Golden Princess Trip Report - Feb. 29-Mar. 14

[canalbound]

Hawaii cruise: Great! Weather: Not so great.

 

My husband and I are in our mid-50s and this was our 6th Princess cruise and our first time to Hawaii -- cruising or otherwise. And, although I have always “intended” to write a review after each cruise, this is my first one (in writing, anyway), so please bear with me.

 

We flew in to L.A. the day prior to sailing and stayed at the Crowne Plaza in San Pedro. We were pleased with the hotel. We chose the San Pedro Brewing Company, which is just a few blocks from the hotel, for our evening meal and really enjoyed the ribs and the beer sampler.

 

The following day we took the hotel shuttle to the pier about 11 a.m. Since we are platinum members we had a short wait in the priority boarding lounge area and embarkation was a breeze. We were one of the first on the ship after the elite group.

 

We had a Lido deck inside cabin towards the bow. We were worried about being so high up and forward but it really wasn’t bad at all (or I should say I didn’t think it was that bad -- my husband might beg to differ, LOL). The first night out from L.A. was a little bumpy, and my husband, as well as many others on the ship, were not feeling too well Thursday morning. Some ginger tablets and a few more motion sickness pills and he was good to go for the rest of the trip.

 

I had planned for the sea days to be relaxing: reading, watching movies, maybe a trivia contest now and then. But let me tell you, it was nothing of the sorts! I had loaded several books onto my eReader but was so busy every day I didn’t even turn it on once the whole trip!

 

Thursday through Sunday (Sea Days): Thursday my Princess Patter looked like a yellow hilighter had exploded on it! We went to morning trivia where we were asked by another couple to join them (we won!), I went to sign up for lei-making, heard part of a presentation from the on-board naturalist, went to ukulele lessons, ate, had lei-making class, went to sign up for the pop choir, and then afternoon trivia! Whew! The remainder of the sea days pretty much followed the same routine, with afternoon dips in the pool or hot tub before we went to afternoon trivia. (I don’t recall how many times we won at trivia, but I came home with 5 prizes, and we lost at least 2 tiebreakers, and one game we won we gave our prizes away to the crowd because we already had that particular prize.) Of course we attended quite a few of the evening entertainment venues, which we also enjoyed. (I don’t understand how some people can think the sea days are “boring!”)

 

The first couple sea days were on the cool side, but the third and fourth day were pleasant and sunny and it was warming up quite nicely.

 

Then came the rain. It rained on the Big Island, it poured on Oahu, it rained in Kauai, it rained on Maui.

 

Monday: We had booked a tour in Hilo with Ricky’s Tours, which was very nice and Ricky is very knowledgeable and informative. We visited, among other things, Rainbow Falls, Akatasuka Orchid Garden, Volcano National Park, the Thurston Lava Tube, Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory, and the Richardson black sand beach. It sprinkled off and on all day, and just enough that you weren’t quite comfortable going without a jacket or some type of rain apparel or umbrella. At Volcano National Park it was quite foggy, drizzling, and a little on the cool side. The clouds did clear for a split second so we were able to see part of the Kilauea caldera and Halema’uma’u Crater from the observation point at the Jaggar Museum.

 

Ricky had picked us up about 8:30 a.m. and we didn’t get back to the ship until 3:30. A nice day, all in all.

 

Tuesday: We were literally the first two people off the ship. Our “ambitious” plans for the day were to take a taxi to Pearl Harbor, take the bus back to the ship for lunch, then hike Diamond Head, go back to the ship to change and then head to the Paradise Cove Luau. (Yes, we were going to chance going to PC on our own.) Well, we got to Pearl Harbor (which was wonderful), and after we got back to the ship the sky opened up and it poured the rest of the day. So much for Diamond Head and the luau! We ended up going to Waikkiki on the shuttle bus and did a little shopping for the grandchildren instead. I also ended up purchasing a ukulele. (Later, we heard that they even shut down Pearl Harbor because of the rain.)

 

Wednesday: It was sprinkling again when we docked at Nawiliwili. We had a ship’s excursion booked for the Wailua River Cruise and Fern Grotto. Again, off and on precipitation during the day. The river cruise was nice and relaxing and the fern grotto was beautiful, but some paths were closed because of all the rain, rushing water and washouts. When we got back to the ship we caught a shuttle to town to pick up some pop and a few souvenirs. Then we walked to Kalapaki Beach and back to the ship.

 

Thursday: This was going to be our “beach day.” We were going to rent snorkel equipment, catch a shuttle to Whaler’s Village and then walk to Black Rock. Well, guess what? Yup, cue the rain. I proceeded to tell my husband that we were going to go there anyway to see where it was we were supposed to be that day. We walked all the way down Ka’anapali Beach and back to Whaler’s Village and we were soaked by the time we got back. (My husband was not a happy camper.) We ended up spending time in the Whaler’s Museum, which we enjoyed and it gave us time to dry out. After that we caught a cab (the bus was CROWDED and the line to get on was LONG), along with 2 other couples, back to Lahaina and did a little bit of souvenir shopping and had an adult beverage. The weather cleared for sailaway, and we were pleased to see several whales not far from the ship while the naturalist was on the bridge calling out their locations and sharing her knowledge of the whales. It was amazing to see! A rainbow over Lahaina bid us farewell as we set sail.

 

Friday through Tuesday: The next four sea days were pretty much duplicates of the first four sea days, with the exception of the weather: cool and mostly cloudy with periodic showers.

 

Sunday evening was our performance of the Pop Choir in the Piazza. It was great fun! We had a huge crowd and even received an ovation (is it technically a “standing” ovation if everyone is standing anyway? LOL)! Definitely one of the highlights for me. The Pop Choir was comprised of fellow passengers and they were such a fun group. We were divided into parts, sang harmonies, and even did a little choreography! John, the deputy cruise director, was our director and he was so entertaining!

 

Wednesday (Ensenada day) was our ukulele performance at the talent show. We had a huge class of about 75-80, and performed “Tiny Bubbles” by ourselves and also “Aloha ‘Oe” along with the hula dancers. Dave of Elua was our instructor and he did a remarkable job turning a bunch of novices into “Ukulele Masters!”

 

Speaking of Elua: Dave and Leialoha are wonderful! Their music is beautiful, and they are very talented musicians who performed throughout the cruise. Leialoha also taught the lei-making and hula classes. Her hula group performed “Hawaiian Lullaby” towards the end of the talent show and I literally had tears in my eyes, it was so beautiful!

 

After the talent show we got off in Ensenada and took the bus to the shopping area of town where we picked up a few souvenirs and had a few cervezas with friends we met on the cruise! The weather actually cooperated and it was quite nice and the sun was out. Yahoo!

 

As far as ship food is concerned, we ate about half the time in the anytime dining room and the other half in the buffet (both for breakfast and dinner). We did one night in the Crown Grill and that was fabulous, but way too much food! We felt so bad having to leave food on our plates because we couldn’t finish it. We ate most of our lunches at either the Trident Grill or the International Cafe. We occasionally would eat lunch at the buffet but found we tended to eat too much, so the controlled portions were more to our liking. We found the food to be good, but not fantastic (although we didn’t expect fantastic anyway). We feel that considering the amount of people the crew has to feed daily that they did an amazing job.

 

The hardest part of the cruise was packing to leave. Since we travel with only carry-ons, it’s always a challenge to pack all the “extras” we pick up along the way (especially my ukulele!). Fortunately we were able to squish all our new treasures into our bags and everything made it home intact. The ukulele rode home in its original box and the airline didn’t seem to have a problem with me carrying it on in addition to my other bags.

 

In summary, we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise, even considering the weather. Whenever we were standing in the rain in we would look at each other, smile and say, “But we’re still in Hawaii!,” and feel extremely grateful for the opportunity to travel!

[Princess Patches]

Thanks for that lovely review. It was really fun to read about your adventure. It sounds like a great trip in spite of the rain.