Debating Rhine River Cruise Vs.hawaii?

[scottmel]

Yes I realize ABD not involved in Hawaii but not sure where else to start with this question. Family of 3 - Dd19 next summer. We have done ABD BSM and ABD NYC and loved both. NEver been to Hawaii or Overseas with DD.

We like the appeal of Hawaii and the whirlwind nature of Rhine River Cruise. My Pros and Cons list is so varied.

My concern is not enough to do in Ohau for a week....(I picture a few water excursions, relaxing, touring the island, few nights near Honolulu to see Pearl Harbor etc, few nights in Aulani with a Disneyland stop over on way across country). 11 or 12 day trip?

My concern with Rhine River - not enough time to spend at one activity before hurrying back to ship. Feeling rushed....constantly being with people...we were on previous ABDs but groups smaller...on past ABDs we were able to arrive early and stay longer getting family time. Concerned with foreign country this might be harder to do on our own.

Anyone experience both? Thoughts? thanks much!

 

[OhanaCuz]

My concern with Rhine River - not enough time to spend at one activity before hurrying back to ship. Feeling rushed....constantly being with people...we were on previous ABDs but groups smaller...on past ABDs we were able to arrive early and stay longer getting family time. Concerned with foreign country this might be harder to do on our own.

I just finished the Danube river cruise. Yes, there were some times I felt rushed. We were only given less than an hour to look around a huge shopping area in Budapest and you could easily spend hours there. However, the flip side of them keeping a schedule is that you pack so much into each day. It's more than we could have ever seen on our own. If there's something you know you'll want to spend more time with then stay behind on your own. That's what we planned for one day and we had a great time.

Even though there's 100+ people on the ship they break you into groups for excursions. So you'll be with one bus worth of people and 1-2 guides on an excursion.

With arriving a day early we paid the extra $$$ and stayed at the hotel Disney chose. They picked us from the airport and we had a blast exploring close to the hotel until the official start of the ABD.

 

[Bobo912]

I wouldn't worry too much about pre or post days being harder to do on your own. I did a Rhine cruise last summer and added 3 days in Amsterdam before and 2 days in Basel after on our own. In Basel, we even took the train to Lucerne. Both cities are very easy to navigate. Everybody I met spoke English. I booked a shuttle from Schipol to our hotel in the Amsterdam city center and the hotel in Basel arranged a taxi to take us to the airport for the trip home (my cruise was the reverse ABD). It was all easy peasy!

 

[tgeorge]

Is your family more interested in the beach and those types of activities or Europe for the history? I've been to Oahu for a week, and while I enjoyed it, it is VERY crowded and busy. If I were to go again, I'd probably pick Kauai because it is less crowded and has more green, natural beauty (from what I'm told).

I haven't done the River Cruise, but I know people who have and everyone who I know thought it was amazing and better than an ocean cruise since you do get more time in the cities of interest.

There are plenty of things to do in Hawaii if you're interested in a lot of outdoor activities and it is beautiful, but I also don't think you would have an issue with adding time pre/post ABD in either Switzerland or Amsterdam.

If it were my choice, I'd pick the Rhine Cruise, but I may be biased since I've already been to Hawaii and am very interested in a Rhine Cruise.

I think if you just focus on the type of vacation your family would enjoy the rest will fall into place

 

[hilarys]

I will echo what the others have said that it really depends what time of vacation your family likes and what you are craving. There is plenty to do on Oahu for a week. We use Aulani as our home base and usually do a resort day followed by an exploring day. So many cool little places to visit and gorgeous beaches. I really would like to do a 10 day trip because 7 just doesn't seem like enough. However if you don't like the beach/pools you could maybe do a 5 or 6 night trip and add-on more days at Disneyland. I would only stay a night or two in Waikiki at most myself. It can be a convenient base for Honolulu based sights, but it is a big city (albeit a pretty gorgeous big city). Aulani and the North Shore (Turtle Bay) are great places to stay to see other parts of the island. We have made three trips to Oahu since purchasing Aulani DVC (before that we visited other islands - Hawaii is as easy for us to get to in CA as Orlando is) and we still have never done several big things: Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head Hike, Polynesian Cultural Center, Snorkel Hanauma Bay. Some of our favorites have included Kailua Beach, Kawella Bay on the North Shore, exploring the town of Hale'iwa and driving to the end of the road. Kualoa Ranch (we have done LOST tours there twice), Waimea Falls.

 

[scottmel]

I will echo what the others have said that it really depends what time of vacation your family likes and what you are craving. There is plenty to do on Oahu for a week. We use Aulani as our home base and usually do a resort day followed by an exploring day. So many cool little places to visit and gorgeous beaches. I really would like to do a 10 day trip because 7 just doesn't seem like enough. However if you don't like the beach/pools you could maybe do a 5 or 6 night trip and add-on more days at Disneyland. I would only stay a night or two in Waikiki at most myself. It can be a convenient base for Honolulu based sights, but it is a big city (albeit a pretty gorgeous big city). Aulani and the North Shore (Turtle Bay) are great places to stay to see other parts of the island. We have made three trips to Oahu since purchasing Aulani DVC (before that we visited other islands - Hawaii is as easy for us to get to in CA as Orlando is) and we still have never done several big things: Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head Hike, Polynesian Cultural Center, Snorkel Hanauma Bay. Some of our favorites have included Kailua Beach, Kawella Bay on the North Shore, exploring the town of Hale'iwa and driving to the end of the road. Kualoa Ranch (we have done LOST tours there twice), Waimea Falls.

Thanks all and thanks Hilary for the great idea on Oahu. I think we have decided to do this. As PP pointed out things will fall into place when I figured what TYPE of vacation I wanted. All mine are commando types rush rush and I come home ready for a vacation! So we opted for an easier trip with Hawaii.

Hilary - we are not LOST fans but do love movie taping sites or film scenes etc. Would you still recommend Kualoa Ranch?

 

[sayhello]

I have to agree with you. I LOVE and ADORE my ABD vacations, but they are in no way or shape relaxing. I usually come home needing a vacation from my vacation. If I go to Hawaii, I can pace things out, spend more down time, sleep in, etc. Personally, I'm a Maui fan.

Sayhello

 

[tgeorge]

Thanks all and thanks Hilary for the great idea on Oahu. I think we have decided to do this. As PP pointed out things will fall into place when I figured what TYPE of vacation I wanted. All mine are commando types rush rush and I come home ready for a vacation! So we opted for an easier trip with Hawaii.

Hilary - we are not LOST fans but do love movie taping sites or film scenes etc. Would you still recommend Kualoa Ranch?

We did Kualoa Ranch for an ATV tour and it was awesome! Beautiful scenery and so much fun! I'd definitely say it is a fun thing to do even if you don't find the movie tours they offer exciting. I do believe they have also added a zip line. Definitely look it up!

 

[scottmel]

We did Kualoa Ranch for an ATV tour and it was awesome! Beautiful scenery and so much fun! I'd definitely say it is a fun thing to do even if you don't find the movie tours they offer exciting. I do believe they have also added a zip line. Definitely look it up!

Thanks I sure will! I am sure we will enjoy. I recall looking into this at one point and noticed short vs. long tours....Did you find an all day one to be too much?

The only movie one I can find is 90 minutes..is that all it is?

 

[scottmel]

Oh wait I think I found the ranch tour. 219 for all day? Do you think this looks good? Definitely interested in both movie set excursions...

Includes both our 1-hour ATV Tour and our 1-hour Horseback Tours as well as choice of two 90 minute Hawaiian experience tours.Package includes our signature “all-you-can-eat” Ranch buffet lunch. Round trip transportation to Waikiki is available for $10 per person.

Please note that guests who participate in the full day deluxe adventure package must be 16 years or older. Note: Our Ocean Voyage experience tour is not available on Sundays or federal holidays, and we operate a special 90 minute Ancient Hawaiian Fishpond and Tropical Botanical Garden Tour in its place

 

[tgeorge]

I think it would be awesome! We only did an ATV tour, but I definitely could have spent more time and did some of the other things. It was a great day and would highly recommend.

 

[Tsunami]

I'm not sure if you are set on the full vacation in Oahu, but if you wanted to do some sort of mix, we did a family trip with Backroads to the Big Island and then followed up with time at Aulani and it was fantastic. Backroads is a similar concept to ABD, but there are fewer in the group and maybe a little more "active" (example, the adults and older teens on the Big Island trip do part of the Kona Ironman course while the kids have a beach day). I know they offer them on Maui/Lanai too. Sounds like there is a lot to do on Oahu for the full vacation as well and either way, you will have a fantastic time!

 

[hilarys]

Thanks all and thanks Hilary for the great idea on Oahu. I think we have decided to do this. As PP pointed out things will fall into place when I figured what TYPE of vacation I wanted. All mine are commando types rush rush and I come home ready for a vacation! So we opted for an easier trip with Hawaii.

Hilary - we are not LOST fans but do love movie taping sites or film scenes etc. Would you still recommend Kualoa Ranch?

Yes - the movie tour at Kualoa Ranch covers a whole bunch of different films and TV shows. I have not actually done that movie tour offered by the ranch, we did a LOST specific one through an outside company which itself covered some other movies. Last time we did the LOST tour, we were able to see active sets for the new King Kong movie. The ranch is just a gorgeous place so I recommend it to everyone. A great guidebook is Oahu Revealed. I think Oahu is a great place to get a "combo" vacation. Spend a day or morning out seeing historical or natural beauty sights and then come back and have a tropical beach by the pool or on the beach. I highly recommend renting a car in Hawaii - it makes it so easy to go out and do things on your own.

 

[SingingMom]

We went to Aulani a few years ago for a week. Too long. We had no car and the cabs were very expensive. The resort is lovely, but the beach was VERY disappointing. It's a man-made cove. Nothing like the Hawaii I envisioned. The beach we took surfing lessons at was gorgeous. Would have loved to park myself there for the week. Not enough excursions to choose from that included transportation. The resort pools are great but I can sit poolside at home. I wanted a beautiful beach.