Welcome to Suite 10002 on NCL's Pride of America!

What's that sound? Oh someone has come to visit our humble abode and is ringing the doorbell. Let's let them in for a tour!

Our suite was known as the Hibiscus Suite. We soon learned that the crew think of the cabin numbers as 10 thousand 2. Each time we'd spell out 1-0-0-0-2, they'd respond "Ok 10 thousand 2."

We were the furthest suite forward on the starboard side before you get to suite 10000 which runs straight across the bow. The fish on the carpet pattern always swim forward except for that one rebellious red fish. Can you spot the red fish?

That white box on the bottom is our doorbell. I found it funny that the little bell icon printed in the corner is printed upside down. NCL doesn't do the "do not disturb" door tags like other lines. The top is a rotating wheel which you spun by the bottom until the message you wanted to display for the steward was shown. Your choices were "Welcome," "Do Not Disturb," "Make Up Room," or "Turn Down Room." The picture on the right is our door from the inside. 

When you're facing the main door from the inside, the door to the main bathroom is on your right and the door to the powder room is on your left. I joked throughout this week that I'd have the best biceps by the end of our stay because all of the cabin doors with handles that turn felt like moving boulders.

When Dad and I stay in a suite with this secondary powder room, we consider it my personal bathroom since each time we've had it, I've also been sleeping on the sofa bed. The one on Celebrity was fine because it had a large square sink with space around it to stow things and a deep drawer underneath to stash my travel kit.

The only thing I liked about this bathroom is the liquid hand soap dispenser. I prefer liquid hand soap at home too as those fancy bar soaps hotels etc. provide never seem to make me feel clean. I soon learned to hold onto that toilet paper holder when trying to tear off a sheet or else the whole roll would go flying off the side of the holder. That sink was so shallow that I didn't even have enough room to rub my hands together between the sink and the faucet without it deflecting the water flow and spraying the wall. I spent so much time using that hand towel to wipe down the wall.

To contrast, here's what you see when you open the door off the living entryway to the main bathroom. A full size tub, two sinks with their own lighted mirrors and a vanity mirror in between. Yes that's a scale under the sink and the trash bin stowed away above it. Not only did each sink had its own set of washcloths and hand towels but extra washcloths were left on top by the mirror. Behind those towels are cabinets that open for shallow storage and where you found the bags for sanitary waste. The shower stall is next to the sink and the toilet cubby is next to it turning slightly so that the toilet itself is somewhat behind the shower stall.

Do you think they left us enough towels? That's my travel kit on the 2nd shelf up. I started stowing it there after the first morning when my kit fell off the edge of the sink leaving me fishing for my toiletries between the sink and bathtub. We had at least 5 big white towels, 5 hand towels, 3 striped pool towels, and about 10 washcloths replenished after any use in addition to the ones hanging at the sink. Those hooks my bathing suit is hanging on was only a couple of hanging space options for wet items we found in the cabin. There was no clothesline to pull across the shower like most every other line has had.

This is the view looking back when you're in the toilet cubby space. There was a phone in here. I'm curious if they can tell how many room service calls are made from that phone.

The shower stall was nice and spacious. No wall mounted dispensers with shampoo/body wash combo this time. I liked that the shower door knob required you to turn it to force out the bar to connect to the other side for a true locking without leaks. The floor felt secure even without a mat. There's a prison style glass mirror mounted on the wall inside the shower stall. I guess it's meant for men who shave their face in the shower?  I didn't see any grab bars in the shower though so keep that in mind if you have someone in your party that needs to hold on to something when moving around or getting in and out of the shower.

I'm 5'7" and those 3 sprayers at the bottom of the showerhead hit me right in the torso. Plenty of room to stand under the top showerhead and I do appreciate when I find a handheld sprayer in the hotel or cruise ship bathrooms. Took a little trial and error though to figure out which of those top 3 knobs were for what part of this high tech showerhead. (Right) These two recessed shelves built into the wall on the left when facing the showerhead was really nice. We mostly used the provided little bottles of shampoo and body wash but this worked for both those, our own larger size products, and to hold the washcloth during the shower so there was no knocking things over when I bumbled about with shampoo running into my eyes.

Dad used this sink right next to the shower. He raved the whole time about the close up shaving mirror that is mounted on a swivel arm between the two sinks. While I loved the liquid hand soap in the powder room, it was weird that the soap dispensers in this bathroom (to the right of the sink by his travel case) were always empty.

In case anyone is partial to knowing what the "premium" toiletries are, I think these were from Bvlgari brand. The two clear bottles on the right were the body wash/shampoo and the white filled bottles were conditioner and probably a body lotion. First time I'd noticed a lip balm and a shower pouf included. I'm one of those people that won't leave my toothbrush out in a hotel or cruise cabin so when I travel I specifically buy the tiny sized shower poufs - one for each different place I'm staying and then toss them at the end of that stay. So NCL definitely scored points by providing a fresh pouf. (Disclaimer: The one in the picture above is the one I packed but I did open it up and found it similar to mine.)

Our full size tub which we never used. Note though that this does have grab bars on each side to lower yourself in and out. 

 

I'm not sure if these bars mounted on the wall were meant to be grab bars, towel racks, or drying for wet clothes you don't mind folding over to hang?

Here is the doorway to go from the bathroom through the dressing area/closet. That curtain marks the start of the bedroom space. Not only was there no door or curtain separating the bathroom from the dressing area but there was a lip to step up and over. Definitely one to watch out for if you have limited mobility, are super tired getting out of bed to visit the bathroom, or if you've completed your own personal bar crawl before returning to the cabin. That whole wall on the right is a full length mirror which had a plug around midway up. Nice touch if you are using any electric powered product that requires standing in front of the mirror.

View looking back from the bedroom:

This was a nice but narrow dressing area and closet storage. A vanity space with stool and lighted mirror for makeup etc. It's also the best place in the cabin for plugging in electronics to charge in a space that lets your device sit flat while charging. A lot of the other plugs were wall mounted requiring you to stretch the charging cable across to a table. There was only one US outlet there so we traded off charging our devices. There is a hairdryer sitting in a stand on the side there. I didn't use it personally but it seemed to have plenty of power. 

A more zoomed out view shows the hanging space and upper shelves. That top shelf was a little bit out of my reach so Dad mostly kept his things up there. We stowed our two big suitcases pushed up against the wall under the hanging clothes. There is no lower bar so they fit flush with the wall and were only a problem when I had to push my clothes aside to get something out of the suitcase. Dad didn't think there was a lot of storage for clothes and elected to just lay his non hanging items across the green felt lined top of drawers in the back. There was two small but deep drawers next to the vanity, two large drawers in the back (though their opening was limited with our suitcases there), and a few drawers and shelves next to those white robes at the front right of this picture. I put my non hanging items in one of those back drawers and two of the drawers under the safe. I stuck shoes and meds on the open shelves above the safe. That left at least two drawers for Dad but when he opted to leave his clothes spread out, I used the extra drawers to stow laundry so it stayed separate from the clean clothes.

Main bedroom space - There is a smaller TV and second phone in here as well as a 2nd set of doors to the balcony. 

Doors closed - there was also a blackout curtain for the doorway but from my vantage point in the living room, I could see when Dad would have the light on because it would shine underneath the curtain.

Doors open - the actual opening is not as big as the door frame since there's glass panels on each side.

Note the small space between the end of the bench and the sliding doors. The TV stand and dual nightstands did have some storage if you have smaller items.

With 3 CPAP users in our party, we called ahead pre-cruise to NCL's special needs department and requested distilled water for the cabin. Upon arrival we had a gallon sitting on the bar and later our butler offered to bring by an extension cord. The cord was just enough to reach the plug on the wall by the doorway but the nightstand was the perfect size to hold the machine securely.

You can access the balcony by the sliding door off the bedroom and another set of sliding doors off of the living room. Our balcony had the hot tub, two loungers and a small table in between, plus a table with 4 dining chairs. I liked that it was essentially all covered creating a cove balcony feeling out the two openings. All the furniture is wicker but it all held up well for this full figured gal. The cushions, while sliding frequently as you got on and off, felt firm but not brand new. I liked the clever idea of creating a hook and latch for the balcony lounger cushions so they can't go flying off in high winds. Embarkation day on Oasis of the Seas had a quick storm move in and our balcony furniture and cushions went flying in separate directions thankfully stopped by the high railings.

When it came to going in and out to the balcony via the living room door, it meant a little bit of step out and side stepping because there was only a small space between the doorway and the side of the hot tub.

While I left the powder room bathroom light on and shut the door when I was ready for bed, that only lit my way from the sofa bed to the bathroom. Once I shut the bathroom door again and turned to face the room, it was pitch black. After having to walk through the room like a mime in a box, I learned to leave the balcony curtain open a little bit to let moonlight in before going to bed. This only worked because I had separate sleeping quarters than Dad. I like being able to roll over in the middle of the night and look out the window to see where we are. Dad insists on total quiet and darkness when he sleeps.

The rest of the cabin was a big wide open space that combined what you could think of as a living room, office, dining room, and kitchenette/wet bar space. 

Just off the bedroom is a similarly large window next to the desk. At first glance you'd think it was a 3rd set of doors to the balcony but this was only windows. We like to keep the daily schedules for bringing home so we find it's easiest to use one of the smaller top drawers of a desk like this to house all the papers we accumulate during the cruise. I sort through the papers closer to the end of the cruise and it keeps the desk or countertop space clear. All of our main suite perk communication and shore excursion tickets was stacked up in that desk caddy and we had a nice pen and pad set. I love collecting pens with the cruise line's name or logo on it so that pen found its way into my luggage. The cabinet under the desk drawers held spare bedding I discovered when I was freezing on the sofa bed the first night.

We did once or twice use our dining table to sit and eat but for the most part it was a catch all for our stuff.

The main living room setup initially consisted of a couch, two regular chairs, a bigger TV, and a coffee table. Once the sofa bed was made up, our steward pushed the coffee table up against the wall under the TV and left the two chairs next to the far edge of the sofa bed facing the TV. While I'm sure Boni would have fixed it had we asked, he only ever remade the bed and left the other furniture out of place when cleaning the room in the morning. It was a little inconvenient to not be able to relax on the couch and have only one chair to sit in since the other was blocked by the mattress. The best outlet was on the wall under the TV and having the coffee table there meant having to become a contortionist to plug our phones in when I wanted to leave one charging and on for a morning alarm.

And for those who want to know what the sofa bed open looks like - You do feel where the edge of the couch itself is as a couch long lump if you can imagine where the couch arm ends all the way across. I'm 5'7" and am used to sleeping curled up on my side so the length was fine. I did figure out a few nights in that it was better support for me to put those back couch cushions along the head of the bed behind the pillows so it felt more like a headboard. While it looks like you might as well be sleeping on the floor since the mattress is so low, I was surprised that it took a little bit of reach over the side to touch the floor. Not much though, if that mattress was any less firm I might as well have just thrown the blanket on the floor to sleep. I did get a lot of work on my glutes by week's end having to squat thrust my way back upright after sitting on the edge of the bed. When it came to getting out of bed in the mornings though it was more of a tuck and roll off the side onto the floor and then turning back to get up on my knees and use the bed to push myself up. Definitely not for those with mobility issues but it should be okay for your child or teen. I would not recommend trying to sleep two on here. The things I do to enjoy the suite life!

Lastly is our little bar area. In the first picture you can see the connecting door between ours and Adam and Amy's cabins. It does have its own lock so you can feel secure if there's a stranger or those crazy in laws your spouse made you bring along that you don't like staying next door. The yellow green chair in the front corner of this first picture is the chair that sat butted up against the sofa bed mattress all week so you can get an idea of how tough it can be when you're trying to sleep and your neighbors decide to be loud enough for 10 people in their cabin.

We did have champagne in that ice bucket upon embarkation but we gave it to Adam and Amy along with the wine bottles that showed up on our bar counter by the evening. There was plenty of glasses in the top cabinet and a couple plates and silverware sets stowed in the cabinets behind the counter. Our little fruit bowl showed up but was never replenished until it was taken away on the second to last morning. I was glad to see a box of tissues on the bar as well as in the bathroom. Our ice bucket was always freshly filled. I didn't trust my booty on those curved stools.

Our owner's suite and above perks included coffee and tea from our own machine in the cabin. Our butler went to show us how to use it and replied "Well, it'll be a nice large black thing on your counter then" when we stopped him to explain we don't like coffee. We also had plain and sparkling bottled water included in our cabin category. Our butler promised that we'd always have 2 of each bottle on our counter replenished as needed. We kept a bottle of each in the fridge and went through it like well..water. Only wish I would have had is that we'd also had small bottles of water that we could take with us on tours.

We would have gotten our coffee and/or tea pods refilled routinely too if we ever used any. A nice assortment of those little sugar and faux sugar packets plus non refrigerated creamer cups.

Inside of our fridge - that note on the shelf does warn that the little airplane size bottles of liquor will be a charge if consumed but the bottled water and sodas were all included. No, that limited amount of soda cans in this picture are not a sign that we're soda -holics. Our butler showed us the included soda and offered to switch it out for a flavor of our choosing within their limited Pepsi offerings. I asked for Diet Pepsi and it was all changed by the next day. However, it took Dad calling 2/3rds into the cruise to ask if they have orange soda (yes from the Crush fruity flavors line of Pepsi was the answer) to confirm that we should have at least had the Diet Pepsi cans replaced all along. By the time we came back to the cabin that evening, our fridge was now full of Crush orange soda cans. Definitely be specific (i.e. 2 cans of this flavor, 3 cans of that flavor) if you want flavors to appeal to everyone in your cabin.

If you looked up from our cabin's balcony, you could see the bridge wing overhang that features the glass panel in the floor that officers use to view the side of the ship as it is being positioned against the pier.

Realistic view:

Zoomed in view:

You do feel more movement being this far forward and when we dropped anchor for the tender day in Kona it was an interesting wake up call. We found it easiest for getting back to our cabin by cutting through the main atrium deck and using the elevators past the shops.