Hop On Hop Off Honolulu!

From Diamond Head

   We had another very good day of touring Honolulu. We were out early and decided to take the Hop On Hop Off bus around the city. They have 5 different lines and we managed to travel on 3 of them. In all we were gone for over 9 hours.

Shaved Ice

   After the ride to the central location we took the green line. It took us along the waterfront and eventually to Diamond Head. We got off in the bowl of the extinct volcano and decided to hike to the rim. The hike is about 1.5 miles in total length with an elevation change of 560 feet. We managed to get to the top in about 35 minutes. We had done this hike 28 years ago when we were returning from Australia. There is a tunnel 225 feet long and about 300 total stairs to get to the top; the last 52 steps up a spiral staircase. It was a warm sunny day and the views were great. We did the entire climb without resting at all and we think we must be in better shape these days. After a shaved ice, we hopped the bus and returned to the depot.

Hanauma Bay

Coastline

    Our next trip was a 2.5 hour bus ride to the Panoramic Coastline on the blue line. We stopped at Hanauma Bay; a place where there are reefs and one can snorkel or enjoy the beach. We only had time for a photo but remember the last time when we spend the whole day there. The ride continued along the very rugged coast to a blow hole (not very impressive as the tide was out) and then to Sandy Beach. All along the coast there were hundreds of surfers. It was a very good way to see the coastline outside the city.

Rainbow Over Waikiki

    We returned to the depot where after a few minutes we took the 1 hour red line tour back to the ship. This took us out towards the Arizona memorial although we did not go that far. (that's another line!) Again we passed many parts of the city including the Punchbowl Cemetery. It is a memorial area for service personnel inside an old volcano. It is extremely well kept where many servicemen who died in World War II are buried. The state capital building, old palace and Chinatown were also part of this route. We arrived back at the ship around 6:30. 

    There was a Hawaiian folkloric show with the traditional Hula dancers and Uke music. They were very good. We met up with friends for a late dinner and then made an early night of it. An all day tour is on tap for tomorrow.

A Great Whale Watching Day In Maui!

Banyon Tree

   WOW! What a great whale watching day in Maui. It started during breakfast when a whale was breaching not far from the ship and ended when we were sailing to our next port. We were up early enough but since we were tendered we had plenty of time to get ashore for our noon whale watching trip. That is when the waiters pointed out a whale close enough to be seen clearly.

   The tender ride took about 30 minutes. We had 2 hours to wait before we were in line for out tour so we basically stayed in the area of the departure point. Besides going to the discount mall is not something that is really that exciting. Lahaina (the town) seems to have changed a loy since we were here 28 years ago. I remember it as a town with a few stores (certainly not a outlet mall). The one thing that is still here is the Banyon Tree. The single tree fills the entire park. One tree trunk but many secondary trunks which grow from the “vines” which hang down from the branches. There are souvenir shops all throughput the area and there were many non ship visitors in the area. The Kaanapali resort area (where we stayed the last time) is somewhat removed from the town.

   By noon we were on the catamaran and headed out on out 2 hour whale watching tour. The last time we were here, I don't remember seeing that many whales. In fact I only took 3 pictures of the whales. Today I ended up with around 70! We saw everything. There were breaching whales. Singles, doubles. Mothers, babies and some male whales (always the third on the group!) At one point the whale swam under the boat. You could see an aqua colour which was the reflection off the fins. They were so close that we could practically reach out and touch them. There are somewhere between 10-

12,000 hump back whales that winter in the warm waters. The mothers give birth far from their only natural enemy which are Orca whales. The guide said that the humpbacks are or soon will be off the endangered species list. These whales then head back to Alaska to feed in the summer time. In all a truly great “shore” excursion.

   With the last tender leaving around 5, we decided to head back to the ship for a slice of pizza, a drink and a rest. By the time we sailed the sun was just setting. As we left Maui you could still see many whales doing their thing. 

Maui

      Dinner was surf and turf, followed by “The Four Gentlemen” a singing group that specialized in '60's and '70's sounds. They were quite good and received a standing ovation from the late show crowd. We ended the night on the upper deck doing a 30 minute star gazing show. Princess has improved the presentation a lot since we first did it a few years ago. A small meteorite appeared just as the presentation began. Funny the last time we did this there was a larger meteorite. Tomorrow we are in Honolulu.

Hawaii Tomorrow

Sailing Along

    Today was our last sea day before reaching the first of the 4 Hawaiian Islands. We have notice a few things that have changed since we cruise 4 months ago. I don't know if it specific to this ship or if it is fleet wide. First was the fact that our room only had the desk chair and not an arm chair. We had to ask for it! The same with the bread sticks at dinner that we like. We did have the soft serve today and we think they shrunk the cones! Finally we had our formal photos taken last night and in the past there was always a draw for them. No longer. Not complaining just noting!

    Weather was warm and sunny after a foggy and wet morning. We walked on the deck

View From Cabin

and just enjoyed the pool area for awhile. We were up early enough for a nice formal breakfast. My omelette included polenta with provolone cheese. It almost reminded me of what we use to get at home. While waiting for Mark to start zumba, Judy tried the Tai Chi. Having never seen it before, it reminded me of meditation with movement. Mark ended with Proud Mary – again. It seems to be a go to song.

Zumba was followed by a Hula lesson (there were about 75 people) all swaying to the music. We stopped at the “big sale” (same stuff) and then looked in on the line dancing. They did the Cupid Shuffle and of course the electric Slide. Boy we can hardly stand the music!

   Lunch and some outside time and then the Tango dance lesson followed. That is a much harder dance than the ones from the last few days. They hope to have a venue where the show band will play some ballroom dances so we can get more comfortable with the 4 dances that we have learned. Our table mate is in the pop choir so we stayed around to hear her sing. All the dancing and singing took place in the atrium which on this ship is quite small and crowded considering the number of passengers.

 

Pop Choir

  After a quick visit for appetizers, we attended the early comedy show with Canadian Dan Funk. More of the same improv comedy. In fact we remembered one of his improv routines. Of course being improv they are quite funny as he uses people from the audience for them. He did mention that he lives in Cambridge although he commented on his almost sounding Newfie accent. Dinner was very good. That is one item that has remained the same although there is always something with a Hawaiian theme associate with it. We arrived early for the production show Magic To Do. We first saw this show last year. It is a combination of singing and dancing (production show stuff) with a series of illusions tossed in. There was even a tribute illusion to Harry Houdini! It is by far the best of the improving in house production shows. 

  We finally get our time change tonight before arriving in Maui tomorrow. We plan a full day ashore with a whale watching tour in the middle of it. It should be fun.

Finally Some Warm Weather

Sailing Along

     Yesterday was nice but today the weather warmed even more! People we sitting around

Enjoying The Outside

the pools, sunning themselves and just enjoying the calm seas ans the partly cloudy skies. I should note that the blog date is off. The reason for that is that because of the limited internet time, it has not caught up to the location change and I haven't tried to change it yet. Although the final time change is tonight  (I Think - my mistake) we were up early and had breakfast in the dining room with a couple from England and one from Quebec. Obviously we had a good time conversing about the vortex that they left behind.

Market Place

    Mark was back teaching zumba and did a good job. He ended with Proud Mary – again. It seems to be a go to song. We stayed for the first of many enrichment lectures. It was on Michelangelo and his genius. Although the speaker has taught at the university level and in teacher's college. He was terrible. He read the whole presentation, spent about 15 minutes on Egypt and made too many references to the movie about his greatness. He was very wooden! All his slides had his name on them. If you get the idea that it was terrible, you are getting the idea. Problem he will be around for the rest of the cruise. We may not go back.

    The ship already had a Hawaiian marketplace where the they sold Hawaiian souvenirs. We took the rest of the morning walking all the decks, just wandering

Tea Time

the outside of the ship. It was good to see all the people out enjoying the day. Lunch was the Princess British pub lunch. We hit the door right between the lineups, sat at the bar and had the lunch. Tea followed and then we waited for Salsa dance class. The teacher does a very good job of teaching the basics but we did not practice enough. 3 dances since we started; can we remember the steps? There was some “line” dancing but enough said.

    We managed to return to our cabin just in time to see coverage of the State of the Union. We headed to the Elite lounge for a few nibbles, the took in the magic of Justin Gentry. Judy doesn't like that kind of show but it is always an interesting. Dinner with our new table mates, then the variety show – 2 singers from the previous shows.

Tomorrow is the last of the sea days before the islands. The temperatures at our first stop should be very warm. We do get the time change tonight.

Full Day At Sea

   A bright sunny day greeted us after the extra hour of sleep after the time change. We were up early and ready to go. There was a full schedule of activities.

We had a light breakfast at the buffet before we headed to Zumba. We did our Sudoku before the class. We had a different instructor .She had a good variety of dances but it was basically zumba gold. It must have been because I could keep up. People came out of the woodwork today. The floor was crowded as well as most of the empty areas around the seating. We did Proud Mary again and I think we could dance it in the future.

    We stuck around in the room because the next class a Hula class. It is a cruise long class with the dancers expected to put on a show towards the end of the cruise. Judy took the class, I did a crossword. We then attended the Hawaiian Shopping Show. It was billed as where to buy things but turned into a commercial for the Princess and Effy preferred shops. It was similar to what you would hear in the Caribbean or in Alaska. We stayed for about 5 minutes then went to the Holiday Store sale. No deals just Princess stuff. That took care of the morning.

Line Dancing

Champagne Waterfall

  We sat in the Atrium people watching waiting for the line dancing. We snacked lunch at the International cafe, the small food choice counter that has limited offerings. That dove tailed nicely into line dancing. There were at least 50 people in the Atrium in a very small area. We did not jump into the fray! You really would need to like the person next to you and hope that you would not get stepped on! Hence we stayed on away from that. Next came the ballroom dance class. Today we did the cha cha. The instructor is probably the best we have had in a long time. She did an excellent job of explaining the dance and having us practice the steps. It was also held in the atrium but there was plenty of room for this activity. That ended the afternoon activities for us.

 

Formal Selfie

Tonight was our first formal night. Our appetizers arrived at 5pm . We were ready to head out after a glass of wine. I did not bring my full formal suit with me this year because we left from Tampa. We still had photos taken to see how cute we can be! We did stop in at the special lounge for Elite passengers. Tonight the offering was a shrimp fountain. A champagne party in one of the stores was followed by the Captain's welcome aboard waterfall party.

  We have another couple at our table. The couple from last night were anytime diners and have moved on. The couple we have now were at a big table but nobody showed up. They are now at our table permanently. Dinner and the a comedy showtime with a comedian named Doug Funk. He is a finalist for Princess entertainer of the year. It was good to see an entertained other than a singer. We have seen him before He is an improve comedian and did a couple of skits with people from the audience. It was good. We did a bit more wandering (looking for a cha cha) before finally turning in. We have another turn back tonight so we did not have to hurry back to the cabin. In all a very full day.

Superbowl At Sea!

After a really good night's sleep after the long day yesterday, we were ready for some sea days activities. The schedule was built around mostly morning activities as we have found on other cruises. We will see tomorrow if this was done because of the football game which was shown in all the entertainment venues as well as on the stateroom TV.

We ate breakfast at the buffet although we had enough time to eat in a dining room. Of course Zumba started the day. Most of the routines were fairly easy to follow but I am a bit sore in the knees. Could be all the stairs that we are doing? The instructor did do a Proud Mary routine! We could only smile!

    The exercise was followed by a lecture on the humpback wales that are currently in the Hawaiian Islands. They are off Maui , our first stop. They still had openings for the 2 hour whale watching tour that we had intended to book earlier. We hope to see some of the 12,000 whales that are there. Next was a Ukulele class. The ukus were supplied by Princess. Unfortunately the whale lecture ran overtime and we could not get an instrument. We did sit for most of the lesson so we could join the next class. We wanted to go to the photography lecture but we were late and the class was held outside where the temperature is still around 15C (60F). By then it was time for lunch where we shared a table with people from Las Vegan and Michigan. Both knew about hockey which was a bit unusual.

   Before the football game, we attended a ballroom dance class in the Piazza. The dance was the meringue. Tomorrow they will teach the cha cha. By the time we got to one of the larger venues, all seating was taken so we ended up watching the game in our cabin. It was not as much fun as compared to a party, especially since Judy did not watch the game except for the half time show.

     By the time the game ended it was time to get ready for the evening. We wandered around the ship listening to the various entertainment before dinner. At dinner tonight another couple showed up. They are from London. So we have a British and a Scottish couple. The British couple have “heavy” accents which make it difficult to hear in the noisy environment of the dining room. I don't think I understood a word that they said. In the Princess Theatre there was a female singer. Just what we needed after dinner. We had heard her before; I recognized her voice. We gain an hour tonight as we head west. We have one more time change before we get to Hawaii. Formal night tomorrow.

A Long First Day

A Long Day!

    We were up around 4 in the morning, our Highland Lakes pick up was there before 5 and had us at the airport quickly. Check in at the Delta counter was quick and we were waiting for our flight by around 5:30. The flight from Tampa to L.A. Was around 5 hours but there was enough room to be comfortable. They even had in flight movies, etc. We turned back the clock and were at the L.A. Airport by 9:30. Everything was going so well.

That is when the waiting began. L.A. Was in the middle of a terrible rain storm which slowed everything down. The Rudy Princess was also in port ant they expected 2200 passengers arriving during the day. They did not have enough transportation to handle the influx. We waited forever and did not arrive at the ship until nearly noon. We were on the second bus!     

    Arriving at the port there were long lines as boarding was “delayed” because of gangway safety concerns. OK, but we had to stand in the rain to get through shipboard luggage scanning. Needless to say we were very wet by the time we made it to check in. That went well as we bypassed the non “elite” waiting to check in. We did go to the head of the line and that was about all that went well. Then we were delayed boarding because of the gangway. When we got aboard at 1:30, there were very few people on the ship. Most were still at the airport of in the shore side waiting room. The lines continued all afternoon. Sailing was delayed! We did receive an extra $25 credit as a token of our continues loyalty (read payoff!). People were still boarding about an hour after we were suppose to sail.

    Some of our luggage arrived in the afternoon! I think they left it out in the rain for good measure. The safety drill was put off but by late afternoon we were ready to sail. Judy lined up a number of things for us to attend: Rum and cake tasting, champagne reception in the art gallery, Welcome aboard party, etc. However everything was disrupted by the delays in getting people aboard! The rum was ok (the cake was good but the welcome aboard party was not held. Before the safety drill, the captain explained way the day was so fouled up – besides the rain – and suggested that anyone proned to sea sickness should take something for it before we sailed as he was expection “heavy” weather tonight and tomorrow. I never heard a captain suggest that ever. By tonight we were bouncing and I think it got worse as the night wore on. Our big suitcase finally did show up just before dinner.

   We are at a table for 6 but only 4 of us were there. I hope that the other couple we just too tired for the prime rib. I ordered medium rare but when I cut into it, it moaned, it was so rare. It was the first time I ever that I asked for another meal. The night ended with a singer. I think both of us slept through the show.

We have been up for about 21 hours and it is time to get some real rest. Sea day tomorrow – Super Bowl Sunday.