best way to see Hawaii

[Majesty Fan]

Hubby and I are planning to go to Hawaii on either RCI or Celeb. Never done Celb but will get Diamond benefits. Which is the best was. San Diego 14 night cruise. Van -Hawaii and then over night before flying home at least 1 night possibly 2. on HNL to Ensenda with 2 nights prior to cruise in hNL. The thing that is a factor is the cost of air. I can get 2 free tickets on Delta I think. Which is the best?

Lexi

[CruisinMK]

The best way to see Hawaii? I wouldn't do either one.

Both RCCL and Celebrity have 14 day itineraries that do this:

 

4 sea days in a row,

then 5 hawaii days in row without break,

then 4 more sea days in a row.

That's a total of 8 sea days and only 5 port visit days.

 

Those 8 open ocean sea days can be somewhat cold, very windy, occasionally rough. This itinerary would be good for someone who hates flying and loves tons of sea days on the open ocean, but otherwise I would much rather do the pure-Hawaii itineraries on the American flagged NCL ships.

 

On the 7 day NCL American flagged ships you actually get more port days in Hawaii than the 14 day cruises you are looking at, including an overnight on both Kauai and Maui. The American flagged ships only go within Hawaii, which isn't rough sailing nearly as often as the open Pacific ocean.

 

The extra sea days on the 14 day sailing might be nice, but wouldn't you rather spend those same days in Hawaii instead? Which is better:

1) 8 sea days on the open ocean and only 5 cruise days in hawaii

2) 7 cruise days in Hawaii and 7 day land extension in hawaii (ok I admit the extra flying is a pain but still...)

 

I'd pick #2 every time! Hopefully you have enough frequent flier miles to get you as far as Hawaii instead of just LA. I think the award is 35,000 miles but Delta is often stingy on award availability.

[9327]

Thanks, MK, for those great bullet points -- I have been trying to figure out which sort of cruise for Hawaii to look at - having spent a week on Oahu I really want to see all the rest. Your perspective is really helpful.

 

I see you have tried several different ships circling the islands - which did you prefer? I suppose now I just have to buckel down and read read read to figure it out - not going this year for sure so I have time to figure it out - by beginning now maybe I can make a good decision.

 

Thanks again - even though it was not my question -you helped a lot of others, I'm sure.

[bug_dan]

Have only done the one way sailings to/from Ensenada, but personally would prefer that to the 14 day rt. We combined them with a pre or post cruise stay on Oahu.

I'm probably in the minority and like Oahu, so we usually stayed in Waikiki 3-6 days.

[Bucky3]

Our PERFECT Hawaii trip was cruising from Vancouver to Hawaii - visiting all the islands - ending in Honolulu where we spent a week and then cruising from Honolulu - visiting all islands again - to Ensenada with ground transportation to San Diego. That was in Fall of 2003 on RCI. In 2005 couldn't find cruises that would allow us the week in Honolulu, so we did Carnival Spirit back/back with the same itineraries. HATE to fly and we are retired. These two trips were just wonderful.

[Thanksforyourinfo]

I haven't done the "Pride" ships, but they say that it is true- More time on shore. That's what you go for. Before "Pride" existed, we did a reposition cruise in May 2004. Fly to Honolulu, around the islands, then cross to Vancouver. If you did a one-way, IMHO, fly first (get that out of the way) then you wake up early each day (your internal clock thinks it's later) and you can relax on your way back to the mainland.

 

Now that the bugs are worked out, pretty much, I would go back on the "NCL Pride" ships.