Island hop or cruise help.

[cbedics]

We are planning our first trip to hawaii and are debating on whether to cruise or fly direct and island hop. Any suggestions on how many days to spend on each of the islands would be appreciated. Thanks.

[CruiserBruce]

If you read the many threads about the various islands you will both find out what to see on each island, and also see many comments about how far better it is to see the islands by island hopping rather than cruising. Cruising generally just gives you a taste of the highlighs, usually.

 

How long you spend on each island depends on your interests. I would say a miminum of 3 full touring days on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii. Kuaui, probably two days would be fine. Then there is the possibility of Lanai and Molokai, for an entirely different view of Hawaii.

[Astro Flyer]

We are planning our first trip to hawaii and are debating on whether to cruise or fly direct and island hop. Any suggestions on how many days to spend on each of the islands would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Which is better depends on whether you prefer packing once & seeing each island for a day or two or want to spend more time on each island & having to change hotels/rental cars with more flights. ;)

 

My 1st time to Hawaii was 30 years ago spending 2 weeks with a few days on each island. A cruise wasn't an option for me & flying was more enjoyable so it was a good introduction to Hawaii. However if a cruise had been an option, it would have been a more relaxing way to get a taste of each island to decide where to return for a more in depth experience. We discovered that Maui is our favorite & now a cruise gives us a relaxing & less expensive way to enjoy other islands for a day.

 

Hopefully this will help you decide which is best for you. There are benefits to either way...have a great time in Hawaii...aloha! :cool:

[Budget Queen]

I do both. :) I think the NCL Hawaii cruises to be just excellent. Meals, lodging transportation all in one, at a reasonable- "Hawaii" price. :) Good amount of touring time, and reasonable, drive up distances and plenty of choices with a rental car.

 

I now, add a week on both ends, next Hawaii cruise for me in Feb- #6 will have Kona in front and Maui after. BUT, time from a cruise certainly is very worthwhile.

 

So no firm answer. I instead suggest, you figure out WHAT you want to do with your time, and where is this best from?? If you are looking for days of surfing then a cruise won't be the best choice, as an example. Look at what time you are investing, and how best to use it.

[cb at sea]

If this is your first trip to Hawaii, fly and stay...Island hop. A cruise gives you but a "taste" of each place....simply not enough time to really get the "feel" of the islands. Just go and do what you want, when you want to. Hotels are quite nice in Hawaii!!!!

[Cruisin' Chick]

My first two times in Hawaii were land trips. The first one was one of those tours (three islands in nine days) where they took care of your luggage, loaded you on a tour bus every day, and so forth. But pricey.

 

The next time was for my honeymoon. Two islands this time, new hubby rented a car for Kauai and we went around the island. Then flew to Oahu, spent time in Honolulu (including time with hubby's grand aunt who would winter there). Since both of us have been there (he had visited there with his mother), we didn't really sightsee other than walking around.

 

The last two times have been on the RT from Los Angeles. It was our daughter's first times in the islands, but we didn't need to spend days and days there so the cruises fit the bill. Lots of time on the ship, which is important to us. The best of both worlds, as far as we're concerned.

 

To me, if you want to spend time in Hawaii (just like with any location), then it's better to just go there and stay for a few days. If you want the relaxation of a cruise, and get time in ports too, then a cruise will give you the taste of the ports (so you can decide if you want to return for an actual stay).

[chipmaster]

Comes down to what you like or want to do in Hawaii and how much time you have.

 

You like to hike, like longer activities like morning sunrise at Haleakala, lounging on beachs and doing 1/2 day boat excursions etc. I would say a land trip with Island hopping will be better. Cruise stops as a rule always have limited time in port with you doing breakfast/dinner on the boat mostly. Takes away the chance to do early morning, late evening or just lounging stuff. IMHO the islands are alll about the hikes, long leisure activities.

 

For some the hassels of land are too much, car rentals, travel to and from airport, checking into mutiple hotels etc. etc. and you got to do it a couple times. Where is one to eat breakfast and dinner. To some hassel to others adventure, nothign is for free.

 

For a first time I'd say think hard about two islands each for 2-3 days. or if you have more time maybe a 3rd island. Each Island really needs at least two full days to take it in, the 3rd day makes for gravy activities. To do the cruise means many excursions will be about choices, with a island hopping you will have less to compromise but more "hassle" so to speak.

 

 

We are planning our first trip to hawaii and are debating on whether to cruise or fly direct and island hop. Any suggestions on how many days to spend on each of the islands would be appreciated. Thanks.

[jonbgd]

I agree with the other posters but heres my 2 cents

 

I would say it all depends on your budget besides how much vacation time you have and what you like to do

 

So we just did NCL cruise with our friends from Philly that have never been (something about 12 hr flight :p)

We flew in a couple days early to spend a few days on Oahu with them

I think the 2 days on each island that Ncl does is a great sampler and that Napali coast sail by was incredible and since my GF wont go in a helicopter anymore would have never seen it.

 

Now if you decide to fly and Island hop I think you need @ least 4-5 days per island.

While the Islands are close together, compared to the Caribbean, they each have thier own personality

Spend a few days exploring but you need to be able to relax on each Island as well and than you have to fly between each island.and check-in and out of your hotels and deal with rental cars.

 

Having lived in SF, I personally prefer to fly over for a long weekend. But for people on the east coast, i guess it is a long flight(maybe why I havnt been to Europe:rolleyes:) and that may not be an option. But I think cruises are a great way to see the islands and than decide to book another vacation in the future on one or 2 of the islands

 

Another option is do a B2B on Ncl what ever you didnt do the first week get to do the second week and still only unpacking once

 

I think once you go you will want to go back again

[ClaireAndMike]

We chose to do the cruise for two reasons.

 

The first is that I am only able to take one week off work at a time (the mountain of work I have waiting for me after just one week when I get back makes that A-OK with me) and the second is that I am absolutely petrified of flying so to only have to fly there and back is about all I can handle.

 

If I had more time and could take a boat island to island (or get over my fear of airplanes which isn't likely) I would do it that way instead of the whole "cruise" setup but that's only an option in my little dream world.

[born2cruize]

We are planning our first trip to hawaii and are debating on whether to cruise or fly direct and island hop. Any suggestions on how many days to spend on each of the islands would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

The first three times we went to Hawaii we spent about a week on Oahu and then took a cruise around Hawaii. This year and next we chose to do back to back 7 day cruises. It gave us 4 days on Maui, the Big Island & Kauai each. For us this is now preferable to island hop on our own.

[hexdragon]

I have done both. The first time we island hopped. the second we did NCL. Each has it's advantage.

 

Island Hopping the only time we felt rushed was on the hop days. Checking out/ heading to the airport / flying / checking into the next hotel was a pain. But we had all day otherwise to enjoy the islands... We stayed at a couple of GREAT hotels and were able to do a couple of great excursions.

 

However we tended to waste almost the whole day traveling between islands...

 

NCL Pride of America was cool. Five ports on Four different islands in seven days.... With no unpacking... no looking for restaurants... You move from port to port as you sleep, so only a 1/2 sea day and that is mostly cruising the Napali Coast.

 

However... We had to schedule things carefully. We were forced to bypass things due to time constraints and were always a little worried about not making it back to the ship on time...

 

I would say either pick one or two islands and spend a couple days on each, or do the cruise and see more islands... I wouldn't try and and hop more than two islands in a week.

[tommui987]

we tended to waste almost the whole day traveling between islands...

 

It would really depend on when you depart one island to the other. You, of course, have to be at the airport about an hour before departure (TSA) and there is the travel time between hotel and airport (maybe 30 minutes) and picking up your bags and getting to your hotel.

 

But the flights between islands usually take less than half-hour. (From Oahu to the Big Island usually is about 40 minutes or so.).

 

So if you take the early flight (maybe around 8AM) you'll be there before lunch. There are planes departing Honolulu to the Neighbor Islands almost every hour.

[frediver]

2 way's to look at it.

A cruise is a nice sample of each island, you will want to return.

A land based trip will let you get a better feel for each island but takes

much more time at each stop, 2-3 days is not enough.

So, Cruise to see them all and be better able to decide which to return to for a land based vacation if you know from the get-go you will return.

Or

Land based if you think you will be satisfied with one or two islands only. Unless of course you can budget more than a 2week trip.

2-3 days on each island is tough when you consider time lost in airports, hotel/condo, cars, etc.,Figure one day lost for each hop. IMO 5 days ea. will allow you to enjoy your trip.

We have tried both Condo and Hotels and much prefer a Condo.

Oahu is the only island with decent public transportation, you will want a car regardless, however renting a car on the islands is painless unless at a peak time.

[hexdragon]

Tommui,

 

Unfortunately it did take most of the day, or a good chunk of it.... Our planner chose the cheaper commuter lines, so the flights were mostly delayed and we sat in the airports... Getting the rental minivan (7 of us) took a half hour, and then packing that minivan... :eek:

[frediver]

Right now Island Air has some great deals for "Hopping".

[Cruise Junky]

First trip, what I wouldn't do is the LA return. So that leaves NCL or a land trip. We've enjoyed both. NCL was a fantastic way of seeing all the islands. If I were to do a land trip, I wouldn't do too much island hopping..maybe fly direct to Maui for a week and then pick another island for a week..takes all the relaxation out of it if you're spending too much time at the airports. Maui would be a great introduction to Hawaii.

[cpamama]

We are STILL on Kauai and flying home tonight. We left home December 1. This is our first and possibly last (we want to see a lot of Europe) trip to Hawaii.

 

As others have said, different people like different islands for different reasons. We spent 2 nights in Waikiki before embarking on the 7-day POA cruise. We got good taste of the Islands and I did a lot of research to see how to best spend our time. You may want to see historical sights, geological sights, botanical/agricultural sights, play in the sand and water, etc.

 

We have spent 5 days on Kauai after our cruise as recommended by our travel agent. Counting the time on POA that's 7 days on/around Kauai. And it did turn out to be our favorite island.

 

For us, the only thing I would have done differently was to spend another day or two on Oahu--just too much to see there. There is much to do on Maui, but we were able to narrow that down because there are similar things on Kauai.

 

We loved only unpacking twice. We did not unpack at the beginning for 2 nights on Waikiki.

 

Have fun!

Linda

[JannyLyn]

It really depends on how much time you have. We went to Hawaii for almost 3 weeks and only did 2 islands. This is because we wanted to just relax and enjoy our time and not feel rushed to do and see the things we wanted to and because it will leave a few more islands to see the next time!

 

We flew into Honolulu, spent 5 days in Waikiki (check out trip advisor for reviews), flew to Kona and spent 11 days on The Big Island. Our original plan was to spend 3 days in Volcano, but decided to spend it all in Kona. We still drove around the island to get a taste of it all.

 

Whatever you choose I'm sure you'll have a great time!