Which cruise line to Hawaii

[KeepCalmBearOn]

Start with checking rates at the Royal Hawaiian, Moana Surfrider and Halepuna. They might be more than your budget, but hey, no cost for checking....  then look at the Outrigger hotels, the Outrigger Reef and Outrigger Waikiki Beach, Hyatt Regency, Marriott Waikiki Beach, Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel and Park Shore Waikiki.

 

If you have to go a block or two back frm the beach,look at the Hilton Waikiki Beach (not Hilton Hawaiian Village), Hyatt Centric and the Laylow Marriott.

 

I like the Waikiki Prince a lot, but it may be further from the center of Waikiki than you want to be.

 

Hilton Hawaiian Village is nice, but super busy since it has 8 towers. It is the largest hotel in the U.S. not in Las Vegas. If you can get your rate in the Ali'i Tower, Rainbow Tower or Lagoon Tower, it can be a nice stay, but the back towers aren't nice enough to me to outweigh the negatives of the property,

[mnamor]

16 hours ago, scottca075 said:

Start with checking rates at the Royal Hawaiian, Moana Surfrider and Halepuna. They might be more than your budget, but hey, no cost for checking....  then look at the Outrigger hotels, the Outrigger Reef and Outrigger Waikiki Beach, Hyatt Regency, Marriott Waikiki Beach, Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel and Park Shore Waikiki.

 

If you have to go a block or two back frm the beach,look at the Hilton Waikiki Beach (not Hilton Hawaiian Village), Hyatt Centric and the Laylow Marriott.

 

I like the Waikiki Prince a lot, but it may be further from the center of Waikiki than you want to be.

 

Hilton Hawaiian Village is nice, but super busy since it has 8 towers. It is the largest hotel in the U.S. not in Las Vegas. If you can get your rate in the Ali'i Tower, Rainbow Tower or Lagoon Tower, it can be a nice stay, but the back towers aren't nice enough to me to outweigh the negatives of the property,

Thanks for the info.  My brother stayed at the Hawaiin Village in the oceanfront tower 20 years ago and said it was fantastic. He did however use points at 170,000 a night.  Unfortunately I don't have that.  Looked at the Village on Youtube and it does look super, super busy.

We might be leaning to the Hilton Waikiki Beach, Hyatt Regency, or Royal Hawaiian.  I think we still have a little time to check but I would rather do it sooner than later.

 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

2 hours ago, mnamor said:

Thanks for the info.  My brother stayed at the Hawaiin Village in the oceanfront tower 20 years ago and said it was fantastic. He did however use points at 170,000 a night.  Unfortunately I don't have that.  Looked at the Village on Youtube and it does look super, super busy.

We might be leaning to the Hilton Waikiki Beach, Hyatt Regency, or Royal Hawaiian.  I think we still have a little time to check but I would rather do it sooner than later.

 

 

Bear in mind the Royal Hawaiian is part of the Marriott family now so you can use Marriott Bonvoy points to book or build Marriott points by staying there.

 

Hyatt Regency is a great location with large rooms (and a very small pool) and sits on top of the Pualeilani Atrium Shops, which is a two story shopping area that while not extensive is a nice bonus attraction.

 

The Hilton Waikiki Beach is a real sleeper, it gets lost in the shuffle sometimes. The hotel is 40 or so stories so the view from the upper floors is amazing.

[latebuyer]

Is it rough sailing from vancouver? I’ve been debating doing pride of america but the cost is considerable. The radiance cruise sounded pretty nice but i’m worried it will be rough and you do get more port days with pride of america.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

11 minutes ago, christinand said:

Is it rough sailing from vancouver? I’ve been debating doing pride of america but the cost is considerable. The radiance cruise sounded pretty nice but i’m worried it will be rough and you do get more port days with pride of america.

 

It is a somewhat unanswerable question because there are no absolutes and time of year matters.

 

Some people would call the first two days rougher than not, in general, but I've done the cruise three times on modern cruise ships (not counting my childhood trips on ocean liners) and it's never been too rough; no  plates sliding off table, no being thrown into a wall. One trip the pool did look like a wave pool, to the delight of the children on board.

 

The Radiance of the Seas hits all the same islands as POA.

[garon&arlene]

I cruised out of Vancouver in September,2019 the seas were smooth as glass.  We were on a Holland America cruise.  We are going on an Hawaiian cruise this December out of San Diego.  We are hoping this cruise will go.

 

[CruiserBruce]

4 hours ago, christinand said:

Is it rough sailing from vancouver? I’ve been debating doing pride of america but the cost is considerable. The radiance cruise sounded pretty nice but i’m worried it will be rough and you do get more port days with pride of america.

It can be rough anywhere,  any time. It's not predictable more than a few days in advance. 

 

In our 22 cruises, one of the top two roughest times was 3 or 4 hours entering the Strait of San Juan de Fuca, which you will sail out of Vancouver. But we have sailed there a total of 4 times, the other times were unremarkable. 

[jennybenny]

@christinand

I agree with @CruiserBruce that the rough weather is unpredictable. Our first cruise to Hawaii from San Francisco was super rough seas, there were nights where we'd be walking sideways in the hallways and in bed one night I felt like I was going to fall out, but it has never been as rough as that first experience. Since then we've had glass like conditions, regular ocean conditions. and in the end, it's our favorite way to spend 15 days on a cruise. Not enough time in Hawaii, but fun enough to have a round trip ticket by sea! We are going again this year and have another booked for next year. So, this is my family's favorite itinerary. 🙂

We haven't done the cruise out of Vancouver, but I suspect the crossing is similar from San Francisco. 

[latebuyer]

Thanks for the replies. Where is it best to have a room on the ship to handle the roughness? Should it be midship and should it be higher or lower? It is a lot of sea days so I'm still thinking about it.

 

 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

2 hours ago, christinand said:

Thanks for the replies. Where is it best to have a room on the ship to handle the roughness? Should it be midship and should it be higher or lower? It is a lot of sea days so I'm still thinking about it.

 

You are assuming roughness that might not happen, but that aside, mid-ship & lower deck would be the most stable.