Zaandam 11-20 Hawaii Review w/Pics by a Carnival Platinum Cruiser

[NCTribeFan]

Holland America Line MS Zaandam, 11/21/10, 14-day Circle Hawaii

 

Background: I’m a single female, late-50s with a DD, age 24, who is in graduate school and who normally sails with me, but it’s too difficult to coordinate our schedules, so my previous cruise was a solo last May on Carnival Fantasy. This was my Lucky 13th cruise, 1st on HAL. I’m Platinum on Carnival and was looking forward to discovering the differences and similarities between the two lines.

 

I was hoping to find someone to sail with me to the Caribbean in late November or December. I’ve sailed the past three years in mid-December and really enjoy it – just before the Holidays, so the cost is lower, but before too many kids are out of school. I had a couple of friends who seemed interested, but they backed out when it came time to pay. I happened to go back up to the mountains and had lunch with some cousins who I hadn’t seen in several years. When I mentioned my desire to cruise but inability to find a cruising buddy, one said she was hoping to find a couple of more cabin mates to sail to Hawaii. Hawaii?!?! For two weeks? No way could I get that much time off work (I just started a new job on 6/1) and no way could I afford a HAL cruise of that length plus the airfare.

 

But then she told me the cost! I was stunned that it wasn’t more expensive. Plus, she had a great Mariner offer on the 3rd & 4th guests, and the next thing I knew, we were booked! I found airfare on Southwest from RDU to SAN for $330, which was much less than I’d expected. Then, I booked a room at the Holiday Inn on the Bay for $150. It turned out that there would only be three of us, so my share was a bit more than I thought it would be initially, but the cabin, air and pre-night hotel came to just less than $1,500. I thought that was a very reasonable price. And it turned out that with the 2 days off for Thanksgiving, I would have just enough paid-time-off accrued to cover the trip. And the partners said I could go!

 

So, I started doing my homework. I really dislike ship excursions. I know all the arguments about “they won’t leave you behind” but I absolutely detest being herded on and off buses. You end up spending less time at the site you’re visiting than you do getting on and off the bus, and this was especially true on this trip. More on that later. It seems most of the threads on the Hawaii board are for NCL’s ship that home ports in Honolulu. That’s reasonable, but, imho, the threads about the SHIP shouldn’t be there. Those should be on the NCL board. It just makes it even more difficult to find anything pertaining to Hawaii and excursions for those of us who are NOT flying out and spending several extra days, or over-nighting at ports. Anyway, I had anticipated that there would be so much to do that I wouldn’t be able to make a decision on what to book. What I found was that most of the tours are geared to land vacationers, and the hours didn’t fit with our time in port. I was able to book independent tours on Day 1 in Hilo and Day 4 in Maui. They were both great, much less than anything similar through HAL, more informative, just much more enjoyable because of the size of the group.

 

And, sad to say, I found that getting info on the HAL board was a little more difficult that on the Carnival board. I’m not sure why.

[NCTribeFan]

Saturday, 11/20, Durham to San Diego

 

I had booked an airport taxi online for 8:15 pickup. I’d taken the dog to the vets to board on Friday, so just had some last-minute packing to do (you know the stuff – making sure all my little bottles of liquids were actually in a zip bag, making sure I had cross-packed two checked bags and had sleepwear, swimwear, undies, etc. in each). Since I was on Southwest and didn’t have to pay, I went ahead and checked both cases and had a tote bag as a carryon. From my front door to the gate was only 30 minutes! I walked straight through security. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to fly without at least a few people in the security line before me! We departed for Denver on time, but arrive early. Then the flight to San Diego was delayed, waiting for a plane from Chicago that was delayed due to weather in the Midwest.

 

I have cruise friends in San Diego that I met on my first Carnival Miracle cruise in December 2007. We sailed on her again last December. Doesn’t it just figure that I get to San Diego for the first time and they happen to be sailing away on Spirit at just about the time I arrive? Well, with my flight being late, I knew I’d missed them totally, but just when the hotel shuttle pulled up in front of the hotel, I heard her horn.

 

 

Apparently, she was also late in leaving. Had I been on time, I might have been able to call my friends and get a wave from the deck. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain. Never rains in Southern California, right? Well, it was cool and rainy the entire 24 hours I was in town. :(

 

Check-in was quick and painless at the hotel. My cousin and her friend were arriving in a couple of hours, so I went to check out the room. I didn’t pay for one, but was given a room facing the harbor, on the 14th floor! What a view! Too bad about the weather. I was starving, so while there was a break in the downpour, I trotted across the street to Anthony’s and had a fish taco and beer for supper. Back at the hotel, I was trying to watch tv, but couldn’t stay awake thanks to the 3 hour time difference. Cousin & friend arrived, dropped their bags and went down to the pub in the lobby for something to eat, while I climbed into bed for my last sleep before sail-away!

[NCTribeFan]

Sunday, 11/21/09, Embarkation Day

 

I’m an early riser, and with the time change, I was awake at about 5 am. Finally got up and had my shower, went out on the balcony for a photo of the ship and harbor.

 

 

After my travel companions were up and dressed, we went down for breakfast (which was pretty good, if typical overpriced hotel food). Back in the cabin, I pulled out my little roll of tape and attached my luggage tags. I had found some little, plastic, disposable luggage tags somewhere, so besides the regular tags that I taped onto the handles, I attached a couple of these as well. People get so concerned about the paper tags, but I’ve never had any problem with just printing them on bond paper and taping them on. I do put some tape over my name and the cabin number just it case.

 

We signed up for the earliest shuttle (11:45), checked out, and sat and read for a while. I was board and realized that although the clocks said 10:30, football was on TV in the bar. So I went in, decided I should have a beer, and watched a little of the football. I couldn’t believe there were people there with their stupid Steelers towels waving them every time that worthless redneck QB of theirs did anything. Can you tell I’m not a Steelers fan? :p

 

So, time to load the shuttle and off to the ship. Had the weather been a little nicer, I would’ve walked, but my travel companions are around 70 and not nearly so inclined to hoof it around as I am. We unloaded the luggage, tipped the driver, dragged our bags to the terminal building, gave them to a porter, gave him a tip, and headed to the security line. I can’t even remember what check in was like, but it was pretty painless and we were on board in no time.

 

We boarded on Deck Two (Main) and it just so happened that we were all sent down our hallway toward the midship and aft stairwell/elevators. When we got to the cabin (2583), I decided that we needed to drop our carry-on bags, so we did. We just stuck them in the closets so they wouldn’t get in the way of the steward as he was finishing up our cabin. Then it was off to the Lido for lunch. I headed straight to the deli and was delighted to see that they had potato chips.

 

It was exciting to be on a different ship. I’ve been on every class of Carnival ship except for the newest, biggest ones, and was looking forward to exploring. I’m a fan of Carnival’s Fantasy-class ships. Not too large and not too small, and I know them well. But my favorite is Miracle (Spirit class) simply because the layout is so very different from Carnival’s other ships, which are all just various sizes of the same basic ship, and has a better space ratio. Zaandam’s layout was much more like Miracle’s, and I liked her very much. She’s much smaller, but had the same sort of “feel” to her. Except for the rose-colored carpet, I thought she was lovely. If they’d change that to something more neutral, she would be beautiful.

 

A couple of weeks before we cruised, we’d received emails about upgrading to an OV cabin. Normally, I sail in inside cabins. They’re cheaper and I like it very dark when I’m sleeping. But with three females sharing a cabin, we decided that the few extra square feet (and a tub rather than just a shower) were worth the few dollars extra. Cabin had plenty of closet space. There was the wall blower hair dryer in the bathroom as well as a small one in the desk drawer. The flat-screen tv was nice. Yes, there was rust and blue paint on our window, and it was dirty. Whatever. I wasn’t going to take photos out the cabin window anyway. There was LOTS of dust on the window shelf, though, and on the inside of the curtain. Other than that, the cabin was very nice.

 

Muster drill was quick and painless. Our luggage arrived quickly and we unpacked. I had planned on touring the spa but totally forgot about it. I had found the harbor webcam during my researching and had sent a link to my DD. So, I went up to Deck 10 forward and called her. Sure enough, she was able to zoom in a see me standing up there, waving! Pretty cool.

 

And cool it was! At least it had stopped raining. We went to the Lido bar for a sail-away drink. I realized I didn’t have my camera, so ran down to the cabin then the aft pool area to get a shot of the full moon rising over San Diego as we left port.

 

 

Off to the casino once we were at sea. It was very warm in there. And, of course, very full of smoke. Nice variety of slots with plenty of small denomination ones.

 

Time to get ready for dinner. We had late dining and were seated at table 32 on Deck 5, which is all the way aft. Had this cruise been in the summer, there would’ve been a great view at dinner time. Our waiter was Tarigen and our assistant waiter was Gede. Our tablemates were two friends from Seattle, Nancy and Claudia, and a solo cruiser, Martha, currently from California, originally from Argentina.

 

Service was pretty slow, but the prime rib was delicious. I’ve pretty much given up on the beef dishes on Carnival, starting with my 1st Miracle cruise. I was very pleased with the quality of the steaks I had on this cruise.

 

We were very tired. It took several days to adjust to the time change(s). And, of course, just when we did, we had to start re-adjusting for the return trip.

[NCTribeFan]

Monday, 11/22/10, 1st Sea Day

 

I have no idea when I got up! I think it was after 8, which is surprising. I used the “mini-diary” function on my new Samsung Vibrant phone to try to keep a few notes of what I did on what days because it was already a blur before we even reached Hawaii.

 

I use sea days to relax. I’m not one to participate in a bunch of onboard activities. I headed up to Lido, found the omelet station, got my hot tea and headed outside by the aft pool to have my breakfast and do a little reading but it was much too cold. One of the things I had whined about most the past several years was that Carnival’s ships didn’t have wrap-around Promenade Decks. I absolutely loved that on my one RCI cruise, so I was really looking forward to sitting out there and reading. But not on this day!

 

I had also pretty much obsessed about whether I’d be seasick for the first couple of days, as everything I’d read said that the Pacific could be rather rough near the west coast. It wasn't rough per se, but there were large swells and it bothered a lot of people, including my cousin. I’ve been taking Ginger Root tablets since before my 1st Miracle cruise and it has really helped a lot. I still take ½ meclizine as a preventative until I see how I feel. Thankfully, I felt absolutely NOTHING on this entire cruise. I’m thankful and amazed. If you’ve ever suffered from motion sickness, you know how unpleasant it is. I’ve never actually puked on a ship, but I’ve spent many days laying in a lounger in the fresh air trying my hardest to not do so. The Cruise Log says that we had only “slight seas” on that Monday, but that is a lie! A lie, I tell you! :p I heard someone say later that they were 10-12’ swells. I think what bothered people most was that they were coming at an angle from the NW, so we were getting the pitch, roll, and yaw.

 

I gave her a Ginger Root capsule and she went to the desk to get some meclizine and was feeling better before long. I had wanted to listen to Kainoa, our travel guide, but didn’t want to press my luck by sitting up in the bow. I’ve rather learned my lesson in the past on that.

 

We headed to the dining room at 3 pm for the Indonesian Tea. The cloth of their shirts was just beautiful!

 

 

Then it was immediately off for Happy Hour in the Ocean Bar! Cousin’s friend has Alzheimer’s and she doesn’t always want to participate and seems perfectly happy just sitting and doing nothing for long periods of time. She doesn’t wander off, so she chose to just sit by a window and wait for us. The Drink of the Day was Hawaii Five O.

 

I realized that I wasn’t going to make it from tea time until dinner, so I headed up to the Lido Bistro to see if HAL’s hotdogs could compare to Carnival’s. It was good, but not as good. Then it was back to the casino to lose a little more money. Cabinmates went to the 7 o’clock show, which was Black Tie, an Aussie duo. They liked them, but tablemates didn’t.

 

I had ahi tuna, veal and key lime pie at dinner. Can’t remember anything about it, but I’m sure I enjoyed it! I’m guessing I went back to the casino, because I don’t think I’d started going to the Ocean Bar after dinner, yet. I recall that I was in bed by 11 pm.

[OuiOnboard]

Please keep it coming. Sounds like you are in for a fabulous cruise!!!

[NCTribeFan]

Tuesday, 11/23/10, 2nd Sea Day

 

I was up at 7:30 and headed for the Lido and the omelet station again to visit Ian. This morning, I had a ham, cheese, mushroom, tomato and shrimp omelet with bacon and smoked salmon on the side. Plus a V-8 and my 2 cups of hot tea (brewed a long time so it’s strong) with milk and sugar. Just something light to tide me over until lunch! LOL. It was a little warmer today, and the swells were gone. I spent a little time on the Promenade Deck reading.

 

 

I did go hear Kainoa’s afternoon talk about the migration to Hawaii. I had ordered the Michener novel and had started prior to the cruise, but I should have started it earlier, as I was less than 1/3 of the way through the book. I left a little early to get to tea at 3, since it was obviously going to become a pattern that we go to tea at three and then straight to happy hour at 3:30! Today’s Drink of the Day was the Hurricane. I much prefer the rum-based drinks to the vodka ones, but I’m still not a huge fan of fruity drinks. I did my part in consuming them on this cruise, though! We also had purchased a $50 beverage card each.

 

Between Happy Hour and the Captain’s Party, I paid a visit to the casino and decided to try my luck on the $1 Wheel of Fortune machine. Back on that first Miracle cruise, I had won over $800 on the last night playing one (who knows how much I spent to win that, though!). To my surprise, I won $200 in a very short time. When you play a $1 machine and use $3 on each pull, your daily allowance can vanish in a hurry. So, I actually cashed out to keep myself from giving it right back.

 

It was our first formal night tonight. The drink servers looked so nice in their jackets and white gloves! We had a couple of quick glasses of champagne, then off to dinner for our Surf & Turf. My lobster was small but tasty, and the steak was great.

 

 

There were many men in tuxedos and women in long dresses. It was lovely. After dinner, we decided to accompany our Seattle tablemates to the Ocean Bar to listen to Mike and his jazz trio, The Neptunes.

 

The Seattle ladies were a delightful pair of octogenarians. Both widows, they have been friends for about 55 years and cruise all the time. They’ve cruised Zaandam so many times and know so many of the crew members that they take them to lunch and sightseeing when the ship is in Seattle. I’m sure we would’ve got great service anyway, but being with them around the ship certainly didn’t hurt.

[OVgirl]

Wow, love your review so far. Thanks for taking the time to post this and I'm looking forward to the rest.

[NCTribeFan]

Wednesday, 11/24/10, 3rd Sea Day

 

I decided I’d give the Eggs Benedict a try from the Lido buffet. It was OK, but I knew I’d stick to my made-to-order omelets for the rest of the cruise. Then, I figured I needed to visit our Seattle friends in their customary daytime spot at the Lido pool bar for a Bloody Mary. Again, it was tasty, but I just don’t drink that much vodka and rarely drink at that hour of the morning. But, hey, it’s not like I had to go to work or drive anywhere, right? :D

 

I did some reading. It was nice to have a day of sun, even though it was still very cool thanks to the wind. I found that it was too cold on the outside decks for me, and it was too humid at the Lido pool when the roof was closed/mostly-closed. And I didn’t care for Cass & The HALCats. OK, the HALCats were not bad, but I just didn’t care for her singing style. Yes, I’m very particular when it comes to musical performers, which is why I rarely attend the shows.

 

Feeling mildly bored, I decided to attend the demonstration in the Culinary Arts Center. I really didn’t care for the young lady who was the hostess. She spent way too much time flattering/flirting with Chef. Executive Chef Paolo prepared the Canalletto’s Lemoncello Crème and the Pinnacle Grill’s Steak Diane. The samples of the Lemoncello were just delicious. I kept wanting to eat at Canalletto’s one night but we just didn’t get around to it.

 

 

Today was the Royal Dutch High Tea.

 

 

The Drink of the Day was a Volcano. I chose to skip that and have a couple of margaritas. A visit to the casino yielded another $100 profit! I had duck at dinner, which was nice, but not quite as good as on Carnival. Problem with Carnival is that it is offered on the same night as lobster night. Back to the Ocean Bar. We decided to go up to the Crow's Nest to check things out. Arrived just as the DJ was getting started. Not a soul was dancing. One thing I really missed was my evenings listening and dancing to the Filipino “Music Somethings” bands on Carnival. I didn’t dance one time on this cruise. I don’t waltz or foxtrot or tango, and there were no men to dance with anyway. At least on Carnival, I can do some “chick dancing” with friends.

[NCTribeFan]

Thanks, folks. I know when I'm waiting for a cruise, I just love to read other's reviews. And I love seeing photos of the ship and port excursions. I try to be objective and post things that may be helpful to others.

 

At the end of all this, I'll post my overall thoughts and a little comparison of the two cruiselines as well as post a link to my Webshots album.

[NCTribeFan]

Thursday, 11/25/10, 4th Sea Day, Thanksgiving

 

It was cloudy again, but with some sun and a little warmer, but very windy. Cruise Log says “rather rough seas” but I didn’t realize it! There was a rainbow out over the water, which was nice to see.

 

The ship had added Fall/Thanksgiving decorations to the magnificent floral arrangements. I couldn’t believe that some of the flowers around the ship were real. They were just too perfect. To have those stunning orchids on the tables in the Lido was a pleasant addition.

 

 

Today was much the same as yesterday. I read, visited the casino, went to the cooking demonstration, had bread pudding for dessert after lunch, went to tea. Went to Happy Hour up in the Crow’s Nest. Drink of the Day was Blue Lagoon, which was very pretty and very tasty.

 

 

Tonight was the 2nd Formal Night. My San Diego cruise friends had left me a bottle of champagne from a local winery. I decided to take it to dinner to share with my new cruise friends. It was very nice. We all chose the turkey dinner, which was also very good.

 

 

We had an early night because we needed to be up early for our first port day! Yes, we were finally going to be in Hawaii!!!

[NCTribeFan]

Friday, 11/26/10, Hilo, Hawaii (The Big Island)

 

When I book a cruise, I try to find an itinerary that has new-to-me ports. I sail to see the ports, not really for the ship experience. Since I’d never been to Hawaii, and this was my first Holland America cruise, it was all a great new experience. I also do some research before I sail to learn something about the history and culture of the ports I will be visiting. With so much information instantaneously available to anyone with an internet connection, there’s no reason to not be an informed traveler. Michener’s novel was giving me some history, but I should’ve done more before I left home.

 

We had put out the breakfast card on Thursday night. This had worked really well for us on our past few Carnival cruises. It enables you to have breakfast and get ready at the same time. Of course, on Carnival, there are no hot-food choices. We ordered a couple of omelets, scrambled eggs, bacon, coffee, decaf, and hot tea. I was in the shower when the order arrived (we had asked for 6:30-7:00 and it came at about 6:55; they had called to say it would be late, but it wasn’t, really). Unfortunately, there were no omelets, just scrambled eggs with 2 slices of bacon (we had ordered 3 orders). There were two pots of coffee but nothing to indicate which was regular and which was decaf. That was our only room service order, so they didn’t have the opportunity to redeem themselves later.

 

I had booked a tour Ricky Banasan of Ricky’s Tours, thanks to threads I’d read on the Hawaii POC board. We were ready to disembark before the ship was ready. We went straight out to the front of the terminal and were asked what our plans were. I told the lady that we were booked with Ricky and she said he would be in a white van and showed us where he would be when he arrived. So, we had time for a bathroom break while we waited.

 

We were the only three people on the tour. Let me tell you, folks, this was INFINITELY preferable to being on a huge bus with 30 people, most of which had canes or walkers and could barely navigate the stairs. Hey, I’m glad they’re still out and about, but this was so much better!

 

 

 

 

[NCTribeFan]

Friday, 11/26/10, Hilo, Hawaii (continued)

 

 

 

For $65 each we visited: Liliuokalani Garden; Rainbow Falls; Akatsuka Orchid Garden; Volcano National ParkTour including Jaggar Museum, Halemaumau Crater, 1982 Lava Flow, Thurston Lava Tube; Mau Na Loa Macadamia Nut Co; Richardson Ocean Beach Park; and Hilo Hattie’s. The tour lasted nearly six hours.

 

One minute it was pouring rain, the next the sun was out. When we were up at the crater overlook, it was raining and sunny both. Hey, it’s Hawaii. I was glad I had packed my lightweight rain jacket!

 

It was an excellent tour and I’m very glad I saw what I saw. Next time I visit The Big Island, I’ll probably rent a car and visit a couple of places, but I’d really like to spend some time at Richardson Ocean Beach Park. It was a beautiful location.

 

Ricky is originally from the Philippines, but has lived in Hilo for 20 years. He was a papaya farmer for a while, then started driving for a tour company part time and now has his own nice van. He gave us pretty much non-stop information. I would willingly recommend him as a tour guide.

 

All I remember about that day after we re-boarded was that the Drink of the Day was the Mai Tai. We went to Happy Hour in the Crow’s Nest, and went out and took some photos as we were leaving port.

[NCTribeFan]

Saturday, 11/27/10, Honolulu, Oahu

 

Finally, some bright, warm sunshine! It was a beautiful morning in Oahu. I had tried oh-so-hard to find a tour for the morning that would get us back in time to go to a luau that evening. Unfortunately, nothing would get us back in time. And I decided against booking the luau independently (for MUCH cheaper) because all those tours dropped the guests back at the hotels in Waikiki. I just didn’t want to risk that we wouldn’t be able to get a cab quickly and get back to the ship on time.

 

So we ended up booking the Little Circle Island Tour. We had our breakfast and went down to the terminal, where we were able to immediately board The Bus. The tour was as described by HAL. Again, the “bad part” of the tour was that we spent more time unloading and re-loading the bus than we spent at the various stops. The stops, however, were beautiful! Next time, I’ll rent a car since I now know where I’d like to visit again.

 

 

 

[NCTribeFan]

Saturday, 11/27/10, Honolulu, Oahu (continued)

 

When we returned to the ship, we did a little quick look-around the shopping near the pier, then re-boarded and went straight to the cabin to change for the Paradise Cove Luau. Then we hurried to the dining room just in time to quickly have our tea and a bite to eat, since we knew it was going to be a long time until we ate. When we went back down, we got in line to wait. And we stood and waited and waited and waited. Finally, we started out to the buses. We were on a small one (yay!) and reached Paradise Cove before the big buses, but by the time we were driven out to the end of the development (and shown the expensive condos), the big buses had arrived and were unloading.

 

The Luau was very touristy, but was a lot of fun. I wish my camera and phone’s camera had done better at getting low-light pics, but they’re both new and I just hadn’t done enough experimenting with them.

 

 

 

It was after 10 when we returned to the ship (and it was raining again). It had been a long, interesting, entertaining day and we went straight to the cabin and to bed.

 

[NCTribeFan]

Sunday, 11/28/10, Nawiliwili, Kauai

 

Again, I had been unable to find an independent excursion, so we ended up booking the Waimea Canyon tour through HAL. When we went down to the terminal (even earlier than the appointed meeting time), there were already about 45 people lined up! I tend to arrive early to everything, but I’ll tell ‘ya, these “old folks” must enjoy standing in line and waiting, because everything we did both on land and on the ship, the venues were full even before the stated opening times. If the dining room was to open at 3 for tea, there were already 50 people standing outside the door. If Happy Hour started at 3:30, they were filing into the lounge before then. And don’t even get me started on the theater, or even the Culinary Arts Center. Sheesh.

 

ANYWAY, we stood around for a long time and it was warm in there. We finally were escorted out to The Big Buses where a couple immediately started yelling at our driver (Lisa) because they hadn’t gotten some sort of priority boarding (he had a walker). She tried to explain that it should’ve been handled inside the terminal and whatever the person in there had told them determined who boarded when. That wasn’t enough for them, though. They had to stand and yell at her. More later about the rudeness of “The Aged” as I took to calling them.

 

This is one island I definitely want to see again. It was just beautiful. What I liked most, though, was the lack of development. I applaud them for keeping the high-rise buildings off their coastline and keeping Kauai as much an “unspoiled paradise” as possible.

 

Our first stop was along the side of the road at Hanapepe Valley, where a rainbow was vanishing down into the valley. This is the site where they filmed the Jurrasic Park scene when the helicopter was first arriving on the island.

 

 

From there, we headed on up to Waimea Canyon. It was very impressive.

 

 

On our way back to port, we stopped at the Spouting Horn Blowhole near Poipu.

 

 

As in Hilo, it rained on and off all day. Luckily, it wasn’t raining while we were at the canyon, so we had a pretty clear view.

 

I’m not much of a beach person, but it just didn’t seem right to take a 2-week cruise and not get any beach time. So, after we got back to the ship, we went up to Lido deck where we got cheeseburgers. I adorned mine with some guacamole, which made it incredibly tasty! We then left cousin’s friend behind and headed to the beach just near the port. It was cloudy by the time we got there, but it was nice to just sit and watch the waves and smell the fresh sea air. There were lots of people out doing whatever the surfing with the paddle is called. Apparently that has become very popular in the last few years.

 

 

We walked back to the ship, just in time for Happy Hour, of course! I’m not a Pina Colada fan, so I decided a couple of Corona’s sounded just about right. Had a great Filet for dinner. It was Dutch Night, and we wore our silly hats at dinner. Not sure, but assume we went to the Ocean Bar after dinner.

 

[Barrheadlass]

We're taking the Zaandam in Alaska in Sept, am enjoying all your comments and photos immensely!

[NCTribeFan]

Monday, 11/29/10, Lahaina, Maui

 

Normally, after this many days, I’d be back home from my cruise and here we were, off the coast of beautiful Maui with nearly a week to go!

 

 

I had contacted a couple of vendors looking for a tour in Maui and had received no response until I emailed Richard of Hawaiian Eyes. He does a West Maui tour that sounded just like what I was looking for. For $80 each, we were to circle the entire West Maui portion of the island. What we got was so much more!

 

On Sunday, I had gone to the desk to inquire as to the tender procedure if you weren’t booked on a ship excursion (yes, there are instructions in the Explorer, but I hadn’t received mine yet). I told the lovely young lady that we had a 9 am independent excursion. She said if we went to the Wajang Theater, we’d be given tickets. Tickets were available starting at 8 am. She also said tenders took about 10 minutes and ran continuously. So, we arrived at 8:15 and were given #12 tickets! Group #8 had just left. I started to get concerned. It was nearly 8:45 before they called tickets 9-11. Uh oh. But just before 9, they called our number. Since my fellow travelers insisted on taking the elevator the entire cruise (along with 99.9% of the other passengers), I arrived at the tender launch before them and went ahead and boarded. This was the first time I’ve ever been in a lifeboat as a tender. So, we head for port and suddenly an small humpback whale comes up right next to the tender. Awesome!!! Of course I didn’t have a camera ready. I figured we were much too early in the season to see whales. I got out my phone and called Richard to tell him we were on the tender and would be there momentarily.

 

So I get off the tender, find him on the pier and told him my friends were in the next boat. They arrived and he escorted us over to some shade where we could sit. He then went back and proceeded to drum up some more business. So we waited. Another couple joined us and he went back to drum up some more business and we waited. I understand that these guys need a full van/bus, but it was a little annoying to have pre-booked and gotten all stressed out about the tender not getting us there in time only to have to sit for 20+ minutes.

 

 

He comes to get us and loads us into a van with someone else driving. I wish I’d asked him how to spell him name. It was pronounced Keoni, and most Hawaiian words are spelled the way they’re pronounced, so that’s how I’ll spell it, but I don’t think that’s even close. I’ll have to email Richard to find out because I want to give him an highly favorable review on the Hawaii board. Now I was even more annoyed. I thought we were getting a tour with Richard, not some employee.

 

Boy, am I glad we ended up with Keoni. He’s 40 and was raised by his grandmother, who is a direct descendant of Maui royalty. She and her sisters own or have owned a huge portion of the northern part of Maui. His grandmother is 98 and her sister is over 100. His father is 100% Hawaiian, who was in the military and married a Puerto Rican. He’s the youngest of 11 kids and the only one raised on the island. Now THIS is what I was hoping for in an island tour. Not some transplant bus driver from the mainland! He gave us so much “insider” info and showed us places that you would never see from a tour bus. He even stopped at one place that Richard doesn’t even know about! The portion of the road that goes across the northern end of the island isn’t even supposed to be open to public traffic. Richard’s vans are the only tour vans that have access. If you rent a car, it states that you are not allowed on that portion of the highway.

 

It was amazing and fantastic. Besides being an incredibly beautiful island, I felt like this man had invited us into him home. I need to write to Richard and see if he can put me in contact with him because I have more questions and would like to learn more about his other activities on the island. He was fascinating.

 

Now what I said early on about doing research BEFORE you visit a port? I wish the couple behind me had done a little research. If they had, perhaps they wouldn’t have felt compelled to interrogate him every freaking second of the tour. And the woman was YELLING into my ear. She was just two seats behind him. I’m sure that wasn’t necessary! Her husband didn’t SHOUT and the driver was able to hear him. More on YELLING PEOPLE later! (I know you can’t wait to hear my views on that subject.)

[andeesue]

Loving your detailed report! I'm with you about doing independent excursions when possible to avoid the mass bus situations. Thanks so much for all the information and keep it coming.

[NCTribeFan]

Monday, 11/29/10, Lahaina, Maui (continued)

 

Anyway, we started out from Lahaina, then headed back to pick up another couple. And we started out again and received another call to come back for more. You can imagine how I was feeling about this by that time. I was not a happy camper. I was paying for a 6 hour tour and I wanted my six hours, not an hour of waiting and driving in circles around the port area! But we didn’t go back the last time, we headed north along the coast past the (over) developed resort area. We stopped a few times for photos and then arrived at Kahakuloa. It seems our driver was related to everyone in that village. He lives over in Hana, where his grandmother lives, but his great-aunt lives in the Kahakuloa area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We eventually made our way to the Iao Valley State Monument, where he informed us that the info about King Kamehameha on display was not what he had been taught by his grandmother. Imagine that! The “official” history fed to the public may not be what actually transpired? I can’t believe that could ever happen! The Iao Valley is the place where the Council meets to discuss Island issues. He also said that calling the peak the “Iao Needle” was silly because Hawaiians didn’t even have metals before “civilization” was inflicted upon them. It was a totally mainland name. The Question Couple asked him something about why the American settlers had done something or other. I politely informed them that this was what had been done to indigenous peoples all over the world in the name of “civilization” and religion. What a shame what ignorance and greed leads people to do. OK, I won’t lecture, but it is sad. :(

 

I had wanted to explore Lahaina (the main setting of most of the novel “Hawaii”) but we were starving by the time we returned to port, so we headed back to the ship and up to the Lido for another cheeseburger with guacamole.

 

And so our visit to the Hawaiian Islands was done. That was quick! Four consecutive port days, especially when you get out there and explore and do things, is very tiring. Amazing just how tiring getting on and off buses can be, eh?

 

For Happy Hour, I had margaritas, not the Hawaiian Sunset Drink of the Day. For dinner, I went against my waiter’s suggestion and ordered the pork chops, which were tough and dry. He brought me the Macadamia Nut Encrusted Chicken Breast, which was wonderful! I should know by now to listen to the waiter! It was one of our Seattle friend’s 81st birthday. She had brought her recipe for Peanut Butter Pie, which was fantastic, and which we received at our table on three different evenings.

To the Ocean Bar, then to the casino, where I actually won another $200! Now, you have to realize that I was also making regular contributions to the casino bank, so all these winnings were not free and clear. Still, I ended up going home with casino cash. Usually, I take my daily allowance and lose it all, plus I end up pulling some from my room account, which can be a recipe for an unpleasant surprise on the morning of disembarkation when you see that final bill amount!

[NCTribeFan]

Tuesday, 11/30/10, 5th Sea Day

 

Back to the lazy days of doing nothing other than eat, sleep, read, drink, eat, gamble, drink, eat. You get the idea! Don’t think I did anything at all (other than the above). It was the 3rd formal night. We decided to stop and get some Glamour Shots before dinner. Someone said the “Grammy Award Winning Xylophone Virtuoso… Ian Finkel” was very good, but I just don’t do many shows.

 

There was a Polynesian Fish Bake luncheon at the main pool, but I was now addicted to the cheeseburgers (even though the Mexican buffet was gone so I couldn’t slather it with guac). DOD was Lava Flow, but I didn’t have that. Not sure I even went to Happy Hour. Don’t think I did. We lost an hour at 2, which threw off my desire to go to afternoon tea, and I’m not sure I went to the bar, either. I was really lazy this day! And I was already starting to think about having to get back to reality before too much longer.

 

Edit: Actually, I think I put on a swimsuit and went up to Deck 10, all the way forward and tried to find a spot out of the cold wind. The sun was strong, but the wind made you feel cold, and I was worried that I'd fry. I didn't stay out very long and, yes, I did get quite a bit of sun while I was reading.

[NCTribeFan]

Wednesday, 12/01/10, 6th Sea Day

 

It was cooler and mostly cloudy. I did sit on the Promenade Deck and read. Kept moving from chair to chair trying to find the spots of sun that came from between the lifeboats. It was very windy again.

 

Same routine of reading, eating, drinking, etc. during the day. I had some beef dish for dinner that had Yorkshire Pudding with it. It was a bit overcooked, but since I wasn’t expecting Beef Wellington to be on the menu, I figured I should get the Yorkshire Pud while I could.

 

The Indonesian Crew Show was tonight, which was very entertaining. Our cabin steward was the lead guitarist in the band, and our assistant waiter, the charming Gede, was in the Monkey Dance.

 

 

 

[NCTribeFan]

Thursday, 12/02/10, 7th Sea Day

 

It was cloudy and cool again today. We lost another hour at 2 pm. I mostly just sat in a window seat and read. Had fish and chips for lunch (and bread pudding for dessert, again). Since I had had some luck in the casino, I decided I'd try for the big Bingo prize. I did get within one of winning Game 3, but it was not to be.

 

The highly anticipated Heat @ Cavs game was NOT on in the Sports Bar. It was on TNT, but the bartender said he was supposed to leave the tv tuned to ESPN. They have multiple televisions but only one tuner. Now that makes sense for a Sports Bar, right? So I went back to the cabin and watched the first quarter, but when the heat pulled away, I left. No way was I going to watch Lebron strut around. I had discovered that I could get a Kir in the bar. Carnival stopped carrying Crème de Cassis on their ships, so I haven’t been able to enjoy them on my last many cruises. This had become my before-dinner drink.

 

Tonight was the Chef’s Master Dinner. Besides the two dishes brought after the performances, I had the Baked Brie in Phyllo Dough, the Oxtail soup, and the Lamb Chops. It was all very tasty.

 

 

 

 

[NCTribeFan]

Friday, 12/03/10, 7th Sea Day

 

Guess what the weather was like? Cool and cloudy! I had my usual omelet and headed to the Cruise Critic meeting in the Crow’s Nest at 10 am. I hadn’t made it to the meeting on the first day, so it was good to meet some of the Roll Call people.

 

I couldn’t stay long as I had made an appointment in the spa for the “Spa Taster” consisting of a 25 minute back massage and 25 minute facial. I’d never had a massage, but thought this was a good time to try one. I’d been having problems with muscles near my shoulder blades and all that sitting on the stools in front of the slots had caused some of them to knot up again. It was fabulous! I had a young man as my treatment person and he spent considerably longer than 25 minutes on the massage, trying to get those knots out. He said it would take too long and would be too painful, since I’d neglected them for a couple of years, but I think it was money well spent.

 

Tonight was the last formal night and was the Black & White ball. Had I know this was going to be the case, I would’ve saved my Little Black Dress for this evening instead of wearing it earlier. Turns out we didn’t spend much time there, but still.

 

Dinner was another excellent Surf & Turf meal.

 

One more day of relaxation tomorrow!

 

 

Jay makes a Spanish Coffee in the Ocean Bar

[Himself]

Your pictures were excellent. Thanks for sharing your Hawaiian crusie with us.

[NCTribeFan]

Saturday, 12/04/10, 8th Sea Day, Ensenada, Mexico at night

 

At least it was sunny today! I sat in a chair by the window in the Explorer’s Lounge and read for a long time. Suddenly, there was this terrific noise. I had no idea what it was, but a guy sitting forward of where I was jumped up and was looking out the window. About five minutes later, I glanced up just as a fighter came buzzing by, pretty much just off the water and right by the ship. It was rather frightening!

 

The 2nd Mariner Society Brunch was today at 11:30. Although the dress code was on the invitation (and I went back to the cabin and changed into slacks and a nice top), there were men in t-shirts and jeans and women in t-shirts and denim capris. I don’t consider those to be “smart casual” but if the invitation specifies only “no shorts or tank tops please” then I guess jeans and t-shirts are OK. That’s not my interpretation of Smart Casual.

 

Anyway, the champagne was drinkable and the food was good. I kind of missed my bread pudding, though.

 

And then it was time to pack. Sigh. Our cabin had been too warm the entire trip, and with the sun coming in that afternoon and three women struggling to cram all those clothes back into their suitcases, it got really warm!

 

So we got packed, had showers, had one last afternoon tea and went to one last Happy Hour at the Ocean Bar. We weren’t there at 3:30 on the dot and the place was packed. We had to sit all the way over on the other side of the ship, but Jay took care of us. The Blue Margaritas were very good. I wished I’d had one earlier.

 

Then I decided it was time to go to the casino again. I finally won on a penny slot ($183 on Wolf Run). Before dinner, I was going to go to the casino bar and get my Kir. I heard my name and turned around to see my cousin at the cashier’s window in the casino. Apparently they’d called the cabin and said I needed to cash out because the casino was closing! I had totally forgotten that we were going to be in port and they had to close. So I got my $210 and they closed up. Wonder what would’ve happened if I hadn’t been right there? I was sad that I didn’t have the opportunity to give it all back that night. :p

 

After our last drinks in the Ocean Bar, we thought about going ashore, but it was very cold, we were tired, and just didn’t have the energy, so we just went to bed. Since my travel mates had an 11 am flight, we decided to do the self-assist, so the cabin was full of luggage. My flight wasn’t until 12:30, but I didn’t want to pay for a taxi to the airport on my own and just decided to disembark with them in the morning.