Since our Disney Cruise 2 years ago, we wanted another Disney experience, and the intention was to visit the Aulani resort; unfortunately, it was entirely booked up for Christmastime by September so we decided to stick with Hawaii and try our luck with cruising again.
Arrival in Honolulu – Hilton Hawaiian Village
We flew into Honolulu with a pleasant, direct flight from Toronto and checked in to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. It’s a huge resort, and our room in the Rainbow tower had a lovely ocean view. There are several swimming pools and access to the beach as well as a sheltered lagoon where stand up paddleboards can be rented. I’m going to try and hold back from complaining about how expensive everything was throughout these stories, as this seemed to apply to Hawaii in general. Let me just say that Starbucks was the most reasonable breakfast option, and it wasn’t that reasonable.
Scuba Dive
The day after arriving I went on a 2 tank dive with Aloha Scuba. This was quite possibly the best dive I have ever been on, and while I always regret not being able to get good photos of my dives, this was the day that made me vow to get a GoPro before my next dive. The first dive was the Nautilus reef off Waikiki beach. The reef is beautiful, and I seemed to have a talent for spotting Moray eels, in fact, it was the first time I saw one swimming in the open rather than poking out from a hole in a reef. We had discussed the common hand signals for wildlife found in the area, and the one for dolphins struck me as weird – you point to your ear. During the dive, I found out why; you hear dolphins squeak before you see them. They were beautiful black and blue and seemed to fly across our field of vision like a flock of birds. This dive was about 45 minutes at a depth of approximately 54 feet.
The next dive site was a wreck known as the YO 257, though we managed to look at another called San Pedro on the same dive. Our dive group managed to co-star in the cellphone videos of passengers aboard an Atlantis Submarine tour – if you were on that vessel, the dork doing an underwater floss dance was me. In addition to getting a great up-close view of the vessel, I was within 15 feet of a white tip reef shark and I saw a trio of beautiful eagle rays. Apparently a tiger shark has been seen nearby, but I’ll tell you I was fine missing out on that. We spent 24 minutes at a depth of approximately 95 feet. The divemaster was very generous with advice on controlling my buoyancy and being more efficient with my energy which leads to less air use and longer dive times, but I was still the first one low on air. We snacked on fresh pineapple between dives and on the way back, and I’d recommend Aloha Scuba to anyone who is diving the Waikiki Beach area.
Last Night In a Hotel…
Once I got back to the hotel, I took the boys swimming in one of the hotel pools. We found the water cold, but we didn’t care too much since we’re Canadians just happy to be able to swim outdoors! I took Shark Boy to one of the little tuck shops and sprung for a little ball that we could play catch with; it served us well on every subsequent beach we visited. We had a long wait for service at our dinner restaurant and the jet lag was kicking in. The Lightning Kid fell asleep at the table while I waited for dessert, and my wife and Shark Boy went back to the hotel room to watch a fireworks display. I was still waiting for dessert when the fireworks went off and nearly scared me to death – hearing fireworks without seeing them isn’t really fun in my books. I still managed to enjoy a night-time walk on the beach with Shark Boy though.
That same Jet Lag had us up early and to the beach after breakfast, but not for too long because we were checking out and boarding by noon. We tried to game the ideal boarding time – the sooner we arrive, the sooner we can take advantage of food we’ve already paid for, but by coming later, I wonder if we could have avoided the longer line-ups to clear security etc.
The mood on board was very friendly and festive, and it wasn’t long before we were enjoying the feeling of the seas rolling beneath our feet. We managed to book almost every excursion we had wanted on board that evening in spite of being shut-out of them when trying to book online.
Port of Kahului on Maui – Day 1
Our first excursion was to board a catamaran and snorkel the famous Molokini Crater and a site known as Turtle Arches. The cruise was operated by the Pacific Whale Foundation (which is apparently non-profit) and it made considerable effort to be environmentally friendly including providing reef-safe sunscreen and controlling/reducing garbage. The guides were fun and friendly (especially with kids). They provided extra floatation gear including pool noodles or vests or whatever you were comfortable with. At Molokini, the Black Triggerfish were the most friendly fish; even though you are not permitted to feed them, they live long enough to remember when they would get fed and swim right up to snorkelers. I think we also saw Yellow Tang and Parrotfish.
Turtle Arches was the second stop on the catamaran cruise. We were enjoying the snorkelling but weren’t seeing any turtles, and we were about to return to the boat when Shark Boy said he had seen one; I was skeptical because the last near-sighting turned out to be a rock. Sure enough, not 50 feet from the boat’s exit for snorkelers was a giant sea turtle – it must have been at least 5 feet in diameter. I was able to dive down and get a side view of it (from a respectable distance, we are not to disturb them), and while I was telling another family about where to find it, I noticed it coming to the surface for air! They are really magical creatures – those black eyes seem to exude this calm wisdom.
When we got back to the ship we had some downtime and put the kids into the onboard kids’ club called Splash Academy. Shark Boy was a little underwhelmed by it at first; as the week went on he found it improved because they had more ‘active’ activities, though I suspect it was also because he started making friends. He also expects to be given free rein instead of being roped into structured activities (on the Disney cruise of 2 years ago, the kids club had video games and screens if he didn’t want to participate). My wife and I enjoyed a date night at the onboard Churrascaria, where you are served select meats (usually from a skewer) until you turn a little card over from its green to the red side to say ‘No More!’. The kids club called us just as dinner started to let us know the Lightning Kid was falling asleep (again). I had asked if he could just lie down on one of their mats but they apparently reserve that space for active play and couldn’t accommodate that. Still, I refused to leave our date just as it was getting started and asked them to manage him till we could finish – what else are we paying for except for them to keep our kids safe for a little while?
Port of Kahului, Maui – Day 2
Our second excursion was a Rainforest and Waterfall Hike. I’m very happy that our family has evolved into hikers over the last year or so – all we needed was for the Lightning Kid’s legs to get strong and long enough! A bus took us on part of the Hana highway till we reached the trailhead – apparently, the trail is on a private farm property, but the owners allow hiking tours because they are “hippies”. We hiked through the rainforest and learned about the local ecology – Hawaii seems to be dominated by invasive species (at least when you look at it from an evolutionary timeframe – a few thousand years ago even the wildest parts would have looked entirely different). We saw the Bird of Paradise flower, bananas, and other plants.
The most amazing botanical sight was the Mimosa Pudica or ‘shy’ Mimosa. This plant actually shrinks and ‘shies’ away when touched.
Of course, we are a family of action! So the best parts weren’t plantlife, they were the waterfalls where we got to cool off with a swim! We visited 3 distinct locations with waterfalls and pools to swim in. On some, you could climb the rocks and jump in.
Back on board, we took time out to find out how to navigate the ship’s internet plan. Internet access is limited by time and not usage (megabytes) and you have to formally log on and off to stay within your time limit. There didn’t seem to be very flexible options to increase or adjust the access so for the most part, we stayed offline. Our date night dinner was in the Italian Restaurant – I think this was the best food of the entire cruise but somehow I got too full to finish. I must have filled up at lunch – overall the food was excellent and varied on the Pride of America.
Stay tuned for Part 2 where we visit the Big Island of Hawaii and Kauai.