Hawaii with 1 & 4 year old on the Diamond Princess: Travel Tips

[kidcruiser99]

We have returned from a 15 day cruise to Hawaii aboard the Diamond Princess with our 1 year old and 4 year old. Here are some travel tips that other families may find useful:

 

- We drove to Los Angeles for the port at San Pedro, but not without first stopping for a hot dog lunch and a full tank of gas at the Costco in Hawthorn, 10 minutes away from San Pedro with easy 405 freeway access. It worked out great, so that the kids were refreshed before arriving after a long car ride.

 

- Get a porter to help you with your baggage. My wife held up a twenty dollar bill in the air, and a porter appeared quickly. Plus our luggage was speedily delivered to our room and was waiting for us when we got onboard.

 

- Stop and use the restrooms before going through the first security checkpoint. The checkin line inside the building was 30 minutes long, and our oldest child was desperate for a potty break by then, but there are no restrooms inside, so had to wait until we were (finally) aboard the ship.

 

- Keep a master calendar while onboard for the cruise, so that you can keep track of island arrival/departure times, excursion plans, formal nights, and dinner reservations

 

- Pack a watch for each adult. There are very few clocks on board (not even in the rooms), and your cell phone (with clock) should be off. You would like to think that you are on vacation and won't need a watch, but you will.

 

- We packed Lysol spray and wipes. It took up room in the luggage, but was well worth it so that we could sanitize the room (in case previous occupants had the noro virus) and keep it clean with a 1 year old in diapers.

 

- We selected the "Anytime Dining" option (instead of the traditional early or late dining room seating), then made dinner reservations each night for 5:30 in the Pacific Moon dining room. Reservations can be made 3 days in advance, and fill up quickly. Plan on eating in the buffet or pizza/hamburger grill the first night.

 

- The staff was very friendly and helpful with our children, getting high chairs, extra glasses of milk, and such.

 

- The Princess Pelican program was very good, with a leisurely pace of activities all day long for our 4 year old. Plus one of us stayed there with our 1 year old and he was able to participate in many of the activities too.

 

- Sleeping arrangements were easy in our "mini suite" on Dolphin deck 9. The couch converted to a hide-a-bed, and we brought our portable "pack and play" crib for the 1 year old.

 

- We posed for photographs almost every night before or after dinner. There is no sitting fee, and some of the photos turned out pretty good. We waited until we had several portraits that we wanted to buy, then bought them all at the same time near the end of the cruise to get a discount. Also, pack a USB memory key and you can get the digital photo files.

 

- On most of the islands, I would recommend renting a minivan. We did this at Hilo and Kauai, and it worked out great. You can go at your own pace, see the sights you want, and stop whenever the kids need a meal break or potty stop. Every island had rental car shuttles to take you to the airport to get your vehicle. Plan on spending an hour to get the car and an hour to return the car, reducing your time by two hours. But it is well worth it for a family of four, and much less expensive than the organized excursions.

 

- The ship arrival/departure times for each island are just that: ship arrival and departure. Passenger arrival and departure is about 30 minutes later/earlier if the ship is docked, and about an hour later/earlier if you must tender to get ashore (required at Lahaina and Kona).

 

- At the Honolulu and Lahaina stops, we used the taxis and free Hilo Hattie shuttles to get around.

 

- Kid friendly activities for each port:

Hilo: drive the volcano loop, then get icecream at the Mauna Loa macadamian nut factory

Lahaina: Go to the Kanapali beach (at Whaler's village), then ride the sugar cane train back to Lahaina. Use a taxi to get around.

Kona: Not sure what to recommend. We went on an organized ranch "wagon ride" and tour, but it wasn't much fun at all for the kids, and no lunch was served in the 8 hour ordeal.

Honolulu: Ala Moana beach is very calm and beautiful, great for kids to swim and play. Sand is coarse, but kids didn't mind.

Kauai: Lydgate park has a gentle pool for kids and adults to swim and snorkel. Also found family-friendly Eggberts restaurant for lunch in the Coconut Marketplace.

 

- Getting off the ship: Dolphin deck is next to last to get of the ship (it goes by deck in order: Lido, Plaza, Aloha, Baja, Caribe, Dolphin, then Emerald) The folks at the passenger services desk were kind enough to change us to an earlier group, so that the kids didn't have to wait three hours to get off the ship.

 

 

If you are wondering whether or not to go on a 15 day cruise with young kids, I would say do it. We did it and it worked out great, and we have many happy family memories to share and treasure.