My Hawaii Cruise Adventure

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Great Day 2 Review! I am so glad you learned to put in the pics and to break up the narration. To be honest, you lost me on Day 1, but I really enjoyed this entry.:)

 

I have a stupid question.....Who is James?:confused:

[sue402001]

Geesh, after reading the latest on hiking Diamond Head I'm not sure I want to do it but I will. :D Do you think it's easier to take a planned hike or would you do it on your own if you were to hike it again?

 

I was so looking forward to meeting James on my cruise in April but I believe he gets off the ship just before I get on. :(

 

Can't wait to read more of your adventures!

[scrappydoo]

Thanks for that GREAT to-do list for Honolulu! Henry's sounds like it was made for us. My husband is a vegan and ice cream is at the top of my food pyramid (;):p) so a place that has fresh fruit AND good ice cream is perfect!

Bubbie's ice cream also sounds great but it looks like there are no locations in downtown Honolulu.:(

 

Hi chamima, glad to share. Everyone here has helped me so much as I was planning my trip, so I wanted to give back.

 

There's a Bubbies on University Ave, near S. King Street, which is only like a 7min drive from Waikiki. That's where we went to get our mochi ice cream... just keep your eyes peeled, I think they had a little narrow parking lot area. We went back for seconds a few days later! :D Lots of fun to eat, esp if you have a freezer to keep them for a few days and spread the love.

 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/bubbies-homemade-ice-cream-and-desserts-honolulu-2

[scrappydoo]

so how do you get to Waikiki beach from the port? is it walking distance? Looking for something to do from 2 pm & after.

 

 

I'm not sure if you are talking about the day of embarkation? We never had to go from the port to Waikiki Beach' date=' but I would probably take a taxi to get there. It's too far to walk.

 

If you do have time, you can go to Iolani Palace and do a self-guided tour, or see the Kawaiahao Church and the Mission Houses Museum. The Mission Houses Museum has a cafe for breakfast/lunch, and a tea parlor for afternoon tea on Saturdays.

 

 

[scrappydoo]

Great Day 2 Review! I am so glad you learned to put in the pics and to break up the narration. To be honest, you lost me on Day 1, but I really enjoyed this entry.:)

 

I have a stupid question.....Who is James?:confused:

 

 

Thanks so much for getting my out of my picture uploading rut, Ginny!! :)

If I could go back and break up Day One for you guys, I would...sorry for making you guys cross-eyed by the end of that one. :o Everyone thanks you for helping me, too! heehee.

 

James is one of the crew on the POA who occasionally pops up on the boards of CC. I've seen him on the NCL boards, mostly.

[scrappydoo]

Geesh, after reading the latest on hiking Diamond Head I'm not sure I want to do it but I will. :D Do you think it's easier to take a planned hike or would you do it on your own if you were to hike it again?

 

I was so looking forward to meeting James on my cruise in April but I believe he gets off the ship just before I get on. :(

 

Can't wait to read more of your adventures!

 

 

That is a great question, sue. I think if you just want to get in a nice hike and go for the exercise/sunrise (which it seems a lot of locals actually do there) then you should do it on your own and at your own pace. If you are more into learning more about Diamond Head and Hawaii itself, then I would take the tour. Me personally, I am too lazy, so I know I need to take a tour otherwise I will make all sorts of excuses not to get there. But if I need to meet someone outside of my hotel, then I'm more apt to do it. Plus, I love hearing about the islands. As far as that fast pace that he set in the first 25min, yes, I did have to push myself. But there were still people behind me and they still caught the sunrise in plenty of time. Even on the tour, the guide said just do the best you can and don't worry we will all eventually meet up at that lookout. The good news is that after that, we made several stops where he would go into more history...a few people, including the guide still went pretty quickly, but at our own pace everyone met up at our stops to listen to the narration. So nobody missed anything.

As we headed back down, you could see people's faces going up like "are we THERE yet??" and you can't help but say, hang in there, you can do it, you're almost there! :)

[Bucky3]

Though we have been to Hawaii many times and especially love Oahu, your review reminds us that it's time to go back and visit those places you mention that we've not been to! With the exception of climbing Diamond Head! We should have done that when we were a LOT younger, but now that we've DONE IT through you, we can feel good about it! Great job on your beautiful pictures. Can hardly wait for the next chapter! We take RT cruises now from California and look forward to each one. We are Princess lovers though, so we were/are very unhappy that Kona has been removed from their itineraries.

 

Thanks for bringing Hawaii to us during this cold January!

 

Aloha!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thanks so much for getting my out of my picture uploading rut, Ginny!! :)

If I could go back and break up Day One for you guys, I would...sorry for making you guys cross-eyed by the end of that one. :o Everyone thanks you for helping me, too! heehee.

 

James is one of the crew on the POA who occasionally pops up on the boards of CC. I've seen him on the NCL boards, mostly.

Your welcome!

 

I don't hang out too often on the NCL boards, so that is why I did not recognize his name. I understand he will not be on the ship in May when we will be there? Otherwise I would go look for him.;)

[FloatYourBoatSince2003]

My eyes thank you for the paragraphs in Day 2 :p

[Raison]

Thank you so much for posting the great list of things to do in Waikiki! Very helpful indeed!

 

Day 2 is great too...love the photos! I think we will do Diamond Head on our own so I can whinge my way to the top with hubby lol.

[scrappydoo]

DAY 3: Road To Hana Tour

 

11/28- Sunday- We had booked a Road to Hana tour with Mahalo Tours and Trans several months prior to the cruise. The night before, we received a call from Charles from MT&T confirming where we were going to meet and what time. He mentioned that a group of about 4 people had canceled due to illness and that our tour guide's name would be Sean. He also mentioned that if we knew anyone who still wanted to book a tour, to give them a call.

 

The morning of the tour, we had some breakfast at the Aloha Cafe buffet. I tried their yogurt granola mix, which was tasty. Otherwise I had my usual vacation fare, of eggs and bacon, a few potatoes and lots of fruit. We were ready to go at 8am to meet Charles outside the pier. Charles drove us to meet our tour guide for the day, Sean. I believe she was the only non-Hawaiian tour guide with the company. She was local, and grew up on the islands. But she was definitely a unique character and gave her own unique spin to our tour.

 

It turned out that we were the only two people on the tour that day because of the party that canceled. We basically had our own little private tour! Although, honestly, I would have preferred a Hawaiian tour guide, I was actually quite relieved that they did not cancel the trip altogether. So I was just very grateful to have had the chance to go on the tour and experience the Road to Hana at all.

 

The tour cost $139pp and included lunch, water and snacks throughout the day. We had macadamia nut breads for us in the front seat if we were ever hungry. And we were given Maui Chips to snack on later in the day. I liked the fact that they hold a maximum of 8 passengers in their vehicle and do the complete Road to Hana.

 

I didn't really know what to expect on this tour, and because I've been to the island several times, I didn't really know if I would see anything new. Glad to say, I was pleasantly surprised! The Road to Hana was indeed beautiful and just reaffirmed why I keep coming back. It's never the same thing twice, and there is beauty at every corner if you just are open to seeing it. The landscape ranged from lush and green, to dry and desert-like, to lava rocks and red dirt to small art towns and beaches. We saw 3 sea arches, 3 rainbows, and many a waterfalls traveling the Road to Hana!

 

I appreciated the fact that because the van was smaller than most, we were able to stop at different locations along the road. We were able to get out and use our senses. Sean kept her eyes peeled throughout the drive for any flowers, plants, and trees to point out to us. She pulled over to pick ginger flowers for us to put in our hair, and then some pikake flowers, and even picked up some fresh guava for us to try!

 

Ginger flowers picked by Sean

 

Fresh Guava picked by Sean

 

I won't go into everything but I will share some of the highlights. We stopped by to see the rainbow eucalyptus trees which were beautiful. And one of my favorite stops were the "weeping walls" which were just the cliff walls covered in green along the road that were dripping water as if they were crying. We got out and felt the cool water with our hands, got to life up a chunk of the green wall, see the water flowing down, and smell the freshness of the air. That was very cool.

 

Rainbow Eucalyptus

 

Us in front of the "weeping walls"

 

Weeping Walls up close

 

Another of my favorite stops was Ke'anae Peninsula where we experienced the Mana or "power" of the land and sea. The force of the waves crashing into the rocks was amazing. I could have stayed there for a whole hour just staring at it, it was so mesmerizing!

 

The Mana at Ke'anae Peninsula

[scrappydoo]

As we were leaving the Ke'anae Peninsula, we stopped at the Ke'anae Landing Fruit Stand, home of Aunty Sandy's Banana Bread stand!! You MUST make a stop here! We bought a small loaf of banana bread and Sean had some plastic knives ready for us so we could eat it right away. Please do stop here and pick up some for yourself. They bake these up continuously, so they are always fresh. Perfect texture, just the right consistency of caramelized crunch to the crust, so fresh fresh fresh, tasty, and moist - still warm- it was to die for!! The best banana bread I've ever had. We were like, yum yum yum, it was so good.

 

Karen holding Pikake flower, Banana Bread on her lap

 

We also stopped by the Three Bears Falls (aka Upper Waikani Falls).

 

 

We stopped at Wai'anapanapa State Park to explore the black sand beach and walk through the lava cave. We walked a bit around and took a few pictures of the sea arch, and by the time we were done, Sean had prepared us a little picnic lunch at one of the park tables. I believe she said the people who usually prepared the lunch were all at a funeral that day, but our lunch was still homemade-like with love. We had BBQ chicken, beef, salad and rice. (There may have been something else, but my memory is fading) It was plentiful and although not hot anymore, it was still good. It was perfect timing, as the rain had held off until the moment we finished lunch. As we left the park, it started raining.

 

Black Sand Beach

 

I was a little bummed that our trip might be washed out by the pouring rain, but it turned out it lasted for a good 30-45min before letting up. Even though it was pouring, Sean provided umbrellas for us and asked if we wanted to make a quick photo-op atop at Wailua Falls. We said, why not! What's a little rain in Hawaii? You're in paradise, after all. She was able to drop us off and maneuver back around to pick us up after we had taken our pictures.

 

Wailua Falls

 

Another highlight was that we were able to stop at which ever road side stands, of which there are many in Maui. Sean stopped off at one particular stand that was different from the usual fruit stands you would find. Usually, the stands go by an honor system, where you leave the money for the goods you buy. This one stand had bananas, bamboo vases, hand made jewelry, and other fruit and knick knacks. It was by donations- however much you felt you wanted to give for the goods. Above the donations box, were these pieces of coral that spelled the word LOVE. My friend absolutely adored that, and Sean insisted that she keep them as a souvenir. My friend didn't know if it was okay to take them, but Sean knew the local who set this stand up (we actually drove passed him as he was walking up the road) and insisted it was okay. She also insisted I take a bag of shells, which I really didn't need but she kept insisting so I accepted. Of course, we left a generous donation in exchange for our gifts! =)

 

One of the last stops was Tedeschi Winery where they offer wine tastings. My friend tried a few sweet wines, while I just walked around the gift shop area. This was the last bathroom stop before we headed back to the ship. It was a full day, but one filled with so much beauty. I am glad I finally got around to doing the Road to Hana, and very glad we took this tour. The hairpin turns didn't bother me, but again, I took a preventative Bonine prior to the trip. We got back to the ship probably before 5:30pm.

 

Rainbow disappearing

 

Then one of two low points for my friend occurred... The security people confiscated her LOVE coral! She was very upset, as she really adored them. She is the type to keep mementos and be sentimental about things. I think the worst part was just how unsympathetic they were about it, they could've been a little more friendly about it. I knew that we were not supposed to take lava rocks from the islands and all, so I wasn't sure about those coral rocks. But Sean insisted that it was okay, so my friend believed her. I felt terrible, but I told her at least we have a picture of it to remember it by. In the end, I gave her my little bag of shells since I didn't really need them anyways.

 

LOVE coral

 

So the rest of the night, we had dinner at the Aloha Cafe buffet where I'm sure I over ate yet again. Then we caught the Aloha Polynesia show at the Hollywood Theater. This was the music/dance revue and it was a lovely show. It was kind of funny to see the people we took our embarkation pictures now performing on stage. But it was entertaining and brought a little more Aloha into our day, so we enjoyed it.

[sue402001]

Thanks for posting the latest installment of your trip scrappydoo. Sorry to hear that your friend couldn't bring the coral back with her. Your right, at least you had a picture.

 

I can't wait to read more!

[funtimex2]

I am working on our April POA cruise now and your reviews and pictures are great. This has come at the right time for me. Looking forward to your next posting.

[sceptic]

Hi - what was the condition of the road from O'heo Gulch to Kaupo and beyond to the winery? Just curious. There's a lot of chatter on this board about going "all the way around" and any info will be helpful to many here.

[scrappydoo]

Though we have been to Hawaii many times and especially love Oahu, your review reminds us that it's time to go back and visit those places you mention that we've not been to! With the exception of climbing Diamond Head! We should have done that when we were a LOT younger, but now that we've DONE IT through you, we can feel good about it! Great job on your beautiful pictures. Can hardly wait for the next chapter! We take RT cruises now from California and look forward to each one. We are Princess lovers though, so we were/are very unhappy that Kona has been removed from their itineraries.

 

Thanks for bringing Hawaii to us during this cold January!

 

Aloha!

 

Aloha, Bucky3, and Mahalo! I'm so glad I could bring a little Hawaii to you. I never tire of going back, and co-workers always wonder if I might be visiting a special Hawaiian hunk over there (I wish!) :D It's just my "Happy Place" and so convenient from the West Coast.

 

Where do you usually sail to, RT California? I've only done that once, to Alaska on Princess and it was so convenient as well. That was the cruise that got me thinking about when my NEXT cruise would be!

 

Here hoping you'll be in Hawaii soon... :)

[scrappydoo]

Thank you so much for posting the great list of things to do in Waikiki! Very helpful indeed!

 

Day 2 is great too...love the photos! I think we will do Diamond Head on our own so I can whinge my way to the top with hubby lol.

 

 

You're welcome, Raison! Glad to help.

 

I had to look up "whinge" online...its definition and your statement made me laugh! :D It had me reminiscing of Australia, which I loved by the way...I hope to go back one of these days!

 

If you do go up Diamond Head, I believe there's this guy up there sitting at a table, selling certificates saying you successfully climbed DH! I certainly felt like I deserved a certificate afterward... ;)

[scrappydoo]

I am working on our April POA cruise now and your reviews and pictures are great. This has come at the right time for me. Looking forward to your next posting.

 

You are going to have a great time, funtimex! I'm so excited for you and wish I was going back already. :)

[scrappydoo]

Hi - what was the condition of the road from O'heo Gulch to Kaupo and beyond to the winery? Just curious. There's a lot of chatter on this board about going "all the way around" and any info will be helpful to many here.

 

 

Well, I do remember the road being more bumpy for a while, but honestly I didn't pay too much attention to it (so it couldn't have been that bad?)... but I can't say if that was a combination of the van's suspension system or the preventative Bonine I took. But this is coming from a girl that kind of likes turbulence on an airplane...I find it lulling! Wish I could help more. I just didn't notice it being anything out of the ordinary...

[scrappydoo]

Day Four - 2nd day in Maui, Rest Day

 

Monday, 11/29 -

 

Today was my "rest day" so as my traveling companion disembarked on her Haleakala Crater tour with Roberts Hawaii, I decided to sleep in a little and have a leisurely breakfast outside the Aloha Buffet. What a treat to sit outside and just soak up the view! I decided to relax outside on a lounge chair and I could feel the sun intensity go up as the day progressed. I used some of this time to catch up on my email via my sister's iPad and do some reading, while catching some sun.

 

view from breakfast outside Aloha Cafe

 

After a while, I finally decided to go back inside and freshen up a bit. I had another leisurely meal at the buffet and waited for my friend to return from her tour. She returned about 1pm and grabbed some lunch at the buffet. We didn't want to rush out and take any of the public buses to Lahaina, so we decided to just take a stroll to the Maui Mall.

 

Before heading to the mall, we checked out a small beach close to port. Every time someone had gone to Hawaii, and asked my friend what she wanted, she would say, "I don't need anything...just bring me back some sand!" And so over the years, she's gathered quite a collection of sand from those of us who've been to Hawaii. So she's been plotting to one day travel to Hawaii herself, so that she could perform her "Sand back to the Land" ritual and return the sand to beaches of Hawaii.

 

No ordinary beach would do... apparently, that beach near the port wasn't to her liking. Oh wells....

 

So we head back out to the Maui Mall, an outdoor mall, which was about 10-15min walk, and check out the local Longs Drugs and Whole foods. The Whole Foods is pretty much exactly like what you'd find at home. The Longs Drugstore did have more local flavor and snacks/food available. I always rather buy the Kona coffee and snacks at Longs because they tend to be cheaper than ABC stores and seem to have more variety than Walmart. I ended up buying a bag of Li Hing Dried Mango (I've always been a fan of dried mango, but got introduced to Li Hing dried mango about six years ago in Maui)...the first time I had it, it was so good. Ever since then, I've tried to find it on all the other islands and just haven't been able to reproduce the same freshness I had the first time around. You have to make sure the dried mango are nice and plump and fresh- a good mix of sweet and sour. I am happy to report, that the ones I found here in Longs in the Maui Mall were by far the closest to taste/freshness as the first ones I had six years ago. :)

 

Other than the bag of dried Li Hing mango, I decided to buy a nice bucket of Island Princess Mele Macs for my co-workers. If you've never had a Mele Mac, they are toffee covered macadamia nuts, dipped in milk chocolate and lightly coated in powdered sugar. Can we say sugar high?? After my food purchases, we strolled the mall and saw kids playing in a little water squirting fountain in the middle of the mall. There is also a movie theater in the mall, but of course we didn't catch a flick. We stumbled upon this little tiny Japanese "ice cream" store that sold something called Guri Guri. Others have described it as a hybrid between sorbet and ice cream. They have Strawberry and Pineapple flavors and two scoops (I got one of each flavor) is only $1.10! It was a refreshing treat to share... If you want to check it out, the store name is Tasaka Guri Guri.

 

We headed back to the ship and just relaxed a bit. I believe I went to the Kukui Nut Lei making class this night. I love making things, so it is always a little fun to get in that zone. It was a good break before I had to meet my friend for dinner and I had something fun to wear to dinner. We had reservations for Teppanyaki tonight and I enjoyed the food. I ordered the filet steak and scallops (I think I substituted the scallops instead of maybe shrimp?? and had no problems)...my friend brought a complementary bottle of wine we gotten as a part of our booking and they were quick to ice and serve it. Since I don't drink, my friend pretty much had the whole bottle to herself.

 

At the beginning of the dinner service, they asked if anyone was celebrating a special occasion. There was one couple celebrating an anniversary. I was actually celebrating my (belated) birthday from the week prior, but didn't want to say anything. Since we were seated with six other people, and they were all very fast eaters (and I will admit, I am a notoriously slow eater), my friend (who is notoriously talkative and thereby slow to finish her food) was uncomfortable when our table mates were all waiting for us to finish our food. So we told the waiters to please serve them their desserts first and that there was no need to wait for us.

 

They ended up giving the anniversary couple a cake which they in turn decided to share and cut up for the rest of the guests. When my friend and I were finally done with our food, my friend got mochi ice cream for dessert while I had the fruit sashimi, which was quite refreshing. I was then surprised when they came out with a second cake for me!! Apparently, I had forgotten that they had asked if we were celebrating any special occasion when we had made the reservations at the front desk the very first day, so they must have put that in their system. I'm sure I turned bright red when they all sang Happy Birthday to me...but we were stuffed, so they kindly put a cover on my cake so I could bring it back to the room with me.

 

Fruit Sashimi from Teppanyaki

 

Birthday Cake

 

We ended the night by playing a little shuffleboard (I have no idea what the official rules are, we made up our own set of rules) and some ping pong. Again, we make up our own rules, so anything goes! So long as that little white ball gets to the other side, it's all good. ;) Either way, it was a good workout. We noticed that a family had left their portrait pictures on the handrail by the ping pong table, so we decided to find their room and return the photos. Luckily, the receipt had their cabin number so it wasn't too hard. No one answered, so we just slipped it under the door.... Off to bed we went.

[scrappydoo]

Day Five - Hilo

 

Tuesday, 11/30 -

 

My friend had a Crater Hike/Akaka Falls tour with NCL today from 8:30am-4:30pm, and I had a Highlights of Hilo tour from 9am-1pm. Since I had already done the VNP tour, I really wanted to see Hilo and the surrounding areas on this visit. However it was harder than I thought it would be to get a tour of Hilo. I had first booked the Hilo Highlights tour with Roberts, but got a call just over three months before our trip that they canceled the tour due to low demand. I was so upset! They still had over three months for people to book this tour and they decided that they were going to cancel it even though I was already confirmed. *sigh* oh wells.

 

So I searched for other tours that were reasonably priced and offered about the same half day Hilo tour. It was harder than you think! Most tours are private group based and don't cater to individual passengers. Others were just way more than I wanted to pay for a few hours on tour. I didn't have many options left, so I booked with a company called Hilo Eco Tours that confirmed me via email. I thought I was done... alas, I get an email two months later - this is now about a month before our trip - saying that my booking was a mistake and that their tour was only for a private group and a solo traveler wasn't allowed! I was livid! I specifically made sure they knew I was one passenger looking for a tour. Again, I had a confirmation email and everything and it didn't matter -- I had no tour!

 

I was losing hope that I'd find a Hilo tour, when I finally searched Travelocity and they had an excursion through Port Promotions called Highlights of Hilo. It sounded identical to the Roberts tour, so I was wondering if Roberts was doing this tour? But I made sure that they didn't reinstate the tour, and indeed, they still had it canceled for our cruise date. So I booked online through Travelocity and I think I even got a promotional code for an extra discount so I only had to pay $35 and some change! It turns out they work with this company called Mabuhay Tours, a Filipino gentleman named Nonoy runs it and met us outside the terminal.

 

The tour was supposed to be from 9a-1pm, but we left late because Nonoy was trying to wrangle more passengers to go with us. I was a little irritated at having to wait around as he tried to negotiate more passengers and ask what they wanted to see. I had to firmly tell him that I did not want to go to VNP, and I had already paid for my tour and confirmed what was supposed to be covered. Luckily the group that we ended up with just wanted to see Hilo as well...in the end, we never did go to a garden south of town, but I didn't mind too much. Most of those who Nonoy wrangled into coming with us ended up paying $50-55pp.

 

Once we got going, it was fine. I enjoyed sitting back and enjoying the views and island. We stopped by Banyan Drive and Liliuokalani Garden, which was beautiful. You can see that the locals enjoy walking their dogs here too, and it's just a beautiful space. We then headed off to Akaka Falls, going through the 4-mile scenic drive, and stopping off at a local store for water/snacks. We spent plenty of time there, and actually waited for Nonoy to get off the phone before heading out. I was really looking forward to Akaka Falls, and it seemed somewhat of a let down? I know everyone raves about it, but for me, I enjoyed the walking path, nature, and quietness more than the views of the falls!

 

 

Shots of Liliuokalani Garden

 

Scenic Drive

 

Path to Akaka Falls

 

Bamboo on path to Akaka Falls

 

Next we headed out to Rainbow Falls. Honestly, I wasn't too keen on visiting Rainbow Falls since I had stopped here back in 2008 and it seemed it was nothing more than a trickle. I was delighted to see it was running full force this time around! Again, we had plenty of time to take pictures and walk all about, it almost seemed like people were waiting around to get back into that van. It seemed Nonoy enjoyed these stops more for making his phone calls than anything else! But everyone was patient and just enjoying the beauty and nature around them.

 

Rainbow Falls

[scrappydoo]

We drove through Hilo town and I only wish I had more time to go exploring on my own. I hear they have a pretty good shave ice place there, and a Japanese mochi place that looks yum. Just places for me to check out when I plan my return one day! I enjoyed seeing the schools and local library, and just their way of life.

 

We made a stop at the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory gift shop. I'm telling you, those samples were gladly accepted! I love macadamia nuts, and couldn't resist buying a pack of cans to bring back as gifts. I know you can buy them on the mainland as well, but it just doesn't seem the same. Besides, these are right from the factory, they have to be good! (And, yes, they were!) Mac nuts can go for nearly $10 a bag in Hawaii! They actually had the best prices I had seen on mac nuts on our trip...definitely better than ABC stores. So I was happy with my purchase.

 

Now this was the only annoying part of the tour.... a couple who ended up buying jewelry at the MACADAMIA NUT factory gift shop had everyone waiting an additional 30min with nowhere to go. I felt that Nonoy should have been the one to tell them that we needed to get going, and in fact should have given us a time limit to meet back at the van. Because we were now running late, Nonoy told us we would just be stopping by the black sand beach before heading back to the ship.

 

I told him that the tour was supposed to include a Big Island Candies stop and he quickly agreed to stop there on the way to the ship. I knew everyone was getting hungry so I told them all I needed was 15min. I had to purchase some milk chocolate dipped shortbread cookies since I don't know when my next visit to Big Island would be...and of course, they have some yummy treats to sample as well. I enjoyed watching the ladies in the factory hand dipping their cookies.

 

Big Island Candies Factory

 

We finally ended with the black sand beach, I believe it was Richardson Beach park. I personally thought the black sand beach, Punalu'u Black Sand Beach was much prettier and lovely esp with the turtles that like to lay on the beach. However, we did see some turtles at Richardson park, feeding in the water and sitting on some rocks in the distance.

 

 

Turtle feeding at Richardson Park

 

We were supposed to get back by 1pm, but we didn't get back until after 2pm and we were all starving! So I settled back and had a late lunch. My original plan was to walk around town, but after lunch it was getting late so I decided to just relax and suntan on the ship. It was unusually hot in Hilo that day, there was definitely no sign of rain...

 

That day, I participated in the Fresh Orchid Lei class and was thrilled to have made such a nice lush orchid lei. It was so much nicer than my first attempt at making a plumeria lei in Sept on Oahu. That one looked so pitiful...I was glad to redeem myself! haha. We had dinner at the Skyline restaurant and enjoyed our food. I honestly had no complaints with the dining room restaurants at all. All the food was good, except for one pork chop that was on the dry side but still decent. We never had to wait, but we usually arrived between 6p-7pm. My friend was grateful not to have to deal with the buffet crowds and felt much more civilized eating at the Skyline and Liberty restaurants. In the end, we preferred the Skyline atmosphere over the Liberty restaurant, esp since we are not dresser uppers.

 

After the Orchid Lei Class - Hilo in the background

 

My favorite item I tried at the restaurant was Chilled Strawberry Soup. Yum! As most of the people have reported, the desserts were nothing to note and almost not quite worth the calories. Nothing really called to me, and I'm such a dessert person so it was a little disappointing. So I actually ended up having vanilla ice cream with butterscotch/caramel as my go-to dessert several nights in a row. Sometimes, simplicity is key.

 

Karen at the Skyline Restaurant

 

Enjoying the Skyline Restaurant

 

Unfortunately, Madame Pele was not up for putting on a show for us that night. We staked out a spot on deck and pretty much only saw one flickering dot of orange. It was however pretty to see all the stars when the captain turned out all the lights. And with a little bit of imagination, it was still a pretty cool experience. Right as we finished the lave viewing, it started raining and everyone rushed back in. Perfect timing I must say! We ended the night with one more game of ping pong.

 

 

Madame Pele was on strike...Use your imagination

[sue402001]

Thanks for posting more of your review scrappydoo!

 

Try not to keep us waiting for the next installment. :D

[Raison]

You're welcome, Raison! Glad to help.

 

I had to look up "whinge" online...its definition and your statement made me laugh! :D It had me reminiscing of Australia, which I loved by the way...I hope to go back one of these days!

 

If you do go up Diamond Head, I believe there's this guy up there sitting at a table, selling certificates saying you successfully climbed DH! I certainly felt like I deserved a certificate afterward... ;)

 

 

I just discovered this post when catching up with your review! I didn't realise "whinge" was an Aussie word, but I'm glad you were able to look it up!

 

Happy to report that I have tackled a couple of walks at Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains recently and one of these walks had over 250 steps!:eek: I survived, so I think Diamond Head will be simple now...probably not! But at least I know I can do it!

 

Thanks for doing more of your review, I enjoy your writing style.

 

The lei you made is beautiful!

[scrappydoo]

Thanks for posting more of your review scrappydoo!

 

Try not to keep us waiting for the next installment. :D

 

 

Thanks, Sue. I'm embarrassed at how long it took me to get to those next two days.... terrible, I know! :o Heehee. I got swamped with all those little to-do's on my list, then I got all TIRED. Boy, I need another vacation...Hope you guys forgive me! Promise, I won't have you wait too long for the next installment....errh, at least not more than 2weeks. haha! (hopefully not that long, doh!) :p