| Hawaii
2010 Review |
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| This was the first time the 3 of us have been together in the same place/same time since our Millennium Cruise. We did Holland America's Circle Hawaii Cruise, 1/21-2/5/2010, on the Zaandam, from and back to San Diego. It included 4 days at sea, stops at 5 ports, then 4-3/4 days at sea - we stopped in Ensenada, Mexico on the last full day at sea (click on the Itinerary link above for details). | |
| One of the most important souvenirs for me was going to be a family portrait. We had some taken the first formal night - they turned out awful. On the third formal night, we went to a different photographer (Andrea), who did a wonderful job. She listened to me, accommodated my wishes and set up a few shots of her own, arranging us differently, and even taking individual pix of us all. They turned out great. It was the difference between someone taking quick snapshots with a point-and-shoot camera with bad lighting, and having a professional photographer, knowledgeable about her equipment and lighting, create formal portraits. Click here to see more portraits, larger size . |
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| Click here to read about embarkation day, including Chip's Big Adventure. |  |
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| Chip turns 40 in 2011, Dale turns 40 in 2012 (it is harder to think of my sons being forty than me being sixty!), so there should be some good trips the next couple years. Chip is still deciding what he/we will do. Dale wants us to do a Panama Canal crossing. | ||||||
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The dining and cabin stewards
are, IMO, the best things Holland America has going for it. They
are amazing at what they will do to make the cruise not only nice
and comfortable, but cheerful and personalized as well. Always smiling.
Our cabin stewards, Widodo ("Wee-doo-doo") and Toni, kept
the room neat and orderly, the bathroom clean, brought in fresh
towels and ice daily, toiletries as needed, and decorated our turned-down
beds with towel animals most nights. Our dining (late, fixed) stewards,
Erik and Yohannis, were cheerful and dedicated. Erik especially
gets extra kudos because Chip almost never sees anything on the
menu he likes - Erik worked with him nightly (sometimes going to
the Lido to get a pasta dish) to keep him satisfied. The
dinner menu included a big variety of foods: 4 appetizers, 4 soups/salads
(at least one warm and one chilled soup), at least a half dozen
entrees, and as many as a dozen desserts if you count each flavor
of ice cream. Food is highly subjective - I do not like beef, pork,
veal or lamb, all of which appeared frequently on the menu, and
still I was usually able to choose between a poultry (chicken or
duck) and fish/seafood entree. There were usually pasta and vegetarian
entrees as well. Fresh fruit was abundant, and almost always ripe
at the time it was cut. All served up "real pretty!" |
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This is the first cruise where we had so many days "at sea" (no ports) - 8 (or 9 if you count the last full day when we stopped at Ensenada only for a few evening hours). We participated in a variety of planned activities on board, but next time, we'll plan more of our own, i.e., I will take a craft project I intend to complete while onboard. Click here to see what we did to occupy our time.
We stopped at five ports in Hawaii, and Ensenada in Mexico (this last is a requirement of the Passenger Vessel Services Act which requires ships leaving from and returning to the same port must stop in a distant foreign port - although what constitutes "distant" is not obvious).
- I rented a car
for my sons in Hilo. I say I rented it for them because I splurged
on a Mustang Convertible, and they did the driving - oh, yeah, I received
the "cool Mom" award that day! We drove to Volcano National Park and
saw the steam vents, Jagger Museum and Thurston Lava Tube (it's a
bit of a hike down to it and esp. out of it - it's in a rain forest
and the humidity and the activity put my lungs to a real test!). We
also visited the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory and bought the obligatory
Mac Nut products. Unfortunately, the car rental place closed at 5
pm (last shuttle back to the ship at 4:30), so we didn't get to any
of the Falls - next time.…
Click here for pictures. - The Lahaina
tour (Dale and I) was supposed to be on a yacht with snorkeling in
Molokini Crater - it was changed to a catamaran with snorkeling in
Olowalu (just so-so). We really wanted to see Molokini, but the catamaran
was fun when they unfurled the sails and turned off the engine - real
sailing! - and the crew was very good, nice, friendly, attentive,
etc. Chip rode in the Atlantis submarine - and even saw the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a
(it's a fish, and the longest word in the Hawaiian language). As
we sailed away from Lahaina, we saw a whale show surrounding the ship
we couldn't have paid to see!
Click here for pictures. - Kipu Falls zipline
on Kauai was terrific, the kind of thing that's on your "bucket
list". I pooped out before getting on all 3 ziplines, but Chip &
Dale did them all. More whales as we left Kauai.
Click here for pictures. - In Honolulu,
Dale took a surfing lesson on Waikiki Beach - he was up on the board
3 times (the longest for almost half a minute). They took great pix
of him with a l-o-n-g telephoto lens, great mementos. He definitely
wants to do more surfing - although, he declined their offer to let
him use the board another hour that day - he said the hardest part
was paddling out - his "arms were exhausted." The luau at
Paradise Cove got cancelled due to the weather - a real bummer, because
that would have been the defining outing for us in Hawaii (so, alas,
no leis or poi).
Click here for pictures. - The Captain Zodiac
rafts in Kona were a blast and the snorkeling (in Kealakekua
Bay, a protected habitat and location of the Captain Cook Monument)
was the best. Again, the crew was great, and at the end, the raft's
captain treated us to a high-speed, tight figure-8 next to the ship.
Click here for pictures.
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