Hawaii R/T from LA

[WNcruiser]

I know the Eclipse did a one time only Hawaii cruise round trip from Los Angeles this year. It was almost full within days of being released, at least all the suites were sold out.

 

i would think being that popular Celebrity would do another one but I see nothing but one-ways between Honolulu and Vancouver through 2021.

 

Does anyone have any knowledge of that cruise being offered again? I won’t pass it up next time! 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

I couldn't find any LA to Hawaii cruises.  It is probably due to the Cabotage Act, which prohibits transportation of passengers of goods between two or more U.S. Ports on a foreign flag ship without a stop at a "distant" foreign port.   In the past Celebrity and other lines use to get around that by dropping anchor in Encenada.   The Government cracked down on this a coule years ago which is why all Hawaii cruises on Celebrity are starting and ending in Vancouver.

[hcat]

Interesting..

years ago we did a RT from   LA on Summit..I recall that in addition to  Ensenada, there was a stop at an island not part of the US ( memory fades).

 

It was fun on all the sea days.  We had a Hawaii ambassador on board who was great!  Time changes were nice and subtle. Trade off was less time in Hawaii.

[WestLakeGirl]

The OP is looking for round trip.  For that itinerary, a stop in Ensenada is sufficient.  No distant foreign port is required on a round trip, any foreign port will do.

it is when a cruise begins in LA and ends in Hawaii that a distant foreign port is required, which is why you never see such itineraries.

 

Celebrity may offer the LA roundtrip again in the future, but no one knows if they will or not

[Jim_Iain]

We were not as lucky.   We had a cruise about 3 years ago from San Diego to Hawaii but when we arrived at the port they advised that the ship was sailing empty from San Diego to Ensenada and they bussed us down.   Took us over 9 hours on one of the worst planned transport I have experienced.   We sat on the bus at the boarder for over 4 hours.

[jelayne]

We did the R/T LA Hawaii this year and we stopped in Ensenada before returning to LA.  

[fleckle]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

We were not as lucky.   We had a cruise about 3 years ago from San Diego to Hawaii but when we arrived at the port they advised that the ship was sailing empty from San Diego to Ensenada and they bussed us down.   Took us over 9 hours on one of the worst planned transport I have experienced.   We sat on the bus at the boarder for over 4 hours.

 

That was what we also had to do when we took the one-way cruises from California to Hawaii, which we did a number of times through the years, boarding the ship at Ensenada.

Guess we were lucky because we never had to sit at the border for so long; maybe  1/2 hour to perhaps an hour at most, but we had our long wait up front in San Diego. 

 

I have no idea of how they assigned the bus priority, but those who got on an early bus had the long  wait at the border,  waiting for all the other busses to arrive there, while those who got assigned to a later bus had the long wait at the San Diego cruise terminal.

 

At the border they would assemble  all the buses into a convoy for the continuation of the trip on down to Ensenada,  providing armed guards to escort us as a precaution because there had been incidents of bandits attacking vehicles along that route. 

Some of the bus ride was quite scenic, like getting a "free" excursion before we boarded the ship.

 

They did all the paperwork in San Diego before we ever got on a bus, so when they finally let us off the bus in Ensenada, we were able to get right on the ship.

The ship was already down there waiting for us each time when the buses arrived.

 

If the ship had come down from Vancouver, or across from Florida via the Panama Canal, then any passengers who boarded in Vancouver (or Florida) were able to remain onboard the ship for the ride from San Diego down to Ensenada and they did not need to ride the bus.

 Just those crazy cabotage laws.

                                

                                                                        

Edited December 31, 2019 by fleckle

[TFLG]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

We were not as lucky.   We had a cruise about 3 years ago from San Diego to Hawaii but when we arrived at the port they advised that the ship was sailing empty from San Diego to Ensenada and they bussed us down.   Took us over 9 hours on one of the worst planned transport I have experienced.   We sat on the bus at the boarder for over 4 hours.

 

I think I was on that cruise or a similar one  (2013 is when we did it on the Solstice).  Yea, that was a cluster $%@k. We were on an early bus and got over the border fairly quickly but we sat on the bus in the parking lot at the pier for nearly an hour and the bathroom on the bus wasnt working!    Normally the Hawaii RT cruises stop in Ensenada. Princess usually runs a few every year.

Edited December 31, 2019 by TFLG

[Jim_Iain]

We finally got through the boarder after many hours but then we did not wait for a convoy.   Our driver got lost in Ensenada and they had to send a bus to find us and show him where the ship was.   I though - how hard would it be to find a ship.   Head toward the water and -  Bam--- a big ship sitting there.

[Kartgv]

Princess does many 15 day Hawaii round trips almost year round from LA (spring, fall, winter) and sometimes San Francisco, so why can't Celebrity make it work?     

[WNcruiser]

31 minutes ago, Kartgv said:

Princess does many 15 day Hawaii round trips almost year round from LA (spring, fall, winter) and sometimes San Francisco, so why can't Celebrity make it work?     

Great question...I wish they would do it at least once a year. Holland also does it from San Diego. 

Edited December 31, 2019 by WNcruiser

[WNcruiser]

1 hour ago, TFLG said:

 

I think I was on that cruise or a similar one  (2013 is when we did it on the Solstice).  Yea, that was a cluster $%@k. We were on an early bus and got over the border fairly quickly but we sat on the bus in the parking lot at the pier for nearly an hour and the bathroom on the bus wasnt working!    Normally the Hawaii RT cruises stop in Ensenada. Princess usually runs a few every year.

We were also booked on the Ensenada-Hawaii cruise and ended up cancelling after all the bad reviews about leaving from there. That’s why the round trip is so nice, a quick stop in Ensenada is well worth it. 

[ECCruise]

41 minutes ago, Kartgv said:

Princess does many 15 day Hawaii round trips almost year round from LA (spring, fall, winter) and sometimes San Francisco, so why can't Celebrity make it work?     

HAL does some also.  15 day RT and some that also include some Mexican Riviera.

[fleckle]

52 minutes ago, WNcruiser said:

We were also booked on the Ensenada-Hawaii cruise and ended up cancelling after all the bad reviews about leaving from there. That’s why the round trip is so nice, a quick stop in Ensenada is well worth it. 

 

Except that once we get to Hawaii, we want to get off the ship and stay  there  to enjoy a real Hawaii vacation,  not get on a ship that turns around and heads right back.

That is only a teaser, not a true Hawaii vacation.

 

For whale watching enthusiasts, it is worth spending a full week on Maui alone during the height of the whale watching season, where closeup whale sightings are more plentiful and much lower priced than in Alaska.

Great way to combine a cruise vacation with a land vacation.

                                                           

Edited December 31, 2019 by fleckle

[grandgeezer]

5 hours ago, WNcruiser said:

I know the Eclipse did a one time only Hawaii cruise round trip from Los Angeles this year. It was almost full within days of being released, at least all the suites were sold out.

 

i would think being that popular Celebrity would do another one but I see nothing but one-ways between Honolulu and Vancouver through 2021.

 

Does anyone have any knowledge of that cruise being offered again? I won’t pass it up next time! 

 

 

A one time cruise that might or might not have sold out doesn't make it popular. Celebrity, or RCL has very few cruises that leave from the west coast of the U.S. not including Seattle.  As greedy as they are, guess what the main reason probably is?

[AtlantaCruiser72]

In general Royal Caribbean (and by proxy Celebrity) have a dislike of sailing from California. Historically they have not been able to command the types of yields/revenues from these sailings that they desire. I think they see more profitable deployment options for their ships in other markets rather than duke it out with Princess, Holland and Carnival from California. 

Edited December 31, 2019 by AtlantaCruiser72

[Caribbean Chris]

9 hours ago, WNcruiser said:

Great question...I wish they would do it at least once a year. Holland also does it from San Diego. 

We’re on an 18-day HAL RT from San Diego in March.
 

Arrives in Honolulu for two days with an overnight, then visits the main islands plus Kauai, which was not on our previous itinerary via Celebrity Century some years ago. On that cruise (same time period) it was prime whale season in Maui - I remember seeing an active pod of them very close to the ship while we were having breakfast. Free whale watching!

 

The RT itinerary from California is great for people like us who love sea days.

[hcat]

8 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

In general Royal Caribbean (and by proxy Celebrity) have a dislike of sailing from California. Historically they have not been able to command the types of yields/revenues from these sailings that they desire. I think they see more profitable deployment options for their ships in other markets rather than duke it out with Princess, Holland and Carnival from California. 

The Coastal Calif itin from LA ( San Pedro) was excellent..They have sev  itins up/ down the Coast...but not  so much Hawaii .

 

For us Hawaii was a one and done... very nice but felt quite remote.. water was very cold for snokel trips

[edgee]

10 hours ago, fleckle said:

 

Except that once we get to Hawaii, we want to get off the ship and stay  there  to enjoy a real Hawaii vacation,  not get on a ship that turns around and heads right back.

That is only a teaser, not a true Hawaii vacation.

 

For whale watching enthusiasts, it is worth spending a full week on Maui alone during the height of the whale watching season, where closeup whale sightings are more plentiful and much lower priced than in Alaska.

Great way to combine a cruise vacation with a land vacation.

                                                           

So fly to Vancouver and take the annual Celebrity repositioning cruise from Vancouver to Honolulu. We did it a few years ago on the Solstice. Great itinerary including lots of sea days and visiting of ports on the Big Island and Maui before disembarking Honolulu.

[OuiOnboard]

28 minutes ago, edgee said:

So fly to Vancouver and take the annual Celebrity repositioning cruise from Vancouver to Honolulu....

Now there is a plan that sounds good to me.

[Prost Seattle]

2 hours ago, edgee said:

So fly to Vancouver and take the annual Celebrity repositioning cruise from Vancouver to Honolulu. We did it a few years ago on the Solstice. Great itinerary including lots of sea days and visiting of ports on the Big Island and Maui before disembarking Honolulu.

My first Celebrity cruise will be this sailing Sept. 18 2020, I’m getting excited.

[Cruise Junky]

3 hours ago, edgee said:

So fly to Vancouver and take the annual Celebrity repositioning cruise from Vancouver to Honolulu. We did it a few years ago on the Solstice. Great itinerary including lots of sea days and visiting of ports on the Big Island and Maui before disembarking Honolulu.

We've done that twice  Love it!!!  it's a great one to spend extra time in Hawaii.

[edgee]

5 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

We've done that twice  Love it!!!  it's a great one to spend extra time in Hawaii.

One of the additional benefits for most of us is that we can fly in early and enjoy your gorgeous (albeit expensive😊) city. Now if you guys could only allow Uber in...that is a whole other discussion I guess...oops I see that it has happened!!

Edited December 31, 2019 by edgee
Additional info

[TFLG]

1 hour ago, Cruise Junky said:

We've done that twice  Love it!!!  it's a great one to spend extra time in Hawaii.

 

That's one of our favorite itineraries too.  We've done it 3 times. Once from Ensenada, once from Vancouver and once from Honolulu to Vancouver. I think I prefer the Hawaii to Vancouver route in the Spring because the see days are at the end and it gives me time to recover from the adventures in Hawaii. 

[Cruise Junky]

1 hour ago, edgee said:

One of the additional benefits for most of us is that we can fly in early and enjoy your gorgeous (albeit expensive😊) city. Now if you guys could only allow Uber in...that is a whole other discussion I guess...oops I see that it has happened!!

Not yet it hasn't.  It's been approved but it's not up and running yet