Best time to cruise from Honolulu: weather, whales, crowds and fares

A Hawaii cruise from Honolulu has no off season. Pride of America leaves every Saturday on the same 7-night loop of Maui, the Big Island and Kauai, and Norwegian's Hawaii page puts it plainly: "every single Saturday, every week of the year." The month you pick changes the weather, the whales, the crowds and the fare, not the ports.

The one-way trips are different. They leave Honolulu only in certain months, and if you want one of them, that decides your dates for you.

When is the best time to take a Hawaii cruise from Honolulu?

It depends on what you want more: whales, dry weather or fewer people. Using NOAA's climate normals for Honolulu and the state's visitor counts for 2025, the year splits like this:

• January to March. The peak of humpback whale season. These are Honolulu's coolest months and among its wettest, with average highs of 80.5°F to 81.2°F and 1.84 to 2.36 inches of rain a month. March 2025 had more visitors than any other month that year.
• April and May. Rain drops to under an inch a month, and the whale peak is past. The one-way trips to Vancouver leave in these two months. May 2025 was one of the quieter months for visitors.
• June to August. June and July are the driest months of the year, June the driest of all, and it is hot, with average highs from 86.9°F to 88.8°F. Hurricane season starts June 1. June and July 2025 were among the busiest months for visitors.
• September and October. September 2025 had the fewest visitors of the year. The sea is at its warmest, near 80°F, the National Weather Service says. Hurricane season is still on, and most crossings to Australia leave in these two months.
• November and December. The rain comes back, hurricane season ends November 30 and the first whales arrive. December 2025 was one of the year's busiest months.

On these numbers, May and September put low rainfall together with fewer visitors, and September comes with the hurricane-season caveat. If whales are the point of the trip, go from January to March and accept more rain and more company.

Hawaii cruise season: what sails from Honolulu each month

Cruise from Honolulu	When (sailings on sale November 14, 2026)	Nights	Fares on November 14, 2026
Hawaii round trip on Pride of America	Every Saturday, all year	7	$1,102 to $3,184
One way to Vancouver	April and May, 2027 and 2028	8 to 13	$767 to $8,200
One way to Papeete, Tahiti	May to November	11 to 13	$1,464 to $12,200
Crossing to Sydney or Brisbane	September to November 2027, and Coral Princess in January 2027	16 to 28	$1,589 to $11,054

Fares are the cheapest cabin per person, with taxes and fees, as listed on November 14, 2026.

The Vancouver trips are on Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Silversea and Princess ships, and most call at Kona on the way. Princess's go by way of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Victoria. For the Tahiti and Australia trips, see South Pacific cruises from Honolulu. For the weekly island loop, see the Pride of America guide.

Honolulu weather by month

Month	Average high	Average low	Average rainfall	Days with 0.1 in. of rain or more	Visitors to Hawaii, 2025
January	80.5°F	66.8°F	1.84 in.	3.3	792,177
February	80.5°F	67.1°F	1.94 in.	3.0	759,679
March	81.2°F	68.1°F	2.36 in.	3.1	903,891
April	83.1°F	70.1°F	0.77 in.	1.9	833,219
May	84.8°F	71.5°F	0.82 in.	1.6	771,038
June	86.9°F	73.8°F	0.50 in.	0.7	857,102
July	88.1°F	75.1°F	0.52 in.	1.3	873,430
August	88.8°F	75.6°F	0.84 in.	1.2	806,776
September	88.4°F	74.8°F	0.88 in.	2.2	690,858
October	86.9°F	73.9°F	1.51 in.	2.6	749,095
November	84.1°F	71.8°F	2.25 in.	2.9	736,831
December	81.8°F	69.2°F	2.18 in.	3.2	868,894

Weather: NOAA's 1991 to 2020 climate normals for Honolulu International Airport, read November 14, 2026. Visitors: the State of Hawaii's Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), preliminary monthly totals for 2025 by air and cruise ship, from its news releases read November 14, 2026.

The National Weather Service office in Honolulu says most of Hawaii has only two seasons: "summer," between May and October, and "winter," between October and April. The heaviest rain comes from winter storms between October and April, it says, and dry leeward areas get most of their rain from a few of those storms, so their summers are dry. Honolulu's normals fit that pattern: 0.50 inches in June against 2.36 inches in March, and under four days a month with a tenth of an inch or more even in winter.

Temperatures change little through the year. Average highs stay between 80.5°F and 88.8°F, and the coolest normal low, in January, is 66.8°F. The weather service puts the sea near Hawaii at a low of 73 or 74°F between late February and March and near 80°F in late September or early October. It gives the longest day as about 13 and a half hours and the shortest as about 11.

Does it rain on a Hawaii cruise?

It depends more on the port than on the month. Pride of America spends a day or two at each of four ports, and NOAA's yearly normals for the airport near each one are far apart:

Port of call	NOAA weather station	Average rain a year	Days a year with 0.1 in. or more
Honolulu, Oahu	Honolulu International Airport	16.41 in.	27.0
Kahului, Maui	Kahului Airport	16.21 in.	29.5
Hilo, Big Island	Hilo International Airport	120.39 in.	186.0
Kona, Big Island	Kona (Keahole) Airport	9.87 in.	18.7
Nawiliwili, Kauai	Lihue Airport	36.22 in.	65.5

NOAA 1991 to 2020 normals, read November 14, 2026.

Hilo gets more than seven times Honolulu's rain, with a tenth of an inch or more on about half the days of the year. Pack a rain jacket for the Hilo day in any month. The weather service says the wetter regions, where rain comes from both winter storms and trade wind showers, see much smaller differences between the seasons. Kona, on the other side of the same island, is the driest of the five ports.

The weather service gives the general reason. Where warm, moist air rises over windward coasts and slopes, it rains far more than over the open sea. Leeward areas, where the air comes down, tend to be sunny and dry.

When is hurricane season in Hawaii?

The Central Pacific hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to November 30. Those are the dates NOAA's Central Pacific Hurricane Center gives. The center shares an office with the National Weather Service in Honolulu and covers the ocean from 140 degrees west to the International Date Line, which takes in Hawaii.

That is half the year, so about half of Pride of America's Saturdays fall inside it. In the days before a summer or fall sailing, the hurricane center's site is the one to watch.

When is whale season in Hawaii?

NOAA's Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary says humpback season in Hawaii generally runs from November through May, and the usual peak is from January through March. (Its About page gives November through April.) About half of the North Pacific's humpbacks come to Hawaiian waters to breed, give birth and nurse their young, by the sanctuary's count.

Whale-watching boats in port have to keep their distance: the sanctuary says it is illegal to approach within 100 yards of a humpback whale.

On November 14, 2026, the lowest starting fare for a departure from Honolulu in February 2027, in the middle of the peak, was $1,440.

When is Hawaii least crowded?

In 2025, September. DBEDT counted 690,858 visitors to the islands that month, the fewest of the year, against 903,891 in March, the most. November and October were next quietest. February looks quiet too, but it has only 28 days. The year's busiest months after March were July, December and June. DBEDT put the whole of 2025 at 9,642,991 visitors.

The ship sails the same loop whatever the month. The crowds that change are ashore: on beaches and tours, and in the hotels you may book before or after the cruise. See where to stay in Honolulu before a cruise.

When do other cruise ships visit Honolulu?

Mostly from September to April. On the state's berth calendar read November 14, 2026, visiting ships call at Honolulu through the fall, winter and spring, while from June through August 2027 it shows only three calls besides Pride of America's: Norwegian Spirit in June and August, starting its Tahiti trips, and Grand Princess in July. DBEDT's August 2025 release says no out-of-state cruise ships visited Hawaii that month at all.

Our ships in port calendar lists every call from the state's calendar day by day, with the pier: Pier 2 or the Aloha Tower terminal at Piers 10 and 11.

Hawaii cruise prices by month

Fares move week by week, not just month by month. On November 14, 2026, Pride of America's starting fares ran $1,102 to $3,184 per person for the 7-night cruise, cheapest cabin with taxes and fees. The table below gives the typical and lowest 7-night fare for every month on our schedule, rebuilt each day. Open a month, such as December 2026, to compare the Saturdays side by side, holiday weeks included.

For the cheapest sailings across all months, see cheap cruises from Honolulu. For sailings that leave soon, see last-minute cruises. Flying in? See flying to Honolulu for a cruise.