Hawaii

[Nkelly14]

Looking to do a Hawaii cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship. Any suggestions on the best time to go to Hawaii?

[Cruise Gopher]

Looking to do a Hawaii cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship. Any suggestions on the best time to go to Hawaii?

 

They only offer them in the Spring and the Fall, only a few sailings. I am booked on this fall's Radiance of the Seas cruise to Hawaii and the Serenade of the Seas next fall.

 

You have to book early to get good pricing on these. The 2007 Serenade cruise has already gone up $400 since we booked it the day it opened up for bookings.

 

Our Radiance cruise is now like $1,000 more per person than what we paid for it.

[superjerryw]

I believe that the Hawaii cruises that RCCL offers are round trip from the west coast. This means that a 14 cruise has 8-9 days at sea with only a few days actually spent in Hawaii. If you really want to see Hawaii a land based vacation is the way to go. Pick 3 or 4 or the major islands and spend a few days on each.

[deltachi96]

Or give NCL a try. Their Hawaii is better IMHO even though I am a huge RCCL fan any other time.

[Treven]

I loved my NCL Star cruise through the Hawaiian Isls & Fanning Isl.

[dougp26364]

RCI's RT's out of San Diego and LA should be a great way to sample the islands. Our Radiance 15 night sailing does have 8 sea days but we overnight in Maui and Ohau (sp?). We arrive early in the morning and leave late in the evening of the second day. There are two other ports which are one day stops. The idea of so many sea days doesn't bother me as I enjoy just relaxing with nothing to do other than the ships activities. Of course, sleeping and eating are two of my favorite passtimes when on vacation and the Radiance class ship allows for both of those in grand fashion.

[GMoney]

I believe that the Hawaii cruises that RCCL offers are round trip from the west coast. This means that a 14 cruise has 8-9 days at sea with only a few days actually spent in Hawaii. If you really want to see Hawaii a land based vacation is the way to go. Pick 3 or 4 or the major islands and spend a few days on each.

 

This is really good advice. I did 14 days to Hawaii from San Diego on X Infinity last Thanksgiving, 8 of which were sea days. It was my first experience in Hawaii. I got a good overview of the islands and had an excellent time, but I really felt I missed some great things and wanted more time in some places and less in others. If you have to cruise, I recommend X and either Summit or Infinity (whichever ship they have sailing there).

[tinkerme1]

OP: Best time to go is in the Fall. Example: This past April, the cruise had 13 days of rain. The rainy season is in the Spring for Hawaii and you probably will have much better weather in the Fall.

 

We went in October of '03 and had beautiful weather. It is still hot, however, the sea days will be a bit chilly as you get closer to the coast of California. Only caveat here, is that hurricanes can be a problem in the Pacific, but they don't happen as often as the East Coast.

[Nkelly14]

Thanks for all the help. Guess we have some serious decisions to make.

[CUPOLA]

Come go with us on the October 21, 2007 cruise to Hawaii. It is on the Radiance of the Seas and is a 14 day cruise. I love the sea days, that is why you cruise right?? We are from Delaware, not to far away from you and there are 3 couples going at this time. My husband and I will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. We got a real good price on a Superior Balcanoy stateroom. You should check it out. Hope to see you on the Radiance in October 2007.

 

Cupola (Brenda) :rolleyes: :cool:

[Nkelly14]

This trip would also be a 30th Anniversary trip for us (and friends) too.

[beachchick]

OP: Best time to go is in the Fall. Example: This past April, the cruise had 13 days of rain. The rainy season is in the Spring for Hawaii and you probably will have much better weather in the Fall.

 

We went in October of '03 and had beautiful weather. It is still hot, however, the sea days will be a bit chilly as you get closer to the coast of California. Only caveat here, is that hurricanes can be a problem in the Pacific, but they don't happen as often as the East Coast.

 

This late winter/spring in Hawaii was extraordinarily wet. The "rainy" season is usually December through March. However, it's quite variable. We've been in both February and March and had beautiful weather with only a few showers. Last June we had more rain than we ever experienced on any of our spring trips. If you want to see whales, winter is the time to go. December/January through April is whale watching season.

 

I do agree that October can be just about the ideal month because water temps are at their warmest, the peak heat has usually diminished (relative, of course considering that the difference between winter and summer is less than 10 degrees), and the rainier season usually hasn't started.

 

Keep in mind though that Hawaii is green for a reason--it rains all year. You will probably experience rain no matter when you go. Usually, they are short-lived showers that serve to clear and cool the air a bit. They are actually quite pleasant. It's hard to explain sometimes to people who are looking to go to Hawaii when "it won't rain" because such a trip doesn't exist.

 

beachchick

[Yvonne]

I'm extremely disappointed RCI doesn't cruise to Hawaii in January, as winter is the ONLY time we can go. We LOVED our Mariner cruise and I would like to be loyal to RCI and stick with them for our Hawaiian cruise, but since they only go in the spring/fall we're going to have to "jump ship" over to Norwegian.

[tinkerme1]

Beachchick: You are absolutely right. Rain can, and does happen in Hawaii almost any time. However, the most ideal months are the Fall months. We have friends that live in Oahu, so we are well aware of the weather in all of the islands.:D

[luv2bcruzin]

I say don't do a cruise to Hawaii. There is way to much to see and unlike many of the Caribbean islands a few hours is just not enough time to enjoy the true beauty of Hawaii.

[Pumbaamd]

Which trip is it that makes you take that wicked bus ride from Mexico, thru customs, back to the U.S.?

[beachchick]

Beachchick: You are absolutely right. Rain can, and does happen in Hawaii almost any time. However, the most ideal months are the Fall months. We have friends that live in Oahu, so we are well aware of the weather in all of the islands.:D

 

Lucky you to have friends who live in Hawaii. Cool.

 

I just didn't want anyone to think that this year's deluge for weeks on end was the normal "rainy season" weather pattern. It was far from the usual season, that's for sure. Our favorite months are October-November and April-May (with late March thrown in for good measure). Agree with you that the fall months can't be beat, but we'll go any time of the year--rain and shine.:D

 

Pumbaamd: That's the repo cruise that is Honolulu to Ensenada in the fall (with Ensenada to Honolulu in the spring). Agree--yuck to the bus ride idea.

 

luv2bcruzin: Yep, a land trip to Hawaii can't be beat. We do not prefer all the sea days on either the mainland one-way or (especially) the r/t, which is way too much time at sea and not enough time in the islands. When we go to Hawaii, we want to go right there. We are doing the PoH this fall with a week pre-cruise on Maui. Bliss--we get to see all the islands (we've done land trips that have included all of them, but at different times) and have our Maui land trip as well. After this, I suspect it will be back to land trips only, doing one or two islands at a time.

 

beachchick

[Nkelly14]

After looking at the different itineraries on all the cruise lines, we may not be able to cruise using RCCL:( Not sure everybody will be able to take 2+ weeks off at one time.

[luv2bcruzin]

Yes. Maui is a slice of heaven.

[Treven]

I'd definately fly to HNL combined with any of NCL's new ships cruising through the islands. I believe it was a 5-hour flight from the Left Coast.

[Happy ks]

Hawaii is a wonderful place to cruise, or do a land vacation, either way is fine with us.

 

We've done two cruises around the islands, one with the old American Hawaiian Independence (our favorite cruise to date) one with NCL, Star, to Fanning Island and back. We hope, someday, that we will be able to take enough time off work to do a roundtrip cruise from San Diego.

 

If time is important, I'd take the advice to fly to HNL or Maui, spend a couple of days (both pre and post) and do the NCL cruise. It's not in the same class as some of the other ships, but you won't have all those sea days.

 

I'd much rather cruise Hawaii than the Caribbean.