Crown Princess Hawaii - 15 Feb to 2 Mar - Trip Prep & Live

[arctickitty]

Hello Princess Cruise Critiquers,

 

After defecting last spring to *gasp* Carnival (spoiler alert: it was a blast) I’m back to enjoy my (lol) RUBY status on Princess.  Yes, I know that doesn’t get me anything except a red Medallion.  Of course, red is my least favorite color.  I should only be stuck with it once!

 

Anyway, I like to start my thread early and do things my own way.  Follow along if you like, or not, if you don’t.

 

I really enjoy the whole trip planning process, so if you like that, too, here we are.

 

And who is we?  There are two of us humans (sadly, we can’t bring my four cats) and we are in our 30s (still) in Alaska.

 

This will be my fourth cruise with Princess and my 6th total.  I detested my Alaska cruise on Norwegian but enjoyed a similar itinerary on Carnival.  This will be Special Someone’s fifth cruise and first with Princess.  This will be our second cruise together and our second since the start-up.

 

 

Since we booked this Hawaii cruise, I figured I’d better finish my scrapbooks from our Alaska cruise.  
 

 

One scrapbook turned into two turned into three turned into four.  These three are done.  The book on the left is from PaperHouse Productions and has pictures from Seattle and Victoria.  The book in the middle is a collection of ephemera and all that paper trail that follows one during a trip.  I love finding creative uses for it!  The book on the right has 8x10 black and white photos from onboard Carnival Splendor that I printed on paper that looks like a cloudy sky.  I got the album for $6.95 on board and wish I’d bought more!  If you’re a scrapbook geek like me, this may be wayyyyy too much detail, but 8x10 was a fun size to work with!

 

 

Sample page from the travel stub journal.

 

 

Sample page from Adventure Awaits.  On some of the pages I used multiple photos and made them like books within a book.  
 

 

More to come!

 

Does anyone else scrapbook?

 

[skynight]

Elua is scheduled to be on board. There will be ukulele lesson sessions on each sea day as well as Hula and some Hawaiian crafts (small fee). Dave recommends you bring your own ukulele. The ship has a limited supply, maybe 50, and the demand is high.

 

[arctickitty]

@skynight Thanks for the tip on the ukelele!  I haven’t taken a music lesson since I was a kid but I’m interested to take the lessons onboard since it’s something so very different from what I do at home.  
 

I played a Croatian stringed instrument as a kid that’s very similar and my sister (who has both) said I can pick up the uke very easily.  Concurrently, I often let her pick out my purchases and she recommended a Makala shark or dolphin soprano ukelele, so that’s what I’ve ordered.  She has my tuner but I hear one can use their phone for that nowadays.

 

 

Unlike my Ruby medallion, this instrument will be my favorite color.

Since the restart, my strategy has been to go into cruising with zero expectations.  I thus had no idea this cultural ambassador program was back onboard Princess, but I’m thrilled that it is and excited we get Elua, as I’ve read so much about them over the years on these boards and various cruise blogs.  

[skynight]

There will be lesson sessions for about an hour each sea day sailing to and from Hawaii. No sessions while in Hawaii. In the past there was a show at the end of the cruise. Don't know if they are still doing this.

[arctickitty]

@skynight we shall see!  I will report back on this once we get there.

 

For those of you enjoying the Arctic blast, you’re welcome.  It warmed up to 11 below here with a 29 below windchill.  This is an improvement over 35-40 below not counting windchill.  Stay safe everyone.

[arctickitty]

Our path to booking this cruise:

 

Transatlantic cruising popped into my head one day and I looked up prices on an online aggregator.  I immediately became infatuated with rock bottom pricing on Carnival Venezia.  Everything about it sounded amazing.  I could have pulled the trigger on it, but the idea of leaving Alaska in the summer gave us both pause.  It was a really hard call.

 

I zoomed out and looked at All The Options.  I made charts.  I made codes.  I made comparisons.  There seemed to be a real trade off between price and ports.  Spring is still winter here so we looked at spring.  Nothing seemed Perfect so we looked at fall.  Some itineraries seemed fun but we had to look up work regulations on what countries involve annoying paperwork to visit and that knocked out an option.  I kept playing with the sort terms and my charts and then had a different idea and looked at Hawaiian itineraries instead.

 

Hawaii is not rock bottomly priced, but it still has very good per-day rates.  Princess had the round trip from the west coast itineraries that we’d prefer and the chunk of consecutive sea days gives us the unbroken leisure time we were looking for.  Special Someone has been Away for a good while, so we conducted this whole decision making process over WhatsApp.  From the time I decided my heart and brain both found this itinerary to be The Best, I think it only took Special Someone a day or two to decide that yes I should book it.  And it was done!

 

 

Meanwhile, for a journaling and scrapbooking update, I brought out a bunch of options to my living room and for an on-the-go scrapbook wound up choosing this half-size ring binder.

 

 

I scavenged the house for more half-size sheet protectors and page dividers to fill it up and cut decorative paper to make the thematic cover.

 

 

I also cut paper to fit in all of the sheet protectors.  This was an easy size to work with as I just took my collection of 8.5 X 11 paper and cut it in half.

 

 

Most of the pages are solid colors of card stock but I picked out a handful of imagery paper that seemed to be on-theme.

 

 

I cut enough paper to fill all of the sheet protectors but I’m on the fence as to whether I should leave the papers in the individual protectors or keep things more open-book and pull the papers and bring them in a stack and then select each paper as I go.  These are the things that occupy my brain, but bring me so much delight.  
 

Much more to come.

[arctickitty]

Itinerary

 

I made this chart to help teach Special Someone a little about the islands.  I’ve been to 6 of Hawaiian islands on five “land” trips.  For several years I’d plan a trip to whichever island AlaskaAir discounted the most.  Fortunately, they rotated.  Nonstop Alaska to Hawaii is awesome and it usually cost less than flying to the Lower 48 (what we call the continental US).  
 

 

Anyway, I have a sense of the flavor of each island, and my own opinions and I know what I’ve done, what I’d do again, and what I’ve never done and want to do, but I try to present information to Special Someone a bit neutrally so he can form his own conclusions.  I also made this chart to help connect the names of the ports with the names of the towns and islands.

 

I like to learn by reading but Special Someone is younger than me so he prefers the School of YouTube.  The themes on the chart gave him some structure for what to look up on the ‘toob.

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by arctickitty

[jackiel3290]

DH and I will be on this cruise. Join the Roll Call. There hasn’t been a lot of traffic on it, we welcome more discussion.

[johnmik1]

We also booked this cruise last week.We did the same itinerary on Island Princess in 2005.

[arctickitty]

Let’s see…where were we?  Oh!  We’re going to Hawaii!

 

I had been procrastinating booking our rental cars for weeks.  Last weekend I booked three, for Hilo, Lahaina, and Lihue.  But then almost as soon as I’d done it, I started to think that maybe we should find some things to do that wouldn’t involve all the time fetching and returning a rental car involves.  I’d wondered about that before but I kept having this feeling of “we need to make the most of our time.”  Which can be made in lots of different ways, of course.

 

I knew Hilo was our island on which we definitely want a car.  Our goal is to visit some Ka’u coffee farms after Volcano National Park.  Hawaii island had four coffee regions (for the mathematicians out there, that makes three beyond Kona) and Ka’u is my favorite.  When I had a tiny, low-volume coffee shop when I lived out on Adak Island and had a small business that did a little bit of a lot of things, I served pourover from exclusively Ka’u.  When we’ve talked about what we want to see, coffee on the Big Island is just about one of the only definitive requests from Special Someone.  Fortunately the reports of getting a rental car from Hilo are not too terrible.  

 

This morning I cancelled Lahaina and Lihue.  In our discussions, still held via distance, 12 hours apart, swimming and beach time has come up hither and yon.  I’m the odd person (rare?) who has been to 6 Hawaiian islands and only been in the water once.  I have a cluster of medical conditions that for a long time precluded swimming and it’s only been recently that I’ve been able to do so.  My health is now good enough and my management of my condition on-point enough that I can entertain the option of swimming!  I have two triathlons in May and Special Someone has one, and our access to pools in our section of Alaska is limited, so it makes sense in a practical way to try to get in the water wherever possible.  I knew without researching (but researched to confirm it) that we can walk to at least one beach on both Maui and Kauai.  I really wanted to take Special Someone to the treehouse to get Julia’s best banana bread on Maui, but I’m also not opposed to stayer closer to Lahaina.

 

My sister found a nonprofit that sends young adult cancer survivors on almost-weeklong adventure trips and since I’m a two-time survivor, and still a young adult, I’ve been trying to figure out which adventure to register for, choices being whitewater kayaking, rock climbing, or surfing.  I went on a rock climbing trip this summer and ruled that out.  Too much standing around; I want to GO somewhere.  I like kayaking and I liked the first whitewater rafting trip I went on this summer, so it’s a possibility.  My concern is sitting in the vessel all day long.  The third choice, surfing, is the farthest outside my comfort zone and has been calling me, but I’m hesitant to sign up for a long class if I have no idea how I’ll like surfing at all (could be a lot of standing around).  My sister then said, “Can you take a class in Hawaii?”  Well hmm, that never occurred to me, but I’m sure we could.  I had a hunch or a memory that I should look at Lihue and I picked a place really easily, conferred with Special Someone, and bing, we are booked for a surfing lesson.  

 

And that propelled me to cancel the rental cars I’d spent so much time procrastinating booking.

 

 

This is what Wonder Kitty thinks of me wearing a snorkel mask.

 

 

And this is what my babies think of me wearing swim flippers.

 

 
Tiger thinks the snorkel  gear is hers.  
 

 

There is always something to investigate!

 

[arctickitty]

The size of this trip-related package had me stumped…

 

 

My sister thought I’d ordered two.

 

 

Something else for the cats to investigate!

 

 

 

 

 

I downloaded a free ukelele tuner and easily tuned it.

 

 

And started learning some chords.  This is the first time I’ve played an instrument with chords instead of picking single strings and pressing on single frets.  I wouldn’t say that I’ve memorized any chords yet but when I was trying to play a song, the chords began to become familiar.  I don’t really understand strumming patterns yet (I’ve read about up and down patterns but I don’t know how to make it sound like something I’ve heard).  Hopefully I learn on board!

 

I’m also hoping that the ukelele class doesn’t conflict with MDR lunch!

 

Edited January 13, 2023 by arctickitty

[arctickitty]

On 12/25/2022 at 5:34 PM, jackiel3290 said:

DH and I will be on this cruise. Join the Roll Call. There hasn’t been a lot of traffic on it, we welcome more discussion.

Welcome aboard!  I did post a hello awhile back in the Roll Call.

[milogurd]

If you want to use one of the ukuleles handed out by Tiki Dave on the first day of his lessons, get there NO LATER than 30 minutes ahead of time but 45 minutes might be even better. Keep an eye on the Princess Patter, or whatever they call it now for his first lesson. Sounds like he is short on instruments and Dave's classes are very popular, deservedly so.

 

Also, this from Tiki Dave: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2888911-hawaiian-cruises-and-ukulelefrom-tiki-dave/

"Someone mentioned "The Ukulele Site" here and although I am not allowed to "publicize" or advertise for certain companies here on CC, I would concur, and if you are going to be shopping online, you can contact me at tikidavemusic@gmail.com and I can further information about them, and give you a contact there that will provide a discount that was set up for my students and online followers."

 

The Ukelele Site is located on the Island of O'ahu. https://theukulelesite.com

 

 

 

[arctickitty]

2 minutes ago, milogurd said:

If you want to use one of the ukuleles handed out by Tiki Dave on the first day of his lessons, get there NO LATER than 30 minutes ahead of time but 45 minutes might be even better. Keep an eye on the Princess Patter, or whatever they call it now for his first lesson. Sounds like he is short on instruments and Dave's classes are very popular, deservedly so.

 

Also, this from Tiki Dave: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2888911-hawaiian-cruises-and-ukulelefrom-tiki-dave/

"Someone mentioned "The Ukulele Site" here and although I am not allowed to "publicize" or advertise for certain companies here on CC, I would concur, and if you are going to be shopping online, you can contact me at tikidavemusic@gmail.com and I can further information about them, and give you a contact there that will provide a discount that was set up for my students and online followers."

 

The Ukelele Site is located on the Island of O'ahu. https://theukulelesite.com

 

 

 

Thanks @milogurd hopefully this info will help others.  Thanks to another comment on here, I already bought a starter ukelele that my sister picked out for me.

[arctickitty]

On 12/26/2022 at 3:39 AM, johnmik1 said:

We also booked this cruise last week.We did the same itinerary on Island Princess in 2005.

@johnmik1 welcome aboard!  Curious to hear what’s different for you.  I’ve been hearing reports of people who have done the cruise many years apart and realized  that things like rental car shuttles are limited/short-staffed.

[KLM3164]

Following along. Thanks for including photos of your fur babies. They are so cute!

[arctickitty]

3 hours ago, KLM3164 said:

Following along. Thanks for including photos of your fur babies. They are so cute!

Welcome aboard @KLM3164!  Thank you for the compliment on my beautiful babies.  I need to take and post a picture of what they think a suitcase is for…

[arctickitty]

I went swimming yesterday, one of the few times my work schedule cooperated with when a local pool was open, but I forgot to bring my flippers to try out.  Whoops.

 

 

 

I’m participating in a swimming skills clinic for work today and I’m going to try to remember to take them and see if I can get time to try them today.  Otherwise I don’t know the next time I can go to an open swim or lap swim unless it’s at 6am and an hour away from work.  For the sake of cruising, I just might do that.  I had to hide my snorkel set because the babies wanted to chew it and I forgot to find it before I went out.

 

 

 

We don’t have many stores in our area, but of the ones we do, we have a modest sized everything store that I try not to go into very often because they invariably have something on clearance.  The last time I visited, they had travel bags that match the bag I used on my last cruise to hold my crafting gear.  So now I have a proper toiletry bag, a bag of bags (can always find a use for bags), and a nice, purposely small backpack.  I like that the backpack is small because it actually fits me properly and being small will force me to carry less in it.

 

[arctickitty]

Our OBC posted!!

 

This is exciting because we’ve never had a pile of OBC before and a relief because we’d filed all the paperwork and gotten the appropriate confirmations but for weeks it was showing as either $0 or $50.

 

Yesterday we couldn’t login but today I could, although about every other page I clicked gave me this error screen:

 

 

Our other progress is we booked the DoubleTree in San Pedro for our one night before embarkation.  With just one night we wanted to keep things simple and Special Someone looked up and discovered he had enough points to cover a “marina view” room so that was an easy decision.  My priority (always) is to go for a walk and I’d also like to swim, if possible.  Gotta get those swim practices in.

Edited January 17, 2023 by arctickitty

[arctickitty]

I enjoy Emma Cruises on both YouTube and her blog.

 

 

 

And I like cats, so I joined her cruising cat plushy pre-order fundraiser for Mercy Ships.  Don’t think Captain Hudson will arrive to Alaska in time to travel to Hawaii, but this orange kitty will have some future adventures for sure.

[coops]

On 1/16/2023 at 10:22 PM, arctickitty said:

Our OBC posted!!

 

This is exciting because we’ve never had a pile of OBC before and a relief because we’d filed all the paperwork and gotten the appropriate confirmations but for weeks it was showing as either $0 or $50.

 

Yesterday we couldn’t login but today I could, although about every other page I clicked gave me this error screen:

 

 

Our other progress is we booked the DoubleTree in San Pedro for our one night before embarkation.  With just one night we wanted to keep things simple and Special Someone looked up and discovered he had enough points to cover a “marina view” room so that was an easy decision.  My priority (always) is to go for a walk and I’d also like to swim, if possible.  Gotta get those swim practices in.

Looking forward to hear how you like the Doubletree in San Pedro as that is where our group is staying in April. 

[arctickitty]

17 hours ago, coops said:

Looking forward to hear how you like the Doubletree in San Pedro as that is where our group is staying in April. 

 
@coops I will definitely be reporting back on how it is.

[arctickitty]

On 1/17/2023 at 12:20 PM, arctickitty said:

I enjoy Emma Cruises on both YouTube and her blog.

 

 

 

And I like cats, so I joined her cruising cat plushy pre-order fundraiser for Mercy Ships.  Don’t think Captain Hudson will arrive to Alaska in time to travel to Hawaii, but this orange kitty will have some future adventures for sure.

#CaptainHudson will definitely not be sailing to Hawaii with me as Emma said that sales will be open for about 3 weeks and then the little cats will sewn and made and then shipped and that’s estimated to be about another 6 weeks. However, this little orange kitty is going to be surprised to end up in North Pole with a house full of gray and white kitties.

[arctickitty]

On 1/18/2023 at 1:46 PM, coops said:

Looking forward to hear how you like the Doubletree in San Pedro as that is where our group is staying in April. 

@coops what will your group be up to?

[arctickitty]

I noticed that Journey View in the Medallion App started to show some of the on board schedule.  There is a feature to bookmark events you are interested in; the schedule publicly displays a running tally of the number of people who have clicked that bookmark button.

 

 

 

 

My understanding is that this isn’t a reservation but I’m curious what bookmarking does.  My last Princess cruise was in 2018 and I have a vague recollection that the old app let you see a list of just what you’d clicked on, and on my most recent cruise on Carnival, clicking meant you could see a list of just your activities and also the app would remind you when something was coming up.  This was nice because I found a favorite live music act and my phone kept me updated on their location at all times.

 

 

I’m curious if these times hold.  The good news is that ukelele class is not scheduled during MDR lunch!  I hope this sticks.