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We are celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary this year and we were thinking of Hawaii as the place. We are looking at a flight out to Hawaii from NJ and we were considering a cruise then around the islands. Has any one done this or can offer suggestions? We are on a very medium fixed income but my wife has wanted to do this for a long time! We are both in our 60s now. Thank you Fred
It's certainly a long flight. I imagine you could get a decent flight/cruise price. I mean, if you've been wanting to do this for a long time, a 40th anniversary celebrations sounds like the time. I have been to Hawaii but not on a cruise, but have seen the prices and they look like a good deal. Congratulations on your anniversary celebration!
Hawaiian airlines flies direct from JFK to Honolulu.
There is a whole forum and subgroups for Hawai'i right here on city-data. Check it out. On that hawaii forum is a thread titled "help me plan my trip to Hawai'i ".
It's full of info for the island of Oahu, myself providing input too from my trips to Hawai'i.
Each major island has a subsection on the Hawai'i forum.
I've never done a cruise around the islands, but my aunt's did. The big bummer there is not really any time ON the islands, and the island excursions they do have, they really soak you on.
My OH and I will be making our next trip to Hawai'i...to Kauai...in 2020.
Good luck with your planning, you should enjoy the aloha spirit enough to want to go back!
Ps...we Don't skimp. I estimate our trip will cost $3k to $3,500. At a savings rate of just $20/week, It takes a little over 3 years to save to go!!!
When I went to Hawaii one February, I went from Boston to two days in San Francisco and then direct to the Big Island. I wanted those two days of wiggle room in case of bad weather, it being February and all.
Trip Advisor has great forums, as well as good resources that offer advice and information to travelers, planning trips to many different countries. I've used it and have never been disappointed in the depth of advice offered. Lonely Planet's Thorntree forums also have good information. People that respond are seasoned travelers as well as those who live/ work in the countries.
I recently did a 15 day Carnival cruise to Hawaii. You cruise out of Long Beach, CA. You visit 5 different islands and Mexico. You only get one day in each island but that may be enough as the islands are different. One plus is that the crowd tends to be in your age group for these longer cruises.
I know a couple of people who have done the cruise and of course, Hawaii is a really common destination for Australians. our friends enjoyed the cruise but they had a few days either side of it in Honolulu. They did not report any issues with the cruise.
We found Hawaii quite expensive last time we were there but we are having a few nights there in May on the way to Vancouver.
Our way of dealing with long flights is to use a quality airline, pay if needed for seat allocation, and often have a two or three night stop over to break the journey. Unfortunately from our end business class is really expensive and it is hard to use points so that is not an option for us. To the US or Europe the price difference is about $US10 000k for the two of us, return.
We have travelled a lot and I have to say the Hawaii is one of the most beautiful places we have ever visited. Maui is spectacular albeit the quality of the accomodation was disappointing for what we paid. Food was fine, weather variable.
What makes sense for you depends on how you like to travel and what you want to see. With a cruise, you will see a lot of boat and water and very little of the Islands.
If you want a low cost trip consider flying by Hawaii Airlines. Talk to them about the deals. My wife took out a HA credit card. She had to use it for a minimal amount of routine purchases and then we got one free round trip from NYC and another fare at a low rate. We used some Cap One points and the flights were virtually free. We stayed at Hilo which is quite low cost. We rented a car at a reasonable rate and saw the whole island. We went back again for the same trip the following year.
Of course if you want to stay on a sandy beach in a resort area hotel, you will have an entirely different experience and level of expense. I wanted to tour the island, see the lava flows, visit tropical and orchid gardens, waterfalls and the like.
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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WestCoaster (Oregon & Washington)here. When we did the Norwegian Cruise around the Islands, we had a grand time. We were already familiar with volcanoes, waterfalls, rainforests and deserts/canyons. If possible fly-in a few days early; early June or fall time-early December to avoid the tourist crush. Norwegian is the only cruise company that does the Islands because the Ship they use is predominately US crewed and US registered. All other cruise lines must have a foreign port on the itinerary because they are foreign flagged.
We noticed that the East Coast people had troubles with a 6 hour time zone change. We had some troubles with just a 3 hour time difference.
We noticed that the East Coast people had troubles with a 6 hour time zone change. We had some troubles with just a 3 hour time difference.
Its 5 hours difference daylight savings time as Hawai'i stays on its time year round. It's 6 hours difference on standard time. (For east coast time )
We don't have much trouble adjusting for 2 reasons, one, we go on "Hawai'i time" a week before we go, then the trip tends to be a bit exhausting due to long hours, so we tend to crash at about 9 pm after getting there and getting to our hotel. Which means we wake up "on time" for breakfast in Hawai'i.
Just my suggestions and experiences.
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