A cruise wouldn’t be my first choice either. But I still liked these cruises, which have longer docking hours than many of our cruises (8a-6p most days).

Aloha, Jeff

But here’s something I’ve been thinking since then. It struck me that you might consider a cruise a poor introduction to Hawaii. The ship wasn’t in most ports long enough (and this is one of my biggest gripes about cruises these days, generally) to get a feel for any of the islands. This wasn’t a big problem for my husband and me. We had been to Hawaii a few times before, and so we didn’t need time to figure out what to do. For us it was a matter of renting a car and heading off to either the places we love most or the ones we’d always wanted to visit.

But some of the first-time visitors seemed kind of flummoxed, and they either took an overpriced cruise excursion or sort of dithered around the ship. A Canadian couple actually told us that they decided they didn’t like Hawaii. (This struck me as insane.) I’m convinced they would have felt differently had they flown to one of the islands and spent a week or two getting to know it.

I’m not saying it’s a bad way to SEE the islands. I’m just wondering if it’s not the best way for some people to be INTRODUCED to the islands.