Alaska was amazing, where to next?

[pjacobi]

There are many reasons that Hawaii is not as cruise friendly as the Carribean or Alaska.

-Paul

 

[OKW Lover]

There are many reasons that Hawaii is not as cruise friendly as the Carribean or Alaska.

-Paul

I'm not following...please elaborate. Are you talking about the distances involved? Or is this about the ports?

 

[ArtemisPhoenix]

I guess it is all subjective but I wasn’t super impressed with any of the Western ports, and I’ve heard a similar sentiment from others. Cozumel the port area feels like a run down shopping mall, the “ruins” we saw were crumbling piles of rubble infested with a gazillion mosquitos, and the beach was rocky and dirty. Grand Cayman didn’t have very interesting excursions or a port area and just felt like Nassau but with the hassle of having to tender to and from the ship. And neither of those ports was as pretty as the eastern caribbean islands. Jamaica was prettier but the port is very far away from most activities and has a bit of a bad reputation regarding crime/safety outside of the gated port area.

Just not an itinerary we care to repeat.

I second ALL of this!

 

[tvguy]

There are many reasons that Hawaii is not as cruise friendly as the Carribean or Alaska.

-Paul

No question, it is a different cruise. The ship and it's activities absolutely are less important than on a cruise to other places. In Hawaii, since you won't have sea days, and will likely overnight in at least two ports on a 7 day cruise, the ship is much much more like a floating hotel than a destination. Many of the cruise lines organized activities will actually be on land not on the ship.
But hard to top cruising at night past the active lava flow into the ocean.
@OKW Lover

 

[jimmymc]

Mediterranean in the summer is a nice balance between beautiful ports and a fun time on deck. I would also recommend a Disney World and cruise combined vacation.

 

[auntlynne]

No question, it is a different cruise. The ship and it's activities absolutely are less important than on a cruise to other places. In Hawaii, since you won't have sea days, and will likely overnight in at least two ports on a 7 day cruise, the ship is much much more like a floating hotel than a destination. Many of the cruise lines organized activities will actually be on land not on the ship.
But hard to top cruising at night past the active lava flow into the ocean.
@OKW Lover

Does Disney do Hawaii without at least a leg of HI > < Vancouver (or both)?

 

[tvguy]

Does Disney do Hawaii without at least a leg of HI > < Vancouver (or both)?

No idea. Not likely since they would need a foreign port. NCL America does not need a foreign port since they are a U.S. Flagged ship. A lot of cruise lines used to use Fanning Island as their foreign port for Hawaiian cruises, but I think Fanning Island is no longer a cruise port.

 

[JM_97]

I guess it is all subjective but I wasn’t super impressed with any of the Western ports, and I’ve heard a similar sentiment from others. Cozumel the port area feels like a run down shopping mall, the “ruins” we saw were crumbling piles of rubble infested with a gazillion mosquitos, and the beach was rocky and dirty. Grand Cayman didn’t have very interesting excursions or a port area and just felt like Nassau but with the hassle of having to tender to and from the ship. And neither of those ports was as pretty as the eastern caribbean islands. Jamaica was prettier but the port is very far away from most activities and has a bit of a bad reputation regarding crime/safety outside of the gated port area.

Just not an itinerary we care to repeat.

Yeah I mean comparing East vs West I definitely would prefer East because it's more sea days and the ports look better. However, a 7 night isn't in the cards right now (on Disney) so I'm compromising with a 5 night Western Caribbean. It would go to Grand Cayman (which to me looks the best) and Castaway Cay.

 

[holula]

Does Disney do Hawaii without at least a leg of HI > < Vancouver (or both)?

No. Only Pride of America does Hawaii cruises with no foreign port stop as it’s a US based ship.

 

[pjacobi]

But hard to top cruising at night past the active lava flow into the ocean.
@OKW Lover

It's even better by helicopter or a small boat where you can feel the warmth of the water. I believe these are much easier to do from land base.


-Paul

 

[OKW Lover]

Does Disney do Hawaii without at least a leg of HI > < Vancouver (or both)?

Yes. They also will be doing a Hawaii to Sydney cruise in the future. But if you are asking if they just sail around the Hawaiian islands, then the answer is no. Nor are any other lines except NCL which has a special, American flagged ship. Non US flagged vessels need to make a stop in a foreign country during a cruise and that's geographically difficult for Hawaii.

 

[tvguy]

It's even better by helicopter or a small boat where you can feel the warmth of the water. I believe these are much easier to do from land base.


-Paul

Well, we did do the walk on the active volcano tour in Volcano's National Park where we put on special protective gloves and had the soles of our shoes start to melt. And the guide dropped an aluminum soda can into a crack with glowing lava in it, and the can instantly vaporized.