WWYD: Baja Sailing then Hawaii (Fly+Land) as Hawaii Wonder replacement ideas

[mousefan73]

Hi Guys,
I bit of background. My mom and I were booked on the Wonder to Hawaii which got cancelled. This was my mom's dream trip as Hawaii has always been her dream destination and our first time on the Wonder. We have decided to take the refund and start planning a new trip for 2021. There are two options I am looking at. I have some concrete questions, especially on San Diego/Baja sailings.

Option 1: Sail round-trip on Princess Feb/Mar 2021 from either LA or SFO.
1. both are round-trip 15 days. depending on fare type around 4200-4800 for a balcony for 2A
2. 9 sea days, 1 day Ensenada and 4 Hawaiian port stops
3. All ports are but Honolulu are from 7/8am until 5/6pm. including Maui ; Honolulu until 11pm.
4. We looked at youtube videos on the princess ship ( Ruby Princess- had come covid issues in Sydney I believe) . My mom likes what she sees.
5. We would lose our Hawaiian one-way fare we bought for the wonder trip. As they have yet cancelled this flight. Maybe they will and we get 800 back.


My thoughts on Option 1:
It's easy as we only have to fly into SFO; as we are international we need to add hotel nights before and after. Total trip time at least 18 days. This trip is less stressful planning. Just need port hotels/transfer and car rental on the islands. We would spend our time on Oahu to visit Aulani to buy stuff and at least get a small Disney feel and drive a half day around. I just find it tons of sea days for 4 short days on the Islands. But at least we see multiple islands. One youtube video shows how the boat sails under the Golden Gate Bridge so that would be cool.

Option 2: My crazy idea to combine a short Disney Wonder Baja Cruise and fly to Hawaii:
1. Fly into LAX stay one or two nights ( maybe DL)
2. Drive to San Diego on embarkation day.
3. Cruise Option 1: March 12th 3 night Baja (sea day and ensenada) 2468 Verandah
4. Cruise Option 2: March 15th 4 night Baja but with Catalina Island 2810 Verandah
5. Fly from SAN to OGG ( Maui) stay at least 2 or 3 nights)
6. Fly to HNL stay 2 or 3 nights.
7. Use are Hawiian tickets if they let us rebook to fly back to SFO
8. Stay one night SFO and then fly home.

My thoughts on Option 2:
Total trip about 13-15 days depending on how long each island.. We only get to see 2 Islands, but the ones we really want to see and have the time to actually see things not stressed about port times. In HNL we have much more time as we want to visit Aulani, Pearl Harbor and the movie tour on the ranch. We also get our disney fix. I have a place holder we can use for this. I can apply this now with no risk. This trip will cost more. as we need flights and hotels/food. My guesstimate ( 200-300 flight on SW from SAN to OGG), 200 from OGG to HNL, 300-350 hotel and food budget per day ( we will not stay at resorts).


Overall thoughts.
1. my mom will be 70 and the princess trip is overall less traveling stress. She will not like the idea of flying both ways to Hawaii, that was nice about the Wonder, she only had one flight back. ( we then fly on to europe but will break the trip up with hotel nights). But she will like the idea of having a more relaxing island experience by staying on the island.
2. We have the placeholder so moving that to the new sailing is a no risk.
3. booking Princess has more risks.
4. Due to covid- air/land might bounce back first, so if I plan a land part, that actually might happen. Who knows what happens to Princess cruises in the near future or DCL.
5. Technically for hawaii we dont have to even do the cruise, but its a nice fun way to relax after landing in the states before we fly on to hawaii.

Questions:
1. WWYD
2. Driving from LA to San Diego, is this a PIA, traiffic horrible? I have driven in Chicago city traffic, Hear horror stories about LA, but I find also the I4 in Orlando crazy and I can handle that.
3. Ensenada: saw some youtube videos,, is this the Nassau of the west coast? I actually looked worse.. Is this place really that bad? maybe we stay on the boat.
4. Catalina island.. now those youtube videos looked nice... so this makes us lean to the 4 day cruise. Is that island really nice to walk around as those videos showed?
5. How do the Baja cruises compare feeling/crowd/ FE wise to the short Bahama sailings?

any other comments welcome! thanks!

 

[grx]

Just a couple of thoughts.

You might be able to change your existing air travel, lots of airlines are waiving change fees.

Overall, option 1 sounds clean, smooth and sane but Princess....

Option 2 doesn't seem crazy at all, and would be what I would choose to do.

However, I would suggest doing more research on your costs so that you know what to expect. I'd also drive down the night before embarkation day, LA to San Diego on the 5 isn't crazy but it very much has the potential to be and you would want to time it so that you are making the drive no where near rush hour.

Can't speak for Ensenada or Catalina, as it's been a couple decades since I've last been.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Ensenada is a meh destination.

 

[China Expat]

Catalina ia nice one day stop...three day cruises are just too short!

 

[braysmommy]

We were on Hawaii to Vancouver so feel your disappointment. I would pick option 2 since I personally wouldn't want to sail round trip to Hawaii since the Pacific can be rough. I do believe there might be a train option for LA to San Diego that you might want to look into.

 

[SamFaniam]

I like your second option, and it’s what I would do, but I do understand your concerns about your mom. One option you might consider for the beginning of your trip is flying into John Wayne, the airport closest to Disneyland, instead of LAX. You can spend a couple of nights enjoying Disneyland, and then take the train from Anaheim to San Diego. It cuts down on the driving option, and that route on Amtrak has really pretty scenery.

i’ve never been to Ensenada, and it’s been 20 years since I’ve been to Catalina. But we really enjoyed our day in Catalina.

 

[Quellman]

If you want to see Hawaii, go see Hawaii. Forget the cruise all together and spend more time in Paradise!

 

[mousefan73]

I like your second option, and it’s what I would do, but I do understand your concerns about your mom. One option you might consider for the beginning of your trip is flying into John Wayne, the airport closest to Disneyland, instead of LAX. You can spend a couple of nights enjoying Disneyland, and then take the train from Anaheim to San Diego. It cuts down on the driving option, and that route on Amtrak has really pretty scenery.

i’ve never been to Ensenada, and it’s been 20 years since I’ve been to Catalina. But we really enjoyed our day in Catalina.

thanks for the tips on Amtrak. I looked that up and it seems like a very viable option. It seems you are familiar with the area. When I google LA, Anaheim, Burbank, it all seems so conjested. Are these areas really that close and even easy to get around or is traffic very congested. One hears how LA area traffic is horrible. Normally I rent cars but if public transport and Amtrak are options, we gladly do that.

 

[SamFaniam]

thanks for the tips on Amtrak. I looked that up and it seems like a very viable option. It seems you are familiar with the area. When I google LA, Anaheim, Burbank, it all seems so conjested. Are these areas really that close and even easy to get around or is traffic very congested. One hears how LA area traffic is horrible. Normally I rent cars but if public transport and Amtrak are options, we gladly do that.

Not from that area at all, so my experience is only from visiting Southern California. When we took our last two trips to Disneyland, we flew into the John Wayne airport because it was so close to Disneyland. You can rent a car, but you could also just grab a cab or an Uber pretty easily. If all you’re interested in seeing is Disneyland, I don’t think it’s necessary to have a car. The trip before that we did have a rental car because we had gone to visit the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. Driving through Los Angeles to get to Anaheim was very tedious. On our most recent trip we did go down to San Diego on the train. There are multiple trains per day so you could decide when you wanted to go, and the station is right in Anaheim, less than a mile from Disneyland. One of the stations in San Diego is only a couple of blocks from the cruise terminal.

 

[mousefan73]

Not from that area at all, so my experience is only from visiting Southern California. When we took our last two trips to Disneyland, we flew into the John Wayne airport because it was so close to Disneyland. You can rent a car, but you could also just grab a cab or an Uber pretty easily. If all you’re interested in seeing is Disneyland, I don’t think it’s necessary to have a car. The trip before that we did have a rental car because we had gone to visit the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. Driving through Los Angeles to get to Anaheim was very tedious. On our most recent trip we did go down to San Diego on the train. There are multiple trains per day so you could decide when you wanted to go, and the station is right in Anaheim, less than a mile from Disneyland. One of the stations in San Diego is only a couple of blocks from the cruise terminal.

Sorry to bother again . We are from Europe so trains are easy for us. We will be flying into LAX for sure. Let’s say we are in Anaheim. How is that station with handling luggage? Escalators ? Elevators ? And is the walk from The station in San Diego walkable , even with luggage those few blocks.
I try to Google a train schedule but with Covid nothing is showing as normal plan or schedule. Would you personally risk taking one of the earlier trains the day of embarkation for a cruise ship? I googled train times from Anaheim to San Diego. theoretically it’s doable day of. we might be safe and come the evening before but I would rather have maybe a full day at Disneyland. I’m so glad I posted this thread as I’m really starting to get excited if we decide to do this. I spent two years planning my cancelled Disney Wonder to trip to Hawaii I guess I have a few months to plan this.

 

[mousefan73]

If you want to see Hawaii, go see Hawaii. Forget the cruise all together and spend more time in Paradise!
[/QUOTE
Very valid point. But I think deep down we also want to go on the Wonder. As we are flying in from Europe we need to plan one bigger trip.

 

[Quellman]

Very valid point. But I think deep down we also want to go on the Wonder. As we are flying in from Europe we need to plan one bigger trip.

Hey no problem! We all have to struggle and prioritize where and for how long we get to vacation. I hope you find exactly what you are looking for.

 

[hilarys]

Option 2: My crazy idea to combine a short Disney Wonder Baja Cruise and fly to Hawaii:
1. Fly into LAX stay one or two nights ( maybe DL)
2. Drive to San Diego on embarkation day.
3. Cruise Option 1: March 12th 3 night Baja (sea day and ensenada) 2468 Verandah
4. Cruise Option 2: March 15th 4 night Baja but with Catalina Island 2810 Verandah
5. Fly from SAN to OGG ( Maui) stay at least 2 or 3 nights)
6. Fly to HNL stay 2 or 3 nights.
7. Use are Hawiian tickets if they let us rebook to fly back to SFO
8. Stay one night SFO and then fly home.

[/QUOTE]

First, regarding your one-way flight on Hawaiian, I think you will be able to get this refunded if you want. We were supposed to be at Aulani last week and our return flight for half of our party was a one-way from HNL-SFO last Friday. It was the one flight a week between HNL and SFO that Hawaiian has kept running, and it was not going to be cancelled so we thought we would get stuck with a credit. We waited until a few days before the scheduled flight and called customer service and received a refund with no issue (they did say it may take one to two billing cycles to see the credit on our credit card).

Regarding your plan for next year, I would do option 2 with the 4 day Cruise because you would be able to make it a Disneyland- Disney Cruise and Hawaii trip all in one. All my favorites. But, it totally depends on the experience you want - the Princess Cruise/Option 1 will be more about relaxation and getting a taste of all the Hawaian islands. With option 2 you will be on the go a lot, but will get a much deeper experience of Maui and Oahu and the Wonder which is one of my fave Disney ships. Flying into John Wayne is awesome, but since you are coming from Europe you will probably need to come into LAX. I would fly to LAX and take a car service or Uber to Disneyland. From Disneyland you could leave early morning on embarkation day and either take the train (depending on schedule) or do a one day car rental from Disneyland. The drive from Anaheim to SD has the potential for heavy traffic but I think it is pretty straightforward. Take the 4 night cruise - more time on the ship and a chance to see Catalina. Stay 3 nights on Maui and 3 on Oahu. (or more if you can swing it). Rent a car on both islands as there is so much to explore.

We live in SF Bay Area and are frequent DL visitors and go to Hawaii about every 3 years, so happy to answer any other questions.

 

[hilarys]

One other thing to look into is flight times from SAN to OGG - mnay of the flights to Hawaii seem to leave in the morning - you would want to ideally align your flight time to be the same day as your return cruise date. The airport in SAN is very close to the cruise port, but still need to consider the timing of the Maui flight.

 

[hilarys]

deleted - duplicate post

 

[SamFaniam]

Sorry to bother again . We are from Europe so trains are easy for us. We will be flying into LAX for sure. Let’s say we are in Anaheim. How is that station with handling luggage? Escalators ? Elevators ? And is the walk from The station in San Diego walkable , even with luggage those few blocks.
I try to Google a train schedule but with Covid nothing is showing as normal plan or schedule. Would you personally risk taking one of the earlier trains the day of embarkation for a cruise ship? I googled train times from Anaheim to San Diego. theoretically it’s doable day of. we might be safe and come the evening before but I would rather have maybe a full day at Disneyland. I’m so glad I posted this thread as I’m really starting to get excited if we decide to do this. I spent two years planning my cancelled Disney Wonder to trip to Hawaii I guess I have a few months to plan this.

Once they get back to a regular schedule there will be four or five morning trains From Anaheim to San Diego. Only you can decide if you’re comfortable with that. Some people would say that’s fine go in the morning other people would recommend coming in the evening before. The area where the Anaheim Amtrak station is is flat, there is no luggage service but there are ramps to roll luggage. The area where the San Diego Amtrak station is is also flat. I do not recall if there are ramps, but I’m sure there are. It really is just a couple of blocks to the cruise terminal, but you could always grab a cab or an Uber if that made you more comfortable.

 

[hilarys]

deleted - posted twice

 

[tlynk]

I would personally do Option #2 for myself since I LOVE DCL and the Wonder. The 4 night would be nice, so you can see Catalina Island as well. Hawaii is beautiful, but combined with a cruise I would choose 1 island to focus on. I love both Oahu and Maui, so you can't go wrong either way.

However, option #1 might be more relaxing for a 70 year old depending on how active your mom is? I was booked on the 9N DCL Hawaiian sailing, but my DD begged us to go on a family DCL vacation with her instead (which ended up getting canceled).

My DH and I really wanted to take a cruise to Hawaii RT, so we booked the Grand Princess out of SF this past January/Feb. In hindsight, I think I would have preferred to fly directly to Hawaii like we usually do. We really wished we had more time in each Hawaiian port. We skipped Ensenada due to a medical emergency and got a waiver to bypass a foreign port which we didn't mind missing.

With this said- if you choose to go with Princess RT I'm sure you will still have a great time. We met lots of wonderful people, the cruise staff were amazing, we enjoyed the shows and LOVED not having to fly. If you want to get a taste of the islands this is the way to go, but be prepared for several sea days. On a Disney cruise- I enjoy having several sea days in a row, but with Princess not so much, but that is just me and there is no way to compare the two. Princess does have lots of pools to swim in or relax by if the weather is nice. I think you and your mom will have a great time no matter what you choose. If you go with Option #1 there are several online sites that focus on Hawaiian cruises specifically sailing with Princess. They offer lots of great tips for the ships and the Hawaiian island ports.

 

[MomOTwins]

I would pick Option 1 for two reasons.

Reason #1, simpler is just easier. In option 2 the drive down the california coast, the long flights both ways, shuttling around between the islands, lots of short stays where you have to partially unpack and repack suitcases before moving on.... it just sounds like wayy too much work and you won't really get a nice long chunk of time in one place to just relax and enjoy your vacation. Plus, I agree with you than ensenada looks meh.

Reason #2, we don't 100% know what will happen in the next year from Covid, but if it repeats its pattern on peaking in the winter/early spring and we don't have a vaccine widely available, you'd be running a risk of having to cancel again. Wayyyy easier to cancel and get refunds or credits on a single cruise and single roundtrip flights than all the little stays and flights in option 2.

 

[tlynk]

I would pick Option 1 for two reasons.

Reason #1, simpler is just easier. In option 2 the drive down the california coast, the long flights both ways, shuttling around between the islands, lots of short stays where you have to partially unpack and repack suitcases before moving on.... it just sounds like wayy too much work and you won't really get a nice long chunk of time in one place to just relax and enjoy your vacation. Plus, I agree with you than ensenada looks meh.

Reason #2, we don't 100% know what will happen in the next year from Covid, but if it repeats its pattern on peaking in the winter/early spring and we don't have a vaccine widely available, you'd be running a risk of having to cancel again. Wayyyy easier to cancel and get refunds or credits on a single cruise and single roundtrip flights than all the little stays and flights in option 2.

I agree with you 100%.