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My Portrait
Photography
My Nature Photography
We did not book our air through NCL as I had enough frequent flyer miles to get the four of us to Hawaii - thank you America West. As usual we flew a day ahead of time just in case weather or something delayed our flight. The agent who helped us use my mileage was very helpful, as opposed to the first who said we could not go. She built us a round-about trip that met our needs within the frequent flyer limitations. Our first leg was from Phoenix to Las Vegas - departure at 7:30 AM, which meant getting up way to early. My mother-in-law and father-in-law had purchased their tickets.
Our trip started out as quite the adventure this time. Our Limo arrived right on time from Amanda's limos. They have good rates, and for our group it is actually only a few dollars more than the shuttle. As my wife hates to be late to the airport, we arrived about 2.5 hours early.
The in-laws started to check-in first. Father-in-law went fine, but mother-in-laws ticket was a problem. It would allow them to generate the boarding pass. After fighting with it for about 15 minutes they tagged their luggage and sent it on while they continued working on the boarding passes. Another agent took our us and got our boarding passes and tagged our luggage. Being the cautious traveler I was, I verified all tags were correct.
The America West agent walked down to the Hawaiian desk and got the boarding pass generated and then was able to generate the America West segment. At last we were on our way. At the Las Vegas airport America West and Hawaiian are in different terminals, so we had to clear security again. We were concerned, but it turned out to be a non-issue.
We were kind of spread out about the plane on the first segment, but it was a short flight so it wasn't a big deal. On the Hawaiian leg the in-laws were sitting 25 rows apart, and since it was a full flight the ticket agent said they couldn't help. We asked a flight attendant to see what they could do, and they got them seats together thanks to a kind gentlemen who switched.
Hawaiian had an in-flight meal. Edible. They had an in-flight movie, "Terminal", how appropriate. They did something I hadn't seen in quite awhile. They were charging $5 for headphones AND $5 if you used your own.
We arrived in Honolulu after a smooth flight with just a few bumps. Had a "crazy" lady sitting in front of me who snored so loudly during the entire flight. About 4 hours into the flight she jumps up and turns around and yells at me "Will you stop moving". I was sitting there reading my book, minding my own business. We had hit a few minor bumps along the way, maybe she didn't know what turbulence felt like. I regret not taking her picture to make her famous here. She goes back to snoring, and the rest of the flight is fine.
The best site is when you look out your window to see Hawaii.
When we arrived in Honolulu we were greeted by our driver from Star Limousine at the baggage claim. I was kind of surprised as in Phoenix they won't let the drivers leave their car unattended. They had quoted us a great rate for the four trips we would be using. You had to pay for all trips in advance, which made me nervous, but they were awesome.
Now comes the worse part, waiting for your bags to appear. In the back of your mind you know one of the is lost. Well we waited and waited and waited. The group of bags circulating would stop every time they loaded a new cart, and you get the feeling as you notice that your bags aren't there. Well after about 30 minutes, and most of the bags being gone, I asked if there were any more carts. Bad news, all the luggage was unloaded.
Off to baggage assistance. As it turns out, our bags decided that they liked Las Vegas so much that would spend the night. We had been worried about how our 9 bags would fit in the trunk of the limo, but we'll find out later how they fit. The airline called us and told us the bags would come in the next day and be delivered to the ship. We kept our fingers crossed.
Our limo driver could not believe that they had managed to lose all our luggage. My father-in-law joked with him about renting his jacket. Off we went to our hotel. We had decided to stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village as we had stayed there before and liked the grounds.
If you decide to stay here, go online and join Hilton Honors for free. They have a special check-in line and there was no one in it. The regular line had about 40 or more people in it. They also had self-check terminals, but I did not see anyone try them. We had ocean view rooms in the Rainbow tower. Great views and right on the beach.
We were a bit hungry so off to the ice cream shop located just across the entrance drive from the main lobby. The grounds have lots of art and jewelry stores to window shop. They also have an ABC store. This is a great resource. Full of affordable souvenirs, snacks and other basic essentials.
We spent some time enjoying the grounds as there is so much to look at here.
Well with no clothes in sight, we knew we at least want to find some swimwear. The hotel had plenty of shops, but of course this was resort pricing. We checked with the concierge and found there was a mall nearby. A quick cab ride and we were at the Ala Moana mall to Sears. Well the prices here were not much better for the women, but the kids and men's suits were very affordable.
I had called ahead for dinner reservations at Benihana's as I knew they were located on the grounds. When I made the reservation I verified that they were the one located in our hotel. Upon arrival they did not have our reservation. This trip was looking like everything was destined to have problems. The indicated that they were closed for a private party. They did run around a bit and decided that if we could come back in an hour, they would squeeze us in. We we starving and decided not to try.
Off to the on-site Rainbow Lanai Buffet. We had a coupon from the room, and as it turns out kids under 12 eat free. It was seafood night, but they did have enough other items for those who preferred to not eat fish. It was a pretty decent meal for buffet food. The trays were pretty small, so things didn't sit very long. A nice selection of desserts.
On Friday and Saturdays nights there is a show and fireworks display at the main pool. We watched both from our balcony. We were a little high for the show, but had an awesome view of the fireworks.
We tried for a late check-out, but alas the hotel was full so they could not comply. Apparently a typhoon was keeping guests from returning to Japan. We did find out the hotel had hospitality rooms that you could reserve. So reserved one so we could could clean-up just before heading to the ship.
For breakfast we headed down to the buffet again, only to see it must be popular as the line was huge. So off to the little coffee and pastry stand in the center of the grounds. Short line and we had some fruit, pastry and coffee.
Spent a some time swimming on the beach and the some more time in the pool. The pool area did suffer from major chair hogging. We spent about 2.5 hours there and saw about 30 percent of the chairs untouched by they people who had piled their stuff on them. The pool did have a rule against leaving your stuff unattended for more than 45 minutes, and would tag the chairs. After some splashing around it was then lunch by the pool. The hamburgers were huge!
Off to the hospitality room to clean up. It was just a regular hotel room. Everyone took their showers and out to he lobby to await our limo to the pier. We had the same limo driver and he was right on time 2:30 PM. He couldn't believe we still had no luggage.
A leisurely drive at we were at the pier. To the Pride of Aloha.
| Our Trip | Pre-Cruise | Sun-Board | Mon-Kauai | Tue-Kauai | Wed-Hilo | Home |
| Thu-Kona | Fri-Maui | Sat-Maui | Sun-Honolulu | Ship Tour | Videos | Back |
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