 The
best way to see more than one Hawaiian island is off of
either the S. S. Independence of American-Hawaii Cruises or
the Patriot from United States Lines.
Why?
First, consider airports, transfers, packing and unpacking.
It takes at least a couple of hours to pack and get to the
airport, half an hour or more to fly, and another hour or
two to get to a resort unpack and hit the beach. That's about five hours a transfer if the local airlines are
on time, luggage shows up, there's not thirty people all
checking in and the room is ready.
Cruise
and you get picked up at Honolulu Airport, or after
November, at Kahuli Airport on Maui.
Do realize that a couple of days pre-cruise stay at a
hotel is probably a good idea for the wired types who have
trouble relaxing. You're
met by a line representative, and luggage with cruise line
tags goes directly to your cabin.
Check in with the purser once, and you're set for a
week.
Granted,
Mark Twain called cruising, "Incarceration with the
certainty of seasickness and the possibility of
shipwreck." But he wasn't on today's large ships
cruising calm Hawaiian waters.
Incarceration doesn't apply as Saturday departures
and Sunday at sea, get you ashore early enough to enjoy
papaya and killer Portuguese breakfast sausages on deck as
you dock. Then it's time for shore until evening.
One island, usually Maui or Kauai offers a night and
parts of two days ashore.
Why
only mention two ships when so many offer
"Hawaiian" cruises?
Both the Patriot and S. S. Independence are
American-flagged ships that must meet higher than usual
United States Coast Guard and other regulations.
So they cost more to run.
Foreign-flagged ships that don't meet such high
standards can't cruise from United States Port to United
States Port without a stop at a foreign port. As a result, other "Hawaiian" cruises may start in
Vancouver, or San Diego with a stop in Mexico, etc. This means at least three days getting to Hawaii with no
shore time, and in the case of round-trips, may mean six
days sans shore and 10 to 14 days on board. Carnival and a
number of others offer cruises of this type. Unless you
adore cruising without shore activities, Caribbean, South
Pacific, South East Asian or European cruises would seem the
choice.
The
other advantage of cruises is the budget. If
you select shore excursions carefully you won't have to
spend much more than your cruise and tips -- $10 to $15 a
day. In
addition some cruises offer cheap air some times.
For example, United States Lines had $199 round trip
air from San Francisco, and most West Coast cities, and $499
from the East Coast -- fares obviously vary by season. Note that Hawaii is just as nice in the spring and fall. |
