Hawaiian Islands rountrip on Grand Princess?

[Jackytar]

Though Herself and I have yet to do our first cruise (1 month, 6 days to go as of this writing), she's already thinking of "the next cruise"; she wants to go to Hawaii. I see Grand Princess is doing a 15-day from Vancouver BC return that has 4 days in the islands proper.

 

Anyone done this trip before? Your thoughts on Princess Lines? Thanks.

[Northender]

I have not done Hawaii yet, but plan to next April. We will be going on the Star Princess.:):)

 

Princess is our favorite cruise line. We have enjoyed everyone of our cruises that we have done. The Grand was our first cruise. Nice ship.

You will have a good time.:D

 

Perhaps if you asked specific questions about cruising, you can get a more of a definitive response.

 

Where are you and herself going on your first cruise?;)

[Belle]

We have done the Hawaiian Cruises

on the Golden, Star and the Grand.

Either out of LA or SF.

 

You should really enjoy it. We do.

Only thing is a lot of sea days...

if you don't like them, then not

the cruise for you. We like sea days.

[gcvt]

We just did Hawaii on Grand last month and it was great! Princess does a good job of planning things to keep you entertained on the sea days.

[buggywhip]

Hello,

 

Have done the SF to Hawaii 15 day cruise twice, plus once from LA. As another post stated, LOT of sea days and only 4 days in Hawaii. If you are going primarily to see Hawaii, then either take the 7 day cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line from Honolulu, or book a air/hotel package. Last cruse I took was in Oct 2013 on Grand Princess. Ship was fine but I have had enough of the sea days, both ways. If this is first Hawaii cruise, probably will be OK. However, I think there are better itineraries for a 15 day cruise. My 2 cts

[AE_Collector]

The Vancouver to Hawaii and back to Vancouver is a new trip for Princess from Vancouver. I hope they keep doing one pre and one post Alaska season.

 

We love sea days but if you really want a good tour of Hawaii, 4 days in the islands isn't much. Another option that we have done twice now is a one way cruise. Pacific Princess leaves Vancouver mid September for a 12 day cruise that drops you in Honolulu where you can spend another few days, week or month after 6 stops including Honolulu. We just got off Pacific Princess in Vancouver on Saturday after a 10 day one way from Honolulu.

 

PS: since you are in Victoria you can run over to Esquimalt dry dock and take a look at Pacific Princess from May 3 to May 13 after which she goes back into service doing 7 day Alaska round trips from Vancouver.

 

Terry

Edited May 8, 2014 by AE_Collector

[sassyredhat]

We done it 3 times, all from LA, but I agree with the others.

We planned to do it again, but PCL cut some of the dates, and it didn't fit our schedules.

 

The sea days can be long if you don't like them, and if you don't prepare yourself for than amount of time.

Also, the seas can be choppy for a day over and a day coming back due to the trade winds and currents.

We have always chosen a balcony, and while you can't always use it on all of the sea days, we find it invaluable in port.

 

We love, love this cruise, so none of this is an issue for us.

 

Pat

Edited May 8, 2014 by sassyredhat

[ggprincess2004]

We've done Princess from the west coast to Hawaii several times and love it. For us, the answer would be - Yes, why are you even asking the question!?!

 

But.....it works for us because we love-love-love sea days; we have both been to Hawaii before on land tours and seen quite a lot of the islands, so we like doing more off the beaten path things in each island now and we don't mind it if we miss a port due to weather, we've been there already; rough seas don't bother us and we expect some chop heading west the first two days and east the last two days; Princess has Hawaiian themed activities on board which we find fun and interesting; Princess ships are like second homes for us.

 

BUT..if we had never been to Hawaii before we would fly over and spend two weeks there island hopping (we would not take the seven day cruise around the islands - terrible reviews, not our cruise line of choice), we would find out if we tolerated semi-rough seas well, we would find out if we liked sea days.

 

Don't question for a second your choice to sail Princess, just make sure that Herself is comfortable asea......wishing you a terrific first cruise together!:)

[RetiredNTraveling]

We did Hawaii on the Golden last year and it was great! No take that back! "It was "Fabulous"! :D The Princess Crew did a great job of planning things to keep you active, if you want! However that is not always necessary. I would make one suggestion, "get a balcony room" if you want to enjoy the sea days. Seats are hard to find in the Piazza and every place else as those seemed to be occupied pretty much all day! :rolleyes:

[dickinson]

We've done Princess from the west coast to Hawaii several times and love it. For us, the answer would be - Yes, why are you even asking the question!?!

 

But.....it works for us because we love-love-love sea days; we have both been to Hawaii before on land tours and seen quite a lot of the islands, so we like doing more off the beaten path things in each island now and we don't mind it if we miss a port due to weather, we've been there already; rough seas don't bother us and we expect some chop heading west the first two days and east the last two days; Princess has Hawaiian themed activities on board which we find fun and interesting; Princess ships are like second homes for us.

 

BUT..if we had never been to Hawaii before we would fly over and spend two weeks there island hopping (we would not take the seven day cruise around the islands - terrible reviews, not our cruise line of choice), we would find out if we tolerated semi-rough seas well, we would find out if we liked sea days.

 

Don't question for a second your choice to sail Princess, just make sure that Herself is comfortable asea......wishing you a terrific first cruise together!:)

 

How bad are semi-rough seas?

[gcvt]

How bad are semi-rough seas?

 

Last month our 'calm' seas were 2-4 feet and our 'rough' seas were about 8-1/2 feet. Wasn't bad at all, but everyone responds differently of course. They did close some of the pools for a while during the roughest times.

Edited May 8, 2014 by gcvt

[ggprincess2004]

How bad are semi-rough seas?

 

It varies depending upon the person. I have sailed along the edge of a hurricane, where over half the ship was seasick and through a tropical storm system with no problem, that stuff doesn't bother me. My niece cannot tolerate 'calm' seas, and has therefore sworn off cruising in favor of land-based luxury resorts.

 

Also the intensity of the chop and duration of the chop sailing westward off the west coast varies - and there is always the possibility that the rest of the sail to Hawaii will not be a smooth as usual if there is a storm in the way.

 

The cruise ships have great stabilizers - but they don't help my niece. I would simply suggest that a cruise with 4 days going to Hawaii and 4 days coming back not be your first cruise - unless you go whale watching or something similar and have no problem with the motion of the ocean.

[Jackytar]

Thanks, everyone, for all the great feedback so far; this is exactly the kind of intel I'm looking for. To respond to a couple of specific points:

 

Perhaps if you asked specific questions about cruising, you can get a more of a definitive response.

 

Where are you and herself going on your first cruise? :)

 

This is about as specific as I can get so far, I'm afraid; partly because I have yet to go on my first cruise (as opposed to a deployment). Our first cruise is going to be this June, on the QM2 from NY to Southampton, and no doubt that experience will inform us a great deal for future cruise considerations. The other is that I've been to Hawaii a dozen or more times myself, but always to Pearl Harbour (usually destroyer row, but occasionally the jetty of shame over by the sub tenders). However, that's the only part of Hawaii I've been to; off-island leave is never authorized when I sail there with the RCN.

 

We have done the Hawaiian Cruises

on the Golden, Star and the Grand.

Either out of LA or SF.

 

You should really enjoy it. We do.

Only thing is a lot of sea days...

if you don't like them, then not

the cruise for you. We like sea days.

We just did Hawaii on Grand last month and it was great! Princess does a good job of planning things to keep you entertained on the sea days.

 

Being a Navy man, sea days don't bother me. :) 25 years at sea have taught me well how to keep myself amused while charging around the deep and briny; the crossing on the QM2 will help Herself gauge how much sea time she cares for. It will help, I'm sure, to be cargo rather than crew. :) One of the attractions of this possible cruise is that it's Vancouver return, which makes getting from home in Victoria to Canada Place pretty simple - not like our June trip, which will involve an overnight flight to La Guardia via TO (ugh!).

 

Hello,

 

Have done the SF to Hawaii 15 day cruise twice, plus once from LA. As another post stated, LOT of sea days and only 4 days in Hawaii. If you are going primarily to see Hawaii, then either take the 7 day cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line from Honolulu, or book a air/hotel package. Last cruse I took was in Oct 2013 on Grand Princess. Ship was fine but I have had enough of the sea days, both ways. If this is first Hawaii cruise, probably will be OK. However, I think there are better itineraries for a 15 day cruise. My 2 cts

The Vancouver to Hawaii and back to Vancouver is a new trip for Princess from Vancouver. I hope they keep doing one pre and one post Alaska season.

 

We love sea days but if you really want a good tour of Hawaii, 4 days in the islands isn't much. Another option that we have done twice now is a one way cruise. Pacific Princess leaves Vancouver mid September for a 12 day cruise that drops you in Honolulu where you can spend another few days, week or month after 6 stops including Honolulu. We just got off Pacific Princess in Vancouver on Saturday after a 10 day one way from Honolulu.

 

PS: since you are in Victoria you can run over to Esquimalt dry dock and take a look at Pacific Princess from May 3 to May 13 after which she goes back into service doing 7 day Alaska round trips from Vancouver.

 

Terry

 

That's one thing - the 15-day Princess trip is just 4 stops in the islands. Carnival Miracle has a 16-day which has one more day in the islands, but ends in Long Beach, not Vancouver, so there would be a (small) extra cost to get back home. That said, having sailed on Her Majesty's service on both oceans, there's no getting away from the fact that the Pacific is wider, so at-sea time is going to be longer. A more even sea-shore ratio would be good, but short of Terry's suggestion - which would pose a challenge in terms of how much vacation time I have - I don't see a feasible way to do it.

 

BTW, Terry, I know what you mean; I can see her from my office on base. I have a couple of wingers in VSL (the yard that operates the dockyard); I may see if I can get on for some looky-loos :)

[ar1950]

............Being a Navy man, sea days don't bother me. :) 25 years at sea have taught me well how to keep myself amused while charging around the deep and briny; the crossing on the QM2 will help Herself gauge how much sea time she cares for................

...........That said, having sailed on Her Majesty's service on both oceans, there's no getting away from the fact that the Pacific is wider, so at-sea time is going to be longer.................

 

You will find that sea days on a cruise ship are a much different experience than on a military ship.:cool:

 

We made the Hawaii trip last November on the Star and had a great time on the sea days. Admittedly more port time in the islands would be nice. However it still gives a nice sampling for someone who hasn't had the chance to really visit Hawaii before.

[Northender]

Well, a Navy guy should have no problems with sea days. :) As a former Canadian (East Coast) thank you for your service. Hubby and I are looking forward to Pearl Harbour. My Dad was in the Canadian Army and stationed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. But as a kid we moved to the "Boston States" and

learned so much about that day.

 

We love sea days also. Time to relax and just enjoy being with others. The four ports will be fun and go-go-go.:D:D Then more sea days to relax. I like to think of them as my vacation from my vacation.

 

We have been to Vancouver and Victoria when we did Alaska and loved both cities very much.:)

[Jackytar]

We made the Hawaii trip last November on the Star and had a great time on the sea days. Admittedly more port time in the islands would be nice. However it still gives a nice sampling for someone who hasn't had the chance to really visit Hawaii before.

 

That's definitely both of us. I've made several (a dozen or so by now, I think) port visits to PH, but that's the only port in Hawaii I've been to. Even when we've had as much as a week alongside destroyer row, the upper echelons of command generally didn't authorize off-island travel, like to Maui, say...