Oosterdam to Hawaii

[memetoava]

Has anyone done this cruise out of Calif.? Would you do it again?

[CruiserBruce]

This is the first time Oosterdam has done the route. But if you go over to the Holland American board, you will find several posts about the Zaandam, which has done the route for the last couple of winters.

[Northshorecruisers]

I think the Oosterdam would be a great ship to travel to Hawaii on. She's our favorite.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Did the roundtrip out of Los Angeles to Hawaii five years ago on the Island Princess. We're considering doing this again within the next couple of years.

 

This is a fantastic cruise for experienced cruisers (would NOT recommend for your first cruise for the reason I'll be listing below) and for those who love sea days.

 

Here's the big if: you'll be crossing a strong current leaving California that could give you rough seas. (many Mexican Riviera cruises get this on their return to Southern California). Sometimes the first couple of days on the way to Hawaii, sometimes on the return when approaching the west coast. Sometimes on both legs and sometimes on neither. We had strong rolling waves leaving LA. The pools were closed for a couple of days.

 

It's best to already have been on some cruises and know how sea motion affects you. Both my hubby and my daughter (she was 8 on this cruise) are not bothered at all. I was prepared with candied ginger (available at my grocery store), ginger flavored Altoids (which at the time I found at Target; now harder to find but if you are near a Cost Plus, you should be set). Also drank ginger ale. Some people bring ginger pills. Ginger isn't good if you are on certain medications, so something to talk to your doctor about. There are various seasickness remedies -- one that works for one person might not work for you. So if this is a problem, try out ahead of time on land and bring back up remedies.

 

The other factor is the weather. People get amazed that Southern California could be cool and possibly rainy in winter. Today happens to be slightly rainy in LA (we need the rain because we are in a drought situation despite last year's record rains). By the coast, it'll probably be on the cool side in San Diego and north. We went in late December/early January and had cool weather (60s during the day) during the first few days and then it got warmer as we approached the islands. There we had partly cloudy skies in the high 70s and not a drop of rain (not even in Hilo). When we got to Ensenada (the stop to satisfy the Passenger Vessels Services Act, ugh), it was in the 80s, as it was in LA (a post storm Santa Ana condition warmed things up...in fact, as we were headed home on the San Diego freeway, the mountains were still white with snow).

 

I don't know about Holland, but on Princess, there is so much to do on the sea days. Including many itinerary-related activities, including ukulele lessons, lei making lessons, hula dancing on Island Night.

[cb at sea]

If you REALLY want to get to 'know' Hawaii, do a land-based vacation....on a cruise, you simply get a taste....there's alot to do there...more than 5-6 hours per island!