Holiday Aloha Part 'ekolu on the Golden Princess to Hawaii 12/19/12 to 1/2/13

[Cruisin' Chick]

One of her staff.

I think these were the Golden dancers:

 

 

On the MUTS screen:

 

 

 

 

 

At one point the assistant CD Marshscalh were getting those on the pool deck to get in a conga line.

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

Streamers

 

 

A change from two year ago is that there was no elaborate dessert buffet.

The girls were having their own party.

 

 

 

In cabin TV for this holiday

Art Channel -- Fakers, Pollack

Family Movie Channel – Alvin and the Chipmunks, Brave, Kung Fu Panda

Princess Movie -- J Edgar, Wrath of the Titans

Romance Channel -- Just Go with It, Sense of Sensibility

Golden TV Channel – Fitness at Sea, How I Met Your Mother, Mike and Molly, Modern Family, Love Boat, The Office, and Whitney

On MUTS: Big, Pink concert film,

Other movies: Premium Rush, The Dark Knight Rises in the Vista Lounge, the

The big show was Caliente. We didn’t’ get a chance to see it on the last cruise or on this one

From the Log of the Cruise

0645 – ‘Stand by below’ was called; 0650 – both anchors securing lashings were cleared away ready for use;0703 – All pre-arrival checks were all complete; 0703 – vessel entering breakwaters; 0725 – Vessel commence swinging bow to starboard; 0726 – shell door open for gangway operation; 0732 –First line ashore; 0738 00 ships gangways rigged and ready for use.

Position: Vessel port side alongside in Nawiliwili on pier #2. Wind: North-Easterly Force 4. Sky: Partly cloudy skies (3/8 cloud coverage). Air temperature: 27.0°C/80.6°F. Barometric Pressure: 1017.5Mb.

1654 00 All line gone; 1655 – commence thrusting off berth; 1700 – Vessel moving ahead; 1710 – Vessel clear from Harbour breakwater; 1715 00 “Full away on passage”; vessel en-route towards Honolulu.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Patters for 12/26/12 pg 1

[Cruisin' Chick]

12/26/12 pg 2

[Cruisin' Chick]

12/26/12 pg 3

[Cruisin' Chick]

12/26/12 pg 4

[kpkcruiser]

Best review I have ever read!!! THANKS for taking the time!!!:)

[Cruisin' Chick]

Working on the next port right now.

[greenie082756]

:)I am so enjoying your review of your trip to Hawaii on the Golden! Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. Great descriptions and great photos!!

[Cruisin' Chick]

Thanks. Couldn't use my computer yesterday so will try to make up for it now.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Thursday December 27 – Honolulu

(somehow I didn’t check the navigation channel, but then we needed to get up and ready for our day)

This was my fifth time in Honolulu. The first time, I was here on my 1990 guided tour and we were taken all aroundto the various sites by bus. We saw Pearl Harbor, the Punchbowl Cemetery. Queen Emma’s Summer Palace, Bishop Museum, Polynesian Cultural Center. Second time was on my honeymoon, and hubby and I did things we could walk to from the Hawaiian Hilton Village, where we were staying. First Hawaiian cruise we did an excursion to the Sea Life Park,then went to the Aloha Tower Marketplace. Last cruise we went to the Ala Moana shopping center and then walked to Waikiki (the first place was my choice, the second hubby’s), then the Aloha Tower for some shaved ice.

This time, the girl found the Atlantis submarine excursion on the Princess shore excursions list so we decided to take that. We also decided to have lunch at the Ala Moana (we were impressed the last time by the huge food court), before heading to the ‘Iolani Palace for a tour.

One more change about this cruise as opposed to the other sailings on the Golden is that with the switch of Lahaina with Honolulu, the port stay today would be shortened. Instead of the ship sailing at 11pm, it will sail at 8pm.

I started off the day by checking our ship’s progress into the port on our TV.

 

 

Soon we were arriving at the port.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

 

 

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

 

 

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

Breakfast time in the Horizon. Pancake with raspberry jam, muffin, egg, hash brown patty, fruit.

 

The girl was partial to the Belgian Waffles.

 

Checking out the view from the table.

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

After breakfast, we get ready to make it to our meeting point for our excursion. We always enjoy checking out the terminal building’s murals.

 

 

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

The sign for our excursion wasn’t up yet so we took seats and waited. The girl wanted to look outside, but was told by the guard at the door that she couldn’t (I guess they were discouraging passengers from going out and then having to go through the security gambit just to return to the waiting area in the terminal).

 

 

 

Finally the sign was put up for our tour and people got in line. We were led outside to a trolley for our ride to the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

 

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

 

The teen expressed a desire to return to downtown in order to take a closer look at the holiday decorations. Next, we passed the Neil S. Blaisdell Center.

 

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

 

 

 

At the hotel complex, we were escorted to the pier for our next check in at which we were each given a log book that had picture of various sea creatures we might see. Each party had their photograph taken as the PA described the next steps.

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

We boarded a ferry boat that would take us to where the submarine was. A safety video played and then it was announced that anyone who wanted to go on the top level may do so for a scenic view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

Diamond Head:

 

 

 

There was also a little shop onboard that sold snacks, drinks and merchandise (tee shirts, fish plushies, etc.) This day there were three dive sites. We had red tickets, which was for the second site. At the yellow site, those on that submarine came onboard and then people with yellow tickets were told they can now board the submarine.

Next was the red site. When instructed to, we made our way to the exit of the ferry. There was a little area to maneuver. We had to turn around and face the ladder that was used to descend into the vehicle.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Once inside, we were to keep in the same order and take a seat on the bench, each seat with a port hole to the front. We were told one side was the port side and one was the starboard side.

 

 

 

 

Every once in a while the sub would turn around so that those on the two sides would get a different view. Finally we started to descend. The company running the excursion had purchased various objects (a part of a plane, a part of a ship, etc.) that were sunk and allow the fish and turtles to swim in and out of, and to give us a reference point. The narrator would point out that on the port side we could now see a species, and those on the starboard side could see the same one.

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

 

 

 

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

 

 

 

Sometimes it would be noted that a particular creature was in viewing sight, but I never saw the sea turtles that some people saw.

Then the sub surfaced and it was time to climb out and make our way back to the ferry. This time we sat up on top. One worker went around with the photo packages costing $40 to offer to each party, of course matching everyone up with their own photos.

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

 

 

Everyone had the option of returning to the terminal via the trolley or going off on their own. We were going to head to the shopping center. I had pointed out that we weren’t that far off (after all, two years before, we walked from the mall to this same spot), but hubby wanted to get a taxi. He decided we could catch it at the hotel so we made our way to the front entrance. It was readily apparent to me that this wasn’t going to be a good idea when I saw many people standing with their luggage, most likely waiting for a ride to the airport. I asked where to get a cab and was directed to “the man in the orange shirt.” So I went up to him to ask him how to get in the queue and how much time he thought it would take. But I was getting ignored by Mr. Orange Shirt.

Hubby walked over to a taxi and was told by the driver that he can’t just take walk-ups. When he finally got the idea that we won’t get a taxi very soon, if at all (I suspect the worker would always give priority to customers of the hotel, unless we would be able to get away with pretending), he agreed that we needed to make our way to the street. I was still trying to convince him we should walk (if we had stayed on the back beachside of the hotel, it would have been a much shorter distance). We stopped at the entrance of the hotel, but of course, taxis weren’t going to stop there, but continue into the hotel driveway.