Is cruising the islands worth it or should we just book a stay on the islands

[01abigail]

:confused: We have avoided a Hawiian cruise because everything I have read says the waters are rough and because of where the ships are registered, they have to make a long run out to this one island where there is nothing to do and a takes along time to get there.

If the cruises are nice, which line do you recommend and which itineray.

Thanks,

How do people get those cool tickers on their messages?

[Host Joe]

Hello and welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

I will give you my opinion... first and foremost, I love to cruise so taking a cruise to Hawaii is a must for me. We have completed 2 cruises to Hawaii and have another booked for next year. The 2 completed ones were on Celebrity, and they were wonderful. My next one is booked on RCCL.

 

In my opinion and experience, the lodging and meals are extraordinarily expensive in Hawaii, so by cruising there you avoid that. You also get to see more than one island without having to pay for expensive inter-island flights.

 

The days at sea to Hawaii are a favorite of mine for many reasons. One is that you get to unwind and relax coming and going to Hawaii. Another is that you also get acclamated to the time change coming and going, so there is virtually no jet lag.

 

Choosing which cruise line is a personal choice, and there are many choices out there. A lot of the lines offer cruises to Hawaii.

 

I hope that helps a little, happy cruising!

[Splinter]

You don't have to go to Fanning Island on a 7 day NCL cruise (Pride of America/Hawaii/Aloha), although we are not big NCL fans. If you have only a week, then flying to Honolulu and taking a trip around the islands on a ship is a great "first taste" of Hawaii. With interisland flights so expensive now, this is probably the best way to see most of the islands, and then decide where you may want to return for a land trip in the future. This is how I first saw Hawaii back in the 1980s, and have been back a number of times on my own to specific islands.

 

I agree with Walt though. If you have the time (15-17 days) the round trip from the mainland is the way to go. We have done it on both Princess and HAL from LA or San Diego, and also find the days at sea so relaxing. The 7 day is a bit frantic since you have a port every day and with the long flights, you can end up back at home less rested than when you began.

[01abigail]

:D Thanks so much for the info guys. I really wanted to do Hawaii but had read so many negative things. Are next cruise is scheduled for Jan 20 Serenade of Seas on RCCL in South Carib. This will be our third, I think am addicted!!!

How do people get those time tickers on?

[TrqoisWtrs]

IMHO, I would prefer a land vacation to Hawaii. So much to see and do, and it can be done on a budget. We use FF miles (we don't even fly that often, but have a credit card that gets miles and have gone to Cayman, Hawaii (twice), Belize and Cabo without ever paying for a plane ticket). We also rent condos, so with a full kitchen we can pick up cheaper eats for breakfast and lunch and then have nice dinners. I love to cruise, but just love spending more time on the islands than a cruise allows. In fact in our upcoming trip we're going with another couple, so splitting our lodging makes it even more reasonable.

[CruisinMK]

I've lived in Hawaii most of my life and love cruising here.

There are exceptions but it is usually is not rough cruising within the islands, except the bit between Kauai and Oahu. You're far more likely to encounter rough seas on the open ocean to fanning island or the west coast.

 

There are 4 basic itineraries

 

1) Typical west coast itineraries, 14/15 days. Usually 4 sea days in a row going to hawaii, 5 sea days in a row coming back. Only 5 days of port visits in Hawaii, all in a row without break. Summary: 9 open sea days + 5 port days in Hawaii. There is no possibility of a land extension in Hawaii. Sadly, most of these itineraries now skip Kauai, a favorite port for many. Nice to skip flying with a west coast round trip, but not nice enough to spend 9 days of your limited vacation time on the open sea instead of in Hawaii. 9 sea days is excessive for most people.

 

2) A very few sailings (couple a year per line) are ONE WAY between Hawaii and the West coast. Shorter itinerary at 10/11 days. Cruise itself still gets 5 days in Hawaii. Unlike #1, doesn't have a crazy number of sea days. Having one end in Hawaii, means you get the fantastic option of extending your trip with a land stay in the Islands. Nice only having to fly across the pacific one way.

 

3) The American flagged NCL ships. 7 days starting and ending in Hawaii, every day in port with no sea days. Overnight stay on Kauai, leaving 2pm on the 2nd day sailing past ultra scenic Napali coast-- a huge advantage over competing cruises which now mostly skip Kauai completely. Even though this cruise is the shortest at 7 days, it gets more port days in Hawaii than every other option. Has the fantastic option of extending your visit with a land stay in Hawaii. This is a great itinerary that makes others look silly, glad to see it back after a long absence. No formal wear required on these sailings, so you can pack lightly and wear a Hawaiian shirt/dress you buy there. :)

 

4) The wind still does Hawaii-fanning island treks, 10/11 days. 1000 mile trek to fanning island, two sea days each way and 1 day there (5 total), taking a big chunk out of Hawaii time. Opinions vary wildly about fanning, some saying it was their favorite stop, others thinking it was ridiculous to sail so far for an atoll far less compelling than anything in Hawaii (that's my vote). This cruise is often really cheap. Good for people who love days and a longer cruise, but if you look closely you see it gets much less time in Hawaii than #3.

 

I've done #2,#3,#4.

 

I think most people would happiest with #2 or #3, with a land extension in Hawaii, even if only for a few days.

[01abigail]

Awesome info, thanks : )

[Breezey]

Do both!! Endless days at sea to relax is not as good as relaxing on a beach on another island, IMHO. That was our choice for September. 1 week NCLA cruise and 1 week on Maui. Best of both worlds for us.

[lambs2]

Do both!! Endless days at sea to relax is not as good as relaxing on a beach on another island, IMHO. That was our choice for September. 1 week NCLA cruise and 1 week on Maui. Best of both worlds for us.

 

I agree with the above! We did not have a full two weeks to spend in Hawaii, but we added three days pre-cruise and one after on Oahu and had one of the most AWESOME vacations we ever had!!

[Lady Slipper]

I would have liked to do the 10-11 day fly one way cruise from the West Coast but I was worried about getting seasick so we chose the NCL 7 day. No one has mentioned just what it is like to cross from the West Coast. I have gotten seasick on a couple of cruises now and it`s no picknic :( so I am always leary about that.

[knotheadken]

We just did Pride of america last week and loved it, saw it all and only unpacked once, you don't have to change hotels, go to the airport, back to the hotel, unpack again, agian....

 

I would recomend the NCL cruise. Price your cruise with airfare included and they try and beat it by staying on land, figure airfare, meals, hotels, taxi, inter island airfare, tips, and entertainment. The airfare is almost free with the cruise.

[01abigail]

:confused: Lambs2, How did you work out a pre on one island and a post on another. Did you fly to one then chart airfare to another and leave from there? Any extra details would be appreciated :)

[BuggieDriver]

Great Thread;

For those who have already done more research; did you find deal were better booking the airline through NCL or booking on your own? We would be flying in from Boston to somewhere and on to Hawaii. Did our own air in 2004 and got better flight schedules and fares, but that was strictly east coast travel.

Thanks:D

[smarterman64]

Cruise air is a throw in the air. Sometimes you get lucky, somtimes you don't. If you are flying from a major, and i mean major like Los Angeles or O'Hare with ncl, you shouldn't be too disappointed. Any united hub has decent flights out. O'Hare has direct to honolulu.

As for NCLA, i just got back from the Pride of Hawaii. You make what you make of it. You really aren't on a cruise. It's more of a transportation vehicle that allows you a place to sleep and do scenic cruising at a reduced rate than flying. The waters are choppy, the crew has it's kinks, but it was a great trip. I'm not calling it a cruise because it really isn't a cruise. If you view it as a cruise, you will not like what you see. If you think of the real reason you took the trip, you took it for port time and convenience because of the 7 day.

[beachchick]

As a west coaster, I can tell you that it's usually cheaper to book your own air, but there are few things to note. If you are just doing a cruise with no extra days, NCL's air prices seem to be pretty reasonable much of the time. NCL often won't allow air deviations on their cruise/air special packages, so you can't do pre- or post-cruise days (sometimes they won't even sell you their own hotel packages if you do one of the cruise/air specials). NCL's prices to just add air to your cruise can be good, but again they often won't do a deviation at those prices. We always just keep checking and checking until we find what we think will be best.

 

I have to say once again that it drives us nuts that we usually pay more from the west coast than those from further east. We pay more to get to the Caribbean; we pay more to get to Hawaii--argh! Sometimes, there will be awesome deals from a few of the airports out here, but they're usually awful times and off-days, and for anyone who isn't right near a big hub (or a secondary hub), forget it. We just don't get the deals very often. Phew...rant finished.

 

beachchick

[Merry_Sea_Witch]

:confused: We have avoided a Hawiian cruise because everything I have read says the waters are rough and because of where the ships are registered, they have to make a long run out to this one island where there is nothing to do and a takes along time to get there.

 

If the cruises are nice, which line do you recommend and which itineray.

 

Any way you get to visit Hawaii is a good way and the more ways you try the more expereinces you gain!:) I have cruised around the Islands several times in winter and summer and waters are never really choppy for me I dont take seasick pills or ginger so may be I am one of the lucky ones:) But I say it depends on how much time you have to vacation and how much you want to see and what are your priorties. Land vacation is good if you want to stay put. Sail around the Islands if you want to keep moving and visit more than one island. Remeber if you fly from island to island you gobble up precious time to and from airports, flying times, packing and unpacking for each diffrent hotel. If time is limited and you like to know most of your costs upfront (sleeping, eatting, entertainment), try the ships at least once!:)

[lambs2]

:confused: Lambs2, How did you work out a pre on one island and a post on another. Did you fly to one then chart airfare to another and leave from there? Any extra details would be appreciated :)

 

Both our pre and post cruise stays were on Oahu. Sorry if that was not clear in my previous post. So we

 

just needed one roundtrip flight from our home in Florida which we booked ourselves since our fabulous

 

cruise of the Hawaiian islands was on the Pride of America which started and ended on Oahu.

[knotheadken]

If you book your flight thru NCL, NCL is responsible for getting you to the ship if your flight is late. If you don't book the flight thru them and it is late, you might be looking for a hotel for the night and a flight the next day to catch up with the ship.

 

A plane from CA was 4 hours late with 90 cruise passengers for our ship. They held our departure and waited for them and then made up some of the lost time cruising that night.

 

Also transportation to and from the ship is included in the price. They picked up our bags outside the airport and delivered them to our room.

 

They also offer "easyfly" for $20 ea. They pick up the bag from your state room the night before and check them with the airline to your final destination at home. You also get your boarding pass. Our connecting flight was canceled and changed so our luggage didn't make it onto the connecting flight. They delivered them to our house later that evening. Talk about door-door service.

[piper28]

I have to admit, I've wondered about whether I'd be happy doing Hawaii on a cruise ship, since we've pondered doing one of the hawaii/tahiti trips. We've been to hawaii twice, both times on land vacations. With the cruise, the one thing I have to admit that I wonder about is that you just don't have time to do anything. I think at the very least I'd probably want to spend a few days before or after on land. If all you want is kind of a taste of hawaii, it's probably not bad to do on a ship. But I really do think that's all you're going to get.

 

(And, looking at prices for things like the 15 day trips out of LA for, say, Princess, our previous two trips to hawaii were lest than it would cost to do a balcony on that trip (probably around an oceanview price range), and those trips were both 12-14 day multi island trips, with airfare from michigan (although, obviously dining would be added on that price)).

 

That said, because I have been there a couple times, I'd almost be more willing to give the cruise a try. Don't know if I'd book any of the ship excursions though, might be more likely to do my own.

[smarterman64]

You should go on the cruise. Well, let's start off by not calling a cruise since there really isn't much life on the ship. It's really a floating hotel. You get your monies worth by seeing the islands, the main attraction

[beachchick]

:confused: Lambs2, How did you work out a pre on one island and a post on another. Did you fly to one then chart airfare to another and leave from there? Any extra details would be appreciated :)

 

Forgive me if I'm misreading this (wouldn't be the first time), but are you asking if they chartered a plane to get from island to island? If so, I wanted to let you know that there are three commercial airlines (Aloha, Hawaiian, and the new Go) that do inter-island flights all day long. (It's basically the equivalent of SFO-LAX, in the sense that it's "commuter" air.) No need to charter a flight to get from one island to another. Costs can be anywhere from $40 one-way to more than $100 one-way depending on time of day, time of year, and which islands.

 

beachchick

[AmarilloBarbara]

01abigail

 

 

 

http://www.*****/cd/vc/

 

to add a ticker use the above link.......it is just one of many.......or google

vacation ticker and select from those sites.

 

I myself just figured out how to do one....good luck!:D

[lambs2]

Thanks for the link Abigail! COOL!!

 

Now I just need to plan another cruise so i can use the ticker!!!