Which cruise line to take to Hawaii

[nice'n'neat]

We are looking at taking the 14 or 15 night cruise out of CA to Hawaii and back. Can anyone give me suggestions for which cruise line would be best? We are in our 60's but very active. Any other suggestions concerning this cruise would be greatly appreciated.

[Shorex]

As always, "best" is a subjective and elusive concept. Perhaps start with researching all the lines that have itineraries that meet your criteria. Are you looking for mass market, premium or luxury? Large ship, small ship?

 

"Best" for us would be Crystal, which offers a round-trip from LA in December. Look here for details of the Crystal shore excursions, entertainment and itinerary. Others will have different opinions. C'est la vie.

 

Remember you will have plenty of sea days, so what do YOU prefer to do during that time? Lectures, bridge, dance classes, Pilates, bingo, computer classes, reading....???

 

How important is the quality of the entertainment? How important is the quality of specialty restaurants?

 

Only you can distill the differences between lines and decide what will give you a great cruise experience.

[FoghornLeghorn]

We really enjoyed our Hawaiian Cruise on the Golden Princess.

Plenty of things to do on the way over and way back.

We took lei making classes, ukelele classes, played trivia games and bingo.

My favorite thing was Whale Watching in Maui.

[bonsai3s]

We really enjoyed our Hawaiian Cruise on the Golden Princess.

Plenty of things to do on the way over and way back.

We took lei making classes, ukelele classes, played trivia games and bingo.

My favorite thing was Whale Watching in Maui.

 

FoghornLeghorn...we did the same thing as well. Hula classes, ukelele classes, ballroom dancing, and trivia. We even participated on the passenger show where my DW danced the hula and I played the ukelele...certainly most memorable. We met sooooo many wonderful people on this cruise...it was incredible! We've never had a bad cruise...but our cruise on the Golden Princess turned out to be one of our "best". Note: We listened to the CD we purchased onboard from a husband and wife singing duo (Elua) and listened to Hawaiian songs on the 4-hour drive home...her voice was angelic. :)

[Talisker92]

Please do not get me wrong! I love cruising, but I am not enamored of many sea days in a row. Unless you just love to be on a ship, I would recommend doing a land tour of Hawaii of some sort.

That aside, there is an NCL ship that just cruises the islands. You have to weigh the airfare costs and time involved.

[chipmaster]

Unless you really like a lot of boat time, IMHO 14 days / two weeks makes a wonderfuly island hopping length, hit 4 islands for 3-4 days. WOW could you build a wonderfuly serious of days on each island. Don't get the joy of eating in the same dining room or coming to the same room that moves, but not nearly as magical as exploring all sorts of hidden gems by car on each Island.

 

We are looking at taking the 14 or 15 night cruise out of CA to Hawaii and back. Can anyone give me suggestions for which cruise line would be best? We are in our 60's but very active. Any other suggestions concerning this cruise would be greatly appreciated.

[nice'n'neat]

Thanks for all of your input. We're still looking.

[momofmeg]

We considered doing Princess for this as our 30th anniversary celebration next year. We decided instead for a week in Italy and then a transatlantic back. we still hiope to do Hawaii but we will have to wait 2 or 3 years.

 

We liked that Princess leaves from LA, whereas HAL leaves from San Diego. (have dear friends that live in LA) Now, I did find a few this fall on Celerity Century-Celebrity is nice too, and there is one repositioning on her in late Nov. you could take, and then spend a few days in Hawaii before flying back home.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We did the 15-day cruise on the Island Princess in 2005 and really wanted to do it again. The next time we were able to go on vacation was this last year and we took the Golden Princess, which was excellent! As mentioned above, there's a musical duo Elua who lead many of the activities such as the hula and uke classes as well as lei making. I too participated in the hula show on the last night and learned to make two different types of leis. We also got to hear this group play some wonderful Hawaiian melodies at poolside and also in the Piazza.

 

This particular itinerary and ship seems to be the only one that really emphasizes the itinerary in that there's so many Hawaiian activities, talks about the nature and culture of Hawaii, features items on the menus that are tropical-inspired. On the other cruises we've been on (and heard about), you really wouldn't know which area of the world you're going to unless you're reading the port day newsletters. Not so with this cruise.

 

There's a reason why many keep taking this cruise on Princess year after year.

[fleckle]

We are looking at taking the 14 or 15 night cruise out of CA to Hawaii and back. Can anyone give me suggestions for which cruise line would be best? We are in our 60's but very active. Any other suggestions concerning this cruise would be greatly appreciated.

First determine if you really want to spend most of your expensive vacation days somewhere out in the middle of the ocean doing makeshift music and craft projects to pass the time, or if you would rather spend most of those Hawaii vacation days actually experiencing Hawaii.

 

Out of the many possible ways that you can spend 14 or 15 nights on a Hawaii vacation, a round trip cruise out of CA will give you the least time in Hawaii of all.

[flamomo]

We have done the r/t LA-Hawaii 3 times so far with Princess, will be going there again in October with Princess as part of a 28 day itinerary (LA-Hawaii-Samoa-Tahiti & S Pacific-LA), and again next March on a 15 day r/t SFO-Hawaii itinerary on the Star Princess.

 

The one last year on the Golden was outstanding because of the Hawaii themed program that runs throughout the cruise. As someone mentioned above, there's lots of fun "Hawaii stuff" to do ... lei making classes, Hula classes, Ukulele classes, etc, and Hawaii presentations re: the history, geograpy, and customs of Hawaii. I understand this type of program has been incorporated into the Sapphire's activities too.

 

So obviously, my recommendation would be Princess.

[momofmeg]

First determine if you really want to spend most of your expensive vacation days somewhere out in the middle of the ocean doing makeshift music and craft projects to pass the time, or if you would rather spend most of those Hawaii vacation days actually experiencing Hawaii.

 

Out of the many possible ways that you can spend 14 or 15 nights on a Hawaii vacation, a round trip cruise out of CA will give you the least time in Hawaii of all.

 

I would! guess I am weird-or maybe it is just that I am older and soI love the idea of no long flights-just the 4 hour to California-or only one long flight if I do a repositioning.

 

Long flights are hard on me, which is why we picked a transatlantic to go back to Europe.

 

You need to remember everyone has different needs and preferences-as the saying goes-"Different strokes for different folks." The OP does need to consider this though-perhaps they are more like you.

 

To the OP- we did a transatlantic before and we loved the lectures on sea days-we had lectures on NASA by a retired NASA photographer, and also lectures on ocean liners of old-including the last day lecture on the Titanic-LOL! We thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

I was told that Celerity, HAL, and Princess all do the lectures for these longer cruises with more sea days, but that RCI , NCL,and Carnival do not-which is why I would not pick those lines for this type of cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

We did the 15 day Hawaiian cruise on the Amsterdam a few years ago. It was great.

 

Now HAL has different ships doing 14 day round trips.

 

They are all out of San Diego.

[nice'n'neat]

You have all been so helpful. I am fairly new to Cruise Critic but will continue to monior the boards. Princess is looking good and the prices for previous Princess cruisers are good. I do want to check on the Celebrity repositioning though before making a final decision. Thanks again, everyone!

[jschm27]

First determine if you really want to spend most of your expensive vacation days somewhere out in the middle of the ocean doing makeshift music and craft projects to pass the time, or if you would rather spend most of those Hawaii vacation days actually experiencing Hawaii.

 

Out of the many possible ways that you can spend 14 or 15 nights on a Hawaii vacation, a round trip cruise out of CA will give you the least time in Hawaii of all.

 

I agree. I love cruising but we've determined that we're going to do a land tour(s) of Hawaii rather than by boat. Too little time in port to see all that needs to be seen. Of course, that arguement can probably be made for any port, but for us, we don't want to take a cruise there. :o

 

John

[Alliezona09]

For those of us that do not fly, a round trip cruise to Hawaii is the only way we will ever get to see Hawaii~

 

Going on the Carnival Spirit in December~ 15day RT from San Pedro CA, 5 island stops (one more than Golden Princess, Carnival stops at Kona) Looking forward to it~