30+ day roundtrip San Diego to Hawaii and Tahiti cruises.

[Nebr.cruiser]

I'd love to hear what this roundtrip cruise was like, especially if all the sea days was just too much and what the weather was like when at sea.  Love the idea of no airfare and getting to see all the islands. We've only done one cruise on HA and it was far from our favorite.

[Sea42]

What was it that you didn't care for on your last HAL cruise and how long ago was it?

Here is an excellent, recent Live From report

 

[canadianbear]

54 minutes ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

I'd love to hear what this roundtrip cruise was like, especially if all the sea days was just too much and what the weather was like when at sea.  Love the idea of no airfare and getting to see all the islands. We've only done one cruise on HA and it was far from our favorite.

 

As the other poster stated, have a read through the live thread of the recent 35 day South Pacific cruise.  We were on it & enjoyed it-was the longest one we have done.  MrBear was getting bored on the last “zillion” sea days back to San Diego but we played a lot of cards etc. 
 

The weather is unpredictable but for us, the first few days from San Diego were a bit rough for some but we didn’t find it too rough-cool yes, but not too rough,  we did not miss any ports due to weather but did miss Fanning Island because of a medical emergency. 
 

Nuka Hiva was the one port we weren’t sure we’d get into as that had rough seas but the Captain waited it out and the tenders made it in.

 

We really enjoy the Koningsdam and have been on it a lot.  I am also one that prefers to cruise rather than do a long flight to get somewhere.  
 

Hope this helps you somewhat. I’d do this cruise again in a heartbeat but only you can decide if you’d get bored or not like the entertainment (which did lack). 

Edited April 10 by canadianbear

[Roz]

@canadianbear, I can picture Mr. Bear getting antsy. 😄

[canadianbear]

Just now, Roz said:

@canadianbear, I can picture Mr. Bear getting antsy. 😄

lol.  Yup,  I knew it was a risk but he survived!  I let him win a lot at cards too 😂😂

[Hogladyrider]

1 hour ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

I'd love to hear what this roundtrip cruise was like, especially if all the sea days was just too much and what the weather was like when at sea.  Love the idea of no airfare and getting to see all the islands. We've only done one cruise on HA and it was far from our favorite.

While we were not on the 35 day roundtrip cruise, we were on the one just prior 18 days round trip San Diego to Hawaii.  This was our longest cruise to day and we loved it.

 

Yes seas were rough the 1st 6 days out of San Diego but we made the best of it.  It was too chilly for us 70 degree weather chasers to sit on our balcony but we walked daily on deck 3.

 

Our cabin was on deck 8 we simply enjoyed the activities during the day, coffee talks, etc.  HAL has a good quantity and selection of free movies available on the TV in the cabins.

 

IMO it basically depends on ones cruising style.  I had a thermal pass and used it daily.  We never dined in the dining room we ate all our meals on Lido, room service or two speciality dining.

 

We missed our first port due to high seas and winds but the captain gave us a fantastic cruise by of the Napoli coast which we enjoyed with adult beverages while enjoying our balcony.

 

As a previous poster asked, what was it about your previous HAL cruise that you did not care for?

What is your cruising style?

[anniegb]

I have also completed this cruise and in comparison to another cruise line, different itinerary, HAL's daytime activity schedule on the return leg was very light. I think we had 8/9 consecutive sea days.

JMO the Headline Acts in the World Theatre in the 1st half of the itinerary were of a higher quality too.

My advice is be self sufficient wrt to entertainment.

FWIW, I realised that an itinerary with a cruise length of more than 25 days is too long for me.

 

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, anniegb said:

I have also completed this cruise and in comparison to another cruise line, different itinerary, HAL's daytime activity schedule on the return leg was very light. I think we had 8/9 consecutive sea days.

JMO the Headline Acts in the World Theatre in the 1st half of the itinerary were of a higher quality too.

My advice is be self sufficient wrt to entertainment.

FWIW, I realised that an itinerary with a cruise length of more than 25 days is too long for me.

 

I wouldn’t be discouraged by long cruises , I love them but the 8 sea days we had on the Tahiti Cruise pushed my limits for physical inactivity.  There is only so much leg room on a cruise and walking on a treadmill is a poor substitute 

[anniegb]

28 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I wouldn’t be discouraged by long cruises , I love them but the 8 sea days we had on the Tahiti Cruise pushed my limits for physical inactivity.  There is only so much leg room on a cruise and walking on a treadmill is a poor substitute 

I have several 25 day cruises under my belt.  However this cruise lacked a certain energy during the last stretch of sea days - JMO.  The CD and again JMO was disinterested and that permeated. On my long Dec cruise, we had 4 different lecturers per day and I only had 1 hour 'down time' between 0900 and 1800.

You shouldn't compare but inevitably you do.

Edited April 10 by anniegb

[chawkjewel]

4 hours ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

I'd love to hear what this roundtrip cruise was like, especially if all the sea days was just too much and what the weather was like when at sea.  Love the idea of no airfare and getting to see all the islands. We've only done one cruise on HA and it was far from our favorite.

We also just completed this years cruise.  Yes, the sea days can be a bit boring, but you can certainly find things to do. In our opinion, the port stops in French Polynesia made the sea days worth it!  We hate flying and love cruising so it was the best of both worlds. We booked again for 2026. 

[ski ww]

We have done two trans Pacific cruises & loved them both, hope to do more. If you enjoy sea days sitting on deck watching the waves, sitting reading a book or having a nap in a deck chair then you will enjoy it. Some times there are interesting guest speakers, it depends. Try it & decide for your self.

[anniegb]

15 minutes ago, ski ww said:

We have done two trans Pacific cruises & loved them both, hope to do more. If you enjoy sea days sitting on deck watching the waves, sitting reading a book or having a nap in a deck chair then you will enjoy it. Some times there are interesting guest speakers, it depends. Try it & decide for your self.

On the Koningsdam, I missed the steamer chairs on the promenade deck. In fact there were very few places to sit on that deck.

[Shmoo here]

6 hours ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

I'd love to hear what this roundtrip cruise was like, especially if all the sea days was just too much and what the weather was like when at sea. 

I loved our Hawaii/Tahiti cruise a few years ago. I'd go again.  As for the weather, it just like anywhere, it can be good or bad.  Although we had great weather the whole cruise.  

 

Sea days, just another day.  Not "too much" for me.

[dockman]

1 hour ago, anniegb said:

On the Koningsdam, I missed the steamer chairs on the promenade deck. In fact there were very few places to sit on that deck.

That is likely because the deck was made more narrow to make room for more shops or revenue sources....maybe they should leave the decks wide and put pay turnstiles to enter the deck...what a shame the bean counters have no doubt argued hard that a nice teak deck with teak loungers does not provide any $$ and in fact could lure more people to sit outside or take a nice long walk during which time they would not be shopping or playing bingo or spending $$...

 

Heaven forbid we keep the wide decks with chairs as some people obviously think a cruise should offer a place to sit near the water (without having to look through often dirty plexiglass) or go for nice walk (on a deck wide enough for two people to pass without bumping into another passenger) or take a nap or read a book

 

Who in their right mind would think a cruise person might like to feel like they are on a ship in the ocean?

[riverrat]

3 hours ago, dockman said:

That is..

 

Heaven forbid we keep the wide decks with chairs as some people obviously think a cruise should offer a place to sit near the water (without having to look through often dirty plexiglass) or go for nice walk (on a deck wide enough for two people to pass without bumping into another passenger) or take a nap or read a book

 

Who in their right mind would think a cruise person might like to feel like they are on a ship in the ocean?

 

I plan to start giving this reply everytime I am asked. I so agree with you. Lets ask for wide decks.