We took a seven-day Pride of America cruise in Hawaii. This was a bucket list trip and it was truly amazing. Since the flight to Hawaii was long, we opted to arrive a few days early and stay in the Waikiki area of Honolulu. That gave us time to get used to the time zone. It also helped ensure we’d be on time for our cruise if we encountered any travel delays.

Having a few days to explore O’ahu was a great start to this adventure. We spent one day relaxing on Waikiki Beach and did an excursion to Pearl Harbor on another.

Our home base for O’ahu was the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort our home for three nights. It was an easy walk to the beach. With multiple hotels in the area, it’s easy to arrange excursions to other parts of the island.

Before we knew it, it was time to board the Pride of America. While it is an older ship, it was beautiful and well-maintained. We liked the American theming that was applied throughout the ship. The Pride does the same itinerary each week, visiting multiple islands. It is a wonderful way to get a sample of the islands. Each island is different so we thought this was a good way to do some exploration. Who knows, maybe we’ll be lucky enough to visit one of the islands again and be able to explore it with a bit more time to go deeper.

The first stop was Maui and this ship stayed overnight which gave us two days to explore. On our first day, we had time to explore on our own. There is a small beach that is a short walk from the ship. It was OK but we are glad we had an excursion booked. Later in the day, we visited Haleakala National Park where we got to experience the sunset. Words can’t describe how beautiful the experience was. But, it can get a bit chilly at altitude and after dark. Glad we packed a jacket and hat.

On the second day of our Maui stop, we opted for the Road to Hana. This is a winding road with interesting stops along the way. We saw Rainbow Eucalyptus trees, ate Malasada (Portuguese Donuts), and walked on a black sand beach. It was an amazing day. But, we are glad someone else was doing the driving. The day ended with a surprise as we got to see enormous sea turtles resting on the beach.

After Maui, we headed to the big island where we had the opportunity to visit two ports – Hilo and Kona. From Hilo, we took an excursion were we had the opportunity to walk on an active volcano. It was a challenging hike but well worth it for the amazing experience. The next day was Kona which was a tender port. That means we had to take a small boat to shore. We did a hike and then had time to explore the neat downtown area of Kona. It was a great place to try some tasty Hawaiian shave ice.

The last destination of this Hawaiian Islands cruise was Kauai. We tried a Luau. The Hawaiian food was tasty and the show was entertaining. The best part of our visit to Kauai, though, was taking the chance to explore on our own. We rented a convertible and headed out for a day of fun. We hiked along the amazing Waimea Canyon. Think of the Grand Canyon except lush and green. On our way back to the ship, we discovered Kauai Coffee where we got to see coffee growing. Of course, we had to bring some tasty beans home.

We wrote about our excursions and adventures in our post NCL Pride of America Excursions.

Before we knew it, the cruise part of our Hawaiian Islands vacation was over. But, instead of heading for home, we opted to stay for two more nights. How could we go to Hawaii without visiting Disney’s Aulani Resort. This beautiful resort property was the perfect end to our trip. The beach was wonderful and we enjoyed long walks through the Ko Olina area.

After experiencing this great adventure, we had learned so much. What to pack, where to stay, and what excursions were the best for our travel style. You might be planning a similar adventure, so we put together our Top 10 Hawaii Cruise Tips to help you plan your perfect trip to Hawaii. After creating our posts and videos from this trip, we had so many great questions that still needed answers. Based on questions from our YouTube viewers, we followed up with Your NCL Hawaiian Islands Cruise Questions where we tried answer the questions we had missed.

Of course, sometimes it can be easier to show rather than tell. That’s why we created a YouTube video series, too. Check out the Travel Trail Sail YouTube channel where you’ll find a Hawaii playlist with videos that match all the posts from this series.

We hope you find our Hawaii posts and videos helpful. If you’ve taken a similar trip, we’d love to hear all about it.

After our trip to Hawaii, we did our next bucket list trip to Alaska. If you are planning an Alaska trip, check out our Alaska series.