Come sail with me on a virtual cruise to Hawaii on Ruby Princess

[ellie1145]

On 10/29/2020 at 9:29 AM, winifred said:

Phew! almost missed this !!!!!but luckily caught a flight! Just freezing in Scotland today so can't wait to join you all.

Loved reading your last trip report and as CV continues to stop us all from getting on our much loved cruises this will be our substitute for now! Thank you for starting this thread. 

Spotted Azamara ships all docked at a port near my home, so sad to see. I  was wondering if I could  shout up to the captain on deck  and  ask very  nicely they might allow me on ? Just to test them out??😉 

Hi Winifred. Just wondered how things are up in bonnie Scotland?

 

 

[AF-1]

Ellie1145;  I have less than a month till I leave for Honolulu and Waikiki.  Taking the family of ten on vacation.  

[margord]

2 hours ago, AF-1 said:

Ellie1145;  I have less than a month till I leave for Honolulu and Waikiki.  Taking the family of ten on vacation.  

Now that is exciting.  Our next trip (hopefully) is October.

 

Marilee

 

[Reader0108598]

3 hours ago, ellie1145 said:

Hi Winifred. Just wondered how things are up in bonnie Scotland?

 

 

Just so nice to hear from other countries we are more alike than different . Happy travels to all when we can love meeting you all on cruises! You know what is funny to me they tell me I have an accent I think it is you and I love it! I am from New England  I am Irish Scottish and English 🙂

 

 

Edited May 5, 2021 by Reader0108598

[TeaBag]

loved your pictures of the carpet of Bluebells, Ellie.  it reminded me of the picture we have of the carpet of Grape Hyacinths at Keukenhof.  We have bluebells here too but not plentiful like you have.  We have had an unusually warm and dry April so the daffs said goodbye mid April.  I still have a few tulips but they won't last long in the warm weather.  I love the Spring flowers. 

I think we will most likely cancel our Sept 4 cruise out of Southampton and that will be both of them gone.  They are using the ship (Silhouette) to do 7 day cruises around the UK for Brits only.  Why not jump on it?

[PurpleTraveller]

Thank you for all the lovely photos of the bluebells. I love the UK in spring (actually, I love the UK in summer, autumn and winter too 😀). My late mother-in-law adored bluebells and I have very fond memories of being in Dorset with her one spring and having to stop numerous times along country lanes to walk through woods to see bluebells.

 

[cr8tiv1]

7 hours ago, margord said:

10 hours ago, AF-1 said:

Ellie1145;  I have less than a month till I leave for Honolulu and Waikiki.  Taking the family of ten on vacation.  

Now that is exciting.  Our next trip (hopefully) is October.

 

Marilee

 

Good luck on clearing Hawaii's pre-covid travel test.  I do it often without any glitches.  I just processed my brother and ran into a myriad of problems starting with trying to find a one hour rapid test.  Problems never ended.  Including flight delay, missed connection.

 

Go to Safe-travels Hawaii and follow the directions.  Let me know if you need any guidance.  It is a miserable way to start your vacation. 

[AF-1]

13 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Good luck on clearing Hawaii's pre-covid travel test.  I do it often without any glitches.  I just processed my brother and ran into a myriad of problems starting with trying to find a one hour rapid test.  Problems never ended.  Including flight delay, missed connection.

 

Go to Safe-travels Hawaii and follow the directions.  Let me know if you need any guidance.  It is a miserable way to start your vacation. 

Hi thanks for the tips.  My travel agent is in Hawaii right now.  He had no problems.  I have a Walgreens a mile from my house.  I spoke with them and they do drive up testing and give results in 45 min.  My travel agent used them and he said he got his results in 40 min.  I have created my account with safe travels and have accounts for all my kids and grandkids.  Cross our fingers all goes well.  Thanks

[ellie1145]

On 5/4/2021 at 11:06 PM, Reader0108598 said:

Ellie your wonderful! So happy to read your posts! Hope u r well!

 

Thank you, Reader0108598. 

 

Yes, we are well, though surprisingly it was me who had a bit of a reaction (mild and short lived) to my second vaccination. DH was, thankfully, perfectly ok. 

 

We are hoping that our adult children will soon be offered the vaccine. That will be a great relief. But we will continue to remain cautious, and I cannot envisage wanting to be in a public place without a mask, and social distancing. It’s not over yet, and the vaccine, though wonderful, is only part of the story.

 

Hope you are keeping well and remaining safe. 

[ellie1145]

On 5/5/2021 at 4:18 AM, DUCHESSRN said:

Ellie      Thank you for the lovely pictures of the Spring flowers , I have been to those woods probably about 5 years ago when I visited my brother in Winchester .

Wonderful memories .

 

So glad you enjoyed the bluebells. How amazing that you have visited this area. Although we live quite close by, it’s the first time we have managed to see the bluebells in full bloom. We are so glad we did, they were an absolutely magical sight. 

[ellie1145]

On 5/5/2021 at 12:24 AM, cr8tiv1 said:

Thank you for the Springtime photos.  Love the bluebells (although they look purple) that cover the floor of the "forest".  Hawaii has no weather/seasons.  I really do miss springtime.

 

So pleased that you enjoyed the bluebells, cr8tiv1. You are so right, they are actually quite purple, as it is the Spanish bluebell, not our own variety, which is bluer. Unfortunately, the Spanish variety has overwhelmed our British variety in many areas, so it is good to see our natural bluebells surviving and thriving. 

[ellie1145]

On 5/5/2021 at 12:45 PM, AF-1 said:

Ellie1145;  I have less than a month till I leave for Honolulu and Waikiki.  Taking the family of ten on vacation.  

 

How lovely to be returning to Honolulu, AF-1. Hope you have a wonderful family vacation. 🌴🏄‍♀️🏖️

[ellie1145]

On 5/5/2021 at 3:40 PM, margord said:

Now that is exciting.  Our next trip (hopefully) is October.

 

Marilee

 

 

Hope all goes well for your October trip, Marilee, Fingers crossed! 🤞

[ellie1145]

On 5/5/2021 at 3:45 PM, Reader0108598 said:

Just so nice to hear from other countries we are more alike than different . Happy travels to all when we can love meeting you all on cruises! You know what is funny to me they tell me I have an accent I think it is you and I love it! I am from New England  I am Irish Scottish and English 🙂

 

 

 

I think the world could do with focusing on our similarities rather than our differences. When it come to a pandemic, no-one is safe, and it would be good if we all built on the positives rather than the negatives. 

 

Ha, ha! We love your accent, and I know that people always comment on our British accent. Funny how we don’t actually notice it ourselves! 😄

Edited May 7, 2021 by ellie1145

[ellie1145]

On 5/5/2021 at 7:58 PM, TeaBag said:

loved your pictures of the carpet of Bluebells, Ellie.  it reminded me of the picture we have of the carpet of Grape Hyacinths at Keukenhof.  We have bluebells here too but not plentiful like you have.  We have had an unusually warm and dry April so the daffs said goodbye mid April.  I still have a few tulips but they won't last long in the warm weather.  I love the Spring flowers. 

I think we will most likely cancel our Sept 4 cruise out of Southampton and that will be both of them gone.  They are using the ship (Silhouette) to do 7 day cruises around the UK for Brits only.  Why not jump on it?

 

I love grape hyacinths, my father used to grow them in our garden. They are so delicate.

 

Spring flowers are so beautiful aren’t they? They just seem to arrive when we are feeling at our lowest from the cold winter, and they bring a feeling of joy as we watch new life emerging. The trees are very late this year. It’s already May and some trees are only just in bud. 

 

Sorry to hear that you will have to cancel your UK cruise. I think it will be a very cautious return to cruising here in the UK. I read today that Saga is cancelling it’s July cruise as Scotland will not yet commit to a date for cruises to restart. It is disappointing for so many, but it just shows that we cannot rush it. The last thing we want is an outbreak of Covid onboard a ship as it would have disastrous repercussions. So I guess we must all be patient (and that is SOO hard!).

 

As for British cruising, I think we are waiting to see what happens. For us, one of the joys of cruising is sailing into the sunshine, and unfortunately our British weather is highly unpredictable. So we will be saving our pennies for a future cruise across the pond, or hopefully out of Australia. 

[ellie1145]

On 5/5/2021 at 10:35 PM, PurpleTraveller said:

Thank you for all the lovely photos of the bluebells. I love the UK in spring (actually, I love the UK in summer, autumn and winter too 😀). My late mother-in-law adored bluebells and I have very fond memories of being in Dorset with her one spring and having to stop numerous times along country lanes to walk through woods to see bluebells.

 

 

Thank you, Purple Traveller. I hope it gave all you lovely Cruising Adventurers a boost. We certainly need it after the miserable weather we’ve been having recently. 

 

Hope it brought back some lovely memories for you. 

[ellie1145]

So what did everyone else do while we were exploring Kauai?

 

While we have been enjoying ourselves on the island there have been lots to keep everyone occupied onboard ship, so I will give you all a brief run-down.

 

As you know from my virtual cruise to Fiji I am a great fan of all those amazing free seminars and treatments. I would never miss one unless I was busy doing something else, and as you are already aware, the results are absolutely incredible, as you can see from my ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos.

 

 

 

 

 

Today is no exception, as there is a free Hair Consultation at 10.00 am in the Lotus Spa (darn it, I’m on our tour! Now my golden locks will have to remain untamed), Eyes Like Diamonds at 2.00 pm (sorry, Walmart called and I just had to go), Walk in Acupuncture Consultations at 4.00 pm (oops, afternoon tea, can’t miss that!), Free Foot Print Analysis in the Aerobics Studio at 5.00 pm (how could I miss the sailaway??),  Complimentary Facial Rejuvenation Consultations at 6.00 pm in the Lotus Spa - now I really DID try to get to this but we had to make sure we got good seats in the theatre for the ventriloquist. Still, maybe next time...

 

And finally, Free Massage Tasters at 7.00 pm in the Lotus Spa, but unfortunately we had to get ready for dinner......

 

Ah well, there is always tomorrow!

 

[cr8tiv1]

I had a wonderful time in Kauai.  A cruiser friend picked me up and showed us around the "local" area.  Didn't go to the north end of the island due to short port stay.  Missed Hanalei, Princeville, and Kilauea Lighthouse.  But did get my Hamura Saimin and lilikoi chiffon pie slice.  Should have bought the whole pie.  We did get to see a few waterfalls, Poipu, the coffee farm. and a stop at one of the few Hilo Hatties left in the state.  Missed going to Walmart.  

 

Took it to the show before dinner.  Met a fun person and shared a bite with her using drink picks as chopsticks.  Shared the rest with table mates and wait staff.  That one little piece sure made a bunch of people happy.  

[JF - retired RRT]

11 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I had a wonderful time in Kauai.  A cruiser friend picked me up and showed us around the "local" area.  Didn't go to the north end of the island due to short port stay.  Missed Hanalei, Princeville, and Kilauea Lighthouse.  But did get my Hamura Saimin and lilikoi chiffon pie slice.  Should have bought the whole pie.  We did get to see a few waterfalls, Poipu, the coffee farm. and a stop at one of the few Hilo Hatties left in the state.  Missed going to Walmart.  

 

Took it to the show before dinner.  Met a fun person and shared a bite with her using drink picks as chopsticks.  Shared the rest with table mates and wait staff.  That one little piece sure made a bunch of people happy.  

And you thought you wouldn't need a whole pie. 😏

[ROWSE]

12 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I had a wonderful time in Kauai.  A cruiser friend picked me up and showed us around the "local" area.  Didn't go to the north end of the island due to short port stay.  Missed Hanalei, Princeville, and Kilauea Lighthouse.  But did get my Hamura Saimin and lilikoi chiffon pie slice.  Should have bought the whole pie.  We did get to see a few waterfalls, Poipu, the coffee farm. and a stop at one of the few Hilo Hatties left in the state.  Missed going to Walmart.  

 

Took it to the show before dinner.  Met a fun person and shared a bite with her using drink picks as chopsticks.  Shared the rest with table mates and wait staff.  That one little piece sure made a bunch of people happy.  

Wow that must have been an amazing pie!

Note:  I e-mailed you at suggested address, I wonder if it went to spam?

[cr8tiv1]

4 hours ago, ROWSE said:

Wow that must have been an amazing pie!

Note:  I e-mailed you at suggested address, I wonder if it went to spam?

 

Yes, it was an amazing pie!  By the way, each island has their own foodie specialties.  It's amazing how each island is so very different.

 

[ellie1145]

20 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I had a wonderful time in Kauai.  A cruiser friend picked me up and showed us around the "local" area.  Didn't go to the north end of the island due to short port stay.  Missed Hanalei, Princeville, and Kilauea Lighthouse.  But did get my Hamura Saimin and lilikoi chiffon pie slice.  Should have bought the whole pie.  We did get to see a few waterfalls, Poipu, the coffee farm. and a stop at one of the few Hilo Hatties left in the state.  Missed going to Walmart.  

 

Took it to the show before dinner.  Met a fun person and shared a bite with her using drink picks as chopsticks.  Shared the rest with table mates and wait staff.  That one little piece sure made a bunch of people happy.  

 

I’m learning so much, cr8tiv1. I had to look up the chiffon pie and it certainly looks delicious. I can understand why you brought one back with you and shared it around. 

 

Something else to add to my bucket list I think! 😒

 

I think this is a picture of a chiffon pie?

 

 

 

[ellie1145]

You won’t believe your eyes and ears.....

 

 

Today there were only two Trivia, and of course we missed the first one at 10.30 am, but managed the Afternoon Trivia Challenge at 4.15 pm. To make up for the dearth of Trivia there was the Celebrity Heads Game Show at 12.30 pm, Part 2 of the Scavenger Hunt at 5.00 - 9.00 pm, and the Gift of the Gab Gameshow at 6.45 pm.

 

There were several activities today, including:

 

Pickle ball Open Play at 9.00 am - 12.00 pm

Speedy Suduku Challenge at 9.15 am

Lawn Bowling Tournament at 9.45 am

Giant Jenga Challenge in the Piazza at 11.45 am

Goofy Golf Putting Challenge at 1.30 pm

Darts Challenge in the Wheelhouse Bar at 2.15 pm

Ring Toss in the Piazza at 3.30 pm

 

MUTS included:

Cirque du Soleil: Delirium at 10.00 am

Classical Concerts@Sea: Yo Yo Ma and Manfred Honeck in Baden at 12.15pm

Concerts@Sea: Michael Buble Live at the BBC at 4.00 pm.

Evening Movie: ‘First Man’ at 7.00 pm and 10.00 pm

 

There is, of course, plenty of live music around the ship starting with:

 

Evening Melodies with Souvenir Duo in the Piazza at 5.00 pm

Music and Dancing with the Walker Black Duo in the Wheelhouse Bar at 5.45 pm

Pre-Recorded Ballroom Music in Club Fusion at 5.45 pm

Evening Melodies with Souvenir Duo at 6.00 pm in the Piazza

Piano Melodies with Richard Sulek at 6.45 pm in Crooners and 8.00 pm in the Wheelhouse Bar.

Evening Melodies with Souvenir Duo in the Wheelhouse Bar at 7.00 pm

 

There is a Country and Western Jamboree at 7.30 pm in the Piazza

 

Guitar and Vocal Entertainer, Mary Simon in Crooners Bar at 8.30 pm and 10.00 pm until late.

Music and Dancing with the Walker Black Duo in the Wheelhouse Bar at 9.00 pm until late.

More Music and Dancing with the Main Offenders in the Piazza at 9.15 pm

Piano and Cocktails with Richard Sulek in the Adagio Bar at 9.15 pm

Tommy McPhee Tribute to the Piano Greats Sedaka, Manilow and Elton John in Explorers at 9.30 pm

 

There is music from DJ 11 who plays your favourite dance music at 10.00 - 11.00 pm in Skywalkers, and finally Music and Dancing from 11.00 - late.

 

But if you think you can do better, there is the Karaoke Power Hour  at 8.30 pm in Club Fusion

 

Tonight’s Spotlight Showtime is the Ventriloquist, Dan Horn, who is performing at 6.30 pm and 8.30 pm in the Princess Theatre.

Edited May 8, 2021 by ellie1145

[cr8tiv1]

Yes, Ellie, THAT'S the pie.  Light, great flavor.  I love any thing lilikoi.  Much better than anything lemon.

 

There's a history behind saimin.  A Hawaii creation.  Very different than the ramen you see all over the place now.  Simple ingredients and warms the heart.

 

https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/how-hawaii-style-saimin-is-making-a-comeback/

 

Edited May 8, 2021 by cr8tiv1

[JF - retired RRT]

3 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Yes, Ellie, THAT'S the pie.  Light, great flavor.  I love any thing lilikoi.  Much better than anything lemon.

 

There's a history behind simian.  A Hawaii creation.  Very different than the ramen you see all over the place now.  Simple ingredients and warms the heart.

 

Spell check?? Saimin?

😇