15 day RT LA-Hawaii… thoughts?

[dickinson]

Thinking about doing this cruise Feb 2015. Lots of sea days. Not sure if we'll be bored. I see a lot of people seem to do this cruise repeatedly so therefore they must like it. What do you like or dislike about this 15 day cruise with all the sea days?

[FritzG]

If you like sea days there's nothing to dislike. We love sea days so this is a great itinerary for us. We've done the trip from LA and from San Francisco. We liked it both times, but we're not big fans of the Grand which was doing the SFO cruise. The upside to that is sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge and touring SFO pre or post cruise.

 

We've been to Hawaii on both land trips and cruises so the short stops on each island aren't an issue for us. If you've never been to Hawaii the port times might be a negative. I'd love it if Princess had an itinerary with fewer ports and longer shore times.

[Crystabel]

We did a RT from San Francisco on the Star. It does seem to attract an older crowd. We found plenty to do, but with so many sea days, it's a very relaxing trip for people who need to unwind. Bring a good book and enjoy!

[SadieN]

It attracts an older crowd because of its length and time of year.

 

If you were to take the same cruise when school is out you'd find more families with children onboard.

[skynight]

Thinking about doing this cruise Feb 2015. Lots of sea days. Not sure if we'll be bored. I see a lot of people seem to do this cruise repeatedly so therefore they must like it. What do you like or dislike about this 15 day cruise with all the sea days?

 

Like sea days? You will like the cruise. The 4 Hawaii ports are really nice. The weather crossing can be a little cool and it may or may not be sit around the pool in the hot sun weather. The ocean can also be rough sometimes, you never know. Longer cruises attract older people, but don't think us old timers are the sit around all day types. Most are very active. If you are looking for late night after midnight action, I would probably look elsewhere. The ships kind of gets very quiet after 11pm.

[TLC535]

We love sea days so we loved this itinerary and are doing it again next April...for us (mid 40's - early 50's) Princess had plenty of activities going on throughout the sea days to keep us entertained...though some days we just like to relax with friends and do nothing but escape completely :D

It really depends on your personality pertaining to the sea days...but the islands are beautiful...and if you haven't been to Oahu before make sure to visit the Arizona Memorial / Pearl Harbor...a very moving experience.

Edited May 7, 2014 by TLC535

[Pam in CA]

I love sea days, have done this itinerary several times and have another booked for February. As the others have said, if you like sea days, it's a nice cruise.

[Gimer]

We were on the Feb. 18. cruise to Hawaii out of SF. We booked the Nov. 24 cruise back to Hawaii. We like the Hawaiian Aloha Spirit Theme of this cruise. We do the Hula lessons, Ukulele classes and all the Hawaiian Cultural lectures. It prepares you for the Islands. If your not interested in partaking, no one makes you. Others I see reading their Kindles, doing lots of exercising, knitting groups, trivia twice a day and many more activities through the whole cruise. I see a lot of cruisers sleeping (dozing) and those that like to eat, that's 24/7. Boring, never!

[waltd]

If you live near the port it's great not having any flying to do. If you like sea days it's great. If you are doing it just to see Hawaii just remember one of the ports is a tender port and their have been times they had to bypass the port due to rough sea conditions so an additional sea day. YEA!!!!!

[IdahoCruises]

We did this itinerary out of SF last fall. We love sea days and our Kindles books were all we needed on our balcony ( we did do some time in the Casino and were treated well by the machines and staff).

 

We also met some great people on board and met every day with different sets of people in the group and had a great time visiting and sharing experiences.

 

As others have said, this is a great way to relax. Shore excursions are pretty good, although we found we did not want to get off the ship....chose to relax more than not....

[cr8tiv1]

I love sea days, have done this itinerary several times and have another booked for February. As the others have said, if you like sea days, it's a nice cruise.

 

YaY! I will finally get to meet you. Thanks for all the information you post on Cruise Critic.

 

What's your take on the Grand from LA? Even if ELUA sails on the Star? Holding my breath that ELUA and CD Dave Cole will be assigned to this voyage.

[dickinson]

We have been to Hawaii before although the last time was 25 years ago! We took our honeymoon there and went to Oahu, Maui (although only for the day), Hawaii and Kauai. When we went again 16 years later we did everything except Maui. I like the idea of not having an 11-12 hour flight from the east coast. Somehow sea days sound a lot better!

 

Pam in CA - if we do this cruise I'll be looking forward to meeting you as it is the same cruise as I see in your signature. Same for Cre8tv1.

 

BTW - which port is a tender port?

 

We are also considering a 4 day CA Coastal on the Crown just before this cruise. That way we will be Platinum on the Hawaii cruise. It is actually an expensive way to get some free internet minutes ;) The one good thing is that we would pay for the least expensive cabin and see what we get. We have only been on 2 Princess cruises and both times we were in a Window Suite.

 

FritzG - what is it about the Grand you don't like?

Edited May 7, 2014 by dickinson

[janacin]

Thinking about doing this cruise Feb 2015. Lots of sea days. Not sure if we'll be bored. I see a lot of people seem to do this cruise repeatedly so therefore they must like it. What do you like or dislike about this 15 day cruise with all the sea days?

 

We have taken this cruise out of Los Angeles 5 times and we love it. We like the sea days and spend our time attending lectures, exercising in the gym, reading in skywalkers (lounge on top of the ship), swimming and socializing. We have booked a 28 day Pacific Island cruise in October with 18 sea days. Can't wait!

Marty

[SingerEsq]

We have also done this cruise twice. First time on the Island (incredible trip). Second time on the Golden (rough seas, but still enjoyed). Both times have been around the same time of year that you are considering. We were in our 40s at the time, but we both have high pressure jobs, so 10 sea days (especially the first time with no internet) was a blessing. It is almost like going on 3 vacations. 5 days to unwind and decompress. 5 days to go, go, go (we squeezed as much time as we could out of the port days, often being the first off and last back on). And then 5 days to "recover" from our port days.

 

Depending on where you live, you will not find this cruise, or Hawaii for that matter, extremely warm in February. Whether you leave from LA or SFO, it will probably be quite cold the first few sea days. And, even when you get to the islands, the highs may only be around 70. That sounds warm to midwesterners in the middle of winter, but we heard people on both of our cruises complain that they thought it was going to be much warmer, especially in the islands. I heard one man complaint about "Princess' deceptive advertising" for offering this itinerary when "they know" it's not warm. However, it's still "winter" in February in the Northern Hemisphere, and that includes Hawaii. My cousin just did this trip out of SFO in March and she, too, was surprised at how chilly it was.

 

Just make sure to manage your expectations with regard to sea days and the weather. As you mention, this is obviously a very popular itinerary. We would do this cruise again, and probably will someday.

[jsiegel]

I've done this cruise twice out of LA. Loved the sea days because there were a lot of activities to interest me. Loved the taste of the islands to then choose which ones to spend more time on a land vacation.

 

If you can afford it, you might want to get a mini-suite for the bit of extra room. The public lounges tend to be packed on sea days with people looking for a place to sit and read.

 

Jackie

[TLC535]

Maui (Lahaina) is the tendered port.

[Pam in CA]

What's your take on the Grand from LA? Even if ELUA sails on the Star? Holding my breath that ELUA and CD Dave Cole will be assigned to this voyage.

Hi! Didn't see you on the roll call. :) I have to admit that the Grand is my least-favorite Princess ship but it's been years since I was last on her so hopefully, my impression will change. I'd rather have the Star and ELUA but since we needed a "no fly" cruise, the Grand was the only option.

[dickinson]

Pam- what is it about the Grand that you didn't like? We have only been on the Golden and the Caribbean Princess.

 

Is it often that Maui is missed because it is a tender port?

[Cruisin' Chick]

We have done this cruise three times out of LA during holidays and what better way to celebrate them but at sea (even though we were on Maui on Christmas on the third time...but Whalers Village north of Lahaina was open).

 

We actually had weather in the high 70s in all of the ports, and again, each of them during December. Very little rain, but it was pouring in Hilo the last time. My first time in Hawaii (on one of those 3 islands in 9 days tours) was in late February/early March and it wasn't in the low 70s then either.

 

Our second and third Hawaiian cruises (on the Golden) had Elua and their fabulous cultural program. Took the hula classes both times and participated in the Aloha 'Oe show. Our first time was before they got hired -- there were some of the classes (even though back then, there was a materials cost for the lei making classes...now you can take the orchid and ribbon classes for free), and both my daughter and hubby took the uke classes.

 

I think if someone gets bored on this cruise, they'll get bored on any cruise with sea days. We absolutely love sea days, feel the time in Hawaii is a bonus, and I particularly like the fact we can drive to San Pedro for this cruise.

 

As for tendering, we made it to Lahaina all three times, but our first cruise was to include Kona (also a tender port),and that port had to be missed due to high waves. So maybe one day, we'll fly to Kona (I do hate flying, though) and stay there a few days to see what we've missed.

[Jasperdo]

My wife and I have done this cruise twice. It's a nice mix of relaxing sea days with four wonderful days in Hawaii sandwiched in the middle. If you like sea days, this cruise would be perfect. If you look in my signature below, you'll find links to the Princess Patters for both those Hawaii cruises. They'll give you a good idea what to expect on a Hawaii cruise. You'll find that there is a lot to do on the sea days.

Edited May 7, 2014 by Jasperdo

[SingerEsq]

On both our HI cruises, we were unable to get into Kauai both times. :(

 

I worked on a ship in the 80s circling the islands. The channel in Kauai is very narrow (at least it was then), and that was our most regularly missed port then.

 

A day in Hilo without rain, especially in the winter, is a rarity.

Edited May 7, 2014 by SingerEsq

[HBINLA]

We took this cruise twice. I LOVED the sea days. It was incredibly relaxing both going and coming back. My wife is not one to sun bathe and likes to do things. There were plenty of activities (lei making, hula lessons, etc.). When she wanted down time outside, she camped out in the shade on one of the old fashioned wooden lounge chairs on the Lido deck.

In my opinion, this cruise offers people the choice to do everything, nothing, and/or anything in between on sea days. Go for it - you'll love it!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Cruise Junky]

We just disembarked Thursday from doing Hawaii but on a one way cruise. 5 sea days was enough. We would not have enjoyed 5 days both ways. We flew to Honolulu, spent 4 nights and then boarded the ship for a 10 day cruise Honolulu to Vancouver.

[greenie082756]

We did the LA to Hawaii round trip on the Golden in April 2013. We were not sure if we would be able to handle that many sea days either. Amazingly it was so relaxing knowing you were heading somewhere and not really caring when you got there but knowing you would. Relaxing.:D

This was our very first experience with Princess and it was an enjoyable cruise. So many choices of what to do during sea days, entertainment in our opinion was just that, entertaining! We read, played in the casino, watched MUTS, Elua entertained in the piazza and the food was sometimes tasty and sometimes (as my DH likes to say) just okay. So many options!

Will we do this again? Absolutely! :p:D

Edited May 10, 2014 by greenie082756

[atlasali]

We did the round trip twice and a one way to Sydney via Hawaii once. And loved it. Of course we like sea days. I like to paint watercolors on deck, and read, watch the waves pass by, and try to squeeze in all the activities offered.

 

The cruise director: David Cole, I believe, along with the husband and wife Hawaiian musical duo: Elua made the trip an Immersion in Hawaiian culture and experiences. DH took ukulele lessons. I did some hula lessons. I participated in the crafts; such as, leis made with fresh flowers, with kukui nuts, with yarn and ribbons. Hawaiian words (with definitions) were used when possible.

 

Now, there can be some rolling seas on the way. I believe it is called the Pineapple Roller Coaster. We did see one husband and wife get off in Hilo to fly back. Too bad because the seas were smooth the remainder of the cruise.

 

I wish there were more opportunities to either cruise one way and incorporate a stay on the islands; or better yet: go over on one cruise, stay 2 weeks in Hawaii and return on another cruise. Princess, can you make this possible? Days at Sea beat crammed in Economy class on any airplane for that long of a flight.