When to Cruise Hawaii

We are often asked about cruises to and around Hawaii. When do they sail? Where from? How long? How much?

Well Norwegian Cruise Lines is the only cruise line to operate roundtrip cruises every week from Honolulu to the Hawaiian Islands. Each sailing is for 7 nts. Other cruise lines in the spring and fall will operate longer sailings on one off dates to or from Vancouver, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. Those cruises tend to be 10 nts or longer in length.  

The trick to a cruise sailing roundtrip from Honolulu is getting there nonrev style and getting home. Hawaii is not the easiest place to nonrev at any time of year. Using a D1 or positive space pass is always a good option but also a costly one. Checking for airfare sales is an option as extra hotel nights, drinks and meals in Hawaii can rack up a pretty nice size bill quickly.

The cost of those extra nights before and after the cruise in Hawaii could offset the savings over buying a real ticket. If your airline offers you a discount on a real ticket to Hawaii, consider it, especially if there is an airfare sale going on.

Another option is to take a 14 night cruise from the west coast that sailing roundtrip from say LA or San Diego. The disadvantage is that several days are spent at sea getting to Hawaii and back. The other option is a one way repositioning cruise say from Vancouver to Honolulu. Then you are just dealing with nonreving home from Hawaii or take the Honolulu to Vancouver option and worry about getting to Hawaii.

These repositioning cruises typically take place in spring and fall when ships are moving to or from Alaska. The roundtrip sailings from the west coast are typically found in the winter season when ships are sailing the Caribbean, Mexixo, South America, Panama Canal and Australia.

Interline rates will vary on all Hawaii cruises. Rarely will you find a sale, although NCL does have one going now on their 7 night Hawaii cruises thru late September. It may or may not extend beyond the end of September. On the other sailings, interline rates are hit and miss as Hawaii is popular with the general public and those who prefer not to fly take the roundtrip west coast cruises a lot.

So check your flights, plan your plan B and plan C for getting to and from Hawaii. We have a page on the website for our members only where we list all of the current Hawaii cruise options, rates and how to book them. Just click here to see the list, but remember you have to be a member of our site to see the page. If you are not a member, sign up today!

And if you are looking at your hotel options in Hawaii, then check out our Hawaii Hotels page that lists all of the major hotel chains in Hawaii with the interline travel discount codes so you can book your hotel online in most cases.