NCL Pride Of America Pt.1 - Honolulu Embarkation, Balcony Cabin Tour, Old School Muster, Hula Lesson

[@lawrencepayteniii7915]

Brings back memories. Worked on things ship 15 years ago.

[@kennethdrizzo]

You guys are awesome! Not only do you inform us but you entertain us too. Keep up the great work.

[@parodeejay]

Thanks so much! Glad to have you along for the craziness, as always!! :D

[@sueshaw1879]

You guys were the most sweetest down to earth people

[@parodeejay]

Thanks so much! Great to meet ya!! :D

[@salliestewart4713]

That sunset view on sail away was breath taking!!

[@parodeejay]

Nothing quite like a sunset at sea!! :D

[@leslyehowell3390]

Just clapped at the Hulu performance on pool deck. Dee great huluing! Hawaiian line dancing.

[@parodeejay]

Thankee thankee!! :D

[@azjazzo]

Love when you interact with other cruise you tubers. You all seem to have fun.

[@parodeejay]

We’ve really enjoyed meeting up with fellow folks that we watch!! :D

[@melissahuston6164]

LOVE your videos! Dad’s hair is always super cute! Your room review was great bc you show the little things we would never have found. Thanks guys! ❤

[@CristiHarris]

I miss Hawaiian sunsets. Thanks for giving us one. Such fun!

[@parodeejay]

Always love a good sunset, especially when on a cruise!! :D

[@NauticalNurseNancy]

FINALLY you get a muster station "J" Jay!! How interesting that it's the "old school" kind of muster; I wonder why! How very fun that you could join the EECC gang with this cruise! Cruising with cruise family is THE BEST!!! I enjoyed seeing the hula class and your wonderful spin, Jay! I enjoy NCL cruising as well as all those cruiseline! Looking forward to more!!

[@parodeejay]

We were so surprised to see the old muster drill again, but at least we had the best letter this time!! :P ~Jay

[@danielfletcher5759]

Thanks!

[@eprohoda]

Hello! wow~ unreal video, all the best. ;))

[@skmitchell98]

Jay, your hula was on point! Our cabinet in the bathroom opened from the bottom… it had 3 or 4 shelves. So glad you both joined us on the cruise 🍍😎

[@parodeejay]

I’ve seen those corner mirror cabinets that open with the little triangular glass shelves inside, and this looked exactly the same. Couldn’t get it to open though, ha ha!! ~Jay

[@Pacificaner]

I love watching you video, I feel like I am on the trip with you. Thank you and as we say here... Mahalo Plenty!

[@garychave7315]

You two are the best. We look forward to your vlogs everyday,

[@parodeejay]

Thanks so much for joining our fun!! :D

[@jojoinrancho320]

Just now watching this series. Love your Hawaiian outfits! Your videos are wonderful, funny & very informative. Thanks!

[@sarahmcclellan8156]

The ship decor reminds me of the American Pavilion at Epcot!

[@justmee2477]

You right! I knew it reminded me of something. 🙂

[@parodeejay]

Hah, it really does have that old school Americana vibe!! :D

[@irenebolger4096]

Looking forward to this series, always enjoy your videos!

[@parodeejay]

Thanks so much for joining our craziness!! :P

[@phrewilly8556]

Great video! The ship gives me Vibes of the USA Pavilion at Epcot in Disney!

[@parodeejay]

It really does! All that old school Americana!! :D

[@michelleb749]

Bringing back great memories.

[@parodeejay]

We really found Hawaii to be a place for making fantastic memories!! :D

[@floridadreams263]

I was just looking at booking this cruise so I am so happy for this series. You two are great. I love your videos. Thanks for sharing!

[@janeisch6143]

We did the cruise in January and we would recommend it to anyone! It was great!!

[@2luvjazz]

Yay, I was waiting for this new series! Can’t wait for more.

[@parodeejay]

We were super excited for this one!! :D

[@geofflara1]

Yes!!! She was my home for 2 years.

[@parodeejay]

We loved the quaint vibe and the older ship feel, and she seems well-cared for. Woohoo!! :D

[@shalonfreeman9068]

You guys are the best. Love the energy, As a travel advisor, I thrive on this type of content for details/ information and those cruise vibes. Awesome keep up the good work.

[@cindyadams2711]

Happy 4th… Enjoy watching all your adventures 😎❤️

[@parodeejay]

Thankee thankee!! :D

[@laverneamacker9434]

Jay you look so nice! Love the shirt! Dee as well! 😊

[@parodeejay]

Thanks so much!! :D

[@idapeterkin2687]

The ship is stunning 😍. Hopefully the staff will get larger as time goes on. And all the food look delicious 😋. Thanks for sharing.

[@parodeejay]

We missed having some of the venues open. Would have been curious to try the shave ice onboard, hah. Maybe next time!! :P

[@idapeterkin2687]

@@parodeejay. Next time

[@joannewhitman313]

I’m in 10534 in September. Great seeing the view from your cabin.

[@parodeejay]

Nice! Hope you have an amazing time!! :D

[@nancywho52]

Y’all are the BEST!❤️

[@parodeejay]

Thankee thankee!! :D

[@kathyromack9314]

Definitely doing Hawaii next May 2023 because we had to cancel our 2020 Hawaii trip. Considering a cruise so I am very interested in your vlog. As of right now we are thinking a couple nights in Waikiki then 5 nights at Aulani. Hard to pass up doing the Disney resort on Oahu because the actual stay won’t cost us anything but our points. I think a cruise may have to wait for another trip but it does seem like a good way to see several islands and this ship would be our first choice. Thanks for your content!

[@parodeejay]

We thought about going to take a peek at the Aulani property but it was sort of in an odd, out-of-the-way part of the island, hah. Sounds like an awesome trip though!! :D

[@marywilliams2522]

On my bucket list!! This was great. I can't wait to watch the rest of your videos for this trip.

[@parodeejay]

Thanks so much! This was definitely an awesome bucket list trip for us too!! :D

[@leslyehowell3390]

Chairs from dining, bar, pool deck. I have learned to check out what is above and below your deck. Had a stateroom below of some busy chair being moved around late into the night. You course didn’t what your room would be. Meals look good.

[@parodeejay]

Oh yeeeeeah, we try to avoid dining rooms, lido areas, places with chair dragging when we can. But we rolled the dice and lucked out with our upgrade bid this time!!

[@anakerose]

I love the intro ❤

[@parodeejay]

First time we’ve ever done a “home” intro, hah. Originally, Hanauma was going to combine with embarkation, but Editing Jay decided to change that after seeing how much footage we had!! :P ~Jay

[@raymondplodzien7459]

Excited to see how the rest of the cruise goes. Planning on this exact cruise in the future.

[@parodeejay]

Woohoo, hope you have fun planning your adventures!! :D

[@valeriewagner-gautier1558]

It was nice meeting you and having dinner with you.

[@parodeejay]

Nice to meet you too!! :D

[@sherrispringer5152]

May doing the hula made my day

[@ruthhersh6779]

You are such an adorable couple!

[@fallguy4209]

Omg so cool you guys spotted Kevin and alessa eecc

[@indylaura99]

My one big complaint about our room on the NCL Bliss was the closet placement. It faced the side of the couch and they were probably 4 inches apart. You could not get in between. You basically had to kneel on the couch to get to the left side of the closet which is where you had the hanging section. The right side was shelves and easier to get to.

[@parodeejay]

Ooooh, that sounds awkwardly terrible! We’ve struggled with storage in NCL rooms before, but this one wasn’t too bad for us!!

[@fantasticvoyages-sg8sw]

Love the shirt Jay! Very snazzy :-)

[@parodeejay]

Thankee thankee!! :D

[@wendysoulliere1305]

Good looking ship.

[@resjohnpetry6188]

I'm super interested in doing this cruise, versus the 14 day on Carnival. Too many sea days.

[@parodeejay]

We were slightly afraid of all those sea days too, ha ha… but I’m sure we’ll eventually try that option. We loooved how long we got in the ports on this sailing though!! :D

[@chictown]

Loved your embarkation experience! Better than ours....Booked through NCL, flight was delayed and the NCL rep at the airport handed us a piece of paper with an "800" number on it and told us we'd have to make our own arrangements for getting to the first port (missed the ship).NCL rep on the '800' line was of no assistance. I had to make my own arrangements for our hotel and flight. Worst customer service on a ship I ever experienced (this was pre-Covid) out of over 30 cruises.

[@parodeejay]

Oh wow, that’s crazy!! :O

[@christinav3619]

Happy 4th of July Jay and Dee!! Love watching your videos!! ❤️🇺🇸

[@resjohnpetry6188]

Yay! I have been waiting for this series.

[@parodeejay]

Thankee thankee!! :D

[@michelletaylor8895]

Sunsets are the best in Hawaii.

[@idospas1]

That's too funny The cameraman by the pool him and his wife are a traveling company specializing in cruises. I wonder if you made it into his cut lol

[@burgersatsea3763]

QUESTION….you showed 6:30 as final boarding but what time did boarding start? Just asking since there were no people around while you boarded.

[@parodeejay]

I believe boarding started around 1:00pm so most everyone was on the ship by the time we showed up, ha ha... :D

[@kyraneizmen3848]

Were u guys given a boarding time? Our cruise on POA is 8/27 & I still haven’t received a boarding time. Should I call NCL?

[@parodeejay]

@Kyra Neizmen We were assigned a boarding time slot during the online check-in process, yes.

[@cyndimeade3828]

Good morning, You said you got an upgrade from an interior room to a balcony. Did you like the balcony room? Did you like the ship?

[@johnmys5am]

24:12 Lookin' good Dee!

[@evietowe]

What stateroom # were you in? I leave on POA this Sunday and we have a balcony room. I don’t think I’d be too happy if we had an obstructed view like this room, but I understand yours was an upgrade.

[@parodeejay]

Cabin 4073 according to my old notes, so hopefully that was correct!! :D

[@sjacko1066]

I get that you guys love to vlog, but I would be absolutely pissed if I was in that band or a paying passenger to have some man, and just walk over in front of everyone just to get some content for his channel! They need to show some respect for the performers and the rest of the audience! This is why I love your channel as your the absolute opposite to these people!! Great work guys!

[@juliesotelo3771]

100% I was SHOCKED when I saw him do that. How rude & legit cringy

[@Timbuktu447]

I was thinking the same thing..most vloggers seem to be so obnoxious..except parodeejay and la lido loca..those are the only cruise vlogs I watch

[@idospas1]

Eecc travels, they were the ones that were recording and his wife was dancing right next to you in the peach shirt. I wish I could find your next video of Maui I went through them all can't find it

[@631Slotz]

Love the videos! New subscriber! I was just wondering what camera you use?

[@parodeejay]

We put all that info in the description of every video for the tech curious, hah. Our main cam is an old Canon G7X Mark II. :P

[@ttor50]

We just got off the ship last Sunday. The ship was less than half full, consequently they have made a lot of cuts. Some of the restaurants weren't open but there was still plenty of places to eat. Entertainment was tough to find. There was only one singer and one comedian that performed two shows each for the entire week. No band , no dancers, not piano bar to relax in. Even the few provided television channels were often not working. The Japanese channel was always crystal though. The internet never worked for us either. It is still a good option for first time travelers to see a number of islands but expect to be a little bored once the sun goes down.

[@QuilXT]

If you aren't going to use the excursions from the Cruise company, where would you recommend other travels find good and reputable excursions for each port? I like to Scuba Dive, and Carnival's excursions on their website seem to be lacking on scuba excursions, despite many of the ports in the Bahamas and Caribbean having plenty of places to dive from.

[@parodeejay]

We’ve heard recently that some cruise lines are shying away from scuba excursions. Weird! We normally shop around on Viator and Shore Excursioneer to find independent tours.

[@Pacificaner]

During the cruise I would personally stick to the Cruise sponsored excursions. Main reason is that they will hold the ship if you are running late. Don't want to miss the boat. Many action activities you can do in port in Honolulu before or after your cruise.

[@mpmccarthy556]

Dee, My wife would love to know where you got your shorts. Ty :)

[@Dee-of-ParoDeeJay]

They are from Old Navy called Stretch Tech. They dry quickly and are super light weight.

[@travelwithus750]

So we are going on Ncl for first time in October to for New England cruise. We have a ocean view room and balcony cost outright is 500 more total. How do we get in on this so called balcony bud thingy.

[@parodeejay]

They emailed us to let us know bidding was open and we clicked through that email. It might not be available on all sailings, but I imagine they like that extra money, so they probably will offer it closer to the sail date.

[@EdyesWWKitchen]

How do upgrade bids work?

[@parodeejay]

We received an email stating the minimum required amount to bid for various cabin types and you can click through to let them know how much you’re willing to pay. Highest bidder takes it, sort of like a “silent” auction, I suppose!! :P

[@estherramax6330]

how early can you get on the ship? we are going on that cruise in December. How did you get your tutor car when you landed at the HNL airport?

[@ShawnQuish0904]

Did they have Pride of America T-shirts onboard for sale? Model ship?

[@parodeejay]

We saw some tees in the shops, but I actually don’t recall seeing a ship model. Huh!!

[@nftsavage585]

I currently only have my California Drivers License and i want to book this cruise soon and I will not have enough time to get my passport. Am I able to embark and disembark the Pride Of America with my California Drivers License only? Thanks

[@ronaldboonstra4834]

Yay 🙂

[@joeorozco316]

How do you do the upgrade bids? I am going on this boat in Nov. Already bought tix. Can i still upgrade?

[@parodeejay]

You do have to be booked in first, so it sounds like you’re good there. From what I remember, we received an email letting us know that bidding for upgrades was available on our sailing, and we clicked through that.

[@joeorozco316]

@@parodeejay Thanks!

[@amma2x310]

In my head I'm there with you. Don't mind me, I'll be very quiet😃.

[@parodeejay]

Welcome to the craziness, ha ha… it’s never quiet in here!! :P

[@Dallas00445]

What do you used to edit your videos with? How do you take video and photos from other devices and put them in one video?

[@parodeejay]

I never recommend the software I use because if I was starting over, I'd most likely choose something different, ha ha... you can get away with simple freebie programs like Movie Maker or iMovie, complicated freebie programs like DaVinci Resolve, or complicated paid programs like Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro!! :D ~Jay

[@Dallas00445]

@@parodeejay Thank You for the information! You two do a Great Job with videos that have very helpful information!

[@debbiegibson3604]

It's sort of spooky to be on a ship that empty!

[@parodeejay]

We remember the barely-full ships back at the restart of cruising, and sometimes it’s just TOO empty, hah!! :P

[@jepcozenith40]

Side story... I honeymooned on the Pride of Hawaii. Sister ship. A maiden voyage from LA. The PofH is now relocated and renamed the Jade.

[@parodeejay]

Oh wow, I hadn’t done any research into the history to know there were sister ships, but that makes sense. How cool!! :D

[@fallguy4209]

How much did you bid for your upgrade

[@parodeejay]

We typically only bid $20-$30 over the "minimum" recommended, which would vary by sailing. They email you all those amounts if/when you receive the opportunity to bid. Since the ship was such low capacity, I guess that increased the odds of having a bid accepted!! :P

[@Just_a_normal_guy11]

That 150 per day or per entire trip? Tha ks for information.

[@parodeejay]

$300 flat for the balcony upgrade for the entire trip!! :D

[@johnnolan5579]

What is the reason cruise ships don't put the hairdryer in the bathroom?

[@live2skide1]

those bathrooms are so tiny, so I presume you would bang your elbows trying to do your hair.

[@parodeejay]

We’ve seen the hairdryers in some ship bathrooms, but I guess they figure the vanity desk area might give more room. Hmm.

[@johnnolan5579]

@@parodeejay I find it strange because don't most people keep their hair dryers in the bathroom? There is something they aren't tell us! lol.

[@JN-rd6gv]

this is a usa only boat.... im not surprised that its mostly 120 outlets

[@anaheimskip]

Pride of America was originally intended to replace the Independence (which I sailed on in 1986) and Patriot (interesting story on her ability to enter US service). The owner of American Hawaii Cruises went bankrupt. So, that would explain that more old school feel. The Independence was a classic cruise ship. Looks like the intent was to create a modern-day version of her. My concern would be what happens when Pride of America reaches what would be her normal end of life. Pride of Aloha (now Norwegian Sky) is even older. So, should have at least 10 more years in her. Whenever Sky is retired, calculate the end of life for Pride of America from there. The US Government has allowed NCL to fly the US Flag in ships built outside the US. Even Pride of America was outfitted in Germany. So, might not be an issue, so long as the government doesn't require a ship completely built in the US. That cruise terminal also is nicer than before. It was more warehouse like. Also, I remember it next to the Aloha Tower. So many great memories of my Hawaii cruise from 36 years ago. I was only 11. My parents let me do as I pleased. I signed for my own drinks (Shirley Temples) at the bars. Stayed up until they closed the youth room. Played a Shepard in the Christmas Nativity pageant. Went back on the tender by myself while my parents, sister and "grandma" shopped in Kona. Had a mad crush on the youth cruise director (she had to be between 19 and 24) ... Mary Hogan was her name. She was the first person I met onboard and her first visitor to the youth center. I never will forget when she put a shell lei on my and gave me traditional lei greeting kiss. Good memories.

[@parodeejay]

Oh wow, that’s awesome to hear some of the history of the ships and all. Thanks for sharing your experiences!! :D

[@Pacificaner]

Good Memories of a/lasting a Lifetime. So fortunate you traveled with your family, even sweeter. Childhood crushes, they are the best.. Sweet and Innocent. You enjoyed an amazing Aloha Hawaii Vacation, that many won't have or know the true pleasure like you had done. God Bless and Aloha from Hawaii!

[@chirstinegarcia8866]

You both are too cute🌺

[@parodeejay]

Thankee thankee!! :D

[@erickuntz9045]

You can show a photo of your vaccination card, correct? Do they take your luggage to your room?

[@debbief2882]

That ship has all American staff, doesn't it?

[@parodeejay]

Not all American, but they have to obey US labor laws when hiring international staff.

[@lanfear63]

Boards the ship and goes straight to check out the casino, oh sorry that's me.

[@parodeejay]

No casino on Pride Of America, sadly!! :P

[@Pacificaner]

​@@parodeejayyes US ship and waters and destination, no casino. Need a cruise to Canada or South Pacific etc from US to to US to include casino. Just make a Vegas leg if you really have the bug. Personally seeing the Islands from the Sea is a beautiful rich experience.

[@sueshaw1879]

Where I met u guys on Freedom I never realized Dee is tall she never looks tall on camera

[@jackiebyers3424]

It may appear that way to you since they both are very tall - they have disclosed that Jay is 6'5" and Dee is 6'0"".

[@JN-rd6gv]

its identical to a crew bathroom lol

[@redmosquitox]

👍🏼❤️☀️

[@gayleshupack3532]

The reviews are so bad for the 7 night NCL Cruise to Hawaii, I'm afraid to book. But, the other cruise lines' itineraries are way too long, I don't have that kind of vacation time.

[@michelemccracken62]

Gross shower curtain, why can't they have a shower door like the rest of NCL ships?

[@thebraz21]

Shower curtain ruins it for me disgusting

[@parodeejay]

Definitely not our preferred choice of shower arrangement, ha ha!! :P

[@vitoandolini9150]

Video is way too long, commenting on inconsequential objects while you walk down a hallway. Let video and comment on a green light in port, and the large internet balls on the Pacific Collector.

[@parodeejay]

Welcome to our style of random observational content! We've been doing it for seven years now, ha ha... :P