We picked the Pride of America (PoA) because it is the only ship you can get that sails the islands starting and ending in Honolulu. We basically needed a floating hotel room as we knew we would spend most of our time on land. Trying to pick what to do in each port was our biggest challenge. I had never been to Hawaii & my travel partner had not been in 20 years. So we asked a lot of people, read many critiques and purchased Frommer's Hawaii 2011. Here is what we ended up doing and had a fabulous time:

Honolulu: on the front end of the cruise we hiked Diamond Head. It is well worth the effort, spectacular views. Go early - no later than 9:30am. We we staying at the Waikiki Edition, so we just jumped in a cab & split the fare between the two of us. It was worth it to get there quickly. $9 bucks each. Afterwords we stored our bags & chilled out at the pool for a few hours, drinking Coconut Mojitos. Lovely, restful afternoon.

Maui- day 1. We rented a car through Discount Hawaii. Cheap prices, good service, no problems. We drove the road to Hana. Which many books & reviews made it sound like it would be difficult. I did all the driving & did not find that to be true. Yes, you have to take it slow & drive smart, but we had a dry beautiful day, it was lovely. The road to Hana is an all day event. Pack a lunch, figure out some of the places you for sure want to stop before you go. There is so much to see, one beautiful waterfall after another, lush greenery, black sand beaches, roadside stands. It is hard to drive all the way to Hana without stopping frequently. Our original plan was to drive to Hana, and make all the stops on the way back. It did not really work out that way -- it was just to beautiful. We tried to keep the stops to a minimum, figuring we would be able to pick & choose our stops along the way back. We started at about 9 am once we had our car & got back to the ship about 7:45 pm. It was a long day, but very much worth it. You can get a map or a CD in any local gas station. We did not do the CD, but others did and said it was helpful. Read more