Magical Hawaiian Radiance of the Seas Detailed Trip Report with Many Pictures

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

I just had to try the Hawaiian robe in our closet! :o I just had to make Phil take a picture.

 

 

 

Sure enough, Frank was doing the same thing on their balcony…

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Phil went to get his coffee and cigarette. I went to a nearby shop and got a muffin – coconut pineapple. It was so yummy!! Saw some sights on the way there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

There was a wedding photography session on the beach. :)

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

The porter came and got our luggage to take it to the area where departures are picked up by their transportation. The name of the place he told us to go was something Garden, I don’t quite remember the name. They have quite the system there. Good bye beautiful HHV!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were picked up at 9 by Jay’s Limo. Same ugly SUV limo, but the driver was the guy from the Navigator and he was much nicer and more professional.

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

It was about a 30 to 40 minute drive to Honolulu airport. The airport was very nice and very quiet! My Hawaii 5-0 dream was coming true!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

The flight was so short!! It took longer to taxi than the actual flight. :) Yes, we did get the 1st class seats even though we didn’t need them because the flight was only 40 minutes. But the luggage was free with 1st class, so it really was worth it for the convenience. The flight was the most beautiful we had ever seen – you could see the water landscapes as you did not go too high since it was such a short flight. Just gorgeous! I did not get any pictures. Sad!

 

 

We were picked up at Maui airport by Butch of Maui Touring Company in a Suburban. He came into the airport and got us, which was nice. All of the luggage fit in the trunk! Somehow!! Great packing by the guys! The porters at the Hyatt were impressed too. :cool: Hyatt was about 40 to 45 minutes away.

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

The resort was very nice, but just coming from the HHV, not quite as nice. It was darker and hotter. It was open air in the public areas and the air was not the greatest in the rooms. I am not sure why I never read a review discussing the open air concept of this resort… However, it did look like a lot of hotels in Maui worked this way. It might have been nice had it not been the most humid and hot it had been in 50 years with almost zero ocean breeze… The room was on the older side and the screen to our balcony fell off the track and the porter had to put it back in. There were a bunch of shops attached to the resort, including a vacation Macy’s. Very nice! We were on floors 19 and 20, although they started at 14, so I am not sure where floors 2 to 13 went. M&F got a corner room with 2 balconies, which was a very nice accommodation, due to their Hyatt loyalty level. We also got our very FIRST leis on this trip. :)

 

 

We were actually leaving the next day in the evening, as our flight was after 10 pm, so we had booked one of the rooms for 2 nights. When Butch dropped us off, he said he was picking us up for our Road to Hana Tour at 6:30 am!!! Maria turned to the desk clerk and got a 2nd night for her room too. No way was she going to pack up and get her suitcases in our room by 6:30 am!

 

 

 

 

Open air concept – I’m not a fan…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Where you could print your boarding passes and get some Internet…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view from our balcony was gorgeous, though!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

 

 

They had cabanas that you could rent.

 

 

 

 

M&F’s room was spacious with 2 balconies and great views!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

We had lunch at the pool bar restaurant and bar. Yummy food! Unbelievably large portions. We ordered way more than we could eat – we did not know how big they would be. The hot dogs were so delicious!! So huge. It was embarrassing, but I ate the whole thing. We got pina coladas that were the best of the trip. I think they may have been made with ice cream. So delicious! We shopped a little. They had a sundries store where we were able to pick up some beer for Phil, which was pretty reasonable. We relaxed on our balconies until time to get ready for dinner, which was the luau, the Feast at Lele.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Penguins????

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were going to stop here on our way to dinner to take our pictures in our luau get ups, but it was just too hot!!

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Phil was going to jet ski here. The jet ski place was right next door and they boat you out to that little island thingy you can see in the water there where they have the jet skis. I had been going to book it on line before the trip, but we were just not sure exactly what would be going on, so we waited. Lucky I did because Phil was feeling under the weather with a cold or something so he really did not feel like it. He regrets it now! He just says, well, we’ll just have to go back!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[acoralm]

Great review and beautiful photos. We will be cruising on the Pride of America in May, and I have a quick question. How was the ship motion between islands? I've never cruised, and I'm wondering if I will need to take anything for motion sickness.

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

FEAST AT LELE

 

 

We had reservations for the luau. I had booked back in December 2014, so we got good seats. I had read on line that the earlier you book, the better placement of table you received. I am not sure if it is true, but we were in the front row of tables, so that is a good indicator. Taxis were very easily obtained at the front desk of the Hyatt. Taxis are waiting right down the road and were there in minutes. All of us but Phil had been to a luau. Those were the typical buffet style luaus and we much preferred the private sit down table. Servers were very busy. Alcohol was ‘all you could drink’ - but depended on when your server could get back to your table. We tried all the specialty cocktails – Mai Tai, Banana Madness, Lava Flow, Island Iced Tea, Pina Colada, and Blue Hawaiian. They were all too strong for us, except the pina coladas, which would be a good thing for some people. We decided to stick to what we know – and we know the pinas!!!!

 

We got another lei when we got there. We also got our pictures taken on the beach. Not something we usually do, but we thought it was a nice souvenir. Before the 4th course, M&I went out into the mall area to where they said we could obtain our pictures. They had them printed and we were able to pick the ones we wanted. Then, they also eMailed you the digital copy. It was $50 for 3 poses.

 

 

We were right on the beach – so beautiful! Now if there was a breeze, this would have been absolute heaven!

 

 

 

 

 

Little boy in the water.

 

 

 

They were selling some stuff.

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Our guys got lei’d twice today. They were pretty proud of themselves. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Musical group was very nice!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Banana and sweet potato chips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nice couple asked if we would take their pictures and then returned the favor.

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Our professional pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Susan-M]

Lovely photos of the 4 of you at the Feast at Lele!

 

It sounds like a busy two days on Maui! Looking forward to hearing about your Road to Hana day. :)

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

The line for pictures was really long. I am not sure if they were able to fit everyone in before the sun fully set, but we were lucky to have been early in the line and to have gotten our pictures at the perfect time.

 

 

I really liked the different performances after we got the corresponding courses. They had 4 courses and a dessert with corresponding different style of dances, Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Samoa. There was a whole lot of food, but only the first 2 courses were actually edible for us. :) The pork was great and the steak was good. It was all we needed, actually, so it wasn’t like it was a waste of money. Frank was a trooper and tried everything, but there was stuff that I could not bring myself to even taste. :eek: The desserts were not good and the last course was absolutely horrifying. Even Frank could not eat it…

 

 

 

 

Our server was really busy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Moon was coming out!