Hawaiian Cruise Options - Need Input

I'm currently doing some research for a future Hawaiian cruise. I've settled on a couple of choices that I'm look for some feedback on as I'm still undecided on which option would be the best. The options are the following:

Option 1) Fly into Honolulu and spend a few days (up to a week) in the Waikiki area, then board the Pride of America and visit the three other islands before returning home.

Option 2) Sail out of either LA, San Diego, or San Fran (round trip) to Hawaii and then fly back.

With Option 1) it would be more expensive as the flights and hotel/resort are more than just the flight to the West Coast and so I'm needing some input to determine if a cruise on the Pride of America is worth it or should I stick to sailing from the mainland.

Thanks in advance.

What you have to take into consideration is how much time you have to spend and if you want "sea days" as part of your cruise experience. The nice thing that the Pride of America does is overnighting on Maui and Kauai. Having two full days on Maui and a day and a half on Kauai is so wonderful in comparison to having eight hours in port. Having the time to do a helicopter tour, then renting a car on Kauai and seeing the north side of the island (Hanalei) and not having to rush back was so fun and relaxing. The two days on Maui can't be beat, either. We spent the first day at Haleakala National Park and the second day in Lahaina and Kihei at the beach.

The Pride of America itinerary is very port-intensive (no sea days). You'll spend most of your time ashore on the beautiful Hawaiian islands, but the ship itself is very nice (well, it was when we were on it) and our time on the ship was great. The aft balcony was especially wonderful on the Na Pali coast sail-by.

Anyway, only you can decide if the sea days vs. the week at Waikiki is a good trade-off. There's a lot to see and do on Oahu, but it isn't cheap to get there or to say there. I don't know your financial situation, so it is hard to answer.

I recently sailed the POA and would definitely recommend it because I had a fantastic time. My husband and I are very active, so the port intensive itinerary suited us well. Since I will most likely get to Hawaii once in my life, it was important that we got to spend as much time on the islands as possible, so sea days did not appeal to us.

However, if I may make a suggestion should you decide to take the POA and spend a few extra days on mainland. I would stay away from the Waikiki area. It really will break the bank. My father sailed the POA with us, and is afforded much more vacation time from work than I am. After getting off the POA he hopped a smaller plane from Honolulu to Kona to stay a few extra days. Much cheaper than staying in Waikiki, even with the airfare, and in my opinion Kona is much nicer than Waikiki.

You have not told us exactly how much time you have but in order to do your option 2 it would require 14 - 15 days.

To answer your question you need to decide if you want to spend 5-6 days at sea and do you want to see Mexico as that is what you will get with option 2.

With option 1 you will have more time on each island. We were there in 2006. We flew in on a Thursday, did the PCA tour on Friday (all day and well worth it) and then took an NCL pre cruise city tour including Pearl Harbor (again well worth it). We were picked up at the hotel and dropped off at the ship. The only problem we had with the trip is that we tried to cram too much into each day and wore ourselves out :D.

What you have to take into consideration is how much time you have to spend and if you want "sea days" as part of your cruise experience. The nice thing that the Pride of America does is overnighting on Maui and Kauai. Having two full days on Maui and a day and a half on Kauai is so wonderful in comparison to having eight hours in port. Having the time to do a helicopter tour, then renting a car on Kauai and seeing the north side of the island (Hanalei) and not having to rush back was so fun and relaxing. The two days on Maui can't be beat, either. We spent the first day at Haleakala National Park and the second day in Lahaina and Kihei at the beach.

 

The Pride of America itinerary is very port-intensive (no sea days). You'll spend most of your time ashore on the beautiful Hawaiian islands, but the ship itself is very nice (well, it was when we were on it) and our time on the ship was great. The aft balcony was especially wonderful on the Na Pali coast sail-by.

 

Anyway, only you can decide if the sea days vs. the week at Waikiki is a good trade-off. There's a lot to see and do on Oahu, but it isn't cheap to get there or to say there. I don't know your financial situation, so it is hard to answer.

Thanks for your input. We are looking at spending 14 to 15 days for the Hawaiian trip. I like the idea of spending more time on the islands as we won't be going back for a while after this trip. The POA cruise with the overnight stays would maximize the time we can spend on the other islands and as such that is a big plus. I might need to explore how to minimize the extra costs of staying on the island.

On the other hand the sea days to get to the Hawaiian Islands would be a more leisure way to travel and we would get more time on the ship. Oh what too do :o...I think I'll need more feedback :D

I think the POA is absolutely worth it. It does cost more but you get the most bang for your buck, IMO. My husband and I did that cruise for our honeymoon. We flew into Honolulu three days before the cruise and spent the time exploring Oahu. We also stayed an extra night/day on Oahu before flying home. We saw much more than we would have on one of the longer cruises.

It really comes down to what your priority is on the trip - a relaxing cruise with some nice ports here and there, or Hawaii itself. If it's seeing Hawaii, I think the POA is the best way to go.

Thanks for your input. We are looking at spending 14 to 15 days for the Hawaiian trip. I like the idea of spending more time on the islands as we won't be going back for a while after this trip. The POA cruise with the overnight stays would maximize the time we can spend on the other islands and as such that is a big plus. I might need to explore how to minimize the extra costs of staying on the island.

 

On the other hand the sea days to get to the Hawaiian Islands would be a more leisure way to travel and we would get more time on the ship. Oh what too do :o...I think I'll need more feedback :D

If you or anyone traveling with you is a military member or retiree, or DoD civilian employee, there are many options for staying on Oahu that are very reasonably priced. We normally stay at the Hale Koa hotel on Waikiki but have also stayed at the beach cottages at Bellows Air Force Station.

Also I would highly recommend you go to Barnes & Noble and purchase the books "Oahu Revealed," "Maui Revealed" etc. There is one for each island. You may be able to find them at your local library as well. These books are full of great ideas of things to see while on the islands. It will help maximize your time so you aren't the ones stepping off the ship and saying "What's there to do here?" You can definitely save a ton of money by renting cars on the islands and doing your own touring, if that is a concern. Cars are cheap to rent in Hawaii.

I sailed the POA in August. We flew into Hawaii a few days early then boarded the boat. As others have noted this is port intensive. I literally had a tour a day between hiking, snorkeling, etc. One thing I would do the next time (since I have already visited the main island) to spend more time on the boat relaxing and enjoying the different things the boat has to offer. There were parts of the boat I never got to between full days of tours and jetlag.

Consider doing a b2b cruise to make it worth your while. We have done this 3 times as well an spend 6/7 days in Waikiki as well only to avoid some of the Canadian winter.

Hawaii is very expensive, pineapples will cost you $10, quart of milk will be around $6

Restaurant are also very expensive with very few if any specials including the HO Jo's IHOP's.

We liked the POA. Stayed 3 nights before boarding and then got a day room to stay at before flying home. Great trip. Pictures can been seen below

We liked the POA. Stayed 3 nights before boarding and then got a day room to stay at before flying home. Great trip. Pictures can been seen below

Thanks for the photo link. If we decide to go with POA what would you recommend an Inside or Balcony, as I understand that the ship will sail around the active volcano at night and it is quite a view if you have a Balcony.

When we did the trip in 06 the volcano was active and was really cool to see - and hear. I am not sure if it is back to active status again after the Japan quake a few years ago.

The other place for a balcony is during the last afternoon sailing the Na Pali Coast - in 06 the trip was one way and you needed to be on the Port side in order to see it. Now they turn around so both sides get the view.

It is also fun to watch her dock in Nawiliwili - it is a real tight harbor that requires some real docking skills.

If you balcony is above the lifeboats (any deck) you will not be able to look down and see the sea - only the top of the lifeboat. Which is not too bad - my DW loved it as she does not do well with heights.

As for flights, we are lucky enough to live on the west US coast and can fly non stop to Honolulu - Toronto on the other hand is both a coast and a country away. It will take you at least three flights to reach there - I like Alaska Airlines - they offer a three leg plan - Toronto to Chicago, Chi to Seattle, Seattle to Honolulu. You can leave at 6:15 AM and arrive Honolulu at 10:40 PM the same day :eek:.

You can probably use an online TA to package flights and hotels for one low rate. I have had pretty good luck with that. You might also look at using a package from NCL - that way you can do a pre and/or post cruise tour and have all your transfers taken care of.

You can also rent a car and do it all on your own.

When we did the trip in 06 the volcano was active and was really cool to see - and hear. I am not sure if it is back to active status again after the Japan quake a few years ago.

 

The other place for a balcony is during the last afternoon sailing the Na Pali Coast - in 06 the trip was one way and you needed to be on the Port side in order to see it. Now they turn around so both sides get the view.

 

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I'm not sure about the volcano either. Some people have said recently that something is visible but it doesn't seem to be regular yet.

As for Na Pali, port side is still the best for that. The ship does turn around but once it turns, it starts to pick up speed and head out to open water so the starboard side doesn't get as close-up or long a view as portside.

I am currently researching for our POA cruise in 2014 and the consensus for everything I have read seems to be go for port if you are getting a balcony.

The volcano viewing on the starboard side is very brief and described as looking at a campfire way in the distance. If it is even active.

The Napali Coast viewing from the starboard is spectacular and hours long. And as others have said, once the ship turns, it heads out quickly. If you do get a port side cabin, you will want to be up on deck for this! We saw it on a land based vacation years ago and it is still the most spectacular and exotic thing I have ever seen. You can't believe your eyes.

We did Hawaii out of San Diego as part of a longer cruise. In retrospect, I wish we'd done POA combined with going a week early. DH has researched timeshare rentals and some are pretty affordable. If we go back, we would do that and POA if I can talk him into it. Two days in Maui would have been great. We spent our one on the Road to Hana....fabulous, but would have also liked to go to the National Park. Our particular cruise canceled Kauai (spelling?) and we missed all of that but did have two days in Honolulu. We could have spent longer there, so I'd go out early to have time to see as much as you can.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the photo link. If we decide to go with POA what would you recommend an Inside or Balcony, as I understand that the ship will sail around the active volcano at night and it is quite a view if you have a Balcony.

Balcony port side or like we did get an aft but not on the deck 10 because the cafe is just above you and the noise is bad.

When we did the trip in 06 the volcano was active and was really cool to see - and hear. I am not sure if it is back to active status again after the Japan quake a few years ago.

 

The other place for a balcony is during the last afternoon sailing the Na Pali Coast - in 06 the trip was one way and you needed to be on the Port side in order to see it. Now they turn around so both sides get the view.

 

It is also fun to watch her dock in Nawiliwili - it is a real tight harbor that requires some real docking skills.

 

If you balcony is above the lifeboats (any deck) you will not be able to look down and see the sea - only the top of the lifeboat. Which is not too bad - my DW loved it as she does not do well with heights.

 

 

As for flights, we are lucky enough to live on the west US coast and can fly non stop to Honolulu - Toronto on the other hand is both a coast and a country away. It will take you at least three flights to reach there - I like Alaska Airlines - they offer a three leg plan - Toronto to Chicago, Chi to Seattle, Seattle to Honolulu. You can leave at 6:15 AM and arrive Honolulu at 10:40 PM the same day :eek:.

 

You can probably use an online TA to package flights and hotels for one low rate. I have had pretty good luck with that. You might also look at using a package from NCL - that way you can do a pre and/or post cruise tour and have all your transfers taken care of.

 

You can also rent a car and do it all on your own.

Thanks for the great tips. I'm setting up a file with all of feedback. It looks like the consences is that going on the POA on a Port side Balconey is the way to go. Anyone have any feedback on taking a round trip from the West coast mainland?

We did the Hawaii cruise out of San Diego in '07. Our flights from Pittsburgh to San Diego worked out great for us. We had a stop in Houston. The ship had a lot of different activities planned for the sea days so you couldn't get "bored". We really enjoy sea days so relaxing with a good book was great. We took the ship tours and on the main island my cousin was our guide. He was stationed in Hawaii when in the Navy. We didn't have Kauai included in our ports so that is one reason to go back:D If we do go back it would be a cruise.

Carol

I have done both cruises - the round trip from LA and the inter-island on the POA. Both are great cruises - it really depends on what you are looking for. The RT from LA provides 8 relaxing sea days split by 4 days of very intense island visits. The POA offers more of an island experience and you can be as active as you wish.

My daughter and I did the POA last December - it was all decorated for the holidays and very pretty. We splurged on a suite and it was a fabulous experience. We took 2 of the shore days and simply stayed on the ship - we enjoyed spa time and pool time!

While it was mentioned that you overnight in Maui and Kauai, you also get 2 days in the Big Island - they just dock on both sides of the island - a day in Hilo and a day in Kona. The volcano was very active when we were there and the captain sailed around that end of the island so we could see it entering the ocean. The naturalist read the Hawaiian tale of creation as the captain got closer and closer to it. It was a very moving and memorable experience.

We also did our air and a pre-cruise stay booking with NCL. The prices were very competitive and we got to spend 2 nights at the Marriott Waikiki right across the street from the beach.

I would do either of the cruises again.

We looked at Sailing there, around the islands, and then back.

But the POA itinerary seems like it does more around Islands

than other lines so we chose to book it. We do plan to fly

out a few days before the cruise, and then spend a few

days after it's over as well. All in all I think it's 15 days.

There is link in my signature to my review of our POA trip in 2010. It is an extensive review with lots of photos and details. If you are going to cruise Hawaii I definitely think POA is the way to go. I would not like all the sea days involved in sailing from the mainland.

Aloha!

We looked at Sailing there, around the islands, and then back.

 

But the POA itinerary seems like it does more around Islands

than other lines so we chose to book it. We do plan to fly

out a few days before the cruise, and then spend a few

days after it's over as well. All in all I think it's 15 days.

I look forward in hearing your review when you return from our cruise.

My fiance and I are looking at doing this cruise our honeymoon next Feb./March. I am glad to read all of the good feedback about POA.

It will be our first cruise on NCL, we have only done Carnival and RCCL before.

We only had a week so the POA was the best choice for us. This was actually the trip where I realized I liked cruising, having always been disinterested in the idea of them before (and never been on one before).

I already knew I wanted to go to Hawaii and I actually didn't even know there was a Hawaiian cruise until I started doing my research. I decided that it'd be the most convenient way to see more in only 7 days. Even if we had more time, I probably would've made the same choice since I HATE flying and flying from island to island would've been too much for my poor nerves to handle. The flights out there and back were traumatic enough.

I'm so glad we did it because if we hadn't, to this day I would've never been on a cruise and we'll be taking our 3rd this September. Apparently I really enjoyed myself.

I have to say the POA was worth it. We did the cruise in April 2012 and spent easter in Maui. We had a week and we were able to see most of the island without flying from island to island and wasting valuable time. Maui and Kauaui we were there overnight.