Hawaii Question

[eandx]

Hello, we are in the planning stages of a Hawaii cruise for next February. I remember reading about sailing past some lava flows after one of the stops. My question is what side of the ship should I book our balcony on for the best viewing?

THANKS FOR YOUR REPLYS

[DiamondDiva]

We did an Oct 2012 Hawaii cruise and the ship's captain rotated the ship during our drive-by "lava time" the evening after the Hilo stop. In this way all sides of the ship had equal time to view the shore. This took place about 10:30 pm or so and lasted about an hour.

 

Unfortunately, there was not much lava to be seen-just a few small glows. The lava flows are, of course, varied and there is no guarantee you will be able to see anything. But hopefully, you will have more to see than we did.

 

That said, either side of the ship is fine for viewing the lava. However, in general, look at the map of the direction of the ship's sailing around the islands to help determine which side you want to be on. We chose starboard because our side would be facing islands more of the time. But it all depends on the order of your stops, so look at the map.

 

This was a terrific cruise, so enjoy regardless.

[madjohn]

I have done this cruise twice and the above mention is true, however, the ship will be heading south around the Island and the longer view would be on the starboard side.

[Working 2 Cruise]

Actually, if you are not on an itinerary that includes Kona, you will not see the lava flow, since the ship is not going anywhere around this... There is only one cruise leaving in April, on the Star, that includes Kona... All the others do not go anywhere close...

[Cruisin' Chick]

On our 2005 cruise, we were going from Hilo to Kona, so we did see the lava flow (one of the highlights of our cruise) that night. But since then Kona has been cut from the itinerary (as noted above, there will be an upcoming cruise with Kona, but I guess it depends on what route you're going on as I believe Hilo isn't a stop). Since we were going north on our 2010 and 2012 cruises, we didn't pass by close enough as far as I know to see anything, but rather turned north from Hilo.

 

The volcano and the area where the lava flow is (when it is happening) is to the south west of Hilo.

[Nebr.cruiser]

Our Golden Princess cruise went to Hilo and not Kona and then headed north from Hilo, so no lava flow view, if it was even flowing.

 

I wish they would do Kona instead of Hilo; while we have spent several days there on a land trip, and enjoyed it, the chance of rain is high; on our cruise last week, it rained almost all day and temps ranged from maybe 70, (for about an instant), to 56 at the volcano.

[flamomo]

No guarantees that there would be flowing into the ocean by the time you go on your cruise. It had completely stopped some months ago, and just recently started again, and only Madame Pele knows how long it will continue.

 

Here's a link for the USGeologic Survey site at the Kilauea volcano, where you can read the daily status reports and see photos and check out various views of Kilauea on the webcams

 

hhtp://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/activity/kilaueastatus.php

[Feebarn]

I've been following this http://hawaiianlavadaily.blogspot.co.uk/ blog.

 

It would make my trip to see this at night, but from what everyone says, the Golden won't be anywhere near :(