Cruises from Honolulu: the 7-day Hawaii cruise, one-way voyages and the port

Honolulu cruise terminals

Honolulu Harbor has two cruise terminals, both run by the Hawaii Department of Transportation Harbors Division and both close to downtown and the Aloha Tower.

Pier 2 Cruise Terminal (primary)

Honolulu Harbor. Entrance at the west end of Channel Street, off Ala Moana Boulevard.

Pier 11 (alternate)

Next to the Aloha Tower. Entrance on the north extension of Aloha Tower Drive.

From Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)

About 6 miles; around 15 minutes by car, longer at rush hour.

Season

Year round. Pride of America sails every week; other lines mostly call in spring and fall.

Getting there

Taxi, rideshare, TheBus, Biki bikeshare, the cruise line's transfer or a shared airport shuttle.

Nearly every ship, Pride of America included, normally uses Pier 2; Pier 11 is the overflow berth when a second ship is in port. Neither HDOT nor Norwegian publishes a pier for each sailing, so check the pier in your boarding documents.

Parking, luggage storage and the day you arrive

There’s no parking garage at either terminal. Aloha Tower Marketplace, next to Pier 11, sells short-term parking when space allows, but it isn’t guaranteed. Most cruisers fly in anyway; if you’ve rented a car on Oahu, return it before the cruise rather than trying to park it for a week.

Honolulu cruise port luggage storage is the bigger question, because you’re off the ship in the morning and flights home often leave late. We couldn’t confirm a public left-luggage room at the terminals. The practical options are a disembarkation-day tour that holds your bags and drops you at the airport (local tour companies run them from the pier, and it’s worth asking Norwegian’s shore excursion desk too), or the hotel you stayed at before the cruise.

Cruise lines sailing from Honolulu

Norwegian is the only line that starts cruises from Honolulu every week. Other lines begin or end repositioning voyages here, and many more call on longer Hawaii trips from the mainland. The table below shows sample sailings from our monthly snapshot.

• Norwegian Cruise LinePride of America, the only big U.S.-flagged ocean cruise ship, sails 7-day inter-island round trips every week: overnights on Maui and Kauai, a day each in Hilo and Kona, and the Na Pali Coast.
  From $613 per personChecked September 2026
• Celebrity CruisesSpring and fall repositioning voyages, including one-way trips between Honolulu and Vancouver and between Hawaii and Australia.
  Fares change daily; check current prices
• Royal CaribbeanOccasional one-way voyages, such as a 12-night Vancouver to Honolulu trip on Anthem of the Seas.
  From $686 per personChecked September 2026
• Princess CruisesCalls at Honolulu on round trips from Los Angeles and San Francisco, plus some South Pacific and transpacific voyages.
  From $514 per personChecked September 2026

Ship guide: Pride of America, including cabins to pick and why the U.S. flag makes the itinerary possible.

The 7-day Hawaii cruise from Honolulu

Pride of America’s route doesn’t change with the season:

• Honolulu, Oahu: embarkation in the afternoon.
• Kahului, Maui: an overnight, so you get two days on the island.
• Hilo, Big Island: a day in port, the base for Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
• Kailua-Kona, Big Island: a day in port on the dry, sunny side of the island.
• Nawiliwili, Kauai: an overnight, then scenic cruising along the Na Pali Coast on the way back to Honolulu.

Because the ship is U.S.-flagged, it doesn’t have to stop at a foreign port. That’s why it can stay in Hawaii all week, while foreign-flagged ships sailing from California have to call at Ensenada or Vancouver. Our Hawaii cruise guide compares the two approaches.

One-way cruises from Honolulu

• Honolulu to Vancouver (spring). Ships moving to Alaska for the summer sail from Hawaii to Vancouver in April or May, with several sea days. Combine one with an Alaska trip; see our Alaska cruise from Vancouver guide.
• Honolulu to Sydney or Australia (fall). Ships heading south for the Australian summer cross the South Pacific in October, often via Fiji, Tahiti or New Zealand. Celebrity runs these in both directions, in October and April.
• Honolulu to the West Coast. These are rare and don’t run on a fixed schedule. Princess says it occasionally sells one-way voyages that start or end in Honolulu, as part of repositioning trips or longer Pacific voyages. Check the table above and the line’s own site for the current season.

One-way trips are good value per night but need a flight home from a different city.

Three insider picks

1. Book excursions early, especially on Maui and Kauai. Every cabin on Pride of America is trying to see the same few highlights in the same few days. Popular helicopter tours and Road to Hana trips sell out.

2. Arrive a day or two early. Honolulu is a long flight from almost everywhere, and a missed embarkation on a weekly island route can’t be made up. A night or two in Waikiki also covers Oahu, which the ship only visits at the start and end.

3. Pick the right kind of Hawaii cruise. If the islands are the point, Pride of America beats a 15-night round trip from the mainland, which spends more than half its time at sea. If you love sea days and hate long flights, look at cruises to Hawaii from California instead.

Honolulu cruise FAQ