Experience Cruise

Hawaii Cruise Guide

Year-round, week­long sail­ings on Nor­we­gian Cruise Line‘s Pride of Amer­ica em­bark from Hon­olu­lu and vis­it Maui, Kauai as well as Hi­lo and Kona on the Big Is­land. Each is­land of­fers dis­tinc­tive plea­sures, in­clud­ing stun­ning beach­es, lu­aus, surf­ing, trop­ical forests, cof­fee plan­ta­tions, hump­back whales, and vol­canic peaks (and even the chance to view a still-ac­tive vol­cano).

TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR: Experience Kaua’i on video

Small ship line Un-Cruise Adventures al­so offers cruis­es from Maui to more re­mote ports, from Febru­ary to April. These ships can do in­ner-Hawaii routes be­cause they are U.S. reg­is­tered. Un­der U.S. law non-U.S. registered ships must in­clude a port call out­side the coun­try, so oth­er cruise lines vis­it Hawaii on­ly on longer itineraries that in­clude Cana­da or Mex­ico. While fam­ilies sail in Hawaii at hol­iday times and in sum­mer, Hawai­ian cruis­es tend to at­tract more of an older adult crowd. The cruise sea­son is year-round.

Cruise to Hawaii if you…

Want a sam­ple plat­ter of all the is­lands. Want to in­dulge in such Hawai­ian ex­pe­ri­ences as surf­ing or at­tend­ing a lu­au.

Don’t go if you…

Want time to re­al­ly ex­plore one is­land. Are just look­ing to go to the beach.

–Fran Golden is the Experience Cruise expert blogger and a contributing editor of Porthole Magazine. She is the co-author of Frommer’s Alaska Cruises and Ports of Call.

Ports in this region:

• Honolulu Oahu
• Kauai
• Maui