Cool Breeze Cruiser

Your reviews are awesome, not to mention how great your pictures are. Our camera did not do such a great job compared to yours. Is it ok for me to use some of your pictures?

Of course Dottie! We had some major camera issues on this trip though. I threw away my favorite point & shoot camera the 2nd sea day because it broke & our cabin steward kept taking it out of the trash & putting it on the table. :eek: Bless his heart he was trying!

We really enjoyed meeting you & Jim & thanks again for the wonderful job you did designing the t-shirts & door signs. I know who to call next time I need custom t-shirts! :D

I have a couple of pics of you from the Cash bar M&G if you would like them.

I am about to go visit my dad but hopefully I will be able to add Kona & Hilo (the days that EVERYTHING went right :)) when I get back. I also have a lot of pics from the last five sea days including Hawaiian Night which was soooo much fun!

Hugs, Juli

Great review and pics - we were on Miracle debarking from Alaska just before you embarked for Hawaii. We have visited Hawaii a few times before (land based trips) and stayed at Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach of course also been to Dukes as well - Mahalo & Aloha!

Do you miss the grapes on the Miracle too? I REALLY do every time I cook dinner! :p

Dukes was great especially the Hula pie but we were pretty bummed that the car rental did not work out & we did not get to explore Honolulu before we got to Waikiki as we had planned. We still had a great time in Honolulu & if we only had two minor setbacks out of 18 days we are pretty lucky kids! :D

we are cruising Dec 6th to Hawaii ... I really want to go to Dukes since we go to Dukes in Malibu ... was it easy to find ... you took the bus ? thanks for all your info. J

Lucky you! :)

Dukes was very easy to find. Waikiki is not what I was expecting. I don't know why I was expecting beach bars & restaurants & it is more resorts with beach bars & restaurants in the resorts.

We originally took a cab to Waikiki for $20 from the ship for the four of us when we 'tried' to pick up our rental car at Dollar. Then we took a cab from Pearl Harbor to Waikiki for $2.50pp. It was very easy!

This is USNS Guadeloupe. She's a fleet replenishment oiler that re-supplies Navy ships while they are deployed; the crew are civilian mariners employed by the Navy. Our oldest son served on her sister ship, USNS John Ericsson, for four months a few years ago. Now that he's in the Navy, son gets to do this from the other side.:)

Thanks so much for sharing your photos of the Arizona Memorial. It's truly a sobering experience to visit.

First of all thank your son for his service!!! I am SURE you are VERY proud!

I hate it that a LOT of our pics from Pearl Harbor 'vanished'. What a strange thing! First time that has ever happened to us & we usually take a ton of pics.

It was very sobering & very emotional to know that we were visiting this incredibly beautiful place where so many of our countrymen lost their life's serving our country.

Cool Breeze Cruiser ,

Love your review I am reliving our Hawaii cruise on the Miracle that we took October 2013. Loved the cruise and cant wait to do it again.

I love your dresses. Can I please ask where did you get the one you worn in Maui and the one you wore in Honolulu ? They look comfortable, cute and great for cruising.

Looking forward to more..

Thanks, Sheri

Our cruise was amazing made even more so by all the wonderful new friends we made! Love them all!

Ha-ha! Thanks. You picked my two favs that I never cruise without. You can wad them up in a baggie & they always look the same. They came from Ross for Less (as many of my dresses do) & were probably under $15! Love, love, love Ross for Less for cruise dresses!

Juli

We went back to Duke's & had Mai Tais & split some nachos & Duke's world famous hula pie.

We couldn't hardly finish the hula pie!

The guys were super sweet & went & bought Lynn & I fresh flower leis.

We took a cab back to the ship. It was $20.

There was no show that night. They had what they called Activity Extravaganza in the Phantom Theatre with trivia, guess that song, a spelling bee & an invisible movie game.

Next up... Kona & a day that finally went as planned!

J.R. decided to try to surf on the nets.

When we started out the weather was really iffy & didn't know if we would see the sunset or not.

Pretty neat place to hold your surf boards.

Waikiki

We wanted to do an outrigger canoe ride & a sunset catamaran cruise but we could not work out the timing for the outrigger canoe ride but the sunset catamaran cruise was a lot of fun! It was $30 per person for about a 90 minute catamaran cruise & adult beverages were included.

We decided to catch the bus back to Waikiki. I believe it was $2.50 per person & took about 45 minutes to an hour. We didn't know what we were doing & we sat in the 'bend' of the bus so we swooped out every time we went around a corner. Kind of fun!

We were starving so we headed to Duke's to eat!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&sqi=2&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dukeswaikiki.com%2F&ei=bU1MVPrILsOgyASr0oB4&usg=AFQjCNHll9VlH16wF125CpNOEKSlOF7EyQ

Luckily we got there about 2:30 & their lunch buffet ended at 3PM so we were able to PIG out! It was only $16.95 per person & it was delicious! They had a huge salad bar with lots of different fresh salads, made to order pasta, Paninis, Teriyaki chicken, Kalua pork & cabbage, fresh fruit & lots more.

We took the launch back & visited the museum. J.R. could have stayed in there all day! I was melting though. It was sooo HOT & the museum is not air conditioned.

We did not visit the USS Bowfin (submarine) or the USS Missouri or the Pacific Aviation Museum.

Visiting Pearl Harbor was a very moving & emotional experience.

A strange thing happened at the Memorial. J.R. took a lot of pics on our 'big kid' camera but there are none on there from Pearl Harbor. Luckily I took some with our water camera.

We caught a cab to Pearl Harbor. Luckily we ended up with a great cab driver who gave us a mini tour. The cab ride from Waikiki to Pearl Harbor was $50. The stupid part was we had to backtrack past the ship!

We got to Pearl Harbor & rented a locker to store our things. It costs $3 per bag. We had planned to leave everything in the car but since we didn't have a car we rented the locker.

We got our tickets (you are supposed to pick them up an hour in advance) & wandered around the grounds. It was HOT!!!

Then it was time to watch the film about Pearl Harbor. It includes a brief introduction to set the tone for the visit and a 23-minute documentary film which includes actual footage of the attack.

After the film, we took a Navy-operated shuttle boat ride to the USS Arizona Memorial. You are allowed about 25 minutes on the Memorial and then you are called to go back, and you must leave on the same launch that brought you. There are no public restroom facilities on the Memorial.

Honolulu 8AM-11PM...

The #1 thing J.R. wanted to do in Honolulu was visit Pearl Harbor & at the time you could order tickets to the USS Arizona six months ahead of time so I was online the second the Parks office opened exactly six months before we got to Honolulu & reserved two tickets for the 11:00AM time slot for a reservation fee of $1.50 each so we were set! :D

I booked a rental car for Honolulu through Discount Hawaii Car Rental last January. I originally booked with Thrifty but I contacted DHCR about a different car rental reservation & they noticed that I had booked through the Thrifty at the airport.

The lady at DHCR said there had been a change since I booked & the airport locations no longer offered a free shuttle to/from the cruise port so she suggested we change our reservation to a Waikiki car rental location who do offer a free shuttle. Dollar was the least expensive so she reserved our car with the Dollar at Waikiki.

We decided that might work out best for us anyway since we planned to end our day at Waikiki & turn in the car there & catch a cab back since the rental places closed earlier than we wanted to return to the ship.

We docked in Honolulu & called Dollar from our cabin & they said to call them when we got off the ship so we did. We were told the shuttle would be about 30 minutes. We waited 30 minutes & called again & we were told the shuttle was running behind & it would be another 30 minutes.

We had 11AM tickets to the Arizona so we took a $20 cab ride to the Dollar Waikiki location. The cab driver told us we were making a big mistake & that we would have over an hour wait.

We got there & there was a craziness long line & we talked to someone in the middle of the line & they said they had already been waiting 45 minutes & did I mention how HOT it was that day?

Here is a pic of part of the line at Dollar. Tempers were flaring!

Also the shuttle was there, parked, and never moved. The four of us are very adaptable & go with the flow but we were ANGRY! :mad:

Arrrggh! We ended up taking a $50 cab to Pearl Harbor from Waikiki & then had no car for the day.

I have to say I am super impressed with Discount Hawaii car Rental though. I called them & they wanted to reimburse us for all transportation costs from that day & they forwarded me an email they sent to Dollar letting them know that was not acceptable.

Dollar responded that "the managers for Waikiki are looking into these concerns and will be coming up with the best game plan so that we do not disappoint our cruise customers" & they sent me a check for $100 to cover our transportation expenses for that day.

We walked across the street to the mall and look what we saw!

We went back across the street & had Mai Tais at Aloha Mixed Plate. Aloha is an open-air patio in a relaxed, beachside setting. OLL owns it too.

The view from Aloha Mixed Plate.

We shopped a little more & the guys were sweet & bought Lynn & I leis. Then we headed back to the car rental to catch the shuttle back to the ship.

The show that night in the Phantom Theatre was the Aloha Polynesia featuring a troupe Carnival brought on in Maui. They were very good so we did not feel AS bad about missing the luau. If we had gone to the luau we would have missed the Polynesian show because it was at 9PM.

After the show we got this yummy Black Forrest Cake from the Fountainhead Cafe & split it. There was not a drop left on the plate!

Coming up next Honolulu! And another day of the 'Best-laid Plans of Mice and Men' (the most carefully prepared plans may go wrong)!

Juli

We drove to Lahaina & went by Old Lahaina Luau & took pics of the luau we 'almost' go to go too! :rolleyes:

And the table we 'almost' got to sit at.

And the leis we 'almost' got to wear!

The grounds at Old Lahaina Luau were beautiful!

I almost forgot there was a wedding taking place at the beach when we were there. Of course we had to take a pic!

I am a 'little' heavier than I was when J.R. carried me over the threshold 30 years ago!

This fish taco stand was parked by the parking lot.

There were also porta-potties & lifeguards at the beach.

We stopped at a beach next that we thought was Big (Makena) Beach but now we are not so sure so if anybody recognizes the beach in these pics & knows for sure where we were please let me know! Anyway it was very pretty & the sun finally came out while we were there.

And then the waves came!

After buying twinsie times two Hawaiian clothes we drove along the coast.

We kept driving until we came to this almost one lane highway. This is what we saw on either side of us.

Time for embarrassment. We thought they had done some major excavating to get miles of that dirt & rock churned up! :o We didn't find out that was from lava flow until we got to Kona & Kyle with Mary Lou's Tours told us!

There was a little flea market across the street from Coconuts so we stopped by there after lunch. We wanted to buy some new Hawaiian dresses & shirts.

I found a blue Hawaiian dress I liked & turned around & saw Mitch holding the shirt he had picked out in the same pattern as my dress! :eek: Then J.R. picked up the same shirt so he could match me. :p Lynn said the three of us couldn't wear matching clothes & leave her out so she bought the same dress I did. :D

At the time we thought it was hilarious! Later Lynn & I were like "what were we thinking?" And we had not had a drop of adult beverages at that point either!

We left IAO Valley & drove south down Highway 30. I had read about Coconuts in Kihei being really good so we 'tried' to find it. It is kind of a hole in the wall in a strip mall so we passed it the 1st time & had to backtrack.

I didn't research it very well because I missed the part about it being Coconuts Fish Cafe & I don't do 'fishies'! :eek: But they had chicken tacos so I survived! :D

Coconuts has custom surfboard tables, exceptional food, healthy food choices, and aloha culture. In 2013, it was featured in Travel + Leisure magazine in its list of "Top 100 Places to Eat Like A Local," and CNN's list of "Top 10 Places to Eat Like a Local" and their "Top 100 Seafood Restaurants in The World."

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCkQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoconutsfishcafe.com%2F&ei=ZNVHVKesLs2XgwTDqILgDA&usg=AFQjCNFhkSfhh7w3cer2gIqScY1LWZrZZQ&sig2=a28IwrP7Nyf1QcdIA-IVmw

The food was good, very fresh & one of Coconuts claims to fame is that it is supposed to be healthy food & the staff is extremely friendly. She gave Mitch a lesson on how to eat their huge tacos when he asked her about it! :D

Oh your pics of Iao Valley are incredible. It's on our list for our trip in 2 weeks. This review is getting me excited for both that trip and our cruise!

Thanks. Sorry it is taking me so long to finish my review. Hope you enjoy your trip.

Thanks for the review and the pictures. It is very interesting to read people adventure especially when they were on the same ship then you. We also made the best of everything no matter what. Looking forward for the rest of the review. Best wished for your father.

It is hard to believe how fast our cruise went by! I thought we would have so much free time with 11 sea days but we were doing something every minute! Thanks for the well wishes for my father.

Great review! Doing Hawaii in 2016 and love reading about your trip.

Hope you have a great trip! Hawaii was beautiful!

Wow, great review and looks like an outstanding cruise!

Thank you. My favorite cruise is always the one I am on at the time! :D

Juli

We were on the same cruise and the announcement shortening Maui by an hour (after losing a day there) was so disappointing. What a let down. Didn't let it spoil the day, but confess made us question Carnival's regard for their customers.

Wasn't it a wonderful cruise?

I have to admit I was pretty ticked when the announcement came that we had to leave Maui an hour early but we did the Behind the Scenes tour later that week & the Captain sounded pretty POd about it too!

He said that the Port Authority informed Carnival that morning that due to port congestion we had to leave early. He said they had a cargo ship coming in with supplies & the Miracle had to MOVE!

Since Hawaii is dependent on supplies from the mainland it made sense.

Still hated to miss the luau but I truly believe it was beyond Carnival's control.

Juli

Thank you for this excellent thread. We look forward to making this cruise next winter.

Thanks. Hope you have an amazing cruise like we did!

Loving the review! I can hardly wait for more! :)

Thanks. It is taking me longer than I had hoped to finish my review with all the things going on with my father but it is also providing me with a good distraction.

Juli

And then we got drenched in a downpour!

We headed to IAO Valley & beat the rain there by a few minutes!

It was just a 'little' overcast there!

We woke up to a very overcast, drizzly day but who cares we were in Maui! :) Everything was wonderful until Troy made an announcement right as we docked that Carnival had just received word from the port authority that due to port congestion we had to leave Maui an hour early at 10PM! We now had to be back on-board at 9:30 instead of 10:30. :(

OMG to say we were disappointed would be a huge understatement! I called Old Lahaina Luau & they said they had about 90 people coming to the luau from the Miracle & over half of them had cancelled already. We only had until 10AM to cancel our reservations for a full refund.

We met a bunch of our friends in the atrium lobby & tried to decide what to do. The lady at OLL said we could leave the luau early but we hated to miss part of the show plus we did not want to spend the whole day worrying about getting back to the ship on time. We wasted an hour or two trying to decide what to do & finally decided not to risk going to the luau so we cancelled.

The people that had booked a different luau through Carnival were able to go but that was not the one we wanted to go to.

So we regrouped & came up with a new plan & decided we would have a wonderful day in Maui anyway!

We got off the ship & got in line for the free shuttle that would take us to Alamo. Chaos reigned & I think the guys directing us were on an ego trip because they would tell us to get in a certain line for a shuttle & then let a different line that just walked up get on the shuttle.

To say tempers were flaring would be an understatement especially after we just had to give up our precious time in Maui. We FINALLY got on the shuttle to Alamo & even the shuttle driver apologized & said he had never seen it like that.

We went to Alamo & upgraded our economy car to an SUV since we had decided to share a car with Lynn & Mitch again. This time J.R. was in the driver’s seat with Mitch navigating & we went off to explore Maui!