Nieuw Amsterdam - 17-Day Circle Hawaii from San Diego

Where this cruise calls, day by day

9 ports and 9 sea days over 17 Nights.

1. Day 1

   San Diego, CA

   United StatesDepart

   San Diego is one of the easiest cruise arrivals in the country: the B Street and Broadway piers sit directly on the downtown Embarcadero, with the aircraft carrier USS Midway permanently moored a few hundred yards along the same waterfront. The Gaslamp Quarter is a flat ten-minute walk. It works as both a turnaround port for Mexico runs and a pleasant one-day call.

   • USS Midway Museum, with the flight deck and hangar open to walk
   • Balboa Park's museums and the San Diego Zoo
   • Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, the original Mexican-era settlement
   • The ferry across the bay to Coronado and the Hotel del Coronado

   Getting ashore

   Docks downtown at the B Street or Broadway Pier; the Gaslamp Quarter, Midway and Little Italy are all walkable.

   Best months

   Year-round (Sep-Oct warmest and clearest; May-Jun often grey until afternoon)

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3 · At sea

4. Day 4 · At sea

5. Day 5 · At sea

6. Day 6 · At sea

7. Day 7

   Maui (Kahului)

   United StatesPort

   Kahului is Maui's cargo harbour, and it looks it - fuel tanks, a container yard and no reason to linger at the pier. It is a purely functional gateway to an island where the good things are an hour away in opposite directions. Lahaina, once the standard shore excursion, was destroyed by fire in August 2023 and is still rebuilding; treat it as a community in recovery rather than a sightseeing stop.

   • Haleakala National Park summit at 10,023 feet, above the cloud layer
   • The Road to Hana, which realistically consumes an entire port day
   • Iao Valley State Monument and its needle-shaped peak, close to the harbour
   • Maui Ocean Center aquarium and the Maalaea coast

   Getting ashore

   Docks at the commercial harbour in Kahului with nothing walkable nearby; a tour, taxi or rental car is essential.

   Best months

   Year-round (Apr-Oct driest; Dec-Apr for humpbacks in the Auau Channel)

8. Day 8

   Hilo

   United StatesPort

   Hilo is the wet, green, unpolished side of the Big Island - it takes well over 100 inches of rain a year and looks nothing like the resort coast. The pier is an industrial one a few miles from a downtown of old plantation-era storefronts. Nearly everyone uses the day to get to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which is roughly 45 minutes inland and the reason ships call here at all.

   • Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Kilauea's caldera rim and the Thurston lava tube
   • Rainbow Falls and Akaka Falls, both short stops close to town
   • Liliuokalani Gardens and the Pacific Tsunami Museum in downtown Hilo
   • Mauna Kea visitor station on the slope of the mountain

   Getting ashore

   Docks at a commercial pier a few miles from downtown Hilo; shuttles or taxis are needed, and the volcano park is a separate 45-minute drive.

   Best months

   Year-round (Apr-Sep drier; volcanic activity varies and can change what is open in the park)

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

    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)

11. Day 11

    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)

12. Day 12

    Kauai (Nawiliwili)

    United StatesPort

    Ships dock at Nawiliwili, a commercial harbour just below Lihue on Kauai's southeast corner. There is little at the pier itself beyond a beach and a hotel, but the island is small enough that a single day reaches either Waimea Canyon or the north shore - not both. Many itineraries give Kauai an overnight or a long call, which is what makes the far corners worth attempting.

    • Waimea Canyon and the Kalalau Lookout over the Na Pali cliffs
    • Wailua River boat trip to the Fern Grotto
    • Poipu Beach and the Spouting Horn blowhole on the south shore
    • Hanalei Bay and the Kilauea Point lighthouse and seabird refuge to the north

    Getting ashore

    Docks at Nawiliwili Harbor about two miles from Lihue; there is no walkable town, so a tour or rental car is effectively required.

    Best months

    Year-round (Apr-Oct drier; Kauai is the wettest main island, and winter closes north-shore roads after floods)

13. Day 13 · At sea

14. Day 14 · At sea

15. Day 15 · At sea

16. Day 16 · At sea

17. Day 17

    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

18. Day 18

    San Diego, CA

    United StatesArrive

    San Diego is one of the easiest cruise arrivals in the country: the B Street and Broadway piers sit directly on the downtown Embarcadero, with the aircraft carrier USS Midway permanently moored a few hundred yards along the same waterfront. The Gaslamp Quarter is a flat ten-minute walk. It works as both a turnaround port for Mexico runs and a pleasant one-day call.

    • USS Midway Museum, with the flight deck and hangar open to walk
    • Balboa Park's museums and the San Diego Zoo
    • Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, the original Mexican-era settlement
    • The ferry across the bay to Coronado and the Hotel del Coronado

    Getting ashore

    Docks downtown at the B Street or Broadway Pier; the Gaslamp Quarter, Midway and Little Italy are all walkable.

    Best months

    Year-round (Sep-Oct warmest and clearest; May-Jun often grey until afternoon)