San Diego to Hawaii in 2005 on HAL?

[sweet sheep]

Three friends and I are planning this trip-round trip! Any advice from those who have gone this way. Probably will go in Sept. or October of 2005.

Thank you,

:)

[Socal404]

My wife and I did this cruise on the Statendam in March, 2003. We loved it. Plenty of sea days. It was very relaxing. You only get one day per island, though. I've read that the 16 day stays two days in Honolulu. There's plenty to do while at sea, so don't worry about that. We liked the round trip because we didn't have to fly, since we live in southern California. :o

[RevNeal]

The 15-day roundtrip from San Diego to Hawaii was WONDERFUL. I took it over Thanksgiving 2002 and had a BLAST. The seas were great, and I LOVED having 10 days at sea! The Statendam is a GREAT ship to be aboard for that length of time.

 

You might want to check out the photos and videos of that cruise on the link below.

 

Have a GREAT trip! it's a wonderful cruise! Expensive? Yes, but worth it!

[kryos]

Three friends and I are planning this trip-round trip! Any advice from those who have gone this way. Probably will go in Sept. or October of 2005

Ta

Well, heck ... schedule the October 3rd sailing and we can get our own roll call started already! :)

 

I've been to Hawaii, but not on a cruise. The prospect of nine total days at sea ... four on the way out and five on the way back ... sounds heavenly! Ports are nice, but I found that it is the sea days that are truly as relaxing as you want them to be ...

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[JDMOR]

You might want to consider a one-way cruise to Hawaii so you can spend some time actually in Hawaii. RCI and Celebrity both have transition cruises that either start in or depart from Honolulu. Depending on the time of the year, they connect with either Vancouver BC or Ensenada Mexico. They are 10 to 11 days and hit all the Hawaiian ports with 5 or so sea days to boot. They are usually in the spring or fall as the ships are transitioning to/from summer Alaska itineraries. Also Hawaii tends to be less crowded at these times. The air packages from West Coast cities are usually reasonable and include transfers to from the ports.

 

We are planning our fourth such cruise in May '05. In a sense, we are using the cruise as a luxurious "bus" one way to Honolulu. The flight to/from any West Coast city is not realy that bad. After the first cruise, it is great to have the whole ship mostly to yourselves on port days. After or before the cruise, we schedule a week in Wakiki. There is so much to do there, and the weather is usually delightful. As retired military, we take advantage of excellent rates at the military ocean front R & R hotel (Hale Koa). Other ocean front properties are quite spendy, but there are usually more affordable places within easy walking distance of the beach.

 

One warning. Avoid NCL. Their only mainland to Hawaii ship (Wind) is an older ship and not quite as nice as RCI Serenade or Celebrity Infinity. The line it self has been having a multitude of problems lately and their customer "service" attitude is as about as bad as it can get.

 

Any questions?

[DonMaryCar]

We did the Hawaii cruise in Feb/Mar of this year and had a great time, but everybody forgot to mention that the waters of the Pacific are often rougher than the Carribean waters we were used to. Our cabin steward was great and kept giving me sea calm pills which made things much better. Unfortunately no matter how great a cruise line is they can't control the weather. Just thought I'd share this info with you if any of you have any trouble with seasickness you may want to consider getting some patches before the sail. Maybe we were an isolated cruise, but have heard it from several others that have gone.

 

Have a great cruise

[kryos]

Three friends and I are planning this trip-round trip! Any advice from those who have gone this way. Probably will go in Sept. or October of 2005 :)

 

I'm a solo traveler already booked for the October 3 sailing of the Statendam. Maybe we can meet up and introduce ourselves!

 

Sounds like an awesome cruise and the prospect of all those relaxing days at sea is sure a pleasant one!

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Vic The Parrot]

Hi Rita

 

What a coincidence!

 

I've been 'drooling' over the Oct 3 sailing for the longest time.

There's a possibility that I might be booking that!

 

 

Ahhhh...... Hawaii

 

Can't wait to get "lei'd" again .........

[dam1050]

You'll love it !! I've done the 18 day Pac Coast and Circle Hawaii (repositioning from Vancouver after Alaska) a couple of years ago and it was wonderful onboard the Statendam. I've sailed the Pacific Vancouver to Hawaii or reverse several other times in Apr/May or Sept/October as well (on various RCI ships) and have always encountered very calm seas. I've had rough seas only in the Eastern Caribbean personally. Never on Hawaii or never on Alaska -- just lucky, I guess....

 

The sea days are so relaxing yet there will still be plenty of things scheduled to do if you so desire.

 

Have a fantastic cruise !!

 

Dave

[kryos]

What a coincidence!

 

I've been 'drooling' over the Oct 3 sailing for the longest time.

There's a possibility that I might be booking that!

I booked that Hawaii sailing with the future cruise consultant three days into my very first cruise. Me and cruising was love at first sight! Got a great deal too, and plenty of time to get all of the money together to pay for it. :)

 

Then to make matters better, my family bought me a Carribean cruise (to tide me over) until then ... for my law school graduation. So, next month I'm off on the Zuiderdam!

 

Life is good. :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita