[awildermode]

I just came back from a 7 day cruise around the islands. NCL has the only ship that can do island hoping without docking on a foreign port.

1 cruise starts in Honolulu
2 dock in Maui
3 overnight Maui
4 dock in Hilo (north of big island), cruise around island at night to see lava flow - AWESOME
5 dock in Kona
6 dock in Kauai with overnight stay
7 back to Honolulu

cruising is a great way to see highlights of destinations (not just Hawaii). there are plenty of excursions that will keep you busy. actually, for this cruise, you will want to take excursions as the ship is kinda lame compare to others.

we flew into Honolulu and got right on the boat, then flew to Maui for additional three days. flew home from Maui. you may want to spend time on Oahu if you do the cruise.

you can easily spend a about a week (or more) on each island and not get bored.