Hilo is the largest city on the “Big Island” of Hawaii. The island is dominated by the Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea volcanoes. The city is surrounded by tropical rain forest – it usually rains more than 250 days a year. Hilo isn’t the tourist destination that Honolulu and Oahu are, but it’s near lots of the geographical features we associate with Hawaii, such as volcanoes, rain forest and waterfalls.
The most popular departure ports for cruises to Hilo are Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sydney and Vancouver, sailing on Norwegian, Princess, Holland America and Regent Seven Seas cruise ships.