Hawaii
Copyright © 2004, Jay Ackerman. All rights reserved.
Friday,
October 29, 2004 (off to Oahu)
Saturday,
October 30, 2004 (day in Honolulu)
Sunday,
October 31, 2004 (Cruise Begins)
Monday,
November 1, 2004 (Kauai)
Tuesday,
November 02, 2004 (Kauai and Na Pali Coast)
Wednesday,
November 03, 2004 (Hilo, The Big Island)
Thursday,
November 04, 2004 (Kona, The Big Island)
Friday,
November 05, 2004 (Maui)
Saturday,
November 6, 2004 (Maui)
Sunday,
November 07, 2004 (Cruise Ends in Honolulu)
Monday,
November 8, 2004 (Last Day in Hawaii)
Friday, October 29, 2004 (off to Oahu )
We are on the plane now, passing over
We hit the road this morning around
It is
It is now
I’m trying my best to stay hydrated. I’ve been drinking water, haven’t had any alcohol and have been to the bathroom twice—which is a good sign. Although it hasn’t happened today, I always seem to use the bathroom right after somebody really fouls it up. I then have to wallow in their stink while I do my business. Additionally, the person that uses the bathroom after me will invariably think that I was the one to foul it up! Of course, that means that I have probably been incorrectly blaming the person in front of me in the first place. Ponderous.
Back to the movies. Sleepover was
horrible (unless you’re a 6-12 year old girl but even then, the message is
worse than the movie). How do movies that awful get made (and why is awful a
negative word? Doesn’t it come from awe – ful, full
of awe?) Riddick was entertaining and did not disappoint (given that I expected
it to be as bad as Sleepover); a good time-filler. I’m going to watch a little
CSI now and maybe take a nap. Just FYI, the flight has been mostly smooth with
the notable exception of when we crossed from the plains into the
Quick note: my new watch was wrong (it had
I watched three CSI episodes. The last one involved a game called Logos (which looks like a boardless version of Scrabble and had at least some similar rules). The murder victim played the word EXVIN. His opponent talked about challenging it (the victim defined it as a person who no longer drank wine) but instead played EXVINS by adding an S which the victim immediately challenged (I’m sure stuff like that happens in Scrabble, also, but without the murder part). Later, in the bathroom, the opponent made the victim “eat his word”. He forced the tiles into his mouth (he wanted it to be “hard to swallow” just like it was for himself) and the victim ended up choking to death. After nine hours sitting on a plane, that seemed like a pretty clever story.
We landed a little early at around
On the plane I wore jeans and a turtleneck shirt. For me, that was just right given how cold they kept the plane. Debra (my wife) had a shirt, fleece and puffy winter jacket on. At some point in the flight she did remove the puffy jacket but then she used it as a blanket. After we landed she put it back on but had to take it off just after we got off the plane and she hit the 90% humidity and 80+ degree temperature.
They announced that our luggage would appear at baggage claim 3 and 4. Huh? Two baggage claims? Just before the luggage started coming out, they announce that luggage for Elite fliers would come out at one claim and the rest on the other. The people who didn’t hear the announcement kept running back and forth to check the luggage at both claims. We didn’t have any problems.
We grabbed a taxi and told him we were going to the Waikiki
Prince Hotel. We had some confusion as he thought this was one of the Prince
hotels which it is not. I pulled out my guide book and told him it was on
Prince Edward St. He didn’t know where that was either. As we continued to
drive toward
We checked in. We had picked this place because we knew we’d
be tired from the flight, we’d be out hiking most of the next day and then
leaving for the cruise the following day. We wouldn’t have much time to sit in
the room, enjoy the view, etc. so the room was fine for us (we’re foodies, not roomies). The room was clean but certainly
showing its age. It was an efficiency and had a gas
stove, fridge, microwave and A/C (which was important). With the ability to
cook/reheat food it could really save you some money but it is not for
everyone. If you are looking for amenities like an in-room phone, you’ll need
to look elsewhere. But if you’re looking for cheap sleeps, 600 ft. from 
The resident manager recommended Keoni’s (a block away) for a bite. We walked down to the beach first where we caught a bit of a Hula show by a giant (banyan?) tree. We didn’t stay too long as the announcer seemed more enamored with hearing his own voice than actually allowing the women to dance.
I was quite exhausted since I didn’t get any sleep on the plane.
Debra had slept quite a bit and was more awake. We had a quick bite at Keoni’s where we had a very friendly waitress who told us
how she got out of discussing with her young daughter what a vibrator was for.
We loved
I had a Thai Calamari Salad and Debra had Tom Yum Soup and a small Summer Roll (filled with shrimp, mung bean noodle and some other stuff). We enjoyed the food but after eating I was totally wiped out. We headed back to the room and went to bed around 9 when we found one of the negatives of the room; it lacked blackout shades. The bright streetlights blared right through the drapes. We hung our extra bedspread over the drapes and that took care of the problem.
Saturday, October 30, 2004 (day in Honolulu
Up early this morning, around 
I think the old man convinced the couple to
hike to the lookout that we were planning to hike to. They left first, with the
old man. Jason left next and we followed shortly thereafter. The trail was
muddier on this part. Other parts were blanketed with slippery tree roots. It
drizzled a bit here and there. Part of the trail went through a bamboo forest.
I have never seen anything like it. Very cool. We
caught up to Jason as he had stopped to study some of the local fauna, a weird
2 inch worm-like creature with a head like a hammerhead shark. A little further
up we caught up with the old man who regaled us with
some more stories. After a bunch of switchbacks we reached the turnoff for the
lookout. Jason left us here as he was going on a different part of the trail.
We met the couple from the falls as they were heading down. A few minutes later
we reached the lookout. From here you could see the Pacific on the windward
side of the island. (That’s it just to the right of Deb’s butt in this pic.) 
A sign pointed to another trail that said
“lookout” we followed it further up and after a bit we reached a clearing where
we could see Pacific on the south side of the island. Back at the first
lookout, the old man arrived just as we started to eat our lunch (a sandwich we
grabbed from Subway before we left). More stories while we ate. Soon the rain
started in earnest and we headed back down (around
For dinner, we planned to eat at Mekong Thai on
Back in the room we caught some weather info. Severe flooding. The Manoa stream
had overflowed its banks and flooded areas of the
The bad news (and lesson learned) was that Deb’s camera got wet and is not functioning. Same for both of our cell phones. I had brought some Ziploc bags with us but couldn’t find them during the hike. We hope they will dry out and work.
Sunday, October 31, 2004 (Cruise Begins)
Deb’s camera will power up but won’t function otherwise.
Both cell phones are working again. The cruise boards today. Check out for the
hotel is
Debra has been reading Budget Travel which happened to have
an article on
We find Kozo right by a Jack-in-the-Box. It is basically a fast-food sushi place. I’ve never seen anything like it. You can get a tuna roll for $1. Deb and I get different combos. Mine had a piece of tuna, squid, shrimp, egg (tamago), and two others I don’t recall plus two pieces of cone sushi (I don’t know what it is, I just ate it) and the equivalent of a small roll and two pieces of a large roll, all for less than $6. Deb’s dish was all sushi, replacing the rolls with eel and some other pieces. It was all very fresh and ridiculously good for the money. We then headed down to Leonard’s and picked up a half dozen of their specialty, malasadas. We got the filled kind (basically a filled doughnut), two each of chocolate, guava and coconut.
Back at the hotel, we gave the manager one of the malasadas (he took a chocolate). Deb and I split the other chocolate malasada. It was gooooood. I then tried a coconut while Debra had a guava. Mmmmmm. We then made pigs of ourselves as we devoured the last two (using the excuse that they probably wouldn’t let us take them on the ship and they’re best fresh anyway!)
We checked out and the manager called a cab for us. We chatted while we waited for our cab. When it did, we were stunned to see a stretch limo with a yellow taxi hat.
At the port several people were pointing at our cab and making comments (probably the same comments I made when I saw it pull up to the hotel). Ship check-in was very quick and soon we were in our room.
Debra needed a nap so we relaxed for some time. Eventually we decided to go to dinner but the main dining room (only one was open the first night) had a huge line. We decided to have some salad at the buffet and then try the dining room later.
I grabbed some salad. Debra got salad and roast beef. Before long we decided to just eat dinner at the buffet. I went back and got some turkey and mashed potatoes. Then back again to get a Caesar salad. Then again to get some fruit and cheese. We wisely skipped dessert and therefore did not need to be rolled back to our room. ;)
Monday, November 1, 2004 (Kauai )
Today we docked in Nawiliwili,
We headed up to
We missed the turn off of 50 for 550 which looked on the map
to be the way, though the signs said to take 552, which we did. On the ride we
saw some amazing views including views of
We started the hike at 
Spectacular!
We sat and ate our lunch. Just as we were finishing it began
to drizzle. Based on the previous hike I decided it was time to go. We packed
up a headed back. It was just after
Uh oh. Where were my pant legs? Not in my pack and not in my car. Ugh. I think I left them on the Hertz bus (I hope) or just lying on the ground where the bus picked us up. I seem to be losing my mind lately.
We stopped at most of thee canyon lookouts as we drove back
down. The first was completely socked in with clouds when we arrived. We
couldn’t see a thing but you could here a goat or two every now and then. There
were a few other people and one of them said something about waiting for
another clearing for one more picture. We stayed and, sure enough, the clouds
broke (actually they blew further up the canyon) giving us another incredible
view. These three pictures were all taken from the same place with maybe 5
minutes between the first and last. 
We even saw
the goats.
Here’s another one we took at a different lookout.
We took 550 all the back to 50 (skipping 552) to see the difference. It was probably a bit faster and with slightly different views. The road was twistier and steeper but not difficult. If you have a motion sickness prone passenger, you’re probably better off on 552. Otherwise take one in each direction for the different views.
As we passed through Hanapepe, we stopped for ice cream at Lappert’s which is right on 50. I was going to try the
Kauai Pie flavor (Kona coffee ice cream with
macadamias, coconut, chocolate and vanilla crumble, I think) but Deb had
already ordered a giant dish of chocolate ice cream and mango sorbet. It was
delicious and enough for the both of us. We didn’t realize it but they were
just about to close when we arrived (around
Did I mention the chickens? 
Did anybody mention the chickens? There are chickens
all over the place. On the sides of the roads (occasionally crossing), on the
hiking trail, they are everywhere. We also saw some other ground birds (looked
like a grouse to me) and even a couple of Nene geese.
We arrived back at Hertz and I checked inside to see if they had found my pant legs; not an easy thing to describe to people. Meanwhile, Debra checked with each bus driver as they came to pick people up that were heading to the airport. The didn’t have my pant legs in the lost and found. Bummer…but I still had shorts. I went outside to wait with Deb for the port shuttle bus. It was the same bus and driver that had picked us up and I asked him if he had my pant legs. He said he had and had brought them inside. I went back inside and he also came in. Voila! They found my legs! Maholo (thank you).
Back at the ship we headed to the hot tubs for a good soak. Then, around 8, finally headed to dinner in the main dining room. Kimiko was our waitress and she did a fine job. We had heard so many horror stories about the service on the ship. We kept our expectations low, resolved to not get upset by little things (we’re on vacation!) and, so far, have had a fine experience. Even the food was good. Debra had a spinach salad with roast duck, and lobster tails. I had sausage and bean soup, avocado Caesar salad, and roast pork loin with some exotic fruit sauce. After dinner we watched part of the show featuring dances from around the Pacific. We were too exhausted to watch very much. We headed back to the room and crashed, hard.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004 (Kauai
and Na Pali Coast
Breakfast today for me: apricots, figs and peaches (all canned), hash browns, three boxes of cereal (Raisin Bran, Total and Quaker 100% Natural ) and a blitzer. What’s a blitzer, you ask? A blitzer is what you get when the person writing the sign has never heard of a blintz. It was actually quite good, too.
Today was a lazy day. The ship left port at
The reason we left port at 1 was to sail around 
Here Debra is
pointing to where we hiked the previous day:
It was now after 4 and Debra went off to sign up for the talent show. She said only one other person signed up (a singer). She was quite excited about playing in front of group of people. The show would be Saturday night in the main showroom between the early and late shows that evening.
We had reservations at the Royal Palm Bistro, which is one of the “specialty” restaurants on board. There’s an extra charge to eat at these ($15/person for the Bistro) but we wanted to give one a try after passing on both of our previous cruises.
The menu had choices such as Filet Mignon (what Debra ordered), Sea Bass (which I ordered) and a few others. They also had specials: Surf and Turf (Filet and three lobster tails) or Surf and Surf (5 lobster tails) for an extra $5 on top of the $15.
The appetizers were good (but I’ve already forgotten what they were), I also had a mushroom soup which was pretty good. We both had spinach salads with goat cheese, also pretty good. Debra said the Filet was delicious. My sea bass was miniscule, luke warm and served on a plate that was so hot I almost burned myself touching it. For dessert, we both got what was called chocolate fondue with fruit for dipping. In reality, it was good fruit (bananas, strawberries, raspberries, etc) with a bowl of warm Hersey’s syrup. Service was competent but uninspired. I don’t think we’d go back.
We stopped by a lounge to hear one of the crew playing piano. He is also the DJ on board and was subbing for another crew member who had the week off. He did a nice job and we spoke to him afterwards. We were the only people listening to him besides the bartender.
Back at the room we watched CNN and the election results. Broken camera, lost hat and now another 4 Bush years…but I am determined not to let anything ruin this vacation. Time to hit the sack…
Wednesday, November 03, 2004 (Hilo Island )
Breakfast: Three boxes of cereal: two Raisin Bran, one Total. Some fruit too.
The hike starts across the street from the visitor’s center.
We started at 
makes its way across fields of lava from
different years (1885 to 1975). Each field is a little different and it is
generally fairly easy to see where one ends and another begins. There is very
little vegetation. A sprout of grass here. A little fern there. It is very moon-like and there is a
feeling of devastation in the air. The sky was clear and the sun was hot but no
as bad as hiking in 
We reached the Halema’uma’u
Lookout at around 
We had not seen any other people on the hike
until here—but these people were from the nearby parking area. We sat near the
edge of the crater and started to have lunch. As I sat eating my first
PB&J, I notice all the previous land slides around the crater. I also
noticed all the cracks running around the rim of the crater—especially the
cracks that, as I sat facing the crater, were a few feet behind me. We then moved 20 or 30 feet further away from the edge
for the rest of our lunch. (Tip for cruise ship hikers: What I like to do for
lunch is to take several rolls at breakfast, make PB&J sandwiches with them
[there is usually peanut butter and jelly available at breakfast] and keep the
sandwiches in empty cereal boxes from breakfast [which prevents them from
getting crushed]).
The hike back was along the Byron Ledge Trail. I don’t know
what is meant by ledge here. You can’t fall more than 2 feet at any point along
this trail. This trail leads back to the edge of the crater and then up through
crater wall forest. Along the way we saw some interesting flora (like the Uluhe fern fiddleheads, which are lilac purple) and even a
pheasant (we think that’s what it was). We veered off toward Kilauea Iki and then onto the Crater Rim Trail. Part of the Crater
Rim Trail used to be the 
We arrived back at the visitor’s center a little before
We skipped the Thurston Lava Tube as there was a line of people
waiting to see it (also the park ranger had mentioned that the only good part
was so far back that you have to have flashlights, which is why so few people
see it, which is why it is still interesting to see). We stopped at one the
crate overlooks but there was nothing to see—too many trees. We headed further
down and stopped at the Kealakomo Overlook which is
about halfway down. This is a nice lookout over the ocean and lava fields. We
didn’t stay long as we decided to try to make it to the bottom. We arrived just
before
We arrived at the flow and Debra took a picture of me
standing on the road by the lava. There were other people taking pictures and
Debra suggested we offer to take a picture of nearby couple. “No time,” I said.
We zipped across a hundred feet or so of lava where the most photographed “No
Parking” sign in the world was buried in lava. 
Another quick picture and we headed out. It
was near
We got back to the car around
We did make it to Wal-Mart and despite the parking lot being
very busy, we found a parking space quickly and it was pretty close. We needed
glue and also a couple more cameras (Debra’s digital appears permanently shot,
plus we needed an underwater camera for Thursday’s snorkeling). It was one of
the Super Wal-Marts and it was not obvious where
anything was. We assumed cameras would be in electronics and asked an employee
where that was. She didn’t tell us; she actually escorted us there! At
Wal-Mart! We grabbed a couple cameras. I assumed we would find glue in the
crafts section and that this would be in the back corner. I was right on both
counts. We grabbed the glue and then stopped to grab a couple of energy bars as
we were running low. We didn’t wait too long to check out (this is Wal-Mart?)
and left the parking lot at, holy cow,
In my haste, I passed right by the Chevron in the Wal-Mart parking lot and headed toward the airport. We still needed gas. I said aloud that we’d stop at the next station that was on the right side of the road but a couple blocks down we were at the airport. The last gas station was on the corner—the far left corner and I was in the wrong lane. I turned into the airport, whipped a U and waited for the light.
The pumps at the station didn’t have credit card readers on
them but there were two readers where you swiped your card, entered your pump
number and went from there. I finally figured out this bizarre set-up and
filled up. We left the station just after
I zoomed down airport road (which is pretty long) until
there was one little sign that said “Rental Car Return |
She handed us a parking slip and off we went, through the
lot. At the exit, there was three cars ahead of us
waiting to get out. Things went pretty quick as you only have to pay if you
stay more than 30 minutes. We looped around, stuck behind a slow moving van
that we’d been behind since exiting the parking lot. He also pulled into the
Rental Return. (Hey,
Thursday, November 04, 2004 (Kona, The Big Island )
Breakfast: Quickie meal today: Two boxes of Raisin Bran, one of Total, one mandarin orange blintz (the sign only said mandarin orange) and some pineapple and honeydew.
We arrived in Kona this morning. No docking (I don’t see anyplace a ship this size could dock) so they were tendering. Tenders can sometimes be painful to wait for. Fortunately for us we had an excursion booked for the morning. This meant we got a separate tender then those going ashore on their own.
The tender dropped us at the pier, then
we took a van north to the marina. We were on the Kamanu
which is a sailing catamaran. It was crewed by Jay, Kat and John. They all were
friendly, happy people who really seemed to enjoy their jobs. Just at the mouth
of the marina, a school of spinner dolphins was sleeping. About
every minute or so they would surface to breathe. Usually you could see
3 to 6 at a time. 
We motored south over to Pawai and snorkeled for a little over an hour. The snorkeling are wasn’t very far from the cruise ship. Too bad they couldn’t just pick us up right from the boat. This was my first time snorkeling and it really was great.
There was an abundance of fish, mostly yellow, black, white or some mix of those. 
At one point I was watching a multi-colored (in an almost iridescent way) fish. Debra had our camera and I was looking for her to get a picture when she came swimming by. I tapped her shoulder, then her side, then her leg, trying to get her attention as she swam right by. Frustrated, I went after her. When I started swimming, I saw why she had ignored me. She was following a ray (perhaps an eagle ray) trying to get a picture. It was swimming gracefully along the bottom and was a site to see.
Most of the snorkelers were staying at the surface. Debra was diving down quite often. I dove a few times, mainly to get closer for a picture here or there. I was getting tired and headed back to the boat. A few minutes later they raised the sail to indicate that it was time to go. I expected Debra would be the last back on the boat and, lo and behold, I was right. On board we got sandwiches, pretzels, soda, wine and beer and some fresh fruit. We went sailing for about 45 minutes (I didn’t have a watch so all these times are approximate) which was very relaxing. Eventually we headed back to the marina where the dolphins were still sleeping. We watched them for a few minutes and then motored in. (Underwater picture tips: don’t expect much, the closer to the surface the better and don’t expect much.)
We got back to the cruise ship without incident. We relaxed for a bit and then went to the buffet “just to get some salad”. After salad, pizza, fruit and cheesecake we went back to the room to relax some more (I worked on this, Deb napped).
We decided to see the “close-up” magic (same magician as yesterday) at 6 then have dinner and then go to the 9:45 “Sea Legs Cirque” which sounded similar to “Cirque Pan” (a show we had seen on another NCL cruise). The magician is OK from a magic stand point. His slight-of-hand is good. The best part is that he is also a comedian and that is what kept some tricks (like the ones I used to do when I was 12 years old) from being boring.
The show lasted until a little after
Just before dessert, we rechecked the show times and saw
that the first show was at
The room was already quite full and we got some fairly
crummy seats way to the side. Even with these seats the, the show was quite
amazing. I really don’t know quite what the show was about as I couldn’t
understand most of what the narrator was saying but this did not detract from
the show. The show was put on by the Jean-Ann Ryan Company which also did the
good shows on the
The show did have many similarities with Cirque Pan but it was almost like that show was the concept vehicle and this was the final product. Just a great show. If you’re on this ship, do not miss it.
I thought I felt the beginnings of a cold coming on (itchy, scratchy throat) but I chalked it up to all the mouth breathing during the snorkeling.
Friday, November 05, 2004 (Maui )
Not too hungry this morning. Had a box of Raisin Bran and a box of Total. I used chocolate milk to simulate Cocoa Pebbles which made things too sweet. I diluted it with a some skim milk to make things just about right. I also had a mushy waffle and one bite of cold hash browns (Tip: if you take the lid off a serving dish that’s supposed to be filled with hot food and there’s no steam, skip it.) Also made two mini-PB&J sandwiches for today’s hike.
We packed our backpacks and got off the ship just after
I pulled the car around and parked in the shuttle area. Debra and I went in and I asked if they could add Debra to the contract. No, not without my license but they could switch the reservation to her. So we did that. We got back in the car, with Debra driving and me navigating. First stop was K-mart to pick-up some duct tape. The glue idea for Debra’s hiking boots wasn’t doing to great and we needed reinforcements.
We planned to do the Waihe’e Valley hike. Our hiking book said you needed a permit from the Wailuku Agribusiness which was supposed to be on highway 30. Well, it’s not. You take 30 south. Turn left on 305 (which looks like a neighborhood road) and go all the way down to the stop sign, then left and you are there. We called ahead to make sure they were giving permits (supposedly they won’t if the forecast is for rain due to dangerous flash flooding) and to get directions…twice. Here’s an excerpt from the waiver:
“…you are agreeing that we owe you no duty of care or any other duty. We promise you nothing. We do not and will not even try to keep the premises safe for any purpose. The premises are not safe for any purpose. This is no joke. We won’t even try to warn you about any dangerous or hazardous condition, whether we know about it or not. … We may give you bad advice. Don’t listen to us. … And have fun!”
We headed back to the valley and finally started hiking
around
No big deal. We paid and signed another waiver. There was a
group of six others that arrived about the same time and they seemed to know where
they were going so we kind of tagged along. 
The hike
started out pretty easy as we just followed a dirt road until there was no more
road to follow. Then came a couple of cable and plank
suspension bridges which got a little to wobbly with more than one person going
at a time. 
Further up we had to
rock hop across a couple of streams. The trail gets a little tougher after this
but not bad.
We arrived at the dam at the end of the hike. There was a bunch of people there, most of them drying off from a dip in the waters. Towels! We forgot towels! No bother…except it started to rain.
How many warnings had we received; that if it started to
rain turn around immediately? I stuff my PB&J sandwiches down my throat and
Debra ate an energy bar. 
We headed out and an hour and a half later we
were out and pretty wet—not as wet as our first hike but still wet.
We drove back to the port. Just before the port gates there was a sign that, I thought, said “No Parking Inside Port” and we turned off just before the gates and parked at a little ocean front park very close by. As we walked back into the port the only sign I could find said “No Fishing Inside Port”. D’oh! We could’ve parked a little close but the difference was that much, maybe a tenth of a mile, so we left the car where it was.
While Debra napped, I went on deck and called to make
reservations at the Haile’emaile General Store which
is supposed to have some of the best food on
At
We walked in, gave them our name and waited at the bar
(since the don’t even begin seating for dinner until 
Our waitress was very friendly and helpful.
We started with two appetizers: Crab Pizza and Ahi Napoleon (???). The Crab Pizza is a little (maybe 6”) pizza topped with minced crab and some cheese (I think). It was excellent. The Napoleon was a tower of salmon (smoked?), ahi tuna and ??? with crisp fried wonton skins in between the layers. It came with wasabi dipping sauce. The whole thing was quite large and delicious.
We skipped having salads (a wise move after the size of those appetizers) and went straight for the main course. I had a Seafood Curry (???) and Debra had Blackened Ahi. The curry had scallops, shrimp and (???) in it. It was in a Thai greeny curry and it was fantastic. It was too much to finish (since I knew I wanted dessert). Debra’s ahi was equally delicious. It must have been a 10-12 oz. piece of ahi and was bigger than Deb could handle. We go the leftovers wrapped so Debra could have them for breakfast the next day.
Then came dessert. I ordered a
slice of pumpkin cheesecake with baked apples (they are baked right into the
cheesecake) and Debra had pineapple upside-down cake with vanilla ice cream and
chocolate sauce. Words fail me. Overall, one of the top food experiences I ever
had—right up there with Bouley and Aureole in
We took our leftovers and headed back to the airport to drop off the car. While waiting for the shuttle we realized we had left the leftovers in the car. Debra raced over to where they were working on the car but it was too late, they had thrown them out.
We got back to the ship and, at the security check-in, a man was just finishing a banana and saying something about not knowing he couldn’t bring food on board. We didn’t feel so bad about the leftovers being thrown out (but they probably only stop fresh fruit from coming aboard).
We’re got back to our cabin between 8 and
We danced for a few songs and then got caught by the band leader. He picked us out (as every one else sat down as the music had stopped) to talk to us. He asked me about my shirt (it was the upside-down blackjack table shirt) and gave his condolences to Debra. Then they played a slow song and people got back up to dance. We danced for several more songs until I was wiped out.
I went to sleep around
Saturday, November 6, 2004 (Maui )
Hmm. What to do. What to do. We had booked a bike ride down from the top of Haleakala but, on the other hand, I was sick. Hmm.
At breakfast, the weather looks clear and beautiful. I figured I could do the bike ride (it is all downhill).
For breakfast I had two boxes of cereal: Raisin Bran and Quaker 100% Natural, hash browns (I learned my lesson yesterday and got the hot ones from the inside buffet), toasted bagel with cream cheese, most of a small bran muffin and a glass of OJ.
A van met us at the port at
The drive takes about an hour or so to the top. On the way
over, the clouds had started moving in—you could no longer see the top. Our
guide, Ron, gave us plenty of stories on the way over and was quite
entertaining. Our driver, Dave, did not say much. We stopped pretty early in
the ride up to take some pictures. 
It was
getting very cloudy and we were not sure if we would get another opportunity.
We broke through the clouds and arrived at the visitor’s
center. There were a few silverswords planted here.
These are the flowers that live for 5 to 50 years, bloom once, then die. Their leaves are very silvery (hence the name). We
did not get to see any that were in bloom. 
We continued up the mountain to 9740 
We donned our
gear (my strategy was to wear exactly what Ron wore and he was wearing a
sweatshirt and raingear; so was I). We checked out our bikes (which are all lowriders with front and rear drum brakes). We headed out
(single file, Debra was fifth, I was ninth) and immediately were engulfed in
clouds. We were supposed to try to maintain 30 feet between us. I found that I
was continuously on the brakes and rarely could get that kind of separation
(the heavier you are, the faster you go and the heaviest people were at the
back of the pack).
The mist quickly coated the outside of my sunglasses. We stopped after about a mile to make sure everyone’s brakes were working, everyone was comfortable, etc. We also toweled off our glasses and eight of the ten people in our group put on ski gloves. The only people who didn’t were me and the guy behind me. We continued down. The clouds were now misting on us. Water was dripping off my helmet and glasses. I zipped my raincoat all the way up (not easy when you need to brake all the time). My hands were freezing.
Fortunately we stopped again and I and the last guy went
straight to the van to get gloves. I was worried it would be hard to brake
while wearing the gloves but it was actually easier. For the rest of the way
down it misted almost the entire way. The view never cleared. We averaged about
15 mph on the way down, according to Dave who follows the group the whole way
down, blocking the road from the rear. He would radio to Ron, who was in front,
when we needed to pull to the side to let cars go by. For me, the ride was
tense, especially some of the turns, but enjoyable (and I don’t think the
weather could get worse). If you’re considering doing this go for the sunrise
ride, even though that means getting up at
We finally reach the bottom (22 miles for this ride). I was cold, wet (the crotch of my rainsuit was torn) but not as miserable as you might think. The ride ended in the parking lot of a little shop and I got myself a cup of hot chocolate and now I was only wet.
Dave and Ron got the bikes loaded onto the van and soon we
were back at the ship. It was about
I was tired and wet and needed to get changed. Debra was too hungry and went straight to the buffet where I met her a few minutes later. I had some salad and a slice (which is really a half slice) of pizza. I wasn’t very hungry.
Back at the room I decided to take a nap (which I never do unless I’m sick). The plan for the night was: early dinner, early show and then the talent show (remember that from Tuesday?)
I crashed, hard. Two hours later I awoke and started to get
ready for dinner which we went to around
I could barely taste my food and hardly had an appetite. I only ate half my main dish (which was red snapper). I knew that to keep my strength up I would have to eat something with calories but small because of my diminished appetite…sounds like dessert! I had a white chocolate, dark chocolate moussie thing which was actually quite good; just what I needed.
I told our waitress, Kimiko, that Debra was going to be in the talent show that evening. She brought us a good luck cake. Our wine steward brought us some napkins and silverware so we could eat it later in our cabin.
The early show started at
The show was another Jean-Ann Ryan show called Runnin’ Wild. It was good but not as good as the Sea Legs Cirque show. At one point in the show, they actually rolled a pommel horse into the middle of the stage so that the gymnast could do a little scissor work and Thomas flare (or is flair?). Kind of hokey but still entertaining.
After the show, we moved to the first level seating, close to the piano. Most of the audience stayed to watch the talent show plus others came in so it was pretty much a full house.
There was a third person in the show, another singer. First
to go was Debra. She played a piece called Night Music. She did a great job.
After she finished, the applause started and she got up from the piano and took
a seat nearby. Patty, the cruise director, had expected her to stand and bow
and so she didn’t come out on stage right away (she was emceeing). She had
Debra come up on stage to take her bow. 
Debra then
sat with the other contestants.
Next to perform was Kat who sang well (I don’t recall the tune). Last was Julie, who sang a Reba McIntire song (The Greatest Man I Never Knew maybe?). She had a wonderful voice and did a great job. NCL actually has these shows as competitions and tapes them. Someone reviews the tapes of the winners and some are offered gigs or even contracts with NCL.
Despite my biased opinion that my wife was clearly the best in the show, Julie was pronounced the winner and given a small trophy. Debra and Kat received tote bags for participating.
Debra wanted to listen to the piano player in the lounge but I needed to go back to sleep. As I arrived on our cabin’s deck, I saw suitcases in the hall and realized that we needed to pack. I went searching for Debra and found her listening to Julie singing Karaoke.
Back at the cabin we sorted what of Debra’s stuff would go in the bags going out that night and she went back to the entertainment. I did not want to lug any more than necessary and so it took me a while to sort through what I needed where and get packed. I finally finished just after 11. I hardly slept at all the rest of the night.
Sunday, November 07, 2004 (Cruise Ends in Honolulu
Breakfast today was small: A box of Raisin Bran and a box of Product 19 with chocolate milk (they ran out of skim milk), some hash browns and a bowl of mandarin oranges.
We got off the ship without a problem, quickly found our
bags and were directed to exit to the left to get a taxi. We waited in line for
about 5 minutes and only one taxi had arrived. The guy behind me checked with
the dispatcher to see what was going on. He told his wife (in a Scottish
accent) that they were hailing taxis off the street. Meanwhile, I had been
watching taxi after taxi leaving the port full of people! I knew where they
were coming from because we had passed the taxi stand when we arrived the prior
week. We (and the Scots) turned tail and headed for the real taxi stand. We
jumped right in and headed to our hotel, the
It was only 
We sat
outside and relaxed for a long time. Our original plan would have had us going
down to
We talked about going back to Kozu
for lunch but decided against the hot walk (again because of my cold). We
walked down the street and ended up at the International Market which is an
area full of little booths and carts. There was also a food court which had
Korean, Chinese, Japanese (one sushi, one “regular”), Filipino, Mexican, Greek
and several other food stands. We both got sushi because it was the only thing
cool to eat. After, we got some ice cream at the ice cream booth. Debra had
some kind of chocolate plus everything mix. I decided to get the sweet potato
ice cream (which is made with a purple sweet potato [from
We headed back toward the street, eating our ice cream, when Debra realized she had left her hat back at the food court. She ran back and it was still sitting there.
I think we relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Maybe I worked on this journal. Maybe Debra went to check on the details of surf lessons (which she was thing about doing Monday morning).
That evening we took a cab to Alan Wong’s for dinner. Our cab driver knew where it was without an address. He joked with us that when we returned, the cab driver would probably insist on being paid in advance (AW’s being on the expensive side). The restaurant was located on the third floor of a non-descript building. Dress code was fairly relaxed for such a nice place (just a collared shirt and slacks was recommended for men).
Debra had a
First to arrive was hot bread that was very tasty. I was
eating my roll pretty quickly. I picked up the last bite and popped it into my
mouth. I looked down at my bread plate and there was another hot roll there. I
didn’t see where it came from, it just seemed to appear. In general the service
was like that all night, seamless, anticipatory and almost invisible (except
for an extraordinary long wait between the soup and the appetizer). All of the
food was good, very good but as you can see, it just wasn’t very memorable. It
didn’t have the pizzazz that Hali’imaile General
Store had and maybe having eaten there just a couple days before set a high
bar. Even though it didn’t strike us, I would still recommend Alan Wong’s for a
nice meal in
Monday, November 8, 2004 (Last Day in Hawaii
Our flight back home was not until
First stop was an internet café to find out how/where to send our film. I chose snapfish.com because that was the only name I could remember and was able to print one of those “business reply” labels we could attach to an envelope. I also check to see if Mr. Bee’s had updated their parking coupon. They had so I printed that out also.
The next stop was a geocache (Sands of Waikiki). This was an easy find once we figured out how to get to the right part of the beach. I sat nearby where I thought it was hidden and stealthily started digging. Bingo! We had found it. We nonchalantly opened the cache, signed the log, placed Terp the Travel Bug inside and removed a race car Travel Bug. We replaced the cache and covered it back up, hung around for a few minutes then left.
Our last planned stop of the morning was the post office. We
still had a few shots left to take on one of the cameras so we walked down to
the nearby beach. During the walk, we picked up a free newspaper which we would
use later to pad the cameras we were mailing. There was a pier, which we walked
out on. Next to the pier were a bunch of rocks that had these little black
crabs walking over them. 
We took as
many pictures as we could then headed back to the post office. Along the way we
passed the US Army Museum which had a couple of old tanks and guns on display
out front. We took our last shots here. 
At the post office, I picked a big padded envelope. I wrapped the cameras in the newspaper and stuffed them inside. There were no pens (!) available in the post office so we had to wait until we got to the counter. I borrowed the counterperson’s scissors (to cut the mailing label and order form) and pen (to fill out the form). I asked if we could use that label on this envelope. He weighed it, then checked with someone else. Nobody seemed to sure but they took it (we’ll see what happens). Debra also mailed a whole bunch of postcards that she had written.
By now it was time to head back to the room, relax a little
and pack up. We grabbed all our bags and headed downstairs at
I caught back up with Debra at the lobby (which, like almost
all the
We went back to the International Market food court and again had sushi. No ice cream today but Debra had a mixed fruit drink from the place next to the sushi place.
We headed back to the hotel when Debra blurted, “My hat!” Once again she ran back to the food court and once again, found it just where she had left it.
Back at the hotel, I sat on the bed, alternately watching a little TV and looking out at the beach. The combination of the heat and my cold was wiping me out. Debra sat on the lanai to soak up the last few moments in paradise.
At 5 minutes before 2 we were about to head back downstairs for the shuttle when the phone rang. It was the shuttle, they were waiting downstairs.
We loaded up (we were the first of three planned pick-ups). The charge was $6/person with the coupon we got from the hotel (normal is $12/person). Next pick-up was this very old guy who could barely walk. Debra and I moved back to the second row so he could sit in the first. Somewhere in here our driver took a call that must’ve been another pick-up because we made two more stops. At the next stop, we picked up a couple and then our driver tried to turn around to get back to the main road. There was a van that was parked in a position that made it so that he could not make a wide turn and he ended up getting stuck on a little parking island. He went back and forth a couple times, back tire hitting the island curb, then front tire. Fortunately the other van moved and we were able to get free and on our way.
We picked up one last couple and headed to the airport. We arrived without incident, checked our bags and arrived at our gate. The chairs at the gate were these very uncomfortable hammock-type chairs. They were so bad we actually sat at the gate across the aisle which had different chairs.
The flight was nearly full. The seat layout for the plane is