So you’re thinking about Hawaii…

By Carol Watts, Co-Owner/Travel Planner
The Aloha Tower greets cruise passengers in Honolulu Harbor


We often have people ask us about Hawaii. Since it’s one of our favorite destinations, we are always happy to talk about what to see and do in Hawaii. As with many destinations, it helps to do a little research to determine what you want to do. There are so many different experiences and excursions in Hawaii, that it helps to decide if you want to see the cultural and historical Hawaii, the adventure side, like snorkeling with manta rays, the scenic side, like a helicopter or zodiak tour of the Na Pali coast on Kauai, the shopping side of Honolulu, or just want to get into the back country to see how “real Hawaiians” live.

Likewise there are several ways to travel and see Hawaii, and this choice might well depend on what you want to see and do once you get there. Let’s examine the different travel options and a cost comparison of them.

By far our favorite way to see the islands is to cruise both ways round trip from Los Angeles. We have done this trip 4 times, most recently last month on the Golden Princess. More about that trip next month. If you have the time, 2 weeks, this is the least expensive and most relaxing way to travel to Hawaii. (Some cruise lines offer a 10 day trip which involves one way air fare to or from the islands. ) On this 14 day cruise you have 4 sea days crossing the Pacific before landing in Hilo on the Big Island in the morning of the 5th day. This is the island with the active volcano, Volcano’s National Park, orchid farms, and Macadamia nuts. After a full day in Hawaii, you sail over night and arrive in Honolulu the next morning. The ship stays Hawaii’s capital city until late in the evening, allowing you plenty of time to go to an evening show or luau. The next stop if Kauai, the Garden Island, then finally Lahaina on Maui. Then it’s four more days back across the Pacific to the fifth and final port of call in Ensenada. Non-US registered ships sailing between US cities must make a call in a foreign country; this is because of the Jones Act, and you might recall that this same act prohibited foreign ships from assisting in the gulf oil spill clean up efforts.

The biggest objection to this cruise is the 8 sea days. But to us, that is part of the attraction. You have 4 days to relax and unwind before you hit the islands, touring every day, then 4 more days to relax and recuperate on the way home. And there is plenty to do on the ship to keep you occupied. More on that in my next article.

Price for an ocean view cabin for end of April beginning of May is $3783 for 2 people. This includes all your food and drinks, other than alcohol and carbonated beverages, and entertainment throughout the day and evenings.
Two people couldn’t stay in a hotel and eat out daily in Phoenix or San Diego for that amount!

The other cruise option is NCL’s 7 day cruise that just circles the islands. The cruise begins and ends in Honolulu, so if you want to see this city, you really need to go a few days before or after the cruise. This 7 day cruise prices out at approximately $2930 for 2 people in an ocean view cabin for the same time period as above. Additionally there is the cost of air fare, about $1369 for 2, plus additional hotel and meal costs if you want to spend any time in Honolulu. It’s worth mentioning that the 5 hour return flight from Honolulu is either an overnight flight arriving early a.m. after a change in a California airport, or if on Hawaiian airlines direct, it lands in Phoenix at 11:59 p.m. So why pay approximately $500 more for 7 fewer days and 2 long airplane flights?

The third option is to fly to Hawaii and spend a few days in a hotel. Unless you spend all your time on one island, flights to the other islands are an additional cost. Since the 14 day cruise that we are using as a base comparison spends only 4 days actually in Hawaii, one day in four different islands, lets compare a 4 night stay with airfare at a hotel on Maui. We usually book these type of vacations through Apple Vacations, since they have the best air and hotel combined discounts. So for 4 nights in a 3 star hotel and air the cost is approximately $2044 for 2 people. This does not include the cost of eating out, figure $150 per day for 2, and limits you to one island. And again you have the joy of a long flight. But if your time and budget are limited, this is the way to see Hawaii, or at least one island. But for the inconvenience of the air travel and the limitation of one location, I would take the cruise any day.

Think of a cruise to Hawaii as a sampler box of chocolates. You get to try different cities or islands, then decide which one you want to return to and spend more time exploring. Whatever your destination or type of travel, Cruise Port Travel can assist you to make the best choice for your desires and budget. Our first hand cruise ship and sightseeing excursion experience costs you no more than booking on the web.

Going for the Gold (Golden Princess) The second time.

If you go hungry, it's your own fault!

By Kelly Watts A.C.C.
We last sailed the Golden Princess in December of 2007, before dry dock and was less than happy, BUT in fairness when we had the chance to take the 14 night round trip Hawaii again we jumped at it. This was our fourth cruise round trip to Hawaii with the first two on Celebrity Summit and the last two on The Golden Princess. While this trip was better than the first their were still some “bumps” along the way, so I'll share both the good and not so good with you.

We arrived at LAX, (via Southwest Airlines, on time and nice people as usual) we had moved our flight up after all the press coverage of the new T.S.A. Security procedures in case of a delay. We arrived at Phoenix Sky Harbor, our departure airport, almost 3 hours ahead of flight time, however we were through check-in and security and at our gate in UNDER a ½ hour. No body scan, no pat downs, and actually some quite friendly T.S.A. Staff. OK, now on to the Princess portion of my review!

The Good:

Dining: You really get a feel for a ship and how it is run on a 14 night cruise, and the outstanding things in my mind about “The Golden” includes our Waiter Rico and Jr Waiter Adam. Without a doubt this one one of the best combinations I have ever seen on a ship. Even though we had Anytime Dining, we sat 13 of the 14 nights at their table with basically the same table mates. Both Rico and Adam went out of their way to make our dining experience enjoyable. Little things like giving me a chair with no arms, without asking for it after the first night, making sure out water glasses never went dry, answering questions about the menu items, and their interaction really set them apart. I might also point out that we were served lunch by a waiter named John in the dining room, was was also very good. I felt on this cruise that Princess has really gotten it right with food. The menu had a good variety, with alternate choices to the main menu. This is great for me as I do not care for fish (except seafood) or fowl. The prime rib and Fettuccine Alfredo were outstanding and even mashed potatoes were good. Breakfast and lunch were split between the Donatello Dining Room and the Horizon Court Buffet. In most cases the offerings were very good there as well with a good selection. I did also get a hamburger twice and pizza once from the Trident Grill and Prego (strange name) Pizzeria, both offerings were served quickly and were good.

Stateroom: We opted for a “partially obstructed” Ocean view state room and were pleasantly surprised to find the the obstruction was less than 25%. The beds were comfortable, the room clean with everything in good condition. The bathroom was as usual SMALL, I wish Princess would change to hand showers with the size of the shower stall it would make rinsing much easier! As a side note, I noticed mattresses being offloaded at Los Angeles both coming and going which leads me to believe that Princess runs an ongoing replacement of them. Our state room attendant Jun did a fine job, although we never saw much of him, but towels were replaced, trash emptied, beds made and turned down and ice bucket filled in a timely manner. Princess is one of the many cruise lines who have started using a Duvet instead of more traditional bedding. After the first night I asked our stateroom attendant to change my bedding to a sheet and blanket, which he did.

Enrichment series: The Scholarship@Sea series with Rachel Dunham was excellent. Rachel is a 23 year old lady who does a great presentation on a variety of topics. Also on board was Historian Gary Shahan, a retired history teacher, with a series of talks about battles of the Pacific and of early settlers heading West. One exceptional program was his Route 66 talk, lots of great memories. I had a chance to talk with both and found them to be very nice persons very interested in my opinion of their presentations. (BTW I was on stage once during one of Rachel's talks and played a Barnacle, I think it matches my personality well)

Entertainment: the Princess Production shows for the most part were good with extremely talented singers and dancers and orchestra. I did not see the British Invasion show on the ship as I had seen it before and felt it was a bit weak, an opinion that several people I talked with shared. The guest artists were generally good with Comedian Dan Bennett and Singer Tony Pace being the best of the single acts. The Halau Hula Olana Show features local dancers (age 5 to 16) from Honolulu, this is the third time I have seen this show and the kids really work hard and are a delight!

The “Not So Good”:

Embarkation: Being Elite status we took advantage of the special Elite Class line at check in and were through that very quickly, however the line to board was LONG as there was only one gangway being used. I am guessing boarding meant probably 30 minutes in line. Dis-embarkation was not extremely well organized, we could have waited in the Bernini dining Room, but that would have meant fighting for an elevator as I don't do stairs well, especially with luggage, but instead chose the Explorers Lounge. When the time to dis-embark came, we were lead to the forward gangway. That meant that we had to walk nearly the full length of the ship to Customs. Again the lines were long and that probably took over 30 minutes till we were at the luggage area.

The Ship: The Golden was in dry dock in 2009, and several major changes were made one of which was the addition of the Piazza. This area was nice, but seating was limited for the events they had there. I'll have more to say about the ship later.

Princess C.R.U.I.S.E. Policy: This is a standard set for staff and training by Princess but to me it is not being enforced. One policy is that English ONLY is to be spoken in public area's by crew, as usual I heard HUNDREDS of violations of this policy. Another factor of the training is “never say no, find a way. One asst head waiter and I about came to terms as he told me “I am too busy to help you.” when I requested to make reservations for the following night. Another incident occurred when I complained about the temperature of the water in the Calypso Pool to a group of Deck Attendants who brushed off my comments and made me feel that they felt I was an IDIOT. On this one I filed a complaint! They tried to tell me that that pool was 80 degrees, if I had to guess it was more like 60.

Entertainment: I felt I had to also make some comments here as well, I do not care for most of the comedians today as they tend to be R rated and even the “PG” rated comedians do some in-appropriate humor. I heard several passengers comment that they were surprised at the language used. The ventriloquist Dan Horn was fair, but had a very annoying laugh, and the audio in the Vista lounge was way too loud that accentuated his laugh. As I have said in other postings, there are a LOT of good entertainers from the 50's and 60's who have large followings that are looking for “gigs” and would be more in line with the age of the guests on many cruises. Princess and the other lines need to examine their pool of entertainers and weed out the bad ones. My opinion of the Princess “Movies Under The Stars” is still not completely formed as I only saw a couple of things on the screen. The quality of the picture is good, but the audio for a large part of the cruise had a very loud hum. Being an old audio guy I am pretty sure they had a bad ground. Most days it was too hot and evenings too rough to watch movies, so I'll reserve any further opinion till I see another one.

The BAD:
The ship: With all the money that Princess spent on the Golden during dry dock I was surprised of the things that did not work properly the most prevalent being the elevators. They were extremely slow, doors slow in opening and closing and they seemed to bypass floors on a regular basis as if they were possessed. In addition the elevators were always uncomfortably warm and several smelled of lube. Most days at least one or two were out of service for most of the day. The A/C in our cabin was at best, POOR. I recently bought a neat little travel alarm unit that displays the temperature, the entire cruise the cabin NEVER got below 69 degrees and most days was in the mid 70's, and that was keeping the drapes closed. I reported it to maintenance twice both times they came, plugged in their laptop to the thermostat, and “made some adjustments to the airflow.” Regardless of that the hall way in our section of the ship was cooler than the stateroom.

The Princess Theater did not appear to have had any upgrades at all. The seats are small with aisle seats uncomfortably close to the hand rails. In general the temperature was un comfortable. To get any seat you needed to be there at least 30 to 45 minutes early, I think that maybe Princess needs to consider passing out tickets for the shows as I saw many people standing in the aisles or sitting on the steps both un-safe. The Vista Lounge is more comfortable, but with the way it is laid out unless you sit in the first few rows your view of the stage is limited. Again shows there were crowded and I feel tickets should be used to assure seating.

The Cruise Director: On most cruises the Cruise Director is high profile and while they are usually a bit over the top for me, I understand the tough job they have. This cruise the Director was David Bradshawe, I was not impressed with him at all. During the welcome on board presentation the term “as well” seemed to be his fall back line. After a while I began to count the number of times he said it and in one approx 3 minute period it was 15 times! Anytime I mentioned him after that, I referred to him as “Mr. As Well.” The rest of the cruise he was low profile, I am guessing he may have been sick as I only saw him at trivia once and seldom heard him on the daily announcements. I heard that he was subbing for the regular Golden Cruise Director who was on vacation, maybe that explains why he appeared to be so uncomfortable on stage.

The voyage: The itinerary was very good, too bad the outdated “Jones Act” makes it a requirement to stop in Ensenada, as another day in the islands would be nice. The crossing was rough five out of eight days. I wonder if the Golden's design makes it rough as I did not experience such conditions on Celebrity Summit. I also wonder if speed was a factor as we were making 21 knots on those rough days and, to me, I felt it caused more motion in comparison to similar sea conditions I have experienced..

Synopsis: If I had to give a letter score to this cruise it would be a “B”. Of the three Princess ships I've been on, Coral, Sapphire, and Golden this is definitely in third place over all. Would I sail the Golden again? Maybe, but probably not to Hawaii. Will I sail Princess again? Yes, I do feel that for the most part they are a good cruise line but do suffer from some consistency problems.