Mar 07

Port of Call: Honolulu, Oahu

Port of Call: Honolulu, Oahu is often called the “Heart of Hawaiʻi” You’ll find stunning beaches all over the island — Waimea Bay (summer), Waikiki Beach, and Lanikai Beach, just to name a few. While these beaches are significantly more crowded than what you’ll find on Maui,

The name O’ahu occurs frequently among Maori place names and the meaning usually accepted is the literal one, “windy place. Sometimes called “The Gathering Place,” Oʻahu certainly lives up to its name. From a tropical paradise in the 1950, this third largest Hawaiian island is now home to the majority of Hawaiʻi’s diverse population, a fusion of East and West cultures mostly rooted in the values and traditions of the Native Hawaiian people (Maori).

Our bus trip to the Polynesian Culture Center took us through Honolulu’s Waikiki beach past China Man’s Hat island into the rain forest. Han noticed that the former 4-lane Interstate Highway 1 had changed to Interstate H1 covering 27 miles on Oahu ? Apparently nobody in government has yet to realize that an Interstate Highway on an island in the middle of the Pacific is a pretty ignorant statement.

En route to Polynesian Cultural Center
Chinaman's Hat Island in the distance
Hawaiian Beach Wave Action
Hawaii is waiting for the sun
Oahu on a rainy day
Peaceful Easy Feelings

The Polynesian Cultural Center is an initiative of the Mormon Church of Latter Day Saints, who in the early 1960 build the 24 acre park to create jobs for its Polynesian students at the local Brigham Young University subsidiary.

Our O’ahu port of call day was completely taken up by a cruise ship tour visit to the Polynesian Cultural Center up on the northeast coast. A full day package sets you back about $200 per person, which includes drive, visits of the exhibits, dinner and evening show. Be prepared to do some real walking, because this park covers 8 Pacific Island nations with their own villages and cultural centers, designed inside a web of ponds and canals. We visited all of them, participated in many of the cultural activities, canoed on the canals and even got a lesson in playing the Ukulele, which instrument was apparently brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese fishermen in the 19th century.

By late afternoon we were hungry enough to attack the enormous spread prepared for us at the huge restaurant, followed by a Pacific Island show including Hulu dancing and ancient rituals.

We got back to the ship around 11pm, ready for a good night’s sleep. Our step meter for the day said 12,843 steps. Port of Call Oahu was a still good day although Han felt already the beginnings of a head cold.

Fetching some coconuts
Ukelele fun
Hawaii Polynesian Cultural Center; Oahu's premier attraction
Canoeing in the local ponds
Restaurant at the Polynesian Cultural Center
Restaurant Conch Shell decorations
Dinner at the Polynesian center
Ukelele lesson in the Cultural Center

Mar 06

Port of Call: Hilo, Hawaii

Port of Call Hilo, Hawaii, the most Eastern of the Hawaiian Islands chain, was the first port of Call on this cruise, landing on the fifth day out of Los Angeles.

The morning was rainy and windy so last minute we decided to just take the tourbus into town and check out some fresh markets and stores. We got wet several times, sometimes soaking, which was not a good foreboding but pretty normal for Hilo, which is “blessed” with some of the highest rainfalls in the world. The town is pretty much what you expect from a tropical town on an island that once was invaded by the American republic and never properly inducted as the 50th state in the union. Hilo has about 45,000 inhabitants and the waterfront has been hit twice by tsunamis. In itself not a sin, but it is indicative for how little money gets reinvested.

Of course the US mainland’s influence is obvious, but there is an undertone of local resentment. Hawaii is the Big Island, cornered by two volcanoes, so naturally it was the last one to be developed into tourism, a process that is still ongoing.

The cruise line offered several day tours, but the one we were interested in to Hawaii’s Volcanoes National Park (about 45 minutes south of town) was cancelled because of the weather and road conditions. The other tours were to the Kona side (the westside of the island) which is more than 90 minutes away by bus each way and just too expensive.

In all honesty, Hilo is a gateway to some of the island’s most dramatic natural wonders, primarily centered around water and volcanic activity, but primarily because of the weather, we used Hilo on this day for internet access at McDonalds. We also have this effort going on to get our ten thousand steps in for the day. The first one went fine as McDonalds gave good internet, but the intermittent rain showers were cause that only ran us up to a maximum of 6,100 steps for the day.

It may have been the dreary weather but Hilo felt a bit tired, lacking color and personality. The island is sizable, too sizable for discovery in one day. But Hilo offers two active shield volcanos, the largest active volcano on the planet the Mauna Loa and the highest point in Hawaii, the Mauna Kea (Kilauea)  And a very remote Southside. I would have loved to see the volcano observatory, which is one of the most progressively forward ones in the world, but the day didn’t allow it.

Oner thing that should be mentioned is that Hilo is also home to the Mauna Loa Macademia Nut Corporation one of the world’s leading producers of macadamia nuts and one of my favorite nuts.

On the way out we witnessed some cano trials or races around the ship in traditional Hawaiian canoes, which was quite a colorful event. We learned that they were practicing for the competition during the weeklong Merrie Monarch Festival, after the Easter Holiday.

Hilo Banyan Tree
Hilo: Han Standing in the rain at the market
Hilo Fresh Market
Papaya price is the same as in grocery stores?
Pacific warrior ornaments
Maybe a waterfront movie theatre?
Vegetarian lunch for TJ
Exterior Wall painting about Hawaii
Reaching back to a proud past.
Hilo Local cano race competition training

Mar 05

A 28 Day Nightmare Cruise in the Pacific in 2023

The Crown Princess Smoking Area on this Pacific Cruise in 2023

Cruising was still relatively new to us. The previous year (2022) we embarked on a Regal Princess Transatlantic Cruise,  which resulted in so much fun that before reaching Barcelona, we decided to add a Mediterranean extension that would take us to Istanbul, the Greek Islands and ports in Italy. Thirty days on the ocean, We loved the experience and decided to make long cruises a part of our vacation/travel experience.

Well we were newbies to cruising, who had no clue about ship choices and destinations. Not all cruising is the same, not even with the same cruise company. Unburdened by this lack of experience we booked a cruise departing San Pedro-Los Angeles in March 2023 to the Southern Pacific and back to LA. 28 Days! We had figured out which side of the ship would give us most suntan of our balcony during those 28 days looping the Pacific, stepping in and out of the date line and north and south of the equator and booked a mini-suite on the Starboard side of the 3,080 passenger Crown Princess.

Departing from Nashville, TN on a Delta flight into LAX, we decided to go a day early and spend the night in San Pedro, close to embarkation. That way we allowed ourselves enough time the next morning to check luggage and  explore the ship before sailing off.

We quickly learned that embarkation in Ft. Lauderdale is way easier than in San Pedro/Los Angeles. We also learned quickly that the layout of the Crown Princess was definitely not as attractive as the one of the Regal Princess we had sailed to Europe the previous year. The ship is quite a bit older than the Regal and it shows in the line up of restaurants, activity decks and smoking areas. We are smokers and discovered quickly that smoking areas is where you find the cool people on a cruise. Whereas the Regal Princess had its main smoking area on the top deck aft, which leaves smoke behind in the ship’s tail wind, the Crown Princess put the smokers in an interior area behind a pool bar with little escape of smoke. Quite nasty actually.

In any case we sailed out of San Pedro, the port of Los Angeles, full of excitement and anticipation.  4 Days on the water would bring us to Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. A couple of days in Honolulu and Lahaina and we would be off to Pago Pago, the International dateline, Tahiti and Mo’orea. We’re ready. Let the sunshine in.

Apr 10

Our Cruise ends in Pireaus/Athens, Greece

View of Acropolis from our Athens hotel rooftop

Today, April 10 our cruise ends in Piraeus, the port city for Athens, Greece. Hard to believe that the last 30 days were spent on a giant cruise ship with some 3,000 other passengers and we still felt like we had not had enough time on the water.  Fourteen destinations later we had arrived in the ancient city of Athens where we had booked a small boutique hotel in the Palak neighborhood, directly under the shadows of one of central Athens, most famous landmarks, the Acropolis.

Of course the end of a cruise is a big let down in our experience, as these ships arrive early in port and want you off in about a 2-3 hour early morning window, after which their crews race to clean, sweep, provision and get ready for the next load of passengers crowding out the ship a couple of hours later. We hugged our new Princess “friends” goodbye and took a taxi our hotel into the city of Athens. The Port of Piraeus is one of the largest passenger ports in Europe. The port’s three cruise terminals are all a 20 to 30-minute taxi ride from the heart of Athens, depending on traffic; cost is approximately. $20 – $25. The port is also a major departure point for ferries to the beautiful Greek islands.

Thirty minutes later we were in the city part of Palak in search of our hotel for a 3 night stay. At the quoted  rate the taxi drops us off at our little hotel in a maze of twirling and twisting streets, full with lively shops and restaurants.

Some general information about the ancient City of Athens and how to get around in a city that carries the floorpan of a maze.

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Apr 08

Port of Call: Istanbul, Turkey

Built in 1973, (6 lanes) the first of 3 bridges over the Bosphorus between two continents is now called the July  15th Martyrs Bridge

Port of Call Istanbul, Turkey had been on TJ’s wishlist since we booked the cruise extension in Barcelona. I forgot to mention this city in the Rome story in the line up of European cities that warrant a week’s visit, simply because there is so much to visit, see and experience. Well Istanbul is one of those cities. Its cultural complexity equals that of Hong Kong, Singapore, Buenos Aires, New York or Rio de Janeiro. You can spend a week there and still feel you have only scratched the surface. Should you want to spend a good time discovering Istanbul, our advise is to purchase an Istanbul Tourist Pass which offers you up-to-50% discount on many attractions, as well as skip-the-line e-tickets options.

Istanbul is a former capital of several historical empires, spread over both  Asian ad European sides of the Bosphorus, which connects the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea to the North. At times known as Byzantium and Constantinople, the Old City reflects cultural influences of the many empires that once ruled here. In the Sultanahmet district, the open-air, Roman-era Hippodrome was for centuries the site of chariot races, and Egyptian obelisks also remain. The iconic Byzantine Hagia Sophia features a soaring 6th-century dome and rare Christian mosaics. Once the capital of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, this city of 16 million people and 10,000 mosques, tells a story with every street and skyline view.

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