NCL oki or not

[specialme]

My wife & I are going on an Hawaiian cruise for first time on Feb. 10, 2007 on NCL Wind with http://www.norwegian-cruise-lines.net.
Since we did not want to take the 4-5 days to cruise from the west coast before getting to Hawaii, we were

pretty much limited to NCL, which seems to "own" Hawaii.
My concern is this: Since NCL is the only cruise line that does just Hawaii, would that mean that they have

less incentive to give good service? Having no competition from other cruise lines is a concern.
We have been on two cruises before, both in the Caribbean. There, many cruise lines "battle" for the market.

Not certain why the same is not true for Hawaii?
Please let me know if the "lack" of competition for the Hawaii cruise is valid as a concern?

[HW tenpin]

You might try Princess Cruises
Island Princess
Taking in Honolulu, Nawilwili, Lahaina, Kona, & Hilo from LA or
Tahitian Princess from Honolulu, Nawilwili. Hilo, Christmas Island, Bora Bora and on to LA.
Costa cruises may be doing one in 2007 though not in Brochure yet they are always last getting them out.

Both in my view better than NCL although their new ship that is based in Hawaii is supposed to be awesome. If you hav'nt booked it yet.

[babushka]

My husband and I just got back from a 10 day cruise to Hawaii aboard the Norwegian Wind. Unfortunately it was the cruise from hell. A few days into the cruise we became ill with a Norwalk like virus. I can't even describe how horrible this virus is. According to the Captain about 3% of passengers had this ailment. I have found that on the prior cruise people were sick with it as well. As far as the ship is concerned the rooms are very small, the food is not bad but not great either. The Bistro was the best restaurant but of course you have to pay extra for this. The entertainment was ok. Didn't see a lot of the ports as we were ill for most of the voyage. Some staff are friendly but a lot of them were snotty. I would suggest you contact the CDC website to see if there are any outbreaks of norovirus on your ship. If so, don't go. Brenda Hamilton

[HW tenpin]

Sorry you had such a bad time Brenda, that virus can be nasty, although in most cases it is over in 48hrs. I would be interested to know if NCL offered free jabs to those affected.

I am not sure where NCL are going in the cruise market, the rather garish decor, the overcrowded cabins and tacky public areas, are a far cry from the old NCL, ok I guess if you like that type of thing. The �Wind' was stretched back in the 90's but still remains quite a small ship by today's superliners standards. While I believe there is still a very good market for these smaller ships, somewhere along the line they seemed to have lost the plot.

You might try Princess, Costa & P&O for almost the same money but certainly more luxurious.

[babushka]

Not sure what you mean by free jabs but didn't charge for medical treatment or meds. As far as reimbursing us for our troubles they gave us each $100 credit on our bill. Better than nothing I guess. Hope you have a great time.