Celebrity or other line to Hawaii

[PMO]

We are planning a cruise to Hawaii in September '16. We enjoy Celebrity very much but we were wondering about other lines being better. Can anyone help?

[jason3695]

NCL Pride of America for sure. No one does more or longer port days than them. As this ship is US based, it sails year round from Honolulu with no need to dock outside the US.

[AmberCascades]

As a fan of Celebrity, I'd say - if you are going to take that many sea days you might as well go with Celebrity.

 

However, if you want to see as much of Hawaii as possible on a cruise, take the Pride of America. We loved that cruise. Not quite the same experience as with Celebrity, but everything was good and we were off the ship more than we were on it (not counting sleeping :) ). I would do it again.

[teacherman]

We had a great cruise a few years ago, taking a RCCL re-positioning cruise from Vancouver to Hawaii. It was 5 sea days followed by 7 days through the islands. Overnight stops in Maui and Honolulu. Very good price because it was a re-po. If you can spend that much time, consider a re-po cruise with a day or two added on in Vancouver and Hawaii.

[Tiggertastic]

Celebrity only do it as part of repositioning from Vancouver and you get approx 5 or 6 days at sea sailing down. The ship ten moves onto reposition to Australia

 

Ncl pride of America does 7 nights week on week however we find they are pricey for this cruise. Although it's dedicated to Hawaii. There is a great review on the ncl section with lots of photos that's been posted I the last few weeks

 

Check the price and it maybe down to sea days or not

[LuAnn]

Hawaii that X used to offer quite frequently doesn't seem to be on the schedule that much any more ...:(

 

Another option is Princess...which I believe offers the R/T out of LA quite often...also I think sometimes out of SF?

 

While we prefer X over Princess because we feel the quality of the food (subjective I know) has gone down in the last several years you might check their schedule to see what is offered for your time frame of interest. The R/T out of SD was 5 days over, 5 days around the islands and 5 days back. I think it might be offered in '15 and '16 several times! LuAnn

[PMO]

Thank you. I am not interested in doing the Pride because of the expense for only a 7 day cruise. I will check out Princess.

[FunCruiser56]

We loved our Hawaii cruise on the Celebrity Solstice, 3 days pre cruise in Honolulu then sail to the islands having wonderful days and nights and then 5 relaxing sea days doing what ever we want. The Solstice is a beautiful ship with a wonderful crew. We loved our cruise 2 years ago so much we booked the same one for next April 2016. Oh and we were treated to lava flowing into the ocean- what a sight!

Bev

[ClaudiaB]

I so wish Celebrity had the cruise that they had when we sailed on Infinity in 2004. We sailed 5 nights from Ensenada and then spent 7 days on the islands: two days on the big island (Hilo and Kailua-Kona), an overnight in Maui, a day in Kauai and an overnight on Oahu. We really had a wonderful "taste" of the islands and fell in love with Kauai so much that we flew out there the next year for a week just on that island.

Nothing I've seen comes close. Guess we'll just be flying out there every couple years for our Hawaii fix. :)

[Cruise Junky]

Thank you. I am not interested in doing the Pride because of the expense for only a 7 day cruise. I will check out Princess.

 

You need to look at your priorities. Sure Princess is cheaper than NCL but you're paying for 10 days at sea. You could be floating anywhere. You do Princess and you get no Kona, no Napali Coast, no overnight in Maui, no overnight in Kauai and no evening sail by the volcano. So if your priority is 10 days at sea in iffy weather then pay the lower price. If your priority is Hawaii then look at either NCL or a one way where you can add a few days at the end or the beginning.

[midwestchick]

I know someone that did a Carnival cruise to Hawaii. I don't have any of the details.

[mfabz]

We did round trip from San Francisco on Princess this February. It was 15 nights and it was terrible. My husband called it the "assisted living" cruise. Just about everyone had a walker, wheelchair or scooter. The entire ship wanted to eat at 5:00pm and was in bed by 10:00 pm. The take away -- only retired people have the time to take a 15 day cruise.

[midwestchick]

We did round trip from San Francisco on Princess this February. It was 15 nights and it was terrible. My husband called it the "assisted living" cruise. Just about everyone had a walker, wheelchair or scooter. The entire ship wanted to eat at 5:00pm and was in bed by 10:00 pm. The take away -- only retired people have the time to take a 15 day cruise.

 

 

Wow!!!!!! :eek: :eek: :rolleyes:

[sseuorosal]

The Solstice is a beautiful ship with a wonderful crew.

[BourbonNBluesLuvr]

Hello,

 

We've done a one-way cruise to Hawaii on the Celebrity Millie, and it was wonderful. We then spent a week on the Islands post cruise. If we are lucky enough to do it again, I think the Solstice cruise from Honolulu to Vancouver would be ideal.

 

Fly to Hawaii and spend, say a week, pre-cruise…perhaps 4 nights on Kauai, 3 nights on Oahu. Then the cruise through the islands, followed by 5 relaxing days at sea (which I would prefer to 5 days at the beginning of the cruise) on a beautiful S Class Celebrity ship. Not to mention ending up in what I consider the most beautiful city in North America, and hopefully spending a couple nights there !!

 

That would be a superbly wonderful…Cruise-Vacation !!

 

Hope you find just what suits you.

 

BBL

Edited May 6, 2015 by BourbonNBluesLuvr

[PMO]

Thank you so much for all your help. I looked into Princess and you are absolutely right way too much time on the water. I did not realize it was to and fro. Has anyone gone on Carnival to Hawaii? My brother enjoys Carnival but I have sailed them very little. The Solstice looks very nice and that is what we are leaning to at this time.

[PMO]

I agree that ending our cruise going to Vancouver would be wonderful but we need to sail in September. Our Spring is way too busy for us, so we need to go in the Fall. We would start our trip with the sea days.

[BourbonNBluesLuvr]

I agree that ending our cruise going to Vancouver would be wonderful but we need to sail in September. Our Spring is way too busy for us, so we need to go in the Fall. We would start our trip with the sea days.

 

Hello,

 

Then based on the choices available in Sept '16…I'd choose the Solstice cruise. Although it doesn't visit Kauai, I still like the overnite in Lahaina. That allows you to attend the Old Lahaina Luau (excellent), and watch the sunrise from Haleakula (also excellent).

 

Absolutely nothing was wrong with our 5 days at sea at the beginning on our Millie cruise. I think we were all just anxious to see the Islands !! But knowing we had them to look forward to, as well as our post-cruise stay, certainly made for an enjoyable voyage still !

 

Hopefully, you'll allow yourself some time on the islands post-cruise…I highly recommend Kauai !

 

BBL

[upwarduk]

I so wish Celebrity had the cruise that they had when we sailed on Infinity in 2004. We sailed 5 nights from Ensenada and then spent 7 days on the islands: two days on the big island (Hilo and Kailua-Kona), an overnight in Maui, a day in Kauai and an overnight on Oahu. We really had a wonderful "taste" of the islands and fell in love with Kauai so much that we flew out there the next year for a week just on that island.

Nothing I've seen comes close. Guess we'll just be flying out there every couple years for our Hawaii fix. :)

 

We did similar on Century in 2012.

We spent time on all the islands mentioned, but Solstice is too big to visit Kauai.

I am so glad that we went and saw Wiamea Canyon.

I would suggest you look at the itinerary before you decide.

The entry back into the USA was horrendous. We had to leave the ship in Ensenada and be bussed through Mexico. The ship arrived in San Diego before we did. I would never recommend a cruis that does that, something to the ' Passenger Act,' but not being a U.S. Citizen I don't understand it. Certainly our TA knew nothing and our cruise was advertised to end in San Diego. It didn't, it ended in Ensenada!

BEWARE.

There were so manry complaints. I think this is the reason that Celebrity only do repositioning cruises to & from Austraila.

[Cruise Junky]

We did similar on Century in 2012.

We spent time on all the islands mentioned, but Solstice is too big to visit Kauai.

I am so glad that we went and saw Wiamea Canyon.

I would suggest you look at the itinerary before you decide.

The entry back into the USA was horrendous. We had to leave the ship in Ensenada and be bussed through Mexico. The ship arrived in San Diego before we did. I would never recommend a cruis that does that, something to the ' Passenger Act,' but not being a U.S. Citizen I don't understand it. Certainly our TA knew nothing and our cruise was advertised to end in San Diego. It didn't, it ended in Ensenada!

BEWARE.

There were so manry complaints. I think this is the reason that Celebrity only do repositioning cruises to & from Austraila.

 

Celebrity don't use Ensenada anymore. That's why they now run out of Vancouver

[PMO]

Actually we are very excited to be going out of Vancouver. We plan on flying into Seattle enjoying a night or two and then going up to Vancouver for a night. We understand both are wonderful. Thank you for all your great advice.

[doublemm16]

My mom did not want to fly to Hawaii (been there done that), so in Feb 2013 we took the Celebrity Century from San Diego to Hawaii. It was one of the best cruises we have taken to date. Mainly because of the people we met on cruise critic. It took 5 days to get across the Pacific in very windy rainy weather, but we had a fantastic time. Lots of activities...cultural, flash mob, etc.

 

There were a lot of older people on this cruise, many walker, scooters, etc.; however, that did not detract from my experience. I may have been in the younger demographic but it didn't matter. A cruise is what you make of it. We met amazing people who I still keep in touch with to this day. We were on an older ship with so so food, and it still didn't detract from the overall experience.

 

I think you will be happy with Celebrity. I like Princess too, and the only thing we missed on the Celebrity itinerary was not going to Kauai to see the flowers. But it was not a deal breaker.

 

Enjoy your cruise...whatever you choose! :D

[doublemm16]

We did similar on Century in 2012.

We spent time on all the islands mentioned, but Solstice is too big to visit Kauai.

I am so glad that we went and saw Wiamea Canyon.

I would suggest you look at the itinerary before you decide.

The entry back into the USA was horrendous. We had to leave the ship in Ensenada and be bussed through Mexico. The ship arrived in San Diego before we did. I would never recommend a cruis that does that, something to the ' Passenger Act,' but not being a U.S. Citizen I don't understand it. Certainly our TA knew nothing and our cruise was advertised to end in San Diego. It didn't, it ended in Ensenada!

BEWARE.

There were so manry complaints. I think this is the reason that Celebrity only do repositioning cruises to & from Austraila.

 

In 2013 our cruise did stop in Ensenada on the way back, but it was later in the evening. No one got off, and then we continued on to San Diego. Maybe they changed it after all of the complaints as referenced in the above post.

[PMO]

Yes, we are planning on staying in Hawaii for several days, unsure if just in Honolulu or will visit Kauai.