Day 19 & 20 - 2 days in Honolulu Hawaii

Blog for Traveling Twins




Day 19 & 20 – 2 days in Honolulu Hawaii

Sunday April 22,2012

Arrived in Honolulu early this morning and by 10 AM we were in the car with Jackie, Matt and the kids headed for their house on the windward side of the island in Kailua.  They have a lovely 2 story home in a beautiful area on the Marine Base.

What fun it was to see them again, the last time was 2 years ago in 29 Palms, the desert in California. Great Grandpa and Grandma had great fun playing games with the kids and getting to know them again. Jocelyne is 9 and John Brian (Bo) is 5 years old. Soon it was noon and we took them all out to McDonalds for lunch. Driving back they mentioned that we were close to the beach where they spend so much time so off we went to the sea. Oh how beautiful it was, Jackie said that they often encounter and swim next to the large sea turtles in this bay. Today the wind was very high and the sky was filled with large kites pulling people on surf boards. Both Bo, Jocelyne and I pulled up our pants and waded out into the surf….what I wouldn’t have given for a swim suit and camera but as I had neither with me I just enjoyed this moment in time with them. Actually when we got back to the house I took some pictures of pictures of that same area with my camera so that we could remember this visit. Of course, we took many pictures of the family also.

All too soon it was time to return to our ship which was docked on the other side of the island in downtown Honolulu. Back to ship time we went upstairs for a cookie snack and then spent 5 or so minutes on the 12th deck using the exercise bikes for the first time. We promised ourselves that we will be better about using them during this last 12 days of our cruise.

Dinner time… we have a large, over 300, group of deaf people on this portion of our cruise. When we arrived for our 6:00 PM scheduled dinner, the dining room was full of this tour group, all of whom needed special help. Phil had taken his medicine as we have always been served right on time but tonight almost an hour later we still had not started our dinner. They had brought us water and bread but that was it. I was really upset because I knew that we had to eat, go back to our cabin for his insulin shot and then be in ready for the Mandatory Assembly Drill at 7:45 PM.. Needless to stay we left the dining room after telling the head waiter what was happening. Up to the buffet we went got a quick meal and made it to the Muster Drill on time. From what our table mates told us that after we left they had a big meeting with the waiters etc… a lot of words were exchange and they got their food right away. The next night (Monday)…. Talk about service, they served us like we were really important people and couldn’t do enough to make sure that we were happy with the service. We got several apologies from our waiter, the assistant waiter and the head waiter. Will be interesting to see what happens tonight (Tuesday). By the way, we have 2 new couples at our table for dining. Lorraine and Bill along with Helga and Bill. The first from California, the second from Arkansas. Both couples, like our previous table mates are diamond cruisers as they have spent lots of time on the Royal Caribbean’s cruise ships.

Monday, April 23, 2012
Today we got off the ship and onto the city bus for a trip to the Ala Moana Shopping Mall, where we shopped at Hilo Hatties and found us each another piece of Hawaiian clothing. Also made our way to the Kamaka Ukulele store & factory. Even tho it was not the day for tours they gave us one anyway which really please Philip. It looked at buying a new one but the price was rather dear.

Back at the ship we caught up on our laundry and ended up playing the Trivia game with a group of people, Ken & Barbara and Marcia & Sharon, all from different parts of the US. We almost won, but didn’t. But had a lot of fun with them and hope we can do more Trivia with them during this trip.

As I said before, dinner was perfect and yes I could say Outstanding !!

After dinner we were treated to a great show by the Children of Honolulu.

Before heading off to our rooms for the night. Today, Tuesday, we have been out on the bus and found a local mall, just a shuttle away, with free internet. So I am going to leave Phil at home to nap and I am going back with my computer. Hopefully I will be able to update and also send this.