Crown Princess Hawaii - 15 Feb to 2 Mar - Trip Prep & Live

[memoak]

1 hour ago, arctickitty said:

I think Special Someone is a little bummed the smoker wearing a cancer charity T-shirt story hasn’t gotten any direct comments (hint hint).  

 

In the meantime, this was my favorite food find from Saturday:

 

 

I ordered a second one for dessert.

 

When we used to smoke we still often did the walk for the cure there are many types of cancer besides lung 

[arctickitty]

3 hours ago, Bettyboop66 said:

Thanks again for taking us along on your cruise. And the “food porn” pictures are great😜

 

@Bettyboop66

There will be soooooo many more when I do the full write up later….

[Bettyboop66]

3 hours ago, arctickitty said:

 

@Bettyboop66

There will be soooooo many more when I do the full write up later….

I can’t wait! I’ll be boarding her in March, so keep her in good shape🤭

[santi1015]

3 hours ago, arctickitty said:

 

@Bettyboop66

There will be soooooo many more when I do the full write up later….

Hi ArcticKitty--

 

I am thinking about booking the same cruise this upcoming year. Would you say the cruise was pretty rough from a motion sickness perspective? Or was it smooth sailing? I've heard the waters can get a bit choppy in December in Hawaii

[cr8tiv1]

13 minutes ago, santi1015 said:

Hi ArcticKitty--

 

I am thinking about booking the same cruise this upcoming year. Would you say the cruise was pretty rough from a motion sickness perspective? Or was it smooth sailing? I've heard the waters can get a bit choppy in December in Hawaii

 

There is absolutely no way to determine how rough/calm a cruise to Hawaii will be.  It is the Pacific (Peaceful) Ocean.  I have seen her rath with Beaufort Scale readings of 10 (out of 12) winds and swells that rocked the boat.  Then there were days it was so peaceful and calm with not even white caps.

 

They don't hold big wave surf events in the islands for nothing.  Some of the events wait for 40 foot waves.

[cr8tiv1]

@arctickittyI hope you brought your galoshes and foul weather gear, you are going to have a lot of rain in Hilo.  Makes for beautiful waterfalls.  Chance of thunderstorms on Oahu.  At least it is warm rain with a chance of rainbows.  

[LouChamp]

Aloha.  Love your review, thoughts and of course the food pictures. Thank you!

[mitzieleanor]

My mom and her sister are on this cruise.  If you see them, tell them WE ARE STILL VERY SORE AT THEM FOR LEAVING US BEHIND!

[arctickitty]

12 hours ago, santi1015 said:

Hi ArcticKitty--

 

I am thinking about booking the same cruise this upcoming year. Would you say the cruise was pretty rough from a motion sickness perspective? Or was it smooth sailing? I've heard the waters can get a bit choppy in December in Hawaii

@santi1015 

 

I think how one feels on the seas is very subjective.  I’ve not ever gotten motion sick on a cruise ship but I got motion sick on an overnight train in Morocco once!  
 

The beginning days of this cruise  were described by others as rough but it was not a big of movements as the transatlantic that I did before.  
 

What I do always do, and we did at the beginning of this sailing, is fetch a few green apples and a modest supply of crackers to have in the cabin in case someone does begin to feel unwell.  I also travel with Fisherman’s Friend cough drops which have some herbs that I find effective if I do feel motion sick (they worked on that train in Morocco and they’ve also work on bush planes in Alaska).  

 

For those wondering about crackers, on our embarkation day scavenger hunt we found them at Vines, not the International Cafe.  We later found some on the buffet, with the salad, not the soup.  Buffet had Saltines and Vines had Club.

 

My brain is always full of useful tangents so while we are talking about crackers, they are also a useful rehydration therapy for dehydration.  We both just took Wilderness First Aid and the instructor said over and over that if you or your patient can keep it down the best treatment is a ton of water and a saltine cracker.  The crackers have the electrolytes you need to get balanced back out.
 

 

[arctickitty]

11 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

@arctickittyI hope you brought your galoshes and foul weather gear, you are going to have a lot of rain in Hilo.  Makes for beautiful waterfalls.  Chance of thunderstorms on Oahu.  At least it is warm rain with a chance of rainbows.  

We brought our lighter rain/wind jackets but not our full rain suits as I’d die of the heat inside my rain pants and actual rain jacket so we will take the weather as it comes.  Thank you!

[arctickitty]

5 hours ago, LouChamp said:

Aloha.  Love your review, thoughts and of course the food pictures. Thank you!

@LouChamp welcome aboard!

[arctickitty]

2 hours ago, mitzieleanor said:

My mom and her sister are on this cruise.  If you see them, tell them WE ARE STILL VERY SORE AT THEM FOR LEAVING US BEHIND!

@mitzieleanor hope you don’t get a sore throat from it 😉 

[Hogladyrider]

@arctickitty....saltine crackers were my BEST friend when I was recovering from TKR surgery last November!

[EllieinNJ]

Enjoying your report.

[arctickitty]

1 hour ago, EllieinNJ said:

Enjoying your report.

@EllieinNJ welcome ashore!

[arctickitty]

Good Morning.  Today I want to talk about the ukelele and hula classes a bit.  

 

We are four sessions into both classes and  yesterday both Tiki Dave and Leialoha spent some class time discussing the logistics of the shows.  I knew I couldn’t be in both but it’s nice to know I don’t have to decide in advance, you just show up and do one or the other.  

 

I had gone into this cruise with the assumption that I’d play ukelele but not dance, but I’m now thinking the reverse is going to be likely.  I tease myself about being the worst student in uke because I’m “too busy” to practice, (although many of the other passengers may be bluffing about how much they practice) but I’ve found the dancing sticking in my brain better.  I haven’t tried to learn a new instrument as an adult before and I’m mostly doing it because I’m an opportunist and here is a low-barrier chance to do something new.  A lot of it doesn’t make sense to me because the uke music is not the melody of the songs but more like a backing track.  I also am not familiar with the songs we are playing so I’m quite lost if Tiki Dave is not calling out the chords to us and I’ve never been very good at counting out the measures.  I can hear the difference in the chords to know if I’m playing the wrong one and can wait till I find a spot I know what to play and if we play a song over and over enough I can start to remember where to change them.  

 

Yesterday we started on a new skill, which is strumming patterns and that was really cool to learn about.  But then putting strumming patterns back into a song was a big mess for me.

 

As others have said, Tiki Dave is a wonderful teacher.  He is very intentional about how, why, and when he teaches things and he has a very warm and welcoming approach to playing.  Beyond the cruise I don’t see myself continue to learn to play ukelele the proper way but what I do see myself doing is buying a pick and looking up sheet music and playing it one string/note at a time as a melody instrument.

 

Well, I’m out of time for now as Hilo is calling, but I’ll tell you more about hula classes another time.
 

 

[travelin.sisters]

44 minutes ago, arctickitty said:

Good Morning.  Today I want to talk about the ukelele and hula classes a bit.  

 

We are four sessions into both classes and  yesterday both Tiki Dave and Leialoha spent some class time discussing the logistics of the shows.  I knew I couldn’t be in both but it’s nice to know I don’t have to decide in advance, you just show up and do one or the other.  

 

I had gone into this cruise with the assumption that I’d play ukelele but not dance, but I’m now thinking the reverse is going to be likely.  I tease myself about being the worst student in uke because I’m “too busy” to practice, (although many of the other passengers may be bluffing about how much they practice) but I’ve found the dancing sticking in my brain better.  I haven’t tried to learn a new instrument as an adult before and I’m mostly doing it because I’m an opportunist and here is a low-barrier chance to do something new.  A lot of it doesn’t make sense to me because the uke music is not the melody of the songs but more like a backing track.  I also am not familiar with the songs we are playing so I’m quite lost if Tiki Dave is not calling out the chords to us and I’ve never been very good at counting out the measures.  I can hear the difference in the chords to know if I’m playing the wrong one and can wait till I find a spot I know what to play and if we play a song over and over enough I can start to remember where to change them.  

 

Yesterday we started on a new skill, which is strumming patterns and that was really cool to learn about.  But then putting strumming patterns back into a song was a big mess for me.

 

As others have said, Tiki Dave is a wonderful teacher.  He is very intentional about how, why, and when he teaches things and he has a very warm and welcoming approach to playing.  Beyond the cruise I don’t see myself continue to learn to play ukelele the proper way but what I do see myself doing is buying a pick and looking up sheet music and playing it one string/note at a time as a melody instrument.

 

Well, I’m out of time for now as Hilo is calling, but I’ll tell you more about hula classes another time.
 

 

Tiki Dave does do free (tips accepted) online play alongs & does a wide variety of music with those...it is a nice way to continue & expand on what you started...that said I have to pretty much start over each cruise because there are so many things at home I would rather do...have either Dave or Leialoha mentioned if they are on for the next cruise or getting off at the end of this one (I have heard both)? 

 

Have fun in Hilo...even in the rain it is lovely.

[arctickitty]

Hilo Avis car rental was easy and seamless.  
 

Special Someone got a nice taste of Hawaii Volcano National Park and some peeks at local Hawaiian life.

 

 

Your snippet for today is the Mermicorn drink special at Sippin’ Siren in Hilo.

 

[Happiest when cruising]

On 2/16/2023 at 11:37 AM, arctickitty said:

We used points for the room so the room was free, the shuttle was free…free 99 works for me.  
 

Have fun on HAL!  

They are charging about 700  CAD for that hotel for the night we need it. I’ll just pass on that… 

[Yehootu]

21 hours ago, arctickitty said:

We both just took Wilderness First Aid and the instructor said over and over that if you or your patient can keep it down the best treatment is a ton of water and a saltine cracker.  The crackers have the electrolytes you need to get balanced back out.

PB&J sandwiches are also good to eat for seasickness. Tastes the same coming up as it did going down. Doesn't produce much stomach acid.😀. Learned the hard way fishing the Hawaiian Islands on a 35' Boat that wasn't made for the local waters.

[arctickitty]

12 hours ago, Happiest when cruising said:

They are charging about 700  CAD for that hotel for the night we need it. I’ll just pass on that… 

That’s crazy.  

[arctickitty]

Now I have a few minutes to tell you more about hula classes with Leialoha.

 

 

They have been held in Club Fusion just like Zumba and you have the benefits of the nice sound system and the auxiliary screens if you can’t directly see her.  Fellow passengers who post things online do a good job but Princess does not explain in the patter that the classes are meant to be sequential and build upon each other.  The dance floor was full the first day and packed the second.  I have been wearing my grippy trail running shoes to help with balance on the floor but I discovered that if I stay back on the carpet, regular shoes do just fine.  She encourages participants to go barefoot, but that wouldn’t work for me since I’m in compression stockings and that would be a recipe for the electric slide.  So, if you’re worried about slipping, going in the back or sides on the carpet is an option.

 

Like Tiki Dave, she is a skilled teacher.  Her methods are subtle but very intentional and she uses humor to break the tension and help people feel comfortable.  Throughout the classes she also teaches a fair amount of Hawaiian vocabulary.

 

 

The classes are a good arm workout!  Especially in the early bits of learning a song/dance you might have your arms lifted for a good chunk of time.  During the dances themselves you have a variety of movement and sure use them but don’t keep them anywhere for long.  Sometimes it is tricky to do the leg and arm movements at the same time, as the legs are almost always a count of four (step to right step to right, step to left step to left —two steps but 4 beats) but the arms might be a two, four, 6, 8, or something else.  She teaches the arms and legs separately and when people go all floppadoozle doing both she breaks it back down and provides more practice.

 

I have really been enjoying the classes and I’m glad I tried them out.  I plan to continue them after our port days.

 

[arctickitty]

In Alaska, whenever something is unique or odd or funny, we say “Only in Alaska.”  Examples would include “Only in Alaska does dressing up for the theater mean wearing your bibs” (bibs is rain or snow pants) or “Only in Alaska they closed school because it rained” (this was because it rained on top of a foot of snow and then the temperatures went right back to freezing.  That storm was called Icemageddon).  

 

Anyway, while getting gas in Hilo, I noticed an “Only in Hawaii.”

 

 

Only in Hawaii does the gas station offer you a free hot dog musubi with your tank of gas.

[Catchum]

Loving the Hawaii / Alaskan combination - DH lived most of his life in Salcha - we will be onboard on the 17th and seem to have similar food preferences to you - will certainly be ordering the steamed veg. Also your idea of ordering an extra starter as desert is total genius - I often choose a selection of starters for my meal but never for desert. If I am consuming sugar it better damn well be fermented.

[Happiest when cruising]

1 hour ago, arctickitty said:

Now I have a few minutes to tell you more about hula classes with Leialoha.

 

 

They have been held in Club Fusion just like Zumba and you have the benefits of the nice sound system and the auxiliary screens if you can’t directly see her.  Fellow passengers who post things online do a good job but Princess does not explain in the patter that the classes are meant to be sequential and build upon each other.  The dance floor was full the first day and packed the second.  I have been wearing my grippy trail running shoes to help with balance on the floor but I discovered that if I stay back on the carpet, regular shoes do just fine.  She encourages participants to go barefoot, but that wouldn’t work for me since I’m in compression stockings and that would be a recipe for the electric slide.  So, if you’re worried about slipping, going in the back or sides on the carpet is an option.

 

Like Tiki Dave, she is a skilled teacher.  Her methods are subtle but very intentional and she uses humor to break the tension and help people feel comfortable.  Throughout the classes she also teaches a fair amount of Hawaiian vocabulary.

 

 

The classes are a good arm workout!  Especially in the early bits of learning a song/dance you might have your arms lifted for a good chunk of time.  During the dances themselves you have a variety of movement and sure use them but don’t keep them anywhere for long.  Sometimes it is tricky to do the leg and arm movements at the same time, as the legs are almost always a count of four (step to right step to right, step to left step to left —two steps but 4 beats) but the arms might be a two, four, 6, 8, or something else.  She teaches the arms and legs separately and when people go all floppadoozle doing both she breaks it back down and provides more practice.

 

I have really been enjoying the classes and I’m glad I tried them out.  I plan to continue them after our port days.

 

Are these classes and the ukulele classes free?