Checkout from the hotel is at noon today, but the flight doesn’t leave until after 5:00 PM, so we still have time to do a little more before we leave. We started by sleeping in and not getting up until we were ready (no alarm clock today). We considered eating breakfast on the hotel terrace overlooking the beach, but after all the fancy meals we have had the last two weeks, we decided something simple was all we wanted. We had seen a Burger King while we were walking around the night before, so we went and had plan old ordinary [View Full Entry]

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The last day of cruising was pretty short. The ship arrived around 7:00 AM at the port of Honolulu. We had to have our bags packed and in the hallway last night, so there was nothing much to do in that regard today. We had to be out of the cabin by 7:00 so we went to the buffet for our last meal on the ship. As usual we had plenty to eat, except I seem to have finally eaten all the pineapple on the ship - they better restock before the next passengers arrive. The ship sails on tonight, eventually [View Full Entry]

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This morning we woke up in the port of Nawiliwili, Kaua’i. At this port, the ship ties up to the pier so our days of tendering are over. We decided to have one last “leisurely” breakfast in the Club restaurant. It was good as always and then we headed to the pier to meet our tour. Today’s tour was apparently very popular as there were multiple buses. They took the first 18 of us who arrived early to a small bus and we got to leave first (ahead of the other buses). Our bus driver Marilyn is a fulltime school bus [View Full Entry]

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Last night we ordered breakfast to be delivered to the room. We had to get up early for it, but breakfast was delivered at 6:30. Everything came as requested except they brought a pot of coffee instead of hot water for tea, but that was easily corrected. So we got to enjoy a nice quiet breakfast on our balcony. We had to use the tender to get from the ship to the shore here in Maui. They announced that we were 6 or 7 cable lengths from the dock, but all that tells us is that cables are long, because we [View Full Entry]

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Today is actually our second day on the “big island”, but we are on the other side of the island. We are in Kona today. This is much more of a tourist location than Hilo, despite what our guide said yesterday. We had to use the lifeboats to get to shore since the water is to shallow for the ship to dock (they anchor and then ferry people back and forth to shore). Conversely Hilo has a deep port and everything that is shipped to this island is first offloaded in Hilo and then driven across the island. That is why [View Full Entry]

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We set our clocks back one more time (now 3 hours different from Vancouver, 5 hours from St Louis). We arrived at the “big island” today and docked at about 8:00 AM. We ate an early breakfast at the buffet on the 9th deck so we could watch the approach to land. It was startling to see land after all these days at sea. It makes you wonder about some of the explorers like Columbus who did not even know where he was going. If you think parallel parking a car is difficult, try it with an ocean-going ship. VERY IMPRESSIVE! [View Full Entry]

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Hello Blog Readers - This is the last full day at sea for this cruise. We have had a good restful time but are ready to start seeing some of the islands and going on our excursions. Those begin tomorrow, but today we enjoyed probably the best weather day at sea. Breakfast was in the main dining room. Although we had missed Eggs Benedict the first time, they had an unexpected repeat offering and Janet had some (said it was much better than an Egg McMuffin). We restrained ourselves at lunch getting something small from the buffet because a big dinner [View Full Entry]

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Today is another 25 hour day, with the clocks rolling back at 2:00 AM again. That means we are making progress going westward and getting closer to the islands. We are also getting further south so the seas are smoother and the temperature warmer. This is actually going to be a “shorts day” for a change. Today’s travel episode is about Oahu, which is the only port where we have not yet booked our excursion. We had read some tour brochures but were able to learn more from the session. We went down a signed up for an all-day tour, should [View Full Entry]

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Last night was a very good night’s sleep. Not only were the seas pretty calm all night, but the Dramamine helped Janet sleep and we both got a full night’s sleep. For breakfast today we decided to try the buffet. You start with a plate almost as large as a turkey platter and you choose as much as you want from practically all the breakfast ideas ever conceived. So forget the idea that this might be a smaller meal. But we had nobody to blame except ourselves if we didn’t get all we wanted (which of course we did). At 9:00 [View Full Entry]

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The first event of the day began at 2:00 AM when the clocks were set back one hour. As we move westward toward Hawaii, we pass through a couple of time zones and will have an extra hour of sleep on several nights. They should advertize those as days with 25 hours of fun and relaxation. Breakfast was another challenging episode of “what to eat?” David had the Ham & cheese omelet with pancakes and Janet had poached eggs on toast. One of these days we may try going to the breakfast buffet instead of the sit-down meal, but not today. [View Full Entry]

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