Golden Princess for families??

[Kilikikina]

Hello everyone! I was interested in taking a cruise to the Hawaiian Islands, but didn't want to fly. I figured why sit on a plane for all those hours when I could be relaxing on a ship? So I went to do a little research and I only saw Princess doing the 14 days from LA. Is this correct? And if so, has any other family done this cruise? Likes/dislikes?

 

Thanks!

[Kerry's Girls]

I just did this cruise in January with my 4 year old twins. I've been cruising my entire life and this was my favorite of all time. Obviously, you have to be someone who enjoys sea days, but I can't tell you how perfect it was. All those days to just get to enjoy the ship, then four days exploring the islands, then more days to enjoy the ship. And we had an amazing time on the islands as well. The Golden is extremely family friendly - though unless it's during a holiday, there aren't many kids on board. I think there were under 50 kids between 3-18 on our cruise, but all the kids of every age seemed to be having a ball - even the teenagers. If I had enough vacation days, I would do this cruise every year - but I'm also trying to show my girls new places all the time, so, much as I'd love to repeat Hawaii, we're doing something else next.

 

I think the biggest difference is the cruise director, who has been doing this route for a long time and has the sea days action packed with more activities than it's possible to do - including lots of Hawaiian based activities where we learned so much more than we would have if we'd just gone to stay at a resort in Hawaii. These days, I never usually notice a cruise director anymore, but this one goes above and beyond to make sure there's always something for everyone going on.

 

If you do a search of Hawaii on the Princess boards, you'll see over and over again cruise critic members saying this is their favorite cruise. Geez - I see that I'm gushing, but this really was the best value for our vacation dollar ever. And we really got everything - relaxing time to spend together, plus we learned to hula dance, make leis, we rode a submarine, walked on a volcano, etc. etc.

 

Let me know if you have any questions. The only down-side to this cruise is the twins keep asking when we're going back on the big boat.

[wrp96]

Holland America also has roundtrip Hawaii cruises but from San Diego. I think though that Golden Princess might be a better option for families.

[Kilikikina]

Thanks guys for the replies. It makes me feel a little better knowing you had such a great time. I have only ever been on one cruise and it was Disney, a no brainer for the kids.

 

I'm getting excited about the trip.