Hawaii -- Diamond Princess?

[Barb_and_Sean]

My husband will be celebrating his 40th birthday in March 2008 and I'm thinking about taking him on a Hawaiian cruise. We've considered Mediterranean in the past, however I use a wheelchair and worry that I won't get to see much in the way of ports. Hawaii though I can probably do (ADA and all) and I think it would be a wonderful birthday present for him (and I'd have enough time to save up the $$ for it).

 

We normally sail Royal Caribbean so I'm wondering how this ship compares with the Voyager class of ships. We don't do rock climbing and such, so that isn't a worry for me. Is the weather that bad in March? I have heard about rough seas and cold weather. Also... we've never done a trip longer than 8 days... does the ship get a bit old after 15 days? I've always wanted to do a B2B but haven't had the chance yet. This would be our big opportunity.

 

Any advice or hints or suggestions are welcome. Also, if you have good ideas on how to "give" this to him -- I'll have to do it before his birthday... I'd like to celebrate the birthday on the ship. Thanks in advance!

[ladysheri]

Barb, Sounds very fun! The Diamond is a beautiful ship. We went on her sister, the Sapphire, on a "once-in-a-lifetime" cruise to Alaska and loved it SO much that we booked our entire extended family on the Diamond 8 months later. :D With the Hawaii cruise you have a number of sea days and with the Diamond being a larger ship, you have SO many things to do and little nooks and crannies to escape to.

 

One of the individuals that we booked was my mother, as a surprise for her 60th birthday. On her actual birthday (and you could do this on his 39th..a year in advance), we all sat down with her (with a camera handy), and handed her a little gift bag with a travel journal in it. I had pasted pictures of the glaciers in Alaska, the itinerary and a picture of the ship and then had the booking receipt from the travel agent in the front pocket. We told her we had all gone together to get her a "little" something for her birthday. As she opened the journal and flipped through the pages, it gradually dawned on her what was going on....as you can imagine, the pictures were priceless.

 

With it being Hawaii, you could throw him a surprise party for his 39th...who expects that??? with a laui (sp?) theme and then surprise him with the announcement.

 

Happy Cruising

[PescadoAmarillo]

The Diamond is a beautiful ship and I think you will find it compares well with the Voyager class of ship on RC (obviously not as much of an amusement park at sea, but also not quite so hugely impressive either). And I love longer cruises, but you will have 4 days at sea (I think...not sure about your itinerary), and those are not always sunny, smooth, Caribbean-kind of days. In fact, they can be windy, chilly and a bit rough. Just be prepared for that, and you'll be all set.

 

My only concern is that on a Hawaii cruise, there are two ports (if I remember correctly...Kona on the Big Island and Lahaina, Maui) that are tender ports, and it might be more difficult for you to get to shore. Once there, you're absolutely right, ADA prevails, and you should have no trouble getting around.

 

What a great idea, and happy birthday to him!