Advice about Hawaii

[yiddishkopf]

MY SO and I would like to take the Hawaii cruise from San Diego but we would like the advice of experienced CCrs as to what is the best month to go. We'd like to go in Oct., Nov., Dec. 09 or January of 2010. We'd like to avoid the Holiday season when a lot of children will be on board. (We love children, especially my grandchildren) but we don't care to travel with a lot of them.

 

Of the above months, when can we (hopefully) expect the best weather.

 

It took me a long time to convince my SO (1) take a cruise (2) consider Hawaii. He was a US Sailor during WWII and said that he cruised 250,000 miles courtesy of the US Government. He was at Pearl Harbor a year after the attack and still gets emotional discussing it. This will be our 5th HAL cruise and I guess we are set in our ways. I looked at Royal Carribbean, Princess and Celebrity but I'm back to HAL.

 

If you can help us with selecting the best month of the choices listed, it will be very helpful. CC members have been so helpful on our previous cruises. I look forward to hearing from you.

[wingit]

We just took the circle Hawaii cruise out of San Diego over Thanksgiving. There were very few children on board. I think the length of cruise (15 days) would make it unlikely that too many children would be aboard on most sailings. Late November and early December it was cool most of the way over to the islands. Once we got to the islands it was warm and sometimes humid. We had rain on Kauai. On the way back it got cooler every day until we reached San Diego.

 

I think there were quite a few WWII veterans on our sailing. In fact, I noticed in the daily program that they had some veteran get togethers scheduled.

 

It was a great cruise. One of our very favorites. The Zaandam is a beautiful ship with a great crew.

[RustaRoo]

I've travelled to Hawaii at least 15 times (only cruised there once); my favourite time is October. I went one year for my birthday in January and got a LOT of rain; it is the rainy season at that time.

[RuthC]

I've done the round-trip twice in October, once in February, and stopped there on the return from a South Pacific cruise in November.

I enjoyed the weather in each of those months, but have my fondest memories of the February cruise. Possibly that's because it was the first time, but also possibly because it was a tad cooler then.

[DesertDogs]

We did the Oct 23, 2008 cruise to Hawaii on the Zaandam and it was just wonderful. The ocean was like glass - very smooth sail all the way over and back. The weather in Hawaii was very nice as well. Would highly recommend October.

[rjm1cc]

If you can book a last minute cruise you might get a good deal in January or Feb.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We chose April/May -- worst time of the year!! We have really bad seas most of the time -- weather in Hawaii --- rain -- rain-- Thankfully we had been to Hawaii several times before ou cruise. So many of the tours on all the islands on our cruise werw cancelled. We felt so bad for people who had never been to Hawaii and barely saw anything.

If we were to do this cruise again -- we choose either October or February -- have read a lot of great reports about those months.

[peabody99]

I have only been in the months of Dec and Jan, and each time, we have hit stretches of rainy weather-once a week strait-in buckets. I am not sure about Nov, but Dec and Jan are rainy reason. Seas are higher too. I will be back again next Dec/Jan so it has not deterred me. It is so misrable where I live in Jan, I am happy to go anywhere. I am thinking Oct would be really nice. No crowds (fewer little ones too) and smoother sailing.

[YesIAmAPyr8]

We went to Hawaii on the Crown Princess in late January. The weather was beautiful in Hawaii except for some rain in Hilo. We rented a car and drove to the volcano and got above the rain, so it wasn't that bad. The only downer was when we cruised past the lava flows we couldn't see anything through the rain...The next day, it was beautiful in Kona. On the trip over and back, it was warm and nice around the islands, but the closer we got to LA the cooler it got and it was overcast on the first day at sea and the last.

[cccole]

We travel to Hawaii often and if I had to choose between Dec 9 and January I would choose December. Our experience has been that January can be a bit cooler and possibly more rain, but you never know. As others have said, one of our favorite months is October!!!! Cherie

[RLM77]

We were on Hawaii circle itineraries twice, once in mid-October and once in early March. We found the October weather much more oppressive when out of the wind or on those rare occasions when the winds were not blowing. March was much more pleasant.

But the real reason to choose a cruise December-March is the whales. During that time you are practically guaranteed to see humpbacks right from your ship (with binoculars). They are everywhere, particularly during your stop at Lahaina. Given your listed dates I would choose January. It's peak whale season and prices tend to be slightly lower. Enjoy!

[kryos]

If you can help us with selecting the best month of the choices listed, it will be very helpful. CC members have been so helpful on our previous cruises. I look forward to hearing from you.

I was just there and in the South Pacific in early October and the weather was beautiful. I don't know. Is there truly a BAD time to visit Hawaii? :)

 

But I hear fall is the best time.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

We went to Hawaii on the Crown Princess in late January. The weather was beautiful in Hawaii except for some rain in Hilo. We rented a car and drove to the volcano and got above the rain, so it wasn't that bad. The only downer was when we cruised past the lava flows we couldn't see anything through the rain...The next day, it was beautiful in Kona. On the trip over and back, it was warm and nice around the islands, but the closer we got to LA the cooler it got and it was overcast on the first day at sea and the last.

I went to Hawaii in early October, and our first stop was Hilo. It was a bit overcast that day and maybe windy. The next day we were in Kona and I did a helicopter sightseeing excursion. The pilot told us we were very lucky in that we picked the perfect day for it. He said the day before it had rained in Kona and was very windy. They had to cancel their flights and there were a lot of disappointed people. But we were gonna have it great since the waterfalls would be really gushing and we would see some beautiful sights.

 

So, I guess no matter what time of the year you travel, you never know what Mother Nature will have in store for you. You just have to go and hope for the best, and then be flexible in your plans when you don't get it.

 

You can always have a great time no matter what the weather. There is always something fun you can do on the islands.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita