LA to Hawaii

[big traveler]

Has anyone taken the 15 day cruise from LA to Hawaii? Is it worth the price?

[big traveler]

Has anyone taken the 15 day cruise from LA to Hawaii? Is it worth the price?

[Cruisin' Chick]

My family went on this cruise back in 12/05 on the Island Princess. I never posted a review in the review section (accessible on the main page of cruise critic), but you can check those.

 

I did post my review in this section and here's a link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=285469

 

It's pretty long and detailed but should give you an idea of what it's like. My major advice is that this is not a cruise for someone taking their first cruise. Some times the seas can be rough leaving the west coast or coming back because of the California Current. There are a lot of sea days so if you want a port-intensive cruise, this may not be for you. But for those who don't mind the potential of rough seas (my hubby and daughter aren't bothered at all) and those who love sea days (we do), then it can be a great cruise.

[Pam in CA]

Has anyone taken the 15 day cruise from LA to Hawaii? Is it worth the price?

Yes, I've done it twice; and definitely yes. I loved it and would do it again in a heartbeat. I love the sea days and the CD schedules some interesting and fun activities. It's a very relaxing cruise.

[mommykim]

I LOVE this itinerary. I did it with Cruisin Chick in 05 and have just cancelled it to do a more romantic cruise with my husband this year but I am seriously considering doing Hawaii with my son AND Alaska with my husband seperately :eek:

[chasetf]

Has anyone taken the 15 day cruise from LA to Hawaii? Is it worth the price?

May be to one person but not another. You have lots of sea days.... so that is a consideration. Ports of Hawaii may apeal to some and not others. I assume if you like sea days (probably 10 of the 15 days) and like Hawaiian beaches... they yes it is worth the price.

 

We did a 10 day one way, and enjoyed it. May do the 15 day in the future.... but still have other parts of the world to see. ;)

[RodneyG]

I have just done it and it was wonderful (06/07 NYcruise)

Very rough weather 1st day out and one or 2 more days where there were highish seas.

It's the sea days that make this a great cruise , 5 days chilling , 5 days ports and 5 days chilling on the way back. If you not into that , don't go.

 

Lots to do on sea days if you are so inclined , the service was exceptional , the food good with very little repetition and the ship (island princess) is clean, modern and has a great atmosphere

People tend to "go hawaiian" and wear loud shirts and adopt a very casual atmosphere after a few days.

 

I would like to have seen more of Hawaii , I'm from South Africa , so it's unlikely I'll go again , so plan your port tours carefully.

We took princess tours which werent bad and did the 100% tourist thing. I would rent a car if I there was a next time. Not to say the tours sucked , but we coulda done better.

The year before we were on a 21 day SG to Sydney cruise on the Daimond , we enjoyed the LA to Hawaii return more.

[jff50]

I've done a round trip from LA to Hawaii with Celebrity, and a 7-day roundtrip from Honolulu on Norwegian (with time in Honolulu beforehand). If I were to do it again (which I will); I'd fly to Hawaii, spend several days there, and cruise NCL America. I think you get a much better flavor for the islands.

 

While sea days can be nice, during our round trip relaxing around the pools was not much of an option for several of the days--rough seas and lack of sunny weather.

[cruiserjanet]

Wonderful cruise. I agree with Cruisin' Chick though. I've only been on 3 cruises so I'm not as seasoned as most cruisers on this board but the Hawaii cruise was my best by far. I don't believe there is a "perfect" cruise but this one was close. DH and I enjoyed the sea days. He actually took a few computer classes and went to a few lectures. I mostly power walked or visited with our tablemates out on the deck. The nice thing about the sea days is there are so many activities from which to choose from, or not. We are not rushing off to an excursion or trying to get back from port to get ready for dinner. The sea days were a great way to start out the cruise. DH and I had both been extremely busy at work just prior to the cruise so the sea days were a nice way to get unwound and relax before we got to Hawaii (a place we had never been before).

[Jobean2002]

We did this last year for our honeymoon - not on princess but RC. It was wonderful but it is a long time at sea!! It was pouring when we got to Hilo but I think everyone got off the ship - they wanted land!!! We did get involved in alot of the activities on board. One thing to keep in mind - you don't get a lot of time in ports. I love Maui and we weren't able to get off the boat until about 10:00 and how to line up for the tender at 3:00. It was a great time and we actually hope to do it again on princess since we LOVE princess!

also - the sea was VERY rough the 1st day there and the last day coming home!

[GBeret]

Has anyone taken the 15 day cruise from LA to Hawaii? Is it worth the price?

 

In a word .... YES!

 

If; however, you are a first time cruiser or used to short 5 - 7 day cruises, you might find the (4) days at sea coming and going to Hawaii a bit much.

 

My wife and I enjoy days at sea. There are plenty of shipboard activities to keep you busy during these times. I also enjoy relaxing in my cabin and sitting on my balcony watching the sea roll by or reading, etc. I also, enjoy the fairly new movies shown on the shipboard TVs.

 

We'll be leaving soon on our second RT LA—Hawaii cruise. We enjoyed the first one so much we decided to do it again. We also signed up for the extension of that trip (3) day coastal cruise LA to Vancouver, BC for a total of 18 days on board the Island Princess.

[flamomo]

We took this wonderful cruise in 2006, and are booked to do it again in March 2008. It was so good it is definitely worth a second time. We had made the decision to do it again before we even got off the first one.

 

As OPs have said, there are plenty of options available to fill your sea days . Or you can choose to chill out and do very little.

 

We did not have any rough seas during the entire cruise, and the only rain was showers when we were in Hilo (which is the rainy side of the island)

 

We'll be cruising on a different ship in 2008. The Diamond Princess is taking over the 15 day itinerary starting this Fall. We were on the Island Princess in 2006 and loved that ship. But we have not had a bad experience on any of the Princess ships we have sailed on.

[RlrCstr]

For me, it is worth it. As you can see, my next cruise is the Regal to Hawaii from Los Angeles. I did a similar cruise last year from San Diego

on HAL's Zaandam. I love sea days, so the 5 days coming and going are good for me. The port days in Hawaii were wonderful.

 

Not everyone likes 5 sea days in a row, followed by 5 port days, followed by 5 sea days again. But I can't wait till July to do it again.

[mithryl]

We did this cruise on the Island Princess in February and LOVED IT! In fact, we're just about to book it again in March 08 on the Diamond. The sea days were great...more to do than we could fit in. We had to decide between several things each day that had conflicting schedules.

The shore days were all great. We didn't even have rain in Hilo! We're going back because there is so much to do that we'll be taking completely different shore excursions this time around. We did a 2 1/2 hour helicopter tour from Kona with Blue Hawaiian (don't use any other helicopter service...they are the best around).

It was well worth the money. I can't wait to get back to sea!

[ggprincess2004]

My DH and I loved the cruise - we love cruising and appreciate sea days. We had also been to Hawaii before (land vacation) so this trip was all about the journey, not necessarily the destination. We did love the port part as well. If you love being aboard, and the relaxation of sea days, I really do recommend it. :)

[from the desert]

Sorry, I love cruising but a 15 dayer to Hawaii would not be much fun for us since their is so little "land" time and you only get a small taste of the islands. Air transport to Hawaii can be had at good prices and there are always wonderful Condo units to stay at. Each Island is worth a week in itself, and it is easy to drive and get around the islands.

 

Also, and this is second hand information only, most of my friends and relatives who have traveled this intinerary felt let down. The passenger mix weighted heavily to the over 70 crowd and they said there wasn't a good split of passengers below that age. Any islands that were tendered, the time was limited because of the difficulty of many passengers to easily manuever themselves through the process. This is not said, in any way, to be derogatory to elder passengers...I'm getting close to that wonderful age myself, but is for informational purposes only.

 

My vote would be to do Hawaii by air and land and to pick a cruise that the ports are spread farther apart from each other so that cruising would be the ultimate way to see them.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Now that there are going to be summer sailings, expect the average age to drop. Also there are plenty of kids on the holiday sailing (we had 250 onboard in '05).

[Hondu]

I wished they still had the 10 day one-way cruises so we could tack on a few extra days on the islands.

[Cruise Gopher]

Go on RCI and save a few hundred bucks. I love Princess but their Hawaii Itins are very expensive.

[Pam in CA]

Go on RCI and save a few hundred bucks. I love Princess but their Hawaii Itins are very expensive.

You get what you pay for. :)

[judyjudy56]

We are booked on the June 17 Regal and are looking forward to the sea days both coming and going. We have never been to Hawaii and think this is a great way to sample the islands and see where we would like to go back for a land vacation in the future.

[Syracuse44]

My wife and I want to take this cruise next summer and we are hoping Princess will keep the LA-Hawaii itinerary for another year.

[Beach4me]

Did this voyage in Jan/Feb. It was my 39th cruise. I've also made over a dozen trips to Hawaii. I thought this would be a perfect trip combining my love of cruising with my love of Hawaii. And, I've always enjoyed sea days.

 

What I discovered is that if you want to see Hawaii, a cruise is not the way to go. IF you make port (we missed 2), the port times are too short for my liking. The exception is Honolulu which was a wonderful port day. (I know there are laws about port times in Hawaii...not knocking that - simply stating that I would have really enjoyed spending more time in the ports.)

 

Also, I found that I do not ever want to be 2 - 2 1/2 days from land ever again. If I'm sick or injured, I want to be able to get off the ship and get help on land within 12 hours. That is just a personal decision I've made that will indeed dictate my future cruises (if I decide to cruise again).

 

Did some really neat things and saw some great sites on this voyage. But can't say I'm glad I took the cruise. And, I wouldn't do it again.

 

But that is just my personal opinion.

[Ceecat]

My wife and I want to take this cruise next summer and we are hoping Princess will keep the LA-Hawaii itinerary for another year.

 

I'm with ya! Hubby will not fly, so this is my only chance to see Hawaii (at least, with him!!) I hope they keep it around!

[SC LTC]

I'm with ya! Hubby will not fly, so this is my only chance to see Hawaii (at least, with him!!) I hope they keep it around!

I'm taking this cruise in oct-19-07 :D liive in southern ca, so its great that i don't have to fly. save money :p 35 minute drive to port.