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spritzy

By spritzy,
in Hawaii

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Lando

Lando

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I am just off the Serenade of the Seas. I prefer to write bits and pieces of my cruise as different questions come up.

 

I would be very happy to answer any questions you might have though.

What port did you leave from (Honolulu or Vancouver?). I'm going on the Serenade from Van to Hawaii Sept 25/05 for the honeymoon. What excursions did you like the most -- would you NOT recommend anything in particular? How was the weather -- was the ride rough or smooth seas?
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Sea Island Lady

Sea Island Lady

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What port did you leave from (Honolulu or Vancouver?). I'm going on the Serenade from Van to Hawaii Sept 25/05 for the honeymoon. What excursions did you like the most -- would you NOT recommend anything in particular? How was the weather -- was the ride rough or smooth seas?
Hi,

We sailed from the Ballentyne Pier in Vancouver. Our weather was perfect! We had a couple of cooler overcast days to start out, but we did get up and walk around the deck to get exercise and there was plenty to explore on the ship. After that, the sun came out and we had three good sea days. No rough water. Good time of the year to sail (most of the time) and great honeymoon! Our 25th was on 9/29.

 

I recommend that you stay over in Honolulu at least two extra nights to see the sights there. If you do, I do not recommend the Paradise Luau, Try one of the hotel Luau's instead as it will be much smaller. The Arizona Memorial was interesting, but try to do that on your own instead of with a tour company. If you arrive by 7:00 - 7:30 am, you can be in and out of there in a couple of hours where as our tour took several directions and we were gone for almost 8 hours.:eek:

 

For Kona, I highly recommend Captain Zodiac's Raft & Snorkeling tour. Fun. fun, fun!

 

For Maui, take a taxi to the Maui Tropical Plantation and do their tour. A tram tour begins at 10:00. Once again, we took a ship tour and it was long! On another Maui day, we hired a driver to take us up to the North Shore area and saw some fantastic views, surfers, a small village. Beware, some of the roads are one way and very narrow. You can also rent a car and do it yourself. Just be sure to save plenty of time to get back to the ship before sailaway.

 

In Hilo, we did the ships tour of the Volcanoes National Park and Macadamia Nut Factory. Once again, we wish we had just gone to the park on our own and not taken a bus tour. Very interesting park, though. Unless you want to buy the same nuts you can get in the states, skip the factory.

 

I hope this answers some of your questions.

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Host Anne "Live from...." Rare

Host Anne

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Here are a couple of links to Hawaii reviews in the Cruise Critic REVIEWS section.

 

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=47

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=196

 

I'm sure there are more but hopefully this will be a start for you.

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KamloopsCruisers

KamloopsCruisers

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Sailed on RCCL Radiance of the Seas September 25th - Vancouver to Hawaii. Absolutely perfect cruise, with the exception of slow tender situation in Lahaina. Rented cars in Hilo, Kauai and Lahaina and did our own thing - we are beach/snorkel lovers and really enjoyed being able to go where and when we wanted. I thought we were able to do and see a lot more on our own that pre-arranged shore excursions at considerable cost savings.

 

Departure out of Vancouver was a breeze. We stayed an additional 3 days in Waikiki at the end of our trip - and had one of the best flights we've had in many years. Flew home on a relatively new charter company out of Vancouver - HMY Air. Full, hot, dinner with complimentary wine!

 

Crossing was calm and on September 26th we were already to sit and tan by the pool.

 

Radiance staff are like no others. Real sense of caring and family abroad. Can't think of single thing to change.

 

We have now cruised Hawaii three times and think it is time for a (temporary) change, but we'd do this cruise again in a heartbeat.

 

Enjoy!

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wwinfl91

wwinfl91

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HI all,

 

This is going to be a relatively short review of our recent cruise on the Island Princess. We flew out to LA from Orlando on the morning of the cruise, Oct 6 and used Princess transportation to get from the airport to the ship. After a relatively short wait, probably about an hour total, we were able to board the ship. We had pre-registered on the Internet and I guess that helped some.

 

Once we got aboard the ship we were faced with another line so that the ship's photographers could take their first pictures of this cruise's passengers. I could have actually done without this "opportunity" but we able then to proceed to our cabin, a verandah cabin on the Baha deck. The cabin was nice with a decent sized covered balcony and an extremely small bathroom with an even smaller shower. We had a queen sized bed but I would recommend asking for mattress pads (similar to the ones used in hospitals) be installed on your bed as the mattresses and the pillows were both extremely hard, almost to the point of being uncomfortable. The cabin had an easy to use safe as well as a refigerator that was empty so you could put your own refreshments in it.

 

After unpacking our carry on luggage we went up to the Horizon Court for some lunch. Because of the lines we decided to make do with Pizza which was actually very good and a cold beer.

 

The ship filled rapidly and at 5 PM we pulled away from the dock to begin our trip to Hawaii. The cruise had 3 formal nights for dinner, luckily the first wasn't one of them. We had PC (Personal Choice) dining which allowed us to eat anytime between 5:30 and 10 PM in the Bordeaux dining room on the 5th floor. We never had any really long waits for dinner. We ate by ourselves at a table for 2 several nights, other nights we ate we people we had met on Cruise Critic and other nights we just joined a table for 6, 8 or 10. The food was pretty good with a wide variety of menus. Neither of us had much problem finding something to eat each night.

 

We ate some breakfasts and lunchs in the Horizon Court buffet style. Other times we ate lunch at the Grill which served hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hotdogs, etc or stopped for pizza at the Pizza bar. They had 3 different types of pizzas each day with 2 types, sausage and margerita, always available.

 

We left port on a Wednesday and were scheduled to arrive in Hilo Hawaii on Monday Oct 11 around 11 AM (we actually arrived a little after 10 AM). We took a ship's tour to Halemaumau volcano crater and were able to get some good pictures of it and the surrounding park areas. The tour included a stop at a lava tube we were able to walk through. We left the ship around 11:30 AM and got back to the ship a little before 5 PM. Unfortunately we had clouds and rain in the afternoon so our departure at around 6:15 PM in the evening was made into rain, clouds and mist and didn't allow any opportunities for pictures.

 

Our next stop was to be in Kona Hawaii. We had the captain's welcoming party the evening we left Hilo as well as our first formal dinner. We arrived in Kona a little after 7 AM and anchored where we would be tendered into the town. Here again we had signed up for a ship sponsored tour to visit the highlights of Kona which included a stop at the Place of Refuge as well as one at the Painted Church. All in all it was a well run tour that we enjoyed and were able to get some pictures to remind us about what we saw. We sailed from Kona about 5:45 PM with much better weather than the day before.

 

The ship proceeded to it's next stop Nawiliwili Kauai and arrived a little before 8 AM where we docked for this stop. We had a ships tour again this time to the Waimea Canyon, called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific and the Wailua River for a visit to the Fern Grotto. We also visited Spouting Horn Park on the coast to see a blowhole. The tour was an all day affair that included a stop for lunch at one of the local resorts. The ship set sail for its next stop around 6:15 PM.

 

We arrived at Honolulu Oahu and docked near the Aloha tower by 7:45 AM. We again took a ships tour to the Arizona Monument and the battleship Missouri. It was quite an experience and well worth spending the time and money to see and experience. The ship was staying in port this evening until 11 PM so after we returned from our tour around 3 PM and had some lunch and got cleaned up, we wandered around downtown Honolulu and took some pictures before returning to the ship for dinner. The ship sailed at 11 PM and left behind a beautiful and interesting city.

 

Our last stop in the Islands was at Lahaina Maui where we anchored and tendered into the city. We had signed up for another ships tour this time to Haleakala crater. This required a bus ride across the island and then up the side of the crater to the 9000 foot level of the mountain. We really lucked out and had a beautiful clear day so we got what we feel are great pictures of the interior of the crater. Evidently this only happens around 50% of the time and many times clouds totally block the view after the long ride to the tourists disappointment. This was one of the highlights of the trip and we feel is one of the must see places on Maui. We sailed from Maui a little after 6:15 PM after one of the best sunsets of the cruise.

 

We next had 4 more excellent days at sea before we got to Ensenada Mexico only to find the port was closed so we missed our 4 hour's there. We arrived in LA the next morning very early in the morning. The first groups of passengers began leaving the ship at 7:30 AM. After getting off the ship, the port was very poorly organized for people to pick up luggage and this resulted in a lot of very unhappy passengers. It is ashame the last thing many people will remember about the cruise is the bad experience they had getting their luggage for their trip home.

 

We had a late flight so we rented a car at the airport and did a little sightseeing in areas near to the airport, Venice, San Monica, etc. We caught our red-eye home at 10:30 PM and finally arrived back home in Orlando on Friday Oct 22 at 6:15 AM in the morning.

 

All in all the cruise was all we expected it to be. The food, entertainment, ship, and the stops in the Island all lived up to our expectations. This was our second Princess cruise and we have signed up while on the cruise for another one over the next couple of years.

 

Hope this gives you a brief idea of how the cruise was.

 

Have a great next cruise.

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kimmiejo

kimmiejo

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Our journey began on Sunday 10/3 when we flew to Honolulu a day in advance, which was a good call. It allowed us to get rested up and adjust to the 6 hour time change. Driving down the Ala Moana Blvd. was like being at Spring break. There were tons of people everywhere. We checked into our hotel - the New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel - which had really small rooms, but was at the base of the Diamond Head Crater and was on the beach. Diamond Head Crater was the view from our balony. Then we went to dinner at Duke’s in the Outrigger hotel. This was our first clue that it’s a different pace in Hawaii… very laid back, and very slow service J We managed to stay awake though. Then turned in early for a good night’s rest.

 

Monday we awoke early and headed to Haunama Bay for some snorkeling. It was sprinkling a little, but we were getting wet anyway. There were lots of fish and coral to see – but we found a better snorkeling spot on a different island later on. We drove up the coast to check out some other sites like the Halona Blowhole – didn’t see much blowing out of that hole though… guess you have to get there when the tide and waves are right. It was still a spectacular view. We made our way back to the hotel, showered and changed, checked out and headed to the ship for embarkation. Found our rooms, got a bite to eat, then headed back out. We attempted to hit the “Punchbowl” (Cemetery), but arrived 30 minutes after they closed (5:30pm), so we headed on up to the Mt. Tantalus lookout. The drive up to the point was full of interesting sites and lots of turns that freaked me out because we were so close to the edge. But, once up there we had an amazing view from Diamond Head Crater towards Pearl Harbor… and we actually could look down onto the “Punchbowl”. We watched the sun set, which was probably the only sunset we got to actually see.

 

On Tuesday, our final day on Oahu, we went to Pearl Harbor first thing. The lines can be very deceiving. It was very long when we arrived about 7:15 a.m., but we still made the 4th show at 8:45 a.m. It’s a very solemn experience. It is amazing that oil is still seeping up to the surface after all these years. After P.H. we headed up the Pali Highway to the Nu’uanu Pali Overlook. You must definitely stop here. Amazing view of the Windward side of the island and VERY windy. Afterwards we headed over towards Kailua to the Lanikai Beach, which is supposed to be rated as “Frommer’s Best Beach”. It was a very pretty beach and not very crowded. There isn’t a parking lot for this beach, you just park along side the residential street and walk through the access ways. We were only there for less than 2 hours and when we returned to the rental car, we realized we had been robbed. The thief(s) popped the lock on the driver’s side to get in, so they’ve obviously done this before. Trust me, when they say do not leave anything in the car, do not leave ANYTHING in the car. Even things you think are safe, are not. Even if you think you have it hidden, it’s not. We had changed in the car (minivan) because there weren’t any facilities. My husband left his shorts & shoes on the floor of the drivers side with his wallet in the shorts. His cell phone was tucked down under the console. My dad’s camera and walkie talkie was hidden under papers in the “net” between the front seats. My daughter's clothes & shoes, my undergarments and my son's shoes were in the back seat. Under the back seat in a bag I had mailing labels for postcards & my stamps, a blank camcorder tape, new film and two used rolls of film, 2 pair of binoculars, a camcorder battery, my camcorder CASE and my camera CASE and some items from Pearl Harbor. They took everything except my daughter's shoes & clothes, my son's shoes and my husband's shoes. Yes, they took his shorts & underwear and mine too!! They even took the nerf football the rental car company gave to the kids! So, needless to say, they also got his driver’s license and credit cards – plus all three of their “Sign & Sail Card” to get back on the cruise ship. Even though it wasn’t a lot, it’s enough to make you feel sick to your stomach and violated. And this on our second day in “paradise.” We immediately tried to find a police station or pay phone and found a useless “rent-a-cop” who told us where to find a pay phone. It took forever for the officer to arrive. In the meantime, we called to cancel his credit cards – thankfully I had the same ones and had phone numbers. In the short amount of time, they had already used the one credit card to make a $160+ purchase at Safeway (a grocery store) and a Chevron gas station. Once the police officer arrived, she needed more information for the report, & when we called the credit card company back, we found they also attempted to make a purchase for $36+ at Zippy’s restaurant after we canceled the cards. Their spending spree most likely would have continued had we not had the phone numbers to cancel the cards. There was a note to the merchant to “pick the card up” so the police officer was heading there after we were through. We ended up taking the same route the thieves must have taken to get back to the highway because we passed the Chevron and the Zippy’s where we saw the police car. Didn’t see the Safeway though. So, let this be a warning to you all – make copies of your credit cards, FRONT and BACK and keep in a safe place and not on your person if you are on vacation. That way you can immediately cancel the cards. The new ones were at the house when we got home. We made it back to the ship just as they were taking the gangway down!!

 

Wednesday we ported in Kaua’i. We headed to the Waimea Canyon – “The Grand Canyon of the Pacific.” It was absolutely amazing. I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon in Arizona… only the Pennsylvania “Grand Canyon” in Wellsboro J If you go to this, you MUST travel all the way to the end of the road to the Kalalau lookout. You will get a view of the Na Pali coastline. It’s breathtaking… and only a few miles up the road past the canyon lookout. There are other lookout points between the two as well. Some are quite frightening because the side of the road is right at the cliff and there wasn’t always a guardrail! We went up Rt. 582 – Kokee Road (because we missed the first one – but we at least beat the tour bus!) and then came down Rt. 580 – Waimea Canyon Road. Both roads offer great scenery… but Rt. 580 takes you right up along the canyon. On the way back we stopped at Salt Pond Park. This is a beautiful reddish-gold beach. I wish we had more time to swim and snorkel at this spot. If we ever get back to Kau’i, we will definitely stop back at this place. We then stopped at Poipu’s Spouting Horn. This is another one that you must have to time the tides & waves just right. We didn’t see a huge spouting horn, but the view was still beautiful. We ended our day at the Wailua Falls. This was very pretty – it’s also the falls that were pictured in “Fantasy Island.” You are at the top looking across at the falls, and not at the bottom looking up. There’s a lot more to see on this island, so I definitely want to get back some time so we can see the northern part.

 

 

Thursday was a “tender” port in Kona. We had to get on tender boats to get off the ship. There is a ton of shopping available right at the port for those that are interested. We were anxious to see more sights so we didn’t do much shopping. We went to the Royal Kona Coffee house, then headed to Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park (aka “The Place of Refuge”). This was absolutely beautiful. We saw sea turtles in the water, walked out onto the lava rocks by the ocean and viewed the various statues and other historical landmarks. You can’t snorkel inside the park, but there is a beach next to it. I don’t know if you would see the sea turtles over there or not but we went to another beach closer to the port to snorkel because we didn’t want to “miss the boat.” J Kaha Lu’u Beach Park is an awesome snorkeling spot. A giant sea turtle came up on shore to take in some sun while we were there. The sea turtles also swam in the bay as the kids snorkeled – one started to come up right underneath me. There is an enormous amount of fish to see and a lot of different varieties. I even saw an eel which scared the heck out of me! The fish were huge too. There is still a ton more to see on this island (the Big Island) so we definitely would want to go back there.

 

To be continued.... (too many characters)

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kimmiejo

kimmiejo

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Friday we ported on the other side of the Big Island in Hilo. This is the rainy side of the island and it was raining when we left the ship. We went to Volcanoes National Park first thing. This is absolutely amazing and definitely worth the trip. Unfortunately the lava flow wasn’t visible during the day, and the Park Ranger said it was too dangerous to even hike out to it… even if we had the 7 hours in our schedule that it would take to hike there!! We could definitely smell the sulfur in the air. We walked through the Thurston Lava Tube and then attempted to go further down the “unexcavated” tube until I got claustrophobic when the light of day was just about out of sight. My son says he would have continued on if I had let him… yeah – right! He was a little scared too! J We didn’t have enough flash lights! We took the Chain of Craters Road all the way to the bottom of the volcano by the ocean and then hiked (about 1/2 mile) to the hardened lava from the Spring 2003 lava flow which closed the road. Words can’t describe it. I hope the pictures turn out as good as the video! Take water! They do have restrooms at the bottom, but that's it. Also, walk over to the wall by the ocean for a beautiful view of the black sand below and the lava rock archway. Awesome! We then visited Rainbow Falls, but we were later in the day, so there weren’t any rainbows to be seen, but the waterfalls were pretty. The trees here are really awesome – the kids enjoyed climbing them. We didn’t have time to go to the Akaka Falls, but we went up past the Rainbow Falls to the Boiling Pots and Pee Pee Falls (I’m not making the name up!). Again, there is still a lot more to be seen on the Big Island and I would definitely go back here!

 

 

Saturday we ported in Maui. It took us awhile to find the way to get onto Kaanapali Beach, but once we found it, we went parasailing. There is a small parking lot for the beach which only holds about 10 cars and it fills up quick. You can park in the Whaler's Village parking garage and as long as you make a $10 (I think) purchase from one of the shops, you have 3 free hours of parking. We did the Drums of the Pacific luau at the Hyatt Regency. This was very good. It’s not the ‘authentic’ luau, but they show you the dances of the different “tribes” and end the show with the fire dude. My kids & I even got up to learn the hula. We were ported overnight and got up at 2:30 a.m. to get to the Haleakala Volcano National Park to see the sunrise. We were over 10,000 feet above sea level and it was FREEZING! But, it was worth it to see the sun rise up OVER the clouds… because they were below us! We went all the way to the summit, but now that I’ve seen it in the daylight, the next time I would rather seen the sun come up over the Kalahau Overlook – this is the part of the volcano which looks like Mars. It is so cool. The trip up this volcano was very scary. I was driving over the yellow center line because it felt like we would fall off the edge. I couldn’t drive down it in the daylight – so, even without a license I made my husband drive. Too scary for me – especially when I could see how close we really were to the edge!! You definitely need to pack a warm coat and pants, not to mention a blanket, hat, gloves, scarf, etc. if you do this! It's very cold and windy. They do have a lookout building at the summit, but it's still cold! We took blankets from the ship for the kids - but we only had our jackets and shorts on! We saw a guy who was in shorts and wrapped in beach towels from the ship! By the time we got back to the ship at 9:30 a.m., we had already had a full day in. We realized that it was our last day on the islands and we had not done much, if any shopping, so we rushed around trying to find a store for souvenirs!!

 

After leaving the islands we had 5 very long days at sea. Five consecutive sea days is just too much. Three is max, two preferred! We disembarked in Ensenada, Mexico and then were bussed to San Diego where we enjoyed a 7 hour layover and Todd got to be thoroughly searched since he didn’t have ID J

 

Hawaii is beautiful and it’s amazing to think that it’s part of the United States…. My favorite islands in order are Maui, the Big Island, Kau’i and then Oahu. I would never go back to Oahu though. I think seeing it once is enough. There’s so much more on the other islands, and even two other islands we didn’t visit. We rented a car on each of the islands and didn’t do any of the ship’s excursions or any excursions on the islands. We were our own tour guides and I think we got to see a lot more than you would normally get to.

Aloha!

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!

 

Kim

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  • 3 weeks later...
discolady

discolady

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We just returned from the Island Princess cruise to/from Hawaii 15 nights. (11/20/04. Embarkation was long as there wer 3 ships in port and no one knew what was going on. Princess had a tent, no pier and no signs! We finally got on around 2:30pm, did not sail until midnight as they had to load the ship. The first couple of days were bumpy and cool and then it sort of warmed up 70 ish. Some people tried sunbathing around the pools. It was warm when we arrived at the first island of Hilo, took a tour of the volcano and Macadamia Nut factory. Not too much to see, but the tour guide was very informative even though he talked non stop! Next stop Kona, not too much differenct than Hilo. Honolulu was next (Oahua) and took the Pear Harbour tour. The best and very moving. Also saw the sights, it's a big city. Next stop was Maui (Lanaii), if you don't rent a car or take a tour it is hard to see much other than the small village by the port. Free shuttles to Hilo Hatties for shopping and bus driver acted as a tour guide. Last stop was Kauii, and the best. Rented a car and saw the island. This is a beautiful lush island with lots of beaches. It was chilly and windy by this time and only 69-70 degrees but people were in the water surfing. Had lunch and shopped there. Would like to go again and spend some time there. You are not given enough time on the islands to really see much, just a little. Sailing back was bad as the weather was cold, windy, seas were rough, pools were emptied and everyone was inside. Could not use balconeys. The spay at night would be on the balconey! (dophin deck 9). The entertainment was not very interesting, poor comedians and magicians. Sabatini's was worth the extra money to go to (we went 2 times). You really get your money's worth and the service is just extra special. Worth going too. Did not try the Cajun restuarant. We had a good time but the week long cruising back, especially because of the weather was sooooo long! Not sure if I would go for so many sea days again unless I knew the climate would be warmer. (we live in Vegas and are use to warmer weather!) Any questions I would be happy to answer.

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RvrCrzr

RvrCrzr

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Thanks for the review. Sounds like there are a few glitches to work out, especially embark/debark.

Did you get off in Ensenada at all?

Was the food in the dining room to your liking?

What did you choose for dinner? PC?

What were your favorite things about this cruise/itinerary/ship?

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discolady

discolady

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We were in port in Ensenada from 4pm to 8pm (had to be back on the ship by 7:30pm) Not much to see in port, was very quiet. We did not go into town as have been to Mexico many times and the weather was cold and rainy. The food in the Horizon Buffet and the dining room was okay, but too many fish dishes for our liking. We had personal choice dining (wanted first seating traditional but was unable to get it). Personal choice is actually better as you can go to dinner when you want and if you come back to the ship later you can eat then. The stewards/stewardesses and all the help were excellent and very friendly. Never came accross anyone who wasn't. Anything else you would like to know I'll try and answer.

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Cruisin' Chick

Cruisin' Chick

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We just signed up for the round-trip to Hawaii on the Island Princess for next year and we're wondering about the weather/sea conditions on the Pacific Ocean segments during December and January. We're seasoned cruisers :) several Carnival and two Princess ones) so we don't need to know about the cruise experience itself. Thanks!

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