Has anyone cruised Hawaii?

[momsbusy]

It looks like all the Hawaii cruises are in April and September. Does anyone know why?

[path145]

It appears to be when the Carnival Spirit moves between Alaska cruising in the summer to Mexican Riviera in the winter. I have a Hawaiian cruise booked for April 2011. I like to cruise in January, February, or March when it's really cold here, but I'll take what I can get. I'm excited to be going, no matter what month it is!

[MrPete]

Yeah, there's 4 a year, due to the repositioning of the ship.

 

What a GREAT way to see Hawaii! :)

[cathyz]

It looks like all the Hawaii cruises are in April and September. Does anyone know why?

Princess has just announced a few 14-day roundtrip cruises to Hawaii in 2011, Jan, Feb, and March, I think.

[KatSt]

I did the 12 night repositioning cruise on the Spirit in April of 2006. It was great. I would love to do it again.

[bonniemari]

We did an 11 day on NCL. We went down to Fanning Island. Also did a 7 day Pride of America. Besides Alaska, I think Hawaii has some of the most beautiful scenary.

[terri910]

We did the Vancouver to Hawaii repositioning in Sept/Oct. 2008 and loved it. We're thinking of doing the Hawaii to Ensenada respositioning Oct. 2010.

 

It's just the icky things we've heard about getting from Ensenada to San Diego after the cruise that makes us hesitate....

[Kurbanfan]

We did the Vancouver to Hawaii repositioning in Sept/Oct. 2008 and loved it. We're thinking of doing the Hawaii to Ensenada respositioning Oct. 2010.

 

It's just the icky things we've heard about getting from Ensenada to San Diego after the cruise that makes us hesitate....

 

For some reason the Hawaii to Ensenada cruise in coming back the end of Sept. in 2010.......then doing 4 and 5 day cabo runs all of Oct. before they start their 8 day Mexican Riviera cruises in Nov......

I found that kind of odd.....

[terri910]

For some reason the Hawaii to Ensenada cruise in coming back the end of Sept. in 2010.......then doing 4 and 5 day cabo runs all of Oct. before they start their 8 day Mexican Riviera cruises in Nov......

I found that kind of odd.....

We hadn't looked at actual dates, yet (still trying to decide about that whole Ensenada-to-San Diego thing)...assumed it would be like previous years! Thanks for the heads up!

[da1425]

I'm booked on the April 2010 Honolulu - Vancouver cruise for my honeymoon - can't wait.

[yst347]

Sailing Ensenada to Hawaii has two advantages over the reverse itinerary. The first is that three of the five sea days will be 25-hours long as you cross the three time zones between Pacific time and Hawaii time. We really enjoyed having that extra hour to sleep and we were still up early. The second is the border. Crossing the border from the USA to Mexico is a breeze, the bus just stopped, the driver got off, handed a piece of paper to a supervisor and off we went. The line waiting to cross from Mexico to the USA went for miles on the Mexican side.

 

Sailing in the reverse direction you have three 23-hour sea days and you must be ready to board the buses for California starting at 5:00 am. I suppose the line at the border is shorter that early but it isn't the way I would prefer a cruise to end.

[luv2cruz44]

Princess has just announced a few 14-day roundtrip cruises to Hawaii in 2011, Jan, Feb, and March, I think.

 

Just got a brochure on this:

 

14 day, roundtrip from Los Angeles in November & December of 2009; Also Jan, Feb, March & April of 2010.

 

As you can tell from my ticker, leaving on the 16th of September from Vancouver to Hawaii. Also did the Hawaii cruise on the Spirit from Honolulu to Vancouver in April of 2007. It's an awesome cruise and was my favorite until we did the Panama Canal.

[osiebosie]

We cruised from Hawaii to Ensenada (yep, we have a horror story/adventure about that trip, but we made it to the States in one piece (barely)) and loved it. I'd do it that way again because when you are in Hawaii, you are at a port and going and going every day. The five days at sea were so relaxing after visiting all of the islands.

 

That's also when we saw a school, pod, whatever they're called, of dolphins. Hundreds and hundreds of them! They were swimming right up to the cruise ship, so close you could see the spots on their backs! It was awesome!

 

If I did the cruise again, I'd do it that way. We also spent a couple of days in Hawaii first to adjust to the jet lag. It was a fabulous trip, full of wonderful memories. We even laugh about Ensenada now.

 

If you go, don't do a luau with the cruise line. Book your own through Germaine's. It was a gorgeous, fun luau and we loved it. We heard people on the ship complaining about the one they went to through the cruise line.

 

Shay

[travelswithfriends]

We went to 3 of the islands, in 12 days, but not by cruise, we flew in. On Maui we saw cruise ships and I felt bad for the people that were headed back to the ship just because of the beauty and atmosphere on the islands. I love cruising don't get me wrong but my DH agrees that you really need a minimum of 4 or 5 days per island. Since you have already booked, enjoy yourself and see as much as you can. If you get to Kauai I pray you get to see the sunset, BEAUTIFUL!!!! HANG LOOSE! and have fun.

[Kurbanfan]

We went to 3 of the islands, in 12 days, but not by cruise, we flew in. On Maui we saw cruise ships and I felt bad for the people that were headed back to the ship just because of the beauty and atmosphere on the islands. I love cruising don't get me wrong but my DH agrees that you really need a minimum of 4 or 5 days per island. Since you have already booked, enjoy yourself and see as much as you can. If you get to Kauai I pray you get to see the sunset, BEAUTIFUL!!!! HANG LOOSE! and have fun.

 

I have to agree with you on that one.......I don't ever see me doing this cruise.....we usually stay a minimum of 7 days on the islands.....and that isn't long enough for us........

[calgarygary]

It is a great cruise to do - but like every cruise, you only get a glimpse of the islands. The great thing about the itinerary, is you should tie in some extra days to explore Oahu. I especially liked starting in Honolulu and having the 5 sea days to recover from the island days.

[path145]

Sailing Ensenada to Hawaii has two advantages over the reverse itinerary. The first is that three of the five sea days will be 25-hours long as you cross the three time zones between Pacific time and Hawaii time. We really enjoyed having that extra hour to sleep and we were still up early. The second is the border. Crossing the border from the USA to Mexico is a breeze, the bus just stopped, the driver got off, handed a piece of paper to a supervisor and off we went. The line waiting to cross from Mexico to the USA went for miles on the Mexican side.

 

Sailing in the reverse direction you have three 23-hour sea days and you must be ready to board the buses for California starting at 5:00 am. I suppose the line at the border is shorter that early but it isn't the way I would prefer a cruise to end.

 

Now I'm really glad I booked the Ensenada to Hawaii cruise! I'm probably going to end up havng to take a 3 wk LOA from work. My boyfriend's brother lives in Long Beach and his in-laws live just north of the Mexican border near San Diego. So the plan is that we'll stay with Brian's brother for a few days and he'll drive us to the ship, or at least as far as the border. And then I think we'll need to spend a few days in Honolulu "recovering" from our cruise!

 

I've got a long time to wait for this cruise but I booked early to get a Cat 11 wrap!! I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

[MrPete]

It is a great cruise to do - but like every cruise, you only get a glimpse of the islands. The great thing about the itinerary, is you should tie in some extra days to explore Oahu. I especially liked starting in Honolulu and having the 5 sea days to recover from the island days.

 

You do (or at least we did) get two full days on Maui and Oahu.

 

But more important to us was that we had NEVER been to Hawaii before, so this gave us a GREAT overview of each of the 4 islands we visited. Plus, we rented a car in EVERY port (it wasw America, you know!:D), so we weren't locked into tours, time, or even other people. We had our Hawaii book, and just WENT.

 

We did the Ensenada to Hawaii leg, and boy, were we relaxed when we got there, and BOY were we exhausted by the time we got done. I loved the 5 days before, but I would have LOVED another 5 days afterward. If I ever did this again, I would stay an extra few days on Oahu to recouperate. And I do hope to do this again!

[SDPadreFan]

Now I'm really glad I booked the Ensenada to Hawaii cruise! I'm probably going to end up havng to take a 3 wk LOA from work. My boyfriend's brother lives in Long Beach and his in-laws live just north of the Mexican border near San Diego. So the plan is that we'll stay with Brian's brother for a few days and he'll drive us to the ship, or at least as far as the border. And then I think we'll need to spend a few days in Honolulu "recovering" from our cruise!

 

I've got a long time to wait for this cruise but I booked early to get a Cat 11 wrap!! I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

 

Your boyfriends brother will have to take you to the cruise ship terminal in San Diego (not to the ship or to the border). You will do all of your checking in at the cruise ship terminal in San Diego and then Carnival will bus you down to Ensenada to get on the ship.