mauimary

Jim…I’m so glad you and Iain made it to the Coffee Shack. It’s one of those don’t miss kind of experiences. I’m going to have to get one of those dry cappuccino when we are there in Sept. It looks divine. I’ve thorough enjoyed reading about your travels on the BI. It’s one of our favorite places.

Many of us have photos of the bridge. So it’s ok for us not to be able to in the future but for those having never had the opportunity to visit the bridge I can understand why it’s a disappointment for them. It was fun to get photos of our family on the bridge as it was a memorable event.

We visit the Coffee Shack every time we are on the Island. We have been visiting the Big Island every year for over the last 20 years. We were so glad when the restaurant was sold several years back that the new owners kept the restaurant just like it was. We visit many of these same places every year and even make it down to South Point every couple of years. We have even managed to see some of the locals jumping off the cliff one time. It was a non windy day. I remember a couple of brave tourists that wanted to but were very hesitant so one of the local boys volunteered to jump with them. Another fun place we like to visit is closer to Hilo. It’s called “ What’s Shakin’. Best Smoothies on the Island.

I followed your great review on the Edge. It was a very good one. I felt bad when someone criticized it but found it over on this board so I could continue. You shared a lot of very positive information about the ship and your experiences in AUS and NZ. We will be on that same ship in Oct. Thank you for taking the time to do it.

Wow you two had quite the day. That’s a lot of driving. The Place of Refuge really is a beautiful and inspirational place to visit. We love it there. We have made it a point to return every year or so when we are on the Big Island. There is a particular tree there by the water that we have been photographing for the last 20+years. It was a baby tree when we started now it’s getting harder to find. Definitely easier to visit from the Kona side. A great restaurant to stop at near Capt Cook which is quite close to Pu’uhonua o Honaunau is the Coffee Shack. We love to have lunch there. But definitely sit outside on the patio. The view over the coffee fields is gorgeous looking down to the ocean. Have fun exploring.

I am enjoying meeting my new drinking friends. It’s been a fun afternoon. Thank you for inviting us lurkers in. To answer Jeff’s question I do like to cook. Not a gourmet cook by any stretch of the imagination. I also like to bake. Cakes and cookies (for the grandkids). I have this old recipe book that my mother gave me of a collection of favorite treasured recipes that contains many breads. They are easy recipes that makes my efforts look good!! Mauimary

Thank you. We will be visiting Tasmania. So very excited about that.

We live in the NW West part of the USA where it is quite rainy and cloudy in the winter so we tend to search out sunny places. We are about an hr from the coast and 30 min or so from being in the wine country. We spend part of the Winter visiting Hawaii which is a fav of ours. It also helps that it’s only a five hr flight. We have cruised to many places. Now that we are retired we like longer cruises and B2B. Australia and New Zealand are on the agenda for Oct and Nov. Thank you for the nice welcome.

Hello to all the coolers. I’ll come forward as being one of those lurkers for probably close to ten years! Yes in the wings! It all started years ago on a cold winter day I was browsing the boards and came across the cooler. I found the cooler to be interesting, informative and entertaining and just a really nice group of posters. I loved reading about everyone’s interesting travels to many different areas of the world. Loved reading about Jeff’s breads. Very impressive how Jeff started the water cooler and it has lasted all these years. All do to a great group of contributors. We have not cruised on Silver Sea yet but have been looking at a few itineraries closely. We have been predominantly Celebrity Cruisers but are looking to branch out to a different line of smaller ships.

Victory welcome to Celebrity. Ask as many questions as you would like. Many of your questions have been answered. We booked a Concierge guarantee stateroom on the Eclipse so we didn’t get to pick our cabin. We ended up being upgraded to an Aqua stateroom with a very nice balcony in a great location.

We sailed out of Fort Lauderdale on the Beyond in Feb. We used the luggage valet service for our Alaska Flight to Portland OR on the return. Our flight was late afternoon and it worked out perfect so we could just walk through Security. Since we had a lot of time to stall we didn’t want to have to deal with luggage that Alaska will not allow you to check more than 4 hrs ahead of time. All worked out perfect including a change of planes in Seattle. Luggage was waiting for us when we landed.

We were on The Accent and the Beyond for a month (Jan-Feb) in the Caribbean and were surprised how much folks dressed up. All ages. Of course there were a few who were super casual wearing shorts and tee shirts on chic nights and they really stood out. All our European Cruises folks tended to dress up.

That water looks beautiful. Have to agree with you that Hawaii just does something for the soul. I think we are both more relaxed when we are over there. Sitting up here in Portland Oregon on a cool rainy day does make us just a tad jealous!!! Just enjoying the view has such a calming effect. Looks like such a wonderful large veranda. We are on the reverse of your cruise starting in Honolulu in Oct. Hope the rest of your crossing is smooth.

We have been on deck 10 on both the Solstice and Eclipse Sunset Verandas. What you have is a partial overhang from the verandas on Deck 11. You can see down into the outer edges of the verandas from the Oceanview outside deck as well as the verandas above you. The overhang gives you a little bit of shade which can be very welcome as well as offer some privacy. If you prefer total sun just pull your chairs forward.

Which ship are you on?