Why Only One Hawaiian Islands Cruise Ship?

[mr green]

Another thought re Hawaii. We wanted to do a round trip from Vancouver, [the ship then went to to Seattle], HAL alone had just has one sailing, which has long since been sold out.

Just a thought, Vancouver, Seattle, Hawaii, Vancouver, Seattle, seventeen days. Everyone wins, no flying across the boarder, with these new flying restrictions in place flying is now a tough way to go, but somewhat easier within ones own country!

Come on Princess, we know that you read these, pass this along to the powers that be.

 

john

[Colo Cruiser]

Another thought re Hawaii. We wanted to do a round trip from Vancouver, [the ship then went to to Seattle], HAL alone had just has one sailing, which has long since been sold out.

Just a thought, Vancouver, Seattle, Hawaii, Vancouver, Seattle, seventeen days. Everyone wins, no flying across the boarder, with these new flying restrictions in place flying is now a tough way to go, but somewhat easier within ones own country!

Come on Princess, we know that you read these, pass this along to the powers that be.

 

john

 

No spare ships.

[NotWthOutablcony]

My apologies if this has been mentioned, I only scanned each post, Princess made an announcement last year, that due to high demand, they were releasing several additional Hawaii sailings on the Sapphire Princess, we chose to take the Sapphire. They added 3 regular 14 night routes, one each in Jan/Feb/Mar 2011, and then 2 longer routes that go to French Polynesia as well. The two onger routes take place towards the end of this year Oct. and Nov. I think, not positive. I wonder if this is going to be a one time thing or experimental for a more permenant addition? Its nice to have choices, especially when it comes to ships.

[asctony]

Well, my partner took a New Year's cruise on the Island Princess a couple of years back and except for the day or so out from LA, the weather was apparently gorgeous. Luck of the draw I guess...

 

True! We went out of San Francisco one Feb to Mexico. We could not believe the warm weather. Like you said, 'Luck of the Draw.'

 

However, personally, I would not recommend it. MPO.

[RickEk]

My apologies if this has been mentioned, I only scanned each post, Princess made an announcement last year, that due to high demand, they were releasing several additional Hawaii sailings on the Sapphire Princess, we chose to take the Sapphire. They added 3 regular 14 night routes, one each in Jan/Feb/Mar 2011, and then 2 longer routes that go to French Polynesia as well. The two onger routes take place towards the end of this year Oct. and Nov. I think, not positive. I wonder if this is going to be a one time thing or experimental for a more permenant addition? Its nice to have choices, especially when it comes to ships.

 

It's all about the yields... they get better yields on longer voyages than on shorter ones... that's why the Sapphire has been diverted to doing the Hawaii and Sydney cruises. They'll make much more money than on the 7-day Mexican Riviera cruises... ;)

[jowahe]

I've done the Calif to Hawaii R/T several times and plan to keep doing it every few years or so. I first cruised this route on the old Crown Oddysy, then on the Statendam (2x), Sun Princess, Island Princess, and Golden Princess. I love the sea days to and from the Islands and the day's stay at each island is enough time for me to revisit favorite sights. I may have been lucky, but I experienced excellent weather on all these trips which were at various times of year. The only cool days were the first day out of L.A. and the last day before landing back in L.A. Weather is a crap-shoot, so you may have more cool days than I did. I also visited Hawaii on the old Golden Princess, Sapphire Princess, and HAL's Amsterdam while returning from Australia/South Pacific cruises. Again, the Pacific Ocean lived up to its namesake, as it was truly "pacific".

[mamaboss]

Can those of you who have sailed hawaii r/t la comment on how rough the sea is? Hear it is pretty bad at times. Just curious.

[jowahe]

I've done the R/T from L.A. 6 times at different times of the year. All 6 cruises were rather smooth, altho you knew you were "at sea". At no time would I consider the seas "rough". I've been in very rough seas in other places--Caribbean, around the tip of South America, Tasman Sea, etc. I know others on this board say they have experienced "rough" seas on the Hawaii cruise, but weather is always a variable and not easily predicted far in advance, so you take your chances. I'm going again next year with no qualms about the sea conditions.

[philv]

Oh people, I can't beleive it! Is it the sole reason we can't have a descent cruise in Hawaii because of some protectionist legislation called the Jones Act? This is nuts! :eek:

[CalGal777]

Under the provisions of the Jones Act neither Princess nor any other of the main line cruise companies can sail the itinerary that NCL cruises.

 

The ship must be an American "bottom" and have an American crew or it must adhere to the stop at a distant foreign port itinerary as cited in earlier posts.

 

Repeal of the Jones Act by Congress does not appear to be in the cards.

 

We would love to cruise Hawaii with Princess, but not with the 10 days at sea and 4 days in port itinerary.

 

 

P&J

But for those of us who love sea days its a perfect cruise.

[Cruisin' Chick]

It is what it is. The Golden Princess is the only Princess ship doing Hawaii. Must be cost efficient the ship sails full, the price doesn't come down.

 

So a lot of people must like this itinerary, they are in essence standing in line.

 

Next year the Sapphire will do a couple of r/t's to Hawaii at the start of the season with the Golden as well as a little one the past few years anyway doing a one way Vancouver to Hawaii.

 

Oh yes we are doing the r/t April 11 and it is sold out.:D NCL no thanks.

 

I figured Princess must be seeing a lot of demand for the Hawaiian RTs when they decided to have some sailings on the Sapphire too.

And from what I've read about NCL (and talking to a friend who had done the POH cruise), I also say no thanks.

 

 

Personally, I can't wait to book a Princess cruise to Hawaii... for a sea day lover like myself, all those sea days are just icing on the cake. I've been to Hawaii before (once spent two glorious weeks on Maui) and have seen most of the sights. I'd just book excursions to the ones I haven't been to... :)

 

We did this cruise back in December 2005 and would love to do it again. I had been to Hawaii on one of those tours (see three islands in eight days...so I got to see many of the attractions) and on my honeymoon. So much of the reason we had gone of this cruise was the many sea days and the chance to introduce our daughter to Hawaii (land of Lilo and Stich). She didn't need long port stays to enjoy her experience. Plus I'm into traditional dining, and you don't get that on NCL or on land stays.

 

My apologies if this has been mentioned, I only scanned each post, Princess made an announcement last year, that due to high demand, they were releasing several additional Hawaii sailings on the Sapphire Princess, we chose to take the Sapphire. They added 3 regular 14 night routes, one each in Jan/Feb/Mar 2011, and then 2 longer routes that go to French Polynesia as well. The two onger routes take place towards the end of this year Oct. and Nov. I think, not positive. I wonder if this is going to be a one time thing or experimental for a more permenant addition? Its nice to have choices, especially when it comes to ships.

 

I hope they continue to offer the RTs to Hawaii as we enjoy the sea days, as I've mentioned above, and we can drive to the port. For those of us who live on the west coast and are sick of the MR cruises, this is a great choice. I just wish the summer sailings would be brought back as the other times of year I can go on a cruise is when school is out.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Can those of you who have sailed hawaii r/t la comment on how rough the sea is? Hear it is pretty bad at times. Just curious.

 

Oh people, I can't beleive it! Is it the sole reason we can't have a descent cruise in Hawaii because of some protectionist legislation called the Jones Act? This is nuts! :eek:

 

It seems variable whether you'll have rough seas or not. There's a current you'll cross that can affect the smoothness. Also weather conditions. When we had left San Pedro, the beaches there were having record high surf. We had rough seas for the first couple of days. Even to the point that the pools were closed. And the weather was in the 60s. As we approached the islands, the sea got smoother and the air got warmer.

 

On the islands, the temps stayed about the high 70s with absolutely no rain. On the way back to the west coast, we had smooth seas and found it warm in Ensenada and LA (they were having a post-storm Santa Ana condition...it was interesting to be headed back home and see snow in the mountains but the temps below were in the 80s).

 

On the sailing before us, they didn't have rough seas until the last couple of days.

 

It isn't a cruise for sea wimps or people who don't like sea days. I took plenty of ginger and we were midships (plus my hubby and daughter have absolutely no problems with movement).

 

As for the act we're talking about, it's the PVSA, the Passenger Vessel Services Act. The Jones Act is about cargo.

 

Here's the wiki entry:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_Vessel_Services_Act_of_1886

 

A year or two ago, the head (at that time) of NCL was trying to get the rules made stricter in order to protect his Hawaiian ships. He even got Senator Inouye and now-deposed Senator Stevens on board. Many of us commented on the Congressional "guest book" concerning the proposed restrictions. The governors of California and Hawaii apparently were the big guns to put a kibosh on the changes as the changes would have adversely affected the economies of Hawaii, the West Coast ports and even the East Coast ports. And Colin Vetch of NCL found himself scrambling when it was pointed out that the NCL ships in Alaska were violating the PVSA as much as any ships doing the RT Hawaii (he was complaining that Princess, HAL, Celebrity weren't staying long enough in Ensenada).

[morriscats]

As long as Princess sails RT we will do it. Love this itinerary. We have sailed twice with Princess and once with Celebrity. 2 of them had somewhat rough first days but was fine from then on. The other one was perfect from day 1. We have not missed a port either although I know it can happen.

[wookie78]

DH & I sailed on the POH during her first months at sea. We did it mainly because of the time, we only had 9 days and two of those were for flying. No, the service was not what Princess offers but we spent a lot more time at each port. Since we felt safe we rented jeeps at each port and could do our own thing all day. We even spent the night in one port. NCL is also the only cruise that sails by the lava flows at night, what an experience! Knowing that the staff was American ahead of time lowered our expectations and they were not all that bad. NCL also had a much larger selection of dining options, real sushi bars, japanese steakhouses, chinese, and more.

Just MHO.

[Cruisin' Chick]

DH & I sailed on the POH during her first months at sea. We did it mainly because of the time, we only had 9 days and two of those were for flying. No, the service was not what Princess offers but we spent a lot more time at each port. Since we felt safe we rented jeeps at each port and could do our own thing all day. We even spent the night in one port. NCL is also the only cruise that sails by the lava flows at night, what an experience! Knowing that the staff was American ahead of time lowered our expectations and they were not all that bad. NCL also had a much larger selection of dining options, real sushi bars, japanese steakhouses, chinese, and more.

Just MHO.

 

When we were on the Island Princess, this is what we saw a short while after leaving Hilo:

 

 

I heard the lava flow isn't that much right now so maybe that's why ships aren't cruising by.

[kruisey]

The first time sea days were lovely and warm:)

Both the second and third really cool weather for most of the sea days.

Thats the reason I would not go on the Hawaii round trip again.Too cold.

[cruznliz]

Just returned from the Golden Princess today. Had a wonderful time.:D It was our 4th time on this itinerary. ;) The sea was rougher than usual going over, but much smoother on the return. Want to point out that HALF the passengers were from the UK. It was amazing. The only thing I can figure is that it isn't selling well enough in the US to fill every two weeks, so it is heavily advertised in the UK. Many of the Brits had pre or post cruise stays in Las Vegas. Nearly everyone we talked to, both Brits and Americans, had never been to Hawaii before. There is definitely a market out there.:eek:

[ugminer]

 

I would rather see Princess do some schedules where you either start or end in Hawaii so you only have to fly one way and can stay longer on the islands before or after the cruise.

 

.

Unfortunately, the cruises have to be rt lax for the most part. To go from the us hawaain islands to the us mainland one way would violate the passenger services act unless they were to stop at a " distant" foreign port ( mexico, canada and central america do not qualify as "distant" foreign ports). An itinerary to be lawful would have to stop at a distant foregn port in the south pacific or touch the continent of south america to be a "lawful" itinerary for a foreign flagged vessel, ncl had a us flagged vesssel doing the islands itinerary..

 

 

I just happened to be doing some surfing on Hawaiian cruises. Actually Carnival has one way trips, Embark-Honolulu, do the islands then disembark Ensenada with a free transfer back to I believe San diego and or LAX. Never thought I would even consider Carnival but might for this. I agree with OP, I would love to spend a week in my timeshare, then catch the ship to come home afterhitting the other islands. At todays prices for island hopping, do the math

[lel5344]

And we did it strictly for the itinerary. Normally, we do cruises that are not as port intensive as we love days at sea, but we wanted to get a feel for Hawaii. We did an 11 day on Pride of America (an itinerary which I think is currently non-existent).

 

We had been on 5 previous NCL cruises, but this was our first on NCL America. As has been stated in so many threads on CC, the service aboard ship was at a somewhat lower level, and we witnessed a fair amount of crew apathy (not universal, but still far more prevalent than previously experienced with NCL).

 

So, since NCL doesn't do the 11 day anymore, if we chose to do another Hawaii cruise, we'd likely do a Princess or Celebrity cruise round-trip out of LA to enjoy all those sea days with the port intensive portion concentrated in the middle (very much like our upcoming cruise on the Ruby).

 

BTW, our favorite island was Kauai, so much so that we're planning a 10-day stay next year for DW's 60th birthday. Don't tell her I mentioned her age.

[billie5]

Ugminer,

I assume you realize that Coral, whom you quote, was correct about a Honolulu to LA one-way violating PSA. So is Carnival in offering a Honolulu to Ensenada, since this starts in the USA but ends in Mexico. I mention this only because others may misinterpret your post to be implying that Coral was incorrect.

 

I still yearn for the 11 day Honolulu to Honolulu via Kiribati!

 

Bill

[mikjr]

With air flights and airports getting more and more difficult to deal with, we enjoy the fact we don't have to fly!

 

We have taken this itinerary four times on various cruiselines and scheduled to go again in March. We love the 10 sea days. As they say, the cruise ship is the destination... Hawaii is icing on the cake. Two years ago we cruised round trip out of L.A on a 30 day Hawaii/Tahiti cruise. HALF of the days were at sea... and some of the most enjoyable days we had.

 

We were disappointed when we found that Celebrity had discontinued cruises to Hawaii. Every cruise we have been on has been FULL. So i'm not sure how they can say there is no demand for this itinerary.

[Thurston Howell lll]

NCL's Hawaii cruises are just too good to try to beat. I learned first hand not to believe the poor reviews about NCL in the Islands, they put the best seven day cruise we have ever had together at a great price and the food quality, entertainment and accomodations was as good as anything offered by Princess.

[lel5344]

NCL's Hawaii cruises are just too good to try to beat. I learned first hand not to believe the poor reviews about NCL in the Islands, they put the best seven day cruise we have ever had together at a great price and the food quality, entertainment and accomodations was as good as anything offered by Princess.

 

We were long time NCL loyalists until a bad customer service experience AFTER our Hawaii cruise. We did our homework before the Hawaii cruise and kept our expectations relatively low, based on many reviews. We were not at all disappointed because we had those relatively low expectations. Our cabin steward was aloof and rather unresponsive to some fairly simple requests. We ate at several venues and only Le Bistro approached our previous NCL comparable dining experiences. Service was, on several occasions, more than slow (and we're pretty patient). The ship (Pride of America) was not in particularly good shape, and when we pointed out a creaking staircase in the Atrium, we were told "Don't use that staircase."

 

However, it was still an incredible cruise because of the itinerary. But we cruised back when NCL offered the 11 day cruise around the islands.

 

We've only been on one Princess cruise and we did no specialty dining, so no comparison there. But to our way of thinking, anytime dining in a main dining room on Princess was superior to any main dining room experience on NCL or NCL America.

 

Our stateroom on Princess was better appointed and had better storage space (although the bed was less comfortable until we had an eggcrate topper put on). Our steward was more enthusiastic than any we have experienced on NCL, even though we stayed in a stateroom of lower category than we had on NCL.

 

So it's all in the eyes of the beholder, and if we differ, so what. We'll enjoy our cruises and we'll make new friends (some of whom will have vastly different opinions) and we'll come home and wait impatiently for the next one.

[ugminer]

Ugminer,

I mention this only because others may misinterpret your post to be implying that Coral was incorrect.

 

I still yearn for the 11 day Honolulu to Honolulu via Kiribati!

 

Bill

HI Bill, incorrect or not , all I was trying to do was let the original poster know that I had, quite by accident, found an option.

 

Not trying to step on anyones toes. I'm a newbie cruiser by a lot of standards and still have a lot to learn. Which I count on other CC'ers to fill me in. These are some of the most knowledgable people I know when it comes to cruising.

[Cruisin' Chick]

When the issue of strengthening the PVSA came up over a year ago, NCLa was having trouble filling its three ships every week. Their head honcho was trying to point a finger at Princess and the other lines that did the round trips out of the west coast, insisting it was a matter of unfair competition. Of course we knew it was a case of apples and oranges (and peaches, if you also consider that some cruiselines -- Carnival and RC, for example -- do one-way cruises between Hawaii and the west coast).

 

You have the NCL fans and those who want to have a ship transport them among the islands.

 

But you also have the many of us who don't want to fly there, those who are into the cruise/sea days, and those who don't like NCL. I always thought these cruises seemed popular so I'm not getting it that these ships aren't getting filled. Don't know why Celebrity dropped this itinerary (I was guessing that they were thinking the PVSA changes would go through or are concerned that the law will otherwise get changed, for the bad, at a future time). But I do know that Princess is having the Sapphire switched from Mexico to Hawaii for a few times next year. So they must think they'll be a demand.

 

What I don't understand is why HAL drops off its passengers in Ensenada and has them bused up to San Diego. I would hate that.