Hawaii -best time of year

[carlp]

thinking of taking a Princess cruise to Hawaii - never have before

is there any better time of year (month) to do this

want to leave from LA

[Steelers36]

Why not Google this "best weather months to visit Hawaii"?  You will find several sources that generally give the same months.

[waltd]

Cruise wise the roughest seas leaving Los Angeles is the beginning of the year. Probably Jan. thru March

[PacnGoNow]

39 minutes ago, carlp said:

thinking of taking a Princess cruise to Hawaii - never have before

is there any better time of year (month) to do this

want to leave from LA

Any time is a great time for Hawaii.  We especially like March and October.  A little less crowded.  Seas were perfect in October and rough in November.

But, you just don’t ever know.

Maybe some of our Hawaiian friends will chime in?

 

[EDDY0827]

1 hour ago, carlp said:

thinking of taking a Princess cruise to Hawaii - never have before

is there any better time of year (month) to do this

want to leave from LA

Did you try the Hawaii board?

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/37-hawaii/

[skynight]

If whale watching  is a priority then search for the whale season. I think it's January through March.

[cr8tiv1]

11 minutes ago, skynight said:

If whale watching  is a priority then search for the whale season. I think it's January through March.

 

Yes, the juvenile humpbacks start arriving as early as late September, but the "action" is best in January February when there's a lot of "loving" going on.  

 

Summer is hot and humid...all the way through October.  There could be some huge winter swells and some rain/wind in the early part of the year.  My choice would be a cruise in late January to early February.

 

Secondary is ship choice.  Recently, Princess has been running the Discovery out of LA.  She is much too big for Hilo and Nawiliwili.  10 sea days for 2 overnight ports is not worth it in my opinion. You will be missing too much of the island chain.  If you can find a voyage on a Grand/GEM class ship, that will make a stop in Kahului (Maui), this would be a good voyage.  

 

Rent a car for each island.  You will see much more than a Princess Excursion will provide.  Unless you want to go to:  Polynesian Cultural Center (aka luau) or up to Haleakala or down to Hana.  The Arizona Memorial is an easy Do It Yourself activity.

[PacnGoNow]

8 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Yes, the juvenile humpbacks start arriving as early as late September, but the "action" is best in January February when there's a lot of "loving" going on.  

 

Summer is hot and humid...all the way through October.  There could be some huge winter swells and some rain/wind in the early part of the year.  My choice would be a cruise in late January to early February.

 

Secondary is ship choice.  Recently, Princess has been running the Discovery out of LA.  She is much too big for Hilo and Nawiliwili.  10 sea days for 2 overnight ports is not worth it in my opinion. You will be missing too much of the island chain.  If you can find a voyage on a Grand/GEM class ship, that will make a stop in Kahului (Maui), this would be a good voyage.  

 

Rent a car for each island.  You will see much more than a Princess Excursion will provide.  Unless you want to go to:  Polynesian Cultural Center (aka luau) or up to Haleakala or down to Hana.  The Arizona Memorial is an easy Do It Yourself activity.

I knew you would chime in with your great advice!  
Those whales were already active in January around Honolulu!  Frisky things! 😂

 

[Paula_MacFan]

13 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

10 sea days for 2 overnight ports is not worth it in my opinion. You will be missing too much of the island chain.  

 

Rent a car for each island.  You will see much more than a Princess Excursion will provide.  Unless you want to go to:  Polynesian Cultural Center (aka luau) or up to Haleakala or down to Hana.  The Arizona Memorial is an easy Do It Yourself activity.

 

We are longtime loyal Princess cruisers, but when we decided to go to Hawaii we just couldn't stomach the 10 sea days for 3 or 4 ports.  We decided to do NCL Pride of America with their land package in January 2023 and have no regrets.  We got 11 full days in the islands with no sea days.  We went to PCC and Pearl Harbor/Arizona Memorial, rented a car on Maui and did Haleakala on our own + evening in Lahaina, Volcanoes National Park while Kilauea was erupting, went to Waimea Canyon on Kauai, sailed by the Na Pali coast with amazing views from our aft balcony, and so many other wonderful activities during the cruise. 

 

After reading so many reviews of rough seas across the Pacific to and from Hawaii, that led us to investigate alternatives and we are so happy with our decision.  We had great weather and a smooth cruise around the islands.  

[LACruiser88]

13 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

we just couldn't stomach the 10 sea days for 3 or 4 ports. 

We just love the sea days!  We have been on at least a dozen Hawaii cruises out of LA, at different times of the year.  Being from the LA area, we have also vacationed in Hawaii many, many times, so the 4 port stops on the cruise are not an issue for us.  Aloha! 🌸

[Paula_MacFan]

13 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

We just love the sea days!  We have been on at least a dozen Hawaii cruises out of LA, at different times of the year.  Being from the LA area, we have also vacationed in Hawaii many, many times, so the 4 port stops on the cruise are not an issue for us.  Aloha! 🌸

Different strokes for different folks 🙂  That many sea days are just too many for us, with too few ports.  We are not retired so we only have so much vacation time and want to make the most of it.  We had an amazing trip to Hawaii but will probably not go back anytime soon, so we wanted to do and see as much as we could on one trip.  If I lived in the LA area like you I'd probably consider going more often too!

Edited February 4 by Paula_MacFan

[cr8tiv1]

3 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

 

We are longtime loyal Princess cruisers, but when we decided to go to Hawaii we just couldn't stomach the 10 sea days for 3 or 4 ports.  We decided to do NCL Pride of America with their land package in January 2023 and have no regrets.  We got 11 full days in the islands with no sea days.  We went to PCC and Pearl Harbor/Arizona Memorial, rented a car on Maui and did Haleakala on our own + evening in Lahaina, Volcanoes National Park while Kilauea was erupting, went to Waimea Canyon on Kauai, sailed by the Na Pali coast with amazing views from our aft balcony, and so many other wonderful activities during the cruise. 

 

After reading so many reviews of rough seas across the Pacific to and from Hawaii, that led us to investigate alternatives and we are so happy with our decision.  We had great weather and a smooth cruise around the islands.  

 

Since your trip to Hawaii was probably a well planned out (only do once) vacation, I am glad you enjoyed your time on NCL.  She does have the best itinerary, but, sadly was not the cruise for me, more of a floating hotel.  Pride of America is a much more expensive way to see the islands.  

[Paula_MacFan]

8 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Since your trip to Hawaii was probably a well planned out (only do once) vacation, I am glad you enjoyed your time on NCL.  She does have the best itinerary, but, sadly was not the cruise for me, more of a floating hotel.  Pride of America is a much more expensive way to see the islands.  

That is exactly how we looked at it -- like a floating hotel!  We enjoyed our entire days (and evenings at the overnight stops) away from the ship in port.  We had a lovely aft room, a good variety of food, and the itinerary went exactly as planned.  We couldn't have been more pleased with the whole experience.  If we wanted to just float around by the pool all day we would have done the Caribbean (which we did last week 🙂) 

 

Edit to add we also did almost a week in California pre-cruise doing the PCH and redwoods.  It was a great, long trip. Those were days better spent than a bunch of sea days, in our opinion. 

Edited February 4 by Paula_MacFan