LACruiser88

I then went to my favorite restaurant in Hilo, "Pineapples." It is right up the street from the Farmers Market. I sat at the bar and had grilled Ono over Jasmine rice and an aioli cream sauce, DELICIOUS!!! And I finished the meal with a local Hisbiscus vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce! Then it was time to walk off the calories while going back to the ship!

Today in Hilo, our group went in three different directions. Our kids hired an Uber and visited the Kuamana Caves and Richardson Black Sand beach. Debbie took the free shuttle to the Walmart shopping center. She was itching to get her shopping fix! At home, she rarely goes 2 or 3 days without a shopping safari. As our granddaughter says, "Nana is the best shopper in the world!" Especially as she is the biggest recipient of the shopping hunts. I did my usual two mile walk to downtown. The day started off cloudy and humid. By the time I walked back to the ship it was really sunny. The Hoppa-on/Hoppa-off terminal is right outside the cruise terminal gates. After resting under a huge banyan tree until I stopped profusely sweating. I walked thru the Farmers Market and all over town. Next...

No, end of 2024. Sorry, I misspoke on my earlier post.

Yesterday, our Future Cruise consultant told us about an upcoming repositioning voyage on the Majestic at the end of this year. LA to Ft Lauderdale via South America, 51 days. We will book it as soon as it is available! The Majestic will be in the Caribbean for a season before moving to Europe.

They now quarantine you in your assigned cabin. The biggest recent threat onboard has been the Noro virus. We are constantly using our hand sanitizer. We use one that has no alcohol, uses organic oils and is very easy on the skin.

Covid or Noro. Either one is no bueno. We have seen this many times since the start-up.

UH OH!!! This is what we have outside our neighbors door this morning! 😬

Good morning Hilo! 🌸

It was great meeting you guys and having you as table mates! 🙂

Lunch was FANTASTIC!!!

On our way to dinner last night...

? I have not heard it mentioned?

For my fellow wine aficionados below are 4 bottles that we brought from home for this voyage. Btw, we have been Carlisle members for many years and Mike is a great guy!

We have a decent size cellar consisting of most varietals, approximately 2,000 750 ml's, 300 1.5 L's. When it comes to Petite Sirah's (P.S.), we are now drinking our 2012 P.S.'s from Carlisle in Sonoma. They are just now coming into their own and will have at least 10 more years before they peak. Not all wines are of the same quality and the Spellbound P.S. is definitely one specific wine that should be consumed when young.

Yes, Vines is the only venue where we have found this to be possible. We always finish the bottle at Vines, I know we are such big wino's! On this voyage we have found the wine selections to be much, much better than what we have recently seen on the ship's. Perhaps they finally paid their suppliers, as there is no shortage of wines on the open market. Tonight we will try something different! 🍷🍷🍷

We have the Princess Plus Package. With wines within the Plus limits you can usually get a full bottle and they will "charge" your Package a total of 5 drinks (split between the 2 of us, 3 towards my limit and 2 towards my DW's). You have to have a good Vines bartender that will do this for you. 🍷

After 4 days of mostly cool and cloudy skies, the sun has arrived! The pool is hopping! We arrive in Hilo on Wednesday.

On the Emerald two days from Hawaii...

@chubbypiggy The sauna/steam (The Enclave) is no longer free. It is $299 pp for the entire voyage.

Morning of day 5. A bit warmer, no breeze, calm seas. There are definitely more folks at the pool at this hour, 8:30 am.

Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your experience! We will be on the Enchanted for our 1st time on the Nov 12th, 26 day Med/TA.

Tonight's quaff, Spellbound Petite Sirah.