January 23rd

January 23^rd

Today was out day to be in Honolulu. It will be a long stay because we arrive at seven and we do not leave until eleven. It is clear morning with some sun and we get a grand view of the Aloha Tower as we arrive. We will not be docked there as is usual for us but we are at Pier 2.  There is a Holland ship in our old spot.

We put our Canadian flag on our balcony. We always do that when we are in port.

Because we have an excursion this morning we ordered room service breakfast. I asked for berries for my Shreddies and they sent a wonderful bowl of strawberries. I shared them with Ken. The coffee was hot and the breakfast sandwich was still hot also. It was a very good breakfast.

Our tour was booked as a food tour and we were expecting a little more than we got. The guides were very good and the food was definitely native but we were expecting a private tour for the 6 of us and there were 13 of us jammed into that van. I think I expected that the food would be from actual sit down restaurants, it was in sort of outside eateries. The food was served with plastic utensils and served on paper plates. This would have been fine if we had paid 69.00 for the tour but it was 169.00 each.

The tour took us along the north shore of the island and our guides pointed out places where movies were filmed and famous surfing spots. The tour began at 9:30 and we were back at the ship just before four. So we were driven around for about 6 hours and we ate a couple of times and we saw lots of scenery but we felt we were over charged for what we got.

The van was very nice….crowded but nice.

First stop was the Poi Factory. I have decided that I do not like POI

Next food stop was the Tropical Farm and Macadamia Nut Outlet. Here we got a sample of coffee and time to shop and use a rest room

Next, we went to Ted’s Bakery. Here we given 4 garlic shrimps, with rice and macaroni salad. The shrimp were wonderful.

Final stop was a chance to have a piece of chocolate pie and another restroom break.

Then it was back to the ship. We had to go through security twice, once for the state and once for the ship. That was a first.

We went to Fred and Mary’s for a pre-dinner visit. Then all of us headed for the Princess Theater to take in the Hula Folklore show. The young people were amazing, and they even got a standing ovation.

We decided to go upstairs to Horizon Court to have a bowl of soup for our supper.

Back to the room to relax and call it a night. I have an awful sounding cough, so I have to get some rest.

Tomorrow we are at the island of Kauai. We have no tour planned but we will be going to the beach and probably to a drug store to get me some strong cough medicine.