Would a 7 night cruise hitting Southampton, Dublin, Belfast, Greenock, Inverness, Aberdeen and Edinburgh give a good taste of the UK? Nope.

Did I miss how long the whole Hawaii part of the holiday is? If its 10 days you could do a few nights in Honolulu and then a 2 or 3 nights each on 2 other islands (though that would be awfully rushed). If 2 weeks you could easily fit in 3 islands.

I agree (and it's why I've never wanted to cruise where there are cities and sightseeing involved), but a 7-night cruise that included St. Thomas, St. John, Virgin Gorda, Tortola, Aruba and Barbados might be just fine.

The NCL is not a deluxe cruise, however it is the only sane way to see highlights of three islands in a week. My DH and I have used Caribbean cruises to 'sample' islands, then returned to those we liked for longer stays. If you book a plain cabin and don't run up a huge bar tab, the NCL cruise can be an easy and economical way to see major sights on Kauai, Big Island of Hawaii and Maui. Some passengers arrange to for a rental car at some ports for DIY touring when they do not want the ship's tours.

Transit between islands by air is tedious, taking 4 - 6 hours out of a visitor's day, door to door.

Would I do the cruise? No, but my DH and I have already spent two to four weeks on the four major islands many times and now winter on Maui. Our OP doesn't have that kind of time! (Some 'Old Hawaii Hands" posting seem to forget that.) There's nothing *bad* about the cruise, or it wouldn't still be sailing after so many years.

I'd hope the OP would have at least ten nights in Hawaii, cruise or no. It's more unique and 'honeymoon-y' than mainland destinations, too.

Unless the couple has at least two nights for any mainland city, I'd push on through. The stop has to be worth the hassle of going in and out of airports and the time consuming TSA stuff. Outside of Honolulu, Hawaii is just *easy* -- getting on Island Time and soaking up some Aloha in a beautiful tropical garden that is also one of the United States.

(I didn't know that ORD had flights to Manchester!)

I'm not an "old Hawaii hand" -- only been a couple of times (whereas I go to the UK a couple of times every year)

>>There's nothing *bad* about the cruise, or it wouldn't still be sailing after so many years. << Could be -- but there are a heck of a lot of very (VERY) bad coach tours that are offered year after year.

My thoughts -- IF one loves to cruise and everything related to being asea, and are happy/satisfied w/ relatively short shore excursions I definitely can see taking a cruise through the HI Islands. But if one is more interested in seeing/doing things ON one or more islands, then a cruise would be unsatisfying iMO. Just depends on what you want out of a trip to HI.

(similar to a Mediterranean cruise -- a lovely cruise, but not 'seeing/touring' Europe)