Cruising to Hawaii.?

Question

I want to take a cruise around Hawaii, but I want to get the most out of my experience. I want to go around August, but so far the only cruiseline that has it that time of year is Norwegian cruise lines. For one, I'm not that big of a fan of NCL , but mostly because it's only a 7 day cruise. and to make the most of Hawaii you need more than 7 days. We were thinking of staying in a Hotel on Oahu for a few days before or after the cruise, but then that limits us to only experiencing the most of one island. I want to see the real Hawaii, not the tourist attractions. Are there any other cruise lines, maybe local ones that are longer? if not will the superferry be going to kaua'i? all i see on the website is Oahu and Maui. thanks for the help.

Answer 1

NCL spends the longest time in port of all the Hawaiian cruises.  There are longer Hawaiian cruises, but they start and/or end from the mainland.  Thus the reason they are longer is that they spend time between the mainland and Hawaii.  

If you want to spend a long time on each island, you are correct, and cruise is not the way to go.  Many people use a cruise to get a taste of each island, then they go back and visit the islands they want to spend more time at.

Answer 2

Why not consult a travel agent. there is no charge to you.  An agent would know a lot more details and have resources to get info on Hawaii cruises.   You may get a better price, and/or a better cruise going thru a travel agent.

Answer 3

A good site for cruises is with "Amazing Tours and Travel"

http://www.ytbtravel.com/amazingtoursand...

The only cruises around Hawaii in Aug are with NCL. There is however, a 12 day cruise with Carnival from Hawaii that departs in Oct 08.

Answer 4

You are not going to "get the most out of your experience" in Hawaii by taking a cruise.  You are going to waste most of your time on the boat, instead of spending the maximum time seeing Hawaii.  You certainly won't see anything besides tourist attractions if you take a cruise and just see the places where the boat drops you off for a few hours on each island.

I suggest you forget about the cruise and spend 3 nights on Oahu, 4 nights on Kauai, and 7 nights on Maui.  Rent a car on each island and get away from the tourist areas and explore.

The Hawaii SuperFerry only goes between Maui and Oahu, but there is no advantage to taking that ferry instead of just flying between the islands.

Lots of info about Hawaii cruises, sights, hotels, condos, activities, restaurants and more is at  

http://www.mauihawaii.org