Hawaii Cruise Reviews

The Ruby Princess cruise director and staff were the best and really made this cruise exciting and fun. They always had something funny to say during the bingo and trivia game events etc. that keep us laughing. The shows at night were all excellent including their major production events. The singers, impressionists and comedians were top notch. There was always a wide variety of events going on all the time.......there was something interesting for everyone all time. Our stateroom was very good overall. We had a kind hard-working room stewardess who kept it fresh and clean. The food overall was fair-good....similar dishes were served most of the time...the variety could have been better. The ship was always a bit too cold particularly in the lounges and dining areas. But overall, we had a great time and we would sail with Princess again.

The cruise in itself was great, but the food in the dining room leaves a lot to be desired.  

Such an elaborate description of the dish but the taste, spices, food in itself was not to my taste with the exception of a few dishes that I considered good. 

The service at the dining room was great. 

Crown Grill and Sabatini, good food and great service. 

The Buffet was good too and I preferred it to the dining room. 

Several issues with the bathrooms around the ship was also an issue,  Overflowing and with flushing issue.   Fawcets in public restrooms also not working, if there was 3, only one worked. 

Internet very slow and almost impossible at times.   I purchased 600 minutes and was given additional 80 because it was prepaid and I am glad I did, because the speed ate up lots of minutes. 

In general the cruise was good. 

The crew was super! The buffet was great and the dining room food was barely OK (not the NCL I remember). Rent a car if possible (they all pick-up at the cruise ship) all of the ports are basically dumpy except Kona and a car is needed. Parking is available at each port except for Oahu. Cars are much cheaper to for island touring than shore excursions. Limited things to do on the ship- no casino or gambling, including cash prize bingo due to the ship being in US waters. The shows were OK. Very very busy cruise as you are in port everyday. Walmart or Kmart also ran shuttle in both Maui and Kauai if you need to pick up a few things.  

enjoyed the cruise.  It was a bit rocky at times, other than that the islands were beautiful!!  enjoyed the food in the skyline dining room the best and the lounge in the back of the boat. 

We have been on 20+ cruises on over 5 different cruise lines, so I consider myself a bit of a connoisseur. I have also been to Hawaii and lived there for a time, visiting most of the islands.  However, my daughter, who is now 8, has never been.  So this was her chance to get a taste of what Hawaii is all about.  The boat is slightly smaller so it can get into the smaller ports.  That means only one pool on board.  But this cruise is meant for you to be getting out and taking shore excursions and seeing the sights.  Speaking of which, I would recommend at least having a VERY good idea of which excursions you want before boarding if not booking them ahead of time.  They fill up FAST!

The food on board is very good.  Not just phenomenal, but very good.  I would recommend trying the main dining room.  It is every bit as good as the specialty restaurants.

Celebrity offers a consistent quality that we appreciate.  There were a couple of bumps in the road.   We stayed in the concierge class on the 12th floor, one floor below the dining room almost all the way to the back of the ship and every morning at 5am the noise started as they prepared for breakfast.  We complained and Celebrity gave us some credit toward a future cruise.  5 days at sea at the start of the trip turned out to be a little long for our liking and the weather was very cool the first two days at sea, which apparently is normal for this cruise at this time of year.  We look forward to our next Celebrity cruise.

We sailed from Vancouver around the Hawaiian Islands then to San Diego on the Zaandam.  It was a great cruise, smooth sailing, wonderful food and super entertainment.  The staff is so accommodating and friendly.  There was no pushing of drinks or photos and the CD, Linda had a good personality.  The  long sea days gave us plenty of time to really get to know people on board.  We had a great Hawaiian culture group with us on our first 5 sea days.  The crafts, music and dancing lesson put us in the aloha spirit.  The overnight in Oahu gave us time for evening activities too.  The weather was great too.

You would have thought your were going to some 5star New York City restaurant by the way the restaurants host treated you.  They were rude and made you felt like you were doing them a favor by coming to their sit down restaurant.  Really its just food off the buffet served at your table. Deserts were horrible.

Great way to relaxed and enjoy the different activities for the first 5 days.When you get to the Islands you are ready to go. There was enough activities to do what ever you wanted. Learning about the history of Hawaii and the islands help when you got. there. The staff on the ship where friendly and helpful. The food in the dining room and lido deck was excellent. We had great waiters, and our room steward was great. Great entertainment.

No early wake ups, no traffic to deal with, no work load stress, no meal planning, no dishes to do, and you don't even have to make up the bed for 15 days.  Princess Star had the best service we have ever experienced.  Five days to get there was awesome in getting into vacation mode.  Five days of islands to enjoy went so fast we wished we had planned a little better to see more, but the beauty of these islands is everything we hoped for.  We had dinner every day with the same six other guest which we became close to as we got to enjoy them and their activities shared daily. Five days coming home was not as nice and we and many others became ill on board.  I believe 15 days is very much needed to come back new, refreshed, satisfied, and spoiled.

Cruise overall was good, However the tour packages were mediocre.  The one tour of Kona was given by a local named Warren who was not very professional, loud and failed to give much information.  He annoyingly kept laughing at his jokes the whole 3-1/2 hours.  This greatly put a damper on the trip.  Also, at Kona,  we waited 1-1/2 hours to get the tour bus from the time we were asked to meet in the theatre because of insufficient/very slow tenders,  We wasted a lot of time with getting to the dock when we only had 8 hours at port. One other thing, we had to argue with Carnival after we requested an early dining time at time of booking.  When we got on board, they were able to make accommodations for us. Entertainment was mediocre to poor.

We had a great trip and experience with Carnival on our 10 day Hawaii cruise.

especially liking their ports of call. the crew was amazing, meals good and went very smooth

This ship is smaller then some but I loved that the rooms are all balcony rooms.  The staff was wonderful.  Food good.  Carnival is very proactive in making sure all beverages are purchased from them.  We found out 5 days in that they sell a 12 pack of bottled water for $3, so check that out in the beginning.  The bottled water in your stateroom is almost $5 for one bottle. 

There was nothing overly special about this cruise except for the fact that it goes to Hawaii. Not enough activities offered during the sea days. Lack of commitment to the Hawaiian theme. Expect to make your own entertainment if you are under the age of 60 because nothing offered will be of much interest. 

The officials doing the screening at the port of Hilo treated us like we were unwanted. My first experience when getting off the ship was angry stares by the officials as we left the port. When we returned at the end of the day,  they yelled at me for not placing my sunglasses in a bin on the conveyor belt. I had put them into my hat instead which I placed on the belt. They justified their actions by saying I would have yelled at them later for breaking my glasses. There was no need to yell and be rude. They seem like they hate their jobs. All had bad attitudes. The cruise line needs to persuade the port management to train their workers. Their negative actions impact the experience of the passengers. This memory is still disturbing.

First time to Hawaii, This was a great way to see it.  It was almost perfect. We have cruised a lot but this was the first time with Norwegian. Before you spend time looking they are the only ones with a route anywhere near this good. Things you need to know. The ship is the only US flag ship in the Norwegian fleet, and operates different then other Norwegian cruses. There is No Casino on this ship, it never leaves U.S. waters, and since the distance between the Islands are not far the ship travels very slowly. With out a doubt the roughest ride of any cruise we have been on, good news is you spend most of your time on the islands and very little time on ship. Another good point is since you are "in the states" you almost always have phone and internet reception at normal prices. The main dining room and buffet were ok, not equal to other cruses we have been on, however the specialty restaurants we Amazing and well worth the small upcharge. The ship is smaller and has less shops and entertainment then most, but the main attraction is the islands and your shore time is longer than on most cruises. The Crew, Staff and Servers all top notch and take very good care of you. When on Kauai you have to do the Tubing Trip one of the best excursions I have ever done on any cruise.

The staff were wonderful and friendly the Itinerary was excellent. We will do this cruise again! The food was awesome and our cabin was great on the 11th deck I would recommend a high deck for a great view of the Napli coast.

All I can say is cruising the Hawaiian Isles is True Paradise.  The crew, staff and officers were beyond the best.  Very helpful, warm, welcoming and accomodating

The cruise was wonderful from beginning to end. All of the staff and crew were very polite and friendly. They were always willing to help and did anything we asked. The ship was very clean. We had the Ultimate Dining Experience and now we are spoiled to that experience. The food was outstanding. The steak and lobster were both very delicious. All of the entertainment was excellent. There was always plenty to do and see. We would highly recommend this cruise as the best way to see Hawaii.

We just took the 7 night cruise to the 4 Hawaii islands with Norwegian cruise lines. This was through Cheap Cruise.com and we really enjoyed the cruise,  we loved the open meals where you could go when you wanted to and set with anyone you wanted to.  We took several  excursions through .,com (Roberts of Hawaii) which were cheaper and enjoyed them more then the excursion we took with Norwegian (which was more expensive)  Roberts of Hawaii had much more room and were nicer buses then Norwegian,