Our Amazing Hawaiian Adventure!
My family (husband, two elementary aged kids and me) visited Hawaii for the last few weeks of June. We kept busy visiting 4 of the Hawaiian Islands, with stays at two different hotels (Hyatt Regency Waikiki and Disney’s Aulani Resort) and on a cruise ship (NCL Pride of America). This will be the first of several blogs about our trip. This one will give an overview of our trip and a few highlights.
We flew on a Tuesday from Orlando, Florida to Honolulu, Hawaii with a stop in Seattle, Washington. We had a 4-hour layover in Seattle, which I chose so we could have lunch and stretch our legs. It was also nice not worrying about making a connecting flight. We arrived in Honolulu at 8pm (It felt like 2am to us—we were tired!) Prior to the trip I booked Top Limousine to pick us up at the airport and two other times during our trip. Our driver was waiting right outside baggage claim to take us to our hotel. It was wonderful to arrive in Hawaii and not worry about transportation.
We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort. We were already booked at this hotel through our the Cruisetour with Norwegian Cruise Line so we just added a night to the reservation. The check-in process was fast. I had called prior to our trip to make sure that our one night would be linked to our stay booked through Norwegian and it was! All we had to do was get our keys reprogrammed the next day when the reservations switched. We really liked the Hyatt Regency Waikiki. The location is great along the main road through Waikiki with lots of shops and restaurants just a short walk away. It is directly across from the beach and the famous Duke Kahanamoku Statue. The hotel includes a small shopping area (Pualeilani Atrium Shops). There are also 3 ABC stores on hotel grounds!
Our first full day in Hawaii was Wednesday (June 18) and we had it all free since we arrived a day before our tour started. We explored Waikiki and visited the Honolulu Zoo. The Zoo was a short walk from the hotel and a relaxing way to start what was going to be a full vacation. We didn’t feel any jet lag, despite a six-hour time difference. It helped that we arrived at night and went to bed and were able to get a full night’s sleep.
The Cruisetour began on Thursday morning (June 19). When we booked the Cruisetour we knew the main places we would be visiting, but I was surprised and pleased that our bus driver/guide (Lehua) kept a running commentary throughout each day’s journey. We learned so much more than we would have just driving ourselves from one place to another. I plan to do a full look at the Cruisetour, and if it was worth it, in a future post.
This first day of the tour portion we visited the Dole Plantation. We only had 45 minutes, just enough time for a Dole Whip and to shop. We then headed to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We had lunch at one of the food trucks outside the gates and were able to enter when the gates opened and got a shaded(!) spot to watch the opening show. Once the Islands opened, we tried to see a little bit of each since there was a limited amount of time (about 3 hours to explore). Each of the six Islands has 20-minute cultural presentations and multiple activities you can do, like getting a tattoo, fishing, or paddling a canoe. It would be difficult to fit it into one afternoon.
The second day (June 20) of the Cruisetour was our visit to Pearl Harbor. This was a very early start (7am). Our driver had us at Pearl Harbor early enough to get on the waitlist for the Arizona Memorial. While we waited for our text, we visited several museum exhibits and the USS Bowfin submarine and attached museum. We thought these were both great and we were the only people on the sub when we visited. Once our text came, we visited the Arizona and after that took the shuttle to the USS Missouri and the Aviation Museum.
The third day (June 21) was our final day of touring Oahu with the Cruisetour and the day we would get on the ship. Our highlight here was the movie tour at Kualoa Ranch. It was beautiful and many movies and shows have been filmed there including some from the Jurassic Park franchise. Following the tour our bus dropped us off at Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America, our home for the next seven nights. We arrived around 3:30pm and boarded right away.
NCL’s Pride of America is the only cruise ship that sails just the Hawaiian Islands. Other cruise lines may offer Hawaii cruises, but they frequently involve a stop in Canada and many sea days in between (there is a law that requires a foreign port for nearly all ships stopping at American ports). The Pride of America sets sail every Saturday from Honolulu and visits Maui with an overnight stay, a day in Hilo, a day in Kona and then an overnight stay at Kauai before returning to Honolulu to start again with a new set of travelers. We loved visiting 4 islands during our trip.
I will do a full post on my thoughts on the ship and more details about each day. Here is a quick overview. During the 6 port days we only did one excursion through Norwegian Cruise Line. We visited Volcano National Park with that excursion. Unfortunately, Kilauea was in between the flashy eruptions so we only saw lots of smoke/steam. It was still very neat and I’d love to see more of that area of the Big Island. Another highlight during our visits was going to the Maui Butterfly Farm. I discovered it on Viator, but booked directly with them. It was a 45-minute tour about butterflies where we were able to pick them up and use hibiscus flowers to attract them. We also had a chance to hold a baby praying mantis. The Maui Butterfly Farm was located next to a general store and a great restaurant where we had lunch. Another major highlight for us was the private tour we booked for the first day on Kauai. We booked through Viator but the company is Kauai Island Shuttle and you can book directly with them. It was over 8 hours and we visited Kauai Coffee (a highlight for my husband) and saw amazing views of Waimea Canyon and the Kalalau Valley Lookout.
When the cruise returned to Honolulu on Saturday, June 28th we again had Top Limousine pick us up. This time they took us to Disney’s Aulani Resort where we stayed for 3 nights. Aulani deserves its own post. Honestly, the whole stay at Aulani was great. We did the luau and spent a lot of time exploring the resort. When our stay ended on July 1, 2025, we had Top Limousine pick us up and take us to the airport where we boarded a flight to Detroit and then on to Orlando. We had a fantastic trip to Hawaii and I’ll share more soon. I’d love to help you plan your own Hawaiian adventure. Please contact me for a free quote!
