Any thoughts, reviews or info on Vancouver to Hawaii fall cruises

[mousefan73]

Yes, as mentioned they do allow clear bags. I researched this before our trip in 2022 (Honolulu to Vancouver cruise in May of 2022) and when we got to Pearl Harbor one of the park rangers congratulated me on using a clear bag. He said he was glad some people do research and pay attention! We saw some people turned away with other type bags.

MJ

you can check bags but FYI, the long were slow and snail pace when we went so plan that in. I am talking 20-30 minutes

 

[mousefan73]

We did 2022 in April and 2023 Oct. weather was about same spring and fall. Vancouver can be wet or great weather. So pack so heavier stuff and then about day 3 sea day you start to notice the wind changes, warms and becomes more tropcial and warms.

do your research on ports especially if DIY. book things early. I can imagine by then things have picked up and are crazy again.. we were "lucky" in that 2022 was just post covid ( first cruise from Vancouver and testing stress etc..) and Hawaii was still picking back up. in 2023 unfortunately it was months after the Lahaina fire so Maui was a ghost town.. was a bit sad, we were not even sure if the boat would stills top, but it ports in Kulaina?? sorry forgot name..

my mom and I did road to Hana and it was bizarre. ZERO traffic which was due to lack of tourism. we swore we would never do this, but we had to stay more south or west on the island and we figured now is our chance and it was. It definately is a road I would not want to do with tons of traffic.

 

[auntlynne]

We did 2022 in April and 2023 Oct. weather was about same spring and fall. Vancouver can be wet or great weather. So pack so heavier stuff and then about day 3 sea day you start to notice the wind changes, warms and becomes more tropcial and warms.

do your research on ports especially if DIY. book things early. I can imagine by then things have picked up and are crazy again.. we were "lucky" in that 2022 was just post covid ( first cruise from Vancouver and testing stress etc..) and Hawaii was still picking back up. in 2023 unfortunately it was months after the Lahaina fire so Maui was a ghost town.. was a bit sad, we were not even sure if the boat would stills top, but it ports in Kulaina?? sorry forgot name..

my mom and I did road to Hana and it was bizarre. ZERO traffic which was due to lack of tourism. we swore we would never do this, but we had to stay more south or west on the island and we figured now is our chance and it was. It definately is a road I would not want to do with tons of traffic.

Maui’s shape reminds me of a marble bust. The commercial port, including cruise ships, is in Kahului. And most of the housing and everyday commerce is in that area (Walmart, fast food, hospital …). Lahaina may have been the second biggest area for concentrated residences, as well as its draw of tourism.



The Road to Hana is legendary. For being a slow winding drive with views of the ocean below. We (with my niece) rented a Mini Cooper convertible the first time and stayed at the Hotel Hana overnight, going horseback riding on the downslope of Haleakala the following morning. Next time, it was just a day trip with my sister. This time a Mazda Miata convertible. These trips bring back memories of my childhood, when we took road trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Another slow-down, enjoy the lush greenery, drive with pull-offs to enjoy views. On Maui, the starting point is usually the drier, red-dirt areas - ending in the very green Hana, where tourism and modernization haven’t taken over. It’s no wonder Oprah Winfrey chose it for her HI residence.

I’ve seen Roberts Hawaii tour buses on the road and felt sorry that that was the way people experienced the trip. This is one of those places where the journey, not the destination, is the purpose.

This no shade to you for your take on it. I probably am more of a Hawaii vacation defender than I ever have been of Disney cruises.

 

[mousefan73]

Maui’s shape reminds me of a marble bust. The commercial port, including cruise ships, is in Kahului. And most of the housing and everyday commerce is in that area (Walmart, fast food, hospital …). Lahaina may have been the second biggest area for concentrated residences, as well as its draw of tourism.

View attachment 883401

The Road to Hana is legendary. For being a slow winding drive with views of the ocean below. We (with my niece) rented a Mini Cooper convertible the first time and stayed at the Hotel Hana overnight, going horseback riding on the downslope of Haleakala the following morning. Next time, it was just a day trip with my sister. This time a Mazda Miata convertible. These trips bring back memories of my childhood, when we took road trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Another slow-down, enjoy the lush greenery, drive with pull-offs to enjoy views. On Maui, the starting point is usually the drier, red-dirt areas - ending in the very green Hana, where tourism and modernization haven’t taken over. It’s no wonder Oprah Winfrey chose it for her HI residence.

I’ve seen Roberts Hawaii tour buses on the road and felt sorry that that was the way people experienced the trip. This is one of those places where the journey, not the destination, is the purpose.

This no shade to you for your take on it. I probably am more of a Hawaii vacation defender than I ever have been of Disney cruises.

oh I didnt mean any shade on the road to Hana.. was a beautiful drive. I was referrring to how dead it was ( was just post Fire we drove by the airport and thousands of rental were just sitting there) we only did it to the halfway point. Spent more time than we though in the botantical garden thing.. like hours just relaxing and taking it all in. made a few other stops.. there was like no traffic.. was really strange. I could not imagine doing that in a minvan,stuck in traffic with 5 minutes per photo op. The road itself , the narrowness and winding was not bad ( live in Germany with same roadsin the mountains) but htat road with tons of traffic and one lane passes... oh dear god. I think we had to yield only one time the trip

 

[cedricandsophie]

We are on the Vancouver to Hawaii cruise in 2025. We love transatlantic cruises, we have done them both ways and did the transpacific cruise from Hawaii to Sydney last year. The longer the better.

We will probably go to Vancouver a couple days ahead. Visit sone friends, drive to whistler, maybe have lunch at the tea house in Stanley park. We might even go one day extra to take the ferry to Vancouver island to see Victoria one of our favorite cities in the world.

Once on a longer cruise you will usually find sone varied entertainment at night. In the past Disney has offered Broadway stars, comedians, singing groups. Then during the day there are often lectures on upcoming ports, cooking demos, lots of trivia etc. I’m more of a lay by the pool and read person. In the longer cruises you really get to know your serving staff so there are always lots of hugs at the end. And you often get to know people at the tables around you at dinner which is fun. There are 4 of us. We are happy to sit with other people if that happens. We always do late dinner which is especially nice on longer cruises with sea days as you can sleep in.

We have a disabled adult daughter and always bring her best friend. They wander the ship looking for characters, talking to staff. The dcl staff are kind and patient with them. They have a blast.

We have been to all the islands so I’m not sure what we will do once we hit Hawaii. We are more like to rent a car and do stuff on our own. Drive to road to Hana which we have done before. Drive around Kuai our favorite island. On the big island if there is an excursion to the volcano we might do that. I haven’t given much thought to the islands yet.

We are dvc owners at aulani so once we end in Honolulu we will go to aulani for a few days. Probably just take a taxi because we don’t need a car since we never leave. We could easily turn this into a 3 week or more trip with days before and after.

We are pearl so we will definitely do a night at Palo. And I’ve found that the longer cruises tend to be a little dressier so it’s nice to wear cocktail party like clothes at night and actually wear a formal dress on formal nights.

 

[ironz]

We did the Hawaii to Vancouver cruise a couple of years ago. If you are comfortable going outside of DCL, we had a great time on our own on the Big Island and at the Maui stop-- we rented cars in both locations and drove to Hawaiian Volcanoes NP and Haleakala NP, respectively. (obviously, keeping an eye on the time to make sure we had time to return the car and get back to the ship).
We did a DCL excursion at Kauai (bus tour--meh, but nice to see Waimea Canyon), and since we had 2 days on Kauai, we did a helicopter tour (booked independently with Air Kauai) the 2nd day and loved it.

 

[auntlynne]

oh I didnt mean any shade on the road to Hana.. was a beautiful drive. I was referrring to how dead it was ( was just post Fire we drove by the airport and thousands of rental were just sitting there) we only did it to the halfway point. Spent more time than we though in the botantical garden thing.. like hours just relaxing and taking it all in. made a few other stops.. there was like no traffic.. was really strange. I could not imagine doing that in a minvan,stuck in traffic with 5 minutes per photo op. The road itself , the narrowness and winding was not bad ( live in Germany with same roadsin the mountains) but htat road with tons of traffic and one lane passes... oh dear god. I think we had to yield only one time the trip

Ah, the disadvantage of written language. You saw how I received and interpreted meaning. I am more of a dialogue person and less a fan of throwing out thoughts. So glad you responded.

I was in Honolulu when the shutdown started in March 2020. As I was leaving, arriving guests were put in quarantine. Even at that point, it was starting to feel deserted. Waikiki Beach had police tape indicating the beach was closed.

The times I drove to Hana had relatively sparse traffic; if you took away half, it would have felt like a ghost town. You probably saw even less than that. But I had relatively few needs to wait for opposing traffic.

Not arriving on a cruise ship, I found most of Hawaii to be easy traffic and lacking masses of tourists (other than Maui airport at night, when multiple carriers are loading up the big jets) - and Honolulu! That’s just bigger city driving. But they will stop and allow cars to merge.

(Typing about the various islands brings pictures if them to mind; such lovely thoughts).

Thanks for the memories.

 

[Youneek1]

We did the Hawaii to Vancouver cruise a couple of years ago. If you are comfortable going outside of DCL, we had a great time on our own on the Big Island and at the Maui stop-- we rented cars in both locations and drove to Hawaiian Volcanoes NP and Haleakala NP, respectively. (obviously, keeping an eye on the time to make sure we had time to return the car and get back to the ship).
We did a DCL excursion at Kauai (bus tour--meh, but nice to see Waimea Canyon), and since we had 2 days on Kauai, we did a helicopter tour (booked independently with Air Kauai) the 2nd day and loved it.

Which company did you rent the cars through? We plan to go out on our own at each port, and I am trying to get an idea of who to rent through when coming into the port vs. the airport.

 

[kmitchel]

We did the Vancouver-Hawaii-Sydney cruise last year. I was REALLY disappointed in the tours. We did the Molokini snorkel tour and the operator NEVER should have gone there based on the conditions. The huge waves were heading DIRECTLY into the crater and it was scary dangerous. I'm glad I've gotten to snorkel there in the past and knew how amazing it was, but we should have never gone there. My (adult) son and I even brought our own masks, but the "captain" said we had to use their masks. My son is special needs and was not comfortable using the cheap masks from the tours. I complained to the tour desk on the ship and they just said "sorry". The tours from Hawaii to Sydney were even WORSE!

Go to Hawaii and enjoy a few days in Oahu, Big Island and Maui. MUCH better experience.

 

[ironz]

Which company did you rent the cars through? We plan to go out on our own at each port, and I am trying to get an idea of who to rent through when coming into the port vs. the airport.

We rented through Budget on Maui and the Big Island.

On Maui, we rented from the airport Budget location-- took a Lyft there. Note that Lyft does not pick up at the port, so we walked maybe 1/4 mile from the port to a nearby shopping center to meet our Lyft driver. We drove up to the summit of Haleakala, as my husband and I are big into the National Parks. We stopped for lunch on the way down at a food truck, then refueled the car at Costco, and dropped off at the airport. Ended up taking a taxi back to the port (terrible driver).

In Hilo, the car rental had a shuttle that came to the port, so we took that to the airport to pick up our car. Drove to a grocery store for snacks/malasadas, then up to Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park. Explored around there, then dropped the car off and shuttled back to the port. Obviously, I can't promise that the shuttle will be available right into the port in the future.

Adding-- in Kauai--the ship overnighted there. The first day we did a port adventure through DCL over to Waimea Canyon and a couple of other stops. It was your basic bus tour-- drive, get off and look, get back on the bus... not too exciting. The 2nd day, we took a helicopter ride and took a taxi to get to the heliport. In Kauai, I believe you have to get a taxi/Rideshare outside of the port area. Many people we saw set their pickup location at a nearby gym, I think.

 

[pudinhd]

Happy Saturday! Bumping in case anyone has any new information or experiences to share. The next Vancouver to Honolulu sailing is coming up quickly! (posted in 2 threads to maximize exposure)

PS - If anyone knows anyone that was on the 2025 February Honolulu to Vancouver sailing, I have been searching for the daily navigators.

 

[dipdotdarlin']

We are staying at Aulani for 4 nights after the cruise before going home. Looking at whether to book a car through turo or not. We are thinking of taking the grand circle tour excursion in Oahu during the first port day in Honolulu and then the Pearl Harbor excursion on disembarkation day that drops you off at Aulani. For the other ports/islands, they have excursions that take you to all the highlights of the island. They are pricey, but I did not know if they were worth it compared to the headaches of doing them on our own.

We are staying 4 nights after the cruise at Aulani too. We are thinking of taking the same excursions. We rented a car through turo and are heading to the airport after the Pearl Harbor excursion to pick up the car. Since we rented DVC at Aulani, we receive free parking.