| 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 |
|
|
My Portrait
Photography
My Nature Photography
Once again we needed to rise early to make our excursion as pick-up was at 8:00. I'm an early riser anyway, but the rest of the group needs a little more effort to rise.
We order breakfast to the room again from the room service menu. Once again it was on time and hot/cold as appropriate.
Today was our helicopter flight. We chose Jack Harter Helicopters as they offered a 90 minute flight and had good reviews. We got to the pier a few minutes early, and shortly we saw our van drive up. They took us to their office to check-in, pay and get the safety briefing. It was then off to the airport only a few minutes away. They checked out our safety gear (they give you a life vest you wear around your waist), told us our boarding order and then we waited a few minutes for the pilot to clear the helicopter. Check out my video.
The flight was amazing. We saw the ship and an old sugar processing plant.
One of the first canyons we flew back into the pilot told us they usually can't go there because of the wind.
We continued to fly through the ever changing landscape.
I had always heard Waimea Canyon referred to us the Grand Canyon of Hawaii, but when I saw it I could believe how much it did look just like it.
Seeing the Na Pali coast from the air is a site that one doesn't soon forget.
We even saw a few mountain goats.
The water was amazing blue.
The waterfalls were so plentiful and diverse.
The clouds had not come in yet so we could see everything. The only downside to the lack of clouds and rain is some of the waterfalls were not flowing, but plenty were. It was amazing to see how different the various parts of the island can be.
When you land is when they will take a group shot of you with the helicopter.
After our flight we waited about 5-10 minutes while they boarded the next group and then it was back to the ship. When we got in the van the driver gave each family a DVD of a flight. This was not our flight, but a generic flight that they take. The DVD was pretty good and we had seen most of the areas shown (maybe all, hard to tell as each flight is different). We were surprised they did not offer to return to their office for souvenirs. My father-in-law had actually wanted to get some shirts and/or hats. If you want some, either get them early or ask your driver to make the extra stop.
Since we were on board for lunch we decided to try the buffet and the pool deck BBQ. The buffet opened about 10 minutes late.
The BBQ at poolside was nice. Chicken and ribs were in the mainline. If you wanted just a burger or hotdog, you could skip the main line and head down to the grill area and fix one up. The burger was great and my kids liked the hotdogs (they had to hunt for the burnt ones they like).
The ice cream bar today had low-end ice cream. Several people complained as it was Neapolitan from small 1/2 gallon boxes. Usually they had interesting and thematic flavors such as Kona Coffee, Guava or Coconut Pineapple. I skipped it as it was not an interesting flavor.
Kids decided to play cards and swim in the pool and I decided to gets some pictures of the insides of the shops, as they were finally open when I had free time.
Since the shops are not open in port, if you want to shop, this is the day to do it as we have some daytime sailing. I typically walk into each shop, find an angle without people and take a quick picture and move on. Today after about my third picture one of the employees - appeared to be a manager - started asking what I was doing, where the pictures were going to be seen, etc. Seemed very concerned that pictures were being taken and might be seen. Not sure why, but it gave me the impression they were trying to hide something. In reality, the shops on board were no different than any other ship from what my two minutes could tell (I'm not a shopper).
The ships cruises by the Na Pali' coast. This is an awesome sight and a great opportunity to get some pictures. Unfortunately our cabin faced forward, and this put the sun in our faces, making it impossible to get good pictures.
No problem, off to the stern I went. If was crowded, but still easy to get good pictures.
Tonight we decided to try the other no-fee dining room, the Palace Restaurant. When we returned to our room to get ready we found a nice little snack. We got something every night, but usually it got eaten before I could get a picture.
We arrived at 6:00 and were seated right away. Our waiter was very new, we suspect it was his first week soloing (we had seen other trainees before being mentored by experienced servers). You could see he was trying, but was still learning.
He made a few mistakes. Served some things out of order which resulted in the appetizer being warm and not hot. We still enjoyed our meals (Menu).
Once again everything tasted great.
As we were staying in a suite we were invited to the a VIP party with the
ships officers (my in-laws get invited too - thanks Al). The party
overlapped with dinner, so we came about half-way through. It was nice to
meet the officers, and everyone seemed to enjoy the free drinks and snacks (yes
we ate more - LOL).
Next will be Hilo.
| 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 |
|
|