Hawaii Cruises....best time

[MillbrookMom]

When is the best time of year to do a Hawaii cruise for weather....and/or price?

 

My husband and I are thinking this might make a good itinerary for our anniversary cruise.

 

Would also be flying from either Toronto, Canada or Buffalo, NY.

 

Thanks

[CruisinMK]

july-sep little hot

nov-jan wettest, but usually not bad

mid dec- mid feb roughest seas, especially january. More of an issue for west coast round trips than NCLA

jan-march peak whale season

Dec: Christmas decorations, gotta love it

July 4th/dec 31st fireworks

may 1 may day lei day

[MillbrookMom]

Thanks...very helpful

[kapoho2]

Pricewise you will always get the best deals when schools are in session. So, the summer prices tend to be higher as are the prices around Christmas and spring break. After Easter is a great time. Also, in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas there are some really good deals. And, in Sept., after the kids are back in school the deals can be very good also.

[RSWBADGER]

When is the best time of year to do a Hawaii cruise for weather....and/or price?

 

My husband and I are thinking this might make a good itinerary for our anniversary cruise.

 

Would also be flying from either Toronto, Canada or Buffalo, NY.

 

Thanks

 

The best time is when the weather where you live is at its worst, take off for a couple of weeks and laugh at how poor the weather is back home. :)

[GeekyMom]

july-sep little hot

nov-jan wettest, but usually not bad

mid dec- mid feb roughest seas, especially january. More of an issue for west coast round trips than NCLA

jan-march peak whale season

Dec: Christmas decorations, gotta love it

July 4th/dec 31st fireworks

may 1 may day lei day

Thanks!

 

I would love to do a Hawaiian cruise next! But what to do with the kids. :D

 

P.S. Mike, I see you're from the "Rainbow" state, and have taken several HI cruises, do you have any suggestions to the best or most recommended one?

[CruisinMK]

I loved Pride of America and Pride of Hawaii. They get overnights on Kauai and Maui, stops on Hilo(volcano) and kona, sailby of scenic na pali coast (only NCL does this) and lava flows at night.

 

I suggest

* try to fly in a night or two early, good to rest from flying, plenty and do on Oahu, gives cushion in case of flight issues. Being able to extend your stay in a hawaiian hotel is a nice advantage of these cruises so do it if you can.

 

* If you don't like NCL freestyle or the lack of sea days, take a look at the one way cruises offered by Carnival and others. These have 4 sea days, which is a reasonable number compared to the 8 or 9 required by west coast roundtrips. Also since one end is in Hawaii, you can still extend your stay in a Hawaiian hotel.

 

* pride of aloha has new 10/11 day itineraries starting in September. These add a day in Maui, Oahu, and a scenic sailby of Molokai. One out of 4 itineraries goes to kiribati, it skips the overnight stays and scenic sailbys, i personally don't like that itinerary nearly as much. My next hawaii cruise will be a 10 day pride of aloha.

 

* If you are really nuts about sea days you can look at the west coast round trips. They get 5 days in Hawaii and 8 or 9 sea days. Might try to avoid january and a couple weeks around it if you have the flexibility to avoid the rough seas.

 

* When choosing a cruise give bonus points to one that goes to Kauai, very nice to see

[GeekyMom]

I loved Pride of America and Pride of Hawaii. They get overnights on Kauai and Maui, stops on Hilo(volcano) and kona, sailby of scenic na pali coast (only NCL does this) and lava flows at night.

 

I suggest

* try to fly in a night or two early, good to rest from flying, plenty and do on Oahu, gives cushion in case of flight issues. Being able to extend your stay in a hawaiian hotel is a nice advantage of these cruises so do it if you can.

 

* If you don't like NCL freestyle or the lack of sea days, take a look at the one way cruises offered by Carnival and others. These have 4 sea days, which is a reasonable number compared to the 8 or 9 required by west coast roundtrips. Also since one end is in Hawaii, you can still extend your stay in a Hawaiian hotel.

 

* pride of aloha has new 10/11 day itineraries starting in September. These add a day in Maui, Oahu, and a scenic sailby of Molokai. One out of 4 itineraries goes to kiribati, it skips the overnight stays and scenic sailbys, i personally don't like that itinerary nearly as much. My next hawaii cruise will be a 10 day pride of aloha.

 

* If you are really nuts about sea days you can look at the west coast round trips. They get 5 days in Hawaii and 8 or 9 sea days. Might try to avoid january and a couple weeks around it if you have the flexibility to avoid the rough seas.

 

* When choosing a cruise give bonus points to one that goes to Kauai, very nice to see

Thanks, I've been to Maui and Kauai is top of my list! :)

[whale-watcher]

...jan-march peak whale season...

:D and also our least favorite months in Minnesota!

[Leafpeeper]

We cruised on an RCCL ship in late March and were surprised that the ocean was not as warm as the Caribbean. The water temps average in the low 70's, which is fine for us. However, some tourists want to swim in 80+ degree water and may have been a bit disappointed.

 

One word of caution: We would definetely recommend flying both ways to Hawaii to take your cruise because the ocean was cold and rough 3 out of our 4 seadays back to the mainland. Next time we will spend those 4 days in Honolulu before our cruise. We sailed on an RCCL ship that had only one dining room and a buffet for dining options. There were no specialty restaurants onboard. That was a real problem when our waiter turned out to be slow as a snail. We ended up serving ourselves in the buffet every night because we didn't have the patience to wait and wait. It taught us a lesson about making sure our ship has multiple dining venues on any cruises over 5 days in length.

 

Good luck. We definetely want to return to Hawaii and take NCL next time around so we have the option of dining in a different restaurant each night. We really enjoy that part of NCL cruising.

[beachchick]

We cruised on an RCCL ship in late March and were surprised that the ocean was not as warm as the Caribbean. The water temps average in the low 70's, which is fine for us. However, some tourists want to swim in 80+ degree water and may have been a bit disappointed.

 

 

Yes, unfortunately many (perhaps most) people assume the water is as warm as the Caribbean. However, Hawaii does not have the benefit of the gulf stream. That is one primary reason for the difference. The other is that Hawaii is out there in the middle of nowhere (so to speak), whereas the Caribbean has land masses all around it. As well, a good portion (not all) of the Caribbean is closer to the equator than Hawaii. Add those three things together and you can see why the ocean temps in Hawaii are not as warm as the Caribbean.

 

For us, it's great. We're on CA's central coast where the ocean temps are never warm. Our highs are in the low to mid 60s, so mid-high 70s and into the low 80s (in the fall) in Hawaii are delightful. Even so, DH wears a lightweight wetsuit top snorkeling in Hawaii year round, but not in the Caribbean.

 

beachchick

[ecs66]

We agree that the at-sea days if cruising from mainland can be bad. Is there any time of year that's better to do that? We generally love at-sea days, but the four days from LA to Hawaii, and the four days back to LA, were so bad (cold, windy, rocky with gale-force winds) that we couldn't use the balcony or go on the decks. We'd do that trip again in a minute if we thought weather would be better than early to mid-December.

[Bucky3]

Just returned from the Island Hawaii cruise. We also did this cruise in early December and have done it in September/October. Sea weather on this last trip (April 26-May11) was much better (warmer) and MUCH calmer than in December but neither one as calm as our fall cruises. The weather AND water IN Hawaii was much warmer in Sept/Oct than in either December or April. Interestingly, HAWAII weather itself was warmer in December than it was on this trip in April! My favorite time for cruising RT to Hawaii would be Sept/Oct, but ocean conditions can be good/bad (rough) at ANY time. It's a great RT if you LOVE sea days. We do and, especially since we live in CA and don't want to fly, we will take this cruise again and again as long as Princess offers it. I doubt that sea days across the Pacific could ever be compared to sea days in the Caribbean. Caribbean sea days and water temps in the Caribbean will probably always be much warmer in any month of the year - just MO. Aloha! Bucky

[Glamourgal]

Bucky3, I was happy to hear that Sept/Oct. was a good time to visit Hawaii. We are going end of Sept to Oct. on the POA. Can't wait!! I love to swim though so I was thrilled to hear that the water is warmer then!!

[SC LTC]

Bucky3, I was happy to hear that Sept/Oct. was a good time to visit Hawaii. We are going end of Sept to Oct. on the POA. Can't wait!! I love to swim though so I was thrilled to hear that the water is warmer then!!

i'm also happy to hear :p were going the last part of Oct. :D

[ecs66]

That's great info; thank you! We're looking doing this RT in September. We, too, live in California and love the convenience of not having to fly to or from a cruise port. I guess we'd be open to flying to a ship, but feel that a flying experience immediately after a cruise would break the spell.

[MommyJamiex4]

I am happy to see that too as we are going on the Nov 3rd sailing.