Trip to Hawaii

We are in the contemplation stage of a trip to Hawaii for next summer or fall. Neither one of us has ever been there, and not sure we will get back. Because of how expensive everything is there, I am assuming that we will have to take a cruise, either just in the islands, or a one way trip, probably out of Vancouver. (That D*MN Jones Act!!) We will have 14 days at the absolute MAXIMUM to do the trip.

Basically all the cruises either start or end in Honolulu, and I know that we HAVE to get to Pearl Harbor, so I'm not sure how that will work out. It kind of looks like our choices are probably the Pride of America, which is 7 days, totally within Hawaii, or most likely Celebrity from Vancouver. I know that we do want to be able to visit the different islands, and I think that would be too difficult to figure out all the logistics of that, with getting between islands, packing, unpacking, etc, so I think we definitely need to do a cruise.

Suggestions, other than Pearl Harbor, as far as your favorite things to see and do on the various islands. The Pride of America does stay for two days in a couple of places, so that is nice.

As far as what ship, overall, I would MUCH prefer to do Celebrity. I'm sure the cruise experience would blow Pride of America out of the water. However, for Celebrity, I hate that we would probably have to fly into Vancouver, with all the hassle of an international flight, and five days at sea in a row sounds kind of horrible. So I'm sort of inclined to do the Pride of America, but their reviews aren't too great. Any input on recommendations for cruise lines in Hawaii appreciates.

Thanks much for any info!

Carol we have been to Hawaii twice when we were younger. First time was my r&r from
Vietnam and my wife came to meet me. Since finding sxm, I have no reason personally to return. That being said,Pearl Harbor is a must. Also,you should visit Punchbowl Crater. It is a national military cemetery. There is a very large,beautiful cut glass mural showing many of the battles at sea of WWII.
Good luck with your plans.

Thanks for the note, bob!

Depending on what time of year you go, the north shore is pretty cool with monstrous waves. We found Oahu to be very touristy. Very much enjoyed Pearl Harbor. But others places very busy. We fell in love with the island of Hawaii. Much to do there. Volcano, waterfalls, beaches, etc.

Doubtful we will ever go back. As Bob said above, we have found our island and it is much closer than Hawaii. But overall Hawaii is amazing.

Thanks. We will probably go sometime May through October, as that is our low season for business here.

Carol:

Living in the Bay Area, Hawaii is much easier for us to visit than SXM and pre-COVID we went at least once a year for over 30 years. With 14 days I would suggest 5-7 days on Oahu and 5-7 days on another island ( our favorite is Maui but we also love the Big Island and Kauai). That will give you sufficient time to experience both islands. Flying between the islands is almost like taking a bus and flight times are very short.

Some years ago we took a Norwegian cruise around the islands. Enjoyed it but the time in each port was fleeting. We just returned from an 11 day Celebrity cruise in Europe and while NCL is a step below Celebrity it is not that much different.

That’s my two cents!

Gary in CA

Gary--that 14 days would be the absolute max time and would have to include flights from the East Coast, which I would need to get to the West Coast or to Hawaii at least a day before the cruise, so our actual time on ship and/or in the islands would be no more than about 10 days all together. I don't know that we will ever get back, so we will want to see as many different islands as possible.

https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/dsp/parks/kauai/waimea-canyon-state-park/

Grand Canyon of Hawaii. Spectacular.

See the warnings now.

Aloha Carol,
I do a lot of business in Hawaii and used to go there a few times per year, since covid not so much. I have heard that people like cruising around the islands but I personally don’t get why. Note MJ and I are not cruise ship people anyway so that might be a factor. We like to spend more time in each place.

I would add, I can go to Hawaii and it is a tax deduction as I have customers to visit and it is a single flight which is nice. Yet I travel all the way to SXM for most of my vacations, or Mexico. Once on SXM, spoiled, much better beach life than Hawaii in my opinion.
While I typically just visit one island per trip it would be easy to jump island to island. Pearl Harbor is something to experience, but the rest of Oahu doesn’t have much that brings me back. Diamond Head is cool and if you get out of town there are some interesting places to visit especially in surfing season. Waikiki is a very busy area and the Honolulu area has some of the worst traffic in the US.

Noting this is post fire in Maui, hard to imagine the damage and loss of life that just occurred. The island has some of the best beaches, still not St Maarten, but for Hawaii much better. It is an expensive island, but lots of people love it. I would note that at most we usually only spend a day or two per week in the Lahaina area, mostly to go to Fleetwood’s which is no longer.

Kauai is very old school Hawaii, a lot more quiet and a lot more green and with that you have a lot more rain. It is very different, and while it has some nice beaches it is much more see the lush green and scenic areas. Much less densely populated than the two islands above.

The Big Island, Hawaii, is larger than the other islands combined. It is probably my favorite noting there is a lot of variation around the. It has I think all but two climate zones, when driving around we have seen the temperature go from in the 70’s to over 100 in less than 30 minutes of driving. The closest anywhere that you have a desert area to a rain forest. You can be driving by lava fields that have near zero plant life and a bit further you have trees that look like they are from the Serengeti and then a bit further it will look like a scene out of Jurassic Park. There are beaches, but not like Maui where they are near everywhere. Snow to lava to beach, all in a day.

Hawaii has some good restaurants but it is not a place that I would rave about the food in general. Even some of the highly recommended places are just ho hum in my view, yet expensive. If you do go I will offer some suggestions. Note that it is illegal to drink on a beach, although it is done but we have received warnings if not discrete. There are not many places with beach chairs set up, and if they are they are expensive.

Let me know if you do end up going. I personally would fly there and island hop and stay on land. Sure take some beach time but visit the sites. Note that car rental on the islands had spiked up but I think it may be coming back down a bit.
Cheers,
T

Todd--thanks for the info. I am sure if we go, it will involve a cruise, as we want to see several different islands and don't want to have to pack and unpack, figure out transportation between, etc. We couldn't really find an itinerary we liked, except for Pride of Hawaii and it was very expensive, for that ship, which is not a very good ship. Not sure what we will do.

We visited Hawaii in 04, first on Oahu. Pearl Harbor / Arizona Memorial definitely a must - fuel oil is still seeping from the ship and you can see it floating in the water there. The large memorial display listing crewmembers who died with the ship is a sobering reminder of the cost of freedom. Also took a short hop over to visit Hawaii (the Big Island) for a couple days, stayed at the Coffee Barn at Lucky Farm B&B (don't know if still there), a unique place to stay. Went to top of volcano Mauna Kea - it was October and we needed cold weather clothing at the top (snow up there!). Enjoy your visit.

Hi. We didn't end up going to Hawaii. Maybe some day.