Hawaii Cruise Advice

[AMCJavelin]

Looking to book an Hawaii cruise.  This will be a bucket list cruise for us.   Looking for advice on:

 

Best Cruise Line for an Hawaii Cruise?

 

Interior or Balcony Cabin?

 

Best Itinerary/Duration?

 

Departure Port?

 

Is  a cruise to see Hawaii advisable or is it better to just fly to Hawaii?    What is the best way to see Hawaii if you will only get there 1 time?  We are a husband and wife in our 60's.

 

Thanks in advance.

[CruiserBruce]

First, please do some reading and research. These are tremendously broad and subjective questions...there will be (and already have been) a very wide range of answers.

 

First, yes, it is almost always better to do Hawaii as a land trip as opposed to a cruise.

 

There are 3 types of Hawaii cruises. First, the NCL Pride of America 7 day entirely within the islands. Second, the roundtrip from the West Coast ports. Typically 14-16 days. Lastly, and rarest, the one way to or from the islands out of Vancouver (can only be sailed out of Vancouver to meet legal requirements.

 

The "best" cruise line is one that meets your needs. About half a dozen cruise lines do the West Coast/Hawaii 14 days cruises. Who have you sailed with? Repeatedly, so you know and like their product? Try them first.

 

There is essentially only 5 ports (2 on the Big Island of Hawaii), most cruise lines hit 4, sometimes a ship with hit both on Hawaii. So there is only so much variety possible in routes/itineraries.

 

We always sail with a balcony cabin, would never consider an inside, but that is just us.

[AMCJavelin]

Thanks for the info - much appreciated

 

 

[sfaaa]

If you like sea days, cruise to/from Hawaii and North America mainland is great. Lot of relaxing down time and ocean gazing. If you dislike sea days, fly to Hawaii and cruise NCL.

[LouisV]

On 7/10/2022 at 10:22 AM, CruiserBruce said:

First, please do some reading and research. These are tremendously broad and subjective questions...there will be (and already have been) a very wide range of answers.

 

First, yes, it is almost always better to do Hawaii as a land trip as opposed to a cruise.

 

There are 3 types of Hawaii cruises. First, the NCL Pride of America 7 day entirely within the islands. Second, the roundtrip from the West Coast ports. Typically 14-16 days. Lastly, and rarest, the one way to or from the islands out of Vancouver (can only be sailed out of Vancouver to meet legal requirements.

 

The "best" cruise line is one that meets your needs. About half a dozen cruise lines do the West Coast/Hawaii 14 days cruises. Who have you sailed with? Repeatedly, so you know and like their product? Try them first.

 

There is essentially only 5 ports (2 on the Big Island of Hawaii), most cruise lines hit 4, sometimes a ship with hit both on Hawaii. So there is only so much variety possible in routes/itineraries.

 

We always sail with a balcony cabin, would never consider an inside, but that is just us.

I'm sailing from Honolulu to Vancouver on May 9, 2023 on a Celebrity ship. 

[CruiserBruce]

51 minutes ago, LouisV said:

I'm sailing from Honolulu to Vancouver on May 9, 2023 on a Celebrity ship. 

Ah, okay. Are you making a specific point?

[LouisV]

On 7/10/2022 at 10:22 AM, CruiserBruce said:

First, please do some reading and research. These are tremendously broad and subjective questions...there will be (and already have been) a very wide range of answers.

 

First, yes, it is almost always better to do Hawaii as a land trip as opposed to a cruise.

 

There are 3 types of Hawaii cruises. First, the NCL Pride of America 7 day entirely within the islands. Second, the roundtrip from the West Coast ports. Typically 14-16 days. Lastly, and rarest, the one way to or from the islands out of Vancouver (can only be sailed out of Vancouver to meet legal requirements.

 

The "best" cruise line is one that meets your needs. About half a dozen cruise lines do the West Coast/Hawaii 14 days cruises. Who have you sailed with? Repeatedly, so you know and like their product? Try them first.

 

There is essentially only 5 ports (2 on the Big Island of Hawaii), most cruise lines hit 4, sometimes a ship with hit both on Hawaii. So there is only so much variety possible in routes/itineraries.

 

We always sail with a balcony cabin, would never consider an inside, but that is just us.

I'm sailing from Honolulu to Vancouver on May 9, 2023 on a Celebrity ship. 

[LouisV]

yes. I may have misunderstood your point when you said a Hawaii cruise can only be sailed out of Vancouver to meet legal requirements. I'm sailing from Honolulu TO Vancouver. 

[CruiserBruce]

11 minutes ago, LouisV said:

yes. I may have misunderstood your point when you said a Hawaii cruise can only be sailed out of Vancouver to meet legal requirements. I'm sailing from Honolulu TO Vancouver. 

The sentence says: "the one way to or from the islands" involving Vancouver, as Vancouver is the only legal place to sail to or from the West Coast on a one way cruise involving Hawaii.

[LouisV]

7 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

The sentence says: "the one way to or from the islands" involving Vancouver, as Vancouver is the only legal place to sail to or from the West Coast on a one way cruise involving Hawaii.

Have a lovely day!

[AMCJavelin]

On 7/10/2022 at 7:07 PM, sfaaa said:

If you like sea days, cruise to/from Hawaii and North America mainland is great. Lot of relaxing down time and ocean gazing. If you dislike sea days, fly to Hawaii and cruise NCL.

Thanks - sea days are alway good - I can catch up on my reading.

 

[sirenitas]

We are doing the NCL PoA cruise in Nov. We don't care for sea days and the PoA stays overnight both in Maui and Kauai - this gives us so many more options for things to do and restaurants to try!

It also starts and ends in Oahu which we will take advantage of and do a couple of days before and a couple of days after the cruise to really explore the island. 

 

We are treating it like a floating hotel and transportation.  If you like sea days other lines might be better, for us we would rather spend time on the islands.

[AMCJavelin]

Thats great info and definitely an option to consider.  We love cruising to Bermuda because the ship is docked for 2 nights, essentially a floating hotel as you said.  Thank you for the tip.

 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

If I wanted to see Hawaii and I was only going to go to Hawaii one time ever, I would not do a cruise.

 

We love Hawaiian cruises. We have one booked in Oct, but on a 15 day cruise, 10 of the days are at sea (which is why we love Hawaiian cruises).

 

For a one time ever trip spend the 15 days on island. I don't like switching islands too much, my ideal would be 7 days each on Oahu, Kauai, Maui or Oahu, Kauai, Hawaii Island. But if you only had 15 days, 5 days each on Oahu, Kauai, Maui would be my pick.

[princeton123211]

1 hour ago, scottca075 said:

If I wanted to see Hawaii and I was only going to go to Hawaii one time ever, I would not do a cruise.

 

We love Hawaiian cruises. We have one booked in Oct, but on a 15 day cruise, 10 of the days are at sea (which is why we love Hawaiian cruises).

 

For a one time ever trip spend the 15 days on island. I don't like switching islands too much, my ideal would be 7 days each on Oahu, Kauai, Maui or Oahu, Kauai, Hawaii Island. But if you only had 15 days, 5 days each on Oahu, Kauai, Maui would be my pick.

This is solid advice-- unless the cruise itself is a huge deal for you, a first time bucket list trip to Hawaii is much better done staying on the islands and ditching the ship. 

[cynt]

Definitely fly to Hawaii and explore two or three islands. Hawaiian Air is a great way to get from island to island. 

[latebloomer56]

One time trip I would fly and Island hop a few of the Islands. There are some nice guided tours to do this if you want structure. We loved going to Hawaii both times and plan to spend more time there in a few years.

We have sailed round trip LA and loved my sea days but also have done the POA and loved extra Island time. Either way you will love the beauty and temperate climate.

Pick what is best for you, Enjoy!

[93yearsyoung]

Fly and spend at least 5 nights per island you want to see; 7 nights would be better.

[sgtjjmayle]

On 7/11/2022 at 3:24 PM, LouisV said:

I'm sailing from Honolulu to Vancouver on May 9, 2023 on a Celebrity ship. 

My wife and I are on the same sailing. We are very much ready for it!