LIVE from the EURODAM - CIRCLE HAWAII

[CalendarWatcher]

@zelker mike and I must cancel our plan to attend the group lunch at pinnacle. I hope another couple will join you all. 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Just got caught up with your recent reports.

 

Those leis look beautiful.

[cat shepard]

Sorry to learn Lahaina is cancelled. But I suspect most places in the Islands are beautiful. 

[zelker]

8 hours ago, CalendarWatcher said:

@zelker mike and I must cancel our plan to attend the group lunch at pinnacle. I hope another couple will join you all. 

@CalendarWatcherAre you Michael and Laureen?  If not, call me at 07052 so I have the correct stateroom to cancel the lunch.

[sansterre]

On 3/8/2020 at 11:40 AM, awhcruiser said:

 

 

The Lt. Governor of Hawaii(Josh Green) has sent a formal request to the White House
asking that cruise ships be immediately disallowed from docking at Hawaiian ports.

This would be a temporary resolve to the Covid 19 situation. 

A decision is expected by Wednesday.

If this comes to pass, I doubt that HAL would initiate the cruise

Wow, IF approved, that will certainly affect their tourism.  

Our last stop in Hawaii is Wednesday in Hilo.  I enjoy Hilo and hope we can dock there.  

[sansterre]

19 hours ago, PamKB said:

Today upon our return from the beach in Honolulu we received noticed that our itinerary has been changed due to forecasted weather conditions in Lahaina.  We'll be calling at Kahului instead.  I'm disappointed to miss the whale watching excursion with the Pacific Whale Foundation that we'd booked, but the seas might be too rough for that as well.  We DID spot a whale spouting and slapping its tail from our veranda in Kona yesterday - that was a thrill!

Pam from Sunnyvale

We also were going to do a whale watch excursion out of Lahaina.  When I called to cancel it was after their 48 hour cancellation policy.  But she suggested leaving from another town near Kahului.  We will need to take a cab or uber there.  Hopefully the seas are calmer and the whales will be on that side of the island too!

[cat shepard]

53 minutes ago, sansterre said:

We also were going to do a whale watch excursion out of Lahaina.  When I called to cancel it was after their 48 hour cancellation policy.  But she suggested leaving from another town near Kahului.  We will need to take a cab or uber there.  Hopefully the seas are calmer and the whales will be on that side of the island too!

Hope you get to see the whales!

[CalendarWatcher]

5 hours ago, zelker said:

@CalendarWatcherAre you Michael and Laureen?  If not, call me at 07052 so I have the correct stateroom to cancel the lunch.

Yes. That’s us. 

[PamKB]

A few photos from the Fort DeRussy Beach Park next to Waikiki Beach yesterday -

[PamKB]

Here’s a copy of tonight’s MDR menu -

 

menu-dinner (2).pdf

Edited March 10, 2020 by PamKB

[sansterre]

Day 8, continued

At Pearl Harbor we were a bit early and were able to switch our 2:30 tickets to 2:15.  That still gave us 90 minutes to look around at the informative exhibits both outside  

.........and more movies and exhibits inside two main buildings.  Some will recognize the origami cranes which are very much displayed in the WWII memorials in Japan.

At 2:15 we went into the theatre for a longer movie, then out into a boat which took us to the Arizona memorial.  Below the inspired wall of those entombed are also listed those who survived the Pearl Harbor bombing but wished to be buried here, at the memorial with their fellow crewmen.  On each side of the inscribed wall are the "tree of life windows".

[Jomurbie]

This is what I want to see-the whole point of the cruise for the 18th! I am afraid it will be shut down even if we are allowed to go into port. A friend who lives in Honolulu says they have been asked to self-quarantine.

[sansterre]

more photos of Day 8 - Pearl Harbor

.........and exhibits inside two main buildings.  Some will recognize the origami cranes representing peace and which are very much displayed in the WWII memorials in Japan.  The young girl to the left made over a thousand of them before she died.

 

At 2:15 we went into the theatre for a longer movie, then into a boat which took us to the Arizona Memorial.  The next photo is the inscribed wall of those entombed.  On the steps (to both sides) are listed those who survived the Pearl Harbor bombing but wished to be buried here, at the memorial with their fellow crewmen. 

On each side of the inscribed wall are the "tree of life windows".

View of the Missouri, from the Arizona Memorial

Every American should visit this WWII memorial 

the smoke stack of the Arizona, just above the water (right)

Edited March 10, 2020 by sansterre

[Jomurbie]

Wow! Thank you for the pictures!

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for the pictures.

[Himself]

12 hours ago, sansterre said:

Day 8, continued

At Pearl Harbor we were a bit early and were able to switch our 2:30 tickets to 2:15.  That still gave us 90 minutes to look around at the informative exhibits both outside  

.........and more movies and exhibits inside two main buildings.  Some will recognize the origami cranes which are very much displayed in the WWII memorials in Japan.

At 2:15 we went into the theatre for a longer movie, then out into a boat which took us to the Arizona memorial.  Below the inspired wall of those entombed are also listed those who survived the Pearl Harbor bombing but wished to be buried here, at the memorial with their fellow crewmen.  On each side of the inscribed wall are the "tree of life windows".

I have been out to the Memorial several times but not in a long time.  It was always a memorable experience.  The last time I was there in 2005, I also went to the Arizona and stood on the "surrender deck."  Being a  "History Buff" I found it to be memorable and perhaps awesome.  

Edited March 10, 2020 by Himself

[sansterre]

Day 9 - second day in Honolulu 

We slept in today and decided it was a good day to enjoy a quiet ship. 

At 9:30 we got a small breakfast in the Lido.  It was our first time eating there!

I had cereal with a banana I sliced on it and guava juice...a favorite of mine.  The Lido is the only place that serves guava juice on the ship, but this one was watered down.  DH had a bagel with cream cheese and coffee.

At 1:00 we had pizza on the aft deck behind the Lido.  Our sausage, kalamata olives, and extra cheese pizza was made to order and quite good.  The Pizza Bar also has salads to munch on while waiting the 15 minutes for the pizza.

On TV, we watched the Grand Princess arrive in Oakland.  And we wondered if that could be us in another week or so - hopefully not! 

After dinner in the MDR, the Captain made some important announcements.  Beginning immediately there will be new policies instituted to prevent the spreading of Coronovirus.  The new policies include:

* closing the serve-yourself sections in the Lido

* extra cleaning by staff in all areas of the ship using special cleaner for Coronavirus 

* doors will be left open in public restrooms to reduce human contact 

* and several more 

These came as no surprise to us.  In fact, we wondered why they weren't in place from the beginning of the cruise.  We can only hope that everyone is still healthy!

I was happy to learn that there are only two cases of Coronavirus in all of Hawaii.  Both are in Honolulu but contracted in Washington State and Mexico (3 weeks ago on the Grand Princess) and they are confined. So we hope that we are still a healthy ship and will be able to dock and return home as planned.

Entertainment tonight was a local show, singer Noelani and some wonderful dancers.  They had two performances:  7:30 and 9:30.  The Eurodam sailed for Maui at 11:00 p.m.

Edited March 10, 2020 by sansterre

[puppycanducruise]

Stay healthy!

[sansterre]

BTW, There are three good news channels:  MSNBC, FOX, and BBC

So there are always some Coronavirus Updates.......IF you want one.

 

[sansterre]

Our extraordinary trivia team!

left to right (Brian, Kevin, John, me, DH Ralph, and Rosemary)

[Tuckers_Mom]

19 hours ago, sansterre said:

We also were going to do a whale watch excursion out of Lahaina.  When I called to cancel it was after their 48 hour cancellation policy.  But she suggested leaving from another town near Kahului.  We will need to take a cab or uber there.  Hopefully the seas are calmer and the whales will be on that side of the island too!

We are also on the Eurodam. If anybody finds anything fun to do, please let me know. The whale watch was on my to do list, and I am disappointed on no info on this stop. I’m the lady in the zippy yellow chair in 7057. I’m hoping to at least go shopping, but where and how?

 

Thanks for any help.

[sansterre]

Day 10 - Kahului, Maui

Kahului is on the North shore of Maui.  It is the main commercial port of the island, but quite beautiful with steep green mountains.  

Today, the six of us who were on a Pacwhale eco-tour out of Lahaina met each other in Guest Services to share a taxi or uber twenty miles to the next port where Pacwhale also had whale watching.  Taxi was about $34 each way, actually cheaper than Uber for six people.  Our driver Joseph and the 4 lane, divided highway took us quickly to our destination.  And we called him to return us back to the ship as well.

We thought it might be windy but it turned out to be a beautiful day with temperatures in the 70's.  The humpback whales did not disappoint.  Yearly they migrate here, usually from Alaska, to have babies in January.  We saw many groups, usually groups of 3 or 4, or a mother with a calf. My photos were not good, but DH has some he is proud of so I will post them on here ASAP.

We received a letter from the Captain reviewing all the policies (I listed them in my post yesterday) now in place fleet-wide to guard against all viruses including Covid-19.  He said there was no reason for concern which we hope means we are still a "healthy ship".

We are now more than encouraged to use the hand sanitizers as we enter the MDR or Lido or when boarding the ship.  

During dinner in the MDR and after dinner on our veranda, we watched all sizes of canoes in the harbor.  They all paddled fast, as if they were racing.  Some boats were single and others as large as 6-persons. 

At 10:30 tonight the Eurodam set sail for Hilo, Hawaii.

Edited March 11, 2020 by sansterre

[puppycanducruise]

Glad you enjoyed your whale watching.  Love to see some pictures.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We love Maui.

 

We have found that many of the juices have been watered down over the years.

 

Glad you are having a wonderful time.

[tommui987]

SANTERRE:

 

Missed a week or so looking at CruisedCriticf and your posts.

 

Would have enjoyed getting together with you and your DH.

Of course there would not be an opportunity to do trivia!

 

Next time?

Tom