After DCL what's the next best cruise line to take to Hawaii?

[fairytalelover]

We adore DCL but my hubby wants to see if he can save money by going on a different cruise ship than DCL for a 2 week cruise to hawaii. Personally I want to take Disney but he wants to know what else is out there and how they compare to disney. Kids Club and activities is very important to us since our 9 year old son loves the dcl kids club

 

[bcwife76]

Our neighbours just came back from a two week round trip cruise to Hawaii (Vancouver to Vancouver) with Princess and hated it. They sailed with their five kids (ages ranging from 4 to 17) and there were barely any kids on the cruise (it was mid September so I'm sure that's why) and it was full of older cruisers. She said the median age was about 65. So yeah....probably wouldn't recommend Princess lol Disney does not offer a Hawaiian cruise every year anyway.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We adore DCL but my hubby wants to see if he can save money by going on a different cruise ship than DCL for a 2 week cruise to hawaii. Personally I want to take Disney but he wants to know what else is out there and how they compare to disney. Kids Club and activities is very important to us since our 9 year old son loves the dcl kids club

I'd suggest Princess or Carnival. Now, those cruises are 14 night cruises, so the median age onboard will typically be older, with fewer kids than a "standard" cruise.

Holland America & Celebrity also do Hawaii, but those skew toward the older group generally (even on not-so-long cruises).

 

[sweetpee_1993]

NCL sails Hawaii, too.

 

[jdb in AZ]

NCL Hawaii is American-flagged so you can cruise around the islands without beginning or ending on the mainland. HOWEVER, the crew is mostly U.S. and subject to U.S. labor laws, and unfortunately the service is dreadful.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

unfortunately the service is dreadful.

That's what we've been told, by friends we've cruise DCL with twice. They did the NCL Hawaii cruise, then stopped by Disneyland on their way home to Boston. We met them for dinner, and they said they will never cruise that specific cruise again.

 

[JimmyV]

As noted above, when you sail matters. If you go when school is in session, your 9 year old will have few friends to play with on any other cruise line, (and frankly, few on DCL as well). If you go when schools are out, this is less of an issue, and Princess and NCL become viable options. A cruise to Hawaii has a lot of sea days, so you had better like the ship that you are on. Frankly, given the cost of a cruise from the west coast and the number of days at sea, I think the better option for a family vacation is to fly to Hawaii and spend your time on land. There is so much to see and do in Hawaii as a family, a couple of hit-and-run port stops wouldn't be my first choice.

 

[helenb]

We have done the Princess round trip to Hawaii twice (once from Long Beach and once from San Francisco) and we loved it. The number of kids on any cruise line is greatly impacted by school vacations, so if you want your kids to meet others their age, travel during those off school times. That being said, once we took a Princess cruise in early January and including our 2 kids, there was a total of 13 kids onboard (ages 3-17). Ours loved this, because when they showed up at the kids' clubs, the counsellors there would let them do whatever activity they wanted, and would spend lots of one-on-one time with them.

Princess also has a wonderful Hawaiian cultural program on their ships from LA and SF. Each ship has a Hawaiian couple who offer hula dancing lessons, ukelele lessons and lei-making sessions. You really feel like you are getting into the Hawaiian spirit long before you ever get to Hawaii. Princess is also very good at hosting fun daytime activities. I would say that the big negatives on Princess (if you are used to DCL) is that the staterooms will be smaller, there are no free sodas, and the main dining is always in the same restaurant (less variety in terms of venue).

We are Elite on Princess and Celebrity, have have also sailed on HAL and RCCL, in addition to DCL. While I would say that Disney is the 'best' (very subjective) cruise line for us, with the significant price difference, we sail Princess most often (followed by Celebrity) and do not regret it at all.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I guess RCCL is out because they only do 10 days, we were on the Radiance last month, Vancouver to Honolulu, and it was a wonderful vacation. They also had a native Hawaiian speaker who gave us a lot of interesting history and background on his culture. The ship was going on to Sydney Australia! I would have gladly stayed on board.

 

[southerngirl528]

Fairytalelover, I love Hawaii and fly there at least every 2 years, and I have taken a 14 night Hawaii cruise from L.A. and a 10 night one way last month, Honolulu to Vancouver both on DCL. I personally recommend you consider taking a oneway cruise to or from Hawaii where you can spend more days IN Hawaii. There is so, SO much to see and do and as much fun as a Hawaii cruise is, it is only a very tiny sampling of what Hawaii has to offer. JMHO….

 

[tvguy]

NCL Hawaii is American-flagged so you can cruise around the islands without beginning or ending on the mainland. HOWEVER, the crew is mostly U.S. and subject to U.S. labor laws, and unfortunately the service is dreadful.

I have been on NCL's Pride of America. It is an entirely different cruise experience than my other cruises on Paquet, NCL, RCL, HAL and Disney. It is less a cruise, and more a floating hotel. You overnight in 2 of the ports. They really push and expect you to eat a lot of your meals on shore, not on the ship. That was creating a problem because a lot more people were coming back to the ship to eat, they just don't have the dining room capacity for all the passengers. And your longest stretch at sea is heading back to Honolulu, about 1 pm Friday until you get back to Honolulu at 6 am Saturday.
It was a good trip, but, on any other cruise, the ship is one of the destinations your vacation takes you to. On NCL America, not so much.
But having done entirely land based tours of Hawaii, it is nice to have to only unpack once, and have your hotel shuttle you to your next island while you sleep. No having to catch 4 flights to get to the other islands.

 

[MunFam]

Honestly, for the long haul cruises, I do not think anything compares to DCL (and I cant stand DCL to be quite honest with you!). The one thing DCL does REALLY, REALLY well is sea days and the Hawaii Cruise has a lot of sea days. I would not consider a Hawaii cruise on another cruise line if I was traveling with kids. Price be darned. There is a certain tipping point where value versus I HATE my life need to balance and I think the I hate my life will show up quite quickly on the "old people" cruise lines. There is nothing for the kids to do and there are a lot of areas where the kids cannot go (lounges, piano bars, adult only pool hours, restaurants, shows, movie showings). It becomes a means of transportation to a group of islands instead of a vacation and really, what fun is that?

 

[jdb in AZ]

I have been on NCL's Pride of America. It is an entirely different cruise experience than my other cruises on Paquet, NCL, RCL, HAL and Disney. It is less a cruise, and more a floating hotel. You overnight in 2 of the ports. They really push and expect you to eat a lot of your meals on shore, not on the ship. That was creating a problem because a lot more people were coming back to the ship to eat, they just don't have the dining room capacity for all the passengers. And your longest stretch at sea is heading back to Honolulu, about 1 pm Friday until you get back to Honolulu at 6 am Saturday.
It was a good trip, but, on any other cruise, the ship is one of the destinations your vacation takes you to. On NCL America, not so much.
But having done entirely land based tours of Hawaii, it is nice to have to only unpack once, and have your hotel shuttle you to your next island while you sleep. No having to catch 4 flights to get to the other islands.

On all our other 20+ cruises, the food has always been something to look forward to. On our NCL Hawaii cruise, our young adult kids couldn't wait to get to Pizza Hut on land. We had such a large extended-family group on that cruise, we were allowed to have reservations every night, while most of the other passengers had to stand in long lines to be seated. You realize there's a serious problem when you have to wait for an hour after your salad course before management serves your entre. Even my pregnant niece lost weight on that cruise. And the food wasn't the worst problem we encountered.

 

[Bear3412]

That is why they make planes.

 

[jdb in AZ]

That is why they make planes.

We did a land trip to Kauai and Maui. The day we flew from one island to the other felt like we wasted the whole day checking out of the first hotel, going to the airport, waiting for our flight, short flight, checking into the other hotel. Cruising is a fun way to visit all the major Hawaiian islands. Most cruise lines (other than DCL) will sail past the active volcanoes at night -- definitely a highlight of the cruise. The lava glows in the dark. Other cruise lines (except DCL) also sail past the NaPali coast, which is accessible only by water.

 

[tvguy]

On all our other 20+ cruises, the food has always been something to look forward to. On our NCL Hawaii cruise, our young adult kids couldn't wait to get to Pizza Hut on land. We had such a large extended-family group on that cruise, we were allowed to have reservations every night, while most of the other passengers had to stand in long lines to be seated. You realize there's a serious problem when you have to wait for an hour after your salad course before management serves your entre. Even my pregnant niece lost weight on that cruise. And the food wasn't the worst problem we encountered.

Yeah, NCL really pushed the $100 a person Luau on land........my daughter doesn't eat meat......and there were no meatless options at the luau and they just couldn't understand how that would be a problem when she could get something to eat on the ship, for free.

 

[fairytalelover]

After reading all of your posts I wanted to emphasize that we really enjoy the cruise part of the cruise which is why we want to sail to hawaii rather than fly. I know we won't have time to see all there is to see in Hawaii if we cruise and we are ok with that and will go back for another trip in the future after our cruise. That being said we have only sailed with dcl and so we really have enjoyed the cruising experience on dcl. We love the de-stressing, knowing our son is safe and having fun in the kids club and making new friends while we get some alone adult time to relax by the adult pool, bars, shows, spa etc. ... we just love it. We always have cruised when school is in session because it costs less and love that there are tons of other kids on board too. Our son makes tons of friends on every cruise. Basically we want to know if we can get a similar experience on another liner for less. Personally I doubt it but am open to the idea of trying another liner. My hubby us the one who thinks we can have as much fun on another liner for less.

 

[LeslieG]

We did NCL Pride of America and enjoyed it. It's such a port intensive cruise, we really didn't spend a lot of time on the ship anyway. It's a great way to see the islands.

 

[JimmyV]

We always have cruised when school is in session because it costs less and love that there are tons of other kids on board too. Our son makes tons of friends on every cruise. Basically we want to know if we can get a similar experience on another liner for less.

To be perfectly honest, no, you cannot. You absolutely will find a de-stressing environment on other cruise lines such as Princess where you will know that your son is safe and having fun in the kids club and making new friends while you get some alone adult time to relax by the adult pool, bars, shows, spa etc. DCL is not unique in that regard. But if you sail when school is in session, the other cruise lines that do Hawaii well (like Princess) might only have 20 or so kids on board. Your son will make some friends, but there just aren't going to be many kids to meet.

 

[canyoncam]

I am looking at a 15 night Hawaii RT out of Long Beach on Carnival Miracle for October 2016. The ship looks nice but the price is $200 MORE per person for an inside cabin vs the 14 night WBPC on Disney Wonder May 2016! This kind of shocked me. I guess the extra night on Carnival makes it the same price per night but I thought for sure a two week Carnival cruise would be cheaper than two weeks on Disney. I am sure if Disney did a RT Hawaii it would be way more though.

My point is Hawaii is expensive in general. But I've done the PC and was hoping to see something different.