The Facts About Hawaii Vacation Cruises

Hawaii vacation cruises are perhaps the best option for the first-time visitor to this tropical island paradise. A cruise around Hawaii is an excellent way to spend your vacation and see all of the different islands of the state. In this article, I will discuss some of the benefits as well as some of the drawbacks that are involved with this type of vacation.

One of the neat things about Hawaii is how it is laid out geographically. On this type of vacation cruise, you will usually be able to visit each one of the main islands. This will give you a variety of different taste the each island has to offer. It's perfect for the person who is having trouble deciding which island they want to visit when they go to vacation in Hawaii.

Of course, while many people may view this as an advantage, some people view this as a disadvantage. For them, they want to plan their vacation so they spend a majority of their time on only one island. This is usually the case for those vacationers that have experienced Hawaii excursions in the past. They have already had a taste of each of the main islands, and they have found their own favorite. However, for the first-time visitor, the ability to sample each island in the Aloha State makes Hawaii vacation cruises a very excellent option.

Additionally, most cruises to Hawaii will be all-inclusive. This means that the meals will be provided to you on the ship. This is no small point, because Hawaii dinners are extremely tasty and many people come back from their experience talking more about the food than everything else. Most vacation packages offer five course meals as part of their all-inclusive package.

There's much more to a cruise then the food and scenery. There is also entertainment onboard the ship. This will include dancing, gambling, games, and other forms of entertainment. You can familiarize yourself with your options by looking at different cruise packages to get a better idea of the entertainment available to you.

If you're interested in booking a Hawaii vacation cruise, I would suggest that you visit a variety of different websites on the Internet to get an idea of the different packages that are available. While you are there, you can do some price comparison shopping to locate your best deal.

Hawaii cruises repositioning

Because Hawaii is one of the most popular tourist destinations for Americans, you would think that there would be plenty of cruises from the west coast of the U.S. to the Hawaiian Islands. You'd be wrong. A maritime law passed in 1920 to protect U.S. shipping interests makes it very difficult.

The law - commonly known as the Jones Act - prevents foreign cruise ships from boarding passengers in one U.S. port and letting them disembark in another unless they visit a foreign country at some time during their voyage. Since the only two foreign countries anywhere near the U.S. and Hawaii are Canada and Mexico, that really limits the options.

With so many U.S. cruise lines, you may be wondering how this applies to them. The answer is that to save money, all U.S. cruise lines - except one - register their ships in other countries, such as the Bahamas.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) believed that the market for Hawaii cruises was big enough to offset the added expense of registering their Pride of America in the U.S. And today, it's the only U.S.-flagged cruise ship. They also had to hire U.S. staff and crew, which were more expensive than foreign crew.

All the other cruise ships that let passengers travel one way to Hawaii start their Hawaii cruises in Vancouver, British Columbia, in order to comply with the Jones Act.

Carnival, Princess, and Royal Caribbean all have repositioning cruises from Vancouver to Hawaii at the end of the Alaska cruising season.

Cruising is a good way to see Hawaii because the distances between the ports is short, so you can visit several different islands in a few days - without ever having to get on an airplane. There's plenty of time ashore and in many cases the ships overnight in port, which lets you go to a luau or other evening activity ashore. Plus, the scenery from the ship is almost always amazing as you glide through the island chain.

You'll need to arrange a one-way ticket from Honolulu back to your home city, but at press time, one-way tickets to Los Angeles were less than $250.

It usually takes five or six days to sail from Vancouver to the Hawaiian Islands, so these cruises aren't a great choice for those who don't enjoy days at sea or are prone to seasickness. Thanks to the leisurely journey, you'll arrive in the islands rested and rearing to go.

The 2,667-passenger Carnival Spirit arrives at Kona on the Big Island first, then calls at the island of Kauai and Hilo, also on the Big Island. Passengers have an overnight on board the ship in Kahului, Maui, and in Honolulu.

The much smaller - 710 passengers - Royal Princess visits Hilo and then goes to Lahaina on Maui and Kauai. Travelers can leave the ship in Honolulu or stay aboard and sail to Papeete, calling at Bora Bora, Raiatea, and Moorea en route.

Rhapsody of the Seas, Royal Caribbean's 2,500-passenger floating resort, sails past the Big Island at night so passengers can see molten lava spewing out of Kilauea Volcano. Cruisers spend a day each in Hilo, Kona, and Kauai, and have overnights on the ship in Lahaina and Honolulu.

When you consider that the cruise fare includes transportation, meals, and your accommodations in Hawaii, a repositioning cruise can be a better deal than an air and hotel package.

Cruises to Hawaii - Saving Money Tips

Once considered a luxury cruise to Hawaii is more affordable than ever. Since there are so many sites offer cost comparisons on the Hawaiian cruise packages, cruise lines are the high level of competitiveness that has led travelers to offer lower prices than theirs. And find the best prices for cruises to Hawaii for a firm may use a simple. travel agents specializing in cruises to Hawaii are some simpleHelpful information to save time and money.

1. You can buy last minute, and you should. Travelers often take for granted that they will need their tickets months in advance to be used to make the best offers on the market. But this is not necessarily true. Many shipping companies reduced prices of facing a flood of cars that are facing have not been able to sell.

2. Check out Web sites such as Orbitz or Travelocity to compare rates of strokeCruises are for the lowest prices. Discount Cruises on "Last Minute" page. The deal will be listed there, as for all cruises at a discount, identical packages sold directly by shipping companies. The purchase of reserve here dollars in his pocket.

3. Consolidator packages, save up to 80% on cruises to Hawaii. Are you looking for web sites operated by cruise consolidators. These companies purchase unwanted cruises from cruise lines with steep discounts.Then give those savings to you, the customer. So if you're willing to wait a bit 'to buy tickets, you can save a bundle.

4. Consider relocation cruises. cruise lines sometimes have a ship to another port to move. Since the movement is a necessity, or a shipment of the package at a great discount is for sale. Many times, visit these routes usually are not announced. This move can be quite an adventure cruise, and all are at a competitive price.

InClosing a true story that tells you how much money you can save on these suggestions. While planning their honeymoon in Hawaii, Lisa Winters and Jerry realized that they could go to regular price for seven-day cruises to a wedding in Hawaii, or skip to steeply discounted luxury travel the 21 days'. With the purchase of a relocation of cruise consolidators have realized a savings of about 85 percent, giving it the honeymoon of their dreams.