One of the fascinating things about this cruise is that it is based in Honolulu so your time spent on your 7 night cruise is 100% in Hawaii. No long days of travelling across the Pacific ocean on sea days.
The best way to start your Hawaiian cruise is a few pre-cruise nights in Waikiki Beach (which we can discuss in later posts). Once she’s set sail, you will overnight in Maui where you can spend 2 days exploring the “Valley Island” through rainforest hikes or strolls along one of many golden sand beaches. On our days in Maui we did both!
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| Ioa Needle in Ioa Valley |
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| Wailea Beach |
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| Baldwin Beach |
There is so much more to explore in Maui which is a great reason to go back and relive our experience on the Pride of America!
The next stop on the cruise was the Big Island of Hawaii. We had two stops on this, the youngest of the Hawaiian Islands. Our first stop – Hilo, home of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park where we explored the lava caves and watched the steam rise from the active volcano on the island.
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| Volcanoes National Park |
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| Lava Flow destruction in Lua Manu |
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| Walking through the Lava Tubes |
Day 5 of the cruise is spent on the opposite side of the Big Island in Kona, where we decided on a Beach Day, although there are numerous other activities to explore like snorkelling, exploring the history of the island, or for coffee lovers, learning about Kona Coffee on a tour of their coffee plantations. Trivia time: Hapuna Beach State Park in Kona is home of one of the annual Ironman competitions. This year the race is being held in early June!
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| Waikoloa Beach in Waikoloa Village |
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| Kailua Bay |
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| Pride of America anchored off the coast of Kailua-Kona. |
The last island on this 7 night adventure was Kauai, the Garden Island. I think this was our favourite of the islands for it’s lushness and spiritual reflections of redemption as we had just come from the barrenness of the lava fields in Kona to this…
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| Wailua Falls (Used in Fantasy Island opening) |
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| Kalalea Mountains (King Kong Face) |
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| Moloaa Bay Beach (Gilligan Island pilot filmed here) |
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| Hanalei Pier (Na’Pali coastline just ahead) |
The ship leaves Kauai around 2pm on the second day in port and starts to sail up the coast of the island towards the northern shore where we passed the magnificent Na’Pali Coastline. This rugged terrain is only visible by sea (as on the Pride of America) or by helicopter.
Now if you want to enjoy this breathtaking view aboard the Pride of America, May is a great month to do so. Norwegian has an amazing “Free @ Sea” promotion on currently.
This cruise is definitely one to check off your bucket list (or re-do on your list). Check it out and give me a call for more information!
~ Until next time… Your Vacation Dream Maker, Sue ~
Sue Hawkes - Vacation Dream Maker 