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

[KLM3164]

Thanks for more pictures of the fur babies. We took our cat in before we left for our cruise (currently on the Royal) and it felt good for her to get a clean bill of health before we left. She’s almost 15 and her tests all came back negative. .

[arctickitty]

7 hours ago, KLM3164 said:

Thanks for more pictures of the fur babies. We took our cat in before we left for our cruise (currently on the Royal) and it felt good for her to get a clean bill of health before we left. She’s almost 15 and her tests all came back negative. .

@KLM3164 hope you’re having a fantastic time on board!!!  And hooray for a healthy elderly lady kitty!!!  Mine just happened to be due for their annuals.  Last cruise my boy kitty scraped his toes open so I got him checked to make sure he was healing well before I left.  Unfortunately my cat sitter has a having a family emergency and it doesn’t seem likely to calm down quickly so this morning I started thinking of alternatives.  One of my coworkers used a service called The Pet Nanny that starts at $30 per day minimum.  Then I thought, one of my coworkers got her hours cut at work, why not pay her the $ I’d have to pay a stranger and I’d trust her tons more.  She said YES!

[arctickitty]

Woke up to 10 below this morning but lots of smiles as some useful trip items have been acquired…

 

I have lost or misplaced my good swim cap.  I have freebies from triathlons I’ve competed in but they just don’t work as well, so Special Someone got me a new one of the kind I like…lucky for me REI had just one in stock.  That’s all I need.  While he was there he also saw the proper kind of eyeglass string that I need for our surf lesson.  About once a year I seem to do an activity that requires one and I’ve been too cheap to buy one so I just tie a bunch of hair ties together.  Special Someone is not too cheap.  That’s why we keep him around.  We also got a Nalgene bottle sip lid attachment for me.  When traveling, especially in a warm climate I need a fast flowing straw in order to help me get enough water quickly enough.  If I open the whole , I’m clumsy and spill it a lot so this style of sip lid works really well for me.  Unfortunately I lost the last one I had.  I’m not sure if I’m joking or not about putting some of his apple tags on my modified water bottles because once you buy the bottle and the special lid, they’re not cheap.  And that’s not even counting the sentimental value of the stickers. 
 

 

I swam last night and smashed it on freestyle which has been my goal to learn this winter.  I swam in 2 triathlons last summer using only breastroke and it is true that slow and steady completes the race (not everyone does) and I never swam off course, but I wanted to learn freestyle.  I took a couple of adult swim lessons and have gone from swimming 1 lap of freestyle at a time to 4 and then 12 last week and yesterday I did 20 in a row adding up to 500 meters.  

Maybe we are delusional but we imagine we are going to pace off all the pools to measure them so I can keep tracking my swimming distances on board.  We both participate in a virtual challenge called Race Across Alaska and, besides the triathlon training, need to continue accruing miles for the race.

[arctickitty]

17 below this morning…Tiger says hello:

 

[Bungus]

On 1/13/2023 at 2:31 PM, arctickitty said:

@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.

In checking with National (Enterprise) rental car - they have not started backup doing shuttles to the cruise ship dock on any of the stops. However, someone said Avis was on Hilo.

[arctickitty]

On 2/10/2023 at 10:06 AM, Bungus said:

In checking with National (Enterprise) rental car - they have not started backup doing shuttles to the cruise ship dock on any of the stops. However, someone said Avis was on Hilo.

Thanks for the info @Bungus! We booked Avis for Hilo because we saw several reports that they had a shuttle.

[cr8tiv1]

@arctickitty

My young grandson was trying very hard to convince me to part with one of my AirTags….for his water bottle.  It doesn’t make it home at least once a month.  Luckily, it’s always found on campus.  

[milogurd]

14 hours ago, arctickitty said:

Thanks for the info @Bungus! We booked Avis for Hilo because we saw several reports that they had a shuttle.

Have you called the Avis location in Hilo directly to verify?

[arctickitty]

14 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

@arctickitty

My young grandson was trying very hard to convince me to part with one of my AirTags….for his water bottle.  It doesn’t make it home at least once a month.  Luckily, it’s always found on campus.  

I absolutely relate.  I’ve tried writing my name and phone number on the bottom but it rubs off so quickly.

[arctickitty]

4 minutes ago, milogurd said:

Have you called the Avis location in Hilo directly to verify?

Nope, we’ll see when we get there.  It’s our only rental car reservation at this point, but we both can adapt and go with the flow.

[cr8tiv1]

@arctickitty

I've use https://www.hilorentalcars.com before.  My go to local place stopped renting cars.  

 

But, before you decide, call and talk to Rick.  They are just outside the gates of Hilo Cruise Terminal. Walking distance.  No airport service fee.

 

They do NOT rent new cars.  I don't remember what I got, but it was definitely a "used" car.  Price was right.  Got me to where I wanted to go.  Return was super easy.  Might have helped that I was a Kama'aina (local ID).

[gdlamberth]

On 2/5/2023 at 5:44 PM, shiner6 said:

no issues on Jan 16 trip to Hawaii

 

1 hour ago, milogurd said:

Have you called the Avis location in Hilo directly to verify?

 

29 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

@arctickitty

I've use https://www.hilorentalcars.com before.  My go to local place stopped renting cars.  

 

They do NOT rent new cars.  I don't remember what I got, but it was definitely a "used" car.  Price was right.  Got me to where I wanted to go.  Return was super easy.  Might have helped that I was a Kama'aina (local ID).

 

1 hour ago, arctickitty said:

Nope, we’ll see when we get there.  It’s our only rental car reservation at this point, but we both can adapt and go with the flow.

We've also used the "Rent-A-Wreck" multiple times and that has always been a good idea.  

 

Another idea:

Have you considered "renting" using a peer to peer thru someone like TURO?  For our trip in April they had availability on all islands and a less expensive rate.  We've used them before in Hawaii and had a very positive experience.  Just a thought.

Greg

 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by gdlamberth

[arctickitty]

 

Crazy to believe that travel day is here already.

 

I worked all day today but I felt like vacation started over the weekend.  We hit 10/10 over and over again visiting small businesses we found near trails challenge signs.  Our area has a hiking scavenger hunt and we got 4 signs on Saturday and 1 on Sunday.  Amidst that, we found a lot of food gems.
 

 

This is a raspberry cupcake cocktail from Hoarfrost Distilling, one of our several local distilleries.

[tawlaw1526]

On 1/25/2023 at 3:42 AM, Woodside Lady said:

We were on the Crown Princess a week ago.  Bring a bar of soap.  Just body wash in the cabin and too scented for me.  There was no bar soap in the gift shop either.  

Thank you so much for this info.    I will be boarding Crown on March 17th.   Did the showers have shower wands in the shower or were they just shower heads?    I’ve recently been on Sky and Enchanted and they have shower wands which is much easier to shower and rinse off in those tiny shower stalls.   
Did you enjoy the ship?

[arctickitty]

Welcome to Alaska.

 

[phoebe2m]

10 hours ago, tawlaw1526 said:

Thank you so much for this info.    I will be boarding Crown on March 17th.   Did the showers have shower wands in the shower or were they just shower heads?    I’ve recently been on Sky and Enchanted and they have shower wands which is much easier to shower and rinse off in those tiny shower stalls.   
Did you enjoy the ship?

Shower heads, no handhelds, in our balcony cabin. Loved the ship, service, food, shows, etc.

[marden1970]

10 hours ago, tawlaw1526 said:

Thank you so much for this info.    I will be boarding Crown on March 17th.   Did the showers have shower wands in the shower or were they just shower heads?    I’ve recently been on Sky and Enchanted and they have shower wands which is much easier to shower and rinse off in those tiny shower stalls.   
Did you enjoy the ship?

Hi Tawlaw, we'll be on the same cruise and I just learned you can request a hand held shower wand on your medallion app under My Preferences then Accessibilty.  I requested one, will see what happens.  I guess you can always ask your room steward.  See you on board!

[arctickitty]

3 hours ago, marden1970 said:

Hi Tawlaw, we'll be on the same cruise and I just learned you can request a hand held shower wand on your medallion app under My Preferences then Accessibilty.  I requested one, will see what happens.  I guess you can always ask your room steward.  See you on board!

I saw that in the app and clicked on it partially to see what would happen, if anything.  I will report back.

[arctickitty]

[arizonaperson]

19 minutes ago, arctickitty said:

Hope your next flight goes smoothly.

Enjoy your cruise.

I have a friend getting off the Crown Princess tomorrow morning. The only thing I know is they missed their last port/island because of high winds and or weather and she said the crossing coming back has been pretty rough. But I’ve heard minimal about their cruise.

[arctickitty]

[cr8tiv1]

So very glad you are “arriving” with a (half) day room to spare, maybe. 

[arctickitty]

15 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

So very glad you are “arriving” with a (half) day room to spare, maybe. 

It kept going…

 

[arctickitty]

2 hours ago, arizonaperson said:

Hope your next flight goes smoothly.

Enjoy your cruise.

I have a friend getting off the Crown Princess tomorrow morning. The only thing I know is they missed their last port/island because of high winds and or weather and she said the crossing coming back has been pretty rough. But I’ve heard minimal about their cruise.

Good to know!  I’ve thus far enjoyed rocky seas so I’m hoping that trend continues!  

[cr8tiv1]

It's almost 2 PM California time.  Wondering where you really are?  Hope to NOT hear from you for a while, meaning you are inside some aluminum tube.