hawaii cruising - UK based

We fancy a Hawaii islands cruise this year - flying from UK to Honolulu.

I am not very good at recovering from long haul flights (direct it is I beleive 17 hours)

I wondered if we could break up the journey on route for a few nights on the outward leg from the Uk and also back again from Honolulu.

Any recommendations from anyone - particularly UK based - on this?

Also any useful information on such a cruise is welcome

many thanks

We fancy a Hawaii islands cruise this year - flying from UK to Honolulu.

 

I am not very good at recovering from long haul flights (direct it is I beleive 17 hours)

 

 

 

I wondered if we could break up the journey on route for a few nights on the outward leg from the Uk and also back again from Honolulu.

 

 

 

Any recommendations from anyone - particularly UK based - on this?

 

 

 

Also any useful information on such a cruise is welcome

 

 

 

many thanks

Two thoughts... First, many people overnight in either LA or San Francisco. Coming from UK, I would consider flying to San Fran, and spending a few days there. Second, during certain times of the year, different lines offer Hawaii to Vancouver cruises. This would shorter your return flight ;).

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Two thoughts... First, many people overnight in either LA or San Francisco. Coming from UK, I would consider flying to San Fran, and spending a few days there. Second, during certain times of the year, different lines offer Hawaii to Vancouver cruises. This would shorter your return flight ;).

 

 

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Absolutely !!!

17 hours in a metal tube? :eek:

Much better to spend a day or three in LA or SF.

Or, by buying open-jaw return flights, SF one way & LA the other.

JB :)

I am thinking you should consider a Princess cruise round trip from Los Angeles they also do round trip from San Diego and Vancouver. Typically they stop at four Hawaiian Islands so you get a good time there. There are about four sea days both before and after. If you went via Los Angeles; bizarrely Air New Zealand, have the absolutely best premier economy seats available worldwide (as it's half way to Auckland). Have a look on http://www.seatguru.com. Alternatively I have seen these packaged on the freeview telly with stopovers in Las Vegas with free excursions to the Grand Canyon. That would mean a 17 to 19 days break though I should think. I think flying in to Honolulu direct is extra long flying and repositioning on a cruise to the US/Canada will not often be available but it's another option.

Regards John

Thanks.

It's a long way to go and at least 8 days at sea for 4 islands.

Is it worth all that travel- is it the cruise of a lifetime?

Thanks.

It's a long way to go and at least 8 days at sea for 4 islands.

 

Is it worth all that travel- is it the cruise of a lifetime?

I don't think it's "the cruise of a lifetime". IMO, Hawaii is better seen by a land trip, not on a cruise. But, I am sure some will disagree with me.

We had to do this all in one day once, because of work commitments, and it was hard- especially arriving in the early evening when we should have been having breakfast. The changeover in San Fran was hurried and not pleasant; on the return we had a long, weary wait there.

We would only do this again with a break of a couple of days or so. We would check flights more carefully; we ended up travelling to London the day before and staying at Heathrow. Later we discovered that we could have flown out from our then local airport, Leeds/Bradford to Amsterdam without overnighting....the aeroplane from there landed at the same time in SF as ours from Heathrow.

Try Air New Zealand, who used to fly westwards? They used to allow you to have a few days break, using the same price ticket, I believe.

There was also an airline called Northern something, which was tied into the Dutch KLM....that's what we should have taken, and I saw them landing at Honolulu.

My favorite itinerary is the two-week cruise to Hawaii. As we don't always get in a vacation every year (sometimes we've even gone longer), so we tend to like to make up for this with a longer cruise or a combination cruise/land trip. Princess makes their Hawaiian cruises into a Hawaiian experience with the wonderful activities (lei making, hula classes, etc.).

For us, we're an hour's drive to the port so no flights, which is an extra advantage to me.

I have been to Hawaii on two land trips, but if I hadn't been there before, the cruise stops would give me a good idea as to where to plan future land vacations to Hawaii in the future.

I have seen packages for Princess including stop overs of a few days in US or Canada which are very similar prices to mediterranean. So its a value for money cruise package. The holiday is the whole thing including sea days. It is not as expensive as most people would think but there is a lot of travel involved. I am not keen on long flights but am happy with sea days. I have done transatlantic with under an hour in New York followed by six sea days in the past. A lot of people would not like that at all. The other option is Fly to Honolulu stay there a week then cruise Radiance of the Seas 6 May Honolulu to Vancouver fly home from there.

Regards John

Thanks.

It's a long way to go and at least 8 days at sea for 4 islands.

 

Is it worth all that travel- is it the cruise of a lifetime?

the islands are best experienced by flying directly to them, and staying a few days on each of them using short hops between.

not by cruise line. Pride of America( NCL) sails just the islands with no trekking to and from via the West Coast or Canada. but it is an all American crew which many peiople beleive leads to sub par service and amenities.

Hawai'i should be done for ten days, at least 2 days on Oah'u and the Big Island each ( and I really think that Maui needs a good 3 minimum)

Sorry Cruiseshy but you've got a lot of good common sense here already. Our perspective comes from doing a cruise stay with NCL almost 10 years ago and regular vacation flights to California for the past 5 years.

First of all, regarding flights to the U.S., if you are anywhere near London fly direct BA to LA or SF rather than Virgin. Since they merged with Delta they have gone rapidly downhill. If flying from a regional airport the Klm route comes in to play. It's a while since we flew transatlantic with them but they were good. Can't add to comments on Air New Zealand as we've never used them.

If you are going to fly on to Hawaii from there I would suggest SF on way out and LA on way back, simply because there's much more to see and more accessible. Do LA on the way back if you have time.

If you are going to take the Princess option and sail to Hawaii I think that stands a chance of overcome jetlag issues on way out.

If you choose to take the NCL option you do get the option, if you have time, to spend a week in Hawaii pre or post cruise. We stayed on Oahu and found plenty to do from Honolulu. However, that doesn't give you extra time on any other islands. The NCL cruise we did stayed overnight on Kaui and visited Hilo and Kona on Big Island. However I did get the impression that flying between the islands is not cheap and ferrying is not quick, so one main island base may be as good as it gets.

Lastly, regarding airline cabins, check out whether you can upgrade on return flight from economy to premium. We usually fly to California economy and return premium. Neither BA not Virgin have ever had a problem with that. We will be doing just that in April this year with BA.

It's a great trip and well worth the travel agony (?). Whatever you choose I'm sure you will have a great time.

First of all, regarding flights to the U.S., if you are anywhere near London fly direct BA to LA or SF rather than Virgin. Since they merged with Delta they have gone rapidly downhill.

Do you mean something else? Virgin has not merged with Delta. DL did buy Singapore's 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic, but that's not the same as a merger.

Thanks.

It's a long way to go and at least 8 days at sea for 4 islands.

 

Is it worth all that travel- is it the cruise of a lifetime?

The islands are magnificent but 8 sea days may take alittle getting used to unless you've done a TA.

Kauai is my favorite but I would not of known that if I didn't take the cruise as I been to Honolulu a couple of times before.

A "return" flight from the UK to Honolulu is aprox. $850bsp.

A (8hr) "return" non-stop flight from the UK to Vancouver is aprox. $525bsp with Air Transat or Canadian affair (UK charter company) from Gatwick or Manchester. I've taken them twice to Gatwick on recent London and European land/cruise vacations.

It would then cost about $350bps for a (5hr) "return" non-stop flight from Vancouver to Honolulu as multiple airlines fly to Hawaii from YVR.

IMHO I would consider staying a couple of days in Vancouver, taking an Alaskian cruise, or taking a Pacific Coastal cruise before continuing on to Hawaii.

 

 

A (8hr) "return" non-stop flight from the UK to Vancouver is aprox. $525bsp with Air Transat or Canadian affair (UK charter company) from Gatwick or Manchester. I've taken them twice to Gatwick on recent London and European land/cruise vacations.

 

 

Excellent suggestion Lamchops! We flew Air Transat Manchester to Calgary last year and they were very good... Considerably better than our last flight with Virgin!

I have never been to Hawaii and plan to take the r/t from California possibly this year (need to decide before the season is over). I enjoy sea days and the extra air travel to Hawaii is the deciding factor. That 17 hours flying is a horrible thought to me; wouldn't do it, obviously.