Hawaii’s volcanoes national Park is a once in a lifetime experience and must be included in your Hawaiian Cruise Itinerary. It is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Hawaii. The park is located on Hawaii’s “Big Island” and was originally established in 1916. The volcanoes national park consists approximately of 1348 km² of land and offers tourists a range of amazing landscapes from sea level to the summit of the world’s largest volcano “Mauna Loa”. It is also home to the world’s most active volcano “Kilauea”.

The volcanoes national park encompasses hundreds of thousands of years of volcanic activity and provides an insight into the creation and evolution of the Hawaiian Islands and their ecosystems.

There are a number of activities available in the volcanoes national park ranging from scenic drives, hiking, camping and a number of ranger led tours. For an excellent day trip don’t miss the scenic drive along Crater Rim drive which will provide stunning views of some extreme volcanic landscapes. Be sure to drop into the Kilauea visitor centre to get more information regarding sights and tours within the volcano park. Alternatively your hawaiian island crew should be able to point you in the right direction.

Lava Flowing into the ocean at Hawaii’s Volcanoes National Park

Another top rated tourist attraction popular with hawaiian cruise travellers is Diamond Head on the island of Oahu.

Diamond Head is widely recognised as the symbol of Hawaii and it’s most well known landmark. It is commonly known in Hawaiian as Le’ahi, which translates to “Brow (le) of the tuna (‘ahi)”. Named because of it’s resemblance of the forehead of a yellow fin tuna, visible from its western appearance. It’s more familiar name came from 19th Century British sailors who mistook calcite or basic crystals located in the soil for diamonds.

Diamond Head is a now dormant volcanic crater known as the Diamond Head crater. The crater is famous for it’s particular section and apperance from the beaches of Waikiki (especially at sunset). Those keen enough to hike to the summit will get a stunning view over Oahu and the city of Honolulu. Be shore to take a flash light to help you navigate through the many tunnels and passageways.

Diamond Head is located on Diamond Head Rd, east of Waikiki, Honolulu on the Island of Oahu. Definitely mark this down on your Hawaiian Cruise Itinerary.

Diamond Head, Oahu

While in port on your Hawaiian cruise, be sure to check out the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.

The 7^th of December 1941 marks a day that will live in the minds of Americans and people worldwide forever. It is he day that the US fleet was surprise attacked by the Japanese, crippling its naval fleet. This day would only mark the beginning of the hostilities that followed between the US and Japanese.

Located North of Honolulu on the island of Oahu, the memorial commemorates the fallen men and women of the pearl harbour bombing. You can take a tour of the visitor centre, which is located above the sunken USS Arizona and find out more about what happened on this day.

This is an experience and is one of Hawaii’s most popular tourist attractions and a must do on your Hawaiian Cruise itinerary.

The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor

The  courses you will come across on your Hawaiian golf cruise are rated as some of the most beautiful golf courses in the world. Many of them are world class courses catering for golfers of all experience levels. Many of the Hawaiian golf courses rank among the Golf Digest’s Top 100 Courses You Can Play.

On your Hawaiian golf cruise you will have the selection of several Hawaiian golf courses spread over the four islands of Hawaii, Kauai, Maui and Oahu. Below are just a few of the most popular courses to get your mouth watering.

Poipu Bay Golf Course, Kauai. Poipu Bay Golf Course is probably Hawaii’s most popular golf course and a must play. The course has been intricately inscribed along the cliffs of Kauai Island. The Poipu Bay Golf Course hosted the PGS Grand Slam event for a spectacular 13 consecutive years featuring some of the biggest names to walk its fairways. The challenging Poipu Bay Golf Course has some exciting high tech services such as the in-cart satellite navigation system, which shows your exact distance to the hole and pin placement.

Princeville Course, Kauai. The Princeville at Hanalei Prince Course is one of America’s top golf courses. The prince course was named as Golf Digest’s Golf Digest number 1 golf course in the State of Hawaii. Golf Digest also rated it Number 5 of the Top 75 Resort Courses in the world, and Number 66 of “America’s 100 Greatest Courses”.

Makaha Resort & Golf Club, Oahu. The course is renowned as Oahu’s number 1 golf course as rated by Honolulu Magazine. Makaha Resort & Golf Club is a hidden secret. It enjoys a serene location, nestled between the surrounding Waianae Mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The resort offers holiday makers with amenities such as the world class 18-hole golf course, pro-shop, swimming pool, corporate meeting rooms, banquet facilities, restaurant and many other features.

So combine the best of both worlds and take a Hawaiian Golf Cruise Today!

Norwegian Cruise Line is the major operator of dedicated inter-island Hawaiian cruises and they offer a dedicated Hawaiian golf cruise on their ships the pride of America and pride of aloha. NCL have included some great features to make your Hawaiian golf cruise even more enjoyable. NCL will look after all aspects from advanced tee booking, transport, lessons, equipment and player pairing. NCL also offer a range of club hire options so you can use the same set of clubs for the duration of the cruise. Alternatively guests who bring their own clubs will automatically be enrolled in NCL’s Club Valet program. The Valet service includes secure storage of clubs, daily club cleaning, and daily delivery to the pier and re-storage everyday that you play. This service comes at a fee of $40.

NCL primarily operates 7 day Hawaiian golf cruises departing from Honolulu.

Could you imagine playing a round of golf amongst the palm trees, with endless ocean views from ocean cliffs, a light summer breeze and the sound of waves in the background? Hawaii has some of the best golf courses in the world and what better way to enjoy them then on a dedicated Hawaiian golf cruise. You can enjoy some of the best golf courses in the world whilst enjoying a stunning Hawaiian cruise in the Hawaiian island playground. on board you Hawaiian cruise ship you will experience great food and wine, shopping and activities and you can take advantage of the many sights and shore excursions should you wish to have a break from golf (but you won’t want to).

Ko’olau Golf Course, Oahu. It Looks nice, don’t be fooled it’s been voted one of the hardest golf courses in the world!

Golfing is increasing in popularity every day and is popular worldwide. Hawaii has some of the most beautiful golf courses in the world spread over 4 islands and what better to enjoy them then in the comfort of a cruise liner on a Hawaiian golf cruise. Many of the courses have won awards and also been used for international and PGA events. Poipu Bay Golf Course in Kauai hosted the PGA Grand Slam.

Hawaiian golf cruises have many advantages over standard land bases Hawaiian golf vacations. On your Hawaiian golf cruise you will not need to worry about changing hotels, shuttle flights and transfers, rental cars on each island and all of that other stuff you don’t want to worry about. By combining a Hawaiian golf vacation and a Hawaiian cruise vacation, you will find it will be more affordable then the usual land based Hawaiian golf vacations due to minimizing of transport, flights and other logistical nightmares.

The beauty of a Hawaiian golf cruise is that you can enjoy your game of golf knowing the rest of the family is well catered for. There are many shore excursions and on board activities that are sure to keep the whole family entertained for the duration of your Hawaiian golf cruise.

If the changes to the PVSA pass I think in the near future international cruise lines may remove dedicated Hawaiian cruise itineraries from their cruise offerings, instead opting to only pass through Hawaii for 2-3 days on other cruise routes. With NCL only operating one ship in the Hawaiian Islands and international cruise operators possibly removing Hawaii as a dedicated cruise destination it may appear that there is a whole in the market. But I highly doubt that any other cruise lines will be rushing to fill it by operating a US-flagged ship for a Hawaiian Cruise. Operating costs are just too high and US laws very strict. There are just too many other more lucrative markets for the cruise lines at the moment. Many of the international cruise lines would not be willing to downgrade their services to make a Hawaiian Cruise work because they would not want lower their image.

Bookings are down on NCL Hawaiian cruises, because they are unable to provide the upgraded features and services seen on many of its fleet. The Pride of Aloha was recently skipped on the new NCL Freestyle 2.0 upgrade, as it was seen unworthy. Although travelers want to see Hawaii, at the same time, they are going on a cruise as well, and a lot of time is spent at sea. When they see all the other tropical island cruise possibilities in the world and the features on some of the ships out there compared to NCL, other cruises may seem more inviting.

There would need to be some sort of allowance or change in US Laws to re-energize the Hawaiian Cruise Industry, because there are just too many restrictions in place forcing many cruise lines to boycott the area. Hopefully in the future there may be some sort of exceptions for cruises in the Hawaiian region but that’s all in the US Governments hands. It seems a shame that such a beautiful part of the world, which is popular with tourists can’t have a successful cruise industry.

Why is NCL America relocating their Hawaiian Cruise Ships?

Because NCLA operate a US flagged ship, their operating costs are much higher. Firstly they are subject to US labor laws and forced to employ US citizens, which demand a much higher wage then citizens of developing countries.

Secondly they are forbidden under US law to operate an onboard casinos and are forced to charge sales taxes for all product sold therefore reducing revenue and profit margins. So really NCL must workharder to make more. These effects flow on to the consumer either through the price of cruise tickets, goods onboard or through downgraded services and features.

You will find that NCL’s international ships have many more features than their Hawaiian cruise ships, along with increased staff and services due to their lower operating costs. NCL just can’t afford to offer everything on their Hawaiian Cruises due to the increased operating costs forced upon them by the US Government.

In summary there are more lucrative markets for NCL to operate other than Hawaiian cruises, without the US Law restrictions, therefore increasing their profit margins. Operating costs and lack luster bookings are forcing NCL to tap into these other more lucrative markets.