To cruise Hawaii or not?

[ehough]

Hello! DH and I are headed to Honolulu next September for a business meeting of DH's. The plan right now is to spend about two weeks in Hawaii, with half on Oahu and half on Maui. Our hotel and food will be paid for three nights on Oahu, and our flight will be paid for as well.

 

However, since we got off our first cruise in May, I've gone cruise crazy :) . Now I am considering saving some money- and vacation time- by cruising Hawaii while we're there, as opposed to taking a separate cruising vacation to elsewhere in the world.

 

I guess my question is whether or not this is a good idea, both financially and just in general. If we do a land Hawaiian vacation, we're paying for a hotel near the beach, three meals a day, car rental, plane ride to and from Maui, etc etc. Seems to me we wouldn't be too bad off by making it into a cruise, plus we'd be seeing a lot more islands than we would if not cruising.

 

In general we like to lounge on the beach, but also see a few sites. We're not on the beach 100% of our vacation time, nor are we going-going-going 100% of the time.

 

Any thoughts on whether we should do a Hawaiian cruise instead of a regular Hawaiian vacation?

[Glamourgal]

When next Sept. will you be in Hawaii? We are doing the Sun cruise, leaving Honolulu 9/29, returning to Honolulu 10/10. The price we got for a balcony cabin is unbelievable. This will be our 4th cruise but 3rd in three years and we are hooked. I don't think you can go wrong since all of your meals are included and the price is much cheaper than one nights stay at a hotel. Good Luck with your decision.

[ehough]

We're looking to cruise the weekend of the 15th.

 

I've made a spreadsheet comparing the cost of a 2 week land stay to a cruise, and frankly they're pretty much equal. Although I'm having a hard time guesstimating the prices of excursions, and then comparing those estimates to any sites we would visit on a land vacation. But, without getting consumed with details, really it's about equal, plus we'd be getting more for the money on a cruise- we'd see more islands, eat more (better) food, get more (free) entertainment, etc.

 

Now there's just the little matter of convincing DH. :)

[sceptic]

They're really different animals, staying on Maui for a week or cruising the islands. Comparing them by price is one way of distinguishing between the two, but the fact that your numbers are very close in both categories doesn't help with the decision.

 

It's more about what you want to achieve.

 

If you want to immerse in Hawaii, go to Maui.

If you want to take a cruise and see some islands , take the cruise.

 

On the "immerse" side IMO Maui might be the ideal island to get the total effect of Hawaii. Nightlife, swanky/fun hotels, lushness, beautiful vistas, amazing beaches, great excursions. Not as cosmopolitan - a polite word for crowded! - as Oahu, not as gardenlike as Kauai, and not as, uh, big as the big island, Maui nevertheless has great gobs of everything that people want in Hawaii, except for flowing lava. If you stay a week there you begin to immerse yourself in the ebb and flow of the island, and when you leave you'll actually think you know something of the place. Whether or not that's true is not the point - you'll have that feeling. And boy, will you be relaxed.

 

Cruising Hawaii is like the world's best buffet of island visits. Kauai, Hilo, Kona, Kahului, Lahaina... good lord, that's a wonderful itinerary. Plus you're on a cruise, which sounds to me like you've absolutely fallen in love with.

 

With a buffet, though, comes the sense that you never really immersed yourself in one particular entree or meal concept. A delicious taste here or there, defined not by the size of your tummy or the plate but by the constraints of time in port.

 

Every island has its own tempo... feel... smell... yin/yang... call it what you want. I don't know if a 12-hour stay on an island conveys its unique flavor.

 

After a few days on Maui (or any island) I typically begin to relax and get into the tempo of the place. Things just don't seem as rushed, getting to Haleakala is a ... well, maybe tomorrow if it's clear... sort of thing. The need to go go go simply drops away.

 

In this way it's definitely not like a cruise in the islands, in which (at least as it seems from the multitudes of questions posed on this board) most folk's days are defined to the minute by Excursion A and B, followed by time on beach C, and does that leave enough time for tour D. That's a normal way to deal with ports on a cruise, but to me it really misses the extraordinary opportunity to veg out that Maui offers.

 

So back to my original statements -- if your goal is to have a wonderful cruise with stops in wonderful Hawaiian ports, do the cruise!!! If your goal is to get into the feel of Hawaii, do Maui. There is no right answer - after all, this is a cruise board so most folks here are defining just about everything Hawaiian in terms of cruises - as it should be. I just wanted to offer a different perspective. Hope it helps.

[ehough]

Thanks for your detailed response, sceptic! It really helps me compare the two options in more than just price. :)

[CruisinMK]

The decision you face is not ONLY CRUISE versus ONLY LAND.

You have two weeks. That means you can do a week long cruise, with overnights on both Maui and Kauai, Napali coast and Lava viewing. Then, you still have time for a week long land extension on an island of your choosing. Having lived here most of my life, I think every one of them is a good choice for a week long stay.

 

Enjoy!

[sceptic]

mike, the initial post stated that the first week was basically Oahu for a business conference lasting three days plus a few extra days just sightseeing. The question dealt with the second week. I agree, though, that if you have two full weeks to sightsee a wonderful compromise would be a one week cruise and a week on a neighbor island. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be an option for her.

[ehough]

Yes, thank you, sceptic, that is exactly right.

 

We will be staying on Oahu for a week. A few of those days will be taken up by the business conference (at least for DH!) and then we are staying on in Oahu for the rest of the week.

 

So, the choice is to either move from Oahu to Maui for the second week, or to cruise for the second week. I am thinking that a week on Oahu and a week cruising is quite a lovely compromise :)

[smarterman64]

you might want to see if ncla can accomodate you and go on the pride of aloha embarking in honolulu and disembarking in maui. that would make first part of your trip in honolulu and 2nd part in maui as you wanted as well as seeing all the islands.

[Bucky3]

Especially if you have never been to Hawaii, your decision would be a no-brainer for me. I'd love my week on Oahu, and I'd hate to miss Kona & Hilo on the Big Island, and most of all I'd hate to miss the beautiful garden Island of Kauai! I'd defintely take the cruise after my week on Oahu!

[CruisinMK]

You know you are basically a 10 minute taxi from the cruise ship if you stay in Waikiki. How could you skip the temptation? If you like cruising already, I'd say go for it! You get an overnight stay on both Maui and Kauai. You get a napali coast viewing, which is one of the prettiest things you can see on the planet. You get a nighttime viewing of lava entering the ocean. You get a stop at Hilo, convenient for a volcano visit. You get a day in Kona, with the best snorkeling around. You could spend a week on one island instead, that would also be nice. But if you like cruising, this itinerary is one of the best in the world.