaii Travelogue and Photos
Cruise Tips and Information
Main Travelogue Listing