Day 12 – Kahului, Maui, HI and Haleakalā National Park
Our first port day was a big one. We had to get up early. I even caught the sunrise (because there was a mountain there).
We watched the boat enter the port and dock while we got dressed and had breakfast. We then headed down to gather with our group for our excursion.
We had a very hot tour bus and a crazy driver. He was going much too fast up the mountain and around the switchbacks, but he was a pretty good guide and gave us good information on the way up and back. The tour was a bit misleading, though. First, the bus can’t go all the way to the top at 10,023′. We stopped at about 9842′ at the top Visitor Center. The other road to the very top is for cars only. It was advertised as having a small hike at the top, but our driver told us that bus passengers aren’t allowed to hike. I think the tour company just makes him say that so some of our more frail passengers don’t try it. It’s only 0.2 miles, but it’s very steep with giant rock steps. Several people from our bus defied him and did it anyway. Point is, don’t advertise that we are going to the top if we aren’t really going to the top.
The Active Dormant volcano crater was cool. It reminded me of the Great Sand Dunes–that is, if they were made of rock.
Because of the descent, the drive back was even crazier than the one going up. We both understand the need to brake hard instead of riding the brakes, but it could be less jarring if he didn’t drive like a speed demon. We even got back early. We left an honest review on Tripadvisor.
And the port holds a monopoly. There is no option for rideshares, only (seemingly one brand of) taxis. We wrote the company and suggested that for this half-day tour, they make a “stop” at the nearby shopping mall. Instead, we had to go through pre-security and back out. And then, we could take the taxi or we could walk about a mile to that shopping area. And then, when we did take the monopoly taxi, he overshot the ride. It felt intentional to extend the fare.
At the end of the tour, as we passed one of the shopping areas, we spied a Sonic and LOL’d at them being in Hawai’i, now. We sent pics to our friend B who used to live in Honolulu. Hawai’i used to get the ads for Sonic with a “*not available in Hawaii or Alaska” disclaimer. She found it infuriating, so we texted her a few pics.
We used our proximity to shopping to tick off a couple of errands. We knew we’d need some Maui Onion potato chips!
Back at the ship, we showered away the heat of the day, went to dinner, and spent a little time in the quieter observation bar. We were spent from the heat and stress of the day. By that time, my muscles were quite sore from the drive, so I had a “cocktail” of ibuprofen mixed with the heating pad.
Day 13 – Hilo, Big Island, HI and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Our “Best of Hilo: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Rainbow Falls & Local Flavors” tour for this day was awful but in a wholly different way.
Our driver was safer, but very difficult to understand. He reminded me a lot of the South Park episode where Eric Cartman is trying to fake a Chinese accent so he can learn about China’s invasion of the US. He couldn’t understand our request to give us more AC. And of course some lady sat right by it and she’s too cold. We can’t know where the sun will beat in, but she knows where the vents are. If you tour, you need to dress for where you are going. No one gives a shit if your outfit-complete-with-satelite-phone-in-a-$1,000-fanny-pack is cute. Your desire to look good is not more important than my need to not pass out. We would leave an honest review on Tripadvisor, but they seem to have removed their tours from that site.
For both tours, we could not have known anything about the tour company since we had a description of the tour with no mention of the company name. Polynesian Tours is wasted money.
Most of the stops were good, though. We drove up to Volcano National Park and had two stops there. We came back down to the town of Hilo. It’s nearly all tourist shops. Our lunch was just okay. That’s when we lost a few members of our tour group. Rainbow Falls was very pretty and we ran into some of our new friends, there. A final stop at a candy shop was just an obvious money grab. ew.
Later, we went for drinks in the Observation Bar and met a strange couple. I had overheard him being quite pompous a few days before, but he was behind me so I didn’t realize it was them until it was too late. He’s so self centered that they don’t realize that she had a stroke on one of the first days. She’s determined she’s going to walk again, but I’m not sure she should try too hard on a moving vessel with portal doors. They were also weird in that they “don’t do” any excursions or have dinner in the Restaurant.
We got out of there and found our friends at the club. We all went to dinner as a group and had a lovely time. After a long day, we crashed hard.
Day 14 – Honolulu, Oahu, HI
Because we had been to Honolulu, we didn’t have a tour scheduled for this day. I welcomed the break. We got a Lyft to the aquarium. It’s tiny, mostly volunteer run, and geared for little kids. We still enjoyed it though. They have a black and white clown fish named Emo Nemo. How cute! He was a bit camera shy, though.
— YouTube is blocked on the ship’s Wifi unless you want to spend nearly $40 per day. I do miss it since it’s my “tv” …but I’m grateful streaming is generally blocked. We don’t hear people doom scrolling TikFuckingTok on speaker at full volume!) We had a “use it or lose it” onboard credit of $300, so once the Wifi rate fell below that, we got the next package up. So I’m catching up on videos as we have breaks. —
Unfortunately, the 84th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor was going to be the next day and the Honolulu Marathon was going to be a couple of days later. There were road closures all over the place. It made every drive longer and traffic even worse than normal on Waikiki. I wish we had known and ventured off into a completely different direction. The area has grown a lot since we were there 17 years ago. There are at least a dozen new very tall high rises. And, where there used to be one very nice open-air mall, there are now several. There is even a mini Rodeo-type drive, Luxury Row, filled with many of the same stores.
The humidity was trying to kill me, so we headed for a mall. We got to eat at Jollibee and met a nice couple from Chicago while crammed at a long table together. However, most of this mall was also open air. It only had AC in the stores and food court. And there was simply no where to just sit for a minute. Even the bars were open air chains.
It could have been a lot worse. Our friends went to Pearl Harbor and got drenched in a downpour. We did enjoy a lovely sunset and sail away. We learned something new. When there are no clouds, the sunset can create a very short green flash. Apparently, you need to video record it and edit for color to capture it, but you can see it with the naked eye.
Our dinner was sea bass for me and “Hanger and NY Strip” steak for him. We read hanger is one of the very best cuts of meat, but we still aren’t sure how his steak was both, as the menu described it. From what we could find, hanger steak in the US is the same as skirt steak in the UK. But then we also read that it’s from a different part of the cow than the NY strip, so we are still confused.
Later, the Trio was actively asking for requests! I finally got to dance to some Madonna. There was also a little ship drama. There are two bars: The Club is for dancing and just a touch louder than conversation volume. The Observation Bar is quieter piano music and playlists. Some woman was at The Club and said the music was too loud. She wanted to visit and couldn’t hear her friends. Except she didn’t just say it, nor did she talk to the Trio or Band, Band Leader, Entertainment Director, or Cruise Director. She jumped over all of them and sent an email to corporate. So we walked in and could barely hear the band. After plenty of us complained that she needs to go to the Observation Bar (or the cafe or card room or something else) instead, we got the music back to a great volume. One of the singers was very hurt by all of this.
Day 15 – Kona, Hawai’i, HI
Our stop in Kona was a lot less rushed than the other ports of call. And, we had a later tour, so we didn’t have to rush to get out on time.
We took a tender to shore, which was a fun experience. Our tour was going to be on a submarine, so then we took a different tender to the submarine. (And then that tender back to shore and another boat tender back to our ship. It was like a luxury version of the keystone cops.)
The submarine was fun. (Unfortunately, I was seated next to the snobby lady, but we didn’t say a word to each other.) The jokes were a bit droll after a while. And one of the bartenders from the ship got to go on that tour with us and it was great getting to chat with her outside of work. She is an introvert who hates small talk, but a day or so before, she made it clear that she likes us. So, it was nice to get to hang out with her for just a few minutes.
After the submarine tour, we had lunch and popped into a shop for a waterproof phone case for him.
The pool deck was the spot to be for the afternoon. It seemed that Kona was a quick port for everyone. We soaked in the hotter hot tub, I had a couple of spritzers, and we chased the shade. We even broke out the Maui Onion potato chips to share with our friends.
After a “blogging nap,” we headed to the club for a pre-dinner drink. We had lovely long chat with the Bandleader (and guitarist for the Trio), and learned that the lead singer is his wife. They met as cruise musicians 20 years ago and have been married for 18. awwwwwwww.
Just in the nick of time before closing, we grabbed dinner at the poolside restaurant, Earth & Ocean. The seafood boil was wonderful, but I don’t care for sitting out there in the wind and humidity.
Our entertainment for the evening was Christine Allado. She is amazing! I was already “in love” with her part way through her first song.
It was another long day and another hard crash into the pillow.