16 day Hawaii-a lot to do on the sea days?

[zgscl]

We have done 8 HAL cruises (and loved them all) but never anything with 10 sea days, I think 2 in a row was the most versus 5. While I love the days at sea normally I am curious about the activities and entertainment on such a long stretch. Our last trip was on Eurodam in Jan 17 (7 night Western Caribbean) and we found ourselves a bit disappointed by the daily activities, it seemed like there had been a reduction from our previous trips. Any recent experience on this route?

Thanks

[Nang]

Based on our experience cruising from Honolulu to Sydney on the Noordam I expect you will once again be disappointed with the number of activities on sea days. Didn't seem to be anymore to do than on any other HAL cruise sea day. Five in a row was OK but not great - I struggled a little whereas my wife thought it was fine.

[cabinluvn]

We did the 17 day Hawaii Circle with 10 total sea days. There was not a whole lot to do. Hula lessons, lei making, etc. The speaker for Polynesian history was not a good speaker, tho a very nice person. It was hard to stay awake..he used PowerPoint slides and basically read what the slide said without adding much. I didn’t mind the lack of activity as Iove to sit and read, but my husband went nuts with not enough to do. I will never get him to do that again, unfortunately.

 

 

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[paganwoman]

I just returned from the 18 day San Diego-Hawaii cruise on the Westerdam. I am better at finding things to do than my husband. I brought some needlepoint with me and found myself a quiet spot every sea day for about 2 hours. My husband had a harder time and spent most of the day in the Crow's Nest (or what used to be the Crow's Nest). There were lectures which were interesting, but lei making and ukulele lessons are not for me. The five days each way was even a little too long for my tastes but we did enjoy Hawaii once we got there. We will stick with itineraries that have only about 3 sea days in a row in the future.

[knittinggirl]

We had a bunch of sea days from San Francisco to Sydney.

 

Five to the Hawaii and five more to the pacific Islands. We had two lecturers daily.

 

Don't forget some of those really pretty sunsets.

[calteacher]

We were on the February 19 sailing to Hawaii. Perhaps my review will give some insight as to activities. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the sea days, but I can enjoy "down time". https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2611415

[OlsSalt]

1. Eat breakfast

2. Attend lecture or two

3. Eat lunch - later to avoid the crowds

4. Sit outdoors Lido deck, be lazy, read, walk around the ship, see a movie, attend a lecture or workshop

5. Do some laps around the deck, go to the thermal spa or fitness center, have tea or not, down time, read, get ready for dinner

6. Dinner - late seating -fixed

7. Wait for show, or stroll around the ship stopping at various venues

8. Bedtime

 

Repeat for numbers of at-sea days .... ad nauseum or à discretion.

 

Tales of the South Pacific was the real test for at-sea days - multiple long stretches, but that is what the Pacific Ocean is all about - lots and lots and lots of ocean. Just like the early explorers faced.

 

I always think of those who trod these waters in the past when it took months and years onboard to get where we get to in days. We are seeing the exact same ocean they saw, the one part of our planet where the scenery has not much changed for eons. I am always sailing with Captain Cook when I head out into those vast, empty waters. WWCCD - what would Captain Cook (and crew) do with all those long boring stretches?

 

However, on our 50 day Tales of the South Pacific we noticed a lot of passengers flew to embark in Hawaii rather than start the trip with the long haul to get to the first stop from the embarkation port (San Diego). One good thing is those early sea days do cure jet lag by the time you arrive at your first destination.

[BJzink]

My husband & I have done 2 Hawaii cruises - loved the sea days. Being lazy on the veranda was great for him. I did like it also, but caught up on my reading. The guest lecturer on the second one was wonderful - one of those really big Hawaiian guys - with a great personality. He would stop anywhere as he walked around the ship to chat with passengers & answer questions. Lots of Hawaii-based talks, some better than others. Lei-making, Hula & ukulele lessons, seemed popular. Hawaii themed movies. Not sure how they are now, our last one was 3 years ago. Good luck.

[SeaWatch]

From your experiences, what is the weather like during the sea days? Specifically, we will be cruising San Diego RT April 13-29. Thanks

 

 

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[DaveOKC]

We did an 18 day Hawaii Oosterdam cruise in Dec. To Hawaii there were a decent amount of things to do, related to Hawaii of course (they had a number of people from Hawaii onboard for this purpose). On the 5 days back, there were very few activities (IMO) and it got to be quite boring.

 

If I had to do this again, I might do a cruise to Hawaii (HAL runs a 6 day one occasionally) and then fly back after spending a week or so in Hawaii.

[Traveling Dot]

If you have Kiaona as the cruise director you are in for a treat. (the big Hawaiian) He makes everything interesting. I was lucky enough to have him on both my Hawaii cruise and the one to the South Pacific. It also depends on the roll call leader. On my South Pacific cruise we had a lot of people who arranged things to do on both the land and sea days. We had a dinner before boarding the ship, a cabin crawl, a slot pull contest, and a lot of private excursions all arranged before we even got on the ship and being I had just lost my husband it made it a lot easier for me. Hopefully you have joined the meet & greet if there was one arranged where you meet other people before you board.

 

On our Hawaii cruise it was when we found cruise critic roll call and enjoyed meeting others and arranging things before we left. There were plenty of things to do according to what your interests are. If you just wanted to be lazy and just sit you could but if you wanted to do join a group to do something you could. If you enjoy knitting or some other handcraft there may be a group that meets everyday to just sit and talk and do a craft. There were also arranged crafts by the ship. You just have to find your own fun the way you like it.

[Sue from Canada]

If you have Kiaona as the cruise director you are in for a treat. (the big Hawaiian) He makes everything interesting. I was lucky enough to have him on both my Hawaii cruise and the one to the South Pacific. It also depends on the roll call leader. On my South Pacific cruise we had a lot of people who arranged things to do on both the land and sea days. We had a dinner before boarding the ship, a cabin crawl, a slot pull contest, and a lot of private excursions all arranged before we even got on the ship and being I had just lost my husband it made it a lot easier for me. Hopefully you have joined the meet & greet if there was one arranged where you meet other people before you board.

 

On our Hawaii cruise it was when we found cruise critic roll call and enjoyed meeting others and arranging things before we left. There were plenty of things to do according to what your interests are. If you just wanted to be lazy and just sit you could but if you wanted to do join a group to do something you could. If you enjoy knitting or some other handcraft there may be a group that meets everyday to just sit and talk and do a craft. There were also arranged crafts by the ship. You just have to find your own fun the way you like it.

 

We had Kiaona as our port ambassador on our first cruise to Hawaii. He "made' the cruise a wonderful and informative experience. A wonderful person, informative (native Hawaiian), great sense of humour and a good sport. Second time to Hawaii - no Kiaona:') I really missed him and HAL had cut out a lot of activities. I was bored.