The DW and I have also been thinking of going to Hawaii. Since we have never been there before we thought it might be a good idea to take a cruise so we could see all the islands the first time. If we were to go back we would have a better idea of where we would want to go. Has anyone taken a hawaiin cruise? What were your experiences?
I'm with Clif.
I've been on the Norwegian STAR and WIND voyages to Fanning Island (Kiribati) with side trips to the Big Island, Maui, and Kauai. (No Molokai or Lanai or Niihau cruises are available.) The ships had foreign crews and both were great but I haven't been on any of the newer American-flagged ships.
When we got to port, though, we rarely went ashore. You can really enjoy the ship's amenities when the other 2000+ passengers are being shuttled around the islands like herds of lemmings.
Which makes the shore excursions somewhat problematic. Most of the activities will only take place if they're fully booked, so there's zero chance of finding a half-full trip. They are all overpriced, some by as much as 2x as the price you'd pay if you scheduled your own. They all involve a tight schedule because the ship won't wait for you. (If you miss underway, the best the ship will do is fly you ahead to the next portcall. Maybe they'll even pay for it.) But having said that, if you find a rental car and do your own excursion then you might avoid the herds.
Some of the itineraries involve an overnight portcall (I think I saw Pride of Aloha do that in Kahului Maui). But again 2000+ passengers can overwhelm a small town and even cause gridlock. Our family doesn't enjoy being shuttled around the sights on a tour bus and we appreciated the ship more inport, so we never took a shore excursion. We usually walked to the beach or strolled a shopping center and took it easy, but we have the convenience of being able to "come back" anytime.
The American-flagged ship's crews took a lot of bad press the first year, but that's been out of the press for a long time. Maybe one of the cruise blogs has more recent info, but I think the complaint rate has come down to parity with the foreign crews. However the American crews still have high turnover so you may encounter many more amateurs and scheduling confusion.
IMO the best way to see Hawaii is to spend 7-10 days on Oahu and another 7-10 days on a neighbor island (I'd recommend Big Island for the volcano). If it can't be done in one trip then do it in two trips. That way you avoid the "%^&*, it's Tuesday so this must be @#$%ing Lahaina" syndrome...
Any advice, tips and suggestions would be appreciated regarding where to stay and things to do. We are both pretty active and love to walk, swim etc. also is there a place to rent motorcycles to run around the islands on. Thanks in advance
Mopeds? No problem. Motorcycles I'm not sure. The car-rental agencies might not want to touch you but you'll get the straight scoop by posting this question to HawaiiThreads.com for one of the bikers to answer. (And you'll get plenty of responses with your avatar!) Or if you want I can post the question and report back.
I gotta warn you that Hawaii has some of the nation's most unpredictably dangerous drivers, especially around motorcycles. Traffic does not move smoothly around here and ironically it's even worse during rain. When I was on active duty several shipmates were seriously injured and another dozen or so swore off riding in traffic. People don't hear your exhausts, don't check their mirrors, and don't look across intersections before randomly changing direction or even slamming on their brakes. Random brake lights and "sympathetic braking" are nasty problems here. But you'll see plenty of bikers around the North Shore and out on the Leeward coast.
It's hard to answer the "What to do in Hawaii?" question without knowing your preferences. If you have more questions after reading the links, especially the "101 Things To Do" list, post or PM me...
