Viking to Hawaii?

[Jim Avery]

32 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

Could Viking be still gauging interest? Seven full days at sea with two ports and then another seven full days to return to LA. That is a lot of time at sea for only two ports. Most newer cruise ships sail at 22-24 knots but I think Viking ships sail at only 18-19 knots.

My itinerary shows 4 ports in Hawaii and then Ensenada.  And Viking, on a world cruise spends many days at 12/13 knots.  I do miss the 35 or so knots on the old QE2.  Current cruise ship speeds are more like steamers in the 1890s.  

Edited August 17, 2021 by Jim Avery

[Jim Avery]

15 minutes ago, Squawkman said:

Does anyone know why it takes 6 sea days from LA to HI with Viking, but only 4 sea days with Princess? Expedia’s Viking Hawaii cruise and the Princess cruise are both 16 nights, but Princess has 5 port days and Viking only 2. Little desire for Princess - just would like to understand the time difference.

The honest truth is this is something for Orion to do.  With New Zealand and Australia as well as Japan closed Orion has to do something while waiting on the 2022 Alaska season.

[Heidi13]

18 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

Could Viking be still gauging interest? Seven full days at sea with two ports and then another seven full days to return to LA. That is a lot of time at sea for only two ports. Most newer cruise ships sail at 22-24 knots but I think Viking ships sail at only 18-19 knots.

 

The cruises are available for booking, as we just booked an option for the 4th Dec sailing to Hawaii and it includes 4 Hawaiian ports - Hilo, Nawiliwili, Kahului and Honolulu. It has 5 sea days to and from Hawaii.

[Heidi13]

21 minutes ago, Squawkman said:

Does anyone know why it takes 6 sea days from LA to HI with Viking, but only 4 sea days with Princess? Expedia’s Viking Hawaii cruise and the Princess cruise are both 16 nights, but Princess has 5 port days and Viking only 2. Little desire for Princess - just would like to understand the time difference.

 

All about bunker costs. Viking has 5 full sea days (each way), so assuming a Grand Circle routing, with an hour for harbour transits each end and 3 hrs cloxs, the average speed required is 15.8 kts. Probably requires starting on 3 DG's, then dropping to only 2 DG's once the speed-to-go drops.

 

With Princess, to make it in 4 days requires about 19.3 kts, which is all 4 DG's. The Princess bunker costs will be about 25% higher than Viking, with potential for late arrivals/rough passage due to the higher speed, etc.

 

I'm like Jim, I enjoyed the days of 25 - 30 kts on the steam liners, ploughing through sea, but am much happier these days pottering around at 12 - 15 kts.

[Squawkman]

Thanks for the explanation. It’s great to have experienced folks like you on this board.

[broker1217]

The LA-LA with Hawaii and Tahiti is 32 nights departing Jan. 5 2022.

DV cabins starting at $7499 with free air from major US gateways.

We will probably book.~20 sea days.

 

 

Edited August 17, 2021 by broker1217

[Jim Avery]

2 minutes ago, broker1217 said:

The LA-LA with Hawaii and Tahiti is 32 nights departing Jan. 5 2022.

DV cabins starting at $7499 with free air from major US gateways.

We will probably book.~20 sea days.

 

 

Sounds like a nice getaway.  Just think, in the days of sail it took over a month to sail the Atlantic,🍸

[broker1217]

12 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

Sounds like a nice getaway.  Just think, in the days of sail it took over a month to sail the Atlantic,🍸

 

It's a strong value--that's for sure. Right now researching COVID requirements for Tahiti, Hawaii (oldest kid lives on Big Island) and Marquesas.

Basically---is it feasible and is it safe? Which could all change-lol.

What are the worst case scenarios if someone pops up COVID positive in the middle of the Pacific?

I guess if they off-shored us in Tahiti we could live with that😉

[Traveling Light]

After backing out of a Bermuda cruise last month due to the hassle and uncertainty of meeting Bermuda’s requirements and then backing out of Iceland later this month we were thrilled to see this U.S. based cruise and are now booked on the 12/4 sailing. Very thankful for Viking’s risk free guarantee that made all our changes painless.  

[chengkp75]

31 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

With Princess, to make it in 4 days requires about 19.3 kts, which is all 4 DG's. The Princess bunker costs will be about 25% higher than Viking, with potential for late arrivals/rough passage due to the higher speed, etc.

A Grand class Princess ship has 6 D/G, totaling 63.2Mw, while the Orion tops out at 23.4Mw.  Propulsion capacity is closer, Princess at 38Mw, and Orion at 15Mw.  I would suspect that the Princess ship at 19 knots would require about twice the propulsion power as Orion at 16knots.  Add in a higher hotel load for the larger ship, and the Princess ship will likely burn about 80-90% higher than Orion.

[JeriGail]

38 minutes ago, broker1217 said:

The LA-LA with Hawaii and Tahiti is 32 nights departing Jan. 5 2022.

DV cabins starting at $7499 with free air from major US gateways.

We will probably book.~20 sea days.

 

 

The Panama Canal cruise is 17 nights at $6499, so another 15 nights for $1,000 is a great deal!

[Heartgrove]

Checked my Cruise Log from our HAL Eurodam Hawaiian cruise in 2018 and we averaged 16.6 knots traveling 5,254 nautical miles. The amount of fuel used was 412,800 gallons along with - 12,000 eggs consumed! Fastest segment was Hilo to Honolulu at 18.7 knots traveling 206 nautical miles, and slowest was Kona to Hilo traveling 160 nautical miles at 14.0 knots. 

 

The first time I sailed to Hawaii was with the Coast Guard. After two days of liberty we sailed from Panama City to Pearl Harbor. That took about eight days as we were lucky to do 12 knots while underway.

[Clay Clayton]

These cruises are up on Viking’s site finally.  Don’t see anything for Malta to Florida…..

[j_anandu]

Wow very impressive Clay, just like you predicted there is a Panama Canal cruise

[Clay Clayton]

17 minutes ago, j_anandu said:

Wow very impressive Clay, just like you predicted there is a Panama Canal cruise

Now let’s see if they add another transatlantic. 

[esther e]

This 32-night floats my boat for sure.  Giving it serious thought!

[Clay Clayton]

32 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Now let’s see if they add another transatlantic. 

My stupidity.   I forgot Orion was in Bermuda and not Malta. Oops 

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

A Grand class Princess ship has 6 D/G, totaling 63.2Mw, while the Orion tops out at 23.4Mw.  Propulsion capacity is closer, Princess at 38Mw, and Orion at 15Mw.  I would suspect that the Princess ship at 19 knots would require about twice the propulsion power as Orion at 16knots.  Add in a higher hotel load for the larger ship, and the Princess ship will likely burn about 80-90% higher than Orion.

 

Thanks Chief.

 

Don't follow the Princess ships anymore, so didn't know what ship they use on the Hawaii cruises, so it was more of a hypothetical comparison of speed and fuel cost.

[CCWineLover]

3 hours ago, broker1217 said:

 

It's a strong value--that's for sure. Right now researching COVID requirements for Tahiti, Hawaii (oldest kid lives on Big Island) and Marquesas.

Basically---is it feasible and is it safe? Which could all change-lol.

What are the worst case scenarios if someone pops up COVID positive in the middle of the Pacific?

I guess if they off-shored us in Tahiti we could live with that😉

broker1217 -  you bet, this sure looks like a great deal and a great itinerary.  Always wanted to go to Tahiti.  Will look seriously at this cruise.  Timing is right as well.  

Only issue, like you say, is COVID in French Polynesia and if you have to quarantine, perhaps it is not so bad.  From now on though, we get insurance to cover such situations!

Hope you book it.  We likely will.

[Squawkman]

10 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Thanks Chief.

 

Don't follow the Princess ships anymore, so didn't know what ship they use on the Hawaii cruises, so it was more of a hypothetical comparison of speed and fuel cost.

The Viking itinerary as posted now on their website is very different from the one on Expedia. Not as much difference now from Princess.

[Clay Clayton]

10 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

broker1217 -  you bet, this sure looks like a great deal and a great itinerary.  Always wanted to go to Tahiti.  Will look seriously at this cruise.  Timing is right as well.  

Only issue, like you say, is COVID in French Polynesia and if you have to quarantine, perhaps it is not so bad.  From now on though, we get insurance to cover such situations!

Hope you book it.  We likely will.

FWIW and YMMV, prior to Iceland we didn’t find any insurance that would cover quarantine costs if we had been in contact with a positive case but didn’t test positive. 

[Clay Clayton]

14 hours ago, broker1217 said:

 

It's a strong value--that's for sure. Right now researching COVID requirements for Tahiti, Hawaii (oldest kid lives on Big Island) and Marquesas.

Basically---is it feasible and is it safe? Which could all change-lol.

What are the worst case scenarios if someone pops up COVID positive in the middle of the Pacific?

I guess if they off-shored us in Tahiti we could live with that😉

Do come back and share what you find about Covid requirements.   I’m gonna do the same and would love to have my findings confirmed. 

[Heidi13]

2 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Do come back and share what you find about Covid requirements.   I’m gonna do the same and would love to have my findings confirmed. 

 

Clay - since we have an option on the Hawaii cruise, I spent most of last night researching the passenger contract, insurance requirements and also the US CDC/California/Hawaii requirements.

 

Started with the passenger contract and Viking insurance, but couldn't get the plan documents, as they require a US State. More research today.

 

Although my research is based on Canadian requirements, I don't mind sharing.

[Clay Clayton]

4 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Clay - since we have an option on the Hawaii cruise, I spent most of last night researching the passenger contract, insurance requirements and also the US CDC/California/Hawaii requirements.

 

Started with the passenger contract and Viking insurance, but couldn't get the plan documents, as they require a US State. More research today.

 

Although my research is based on Canadian requirements, I don't mind sharing.

Thanks. I’ll start mine with the French Polynesia requirements then.  

[albertamom]

51 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Clay - since we have an option on the Hawaii cruise, I spent most of last night researching the passenger contract, insurance requirements and also the US CDC/California/Hawaii requirements.

 

Started with the passenger contract and Viking insurance, but couldn't get the plan documents, as they require a US State. More research today.

 

Although my research is based on Canadian requirements, I don't mind sharing.

I am VERY interested in your research from a Canadian perspective.  We are currently booked on the Sea TA from Barcelona to San Juan in November, but are extremely tempted to switch to the Grand Hawaii & Polynesia. With rules and Covid conditions changing so quickly worldwide, it's all quite overwhelming.  As an added fun bonus, we are both fully vaccinated, but with AZ/Phizer.  🙃