Scrapbook updates

Sad news: Kona Scrapbooks has closed.

Good news: Island Paperie is open. Google maps is showing 2 addresses for Island Paperie. I confirmed with the store that the correct address is 395 Dairy Road, Unit A Kahului.

The store in Hilo is called Island Scrapbooking (and they seem to carry stamps.) Their location is at 223A kilauea Ave in Hilo, Hi.

A must do for Sue

Carnival had a sale last week, but I wasn't quite ready to book yet. However, the price has risen a little bit. 3261.86 for 2 people when you've cruised before with Carnival. Or 3381.86 if you haven't.


Still not bad for a 15 night cruise. At 113 per person per night, it's not too far from our usual under 100 per night. I'm hoping that we'll see it fall a bit more. It's still a year away.

Also found the link from the dolphin encounter I experienced last time in Honolulu:

http://www.dolphinexcursions.com/learn.html


Hotel pickups between 8:45 and 9 am. (the boat is scheduled to get in at 9) Last time we qualified for this and were able to meet up with them by the Hawaiian girl statue - but there were several, so we found the one closest to the debark point and that turned out to be the right spot.


Limited to 20 people and lasts about 3 hours. They provide bottled water and juice, cheese, yogurt and granola bars. All included in the 115 per adult, 85 for child (4-12 yrs). There's a 10% discount if we meet them at the Waianae Boat Harbor located on the west shore of Oahu, off Hwy 93. But we'd have to get there by 10:15 am. And according to google it's a 45 minute drive.


A little pricy, but well worth it. One of the most amazing experiences of my life. And winter (November to March) means we'll also get to see humpback whales with calves. We didn't get to see this last time as we were there in October.

WANTED! Fun Loving People for Cruise to Hawaii

I've finally found a cruise that will do a round trip from Los Angeles to Hawaii and back! And I know it's early, but we'd like to try to get at least a few people to go before we book it. At this point we'll wait until closer to June/July before actually booking it unless Carnival offers a sale. So right now we're trying to find out who might like to come along.

Why cruise? Why not just fly?
Have you looked at the cost and the logistics of getting to and/or from Hawaii! (minimum 12 hr flight) Personally, I'd rather spend 5 days at sea - where there's a bed, food and entertainment, then spend 12+ hours on an airplane and airport! The cost...around $900 return. Plus then you've got to pay for your accomodations and food. The cruise throws in some entertainment to keep you occupied too. Plus flying from island to island, it appears you'd lose a day just moving to the next island.

But, if you've never cruised before, this cruise may not be for you. There's 5 days at sea, 5 days on the islands and another 5 days at sea.

We're looking for some people who'd like to join us. The last time we did this cruise with 6 couples, and that helped pass the time on the 5 days at sea. We didn't always hang out with each other, but we often bumped into each other and joined in on some of the ships competitions, played cards, played mini golf, or some of us did the rock wall.

Carnival is currently offering a cruise from Los Angeles to Hawaii and back on the Carnival Spirit. There's 2 cost structures that are applicable until 5 months before the cruise date.

Option 1. Early Saver:

1. Cost: 3162 with taxes for 2 people


2. This price will apply if you book more than 5 months in advance (before July 2). This is the current list price for Early saver, it could vary depending on when we book it.


3. Rooms are midship on the 4th level


4. The deposit is NON-REFUNDABLE - so you have to be sure if you're going to book this way


5. There's a price guarantee - if the price drops, we fill out some paperwork and get a refund for the difference!

Option 2. Fun Select:

1. 3222 with taxes for 2 people - gratuities and alcohol not included.


2. This is the current price and may vary up until you book it.


3. Rooms are on the lowest level (2) cost to upgrade to the 4th is 4.40 per person per day. ( add 132 to get you to the 4th level.) - you can go higher but the cost per person will be higher as well.


4. The deposit IS refundable up to 76 days before the cruise.


5. No price guarantee on this one.

These prices are for inside cabins. There's also ocean view and balconies, but, again the prices are higher.

The itinerary and things to do at each island can be seen at the top of this blog.

Send me an email if you're interested. The address is suzcruz@hotmail.ca

Wow, It's been over a year since I posted on this. Sigh. We had a blast on the girls cruise in Feb.

here's a couple of shots from Prickley Pear island taken in Feb 2009.

It's Not a huge place, but the waters great and the snorkeling is pretty good too.

We had lawn chairs, and, of course, rum punch.

for more details see http://www.pricklypearisland.com/

We've got 4 people interested but we're looking for 2 more.

Saturday Oct 13, 2007 - the end

This was a very sad day indeed. I was trying to survive on approximately 4 hours of sleep. Steve M set the alarm for 5 so we could grab a bite to eat, make it through customs and leave the boat by 7:30.

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

It's a pretty sad day around here. We have to say goodbye to all our new friends. And everyone is packing up their things. Luckily we don't have that big of a rush as we carried our luggage off. Which means we didn't have to put the luggage out in the hall on the last night of the cruise.

And yes, I did remind everyone NOT to pack all of their shoes...

We played bingo, and one of our table mates actually one not once but TWICE in a row! Those Scottish people are always so lucky.

And here's our favourite band again. It's a group of Hawaiian guys and they can sing! And I'm not talking about ancient Hawaiian songs either. Steve asked if they had a CD (which the don't - sigh!). We really enjoyed listening to them!

And we had one last visit with Matt Yee. We probably didn't get to bed until around 1:00 am and we had to be up around 5:00 am so we could make our shuttle to the airport.

Thursday Oct 11, 2007 - at sea

It was another lazy day again. Just the usually eating, sleeping, shopping, piano bar visiting and so on.

But it was a formal night so we had to get dressed up too!

Oh, and I how could I forget: this was the night of the gala buffet. Here's a couple of the best pictures:

look at those chocolate covered strawberries!

Believe it or not Steve M and I abstained from eating this time. (Well, it could have something to do with our supper finishing up around 10:00 pm).

And then we were off to the piano bar. That Matt Yee guy is really a character. We'll miss his ancient Hawaiian sing a long songs! We bought one of his CDs to help us remember. The fun times we had staying up late and listening to him.

And dare we forget the cheer:

OI, OI OI, OI OI OI, MMMMMMMM