POA vs Spirit

What I'm leaning towards now is arriving in Honolulu the day before the cruise (I don't think we can go any earlier because of work), sailing for the 7 days and then flying to Maui right after the cruise and spending 4 nights there before flying home. It means missing Pearl Harbor on this trip but I'm sure we will be back again.

You could do the Pearl Harbor post-cruise excursion, it gets you off the ship quickly and drops you at the airport. We did it, we would have loved more time at Pearl Harbor but at least we got to see some of it.

Another option for you...there are lots of options!

(We too loved Maui, though we said we’d spend time on Kauai next time too so we can do more hiking.)

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Staying in Maui for the 12 days or even 3 days in Oahu and 9 days in Maui is significantly less expensive than a cruise and stay though we like the idea of seeing all the Hawaiian Islands on one trip with the cruise.

As to the cruise, if you add it up, "seeing all (actually five) the Hawaiian Islands on one trip with the cruise" means 10 hours in Hilo, 10.5 hours in Kona and 30 hours (a fair part of which is at night) in Nawiliwili. Not exactly what we would honestly call seeing the islands. More a brief sampler, so do not think you are missing anything huge.

Responding to the original question, enjoyed POA. Have never been on Spirit. POA is a pretty ship with plenty to do that you will never get to because HAWAII! That said, here are my recommendations for excursions in Hawaii, Oahu Photography Tours. They take you lots of places and teach you how to use your cell as an awesome camera. Mary Lou for Kona/Hilo. Kawaii...I don’t recommend the tours I took, they were fine..but not recommendation worthy. Maui, I did the Molokini crater snorkel, fun,,,cold,,, difficult...and the whale watch. Have a great time whatever you decide!