Which cruise line to Hawaii

[Cruiser-66]

Looking for a cruise to Hawaii fall of 2022.   We've been there twice.  Once we flew over and got on a ship and once we sailed from the coast.  We are retired so have lot's of time.  I hated the long flight over and back.  Much prefer to cruise!  What ships have you done?  We wouldn't mind trying something different like cruising out of Vancouver BC, but then we'd have to fly back as it's one way.  We love Princess from the coast but to me it seems their prices are higher than other options.  They are only priced threw April but I don't expect the prices to go down.  I'm interested to hear what others are thinking.  Thanks!

[KeepCalmBearOn]

We've done a Princess round trip out LA twice and HAL out of San Diego and all three were great. Last time I did a one way trip to Hawaii was in the 1960s on a Matson ship.

 

 

[Cruiser-66]

Thanks for your reply. How did these two cruise lines differ?  If price was the same which one would you prefer?
 

 

[Travelexpert35]

I’ve sailed on Celebrity Solstice from HNL - Vancouver twice and really enjoyed it. We always spent a week or so prior in Waikiki to enjoy the sun. 
The ports are usually Lahaina, Maui and Hilo, Hawaii and Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. I sailed in late April/May so keep in mind the weather will be good for a couple of days outside of Hawaii and then it will cool down as you get closer to Vancouver. Would definitely do this again but would love to see Celebrity choose Kauai for a change.

[CruiserBruce]

47 minutes ago, knutsonl said:

Thanks for your reply. How did these two cruise lines differ?  If price was the same which one would you prefer?
 

 

How do Matson and Princess compare? Poorly, as Matson is no longer in business...😂

 

Comparing HAL and Princess is all about personal preferences...your food, entertainment and atmosphere favorites. Both are main stream cruise lines and are probably going to be 75% alike. Otherwise its all about what you prefer.

 

We prefer Holland America. 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

Between HAL and Princess, I preferred Princess. As Bruce says, it comes down to personal preferences. Neither of them beats the SS Lurline; 735 pampered passengers and a real sense of adventure 😀

[Cruiser-66]

Celebrity has a nice cruise sailing out of Vancouver but I wish it was round trip as I don't enjoy the long flight back.  Has anyone done this cruise?

[TeaBag]

We have done it both ways with Celebrity.  Since we have a timeshare in Kauai, we prefer to fly there and sail home.  It was always hard to leave Kauai and think of that long flight home, so this solves that problem.  Celebrity used to sail to Kauai and I wish they would come back.  They stopped when Norwegian had several ships sailing there.  Now they have the Pride of America sailing 7 days cruises year round, and other cruise ships are returning to Kauai but not Celebrity for some reason.

[MishelleMcc]

Hi everyone!  Just now looking at the Hawaii topic and found this thread about cruising to Hawaii!

 

First of all, we've sail both HAL And Princess (Love them both) but only Princess to Hawaii (RT out of SF Dec 2019)  We LOVED this cruise!  I mean L-O-V-E-D it!!  So much so that we are doing it again Jan 2022!!!

 

Our favorite port was Kauai!  We loved the sea days, the friends we made and the crew & food! 

 

Happy Sailing Everyone!!

 

[Morebeer]

Frequent Carnival cruisers here. But booked a Ruby Princess round trip San Fran itinerary departing 3/27/23 today. Booked a obstructed oceanview cabin on Emerald deck to save a little $ on this 15 day itinerary.

 

 

[Ashland]

I'm excited to have booked with Celebrity the transpacific Hawaii-Vancouver May 2023.

I would love for RCI to do a RT out of San Pedro Ca. I considered PCL but the timing wasn't right ..perhaps another time.

[Moon Orchid]

11 hours ago, Ashland said:

I'm excited to have booked with Celebrity the transpacific Hawaii-Vancouver May 2023.

I would love for RCI to do a RT out of San Pedro Ca. I considered PCL but the timing wasn't right ..perhaps another time.

Have never sail with Celebrity before, is it worth it to pay almost double for their Hawaii cruises ? I was looking at Ovation and Radiance Of The Seas and their Hawaii cruises are much lower. Will probably try Celebrity because I heard it is nicer.Thanks.

[Ashland]

3 hours ago, Moon Orchid said:

Have never sail with Celebrity before, is it worth it to pay almost double for their Hawaii cruises ? I was looking at Ovation and Radiance Of The Seas and their Hawaii cruises are much lower. Will probably try Celebrity because I heard it is nicer.Thanks.

I'm actually a loyal RCI cruiser. I had to move a Celebrity deposit from a British Isles for this July as we weren't interested in international travel this year. So I opted for this transpacific. The itinerary I thought was great. Wasn't too keen on the RCI itinerary for this particular cruise. Celebrity is a bit pricier but with the all included it kinda evens out for us.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

8 hours ago, Moon Orchid said:

Have never sail with Celebrity before, is it worth it to pay almost double for their Hawaii cruises ? I was looking at Ovation and Radiance Of The Seas and their Hawaii cruises are much lower. Will probably try Celebrity because I heard it is nicer.Thanks.

 

Is Celebrity worth double vs HAL, Princess or RCI, not in the slightest in my estimation.

 

[MishelleMcc]

We've sailed HAL (I did RCI in the 80's) and did our first Princess cruise 2019.  Grand Princess to Hawaii...  It was WONDERFUL!!  I don't know if it was the sea days or the friends we made on the trip but we are doing it again in 2022...  We loved it!!  If you go on Princess, You will have a wonderful time!!

 

[Moon Orchid]

1 hour ago, scottca075 said:

 

Is Celebrity worth double vs HAL, Princess or RCI, not in the slightest in my estimation.

 

Thank you.

[Moon Orchid]

6 hours ago, Ashland said:

I'm actually a loyal RCI cruiser. I had to move a Celebrity deposit from a British Isles for this July as we weren't interested in international travel this year. So I opted for this transpacific. The itinerary I thought was great. Wasn't too keen on the RCI itinerary for this particular cruise. Celebrity is a bit pricier but with the all included it kinda evens out for us.

Thank you Ashland. Will talk to my husband to see which line he wants to do the Hawaii cruise next year.We just came back from one week vacation in Honolulu, while it was great, I still like cruising more. 

[lobsternight]

Did Celebrity Vancouver to Hawaii in September 2019.  Absolutely one of our best cruises.  We looked at a few lines and Celebrity was not really any more expensive, plus we got a bonus extra night in Hilo.  I actually enjoyed the sea days, started getting warm on day 3.  Took my youngest son along (11) and he still talks about it.  Seriously thinking of doing it again in 2022.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

On 5/23/2021 at 10:27 AM, Moon Orchid said:

Have never sail with Celebrity before, is it worth it to pay almost double for their Hawaii cruises ? I was looking at Ovation and Radiance Of The Seas and their Hawaii cruises are much lower. Will probably try Celebrity because I heard it is nicer.Thanks.

 

These three trips are not the same.

 

Celebrity Eclipse is 11 nights and visits three islands (Hawaii, Maui & Oahu). A balcony is $2,569 per person or $233 a night per person

 

RCI Ovation – is 9 nights and visits two islands (Maui & Oahu). A balcony is $1,127 per person or $125 a night per person

 

RCI Radiance – is 11 nights and visits FOUR islands (Hawaii, Kauai, Maui & Oahu). A balcony is $1,557 per person or $144 a night per person

 

Personally I'd choose Radiance for a variety of reasons, but of all the 9,10,11 night trips from Vancouver I'd take the Quantum of the Seas 10 night cruise.

 

And I still say, no, Celebrity is NOT worth $178 a night more for a couple.

 

2 hours ago, lobsternight said:

Did Celebrity Vancouver to Hawaii in September 2019.  Absolutely one of our best cruises.  We looked at a few lines and Celebrity was not really any more expensive, plus we got a bonus extra night in Hilo.  I actually enjoyed the sea days, started getting warm on day 3.  Took my youngest son along (11) and he still talks about it.  Seriously thinking of doing it again in 2022.

 

But given this scenario where Celebrity is more expensive and significantly so, would you pay $178 a night more for Celebrity over Royal Caribbean?

Edited May 30, 2021 by scottca075
spacing

[lobsternight]

19 hours ago, scottca075 said:

 

But given this scenario where Celebrity is more expensive and significantly so, would you pay $178 a night more for Celebrity over Royal Caribbean?

 

Well given at the time the difference was not that great we chose to stick with Celebrity.  If at the time of booking and we are definitely comparing apples with apples, no I would not pay the extra $178. 

[TeaBag]

Celebrity is now all included, so to compare properly, you need to factor in the added perks, classic beverage pkg, unlimited wifi, gratuities and $500 or so OBC depending on who you book through.  having said this, I am not in favour of the all included bundling and I wish they would go back to the older way of pricing.

[bethtex]

we are booked on Carnival RT from Long Beach in Nov 2021

have never done a transpacific cruise, so will be interesting

we will be Platinum on Carnival this cruise, so that will be nice.  And we booked a while ago and got a very good price on a balcony.

 

in Nov 2019 - Feb 2020 we sailed Carnival (7 days Caribbean), Celebrity (16 days LA to Santiago) and Silverseas (10 day Antarctica).  We enjoyed them all.  They are just different.  Overall, I wouldn't pay more for Silverseas vs Celebrity.  I did think Celebrity was a step up from Carnival, but wouldn't pay a lot of $$ for the difference.  I like the all inclusive pricing in Celebrity.  Silverseas is going to included excursions in summer 2022, so that adds some value there that has to be factored in.

 

Pick the itinerary and price point you are most comfortable with.  All of the cruise lines can be a wonderful experience if you approach with a good attitude.

[mnamor]

On 5/23/2021 at 2:05 AM, Ashland said:

I'm excited to have booked with Celebrity the transpacific Hawaii-Vancouver May 2023.

I would love for RCI to do a RT out of San Pedro Ca. I considered PCL but the timing wasn't right ..perhaps another time.

We booked this same cruise for May 2022 while on a previous Celebrity cruise pre covid.  They gave us a great deal with all the perks.  Now trying to figure out where to stay pre cruise in Honolulu.

 

 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

15 hours ago, mnamor said:

We booked this same cruise for May 2022 while on a previous Celebrity cruise pre covid.  They gave us a great deal with all the perks.  Now trying to figure out where to stay pre cruise in Honolulu.

 

How many nights and what is your budget per night?

[mnamor]

6 hours ago, scottca075 said:

 

How many nights and what is your budget per night?

3 nights pre cruise getting in around 630 pm.  We could go up to around $300 or so per night.  On or close to the beach would be nice but not a deal breaker.