December 17th, 2006
Hawaii by Land or Sea?
Many people ask which is the better way to go with a package with air/room/car or a cruise around the islands. Well depends on the person and what you hope to accomplish on your trip. If you want a little taste of a bunch of islands, a day here, a day there, then hawaiian cruise is the way to go for you. Doing a day on each island by air/land package tends to get too costly and a big waste of time, considering you have to take a flight, of course showing up early for your flight as they are similar to continental US to hawaii flights, just because they are only half hour flights you still have to show up early. Get your baggage upon arrival, go get your car, make it to the hotel, check in then start your exploration. Where as on a hawaiian cruise you stay in your cabin, get off explore get back on the ship. No packing and unpacking your bags, no checking in and out of hotel rooms.
For those people looking to do all inclusive hawaii, then of course a cruise would be a way to go. When you sail aboard one of the many ships NCL offers for a hawaiian cruise , it is freestyle cruising. You eat whenever you want. All meals included. The only other way to really do an all inclusive hawaii package is to purchase a pre set package normally only departing once or twice a month, where as the hawaii cruises you can choose from any saturday, sunday or monday departure. The three ships sailing in hawaii are The Pride of Aloha, The Pride of America and The Pride of Hawaii. All ships are 7 day sails and all owned by NCL.
If you are looking for just one island then air/room package would be better for you. Some people don’t like boats, understandable, then do an air/room package. If you want to cruise but 7 days is just not long enough for you, we can help. We arrange pre or post cruise packages to give you a little extra time on your trip to do a little more exploring. The cruises depart and return to oahu. Most times the only time you will get to explore oahu is upon your return from the cruise til your flight leaves. Most flights out of hawaii are red eye flights allowing you that full last day. I recommend doing a pre cruise package with about 3 nights on oahu, taking the cruise for 7 days and then returning home upon your return from the cruise. Do oahu for 3 nights before the cruise, have time to discover pearl harbor, polynesian cultural center, catch a luau, maybe head out to east oahu for some snorkeling at hanauma bay or some water sports, then hop aboard your ship and sit back, relax and start your cruise.
For help choosing which way to do your hawaiian vacation give me a call, we can discuss what you are looking for and I can help you make an informative decision on how to do your trip. 1-800-843-8771 ext. 32