Anyone onboard the Royal Princess Holiday Cruise?

[Itried4498]

We were on the Crown Princess Holiday sailing to Hawaii, which overlapped with the Royal Princess' voyage to Hawaii.  On the Crown Princess, the ride was rough going to and from Hawaii, but we enjoyed four beautiful, perfect days in the Islands (stops at Lihue, Hilo, Honolulu and Kahului). We docked at Ensenada for 3.5 hours, but no passengers were allowed to leave the ship due to deteriorating weather conditions.  I was slightly jealous of the Royal Princess' itinerary - an overnight at Honolulu and stops at Kona & Lahaina - but it appears the latter two were skipped (as was Ensenada altogether), yielding just two port days (Honolulu) over 16.  (Actually, it appears the ship returned to San Francisco a day early, arriving yesterday during the late afternoon, wow).   Was anybody on the ship that can confirm this?  Wondering why alternate arrangements weren't made...

 

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Itried4498

[DUCHESSRN]

We went to all our Ports except Ensanada ,docked in SFO about 6pm on Wednesday .

Yesterday some folks went home early , we did not as our flights were today .

Beautiful weather in Hawaii , great cruise .

[Itried4498]

That’s great news!  For some reason, various tracking websites did not pick up the two tender stops.  This would’ve made me hesitant to book this itinerary in the future, although it appears the Crown Princess will be operating the Hawaiian Holiday itinerary this year from San Francisco (none from LA).  All of the Christmas decorations were removed and dropped off in Ensenada, so they’ll be waiting there!  Thanks again.

[Cruise frenzy]

In Hilo, was there still a complementary bus to Walmart?

[Itried4498]

36 minutes ago, Cruise frenzy said:

In Hilo, was there still a complementary bus to Walmart?

Yes, Walmart had complementary shuttles at both Honolulu and Hilo.  I didn’t see one at Lihue, although you could use the complementary shuttle to Hilo Hattie as it’s

basically in Walmart’s parking lot.

 

Numerous free shuttles at every port.  One of our party was sick so we got out late at Kahului.  Not sure if there was a Walmart shuttle, but we walked — it’s just a mile away although it’s not the easiest walk (no sidewalks no matter which way you take).

 

(In case anyone’s wondering… we rented a car at Lihue & Hilo, and walked into Waikiki from Honolulu.  We intended on renting a car at Maui but with one of us being sick, it didn’t make much sense and there’s really nothing to do in Kahului besides shop.  There are city buses that go to Lahaina and elsewhere, but take 3.5 hours RT). 

[cruisequeen4ever]

We definitely had all 4 port days in Hawaii, and we arrived on time to all 3 islands. The captain did alter our course to Hawaii to avoid worse seas. We only missed Ensenada; the captain announced that if we had sailed there, we would have been sailing up the coast in the worst of the storm. I tracked the wave height forecast of the storm on an app, and he made the right call. 
 

The Royal cut through the waves beautifully, but I did take Meclizine a few times when we were really rolling. I think the captain said something about feeling the motion more with the direction we were rolling. One day in the Retreat pool, the water was sloshing all the way down to the bottom on one end and then would blast to the other end all the way down to the bottom! I swam laps, and it was truly a swim against the current pool! 🤣

 

It was a fun adventure! 

Edited January 10, 2023 by cruisequeen4ever