The Itinerary

The Itinerary
THE ITINERARY

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Feb 13, Honolulu, Hawaii

 
Friday, February 13, 2015 - Day 10
 
The ship is late getting to Honolulu due to consistent heavy seas since leaving San Francisco. We arrive at Pier 10/11 beside the Aloha Clock Tower about 11:30AM. Since we are late, the morning has seen our usual routine of breakfast, trivia and a morning lecture. 

After lunch, we go ashore and find a taxi with a very pleasant and accommodating driver. We first head for the National Cemetery (The Punch Bowl) where we try to find the graves of two U.S. Marines Dick thinks are buried here but neither is listed and there is no one to provide any assistance. We do find the grave of the writer/reporter, Ernie Pyle. He was killed during the battle for Okinawa and was much mourned by the soldiers and Marines as he was one of them.





We then head for the Nuuanu Pali Overlook, site of the 1795 battle in which Kamehameha I defeated the Oahuans and added Ohau to his Kingdom. The overlook offers a magnificent view of the windward, North Shore of Oahu. Windward is very descriptive as the wind is blowing a gale up the cliff face. There is even the famous "Upside-Down Falls" where the consistent wind appears to blow the water in the falls back up the cliff.
From here we head to Waikiki Beach and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Traffic for most of the taxi trip has been extremely heavy and the final tab is $90 plus a $15 tip for being so accommodating.

It is quite windy on Waikiki Beach and the lobby of the Royal Hawaiian is open air so the wind is howling in and through the public areas. We find the Mai Tai Bar on the beach and snag a beach side table. What luck! The place is packed! We order two drinks and a snack to share. Talk about expensive, $57.21 including an $8 tip! We do get some nice photos though. Plus, Carolyn’s favorite passtime is watching the waves especially with a drink in hand.
 



Drinks on the ship are also expensive so we head for a liquor store and stock up on bourbon, cokes, bottled water and a corkscrew. We were surprised to learn that there is not a corkscrew in our suite. This is just one small sign of the cost cutting efforts on board ships these days.

Tired and loaded with our purchases we find a cab and head back to the ship through extremely heavy, Friday evening, rush hour traffic. This fairly short trip is so slow that the final tab here is $34.70; some above the sugested cost of around $25.

Note to self: find an ATM and restock US currency.

Back on board we dress for dinner and have another drink while watching night come to Honolulu. Carolyn had ordered the shrimp tempura last night to be made up for us as a main course. We both like tempura and it was good. Just have to remember if you order off menu you have to remember to also order sides as the kitchen doesn’t automaticly put a side on the always available or the off menu items. We had plenty as Dick had potatoe soup and Carolyn had a hearts of palm salad and we both had Bananas Foster for dessert. Plus, we ordered another bottle of a nice white wine we found the other night.

Once again, we do not last long after a "light supper" and head for bed.

 
 

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