Kona...coffee anyone???

Today we were in Kona.  We didn’t have anything planned here so we just took our time and ate on ship then got the tender into town.  Beautiful scenery here and this is the beginning point of the Iron Man we heard.  There were many people practicing their swimming skills here way out in the ocean..yikes.  Debbie, Kay and I walked through town and found lots of cool things we couldn’t live without.  Teresa, I sent a box of pineapples to your address today and also sent the kids some coconuts.  The catch is they are “dead” (they have no fruit or milk in them) but at least Paige will have a coconut from Hawaii.  I am anxious to see what they think when they get them.  This is the hottest it has been today and we were dying from the heat so stopped to get some “Shave ice” as it is called here.  It hit the spot and we rested a while before heading back to the ship.  Tonight we decided not to go to dinner but to as Debbie put it graze through the ship.  Kay wants to drink her dinner and I am just along for the ride..LOL  We had a good day and tomorrow we are back in Maui before heading out to sea for 5 straight days.  I can tell you I will be glad for some down time that first sea day.  It seems we have been going continuously for the last 8 days and I’m tired!  There was a guy on the pier with a black lab that kept throwing a large stick into the water.  The dog would wind it's way down the rocks and jump into the water and get the stick then swim to shore and bring it back.  The the guy would drop trash and the dog would pick it up and take it to the trash can.  Cute at 10 AM but when we came back at 3 and the poor dog was still doing this over and over again, I felt like the guy was abusing him to get tips.

Teresa if I miss posting tomorrow, I hope you have a great birthday and received your cards and gifts by now.  I may be sending a box in the mail to your address with souveniers if we get somewhere to mail them tomorrow.  I miss everybody.  Aloha….

 

 

 

 

This gecko was too cute and a thirsty little guy too
 

 

The Power of Nature

Last night was beyond description as far as nature goes.  We were lucky to have the ship pass the volcano on the starboard side so we could view it from our balcony.  It would be difficult to explain so I will post what pictures I was able to get.  I got a video that was amazing but so far I have not had any luck uploading it to the blog.  We passed about 10:30 PM Hawaii time and it was eerie as we came up to it as it is pitch black..  You get the steam and smell from the sulfur first and the we could see it in the distance.  We were amazingly close when the ship arrived in front of the main lava flow.  You could see it fall off into the sea and it was a spectacular sight and mesmerizing!  These photos were taken without a flash.  It was rather chilly last night until we got up on this sight then it turned hot and humid.    I will try again to post the video.

Hilo

Today we were in Hilo and we had a private tour booked..  We met the guy outside the gate and he took us to his van.  There was also another couple already in the van and he indicated he was picking up more people so the 3 of us were stuck in the very back.  We drove and picked up the rest of the people in our tour who were also from the ship but he told them to get off the ship earlier so he took them to a park which is where we picked them up.  We went to Rainbow Falls first and that was very cool.  Debbie about gave me a heart attack as she climbed out on the ledge to take a photo.  It was quite good but not worth her life.  Next we went to Volcano National Park and went to the top to view the caldera and saw the steam vents along the way.  Then we went to the crater and saw people walking across the floor of the crater.  This is supposed to be dangerous because of the sulfur levels.  This was a very educational and interesting day.  We also stopped to see the lava field that just stopped a few feet from the road in 1972 and the lava is surprisingly light..  Of course one of the guys on our tour had to take a piece when he was told not to so if the ship sinks, it is his fault.  We went to the Orchid Gardens from there and they were beautiful and then to the Mauna Loa macadamia nut plantation.  That was interesting too as they have 250,000 trees here.  Someone pulled it up on their iPhone and it was huge and we were right in the middle of it!  We got back to the ship about 4:15 and all of us were whipped just from getting in and out of that van to many times today.  We had dinner and are now waiting for our night cruise past the volcano which the captain says will happen and about 10:30.  I am fighting to stay awake to see this now so I will report in the morning before I post this.  Sorry for the delay in getting this up and posted.

Maui

Things went downhill for me after we headed to the Luau at Paradise Cove.  I don’t know if it was the smell of the leis being closed up in that bus but by the time we got there, I wasn’t feeling very well.  I didn’t even get to see most of the show.  Debbie and Kay enjoyed it but I was just glad I made it back to the ship on the bus last night without an incident.  We went directly to bed and I never even saw us sail away.  I woke up feeling much better and it was a beautiful sunny day in Maui.  Debbie spotted a whale before we even went to breakfast!  She and Lindsay are the best at spotting them.  We went to breakfast and headed to the tender to get to our Whale Watching excursion.  We still have not gotten all the things we are supposed to have but more on that later.  The excursion was great and we saw a lot of whales.  There was mother with a baby and several others in groups.  It was great and we had fun.  It was very hot and I came back to the ship after it was over and Kay and Debbie walked into town.  I showered and started the blog.  We haven’t been able to find the internet guy yet so we are trying to use Debbie’s phone as a hot spot to upload the pictures.  We just haven’t had enough time to get it done.  Tomorrow morning you will be happy to see a post I believe.  We will be in Kona and we have no specific plans there so I will get caught up tomorrow.  Last night we had dinner in the dining room at our regular table for the first time.  We were late since we had to go to the make up muster drill..  We were at the luau when the first one was done.  Anyway they must have taken 5 parties behind us to their tables and we were again passed over until we finally spoke up and the Maitre’d finally took us to our table.  We have had issues with service on this ship and it seems they have a lot of new personnel plus having to strip every cabin because of the Nuro virus and on day 4 (today) when we came back from dinner, we actually have ice and glasses…yippee!  At dinner there is no salt and pepper on the table, all the books are library are gone, we have no brochures, books, or menu’s in the cabins and you cannot get your own food at the buffet.  Since they give you whatever you tell them you want on a plate, you get a separate plate for everything and you have no trays so you have to juggle the plates.  When you sit down with all the plates you realize that you have no silverware because that too has to be passed to you by a crewmember.  It has been a true exercise in patience.  You also cannot get your own drinks or coffee.

 

 

 

Catching up

We got up early and headed to breakfast.  We talked to the desk about late check out and then headed out.  We went down Waikiki and then headed to Hanauma Bay.  It was a beautiful morning and all of us were feeling great.  I think we have finally adjusted to the time and are feeling human again.  We drove through the star’s neighborhood on Diamond Head which was cool.  We followed the tour bus but we just didn’t know whose house we were viewing.  The drive to Hanauma Bay was beautiful and the view there was breathtaking!  We took tons of photos then decided we would head on to see the Pali Lookout which we missed the other day.  That also was an awesome view and as you said Dave, it was extremely windy.  We figured we had covered everything there was to see on O’ahu and went back to the hotel and checked out.  Debbie wanted to get some flowers for the cabin so we went to a couple shops trying to pick out something and just bought more lei’s.  We drove to the pier and dropped the luggage then went to Zippy’s for lunch.  I was trying to think of what you could compare Zippy’s to on the mainland but it escapes me.  The food was good.  We went back to the airport and dropped the car then got a taxi back to the port.  Our day went down hill at this point.  We went into the building and into the security checkpoint.  The lady asked me if I had a curling iron in my carry on and I said yes.  She said she had to take it.  Really?  When will I get it back?  At the end of the cruise I am told.  Really?  Now I am pissed and not happy as were the others who also had theirs confiscated as well as other belongings.   Now it was 5 by the time we got our cards and were headed to the ship to board.  Debbie is Elite with Celebrity and is to get priority boarding but there was none of that happening yesterday.  When we finally snaked through the line and boarded the ship we were told they were still sanitizing the cabins and they would not be ready until after 6.  We had a cocktail then took our hand luggage with us and went to the dining room since we have early seating.  Yesterday it was open seating.  Then they argued that I should leave my carry on bag at the entrance which I refused to do since it had both my money and my jewelry in it so they got over it and I took it with me.  During dinner they announced that we could go to the cabins so that was where we went.  The cabins had been stripped of everything so no info, no menu’s, no ice bucket, no glasses, nothing, zip.  We are also missing a piece of my luggage.  The cabin steward came and said that they weren’t allowed to start bringing the luggage on until they were finished the sanitizing and it did show up later.  Debbie also talked to the Guest Services Director who said it was the port that confiscated the curling irons and the port authority said it was the ship but regardless that we would get them back tomorrow.  We had a knock at the door and someone handed Debbie the curling iron before we went to sleep.  Debbie said “see I told you not to worry about it”..she truly is a full service travel agent.  The beds are disappointingly not comfortable and since we are concierge we are suppose to have a pillow menu…not!  Kay went looking for a cold diet Coke last night and had to go to 4 bars to find one.  Apparently they had not taken on food stores since Australia and were out of everything..  Really?  Today has not been hugely better.  We will be leaving the ship shortly for our Luau at Paradise Cove excursion and we sail at 11:59 tonight and not a minute later.  Tomorrow we are in Maui.  We have not had any luck trying to get internet today so it may be  tomorrow before I can post this.  Hopefully before our whale watching excursion tomorrow.  The crew said there are lots of whales when they were there 3 days ago.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunshine and Rainbows

We  took off after breakfast and headed to Pearl Harbor, Aloha Stadium Flea Market, Chinatown (which was an experience in itself) then to the Rainbow Drive-in for the world famous "plate lunch" here in Hawaii and Diamond Head.

We drove along Waikiki Sandra and saw the Hilton Hawaiian Village but we didn't stop to go in.  We also drove by the port and there was a Holland America ship there today, the Zaandam.  We went to Pearl Harbor but did not take the tour.  It is an eerie feeling looking over at the memorial and the beauty that surround this place thinking about what happened that day.  This place is what sent our father's to war.  From there we went to the flea market at the stadium and bought some souvenirs and roasted in the hot Hawaii sun.  We were all a bit drained from the heat by the time we left there.

When we left there we went to Chinatown as Debbie wanted to look for some flowers to take on the ship and an herbalist.  There was sort of a farmer's market of sorts with vendors having fruits and vegetables outside of their shops to draw you in.  First Debbie was insulted at the herbalist by the old lady who told her she couldn't see the "doctor" but she should go see her own "doctor" so we left there and as we were walking along the street with all the fruits and vegetables we saw a cat poop in one of the vegetable bins..really!  After that, all I wanted to do was to get out of there!  Yuck! 

From there we went to the Rainbow Drive-in where where our President goes to get his "plate lunch" when he comes to town.  It was not all that and in fact shortly after we left there I was so sick we had to come back to the hotel. No one else was ill but me so maybe it was just me.   I laid down and Kay and Debbie did laundry in preparation for our packing tonight.  We went to happy hour at the hotel and then went for a walk to the ABC store across the street and now we are back in the room and everyone is packing or repacking but me.  We are going to get up early in the morning and try to go to Hanauma Bay before we have to check out and head to the ship.  We are all a bit nervous to get on now as we do not want to get sick.  It may be Friday before I post again.