Advice for Hawaii Trip

A big consideration is which island or if you want to go to more than one island, how to get there. Travel between islands is not a simple thing for the most part.

They have posters here that know way more than I do and can give you much more specific advice.

I will probably get slayed for this on here, but we flew into Honolulu and hopped on a cruise ship for a week. We got to see four islands. Could do shore excursions to the beach on each island. We took the helicopter tour on Kauai over the Waimea Canyon and saw lots of waterfalls and the place where they filmed Jurassic Park, got to sail along the NaPali Coast, snorkled near Hanalei Bay, went hiking in the rainforest, etc.

At night we hopped back on our ship and ate lobster and caviar. We loved it. Somebody else "drove" us around and we weren't confined to one island. We got a balcony room so we got to see a lot of the islands sitting on our balcony drinking coffee.

Next time we are going to do the same thing in the South Pacific.

Thanks for replies so far. Helpful.

One thing I forgot to ask was what is the best time to visit there for weather considerations?

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if you visit The Big Island, night snorkel with the Manta Ray's, amazing experience.

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+100 for this recommendation

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the best time to visit there for weather considerations

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Most of the year has perfect weather on the dry side of the island.

I've been to all of the major islands. Our favorite is Kauai - the green isle. It's a tremendous place if you like the outdoors.

Maui is amazing. It's like the greatest hits of all the islands combined into one. The big drawback for Maui is the crowds. Traffic can come to a standstill there.

The big island is very cool but be prepared to spend time in a car. Many trips are 1-2 hours long. They do have the Manta Rays and volcanos though.

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Our favorite is Kauai - the green isle. It's a tremendous place if you like the outdoors.

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Would play to be there between 7-10 days most likely.

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You should pick two of the four main islands and divide your time between them.

It was NCL. We booked all our excursions through them. Kauai was the best - the helicopter tour (Blue Hawaii).

We didn't book any of the beach excursions because we have lived in Florida for 40 years and are sick of the beach.

Peruse the shore excursions on NCL site, then look at reviews on expedia.
This is how we knew to skip the luau. On that night the ship was empty and we opted to stay onboard because we had read that it was a cluster****. All those people came back bitching about how long the lines and waits were and how overrated it was. Meanwhile, on the ship, we went to a fabulous event of all cultures doing their native dances.

We like Norwegian because of freestyle dining. You can go whenever you want and sit by yourself. We ate every meal in fine dining. For breakfast, throw on a cute sundress. Same for lunch. At dinner, dress a little nicer, but no need to go formal. We love that. It has been several years since we cruised.

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Typically when we go to a beach, we want to stay at a hotel or place that has a pool and beach access and spend most of our time hanging out at the beach most of the day.

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Thats not really the best way to spend the day in Hawaii but your vacation is your vacation. You mentioned Pearl so Oahu would be on your itinerary so when you're there something near the Hilton Lagoon would be a nice fit.





Maui (Kehei spefically) is also a good spot for beach hanging and both Maui and Oahu offer other activities that are not incredibly demanding.

I am not one who thinks island hopping is a requirement to enjoy Hawaii, especially for a 7-10 day trip, There is PLENTY to do just on Oahu to fill 10 days especially if you plan to spend alot of time just sitting down and relaxing. Polynesian Cultural Center, Pearl Harbor, sunsets in the lagoons on the west side of the island, shark's cove, watching surfers on the north shore, aloha stadium swap meet, hanauma bay, diamond head, ala moana beach/park and ala moana shopping. Easy hikes like the lanaki pillbox, etc.






Check out The Ilikai on airbnb and VRBO for Oahu. They have studios for roughly $200/night which is great for a couple. They also have other larger units to fit different price points. It's walkable to the lagoon and the other more famous smaller hotels (Royal Hawaiin, Hilton Hawaiin Village, Halekalani, etc) and everything else on Waikiki beach.

We went to Hawaii last year for 8 days, with 4 days on Oahu and 4 days on Maui. It was not enough time to explore it all! If you plan to visit multiple islands, plan for 10 days. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Oahu, but there was so much to do on Oahu that we never had time to just lay on the beach there. I saw someone that recommended the Wailea area in Maui and I would definitely second that! We found a condo at the Wailea Ekahi Village and it was awesome! I'd also second the Road to Hana. You will need a rental car for both islands if you want to really explore them.

You could spend the whole week in Honolulu. Rent a car and go to the Dole Plantation, go hike Diamond Head crater, go to the North Shore and take out a boat trip, see Pearl Harbor, spend time of the beach, take in a lu'au, go thrift shopping around the old Rainbow Stadium, spend some time on the beach, listen to music on Sunday at Duke's.