Anybody here take either the 14 or 15 day Hawaii cruise from the west coast as a 'retirement' gift?

[SmoothFlying]

We've booked and paid for the cruise midsummer this year (out of L.A.) for the end of November but I'm kinda having second thoughts. Perhaps they're silly but I'm worried about my wife's ability to walk onboard the ship with her walker. This is the first real 'open ocean' cruise (and longest) cruise we've ever taken. I've seen some reviews stating that once out in the Pacific some folks have had pretty rough seas for several days. I know 'rough seas' can be VERY subjective, what's 'rough' to one can be 'mild' to another. What with the cost of the cruise PLUS the 2000 dollar airfare for two it's not exactly a cheap cruise. But we're both in our late sixties, so this 'gift' may not come our way again. Like I said, I may be worrying about nothing. Just wondering IF anybody here had taken this cruise and had any roller coaster like weather sailing to hawaii ? Thanks in advance. 🙂

 

Mac

[crystalspin]

What ship?

[SmoothFlying]

1 hour ago, crystalspin said:

What ship?

It's the Carnival Miracle, we've been on her twice before, once to the  7 Day Southern caribbean and a 10 day SFO to Alaska. The 10 day was up the coast to Alaska so it didn't really get wayyy out in the Pacific, so no rough water at all. Thanks for your fast response. 🙂

 

Mac

[crystalspin]

38 minutes ago, SmoothFlying said:

It's the Carnival Miracle, we've been on her twice before,

Mac

Mac: I think the Miracle is not considered a BIG ship (any more), but how a ship rides is not only due to size. You might ask about people who have sailed to Hawaii on the very ship (or her sisters, which I believe are the Spirit class) on the Carnival Board, here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/133-carnival-cruise-lines/

 

ETA: my second cruise was Hawaii from San Diego on the small Statendam. I had no trouble but my husband did have a few queasy days...

Edited February 27, 2023 by crystalspin

[SmoothFlying]

55 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

Mac: I think the Miracle is not considered a BIG ship (any more), but how a ship rides is not only due to size. You might ask about people who have sailed to Hawaii on the very ship (or her sisters, which I believe are the Spirit class) on the Carnival Board, here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/133-carnival-cruise-lines/

 

ETA: my second cruise was Hawaii from San Diego on the small Statendam. I had no trouble but my husband did have a few queasy days...

Oh, I know the old Miracle isn't considered a 'biggie' anymore, 😞 But when I posted this similar question on the Carnival board here back during the summer, I never did get a response, so I thought I'd try the retirement board just in case a senior citizen had taken this very same cruise. After I posted my last posting I noticed you're quite the HAL fan. I've always wanted to sail on them BUT on a fixed senior income I doubt the wife would approve but it doesn't cost anything to DREAM ! LOL !! :))

 

Mac

[zdcatc12]

Five or so years ago, we did a one-way from Vancouver to the Hawaiian Islands. This was in September and the seas were not rough at all.

[SmoothFlying]

48 minutes ago, zdcatc12 said:

Five or so years ago, we did a one-way from Vancouver to the Hawaiian Islands. This was in September and the seas were not rough at all.

Goodness !!! I didn't think about doing a 'one way' I wonder how much that would save us ? Since we wouldn't have to pay for the retune sailing OR airfare back to the U.S. ( I retired from the airlines after almost 30 years so we fly 'free'). But I'm not sure if all cruise lines sell one way sailings but it wouldn't hurt to ask. All they can say is 'No'. 🙂

 

Mac

[Oakman58]

We just returned in Jan from a roundtrip on the Diamond Princess out of San Diego.  The first couple of days we had rough water and I thought those who had walkers could handle the motion of the ship much better than those of us without.  Take your trip, you will both have a great time.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Oakman58

[crystalspin]

On 3/1/2023 at 9:52 AM, SmoothFlying said:

 I'm not sure if all cruise lines sell one way sailings but it wouldn't hurt to ask. All they can say is 'No'. 🙂

Mac:

All cruise lines do not have one-way sailings to Hawaii. They would have to leave from Vancouver (or Mexico but haven't heard of that one). Here is a list from Cruise Critic's own app, to give you a starting point. This list includes one way AND round trip, you can figure which are which from the length!

https://www.cruisecritic.com/cruiseto/cruiseitineraries.cfm?port=131&depcity=236

[SmoothFlying]

11 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

Mac:

All cruise lines do not have one-way sailings to Hawaii. They would have to leave from Vancouver (or Mexico but haven't heard of that one). Here is a list from Cruise Critic's own app, to give you a starting point. This list includes one way AND round trip, you can figure which are which from the length!

https://www.cruisecritic.com/cruiseto/cruiseitineraries.cfm?port=131&depcity=236

That's a great point about the need to leave from either Vancouver or Mexico for the one way trip. I'll definitily check to see which cruise line does it and what the flights look like for the airline (flight ability) I retired from. Thank you so much for the heads up' on this.

 

Mac

[zdcatc12]

15 hours ago, SmoothFlying said:

That's a great point about the need to leave from either Vancouver or Mexico for the one way trip. I'll definitily check to see which cruise line does it and what the flights look like for the airline (flight ability) I retired from. Thank you so much for the heads up' on this.

 

Mac

Ours was the start of the repositioning of the ship from Alaska to Australia. Usually you can get them either direction, the two times per year that they move.

[shipgeeks]

We did roundtrip from San Diego around ten years ago, which would have put us in our late 60s. We sailed on a smaller ship, Celebrity Century.  We don't recall the seas being especially rough at all, although that is, of course, always possible.

We enjoyed the sea days even more than the ports!

Cost-wise, I suspect doing a one-way cruise and then flying back (or there) would cost considerably more overall than flying west for a round trip.

[fluffyclouds]

We took a 15-day cruise to Hawaii a few years ago although it was on Princess, not Carnival. Do not remember any unusual turbulence or rough sailing. We loved the cruise! We weren’t sure how we would feel about so many sea days, but the whole experience was fantastic.

With regard to your wife’s  walker, as @Oakman58 said, she will likely be more steady with the walker than without. In fact, depending on her particular situation and how much and far she is able to walk, you may want to consider renting a scooter. Either will give her more support than going without and the last thing you want is for her to be miserable on the ship because she can’t get around.

 

FYI, on our cruise the Maui port required a tender. We found out on a cruise we took on the Carnival Panorama (not to Hawaii) that they offer an accessible tender - no steps, plenty of access room. We did need to use a separate entry, but it was no problem and allowed us to go ashore using an electric scooter since steps are out of the question. Perhaps the same is available on the Miracle.
 

Have a wonderful time on your  trip!

 

[SmoothFlying]

3 hours ago, fluffyclouds said:

We took a 15-day cruise to Hawaii a few years ago although it was on Princess, not Carnival. Do not remember any unusual turbulence or rough sailing. We loved the cruise! We weren’t sure how we would feel about so many sea days, but the whole experience was fantastic.

With regard to your wife’s  walker, as @Oakman58 said, she will likely be more steady with the walker than without. In fact, depending on her particular situation and how much and far she is able to walk, you may want to consider renting a scooter. Either will give her more support than going without and the last thing you want is for her to be miserable on the ship because she can’t get around.

 

FYI, on our cruise the Maui port required a tender. We found out on a cruise we took on the Carnival Panorama (not to Hawaii) that they offer an accessible tender - no steps, plenty of access room. We did need to use a separate entry, but it was no problem and allowed us to go ashore using an electric scooter since steps are out of the question. Perhaps the same is available on the Miracle.
 

Have a wonderful time on your  trip!

 

I appreciate your kind suggestions and advice so much. I had mentioned a 'scooter' before on our last cruise ( a 7 day to the W Carribean on the Carnival Pride but she doesn't want to go that route right now until she absolutely has too. women AND their pride !! LOLLLLLLLLL !! All kidding aside, as time marches on, she may HAVE to use a scooter to be able too cruise, but we'll cross that bridge when we have too. 

 

Nac 

[PhotoDennis]

Following, since I'm on the HAL Volendam out of San Diego to Hawai'i in November.

 

I was on the HAL Eurodam last May in Alaska, and it got rough once or twice. (The pool sloshed enough to flood the Lido deck). But it wasn't a huge issue, and I suspect that further south in the Pacific in Summer, things would be calmer.

[SmoothFlying]

1 hour ago, PhotoDennis said:

Following, since I'm on the HAL Volendam out of San Diego to Hawai'i in November.

 

I was on the HAL Eurodam last May in Alaska, and it got rough once or twice. (The pool sloshed enough to flood the Lido deck). But it wasn't a huge issue, and I suspect that further south in the Pacific in Summer, things would be calmer.

From the reviews I've seen, it seems most of the 'rough' water seems to happen the first 2 days out, after that it usually calms down. Hopefully IF we have rough water that'll be (hopefully) the worst. but like the ole saying goes, Ya pays yer money, yer takes yer chances'. 😞

 

Mac

[Happy fool]

We sailed on the Carnival Miracle from SanDiego to Hawaii in 2020 before Covid shut everything down. I don’t recall any rough seas. It was a great cruise. Carnival had some excellent sea day programs that were Hawaii related during the cruise. 

[Hi Hat Crazie]

Cruised on this ship last September from San Francisco to Hawaii 15 days. I think it rained one day so we really didn’t have any bad weather. Though the Pacific does tend to be rougher than the Caribbean. I don’t think she would have a problem.

[SmoothFlying]

18 hours ago, Hi Hat Crazie said:

Cruised on this ship last September from San Francisco to Hawaii 15 days. I think it rained one day so we really didn’t have any bad weather. Though the Pacific does tend to be rougher than the Caribbean. I don’t think she would have a problem.

It is, indeed a small world 🙂 I and my wife and my sister were on the SFO/Alaska 15 day cruise in August 2022.We also had just one day of rain which was the twelve day ( a small we sailed through from one a.m. for a couple of hours) so it really didn't even spoil that day. We really enjoyed that cruise.

 

Mac

[mtnhiker]

I think we are going to do a cruise from Miami to Lima, and follow on to San Diego, it is a bit far out (2026) but it looks like it will coincide with my projected retirement.  I was exploring ideas.  One was Australia (Transpacific - one way or the other), another was Trans- Atlantic.  But this is the one I have seen that goes to Lima out of Miami, and then back up the West Coast of South America, Central America and Mexico. My wife does not like the idea (not sure why) but she is coming around.  She does not know that I am planning this a s a retirement gift/celebration for both of us.  Should be fun!! 

[SmoothFlying]

5 hours ago, mtnhiker said:

. My wife does not like the idea (not sure why) but she is coming around.  She does not know that I am planning this a s a retirement gift/celebration for both of us.  Should be fun!! 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh you NAUGHTY NAUGHTY boy :)) She will be SO surprised ana celebrating tht happy monment with a cruise is the BEST way to ensure you both will always remember where and what you were celerbating. Good luck on both, the cruise and retirement.

Mac

[crystalspin]

On 1/21/2024 at 8:33 AM, mtnhiker said:

I think we are going to do a cruise from Miami to Lima, and follow on to San Diego, it is a bit far out (2026) but it looks like it will coincide with my projected retirement.  I was exploring ideas.  One was Australia (Transpacific - one way or the other), another was Trans- Atlantic.  But this is the one I have seen that goes to Lima out of Miami, and then back up the West Coast of South America, Central America and Mexico. My wife does not like the idea (not sure why) but she is coming around.

This itinerary will be much more interesting (esp. for a person not sold on cruising) than a trans-ocean one. 

 

We are three weeks away from sailing on a Hawaii-So.Pacific cruise first booked after my husband retired on the last day of 2019. I have lost count of the number of times we have re-booked the trip, but it is looking like it is finally going to happen!

[SFRiA]

We've taken 2 trips to Hawaii. One from SF and one from SD. Both times the Pacific was rough and the skies were overcast and it was cold for the first 4 days at sea. The last day before we arrived in Hawaii, and the first day going back, were clear, smooth and sunny.

 

I wish there were more islands off the coast of CA (like the East Coast), but we don't have many options. I doubt we will do that trip again because of the weather and sea conditions.

Edited February 22 by SFRiA