Thread: Is cruising a good way to see Hawaii?

Is crusing a good way to see Hawaii, or would it just be better to pick and island and go visit? This may be my next trip after a trip to Rome this summer.....just starting to gather ideas.

Thanks

There are different opinions out there. The one I ascribe to is that it's a good way to try the islands. But then you will want to go back to see what you missed.
Hopefully, people will spot this and start giving you additional info.

Hey ehas,
My folks were from Nebraska, 'Go Big Red.' I have been to 3 of the islands on land packages and have really enjoyed them thoroughly. Yet, like you, i an considering a cruise to get the big picture of what the other islands have to offer. We have been to Oahu, Maui and the Big Island, by far enjoying Maui the most. My best guess is to mix in the cruising experience with the beauty of the islands, then go back another day to explore in depth. Either way, I don't think we can go wrong. Have fun!!! dk

Go Huskers! Thanks for your ideas!

Friend of ours cruised to Hawaii on a repo run on the Norwegian Wind. She loved cruising the islands, but wanted more. She went back with us a couple of years ago for 2 weeks. Loved it even more. As was said earlier, cruising is a good way to sample the islands, but the only way to get to know them and see everything is to do a land vacation, or like us, several.:headbang2

Go Sooners!!

In a word...........No............it is a good way to taste all of the islands of Hawaii but you don't really have time to see everything you want to see. We are going back to Hawaii..........no doubt about it.........this time, a land vacation...........we enjoyed our cruise..........but left much behind we didn't get to see.

Jim

We love doing land based vacations to Hawaii. We spend most of our time in Oahu. We need to get out to the other islands and get to know them.

We are also planning a trip to Hawaii for our 25th anniversary. We cannot decide on 1 island and a multi-island tour adds almost $1000. We figure 5-6 days on one island(maybe Oahu) and 4-5 days on another (Maui or Kauai), then back to the original island to fly home.
However a Pride of Hawaii trip includes 3 islands and we could spend additional days before or after without paying for inter-island airfare. How do we decide? We figured the 2 overnights would give us the time to do 2 day trips and one evening luau on Maui and Kauai and 2 day long stops on both sides of the Big Island.
We realize it will be expensive either way due to all the port activities panned but $1600-$1800 per person for a 7 day cruise seems a bit over the top. Do the prices on the website (NCL) reflect what they charge if you call direct or are they basically 'brochure prices'?
Any thoughts????

We went on a cruise on the Infinity back in April of 2005 to Hawaii. What we did was rent a car on each of the islands we stopped at. We did our research before we left and the rent-a car representative when you pick up your car will tell you the best places to go. You go at your pace and the savings over taking a ship shore tour was great. I have done both, land and cruise to Hawaii and still think the best way to see the islands is by taking a cruise.

Don D.

Don-

I am planning our January cruise to Hawaii. Any tips on which rental cear companies to use on which island? I've been reading that it is a hassle to get the car and return it- but i still think it would be a better deal than paying for excursions. i like to do what i want when I wnat rather than be with a group.

Any info you could provide would be much appreciated.