Hawaiian Island cruise- when and which port

[northcreek]

We are looking to book a cruise to Hawaii this fall, looking for suggestions on which month to go, sept, oct, or November and which port to leave from, Vancouver, San Fran or LA. This will be our first Hawaiian cruise.

[SingerEsq]

First off, we have done the LA-HI-LA twice and will do it again. It is almost like having 3 vacations. The trip over to decompress, the days in the islands to have fun, and the trip back to relax into "re-entry."

 

September through November will be fairly consistent in the islands. It will really be more about what you expect on your first and last few days at sea, and what you might want to do before embarkation or after the cruise.

 

We live in the Los Angeles area and LA can still be very warm well into September. So you will probably have warmer weather throughout most of your cruise. October and November are anyone's guess, weather-wise. Usually sunny and for the most part it will be temperate (60s and 70s), but that's not warm on the water.

 

San Fran can be freezing in the middle of summer, but will more than likely be quite chili when you arrive and return from September on. But it is an incredible city and sailing in and out is fantastic. Port of LA is basically a ship yard. Not horrible, but nothing really special to look at.

 

Have not spent anytime in Vancouver yet. Have only disembarked there, and it looks to be a beautiful city too.

 

Any of them will be the start and end of a great cruise, IMO.

Edited January 27, 2015 by SingerEsq
typo

[pusywillow]

We are looking to book a cruise to Hawaii this fall, looking for suggestions on which month to go, sept, oct, or November and which port to leave from, Vancouver, San Fran or LA. This will be our first Hawaiian cruise.

 

Are you planning on staying pre or post cruise at your port city? If you are, then pick the city you most want to visit. I personally love San Francisco. There is so much to see and do and such great restaurants. I think Vancouver would be nice as well. I've never been to LA.

 

Sue

Edited January 27, 2015 by pusywillow

[denmarks]

There are regular 15 day Hawaii cruises out of LA and SF. Vancouver is only a repositioning cruise a couple of times a year. I live in N. Calif. and used to go to LA. Now I go out of SF which has a new terminal.

[Waimea'sMom]

We have done the LA-Hawaii sailing a number of times (leaving to do it for our 12th time next week). It is easy for me to choose because I live in LA, so SF and Vancouver are less appealing itineraries for me -- though actually much nicer cities IMHO! :)

 

That being said, my deciding factor if geographical distance didn't matter is to pick the ship that Elua will be sailing with. David and Leialoha are wonderful musicians, terrific instructors (of hula, ukulele and lei making) and all around wonderful people. I probably would fly to SF just to be on the ship they were on -- though more times than not they are on the LA ship.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Waimea'sMom

[Colo Cruiser]

We like leaving from Vancouver. Love the city. :)

[cr8tiv1]

I would choose whichever ship ELUA is in. They are Princess' cultural ambassadors. I know they will be on the Grand out of LA for Feb and March, then moving over to the Vancouver run. But the information is on my laptop (which I don't have access to at this moment). You could check out their Facebook page, but this was posted many months ago. They do have their schedule for the fall. I think, do not quote me, they will be on the Ruby out of LA in the fall. The Ruby is a bit larger than the ships they have been running over to the islands.

[AE_Collector]

There are regular 15 day Hawaii cruises out of LA and SF. Vancouver is only a repositioning cruise a couple of times a year. I live in N. Calif. and used to go to LA. Now I go out of SF which has a new terminal.

 

Not so anymore! We now have 4 Vancouver-Hawaii-Vancouver 15 day Princess cruises per year. Two in spring before the Alaska season and two after the Alaska season. Not as many as LA and SF but it is getting better.

 

And Pacific Princess does a one way Hawaii to Vancouver in the spring and another from Vancouver to Hawaii in the fall. I think the spring one way is missing this year though because of the world cruise.

 

Thank You Princess!!!

 

Terry