Travel advisor Ashlie White traded the ordinary for the extraordinary on a bucket-list cruise across the South Pacific, returning with hard-won insider knowledge and a renewed passion for big-ship travel.
At a Glance
A 12-night Norwegian cruise from Honolulu to French Polynesia offers travelers an alternative to long-haul flights, with four open-ocean days providing unexpected relaxation. Moorea and Bora Bora deliver world-class snorkeling with sharks and stingrays, though activities beyond water sports are limited. Self-guided exploration in Maui yields richer experiences than scheduled excursions.
Some anniversaries call for dinner and flowers. For travel advisor Ashlie White, a decade of marriage called for something far more ambitious: a 12-night Norwegian cruise sailing from Honolulu to the shores of French Polynesia, with four open days at sea in the middle of the South Pacific. Taken in May 2026 to mark her 10th wedding anniversary, the self-planned journey was part romantic escape, part professional deep-dive, and entirely unforgettable.
A Trip Within a Trip
The itinerary was deliberately layered. White and her husband began with a day in Honolulu before boarding their Norwegian ship, and they capped the journey with a full day in Los Angeles. But it was the stretch in between that proved most surprising. The four days at sea crossing the South Pacific, which might sound daunting to some travelers, turned out to be one of the trip's most celebrated chapters. White describes those open-ocean days as "surprisingly good," adding that "they were relaxing and it was like a trip within a trip. It was not go, go, go, because we didn't have to be in a port every day."
For a travel professional accustomed to orchestrating tight itineraries, the enforced pause of open sea days offered a welcome recalibration. The horizon stretched endlessly in every direction, the ship became a destination in its own right, and the pressure of sightseeing simply evaporated. It was a rhythm that White now understands viscerally, and one she is eager to communicate to future clients.
Mars, Roosters, and Reef Sharks
When the ship did dock, the experiences were vivid and varied. In Maui, White and her husband rented a car and drove themselves up to the Haleakalā crater, a sweeping volcanic landscape that left a deep impression. She describes the crater as feeling "like we were on Mars." The self-guided approach gave them freedom that a scheduled shore excursion simply could not have matched, and it is a tip she now passes on without hesitation.
Maui also delivered one of the trip's most charming and unexpected revelations: roosters. Free-roaming, crowing, utterly unbothered roosters wandering through Walmart and Home Depot parking lots as casually as squirrels navigate a park. White had not been warned, and she found the whole spectacle delightful. "The roosters ran around like squirrels," she says, laughing. "They were in the Walmart and Home Depot parking lot just roaming free, cockadoodledoo-ing everywhere. It was actually fabulous." It is, she insists, a fact that deserves far more airtime in travel conversations about Hawaii.
Further into the journey, in Moorea and Bora Bora, the couple swam with sharks and stingrays, an experience that sits firmly at the top of White's highlights list. French Polynesia, she admits, exceeded her visual expectations entirely. "Going as far as French Polynesia was something I never expected to do," she says, "but once we did it, I realized that it's the most picturesque, beautiful place." That said, she is candid about its limitations. Beyond snorkeling, water sports, and pure relaxation, there is not a great deal of structured activity on offer. For the right traveler, that is the entire point. For others, it could feel like too much stillness.
Hawaii Through Fresh Eyes
One of the more nuanced surprises of the journey was Hawaii itself. White had assumed the islands would feel similar in character to French Polynesia, lush, remote, and untouched. The reality was different. Hawaii, she found, is considerably more built up and Americanized than she had imagined, a distinction she now makes clearly when advising clients who are weighing one destination against the other. It is the kind of calibration that only comes from standing in both places.
Who This Trip Is For
As a travel advisor, White is skilled at matching the right experience to the right traveler, and this itinerary has a clear profile. It is, she says, "a once-in-a-lifetime bucket-trip type itinerary," ideally suited to travelers who can commit to multiple weeks and who have always dreamed of reaching the South Pacific without enduring the long-haul flights typically required to get there. The cruise crossing, she notes, transforms the journey itself into part of the experience rather than an obstacle to it.
However, White is equally clear about who should think twice. Travelers who are not drawn to water-based activities, swimming, or snorkeling will find limited variety in French Polynesia. And anyone who struggles on the open ocean should be warned: four days at sea in the middle of the South Pacific is not a gentle harbour crossing.
The Insider Edge
Beyond the emotional highlights, White returned with two pieces of practical advice she considers essential. The first is to rent a car in Maui. "You can definitely do a lot more and see a lot more on your own time," she says, citing everything from hidden waterfalls to the Haleakalā crater as reasons to go independently rather than relying on organised tours. The second is logistical but critical: arrange transfers from the port in advance. Disembarkation lines, she warns, are "horrendously long and not easily accessible for all passengers." Having a transfer already waiting can make the difference between a seamless ending and a frustrating one.
Back on a Big Ship
Perhaps the most professionally valuable dimension of the trip was the return to large-ship cruising. In recent years, White had focused primarily on river cruises and yacht cruises. This Norwegian sailing put her back on a big vessel and gave her a thorough refresher on how those operations work: tendering, check-in procedures, luggage logistics, embarkation and disembarkation flows, drink packages, Wi-Fi inclusions, and the many details that clients ask about but rarely find clearly answered. That hands-on experience now informs every big-ship conversation she has with clients, allowing her to paint a precise and honest picture of what to expect.
What Comes Next
White shows no signs of slowing down. She is heading to Aruba with her best friend to celebrate a 40th birthday at an all-inclusive resort, and in January 2027, she will lead a group of approximately 30 travelers to Jamaica, again all-inclusive, bringing the same first-hand enthusiasm to a completely different style of trip. For White, every journey taken is a story earned, and every story earned makes her a sharper, more credible guide for the clients who trust her with their most meaningful travel dreams.
