One of the first things I read about when I started researching what to do on the islands was the Road to Hana. I knew I didn’t want to rent a car, because that would mean Jim was driving while I enjoyed myself! We settled on NCL’s Road to Hana Deluxe and it was a great choice.

We were fortunate to have a clear, sunny day for most of our tour. Hana — and the road to Hana — are on the wet side of the island, and rainy/foggy/cloudy days are common. Even on our tour the mist set in about 3:00, so an early start on the Road to Hana tour is preferable.

We had a group of 8 in a van with comfortable Captain’s Chairs. Temptation Tours was the tour operator, and Gail was our driver. She was excellent…her stories and knowledge of Maui were a real asset during the tour.

We made many stops during the day. For the most part I’m going to let my pictures do the talking.

Our first stop was at the Ke’Anae Peninsula for dramatic views of the rugged coast composed of huge lava rocks.

Our next stop was “Halfway to Hana” for some overpriced but delicious banana bread and smoothies.

There were waterfalls everywhere, but our first waterfall stop was at the Pua’a Kaa State Wayside.

Along the way we saw beautiful Rainbow Eucalyptus trees and other spectacular vegetation.

Hana is a quiet little village at the eastern tip of Maui. In the late 1800s-early 1900s the main industry was sugar cane plantations. There were 7 of them! In 1946 much of the town was destroyed by a tsunami, so what you see today is mostly post-tsunami construction that is built on higher ground than the destroyed homes and structures.

Hana and the surrounding secluded areas are favored by travelers who value luxury and privacy.

Lunch was at Wai’anapanapa State Park. Bet you can’t pronounce it…I couldn’t either! Gail provided a wonderful array of wraps, fruit, salads, and sweet treats in an idyllic setting.

Wai’anapanapa is also the home of Paiola, Maui’s black sand beach. On the day we visited the beach was being enjoyed by quite a few people and one Hawaiian Monk Seal!

We made a couple other stops on the way back to the ship, but in my opinion the Crown Jewels of the day were the Ke’Anae Peninsula and Wai’anapanapa State Park.

The weather had started turning and fog/rain/mist set in for the rest of the day.

Gail did a great job getting us to the major sites on the Road to Hana before the weather turned. We learned it rains on that end of the island more often than not, so we were fortunate to see some of the views with clear sunny skies.

The rain is both a blessing and a curse…all the rain is the reason for the lush tropical vegetation and waterfalls.

It’s truly a rainforest, and the inland part of the drive is enhanced in the rain. Unfortunately the rain does nothing for the ocean views.

We got back to the ship about 4:00. It was a long day, but a great one and we were glad we made the trip.

Dinner was at Cagney’s, and our evening entertainment was trying not to fall asleep in our food!

We were hopeful for a repeat of Sunday’s weather for our Monday trip to the Haleakala National Park and the volcano summit, but it wasn’t meant to be. I know the people who made the sunrise trip did actually see sunrise before the fog and rain set in, but I don’t think the visibility window lasted too long.

We took a private tour with Gus from Holo Holo Maui Tours. He was fantastic and really worked with us to salvage something of our day, but I’m getting ahead of myself…

When we left port at 8:30 the weather wasn’t too bad. We had a mix of sun and clouds and it had been raining, but it didn’t look like a total washout. You couldn’t see the top of Haleakala, but Gus was hopeful the clouds would lift, so off we went.

We saw many variations of vegetation and scenery as we climbed Haleakala.

Unfortunately the higher we climbed the worse it got.

We got to the summit and walked around for a while, but there wasn’t a lot to see. It was foggy, rainy, and COLD!

We ended up stopping at the trailhead for a snack, but it was raining hard by this time so no volcano walk for us!

Instead of our volcano hike Gus took us down to Paia Town where we walked around and did a little shopping. All was not lost, because we found our Christmas ornament for the trip.

If we had the day to plan over again I would make sure we had back-up plans in case of weather. We had a great time because of Gus, but there really wasn’t much to see because of the weather. Since it was a private tour I think we could have/should have gone over to Lahaina and Ka’anapali Beach where it hardly ever rains!

My consolation prize is that we by pure luck picked the good day for Road to Hana. It rained out there ALL DAY Monday, so the people who chose that really didn’t see a lot.

We got back about 1:30ish, and then what I thought would be a leisurely afternoon turned into frenzied activity because of an e-mail. Our guide for Kauai, Noah (Noah’s Ark Kauai) had to cancel because he tested positive for Covid. He sent several contacts and I reached out to all of them, but of course looking on Monday for a tour on Thursday is an exercise in futility. I reached out to the concierge who gave me a name that worked. We played phone tag for a while and I reached out to the other people on the tour, and finally just as we sat down for dinner at LaCucina everything was set. So much for relaxing!

We had an excellent dinner at LaCucina as we set sail for two days in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii!

I woke up predictably early…after all, it was cruising day! Jim was still sound asleep and snug in the bed, so I went out on the balcony and started looking for signs of life.

OK, what I was really looking for was a ship! Between binoculars and a zoom lens, I was soon rewarded!

The hours before we left for the ship were pretty unremarkable. We ate breakfast in the club lounge, finished packing up, and actually had time to relax before it was time to leave for the ship. Confession — I felt guilty leaving without purchasing anything at the hotel, so I went down to the art gallery in the lobby and found some sea glass jewelry that I thought needed to leave Hawaii and go back to Houston.😂

I never said much about our hotel room. It was newly renovated and nicely furnished, but the real attraction was the view. The entire hotel was finishing up a major renovation, so things still had that new car smell. They had taken out the bathtubs and replaced them with walk-in showers which I thought was great! One thing I thought was strange was there was only one mirror in the room. It was over the vanity, but there was no electricity anywhere in the vicinity! Thank goodness I have a lighted travel mirror, or I’m not sure how I would have dried my hair. First World problems, right?

One disappointment was the hotel laundromat had been taken out during the renovations. I was counting on using the laundromat to get our sweaty stuff washed before the cruise. As it was I ended up having to do a sink load on the ship.

Something I wasn’t expecting was the open air/non-air conditioned corridors. I wasn’t surprised that most of the hotel lobbies were open air, but I had expected hallways in high-rise hotels to be enclosed with A/C and they weren’t. I think that contributed a little to the room always feeling a bit humid and sticky. Still, we liked the hotel, the location was perfect for us, and we would definitely stay there again.

Our ride to the ship with Go808 Express was a few minutes late, but that was OK…it was a beautiful morning and our ship check-in time wasn’t until 11:30. Our driver was chatty and personable, and the ride to the terminal only took about 10 minutes.

Check-in and boarding were a breeze. We had a suite, so we never stood in a line of any kind. We were taken to a side room where there were snacks and drinks, and each suite was seated at a desk for check-in. Right about 11:30 the concierge spoke to the group then we were escorted onto the ship. It’s funny, after waiting so long I thought I’d be giddy with excitement when we boarded, but it really just felt normal.

We changed some of our dinner reservations, then had a leisurely lunch in Cagney’s. I’m nothing if not a creature of habit…I decided at that very first lunch on board that the Chicken Milanese was excellent and I ended up having it every time we ate lunch there!

We had to have dessert, because we were on a cruise ship which for us equals having to have dessert! We split a piece of carrot cake, which was delicious.

I’m going to put all the ship stuff here, because to be honest for us the ship was really just our hotel with several restaurants that sailed from place to place. We never made it to a show, there wasn’t a casino, and although we sat down in a bar a couple times for the most part our daily routine was get up, eat, tour all day, return to the ship, clean up, eat again, and sleep.

Many said the buffet was great. I couldn’t tell you, because we only stopped in once for a quick snack after an evening tour. I never even located the main dining room, because we ate all our dinners in the specialty restaurants. I went to the Shore Excursion desk once and Guest Services once. Both were reasonably quick and provided good service. Our room steward seemed efficient…we never formally met him and only saw him once. I guess that’s what happens when you have a butler to take care of you!

I’m not sure I would take the beverage package again. I really don’t think we were on the ship enough to get good value for our money. At most, we each had 2, maybe 3 drinks a day, and it would have been much less expensive to decline the package and just pay for our drinks.

Don’t bother upgrading your internet unless you plan to spend your days sitting on the ship working! We had cell service almost the entire trip save a few hours overnight when we were between islands. For the times we didn’t have service, the included internet was more than enough to cover it.

Our cabin was great! We were in 13518, a Penthouse on a small, quiet deck. We had tons of storage, a huge balcony, and one of the most comfortable beds I’ve ever slept in. All the soft furnishings were in really good shape, and the cabin was immaculate.

What didn’t I like? The lighting at the vanity was awful (Once again I was thankful for my lighted travel mirror!), the railing for the balcony was way too high, and the bathtub was a lethal weapon. Seriously, I could have used a step ladder to get in that thing, showering while the ship was moving was an adventure, and I said many prayers before I got out. There was just no way to bathe and feel safe at the same time! Definitely not for the elderly, klutzes, or anyone else who values their life and limbs! The tub alone would cause me to choose a different cabin next time…one with a shower that doesn’t require gymnastic feats to enter and exit. I would choose a cabin with a walk-in shower!

We sailed at only 50% of capacity, so the ship never felt crowded. There was never a wait for an elevator, and I never saw any long lines for anything. I thought the staff was warm, friendly, and did everything they could to be helpful and provide great service. There were times we could tell someone was in training, but it in no way impacted our trip or our enjoyment.

I had been a little worried that after such a long wait and so many disappointments the cruise would be a let down, but it wasn’t at all. I will say if someone books this cruise expecting it to be like cruising in the Caribbean with lots of sea days and fun in the sun they need to find a different cruise. If people do their homework and understand what the ship is and what it isn’t they will have a great time. For us, the opportunity to see four islands without having to mess with airports, TSA, rental cars, and schlepping luggage around Hawaii was better than any casino or water slide!

My only gripes (and they’re pretty minor) were disappointment with the wine list and the open hours of the coffee bar. I had expected the specialty restaurants and the wine bar to carry a much wider choice of wine by the glass, but the list was the same (and very limited) in all the restaurants and at the Napa Wine Bar. As for the coffee bar, a 6:30 opening time is simply not early enough for this early riser!

Our muster drill location was out on deck (how did we get so lucky?🙄), and right after that we had a meet and greet with about 25 people from our FaceBook group page. It’s always nice to see some familiar and friendly faces around the ship!

Dinner was at Jefferson’s. I had the veal chop and Jim had the salmon. Both were great, and dinner was pretty much the end of the day for us. That night we started the habit of getting everything ready for the next day before we went to sleep, because we were off the ship early every morning.

As soon as I stretched out on the bed the motion of the ship rocked me to sleep. Next stop, Maui!

We woke up at a slightly more reasonable hour on Friday. We were in no rush…we were taking a photography tour and our pick-up time wasn’t until 9:40.

We decided to have breakfast in the Kani Ka Pila Grille both to try some local specialties and to burn more of our resort food credit.

I had never heard of Loco Moco before I started researching Hawaii, but once I read about it I knew it was a must try. Loco Moco is rice topped with 2 beef patties, carmelized onions, mushroom gravy, and topped with a fried egg.😳 I opted for that while Jim had the Hawaiian Style Eggs Benedict. Oh, and we both ordered the smoothie of the day. Big mistake. We had enough food to feed a family of 5 with leftovers for another meal!

The van for our tour arrived right on time, and we joined one couple who had already been picked up. We were soon joined by a couple from Canada and a young man from Australia.

I quickly realized that this was not going to be like any of the other photography tours I had taken on vacations. Even though we saw some nice sights and enjoyed our guide, there was little that made it a photography tour other than the name on the van and the number of cameras aboard. I expected some discussion of settings for the conditions, or maybe some talk about framing or favorite shot tips from a local, but our guide (who was a very sweet young girl) didn’t provide any of that so in that aspect I was disappointed.

The most popular tours seem to be the longer sunrise tours, which we easily could have done Wednesday or Thursday. If I had it to do over again I would choose differently. Oh well, we don’t get a mulligan. It was still a pleasant day of seeing spectacular things.

Our first stop was Tantalus Lookout, where we had stopped with Kirk on Wednesday. Since I had those pictures already I switched to a wide-angle lens and also took a panoramic picture using my cell phone.

https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/dsp/parks/oahu/puu-ualakaa-state-wayside/

Our next stop was at the Nu’uanu Pali State Wayside Lookout for a fantastic view of the windward side of the island. The place lived up to its name…it was very, very windy!

https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/dsp/parks/oahu/nuuanu-pali-state-wayside/

After Nu’uanu Pali we headed to Waimanalo Beach and our lunch stop at Ono Steaks and Shrimp. Shack. This is a tiny place with a deservedly stellar reputation for the food. They were very busy when we were there, and there were few places to sit inside. I also thought it was uncomfortably warm inside.

Jim and I ordered their smallest steak and shrimp plate to split (no appetite due to Da Loco Moco!) and happily grabbed a place to sit outside where there was shade and a slight breeze.

Makapu’u Beach Lookout was our next stop. We spent a few minutes looking out over the stunning views of the coast. This was the only stop where I heard our guide make a comment about our photos. She pointed out her favorite view on the island.

Finally, we went to the lookout at the Halona Blowhole (not blowing when we were there) and Eternity Beach.

It was a pretty long drive back to Waikiki Beach through heavy Friday afternoon traffic. I might have caught a little nap on the way back!😴

I spent a couple hours reorganizing things for the cruise, then we were off to dinner at Roy’s. We had been trying to get back to Roy’s since our spectacular dinner overlooking one of the greens at Pebble Beach in 2009. For the most part the food didn’t disappoint, but I don’t think we will ever match the magic of the evening we spent at Pebble Beach. The only negative of the evening was a large, extremely loud, drunk group at a nearby table who seemed to think the entire restaurant wanted to hear their opinions on politics and women’s rights.🙄

We both chose the Prix Fixe menu, and had this meal including subbing the Hot Chocolate Melting Soufflé for one of the cheesecakes:

We walked around a little bit after dinner and I finally picked up a couple magnets, but a Christmas ornament for our travel tree was avoiding us. Since we still had more than a week to take care of that I wasn’t too worried.

Something I haven’t mentioned that shocked both of us is how BUSY Waikiki was. When we were walking around at night we were amazed at how many people there were. It was a lot like being in any world-class city with great restaurants and hotels, interesting people, and high end shopping. The thing that set Waikiki apart and made it not like the others was the beach.

We didn’t linger on the Streets of Waikiki too long. We had packed a lot into 3.5 days, and we would have another day to explore Oahu before we flew home. I was ready to finish packing up to get on a cruise ship the next day! It would be the first time since we left the Ruby Princess on August 31, 2019, and I was more than ready!

Links:

Oahu Photo Tours — https://www.oahuphotographytours.com/tours/beautiful-hawaii/

Roy’s Waikiki — https://www.royyamaguchi.com/roys-waikiki-oahu#roys-waikiki-menus-1

We slept in on Thursday…all the way until 4:00! Darn jet-lag! The only positive was that we were going to bed so early we were still getting a decent amount of sleep.

We had planned something completely different for the morning — an e-bike ride and climb of Diamond Head. I was a little apprehensive about both activities but we put on workout clothes, grabbed a quick breakfast, and headed out. We had arranged a ride to the starting location with Charley’s Taxi, and were glad we did. It was a little further than it seemed on the map. It would have been a long walk trying to follow the blue dot on my phone to our destination in an unassuming building a few blocks away from the major hustle and bustle of Waikiki Beach.

The e-bikes took some getting used to, but they were a lot of fun! I thought the experience was kind of a cross between a bicycle and a moped, and I appreciated the assist on some of the hills! Most importantly, neither of us fell off, so that aspect alone made it a great day!😂

We started out riding along Waikiki Beach, stopping at places of interest for pictures.

Ryan, the owner of 808 eVentures was great! He was very patient while we learned to ride the bikes, and very patient with my pathetic, plodding pace while we climbed the volcano! He took lots of pictures along the way.

I really enjoyed the bike part of this tour. It was fun zipping up the hills with ease! We arrived at the base of Diamond Head in one piece and got ready to start our climb.

I’ll tell you right now that this was more difficult than I anticipated. The climb isn’t overly steep, but the terrain is very uneven and it was HOT!🫠 Add to that I should have chosen different shoes (I wore regular tennis shoes and had a hard time with my feet moving in the shoes) and the climb kind of kicked my butt! There really is no correlation between walking on a treadmill at an incline in air conditioning (my preparation method) and climbing an extinct volcano in full on sunshine!

Still, I persevered and the views on the way up and at the top were well worth it!

What goes up must come down, and we were no exception! I thought the downhill hike was easier physically but a little more treacherous if that makes sense. There were lots of places where I thought it would have been easy to lose my footing or twist an ankle. Since I’m a klutz and I’ve had vacations impacted by my klutziness before I was extra careful. I was amazed at the people doing the climb in flip flops while I was wishing I wore hiking shoes!

We left Diamond Head and rode through some residential neighborhoods on the way to our reward for our efforts…a shave ice! We went to a tiny but popular place away from the tourist areas and all 3 of us had a delicious treat for less than $10 total. Most of the shave ice I saw in the tourist areas was at least double that!

Back at our hotel (we took an Uber) we decided on a light lunch at the Kani Ka Pila Grille. Unfortunately the concept of a “light” meal is foreign to them. I had an appetizer portion of coconut shrimp and a side salad, and even after some pretty strenuous morning activity I still thought it was too much food. Jim had what he called his first Poke Bowl of the trip, but I’m not sure he ever had another one so maybe it was his first and last!

This would have been a great time for laundry! Alas, the laundromat at the Outrigger Reef was taken out during the recent renovations, and taking an Uber or a taxi seemed like too much effort. We draped our hike and bike clothes on every available surface to let them dry before we banished them to sealed ZipLoc bags🤧, and decided a nap was in order.

I don’t think I slept, but I did rest for a while and I went through pictures, so I guess that counts as down time.

At 4:30 we were off to our next event, the Aha’aina Luau at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. It was a fairly easy walk from the Outrigger Reef — about 10 minutes or so.

The luau was pricy, but they all are. We debated a little, but finally decided since we hadn’t been to Hawaii before we needed to splurge.

We chose this luau for a couple reasons, and we thought we made a good choice. First and foremost, we wanted to attend a luau outside by the ocean, and the Aha’aina delivered. We also wanted something close to our hotel, so that eliminated a lot of the big names that required an hour on a bus in each direction. Hmm…walk vs. take a bus? It was an easy decision for us.

I thought the event was very well done! The luau takes place out in front of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel with a view of Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head in the background.

The food was good, not great. They no longer have a buffet. Instead you are served a pre-plated meal. Three drinks each were included, and we both thought two was plenty.

The show was very entertaining. All in all it was a great way to spend the evening.

Once the luau was over we were done for the night. We walked back to the hotel and did a little souvenir shopping along the way but we didn’t find anything we liked, so we decided to save that for another day. We were looking forward to “sleeping in” since we had a later start to Friday’s Tour — a “Beautiful Colors of Oahu” photo tour with Oahu Photography Tours.

Links:

Charley’s Taxi — https://charleystaxi.com

808 eVentures — https://808eventures.com

Waiola Shave Ice — https://www.facebook.com/WaiolaShaveIce/

Aha’aina Luau at the Royal Hawaiian — https://www.royal-hawaiian.com/dining-overview/ahaaina-luau/

We had plans for all our days in Honolulu, starting with a Pearl Harbor and Honolulu tour on our first full day. In hindsight what I should have scheduled for the first day was something involving sunrise because we were up at 3:00, but I wasn’t thinking about jet-lag, just about fitting things in.

I guess one advantage of having jet-lag is you’re awake for sunrise. Actually we were awake for several hours of darkness before sunrise, but we were finally in Hawaii and didn’t really care. I peeked at sunrise from our balcony and sent Jim out to the beach alone to take some pictures. I decided a shower was much more important than sunrise!

After a quick breakfast in the club lounge at the hotel we were off to meet our guide for the day, Kirk Hendricks.

We had a wonderful tour of the Honolulu area. Our tour guide, Kirk, was friendly and very knowledgeable. We went to numerous scenic overlooks, the National Cemetary of the Pacific, Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial, and then to some neighborhoods for local snacks. I highly recommend Kirk! It didn’t hurt that Kirk has an amazing, super comfortable car (2022 Audi Q7) and we travelled in style all day!

We drove through some neighborhoods and downtown after Pearl Harbor, debating what to do about lunch. In the end we decided we weren’t very hungry so Kirk took us to Chinatown where we wound up at Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery. We got some delicious and very inexpensive savory pastries to tide us over. Jim had Pork Hash, and I think what I had was called Char Siu Manapua which translates to pastry with barbecued pork inside. In other words, I had a kolache!

We made one stop that wasn’t on a list of sights to see. We stopped at the grocery store so I could get a bottle of creamer for my coffee. That was where my jaw really hit the floor at prices…a bottle of Carnation creamer was SEVEN DOLLARS!😳 Ouch! I know groceries are high everywhere, but that’s more than $3.00 higher than the current inflated price at H-E-B!

We got back to the hotel around 3, which meant we had a very little down time before our dinner reservations. It felt good just to sit in one place and not be moving for a while!

We ate at Orchids at the Halekulani, which was an easy 2 minute walk from our hotel…right next door!🙂 One of the reasons I chose the Outrigger Reef was that we could walk everywhere in the evenings…no taxis, rental cars, or Ubers required.

This is probably a good time to mention I was surprised by how hot it felt to me in Hawaii. I thought it would seem like nothing after a Houston summer, but the difference is almost everything (restaurants, hotel lobbies and corridors, stores) is open-air or not air conditioned. I’m used to cooling off when I get inside, but that didn’t happen in Hawaii. I only remember one air-conditioned restaurant the whole trip. Anyway, back to dinner…

We have mixed opinions about Orchids. I thought it was great, but there was something about it that Jim didn’t love. I don’t think it helped that it was hot, we were very jet-lagged, and I insisted that Jim wear jeans because I thought Orchids enforced their dress code. At any rate, we had a very nice meal in a beautiful setting, but we sweated most of the way through dinner! It got better once the sun went down.

Links:

Kirk Hendricks — https://www.toursbylocals.com/Private-Guide-Hawaii-Oahu-Honolulu-Top-Rated-Best-Spanish

Orchids at the Halekulani — https://www.halekulani.com/dining/orchids/

I’m back! Actually, I never left…I just stopped updating the blog. I think I got busy, then Covid hit and I lost interest for a while. At any rate, I was bored at 35,000 feet en route to Hawaii so I decided this trip would be a good time to make a comeback!

I’m not usually a numbers person, but I’m still shocked at how long we waited to take this trip. 1,184 days. That’s how much time had passed since we booked the flight we took on September 27. Don’t bother doing the math. I’ll save you the trouble. It was July 1, 2019.

901 days. That’s how long it had been since the flight we booked on July 1, 2019 was supposed to fly.

895 days. That’s how many days had been since I turned 60, which was the reason for the trip.

We were on the plane and still kind of in disbelief that my countdown clock finally hit zero!

Let me back up a little and explain how the whole idea of celebrating 60 in Hawaii came to be…

In June of 2019 I went to Annapolis for my nephew Jack’s induction into the Naval Academy. Jim stayed home because of that pesky thing known as work.

I was scheduled to fly home out of Washington National on a small plane using a short runway on a very hot day. I was all settled in with my belongings stowed when the gate agent boarded and said we couldn’t leave until 20 people volunteered to deplane. We were overweight because of the runway length and heat. That’s another number that kind of blows my mind. They had to get 20 people – over 25% of capacity – off a plane that holds 75.

Of course, compensation was involved. They started at $1,000 and nobody budged. I got Jim on the phone and had him pull up the United website to see if I could get home that day if the offer became irresistible, and I could. Several numbers were thrown out but they still weren’t having a lot of luck. The gate agent left and came back on a few minutes later with a firm and final $2,500 offer. I told Jim, “Gotta go,” grabbed my stuff and took the voucher! In other words, I took the money and ran! All told I think I got home about 8 hours after I was due and had to go through Chicago, but on an hourly basis I thought that was a pretty good use of my time. It was a good day for me, but expensive for United!

The day after I got home we were talking about what to do with the voucher (it had to be used within a year) and Jim came up with the idea of going to Hawaii (we had never been) and taking the Pride of America cruise that goes from Honolulu to Maui, Hawaii, and Kauai. At the time my voucher was enough to cover the cost of one first class ticket and miles covered another. We booked the flight and the cruise and I started planning.

Little did I know that by the time the voucher actually got used we would be making plans to travel to Annapolis for Jack’s commissioning!

Some things just aren’t meant to be, and some are meant to be, but not when we think they should be. So it was with our Hawaii trip. Covid had other ideas and we waited through multiple cancellations and disappointments, but we finally found ourselves at 35,000 feet at the start of a trip we thought might never happen. In a twist on the words of Red in my favorite movie Shawshank Redemption, “I couldn’t wait to see if Hawaii is as beautiful as it’s been in my dreams!”

We did have one glitch in the trip which ended up being a non-issue but could have been huge. We flew to Hawaii on September 27, 2022. Do you see a problem with this picture?

Jim didn’t see a problem either until the agent at the TSA checkpoint casually mentioned to him his license was expired!😳 Thank goodness for very good friends who know the alarm code and where the spare key is hidden, and don’t mind risking life and limb (well, limb anyway) to hop the fence and retrieve Jim’s VALID driver’s license and his passport card for good measure!

I’m only telling this story because all’s well that ends well. If we were going out of the country I would have double checked for passports as obsessively as I double checked for vaccination cards, but I thought we were in the clear because we were staying in the US.

Knowing that we probably (not worth the risk!) couldn’t get on the ship without valid ID, our friend Charlie overnighted the IDs to us in Honolulu so we could continue to enjoy our vacation and I didn’t have to abruptly stop writing this blog when it had just barely been resuscitated!😰

Now, back to our many times rescheduled almost cut short by an expired license vacation!

The flight was long but amazingly uneventful. We were served lunch twice. The first one was pretty awful…a piece of rubber chicken with a way-too-vinegary rice and cabbage mixture, but the second one was actually good! It was a Japanese noodle salad and both of us liked it!

Would it be inappropriate for me to have flown in first class and whine about the plane itself? United should be embarrassed that they’re still using antique planes with a 2-4-2 “domestic first class” configuration on an 8-hour flight. Half of the seats face backwards! Granted they were lie-flat seats, but the seats actually felt cramped and there was NO storage at all. Anything more than our iPads and teeny (clutch sized) bags had to go overhead.

Despite the less than optimal first class cabin and the rubber chicken we made it to Hawaii 30 minutes early, our luggage arrived at baggage claim the same time we did, and our driver from Go 808 Express was waiting for us. You can’t ask for a travel day to go any better than that.

I was ready if things went wrong with our checked bags! After reading about luggage woes all summer I equipped our bags with color-coded Air Tags so I could locate them if needed. I thought they were very accurate…when we were still in Houston I could see that our carry-ons were with us and the suitcases were on the plane but further away.

When you plan something as far in advance as I planned this trip and wait through multiple cancellations it can get built up in your head to be something the reality could never measure up to. I was worried about that, because with 2.5 years to obsess over the details and tweak things I expected to be wowed. You know what? I was! For the most part we liked/loved the choices we made, the weather was almost perfect, and Hawaii was even more beautiful than I imagined it could be.

We were already exhausted by the time we got to our hotel — Outrigger Reef on the Beach. It was a great choice! Our room was comfortable and newly renovated, we got a GREAT deal on a club-level room through Costco, and it met my #1 requirement…I had to be able to look out and see only ocean. After all, I had never been to Hawaii and that’s the main attraction! I wanted to make sure I saw the Pacific Ocean, not the busy streets of Waikiki Beach.

Who wouldn’t want to relax on their hotel balcony and see this?

Our only goal for our first day was to stay up as long as possible to try to acclimate to the time difference. We went to happy hour in the Voyager 47 Club, and then decided to use some of our resort credit (thank you, Costco!) on dinner in the Kani Ka Pila Grille at the hotel. I guess it was good…I was too tired to really care! We ordered only appetizers and ate too much. The portion sizes were huge. We found that to be the case throughout the islands, which I guess is how they justify their prices?

At any rate, by the time we finished we could barely keep our eyes open. I think we both fell asleep about 8:00 and slept until 3ish which is a nice 7 hours of sleep for a completely different time zone!

Up next…views, Pearl Harbor, and a little bit of exercise!

Links:

Go 808 Express (Ground Transportation) — https://go808express.com

Outrigger Reef — https://www.outriggerreef.com

Kani Ka Pila Grille — https://www.outrigger.com/landing-pages/services/orf-kkpg

There are certain places that are “must-sees” around the world for different reasons. For Catholics, that place is the Vatican. For people whose ancestors immigrated to the US from Europe in the years spanning 1850-1950, that place might be Ellis Island. For golfers, (even very bad lapsed ones!) that place is the Old Course at St. Andrews. Once we scheduled our cruise and realized how close the town of St. Andrews is to our port in Edinburgh (South Queensferry), we knew without question how we would be spending our day.

Gordon from G&S Tours suggested a route, and 8 of us prepared to get an early start on our day that would include Falkland and the small coastal fishing villages of Fife as well as several hours in St. Andrews. We wouldn’t be able to play, but since we would be walking on golf’s holy ground we were excited anyway!

South Queensferry is a tender port, and we were a little worried about a wait to get off the ship. Luckily, one couple in our group had two Priority Tender passes to cover the group, and we were able to walk right onto a tender. It didn’t seem backed-up or even busy when we went ashore, but it was nice to have the insurance!

For once, Mother Nature didn’t cooperate at the beginning of the day. We started out with low clouds and an annoying drizzle. By lunch time it would give way to the bright sunshine and brilliant blue skies we’d had throughout the trip.

Our first stop was in the village of Falkland. The tiny rural town dates back to before the 12th century. In recent years, it’s best know for being an Outlander filming site, but it’s also widely known for its horticulture. Even though the day was gloomy, I could still see the beauty of the flowers and gardens at every turn.

St. Andrew’s is such a beautiful town! Of course, there are the golf courses, but there is so much more. St. Andrew’s Cathedral is fascinating, and the village and university are just charming. We started our visit with time to explore the cathedral grounds before we went to the golf course for our tour. Most of these pictures were taken later in the day when we went back for a few minutes. The light was much better, and I had corrected my camera settings from the morning’s accidental moving of a dial.😳

After the cathedral, we were off to St. Andrew’s links where we met our guide, Gordon’s friend Fergus. He was fascinating because in addition to golf knowledge he is a horticulturalist and explained a lot about the course architecture and the reasons behind the construction.

St. Andrews was both familiar and not at the same time, if that makes sense. Nothing looks exactly like it does on TV, and the Old Course at St. Andrews is no exception. I was surprised to learn that St. Andrews is not one, but SEVEN courses, all stacked one next to another, with the most famous Old Course right in the middle. We also learned that the courses are public land, and as such anyone has the right to walk on them right in the midst of the golfers. Needless to say this causes quite a bit of chaos with golfers and tourists all trying to get a photo on the famous Swilcan Bridge! St. Andrews is closed on Sundays unless there is a tournament, and the grounds are used for picnicking, riding horses, and bicycling by locals.

We chose to eat lunch right there at the golf course in the interest of maximizing our time. It wasn’t cheap, but it was filling and reasonably fast, so our objectives were met. After lunch we had some time to shop and were able to take care of a few Christmas gifts. Buying Christmas presents in July is always a great thing, as long as I remember who I bought for and where I stashed them!

After lunch and shopping we spent a few more minutes at the cathedral and/or castle before heading towards the coastal fishing villages on our way back to the ship. I had requested an up close and personal look at a Hairy Coo, and Gordon did the best he could but the cows (coos) just wouldn’t cooperate! They were where he thought they would be, but about as far from the road as possible! It’s almost like they knew I was coming with my camera and they weren’t feeling photogenic that day. Here is what I was hoping to see:

This is what I actually saw:

We hugged the coast and made brief stops in Crail and Anstruther, with more time in Pittenweem — each town was more idyllic than the one before! Pittenweem also had the added benefit of a great ice cream store so we had enough energy to make it back to the ship!

When we got back to South Queensferry the line for the tender was long but not unreasonable. I think we waited about 30 minutes but that was OK because it had turned into a beautiful day! While we were waiting things did get a little “chippy” when buses coming back tried to offload passengers in such a way as to allow them to cut the line. Fortunately there was also a lot of staff on hand to help organize people, and even though there was plenty of grumbling everybody took their place in line.

We were back on board and cleaned up for our evening long before the last tenders made it back to the ship. We sat in Vines with our wine and watched the proceedings for a while before dinner. Our dinner was long and leisurely, and true to form I didn’t have much left by the time we finished eating. I went to the casino for a little while, but luck was definitely elusive on this trip!

We only had two days left. The next day was a sea day (and packing) followed by our last port of LeHavre and a full day tour to the U.S. War Sites in Normandy. I was really looking forward to Normandy, but definitely not excited about getting off the ship and flying home!

Our day in the northern highlands of Scotland was a success from start to finish!

We had booked a full day tour with Gordon of G&S Tours, and our agenda was ambitious. Gordon’s tour didn’t disappoint…we had paid slightly more to be in a vehicle with 8 Captain’s Chairs and wifi, and since we spent a lot of time in the van I thought it was money well spent. £6.25/person is a small price to pay for comfort and a window seat!🙂

Our first stop was at “Millionaire’s View” for a chance to stretch our legs and enjoy the stunning scenery.

We followed that with a visit to the Falls of Shin, where we had the opportunity to see the salmon swimming upstream to spawn. They were sparse and EXTREMELY difficult to photograph, but Chip managed to catch one towards the end of this video.

From the falls, it was on to Dunrobin Castle for the main event — a falconry display. As we drove through the hills, we noticed it was becoming extremely hazy. We learned it was smoke from a heather fire caused by the drought. Fortunately the wind shifted and it was gone by the time we left Dunrobin, but it was pretty unpleasant for about an hour.

During the owl part of the demonstration, I captured one of my favorite travel pictures of all time. Is it technically great? Not even close, but I think you’ll agree it’s a great shot!

All I have to say is it’s a good thing the owl was well trained. He sure looked like he had lunch (me!😳) on his mind, and all I could do was hit the shutter and pray I didn’t embarrass myself in public.😂 Jim was using my phone and tried to video me taking pictures of the owl, but unfortunately he double clutched. The bird was close enough that his wing clipped Jim’s shoulder.

It was a fantastic demonstration, and we had some time to explore at Dunrobin after the show.

By this time we had worked up an appetite, so it’s a good thing lunch was next. We went to the Royal Dornoch Golf Hotel for Sunday dinner. They had a good but limited menu, and we chose the traditional Roast Beef Sunday meal, complete with Yorkshire Pudding. Yum! It was a nice, relaxing break in the middle of the day.

We weren’t done yet! No visit to Scotland is complete without a visit to a distillery, so we were off to Glenmorangie. We passed through the beautiful village of Dornoch on our way to the distillery.

The facilities and process were impressive, but I admit to letting my attention wander since I’m not a fan of Scotch.

On our way back to port, we made one final stop in the quaint seaside village of Ballintore to see the “Mermaid of the North” statue.

Back at the pier we said our “see you soons” to Gordon since he was our guide for Edinburgh the next day, and quickly went back to the ship since our day was far from over.

We met in Vines about 6:30, and at 7:00 we made our way to Sabattini’s for the Tuscan Wine Pairing Dinner. It was delicious, but many courses and a LOT of food and wine.

It was all I could do to stay awake long enough to get ready for bed.

We were excited about the next day — a trip to St. Andrews to see what many consider to be the birthplace of golf. ⛳️

Saturday was our first of two sea days, and really the first down time Jim and I had had since we got off the plane at Heathrow on June 26th — 12 days earlier.😳 Predictably I woke up early, did my coffee thing, and sorted papers and dirty clothes…all while Jim slept!

I decided since I was up I needed to take advantage of a sleeping ship and get some laundry done. I know a lot of people say they don’t want to do laundry on vacation, but I really appreciate Princess having laundromats for the passengers to use. It’s a win/win in my book. I get clean clothes, AND I get to control the temperature and the detergent choices! My early start worked to perfection and I was able to do two loads with no wait for a machine. During the cycles I went back to my cabin and started trying to make sense of the piles of paper, ticket stubs, receipts, and general mess that had accumulated in our cabin during a week of going at full speed.

I finished the laundry before 9:00 and was perfectly content puttering in the cabin for a while. I had countless pictures to look at, and the only place I needed to be was on my balcony about 10:30. The captain had said we would be passing the lighthouse on Skye around 11:00, so I figured as long as I was out there for that I could do whatever I wanted until then.

Jim, however, had other plans. He had emerged from his cocoon about the same time I was putting the laundry away and returned to the room with a giant latte for the balcony. He went out, and less than a minute later came back in to get me. You know where this is going, don’t you?🙄

The lighthouse was in the distance. In the distance behind us.😢

Captain Nash must have had the pedal to the metal, because we passed the lighthouse a good two hours ahead of schedule. I was RIGHT THERE, folding socks and undies, and I missed it! Oh well, we are planning to go back to Scotland and tour with Tommy in the not too distant future, and hopefully I’ll get a closer look at what I missed!

Other than the disappointment of missing my lighthouse, it really was a beautiful day and we spent hours sitting outside. The temperature was perfect (in Northern Scotland!) and once again we had mostly sunny skies and calm seas. Jim and I were perfectly content to be on our balcony watching Scotland go by, but many people took advantage of the conditions to sunbathe on their balconies or by the pool.

We had a wonderful, lazy day. I know we skipped breakfast, and I don’t remember what we did for lunch…maybe we grabbed something and ate on the balcony? The day was that lazy!

I know we went for Gelato at some point during the day. I saw this sign and got a chuckle out of it. Just in case you were wondering, Pecan Nuts contain nuts!😂

Finally at about 2:30 we mustered up enough energy to do something important…taste wine! We don’t go to a lot of these any more, but this was a “premium” tasting, and as soon as I heard the word “Caymus” I ran to hand over my $25 for a few sips of wine! I thought the selections and the food pairings were pretty good, but a couple of the speakers describing the wine got a little long winded. I mean, we all know that some wines taste like rich soil, but does it really take 10 minutes to explain? And who eats rich soil anyway?🤔

The evening was mostly the usual…meet for drinks, go to dinner. Since we were in Scotland, our “formal” attire was enhanced by my family tartan…a sash for me and a tie for Jim. I think (fuzzy memory!) this was the night we decided to try to switch things up and start at Bellini’s, but it was a) too loud and b) too crowded. We retreated to our usual spot in Crooners before dinner.

After a nice and relaxing meal that included some great Italian wine and birthday cake (a month late!) Jim and I went to the production show — Secret Silk. It was excellent, and I think Princess has really stepped up their entertainment.

We sat with a couple from our Cruise Critic Roll Call, and it was there we learned the Fab Four had skipped out on another tour.🤬 If there’s a bright side, it’s that this time the organizer heard my story so she was proactive and called. Of course, she found out they had no intention of showing up. Since she had advance notice, she was at least able to replace two of the four.

After the show was the balloon drop, which I skipped this time, and bed. We would be off the ship again early the next day in Invergordon, our most northern port!

I don’t think I’ve ever had what I would call a bad day on a cruise, but they’re not all created equal. Sometimes a port or an excursion doesn’t meet expectations. Sometimes the weather causes a change in plans. Sometimes a meal isn’t to my liking. (I know, that’s a real problem since there’s definitely a lack of food options on a ship!🙄) But sometimes everything falls in place and I have a perfect day. Greenock was one of those…it was exactly what I hoped for and more!

We woke yet again to bright sunny skies, and watched the sail-in to Greenock while we enjoyed a quick breakfast on our balcony.

I was very excited about our plans for the day…we were taking a tour of the Highlands with Photo Walk Scotland. Our small group was me, Jim, and just one other couple, Marci and Dale from Canada.

I had struggled for a long time with what to do in this port — go into Glasgow? Take one of the standard offerings to Loch Lomond and Sterling Castle? I just couldn’t decide. Thankfully I read a review on Cruise Critic and knew immediately I had found the excursion for me! I contacted Tommy (Tom Docherty) at Photo Walk Scotland right after I read the review, and we had many pleasant e-mail conversations planning our day. We had an ambitious itinerary, but Tommy felt certain we could get to the places he suggested and still make it back to the ship with time to spare.

We disembarked as soon as the ship was cleared, and there at the gate to exit the port was our wonderful guide for the day. Somehow, even though we were together with our cameras for 9 hours I neglected to take a picture of Tom. Google to the rescue…here’s one I found by doing a search:

We were off to see the Highlands! We had a pretty long (but scenic) drive to our first stop at The Green Welly restaurant/gift shop/gas station. We hugged Loch Lomond for most of the drive.

We stopped at The Green Welly for about 30 minutes for a much appreciated bathroom break and breakfast (our meals and beverages were included in the cost of the tour). I had a very filling bacon sandwich and explored the shops for a few minutes before we headed to Kilchurn Castle, our first photo stop.

The ruins of Kilchurn Castle are on the banks of Loch Awe. The main part of the structure dates back to about 1450.

Our second stop was also a castle — an occupied one this time! Castle Stalker is located on a small island in Loch Laich. It is believed that the current structure was built around 1440. Today it is privately owned, and is open to the public by appointment at selected times during the summer.

After getting our fill of castles we were off to Glen Coe. The town of Glencoe lies in the midst of the glacial valley and mountains, and it was there that we made two stops…the first at the church and cemetery and the second for lunch at Crafts and Things. Crafts and Things is a combination café, clothing store, and craft shop with a simple but filling and delicious menu of soups, salads, and sandwiches. I had a toasted sandwich with turkey, Brie, and cranberries. The bread and the cheese in Scotland and Ireland were outstanding. I couldn’t help myself!

These pictures of Crafts and Things are from the Internet:

After a great meal, we headed out to see the scenery in Glen Coe. Tommy was great about allowing us just enough time to feel like we were having a quality experience, but making sure we didn’t run short when it came to getting us back to Greenock. He was also great with crowd avoidance. It was a beautiful summer day, and I’ll let the pictures of Glen Coe speak for themselves.

Our last photo stop of the day was at the Blackrock Cottage near the entrance to the Glencoe Mountain (ski) Resort. When we left there we settled in for the long ride back to Greenock, with another stop at The Green Welly for good measure.

Summary…like photography? Take this tour! Don’t really care about photography? Go anyway! The scenery is phenomenal and Tommy is a delightful guide who clearly loves sharing Scotland with his guests. His company does other tours, including some longer trips to more remote areas. We’re eager to go back and hope to take a Photo Walk Scotland trip to the Isle of Skye in the spring of 2020.

Tommy got us back as promised, and once on board we had all of about an hour to get cleaned up and presentable for our Chef’s Table at 6:00. I actually surprised myself by how fast I can move when it’s necessary (or there’s food involved!).

This was one of, if not the best Chef’s Table we’ve been to. Everything about it was top notch…the setting, the food, the service, and even the souvenirs. We started in the galley for champagne and hors d’oeuvres, and then we were seated at the screened table in the dining room for the rest of the meal. Admittedly, I felt a little conspicuous parading through the dining room in the middle of dinner service to get to the special table, but I soon forgot about it because the whole experience was so exquisite.

Dinner ended a little after 9:00. I was tired but too full to sleep, so I made a donation in the casino before I called it quits. Jim went to The Beatlemaniacs show at 10:00, and thought it was just OK.

Back in our cabin, I surveyed the mess we made running in the door and scrambling to get ready for dinner, decided it could wait until the next day, and quickly fell sound asleep. We finally had a sea day the next day, and I was really looking forward to doing nothing, and then doing nothing again! We were far enough into the trip that the idea of having no place we needed to be and nothing we needed to do (until an afternoon wine tasting) was very appealing!