Live from the Eclipse, Apr 19 - May 21, Sydney to Honolulu to Vancouver B3B in an Aqua Cabin

[Ken the cruiser]

It’s amazing how different the sunset looked tonight, depending on where I took the picture from. 
 

This photo was taken from our table in Blu through the window right before we left. 
 

 
while this photo was taken on the promenade deck within minutes after we left. 
 

 
Then we were off to the All Star Variety Show in the theater, which was another awesome show! 😄

 

 
We then had a break until the 10 pm pop up production show in the Sky Lounge, which we of course headed up a little early just to hopefully make sure we got a good seat. 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 21 - May 8 - Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii

  

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We wound up getting some pretty good seats up at the Sky Lounge for the pop up show! Of course, it helped that the 9 pm evening show in the theater ran long. By the time to Sky Lounge show started, the place was packed! 😁

 

Eddy introducing the cast members and the band!

 

 

 
The singers were all top notch performers in all of the production shows on this cruise!

 

 
As well as the dancers and the Eclipse Orchestra!
 

 
On the way back to the cabin, we walked outside on deck 14 and enjoyed the full moon shining off the ocean, and with no clouds which was a first for this cruise! 😂

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

13 hours ago, Redking said:

The Edge. Are you on the Solstice Jim?

 

I think we are... oh.. my I'm getting old they are all starting to blend together. 

 

OK.. Yes.. just looked.  

We are on Edge Singapore to Sydney and  New Zealand  segments of the World Cruise then flying home only to fly back to Sydney for the April 9 and April 25 Solstice.  

I really want to meet you.   I feel like I've known you for years.  

 

Sorry Ken for going off topic.

Edited May 8, 2023 by Jim_Iain

[luv2camp04]

Just jumping into this Live now.  I have a dear friend that is boarding today.  I'll be reading this so I can see the fun that she is having!!  Thanks for sharing.

[Ken the cruiser]

Good morning from Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii. It was from about 6 am to 6:30 am when I took these pictures. Watch the clouds start to form and then almost disappear and then reappear with the sun’s eruption at the end! 😁

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Then I went back to bed and woke up at 8 am and the ship had anchored and had totally did a 180! 😂

 

 

No excursion today. Just tendering over after breakfast and exploring on our own. 😁

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[cruise wizard]

17 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Good morning from Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii. It was from about 6 am to 6:30 am when I took these pictures. Watch the clouds start to form and then almost disappear and then reappear with the sun’s eruption at the end! 😁

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Then I went back to bed and woke up at 8 am and the ship had anchored and had totally did a 180! 😂

 

 

No excursion today. Just tendering over after breakfast and exploring on our own. 😁

 

 

Will you be going to the Old Lahaina Luau???? It is fantastic - get there early to see the opening of the pit and uncovering the pigs.

[Ken the cruiser]

38 minutes ago, cruise wizard said:

 

Will you be going to the Old Lahaina Luau???? It is fantastic - get there early to see the opening of the pit and uncovering the pigs.

Unfortunately not. If I recall that excursion was well over $400 per person. But I’m glad you had a great time, and hopefully the others that are going on this cruise have a great time as well!

[Ken the cruiser]

And now for the where are we stuff as we wait to go over on the tender. 😁

  

 

 
This is Moloka’i off in the distance with the tip of Lahaina on the right

  

 
And this is Lana’i

 

 
As far as the Internet service goes, the speeds are again quite acceptable.

 

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Redking]

10 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I think we are... oh.. my I'm getting old they are all starting to blend together. 

 

OK.. Yes.. just looked.  

We are on Edge Singapore to Sydney and  New Zealand  segments of the World Cruise then flying home only to fly back to Sydney for the April 9 and April 25 Solstice.  

I really want to meet you.   I feel like I've known you for years.  

 

Sorry Ken for going off topic.

Me too!

 

I wish I had your problem. With the number of cruises of course, we're all getting older.

 

Pity we're not on the same TP. Maybe catch you for a coffee when you call at Tauranga?

 

Again, sorry Ken.

[cruise wizard]

37 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Unfortunately not. If I recall that excursion was well over $400 per person. But I’m glad you had a great time, and hopefully the others that are going on this cruise have a great time as well!

 

The luau is $229.37 / pp for dinner / open bar / show (including taxes). Pretty expensive but for us it was a once in a lifetime occasion. 

 

https://oldlahainaluau.com/

[phabric]

1 hour ago, cruise wizard said:

 

The luau is $229.37 / pp for dinner / open bar / show (including taxes). Pretty expensive but for us it was a once in a lifetime occasion. 

 

https://oldlahainaluau.com/

I wonder why there is a big difference in price from other Luau?  Maybe because this one has alcohol drinks?

[Ken the cruiser]

Had a nice walk around part of Lahaina and here are some of the sights we saw along the way.

 

First, of course, was the 10 minute tender ride, which as you might imagine was fully loaded. In fact they didn’t stop calling tender ticket numbers, 50 in all, until 12:25 pm, we’ll after we got back and were eating lunch in the OVC.

 

 

Once we got ashore, we asked one of the local vendors if the whales were gone, and she said yes. So a self-guided walking tour was our Plan B. We found this town map, planned our strategy and off we went.

 

 

First stop was the old town fort built mostly out of coral in the 1820s to protect the town. Not much was left of it as you can see.

  

 
Next stop was this huge multi-trunk Banyan tree planted in 1873, which offered plenty of shade to all! 

 

 

 

 
to include a couple of the elusive Maui pigeons! 😂

 

 

 
Then we continued our walk down the non-gift shop path, which there were no shortage of places to buy souvenirs, food and drinks, if you so desired. But for us, we were just looking for scenery, wildlife and odd things out of the norm to look at while getting in our walk in for the day. Of course, I had to take my wild bird shots along the way as well! We even saw a parakeet, but it was too quick to take a picture of. 😁

  

 

 

 
Then we came across this set of connected pipes with all kinds of valves that was just too strange looking to ignore. We’re pretty sure it’s for water, but there sure were a lot of valves!

  

 
with this tag attached to it with an Important Notice! 😂

 

  

 

 

Then we came across this in someone’s front yard. 

 

 
 

 
Even saw a tree in another front yard loaded with ripening mangos.

 

 
Then it was time to catch the tender back to the ship, as it was getting hot walking in the sun and it was time for lunch! 😁

 

But on the way back we saw some surfers having fun riding the waves!

 

 
And some pretty views of the shore line.

 
 

 

 

We think those are solar panels on the side of the mountain, but we weren’t sure as we didn’t see a nearby power transfer station.

 

 

 
More folks heading ashore.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

To finish off the day after eating dinner at Blu, we watched the sunset for a few minutes.

  

 

 
Then we headed to the theater to watch a local show called Drums of Polynesia

 

 

 
Afterwards we headed to Celebrity Central to watch the Blank Game Show.

 

[CGinMTL]

Love the sunset with the sailboat 

[mahdnc]

13 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

More folks heading ashore.

 

 

 

Nerd/geek question: were the tender operations for your Lahaina stop all conducted on the starboard side or were they also running on the port side (for the times that you saw it, of course)?

[cinlo]

Rainbow over the harbor this morning, Eclipse seen right lower corner behind building and crane.  Will be boarding this afternoon!

[Ken the cruiser]

5 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

Nerd/geek question: were the tender operations for your Lahaina stop all conducted on the starboard side or were they also running on the port side (for the times that you saw it, of course)?

They were all conducted on the starboard side with two gangways, one forward and one center. We figured they used the forward gangway for taking the excursion folks over while the center one was used for everyone else. 

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii! 😁

 

Here are some photos I took at 6 am as we were heading towards the pier.

 

 
Check out the weather backdrop over Honolulu! 😱

 

 
Then about 20 minutes later just before docking at Terminal 2.

 

 
Then about 2 hours later, the visual forecast starting looking a little better.

 

 
This morning after breakfast at Blu, we headed to the MDR on deck 4 to check out of the “last” cruise and check into the next cruise. Now we’re sitting on our cabin balcony using our Elite+ complimentary internet minutes (as our premium package isn’t available to use yet) watching stuff like this, even though there doesn’t seem to be a fire as there is no smoke.

 

 
After lunch we’re going to take a self-guided tour near the terminal which supposedly should only take around 20 minutes to walk to the Palace. That’s the plan anyway. 😁

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

 

Day 22 - May 9 - Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii

  

 

 

 

Note: This will be the first day on our cruise where we cannot find any events worth our time doing this evening, probably because this is an overnight in Honolulu and a lot of folks will be doing stuff downtown late into the evening!

 

[Ken the cruiser]

And now for the rest of the story.

 
Our current location

 

  
The weather forecast which is looking pretty good!

 

 
The Starlink internet speeds using my complimentary minutes, which I’m assuming is the premium service; otherwise I probably wouldn’t be able to log onto CC.

 

    

The officers onboard the Honolulu to Vancouver leg of our cruise

 

 
With Eddy Jenkins still the Cruise Director!

 

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[prmssk]

Here is what the Eclipse looks like from the top of Diamond Head early this morning.

 

Can't wait to board shortly!

 

[cruzzzinma]

Ken the cruiser,

 

Vancouver to Sydney on the Solstice was one of our favorite cruises (b2b.) It had been a joy following your trip.

 

We enjoyed it so much, a couple of years later we sailed on Explorer of the Sea from Seattle to Sydney to spend the night in Sydney and sail on the Solstice to New Zealand.
 

Carolyn

 

 

[Barwick Cruiser]

We love both Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles so Celebrity Central at 9 is where’d you’d find us! Hope you find something fun to do and enjoy the next leg of your holiday. 🥂 

[dlh015]

Haven't looked up when you're leaving Honolulu...hopefully you get some night shots of the Aloha Tower?? I only managed a terrible still shot though I shot a great video...lol...