Is There A One-Way Cruise To Hawaii From West Coast?

[marlowe]

My husband and I want to cruise to Hawaii and fly back home. Is there such a thing as a one-way cruise to Hawaii?

[navybankerteacher]

Yes - Celebrity has several sailings from Vancouver, BC to Hawaii.

 

U S law bars foreign flagged ships from carrying passengers between US ports without an intervening foreign port - and US shipbuilding and union labor costs obviate US passenger shipping - except for rare exceptions.m

[wheezedr]

As noted the only one ways are from Vancouver. Cannot legally do it from a US port as you would violate the PVSA.

[Roz]

I did a one-way Hawaiian cruise from San Diego on Carnival. Don't know if they still offer that itinerary. We made a service stop in Ensenada and that counted as our foreign port. Didn't go near Vancouver.

 

Roz

[paul929207]

Roz,

That is interesting. Everything that I have read says that a cruise starting in one US port (San Diego in your case) and ending in a different US port (Honolulu) must go to a DISTANT foreign port. Ensenada does NOT fill this requirement. Did you stop anywhere else. Perhaps Fanning Island. Carnival used it to legalize their west coast to Hawaii cruises for a while.

[martincath]

^Must have been a long time ago Ros, or you're mis-remembering an RT. Ensenada is not acceptable to PVSA for one-way cruises between diff US ports (nor is Vancouver - neither is a DISTANT foreign port, which requires being on another continent).

 

I do seem to recall that there were 'pretend San Diego' 1 way cruises to/from Hawaii - which actually bused folks over the border so they boarded or disembarked in Ensenada, thus making the cruise part between Mexico and the US instead of between 2 different US ports.

[lasekeye]

Last September we cruised from Vancouver to Hawaii and flew home. This was the Carnival Legend, she was repositioning from the Alaska region to the Hawaiian Islands bound for Australia for the winter.

Check Carnival for the one way trip that you’re interested in.

[sanger727]

Yes, there is such a thing. We are booked on one in April. They are offered twice a year because they are used to reposition boats from Australia to Alaska via hawaii. Generally April/may and September. We found that only Royal, celebrity, holland, and carnival offer these cruises so with only 8 options per year they tend to book at higher than average rates for repositioning cruises and fairly far in advance.

 

As others have said, for legal reasons, the ‘west coast’ stop is in Canada; usually Vancouver.

 

 

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[Roz]

I didn't imagine my Hawaiian cruise. It was on the Carnival Spirit around 2007. We checked in at the San Diego cruise terminal and handed over our bags to the porters. The bags were put on the ship and we were put on Mexican buses and taken over the border to Ensenada. When we got there the Spirit was waiting for us, and we boarded the ship and sailed across the Pacific to Hawaii. There was no stop at anything called Fanning Island.

 

I'm not making this up, and there was nothing illegal about it. How could I "mis-remember" this and think it was a one-way when it was a roundtrip? I distinctly remember flying to San Diego to check in, and then flying home from Honolulu.

 

I don't have dementia or Alzheimer's.

 

Roz

Edited March 10, 2018 by Roz

[paul929207]

It sounds like your cruise was from Ensenada, Mexico to Honolulu. Since it is not in the US, PVSA does not apply

[Roz]

Thank you for believing me, Paul.

 

Roz

[fishywood]

Sorry Roz but as you boarded the ship in Ensenada it is a misstatement to say you cruised from San Diego to Honolulu.

Potentially misleading to the OP when the fact is a one way cruise to or from Hawaii must begin (or end) in Mexico or Canada.

[Roz]

I did not intentionally mislead anyone. I'm sorry if you found my post offensive. The OP asked if there are one-way cruises. I responded based on my personal experience.

 

Roz

[wheezedr]

I did not intentionally mislead anyone. I'm sorry if you found my post offensive. The OP asked if there are one-way cruises. I responded based on my personal experience.

 

Roz

Clearly in your memory the cruise went from San Diego as that is where you dropped your luggage. In reality as has been posted above your cruise was from Ensenada to Hawaii. Otherwise it would not have been legal.

[Keith1010]

This is one that you should get a travel specialist to help you with to see what is out there.

 

Keith

[broberts]

Sorry Roz but as you boarded the ship in Ensenada it is a misstatement to say you cruised from San Diego to Honolulu.

Potentially misleading to the OP when the fact is a one way cruise to or from Hawaii must begin (or end) in Mexico or Canada.

 

If memory serves, Carnival advertised these cruises as San Diego to Honolulu and Honolulu to San Diego. The San Diego Ensenada leg as by bus.

 

I don't think it is a misstatement to say that one "did a one-way Hawaiian cruise from San Diego on Carnival". It is a fact. The ship went from San Diego to Honolulu.

[BourbonNBluesLuvr]

If memory serves, Carnival advertised these cruises as San Diego to Honolulu and Honolulu to San Diego. The San Diego Ensenada leg as by bus.

 

I don't think it is a misstatement to say that one "did a one-way Hawaiian cruise from San Diego on Carnival". It is a fact. The ship went from San Diego to Honolulu.

 

Hi,

 

However, unless one was a member of the ship's crew...they did not "cruise" from San Diego. This was unfortunately a very misleading way of advertising by the cruise lines. I did that itinerary on Celebrity in 2012, and I can assure you I did not "cruise" from SD...and I was not relaxing at the Sunset Bar with a beverage in my hand as the ship sailed out of San Diego...in fact I was standing in line at the terminal in SD as I watched the ship drop lines and pull away from the dock. This caused quite a bit of confusion and dissatisfaction by many, many passengers, who had no idea they were going to be traveling by bus to Ensenada to board the ship they just watched sail away ! Fortunately, I had been a lurker on here for many years before that cruise, and knew that the bus ride, due to the PVSA, was a part of the itinerary. BTW...Some of those buses encountered mechanical issues on the trip...and a couple buses got temporarily "lost" on the road. We did finally "cruise" from Ensenada sometime after midnight !

In fact, this itinerary continued to cause dissatisfaction by many throughout the cruise, and I recall at a Food/Kitchen presentation several days later by the Head Chef and Food and Beverage Manager some passengers were still loudly voicing their displeasure with the fact that they were bused and not aware of that part of the journey...not sure what they wanted the Head Chef to say to ease their displeasure ??!!;p

Fortunately, in recent years, I don't think any of the cruise lines are offering this bus/cruise itinerary...as it was a hassle for their passengers, and no doubt a hassle for the line as well...what with arranging for 60-70 buses, crossing thru the Border Stations and traffic etc.

(One correction to what I posted above...there was in fact a small group of passengers who were allowed to "cruise" from SD on my itinerary...they were ones who had been on the previous voyage on the ship from FtL to SD thru the Panama canal).

 

BBL

[navybankerteacher]

Thank you for believing me, Paul.

 

Roz

You should read your post #4 - saying your cruise was from San Diego. When you board in Ensenada after a bus ride, you really cruise from Ensenada; or does someone who flies from Chicago to Miami for a Bahamas cruise sail from Chicago to Nassau?

[sanger727]

I did not intentionally mislead anyone. I'm sorry if you found my post offensive. The OP asked if there are one-way cruises. I responded based on my personal experience.

 

 

 

Roz

 

 

 

I think it’s just a misunderstanding. The cruise you describe from San Diego to Hawaii is illegal. The bus trip you took to Ensenada was the critical element that made the cruise legal but clearly you weren’t aware of the issue. But I don’t think this style of cruise is offered anymore. All the current 1 way cruises end in Vancouver. I can only imagine that they would run into a lot of issues with people without passports (since the cruise they booked went from California to Hawaii) and people who weren’t excited to bus to Mexico.

 

 

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[Roz]

If memory serves, Carnival advertised these cruises as San Diego to Honolulu and Honolulu to San Diego. The San Diego Ensenada leg as by bus.

 

I don't think it is a misstatement to say that one "did a one-way Hawaiian cruise from San Diego on Carnival". It is a fact. The ship went from San Diego to Honolulu.

 

Thank you, Broberts, for coming to my defense. That is EXACTLY how Carnival listed the itinerary. There was not an option to fly or drive down to Ensenada on your own. We had to start in San Diego.

 

Roz

[navybankerteacher]

I did a one-way Hawaiian cruise from San Diego on Carnival. Don't know if they still offer that itinerary. We made a service stop in Ensenada and that counted as our foreign port. Didn't go near Vancouver.

 

Roz

 

No one was accusing you of anything - merely pointing out that the above was misleading. Talking about “a one way Hawaiian cruise from San Diego” and making “service stop in Ensenada” (which, by the way does not count as a “foreign port”) - just does not describe what happened.

[Roz]

No one was accusing you of anything - merely pointing out that the above was misleading. Talking about “a one way Hawaiian cruise from San Diego” and making “service stop in Ensenada” (which, by the way does not count as a “foreign port”) - just does not describe what happened.

 

Then explain to me what DID happen. I was the one on the cruise, yet most of the respondents here seem to know the itinerary better than I do. The worse was my mental faculties being questioned...memory problems?

 

I have no idea if Ensenada is a foreign port. It's in Mexico, therefore in my mind it's foreign. Apparently that was wrong. Excuse my ignorance. Again, I did not intentionally mislead anyone or give out false information. I distinctly remember checking in at San Diego, boarding a bus, crossing the border, and getting on the ship in Ensenada. Do you know another way to describe it?

 

Some of the people on these boards will just wear you out. :mad: To the OP, I'm sorry I attempted to answer your question.

 

Roz

[crzndeb]

I did a one-way Hawaiian cruise from San Diego on Carnival. Don't know if they still offer that itinerary. We made a service stop in Ensenada and that counted as our foreign port. Didn't go near Vancouver.

 

Roz

 

Why are you so angry? Nobody is questioning your memory or mental capacity. Only correcting your first post above that stated you “cruised” from San Diego. You corrected yourself in a later post, by saying you were “bussed” from SD to Ensenada, and then cruised Ensenada to Hawaii. Your cruise actually originated in Ensenada.

 

It is all a moot point now, because the cruise lines no longer offer that choice.

[PROCRUISE]

I didn't imagine my Hawaiian cruise. It was on the Carnival Spirit around 2007. We checked in at the San Diego cruise terminal and handed over our bags to the porters. The bags were put on the ship and we were put on Mexican buses and taken over the border to Ensenada. When we got there the Spirit was waiting for us, and we boarded the ship and sailed across the Pacific to Hawaii. There was no stop at anything called Fanning Island.

 

I'm not making this up, and there was nothing illegal about it. How could I "mis-remember" this and think it was a one-way when it was a roundtrip? I distinctly remember flying to San Diego to check in, and then flying home from Honolulu.

 

I don't have dementia or Alzheimer's.

 

Roz

 

Roz - are are indeed correct. We did the SAME EXACT ITINERARY in 2004 aboard the Carnival Spirit!

[broberts]

Why are you so angry? Nobody is questioning your memory or mental capacity. Only correcting your first post above that stated you “cruised” from San Diego. You corrected yourself in a later post, by saying you were “bussed” from SD to Ensenada, and then cruised Ensenada to Hawaii. Your cruise actually originated in Ensenada.

 

It is all a moot point now, because the cruise lines no longer offer that choice.

 

Amazing, all these people correcting a poster for saying they cruised from San Diego. That is not what was posted.

 

If people are going to nitpick, get it right. The posted claim was "I did a one-way Hawaiian cruise from San Diego on Carnival. " Where in that sentence does the poster say they boarded the ship in San Diego? The claim was that the cruise ran from San Diego which is exactly how Carnival sold the cruise.