Hawaii

[Smee]

Whats the best way to cruise Hawaii ? Sail from USA mainland or fly to Hawaii and sail around the islands ? :)

[jocap]

That depends on your tolerance of long flights, or sea days.

We had to fly out to Hawaii on one day, for a land holiday, because of work, and it laid us low for a few days....we should have broken the flights in California, but just couldn't spare the time.

I think that most cruises from the mainland only have about 4 days on the islands, and a lot of days at sea. That's great if you like sea days.

If I did this cruise, I'd stay 2 days in San Fran both before and after, and have 7 nights on the NCL ship, seeing all the islands. With the flights, that would take about a fortnight in all.

Jo.

[Smee]

In the research I have already done a flight to Hawaii with two days in Las Vegas en route would be one plan. I have also looked at sailings from LA but as you say that would give us 4 days at sea each way. I was really looking for advice from people who have done both and their opinion of which they prefer and why..........:)

[jocap]

Hi, Smee....I think you may have to go onto the more general question page for this, as I don't think a lot of UK/Irish people manage this cruise....I've only ever seen 2 or 3 reviews either on this, or other forums, from the British Isles.

You could also try the NCL page, for the only USA registered ship, which is home ported in Hawaii, or the Princess site, for the longer cruises.

Jo. :)

[Cruisin'cockney]

I have sailed Hawaii islands on NCL and in my opinion they have this market wrapped up. I believe I am correct in saying that all other lines have to cruise via another country - usually Fanning Island. They also feature a number of sea days. NCL Pride of America sails out of Honolulu and calls at 4 islands overnighting on more than one occasion to give maximum port time. We travelled via Las Vegas (2 nights) and LA (4 nights) to gradually ease in the time differences. Highly recommended although one downside is no casino on Hawaii cruises :(.

[Omega1]

We too have done the one week Pride of America cruise - it was our first cruise and got us hooked. It was an excellent way to see the islands without wasting a lot of time at airports.

On our trip we did a two night stopover in Phoenix (Scottsdale) followed by a week on Oahu before the cruise. We did another stopover in Arizona on the way back.

An excellent holiday that maximised our time in Hawaii without having eight days at sea - we would recommend it highly.

[susieh]

We did a trip to Hawaii in 2007. We flew straight to Honolulu (3 hour stop en route in LA) and then spent 4 days at the Hawaiian Hilton in Honolulu before we got on the NCL ship for a week's cruise.

 

I would definitely do the direct flight again. Yes we were jet lagged but we got over it in a day or so.

 

NCL is the worst cruise line I've been on and I've met many people who agree with me. We'd love to go back to Hawaii but think we'll do a land trip with 3 days on each of Oahu, Mauii, Kuahi and Big Island. Our other option would be to fly to Vancouver (for Celebrity) or Mexico (for RCI) and do their cruise which takes 5 days to get to Hawaii and then spends 7 days sailing round the islands before you fly home from Honolulu. That way you can get over the jet lag on the sea days on the way across the Pacific. These cruises are in Sept/Oct but only one cruise each year.

[Cash123]

We did this last march on the Pride of America, flew from heathrow into San fransico and spent 3 days doing Yosemite, Alcatraz, cable cars etc and had a fantastic time, then flew to Honolulu and spent 3 days at the Outrigger on the Beach in Waikiki and again had a wonderful time exploring the Island.

 

Then did the 7 day cruise around the Islands which exceeded all our expectations before flying back to Los Angeles to stay 3 days in Santa Monica.

 

A fantastic holiday made better by stopping off along the way.