Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Saturday Oct 13, 2007 - the end
Most of us actually made it off the boat by 8:00 (due to customs not being quite ready) but there was some sort of mixup with the crew as to how we were to get off the boat so we lost one couple for about 15 minutes. But after a tour of various areas of the ship, they made it off in time for us to catch the 8:30 shuttle. And we did make it to the airport in lots of time to meet our flight at 11:25.
I did kind of feal sorry for the guy who was trying to get his family to the airport for a 10 am flight though.
The time change is really getting to me. Thank goodness we had 3 days to try to absorb the first 3 hours of time shift but this day was especially brutal because I had to absorb 3 hours time difference between home and LA. Think of it this way. We boarded our flight somewhere around 11:25 am and we were in Buffalo at 10:30 pm. And we still had the drive home! I think we made it to bed by about 2 am on Sunday and I was wide awake. Sigh.
But we all made it home safe and sound. I don't think there was too much lost - except for a pound and a half of chocolate we left in the stateroom refrigerator... Hopefully the room attendants had a great feast on it!
This will be my last post for a while. We have booked a cruise for next October though. So I may add some general information to the blog about that one. Now I have to start scrapbooking all the pictures that I took on this trip.
See ya soon!
Friday Oct 12, 2007 - last day at sea
Thursday Oct 11, 2007 - at sea
But it was a formal night so we had to get dressed up too!
Wednesday Oct 10, 2007 - at sea
Since he didn't make it into the next round we took a walk and found some of our party playing mini-golf. I don't think it was going to well because it was a very windy day and the wind was blowing the golf balls around. Aw well, at least Steve H had something to blame his golf score on!
Oh yeah, there was a scrapbook day so I went in and grabbed the goodies. I wish I had some pictures that I could have scrapbooked with!
Tuesday Oct 9, 2007 - at sea
Here's the Bean bag throw
And while that was going on a pod of dolphins decided to swim by
(ok Cathy I know you won't see them, but they really were there!)
Monday Oct 8 2007 - at sea
No pics from this day. It was a pure rest and relaxation day. Oh, and I think we cleaned up our cabin a bit. We didn't have much time for putting away clothes and stuff the past 5 days.
Sunday Oct 7, 2007 - Oahu
And the snorkeling was great too. We saw some turtles doing there thing as well. Again no touching etc. After all, these are wild animals. And really, isn't it best to let them do their thing? We're only visiting them.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Saturday October 6 2007 - Maui day 2
And here's what we saw as the raft passed our cruise ship:
and imagine my excitement when i saw this spotted eagle ray. I overheard someone saying they saw one, but I figured there was no way it would swim towards me.
We didn't make it to Kaanapali for snorkeling, as we decided to do some shopping at the shops right around the pier. It was a lot of fun and we saw a lot of art galleries. We had to make sure we could get back to the boat and cleanup from snorkeling and then head back to shore for the 'old lahaina luau'. Karen found this one for us. Here's the website http://www.oldlahainaluau.com/index_main.html
Friday, October 19, 2007
Friday October 5, 2007 - Maui - day1
So now it was time for the big surprise. I had booked him a helicopter ride in Maui! Yes dear, this was why I had to leave the Canada Day celebrations early - so I could try to nab a 1/2 price deal on the Hawaii gold card website at 12:00 noon Hawaii time. But wouldn't you know it. Even though I was at home and at the computer at 6:00 pm our time, the deal was snatched up at the last second. So I missed it. And a repeat performance happened the following month. At exactly 12:00 pm Hawaii time, the tickets disappeared. Sigh! And by this time I had myself convinced this was a GREAT birthday present idea. So I just went to the website and booked the internet rate there. Yes, it was pricey, but I was pretty sure he'd love it. I should have remembered he doesn't like surprises and he doesn't like to be rushed. After all we did have the zip-line excursion booked for 3 and the helicopter ride was booked for 12:45. So he wasn't too impressed at first, and we thought we had gotten lost on our way to the airport - there was a detour for construction. We were about 15 mins late because there's a safety briefing and they had no way of knowing we had been through the exact same safety video the day before, so even though we were there exactly at 12:45 we did hold them up in doing the safety video. Once we got in the air things turned out wonderful. We were able to see an aerial view of Hana which were were going to have to miss since it would have taken us all day to drive there and back. And we didn't have to drive the zig zap roads to see Hana. I'm sure we missed lots, but I heard that even though the road to Hana is a coastal road, You don't see much of the ocean on the drive there.
And, we still had lots of time for the 30 minute drive to the Zip line excursion. I don't have enough words, thumbs etc. to describe how exhilarating and just plain, fun, this was. Here's the website http://www.skylinehawaii.com/ But book early - it fills up fast. And save yourself some money by booking it online. I used my Hawaii gold card and saved a bit more, but booking it online, you save more than 1/2 of what you'd pay booking it through the cruise ship. We booked the Haleakala Skyline Tour and it was an absolute BLAST. And the drive up and down the volcano was pretty scenic too. A little difficut to get pictures, but very nice all the same.
When we go back to Hawaii we'll be doing the Kaanapali Skyline Adventure for sure!
We parked the car in a parking lot not far from the pier. We did go a couple of blocks further away and it cost us only $12. The ones closer were running $20 or more. And we only about a block away from these. In hindsight we probably could have dropped the car back to the rental agency. It turned out that we didn't really need the car the next day. But more about that later.
We did do a little shop hopping once we parked the car. (This was Steve's idea actually - honest) There is a multitude of little galleries etc. lining the roads around the pier. There's even a Wyland gallery there. But we've been finding Wyland very expensive and somewhat out of our budget range. But we did find a gallery for Chritian Lassen (i hope I spelled that write). And I fell in love with a particular piece of art. Oh let's face it, I fell in love with most of his pieces. But more about that later too.
There was no rush to get back to the ship this time, because we were in port over night. But we headed back in time for our scheduled late seating for dinner and enjoyed a good meal on the boat. There are some neat looking restaurants around the port, but since the price of the cruise included meals, we figured, why bother paying for another meal. Not to mention that the days activities had pretty much tired us out!
Thursday October 4th 2007- Hilo
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Wednesday Oct 3, 2007 - Kona
And now off to our Seaquest excursion.
If I recall correctly Bill gave it a 3 out of 2!
And we found a Quilt shop (this one was Karen's idea). It's very close to the pier. In fact it's in a little mall just up the hill from the pier. Stay on the road that leads into the pier and walk up the hill. There's a little mall on the left hand side and the name was Quilt Passions (i think). We did get there just as it was closing so we didn't get to see much, but they had some really great looking patterns etc. If I was more of a quilter i probably would of purchased something. Guess we should leave something to do on the next trip to Kona.
Tuesday October 2, 2007 - still at sea
Saturday September 29, 2007 - at sea
Monday, October 15, 2007
Friday Sept 28, 2007 - Leaving from San Pedro, California
Thursday, September 27, 2007
We're almost aboard!
Hopefully we'll have some pics tomorrow.
And I already had my first daiquiri of the trip.
More details soon!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Excursion dilemma
You need to sign on to http://www.royalcaribbean.com/ and fill in your seapass information.
https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/mycruises/login.do;jsessionid=0000P7Eatia2zi3E7n6BB9kN4Kh:12hbiocus?cS=MHDR
and, if you haven't already done so, you'll need to create a member login account. You can do this by clicking on the 'create a My Cruises Account.
You may also have to specify your cruise reservation number in order to be able to find where you enter the sea pass. If you're having any trouble, give me a call and I'll walk you through it. You know where to call me...
In addition, in case you're thinking of renting a car: During my searches (and you know I've been doing a lot of that :), I've discovered several warnings about reserving a car BEFORE you get there. Let's face it. You don't want to get there and find out that all the cars are rented...
And don't forget to indicate your correct country of residence. I couldn't believe it but it made a difference.
_____________________________
Well, Pride of Maui has just informed me we can't get on an excursion on October 6th. Funny, it's the same message I received from Fair Winds II a couple of months ago. Something smells
Anyhow, I have my eyes peeled on another potential excursion that starts at 7:30 right from lahaina port - so we don't have to worry about a drive since it departs from the port of Lahaina. Drop by http://www.islandstarexcursions.com/rafting.html I found it on the Hawaii goldcard site. But since I've had bad luck trying to book anything on October 6th, I'm waiting for an email back from them. It leaves from the Lahaina port at 7:30.
I initially had my eye on this website http://www.bluewaterrafting.com/ it appears to be a very awesome choice except that we'd have to be off the boat before 6:00 am in order to make it to checkin at 6:30. I know I wouldn't have a problem but hubby and the tenders might...
If there isn't any availability for excursions, I have a map of some neat beaches and snorkeling sites that we can drive around and check out. Yes, some of them indicate hiking could be involved so if you don't want to get wet, you don't need to.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Cruizin
For me it all started with a 3 day Disney cruise - just to see if we'd get sea sick. And we've been cruising ever since. We even spent 7 days on a second honeymoon on a Disney cruise (without the 'kids') and we had the time of our lives. Disney cruises are not 'just for kids'!
We currently have around 7 cruises under our belts. And we've gone Disney, Royal Caribbean and Carnival. Liked them all. It's a matter of looking at where you'd like to go, and how much you want to pay. Each have their positive points.
Our latest selection is a 15 day Hawaii cruise on the Radiance of the Seas (Royal Caribbean). There are quite a few days at sea. But we offset this by convincing 5 other couples to come along with us. We booked a year in advance, but the prices are $150 lower - at least we didn't pay the 2400 some people did. But actually the price is just for a guaranteed inside cabin room and I like mid-ship so I guess that's the price you pay.
Some of the activities in the works are:
- A (mini) golf tournament
- a pool (the table kind) tournament
- a Euchre tournament
- and anything else we can think of...
The itinerary includes:
- Departure from Los Angeles Sept 28
- next 4 sea days
- Kona (Big Island)
- Hilo (Big Island)
- Lahaina (Maui) - 2 days
- Oahu - until 2 am the next day
- 3 days at sea
- a brief 'wave' to Ensenada, Mexico (really just another day at sea)
- back to LA
Because I'm an avid snorkeller, most of our activites will be snorkelling related. Here's some of the excursions we're looking at:
- Helicopter ride (Blue Hawaiian) http://www.bluehawaiian.com/bigisland/
- Zip line excursion http://www.zipline.com/haleakala_course.htm (we already have one couple on the waiting list - boy did it book up fast)
- A swim with wild dolphins in Oahu - I'd like to see them in their natural habitat - none of that riding around a pen and kissing stuff. Just to see them in the water will be awesome http://dolphinexcursions.com/excursioninfo.html Yes, 'Virginia', you can get prescription masks (see http://www.snorkelbob.com they have weekly and daily rates and you can start renting on one island and return at another island - check the site for locations.
- swimming with turtles - did this in Barabados - what an experience! (same link as above)
- An Ocean rafting adventure - ok, snorkeling, but we get to see lava caves and there's only 6 to 12 of us http://web.mac.com/sqhawaii/iWeb/seaquesthawaii.net/Home.html
- Molokini snorkel http://www.prideofmaui.com/trips/morning.html - Yes, Debra, you can get prescription masks (see www.snorkelbob.com ) - I would have preferred another rafting snorkel, but I couldn't get any confirmation on what time we'd be able to get to shore. We have to tender and that would mean being ashore by 6 am just to get to checkin on time. (i sure hope we'll be able to be ashore by 7 to get to this one
- Instead of swimming with dolphins the rest of the gang is going to visit Pearl Harbour http://www.ussmissouri.com/ maybe uss arizona http://www.nps.gov/usar/
- Old Lahaina Luau http://www.oldlahainaluau.com/index_main.html
I'm hoping that I'll be able to post some photos from my digital so everyone can enjoy our cruise with us (vicariously of course). Sorry, my underwater camera isn't digital so they won't get posted until we're back.