Discovery Princess - Hawaiian Islands from Los Angeles

Where this cruise calls, day by day

7 ports and 9 sea days over 15 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Los Angeles, CA

   United StatesDepart

   Ships berth at the World Cruise Center in San Pedro, under the green span of the Vincent Thomas Bridge and ringed by container cranes. This is a working port rather than a waterfront to stroll, and it is overwhelmingly a turnaround terminal for Mexican Riviera and Hawaii runs. Los Angeles proper starts about 25 miles inland, so most passengers meet a freeway before they meet a beach.

   • Tour the battleship USS Iowa, moored a short walk up the channel from the terminal
   • Point Fermin Lighthouse and the collapsed bluffs of Sunken City on the San Pedro headland
   • Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and the tide pools below it
   • Griffith Observatory or the Santa Monica Pier if you are willing to spend the day in traffic

   Getting ashore

   Docks at the World Cruise Center in San Pedro; there is no walkable city here, and downtown, Hollywood or Santa Monica each mean 45-75 minutes by road.

   Best months

   Year-round (Sep-Nov clearest; May-Jun often overcast on the coast)

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3 · At sea

4. Day 4 · At sea

5. Day 5 · At sea

6. Day 6

   Honolulu

   United StatesPort

   Ships dock at Pier 2 beside the Aloha Tower, which for decades was the tallest building in Hawaii and still marks the edge of downtown Honolulu. You step off into a real working capital city of office towers and Chinatown lunch counters, not a resort strip - Waikiki is a separate place three or four miles east. Most Hawaii itineraries either start here or stay overnight.

   • Pearl Harbor: the USS Arizona Memorial, the Battleship Missouri and the Bowfin submarine
   • Diamond Head crater hike, which requires an advance reservation for out-of-state visitors
   • Iolani Palace, the only royal palace on American soil, with the room where Queen Liliuokalani was imprisoned
   • Waikiki Beach and the Honolulu Museum of Art

   Getting ashore

   Docks downtown at Pier 2 by the Aloha Tower; Chinatown and the palace are walkable, Waikiki and Pearl Harbor are not.

   Best months

   Year-round (Apr-Oct driest; Dec-Apr for humpback whales offshore)

7. Day 7

   Honolulu

   United StatesPort

   Ships dock at Pier 2 beside the Aloha Tower, which for decades was the tallest building in Hawaii and still marks the edge of downtown Honolulu. You step off into a real working capital city of office towers and Chinatown lunch counters, not a resort strip - Waikiki is a separate place three or four miles east. Most Hawaii itineraries either start here or stay overnight.

   • Pearl Harbor: the USS Arizona Memorial, the Battleship Missouri and the Bowfin submarine
   • Diamond Head crater hike, which requires an advance reservation for out-of-state visitors
   • Iolani Palace, the only royal palace on American soil, with the room where Queen Liliuokalani was imprisoned
   • Waikiki Beach and the Honolulu Museum of Art

   Getting ashore

   Docks downtown at Pier 2 by the Aloha Tower; Chinatown and the palace are walkable, Waikiki and Pearl Harbor are not.

   Best months

   Year-round (Apr-Oct driest; Dec-Apr for humpback whales offshore)

8. Day 8

   Kona (Kailua-Kona)

   United StatesPort

   Kona has no cruise pier, so every passenger comes ashore by tender onto Kailua Pier in the middle of town - and when the surf is up the call is shortened or cancelled outright, which happens often enough to plan around. Once landed you are on the dry, lava-black leeward side of the Big Island, with Alii Drive's shops and the old royal compound within a few hundred yards.

   • Hulihee Palace and Mokuaikaua Church, Hawaii's oldest Christian church, both on Alii Drive
   • Snorkelling at Kealakekua Bay by the Captain Cook monument
   • Kona coffee farm tours in the uplands around Holualoa and Captain Cook
   • Puuhonua o Honaunau, the restored place of refuge south of town

   Getting ashore

   Tender only, landing at Kailua Pier right in town; tendering is genuinely weather-dependent here and calls are sometimes dropped.

   Best months

   Year-round (Apr-Sep calmest seas for tendering; Dec-Mar swell causes the most cancellations)

9. Day 9

   Kona (Kailua-Kona)

   United StatesPort

   Kona has no cruise pier, so every passenger comes ashore by tender onto Kailua Pier in the middle of town - and when the surf is up the call is shortened or cancelled outright, which happens often enough to plan around. Once landed you are on the dry, lava-black leeward side of the Big Island, with Alii Drive's shops and the old royal compound within a few hundred yards.

   • Hulihee Palace and Mokuaikaua Church, Hawaii's oldest Christian church, both on Alii Drive
   • Snorkelling at Kealakekua Bay by the Captain Cook monument
   • Kona coffee farm tours in the uplands around Holualoa and Captain Cook
   • Puuhonua o Honaunau, the restored place of refuge south of town

   Getting ashore

   Tender only, landing at Kailua Pier right in town; tendering is genuinely weather-dependent here and calls are sometimes dropped.

   Best months

   Year-round (Apr-Sep calmest seas for tendering; Dec-Mar swell causes the most cancellations)

10. Day 10 · At sea

11. Day 11 · At sea

12. Day 12 · At sea

13. Day 13 · At sea

14. Day 14 · At sea

15. Day 15

    Ensenada

    MexicoPort

    Ensenada is on most California itineraries because US law requires a foreign stop, and the town knows it. The port is a working commercial harbour with a short shuttle or walk to Avenida López Mateos, a strip of cantinas, curio shops and pharmacies. It is far better than that sounds if you leave the strip - the Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico's serious wine region, starts about an hour inland.

    • La Bufadora, the sea geyser 45 minutes south
    • Valle de Guadalupe wineries
    • Hussong's Cantina, open since 1892
    • Fish tacos at the Mercado Negro

    Getting ashore

    Ships dock; the main tourist street is a 15-20 minute walk, or a short shuttle from the terminal gate.

    Best months

    Apr-Oct is warm and dry; winter here is cool, grey and windy - this is Baja's Mediterranean end, not the tropics

16. Day 16

    Los Angeles, CA

    United StatesArrive

    Ships berth at the World Cruise Center in San Pedro, under the green span of the Vincent Thomas Bridge and ringed by container cranes. This is a working port rather than a waterfront to stroll, and it is overwhelmingly a turnaround terminal for Mexican Riviera and Hawaii runs. Los Angeles proper starts about 25 miles inland, so most passengers meet a freeway before they meet a beach.

    • Tour the battleship USS Iowa, moored a short walk up the channel from the terminal
    • Point Fermin Lighthouse and the collapsed bluffs of Sunken City on the San Pedro headland
    • Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and the tide pools below it
    • Griffith Observatory or the Santa Monica Pier if you are willing to spend the day in traffic

    Getting ashore

    Docks at the World Cruise Center in San Pedro; there is no walkable city here, and downtown, Hollywood or Santa Monica each mean 45-75 minutes by road.

    Best months

    Year-round (Sep-Nov clearest; May-Jun often overcast on the coast)