From King Crab to Poi-almost live from Koningsdam Alaska to Hawaii and back

[Clay Clayton]

October 15-Hilo 

conclusion

 

Mike was worn out after his trek to see the petroglyphs (carvings) so we decided to not make the 2 mile trek to the crater rim where we “might” be able to see lava.  We just put it on the list (along with the Kona Coast and the Black Beach) for a future trip. 
 

We stopped back at the overlook that was dogged in this morning and got a good view of the crater, then went to the end of the road on the other side for a last look.  Before the 2008 eruption there was a full ring road and a viewing station past where we were able to go. 
 

We then headed back to Hilo, stopping at the Village of Volcanos, for a drink and a bag of chips for our 2:30 lunch! Don’t ask how much it cost😳

 

On the way back into Hilo, we made a stop at the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Visitor Center.  They have just reopened so the factory wasn’t working so they didn’t have all their products-I wanted to taste their Macadamia Nut Coffee!  Oh well. 
 

On the way to the airport we stopped at Rainbow Falls which was pretty but the rainbow is only seen in the morning and since it was raining this morning we figured we wouldn’t have seen it then either. 
 

Returned the rental car, taxied to the port and arrived at 5:10-closer than we usually do for a 5:30 all aboard!   
 

Horn just sounded so we are off to Honolulu.  

[Clay Clayton]

Left these off-this was our last viewpoint of the volcano. 

[oldbluff]

On 10/1/2022 at 6:57 AM, Hygge! said:

Clay - Koningsdam has arrived. 

Lovely picture. Thanks for sharing it. 

[TayanaLorna]

8 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Understand your point.  We were there during non meal hours and then stayed for a meal.  We always welcome folks to our table when we see them looking for a place to sit. 
 

That being said, until HAL has as many tables on the non-smoking side as they do for the smokers, I’m not necessarily going to give up my table in a hurry 😊

Smoking allowed anywhere dining??  Will definately never take HAL.

[CruiserBruce]

46 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

Smoking allowed anywhere dining??  Will definately never take HAL.

Smoking is only allowed OUTSIDE, aft deck 9, on either the port or starboard side, depending on the ship. That is the ONLY spot on board (exception a couple of casinos) of ANY HAL ship. On Koningsdam, it's starboard side, near a bar. 

[SusieKIslandGirl]

Thanks for understanding. And agree about the smokers’ tables. Wish they were located about 2 decks higher.  Will look for you on a future cruise with my breakfast in hand 🙂.

[Blackduck59]

3 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Smoking is only allowed OUTSIDE, aft deck 9, on either the port or starboard side, depending on the ship. That is the ONLY spot on board (exception a couple of casinos) of ANY HAL ship. On Koningsdam, it's starboard side, near a bar. 

 

While this is all well and good, and smokers need a place; unless there is a partition wall running between the port and starboard side then the whole of that deck is a smoke zone and everyone trying to enjoy a meal there is subject to the smoke from the smoking section. This is not the place to debate smoking but be aware that smoke travels and non smokers can be effected by it from quite a distance.

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, TayanaLorna said:

Smoking allowed anywhere dining??  Will definately never take HAL.

 

40 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Smoking is only allowed OUTSIDE, aft deck 9, on either the port or starboard side, depending on the ship. That is the ONLY spot on board (exception a couple of casinos) of ANY HAL ship. On Koningsdam, it's starboard side, near a bar. 

Correct, my issue is that there are a lot of tables “over there” and only four on the non-smoking side

[Clay Clayton]

Just now, Blackduck59 said:

 

While this is all well and good, and smokers need a place; unless there is a partition wall running between the port and starboard side then the whole of that deck is a smoke zone and everyone trying to enjoy a meal there is subject to the smoke from the smoking section. This is not the place to debate smoking but be aware that smoke travels and non smokers can be effected by it from quite a distance.

Thankfully that hasn’t been an issue on this cruise. 

[Clay Clayton]

To finish up yesterdays post-we had dinner in the buffet last night (and ate it by the sea view aft pool.  We had planned on having the “Kalua Pork and Hawaiian Rolls” as listed on the menu…of course they had neither.  But I had a delicious Indonesian Rice Bowl with Sumatra Beef. Never had Indonesian before but will look for it in the future. It tasted like it had been cooked with some coconut milk and lots of tasty spices. Highly recommend if you see it while you’re onboard. 
 

We just docked in Honolulu where we will be until 10:30 tomorrow night.  We have a full day planned today-headed to the north shore for our own luau-via food trucks and hopefully some beach time this afternoon on the way back via the east coast. 

[rkacruiser]

18 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Before the 2008 eruption there was a full ring road and a viewing station past where we were able to go. 

 

I remember doing this and being at the viewing station.  I did not realize that the eruption had destroyed this.  

[Blackduck59]

I hope you are having a good time on Oahu. I should have responded earlier, there are a few out of the way places we discovered on the north shore. I do hope you attend the USS Arizona memorial. I think that it is one of those places that every American who can attend should attend but that's just my opinion. I also think that every Canadian who can go should go to Vimy Ridge in France. 

We did see a few sea turtles sunning themselves on a beach somewhere between Waimea Bay and Sharks cove.

[Clay Clayton]

So today the title of this thread finally came to fruition. We had poi!  More on that later. 
 

We started by renting the car and then heading to the Arizona Memorial. Unfortunately, we booked the cruise too late to be able to book the ferry ticket to the memorial (and they have stopped day before tickets due to a “maintenance issue” so we simply visited the Visitor’s Center and saw the memorial from afar.

 

From there we headed towards the North Shore to start our food truck luau. But we stopped on the way at the Dole Plantation. Mike had visited it originally 30 years or so ago when it was a tour of the facility and a taste of pineapple-not the theme park it is now. We somehow convinced ourself to go on the Pineapple Express train-very hokey!😂. We didn’t fall for the Pineapple Maze though!  Best part of the visit was tasting the Dole Whip-yummy.  Hadn’t meant to have dessert quite so early so I’ll just call it second breakfast!

 

From there we continued to the North Shore and our first stop-Giavanni’s Shrimp Truck at 12:15. We shared a plate of shrimp with GARLIC.  Yummy! Our next stop was supposed to be Da Bald Guy, but they aren’t open on Sundays.  Probably was a good thing as by the time we finished at our last stop about 3:45 we were stuffed!  
 

We continued along the coast and stopped at several beaches to see the beauty and watch the surfers including at Bonsai Pipeline. 
 

Our next Luau stop was at Ry’s Poké Shack.  We split a combo plate-one with firecracker sauce and one with Limu both were delicious. 
 

From there we continued our drive along the eastern coast stopping several times.  We use an app called Gypsy Traveler that provides GPS based narration in National Parks and other scenic drives. So it was like we had our own tour guide along to suggest stops. 
 

Our last food stop was at the Poi Factory. We split a combo plate that included Kalua pork (roasted pork), LauLau Pork (pork cooked in the taro root greens), and of course POI.  It was as expected-a little gummy, not much flavor, but it seemed to cut the fattiness of the meat.  I really like the LauLau-reminded me if my southern cooking-collards and pork!  We hadn’t planned on it but one of the patrons in front of us in line raves about the “Sweet Lady” dessert.  It was a layer of Kulolo ( taro root sweetened with coconut pastry) topped with ice cream.  OMG, so good. The kulolo was like a cobbler that was a couple of days old and very gooey.  I put us both into a food coma. 
 

We made a few more stops including at a blowhole-wasn’t blowing very much. Apparently during heavy waves it will go 20-30’ high and at the beach used for that scene with Charlton Heston rolling around in the sand and surf. 
 

We made it back into the city about 6, to the airport about 7 and back to the ship about 7:45.  Long but fun day-hoping to sleep in tomorrow and then explore Waikiki and have a sunset happy hour at “The House without a Key”

 

Just had a much need shower and sitting on the balcony to the view of the Aloha Tower lit up in what appears to me to be red but our Lyft driver says it’s pink for cancer awareness.  Either way, not a bad view!

sorry for the order of the pictures-not sure why they are out of sequence 🤔

 

 

 

[LouChamp]

Aloha! Enjoying your posts. We divide our time between New York and Honolulu approximately every two months for a moth or so at a time. If we do a staycation in Waikiki we stay at the Halekulani where House without a Key is located.  Recently they have been requiring reservations even for drinks on the patio area where the music is and they just serve pu pu along with drinks.  I would suggest calling them in advance to double check. By the way its a great hotel. We have done staycations there for about 15 years. We do the same thing in New York. Its kind fun!   Smooth sailing.

[CruisingGrandmaW]

Aloha Clay:

Thank you for sharing your cruising experience.

Very much enjoying your humor and commentary.

Love all the pictures.

Great job - so nice to cruise vicariously with you.

[Clay Clayton]

4 hours ago, LouChamp said:

Aloha! Enjoying your posts. We divide our time between New York and Honolulu approximately every two months for a moth or so at a time. If we do a staycation in Waikiki we stay at the Halekulani where House without a Key is located.  Recently they have been requiring reservations even for drinks on the patio area where the music is and they just serve pu pu along with drinks.  I would suggest calling them in advance to double check. By the way its a great hotel. We have done staycations there for about 15 years. We do the same thing in New York. Its kind fun!   Smooth sailing.

Thanks! We have reservations!

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, CruisingGrandmaW said:

Aloha Clay:

Thank you for sharing your cruising experience.

Very much enjoying your humor and commentary.

Love all the pictures.

Great job - so nice to cruise vicariously with you.

Just paying it forward, others’ live posts kept me going during the pandamnic. 

[0106]

How are the robe and slippers working out?  Recently, there have been have some amusing replies to the question you posted in-the “New to HAL” thread.

 

I’m enjoying all your photos and commentary!

[Clay Clayton]

Just now, 0106 said:

How are the robe and slippers working out?  Recently, there have been have some amusing replies to the question you posted in-the “New to HAL” thread.

 

I’m enjoying all your photos and commentary!

I’ll have to go over and check those out.  No slippers offered, we told Mono to take the robes away and he said I have some big ones-and be did! They are great for balcony sitting after a shower while I air-dry 😂

[CurlerRob]

14 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

We continued along the coast and stopped at several beaches to see the beauty and watch the surfers including at Bonsai Pipeline. 

 

 

Clay, I can't resist!  "Bonsai Pipeline" - carefully manicured miniature waves? 🤣🤣🤣
 

Best spellcheck ever! 🍺🍺🥌

[Blackduck59]

@Clay Clayton It's too bad you didn't make it out to the Arizona, it is a moving place. I was honoured to go but would not go back.

I agree about the Dole plantation, the only reason to stop there is the Dole whip and some of their merchandise is cool. There is a rumour that there Is a place here with Dole Whip, I know the place but haven't gone to see if they actually have it. 

Did you make it to the Byodo - In Temple? Very cool place.

Get yourself a Blue Hawaiian and enjoy the tunes, hopefully the house with no door is within stumbling distance of the ship.

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, CurlerRob said:

 

Clay, I can't resist!  "Bonsai Pipeline" - carefully manicured miniature waves? 🤣🤣🤣
 

Best spellcheck ever! 🍺🍺🥌

Actually I can’t blame spellcheck-just my ignorance. Banzai!

[Clay Clayton]

Just now, Blackduck59 said:

@Clay Clayton It's too bad you didn't make it out to the Arizona, it is a moving place. I was honoured to go but would not go back.

I agree about the Dole plantation, the only reason to stop there is the Dole whip and some of their merchandise is cool. There is a rumour that there Is a place here with Dole Whip, I know the place but haven't gone to see if they actually have it. 

Did you make it to the Byodo - In Temple? Very cool place.

Get yourself a Blue Hawaiian and enjoy the tunes, hopefully the house with no door is within stumbling distance of the ship.

We elected to not stop at the temple since we have visited the original in Japan-if we had of had more time it sounded lovely. 
 

I’m planning on starting with a MaiTai but maybe a BH followup?   The house has a door, just no key.  It’s between the Hilton Hawaiian Village and The Royal Hawaiian so a bit more than a stumble.  About a 30min bus ride….or a 20 minutes Uber 

[oakridger]

I had the most memorable drink I’ve had in so long at The House Without a Key!  A kiwi-lychee martini!!  It went well with the coconut shrimp appetizer. So good and I rarely drink martinis of any type. Mmmmm. I’m enjoying your posts as usual Clay. Continue to enjoy!!    ~Nancy 

[Blackduck59]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

We elected to not stop at the temple since we have visited the original in Japan-if we had of had more time it sounded lovely. 
 

I’m planning on starting with a MaiTai but maybe a BH followup?   The house has a door, just no key.  It’s between the Hilton Hawaiian Village and The Royal Hawaiian so a bit more than a stumble.  About a 30min bus ride….or a 20 minutes Uber 

 

Yes that is definitely beyond stumbling distance. For me it's even beyond a pleasant stroll when sober. We once walked from the Ala Moana Center to the Ilikai Hotel with groceries, that was a mistake we will never repeat. If you are going to mix your drinks add a Back Scratcher to the list, they used to come with a back scratcher as a swizzle stick. Lynn still has hers.