looking for reviews of the Honolulu to Sydney Cruises

[wendlle]

the title says it all. I'm looking at booking this cruise for 2025, just wondering if anyone has reviews?? How was it?
I've been on the Wonder before on an 8 night Alaskan Cruise, Kids wanted to do a longer one and I've got the time off work.

 

[hrhdhd]

Nm.

 

[choomTOP]

I was on the inaugural Honolulu to Sydney cruise in 2023! I'm not sure what you're looking for in a review, but I'll give my basic thoughts about it.

Some background: this was our third Disney cruise. We did an 11-night cruise in the Mediterranean on the Magic in 2010, and a 14-night WBPC in 2015 on the Wonder. So I already knew what I was getting into with a longer cruise on this specific style of ship. On our WBPC, we had to skip a port, so we had 6 sea days in a row (one of them technically going through the Panama Canal, so it didn't "feel" like a sea day), so I also knew that I would enjoy that many sea days in a row again. Plus it was a bucket-list item to go to Australia, and this seemed like the fun way to do it.

That's probably the big thing to take away: all the sea days. I've done Alaska with a different cruise line and it was definitely more port intensive. You need to know that you will spend the vast majority of your time on the ship. The cast members did their best to keep us entertained -- they had a lot of new games they premiered on the sailing, plus we had themed parties when crossing the equator and the international date line. There was a special guest that was a photographer for National Geographic and he had a lecture each sea day. Lots of trivia and crafts! They also did star gazing a couple of nights, with one of the ship's navigators talking about the various constellations and how old-school navigators used to use them to guide the ship.

For dinner, our servers really got to know us and our preferences, but I will say by the end of the cruise, it all kind of ended up being a little exhausting having a formal dinner each night and the food started to taste the same (but you never repeat a menu!). I did learn what lunch menu was my favorite and made sure to be in the dining room for those days, since they do repeat after so many days (five or six, I think?). We also had breakfast a few times in Cabanas (yum, those hash browns!) and I think the churro Mickey waffles were there nearly every other day, more often than on other cruises (or so I was told). As ridiculous as it sounds, I think our favorite meal was ordering chicken tenders through room service and relaxing in our room, watching the ocean roll by. On other cruises, you may feel like you're wasting time just hanging out in the room. But when you have so many sea days, all you have is time to waste!

The ports were a bit forgettable, but they weren't why we were on the cruise. Disney clearly doesn't have any priority in the ports, although it was fun seeing people excited about DCL being there for the first time. For 2 of the ports (Fiji and American Samoa), we took DCL excursions, and the other port we just did on our own (New Caledonia). I travel with someone who has mobility restrictions, so it's easier for us to do DCL excursions. For Fiji we did a day at a resort, and for American Samoa we did the Traditional Siapo Experience, which was phenomenal and highly recommended if you can get it, although most people seemed to go to the National Park on their own and said that was a great experience. For New Caledonia, you have to take a bus to the town center because the ship ports in the industrial area, but we enjoyed wandering around on our own and getting in some souvenir shopping because we didn't have a chance to shop at the other ports.

We sailed adults only so I don't have a kids perspective, but on these long sailings, there will be far fewer kids than on other sailings. We had second seating for dinner and it was a running joke during the shows that there were hardly any kids in the audience (most families seemed to be in the first main dining). But your kids will get lots of attention from the cast members!

So, overall, it was a positive time and I would go again (but this time we're doing the Transatlantic!). It's an incredible feeling being in the middle of the ocean and not seeing land for days. The only real negative for us was getting tired of the food and wishing there could be better port experiences.

 

[wendlle]

This is a fantastic review and exactly what I was looking for

We love sea days and my kids on the Alaska cruise never left the club
There were less than 200 kids on our sailing so they got to know the kids club CMs really well and cried when we had to leave them

I think this cruise will be for us we really love just being on the ship and the ports aren’t super important to us

 

[Mathmagicland]

I too was on the inaugural trip. To add to the comments above -
Because of so many sea days, they do add some special activities like a daily scavenger hunt which the few kids on board really seemed to have fun with.

I was disappointed at the lack of variety for the movies in the movie theatre on board. There were a few and they seemed to repeat too many times.

There was also a guest chef on board, who did a cooking demo on the sea days.

The port adventures - don’t know if this was because it was the first one, but many of the choices found on the website ended up not being available as options to book. They did add a few after booking windows opened, maybe due to guest feedback? But this could be different/better by 2026 as they get more experience with the route. I enjoyed the ones I did, though Fiji was my least favorite stop.

Here is a link to the daily Navigators for the inaugural, if you want to check them out.

https://disneycruiselineblog.com/20...uise-from-honolulu-to-sydney-october-13-2023/

Edit. - they had some different entertainment in the big theatre, some really good,and some OK. Don’t miss the crew talent show if they do one, it was one of the best surprises as some of the non-entertainment crew are Very talented!

 

[ironz]

We were also on the inaugural Honolulu to Sydney sailing!
Agree with the points made by previous posters, but adding that the photo scavenger hunt was fun for adults, too-- we have done them on other long sailings, and it's a good way to get your steps in, and explore the ship, looking at the details.

OP, if you like sea days, this is a great cruise! We love the sea days and between relaxing, visiting with characters, the regular on board activities (bingo, trivia), we made a point to go to the lectures by the guest lecturer, who on our sailing was a photographer from National Geographic. Not only were his talks interesting, but he also taught us some things about photography. We did not go to the Anyone Can Cook series... the guest chef on board had a huge following, and people would line up for an hour prior to the cooking demos.

Agree with PP about dining-- by the end of the cruise, we would eat on deck, or just order an appetizer, or main, or skip dessert-- something to not eat huge volumes of food every night. But the menus were overall very good-- they bring out different menus on the longer cruises, in addition to the usual menus, so you are not totally repeating options.

Ports-- we did an independent tour in American Samoa to visit the National Park, which I thought was a good tour. It basically took up the entire port time. The people of American Samoa were so friendly and welcoming! We did a ship excursion in Fiji to the ColoSuva Forest/Park, which was good, but one could always book that transportation to the park independently. Since we were in Fiji on a Sunday, the main markets were closed-- but I hear they are very interesting. Also, we originally were supposed to dock in Noumea, Fiji, which I hear is more scenic, but a few months after booking the cruise on opening day, our port was changed to Suva. I believe that limited the offered excursions.
We did an independent excursion in New Caledonia to snorkel with sea turtles.

There were not a lot of kids on this cruise (300-400) and it wasn't full (about 1900 passengers? I don't have my notes with me). So it never felt especially crowded.

Crew talent show is a must. They had special events for crossing the equator. Crossing the International Date Line wasn't a big deal, other than losing a day. The ship building contest they do on these long cruises was fun.

Seas were generally smooth until the last 2 days, as there was a tropical storm to the north of us, and a cold front coming from the south, so the last sea day was bumpy. (we like that)

We enjoyed Sydney. Note-- factor in the cost of a one way ticket from Sydney to wherever you live. That was almost as much as the cruise cost itself! Also, if you plan on staying at Aulani prior to the cruise, be ready to book at 11 months.

if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

 

[KDG]

Best cruise we have ever taken! And this includes 3 European cruises. We booked a day at Tisa’s Barefoot Bar in American Samoa and she arranged a little bus to take us to her resort. Wonderful experience.

Loved the sea days on the mild tropical ocean. Many things to do on the ship. We were fans of the photo scavenger hunt, the daily Good Morning Disney Wonder show in D Lounge, the Everyone Can Cook segments (they were packed!), and the crew talent show.

We’d take this cruise again in a heartbeat!

 

[European]

We enjoyed Sydney. Note-- factor in the cost of a one way ticket from Sydney to wherever you live. That was almost as much as the cruise cost itself!

I was going to ask, what did you all book when it comes to flights?

I am interested in the Honolulu-Sydney or Sydney-Honolulu too. But I guess if the ports aren’t that interesting (they seemed exotic and once in a lifetime to me) AND flights are so expensive AND I have no desire to visit Australia again (went backpacking there for 6 months when I was younger), I guess it’s not my cruise.

Would love to visit Hawaii again, but the prices there!

 

[wendlle]

Thanks so much everyone

I live in Australia so no issues getting home from Sydney it’s a 6 hour drive

We do have a budget airline that flies to Honolulu so we will just get one way flights there a few days before

Having been to Hawaii before it’s insanely expensive for Australians there so we won’t spend more than a day or two and just focus on the cruise
I’m going to book the 2025 one

 

[Agent 86]

Following along - were there any "bonus" or unique character meet opportunities?

Looking at the Personal Navigators from the 2023 cruise, it looks like they had a "Mickey and Friends" character meet which I don't think I've seen before.

Did they regularly run with "Rapunzel plays games" and "Belle reads stories" type character meets too?

 

[ironz]

The "Mickey and Friends" character meets were an opportunity to take photos with the whole Fab 5 (+). It happened a few mornings. No autographs, just take a couple of photos and move on. They met in classic outfits, pirate, Aloha, and possibly their cruise outfits.

I didn't see any times of Rapunzel or Belle playing with kids, but that may have been because I wasn't in the atrium all day, and there just weren't too many kids. It could have happened randomly. But the characters were all super!

 

[ironz]

Following along - were there any "bonus" or unique character meet opportunities?

Looking at the Personal Navigators from the 2023 cruise, it looks like they had a "Mickey and Friends" character meet which I don't think I've seen before.

Did they regularly run with "Rapunzel plays games" and "Belle reads stories" type character meets too?

See other post. They also did the Avengers deck show as a surprise for us and had Avengers meeting in the atrium that night. And we had a meet with Rey and Chewbacca.

 

[ironz]

I was going to ask, what did you all book when it comes to flights?

I am interested in the Honolulu-Sydney or Sydney-Honolulu too. But I guess if the ports aren’t that interesting (they seemed exotic and once in a lifetime to me) AND flights are so expensive AND I have no desire to visit Australia again (went backpacking there for 6 months when I was younger), I guess it’s not my cruise.

Would love to visit Hawaii again, but the prices there!

I thought the ports were fascinating! We went to see the National Park in American Samoa! We got out of it what we hoped, regarding our port visits, for the most part, though they are not "fancy" ports, being somewhat industrial.

We flew Southwest to Honolulu from Texas. Coming back, we booked premium economy on United. Would have loved the lie-flat business class, but couldn't justify another $2000 per person. I looked for deals for a long time.

 

[Agent 86]

The "Mickey and Friends" character meets were an opportunity to take photos with the whole Fab 5 (+).

Thanks! That looks great. And an easy way to snag a photo with 5+ popular characters all at once.

 

[wendlle]

Were there any special nights like on Alaska we had frozen night and on the fantasy I’ve had pirate night before

 

[cedricandsophie]

We too were on the inaugural cruise last year. Others have given great reviews so I do t have much to add. Except that we loved it!! But we love sea days. We have the transatlantic both directions. And we are doing Vancouver to Hawaii next year.
We went to Hawaii 3 days early and stayed at aulani.
I’m a pool lover and reader so I don’t do a lot onboard except work on my tan. I went to a few of the lectures. He was great. And my husband bought two copies of his book.
The ports were fun.
I loved our dinner servers. We all gave big hugs at the end. We travel with two disabled adult women. The servers and entire staff are wonderful with them.
I loved the way the time change was handled. The clocks were changed most nights . And when we crossed the date line we went to bed on a Wednesday and woke up on Friday. It was painless.
When we arrived in Sydney we stayed one night at the harbor overlooking the opera house. We had a great dinner at the harbor and were there when the Wonder moved from its first cruise pier to the harbor. It was great watching it park!
My husband had been to both Australia and New Zealand before but I had not. We spent one day and night in Sydney and then flew to the South Island for 6 nights. It was another highlight in the trip. We drove and saw so many amazing sights! It truly is a beautiful place. Our last stop was a train ride on the transalpine train from Greymouth back to Christchurch. A beautiful journey. I paid extra to get premium seats with a full bar and lovely meal and great seats. Worth every penny.
From Christchurch we flew to Auckland to get our plane back to chicago nonstop. I splurged for business class for that 15 hour flight. Again worth every penny!
It was a wonderful trip!

 

[Evil Queen 2]

This is a great thread with lots of helpful information! My DH and I are able to travel again after 6 years of caring for senior parents. We've gone crazy with booking cruises.

We have booked this one (Honolulu to Sydney) for 2025.

 

[ironz]

Were there any special nights like on Alaska we had frozen night and on the fantasy I’ve had pirate night before

We had pirate night. The Avengers deck show was a surprise-- didn't get put on the Navigator until the night before. And deck party for crossing the equator.

 

[ironz]

This is a great thread with lots of helpful information! My DH and I are able to travel again after 6 years of caring for senior parents. We've gone crazy with booking cruises.

We have booked this one (Honolulu to Sydney) for 2025.

Well deserved, and bless you for your service to your parents! It's not easy.

 

[Evil Queen 2]

Well deserved, and bless you for your service to your parents! It's not easy.

Thank you! It was worth it to us, even with the hard times. Now, we are spending time with our son and daughter-in-law by taking them to WDW this fall before we sail off next year.