Although we haven't done Hawaii cruise (because we think Hawaii is better to do landtrip than cruising), we have cruised many times and also visited Hawaii 3 times - I also recently researched a bit on the new NCL ships that do 7-day Hawaii cruise.
So I guess in a way I could help you to understand what is involved ...
Generally speaking you would get to enjoy Hawaii a lot more, by visiting one to two islands at a time, and spend at least 3 to 4 days on each island.
For a family of 5, with parents and young kid, the best way probably is to rent a condo for a week, rent a car, and take time to leisurely touring the island - beaches, various attractions, etc. There are many vacation rentals on each island with a wide range of pricing - all of them are equiped with kitchen. Rental cars are cheap. Eating out also has a wide price range to choose from.
If you have never been in Hawaii, then Oahu alone would keep the whole family busy for 4 to 5 days. You can rent a car for the week - rental car in Hawaii is cheap.
If you have already been in Hawaii, then pick an island you haven't been yet, or re-visit your favorite.
Hawaii.com has fairly good information to help you decide which island best suited you ... Someone also has posted detailed hints on Hawaii ... do a search you may be able to locate it.
Now about cruises. Currently there are 2 kinds of cruises for Hawaii. Due to some antiquated U.S. maritime law, any cruise ship that visits Hawaii, must also visit a foreign port, unless the cruise ship is registered in U.S. with an all American crew. Hawaii state does not like this law and tries to lobby the Congress many times to overturn it, unfortunately without success.
There are only 2 ships from Norweigian Cruise Lines (NCL) that are qualified to cruise Hawaii Islands WITHOUT also visiting a foreign port - Pride of Aloha and Pride of America. Pride of America is a brand new ship specifically built for this purpose. All other cruiselines have to stop at either a Mexican port just south of San Diego or something in the middle of nowhere in Pacific Ocean - makes the journey to and from very long with 4 days at sea to and 4 days at sea from Hawaii ... NCL ships are 7 day cruising Hawaii Islands.
While it seems great to cruise all 4 islands - Kauii, Oahu, Maui and Hawaii - stop at each island for a night, or in the case of Hawaii and Maui, 2 nights each - In reality, you have only 7 to 8 hours time max to do your touring between the arrival and departure of each port. It makes it very rush and in your case with a family, not an easy task to arrange logistics (rental car, driving around, back to ship on time...) Cruiseship all have excursions for passengers to sign up - that would be the easiest solution - but it also costs you an arm and a leg, especially for the 5 of you. Shore excursions if going thru cruiseship are very expensive.
Oh, the stops at Hawaii (Big Island) - the island is so big, so the ports of call are Hilo, and Kona - 2 very far away ports - one for each night. In some itineraries, the 2 stops are consecutive nights. In other cases, they are separate by one night visiting Kauii in between ...
Another thing to consider is, the cabins on the 2 NCL's ships are very very small. They are among the smallest cabins in industry. Think as approx 150sqft including the closet and bathroom.
If your purpose is just see the island scenaries from the ship, then cruise may be ok. However if you want to do something more, i.e. to really see Hawaii and enjoy her stunning natural beauty and many other things she offer, then cruise is not a good way to do it.
So I guess in a way I could help you to understand what is involved ...
Generally speaking you would get to enjoy Hawaii a lot more, by visiting one to two islands at a time, and spend at least 3 to 4 days on each island.
For a family of 5, with parents and young kid, the best way probably is to rent a condo for a week, rent a car, and take time to leisurely touring the island - beaches, various attractions, etc. There are many vacation rentals on each island with a wide range of pricing - all of them are equiped with kitchen. Rental cars are cheap. Eating out also has a wide price range to choose from.
If you have never been in Hawaii, then Oahu alone would keep the whole family busy for 4 to 5 days. You can rent a car for the week - rental car in Hawaii is cheap.
If you have already been in Hawaii, then pick an island you haven't been yet, or re-visit your favorite.
Hawaii.com has fairly good information to help you decide which island best suited you ... Someone also has posted detailed hints on Hawaii ... do a search you may be able to locate it.
Now about cruises. Currently there are 2 kinds of cruises for Hawaii. Due to some antiquated U.S. maritime law, any cruise ship that visits Hawaii, must also visit a foreign port, unless the cruise ship is registered in U.S. with an all American crew. Hawaii state does not like this law and tries to lobby the Congress many times to overturn it, unfortunately without success.
There are only 2 ships from Norweigian Cruise Lines (NCL) that are qualified to cruise Hawaii Islands WITHOUT also visiting a foreign port - Pride of Aloha and Pride of America. Pride of America is a brand new ship specifically built for this purpose. All other cruiselines have to stop at either a Mexican port just south of San Diego or something in the middle of nowhere in Pacific Ocean - makes the journey to and from very long with 4 days at sea to and 4 days at sea from Hawaii ... NCL ships are 7 day cruising Hawaii Islands.
While it seems great to cruise all 4 islands - Kauii, Oahu, Maui and Hawaii - stop at each island for a night, or in the case of Hawaii and Maui, 2 nights each - In reality, you have only 7 to 8 hours time max to do your touring between the arrival and departure of each port. It makes it very rush and in your case with a family, not an easy task to arrange logistics (rental car, driving around, back to ship on time...) Cruiseship all have excursions for passengers to sign up - that would be the easiest solution - but it also costs you an arm and a leg, especially for the 5 of you. Shore excursions if going thru cruiseship are very expensive.
Oh, the stops at Hawaii (Big Island) - the island is so big, so the ports of call are Hilo, and Kona - 2 very far away ports - one for each night. In some itineraries, the 2 stops are consecutive nights. In other cases, they are separate by one night visiting Kauii in between ...
Another thing to consider is, the cabins on the 2 NCL's ships are very very small. They are among the smallest cabins in industry. Think as approx 150sqft including the closet and bathroom.
If your purpose is just see the island scenaries from the ship, then cruise may be ok. However if you want to do something more, i.e. to really see Hawaii and enjoy her stunning natural beauty and many other things she offer, then cruise is not a good way to do it.
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