Day 7: Kauai

We slept so hard last night. In my case, I’m sure the MaiTais played a role, but when I synced my Fitbit this morning, I couldn’t believe what I saw. For the first time since my surgery in June, I walked over (my usual minimum) 12000 steps in one day. I went for weeks when I really just wore my Fitbit for sleep tracking, not step tracking, since my daily steps were negligible. Then, once I got out of the cast and started going to PT and other medical appointments, I would maybe reach 3000-4000 steps a day. That’s gradually increased on the ship, but in Honolulu I hit it out of the park.  No wonder I was so wiped out that night. That’s 13000 steps on crutches. Also, it’s no surprise that my hands and wrists were as sore as that foot.

Kauai was one of those few ports where we had firm plans for the day.  We had a quick breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet, watching as the Ruby Princess made the difficult “S” maneuver to enter the tricky port of Nawiliwili, Kauai.  This is the port that we missed altogether four years ago when we were on the Pacific Princess; the wind and rain made it too difficult to enter.  We were thrilled to see bright sunshine and blue skies this morning...not just for our ability to dock, but also because of our plans for the day. 

We met up with Paul and Marlene in the Piazza to walk off the ship when it was at its berth. I had rented an SUV from National Car Rental for the day, and we waited just a short time for their shuttle bus to arrive to take us to the nearby Lihue Airport to pick up our car. We were lucky; the shuttle was overloaded with people standing, but we were apparently the only ones with a firm reservation. We are members of National’s Emerald Club, so when we arrived at the off-site rental facility, we alone were instructed to go directly to the cars where a Dodge Durango was just pulling up for our rental. Everyone else had to enter the tiny building and stand in line, filling out paperwork and waiting for their car. Moral of the story:  join a frequent renter club and reserve a car ahead of time. We likely saved at least 30 minutes by doing that. 

I had one goal in mind for today: to see Waimea Canyon in the sun. All of us had previously visited Kauai, and all of us had already made the drive up to the Waimea Canyon only to see nothing. The entire canyon had been enshrouded in fog. Today, we were determined to change that. I drove the Durango, which had ample room for all of us (and my crutches) and we turned west on Hawaii 50. Kauai is not a large island, but Google Maps told us that, while the distance to the Waimea Canyon overlook was just 35 miles or so, the time required to get there was well over an hour. It was easy to see why. The highway was a busy, two lane road with lots of traffic lights and a low speed limit. When we finally got past the little towns, the speed limits still were low, between 25 and 50mph. But we saw that the day reminded sunny and were hopeful for some good views. 

Once we turned off Hawaii 50 to go north, the road became quite twisty-turns and very steep. Luckily, the Durango was up for the challenge. We went north on Hawaii 552, and the views of the coast and the Pacific Ocean were spectacular. G kept wanting to stop for photos, but I had my eye on one thing at first: getting to the canyon lookout while it was still sunny. We finally made it to the first lookout, Waimea Canyon State Park, and the views made my single-mindedness worthwhile. 

Waimea Canyon State Park is a dramatic scar, 10 miles long, and 3500 feet deep in western Kauai. The canyon has been carved over millions of year by the Waimea River and floods pounding down from the summit of Mt. Waialeale, considered one of the wettest places on earth. At the center of the canyon is the Waimea River.  Waimea means “red waters” and you can understand why when you see the amber tones of the surrounding canyon walls. 

The most popular lookout is the Puu Hinahina Lookout in Waimea Canyon State Park. It was definitely the busiest, but we were able to arrive before the buses did, and my handicap placard guaranteed us a good parking spot. 

Panorama photo still doesn’t capture the beauty 

Waipo’o Falls 

A native Hawaiian was dressed (or not) in traditional attire and told us the story about how the

canyon was formed and how Hawaii got its name.  

“Ha”, as in the term aloha,  means the breath of life. We were familiar with this concept from our earlier travels, but learned from the native Hawaiian speaker that “Wai”, pronounced “Vi”, mean fresh water. And “I”, pronounced “ee”, means the creator God, over all of the 400 other gods in Hawaiian culture. So the term Hawaii represents the three things Hawaiians considered vital for a sustainable life on their islands:  the breath of life, fresh water and a creator God. How many times have we been on the islands and didn’t know that?

From the Puu aka Pele lookout, we got a closer view of Waipo’o Falls...

...and view of the entire canyon.

The final lookout, nearly a mile above sea level, was the Puu O Kila Lookout Down the Kalalau Valley to the Pacific Ocean. This was the view we had come for, the one that you see in all the tourism photos, and, especially as we were in a steady rain at this point, we were lucky the sun was still shining on the valley. The Alakai swamp (which is the highest swamp in the world) coats everything in a thick sea of rich green.

Puu O Kila Lookout Over Kalalau Valley

One of the wettest spots on Earth is Waialeale, a tall mountain spire hidden in the clouds to the right in this photo.  

Wettest spot on Earth sign shrouded in a cloud :-)

We were soaked by the time we returned to the Durango (the padding on my crutches was still wet last night), but made our way back to the coast via Hawaii 550, a road just as twisty-turny and steep as Hawaii 552. Luckily, Paul told me how to use the paddle shifters on the steering wheel and I was able to downshift to second gear quite a bit to help hold back the vehicle. When we reached Hawaii 50 and the coast, it was brightly sunny again. 

We turned west, toward The Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) on the very western side of Kauai, just a short distance from the turn off to Waimea Canyon. We have long heard about cabins available here for rental by active duty and retired military, and wanted to check them out. Greg’s military ID got us on to the naval base, and we stopped to get directions to the cabin (and also made a quick trip into the NEX to use the bathrooms and buy a few souvenirs). The cabins are gorgeous.  Three bedrooms, one bath, some of them directly on the long stretch of beach, for just $100 a night. I could definitely enjoy staying in them for a week or two.  We’d have to rent a car, but could explore the entire island even more thoroughly than we had during our stay in 1995. 

By then it was just after 1:30pm, and we had already decided to start making our way back to Lihue and the rental car return by that time. We had seen a tremendous amount of traffic backed up going east this morning, but, fortunately, we didn’t encounter much traffic on our return. We stopped and gassed up at Costco on the way and turned the Durango in just before 3pm. National asked if there was anything they could have done to improve our rental experience. Not one darn thing; it was perfect. We took a shuttle back to the ship, cleaned up just a bit and went to the buffet for a small meal to tide us over until the Elite Lounge at 4:30pm and dinner at 5:00pm. 

I had not been in the dining room last night to be able to pre-order tonight’s dinner (headwaiter Mehai was so funny.  “I haven’t seen you in forever!” Actually, it was just one day, but that does seem like forever in “ship time”).  I had no trouble finding a few things I could eat on the menu, and we watched sail away from our window as the Ruby Princess repeated the “S” turn and slowly left the harbor. 

Day 7 dinner menu, page 1

Day 7 dinner menu, page 2

(Sorry, we skipped dessert and I didn’t get a photo of that menu)

Fresh fruit, passion fruit and Reisling jello

Tossed greens with cucumber and pumpkin seeds

Wok-flashed shrimp with Lehua honey and black bean sauce

We made it to the Princess Theater in time for the 6:30pm performance of vocalist Donnie Ray Evans singing the songs of Nat King Cole. It was a wonderful show, and he’ll be performing again in Club Fusion before he leaves the ship in Tahiti. 

Since we had skipped dessert, G thought he needed soft serve ice cream from the Lido Deck, and while he was getting his cone, I happened to notice, at the pizza counter next door, several new items on their menu. The California Toast can be made vegan by skipping the cheese and bacon...I must try that one day soon, maybe as a late breakfast. 

New items available at Slice, the pizza counter on the Lido Deck

It was Tropical Deck Party night on the pool deck, but I was done for the day. I had only driven 107 miles today, but many of them were either in traffic or on twisty-turny roads.  And, while most of the lookouts were handicap accessible, I walked up and down some pretty steep ramps today. I wanted nothing more than to return to the cabin to get my blog post written. As it turned out, I fell asleep before it was finished, but my unlimited WiFi meant that wasn’t the tragedy it would have been had my minutes been ticking away. I guess I really was pretty tired. 

Next up: five days at sea. How we cope during this time will determine, in large part, when and where we start our 11th season of cruising (“God willing and the creek don’t rise,” quoting my husband from the South).

Day 7 Prince Patter, page 1

Day 7 Princess Patter, page 2

Day 7 Princess Patter, page 3

Day 7 Princess Patter, page 4

Day 6: Honolulu

We were so excited to reach land, particularly Hawaii, that I set an alarm and we were up at 5:30am this morning. Not that that was a hardship; just five days earlier that was 8:30am in Los Angeles and even later back at home. I pulled G away from the Liar’s Club and we went up to the Terrace Deck on the back of the ship to watch sunrise and the Ruby Princess’ arrival at Pier 2 in Honolulu. Spectacular on both counts!

Sunrise off Oahu

The Diamond Head lighthouse light at sunrise

The DaVinci Dining Room opens for breakfast 30 minutes earlier (at 7am) on port days, and, once the Ruby Princess was at its berth, we went there to eat. Once again, I knew my day was going to be light (in reality, very light) on protein, and had fruit and smoked salmon. Though we have eaten all of our breakfasts to date in the DaVinci Dining Room, I have scoped out the smoked salmon situation at breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet. Two years ago, on the Golden Princess, there was no smoked salmon in the Buffet, just some bony, tiny chunks of smoked meat. Last year on the Sapphire, smoked salmon could be had but one needed to ask for it. It’s the same way on the Ruby Princess. 

After breakfast, I stopped by the Internet Cafe to speak with the Internet Manager about unlimited WiFi. He confirmed that the speed is managed off-ship, based on supply and demand. I’d suspected that; our download speed had been hovering right around 4Mbps since we boarded the ship.  It was significantly higher this morning in port. I also asked about why my purchased unlimited WiFi was good for 45 days. He said it’s because, in the case of extended back to back cruisers, the ship arbitrarily breaks the cruises into segments. He told to me to look at my ship card to see how long it was good...November 8, exactly 45 days after we boarded. I wish I could figure out how to squeeze our remaining time on the Ruby Princess onto one card.  

Best download speed so far...with many people off the ship in Honolulu

Around 8:30am, we walked off the ship with our two roll aboard suitcases and boarded a waiting bus taking passengers to Walmart for free. This was the easiest and quickest way to get to the Ala Moana Mall area. The day was already sunny, hot and humid.  Once at Walmart, G went in to check out the prices for 12-packs of soda:  $6 each. Ouch.  We had done our research online this morning and already knew that Target’s price was cheaper. So we walked down to Walgreens to check out their price, and it was on sale there. We bought three 12-packs for G, two bottles of wine and G’s favorite gum made in Hawaii and then crossed the street to Target. 

Yesterday I had gone online and ordered 23 items (7 of them were boxes of Handi Wipes) for store pick up. We went directly to Customer Service and claimed our order, managing to squeeze most of it into the roll aboards.  G carried the laundry detergent separately, I kept a hand on my cane and we wheeled our purchases back to the Walmart bus. Between the heat, the humidity, the waiting and the walking, I was thrilled when the bus finally arrived, and needed a rest on the ship before we headed out again. 

We ate our first meal in the Horizon Court Buffet (lunch started at 11:30am) and I was surprised to see there wasn’t any plant based protein on the salad bar. Usually there are some sort of beans available. There also wasn’t any plant based ready made salads (such as bean salad) available either. I didn’t bother to ask, and could probably have had some brought out for me, but I was glad I had the smoked salmon at breakfast. We rested a little on the Terrace Deck and walked off the ship again.

This time we caught a bus down to the Hale Koa, the military resort we’ve stayed at for the past two winters. We needed to cancel a reservation we had for early next year (no Hawaii stay for us this winter) and use the only fee-free ATM we know of in all of Waikiki. We checked out the new aquatics complex there which had been under construction for two years and just opened (it looks amazing) and then made our way along the beach boardwalk down to the Outrigger Reef Hotel. Except that the boardwalk plays out just before the hotel, and, armed with two crutches on this trip, I was trying to walk on loose sand the last 100 feet or so. As I found out immediately, loose sand and crutches are a tough combination. 

Walking to our sunset sail

Back in July, we had reserved two spaces on the Holokai Sunset Sail for tonight. Never did I ever in a million years imagine I’d still be using crutches today, and I might not have been (or at least might have been using just one), but the shopping trip this morning wore me out. Luckily, the guys on the Holokai were great, letting me board the boat first and helping me every step of the way. 

We were so lucky to be on board with a 30-person family group from Australia, including several kids.  We were swept up in their fun, the weather couldn’t have been better, and we enjoyed a beautiful sail out to the Diamond Head Lighthouse and back, seeing a gorgeous sunset and...yes, we saw it, a green flash. So many of my blog readers email me about our green flash photos taken when we stay in Hawaii, but I think Hawaii might be where the green flash at sunset was born. I didn’t get a photo of it tonight, perched as I was with one hand on the railing and the camera in the other, but it was there, all the same. What a perfect evening. 

Somehow I can’t stop myself from taking photos of bare-chested captains. 

The Holokai Catamaran sail

Diambd Head crater and lighthouse

A wire from the ship’s railing is in this photo, as I was sitting down when I took it. 

 But those colors...

It doesn’t get any better than this. 

I am mostly off alcohol, but my doctor said I could enjoy it on special occasions, and since I don’t think there is an occasional more special than a sunset sail in Hawaii, I enjoyed a couple of MaiTais, which made my foot feel better but my head feel worse. Once we arrived back at Waikiki Beach, I was the first one off the boat (they said the boat was more stable with everyone else on it), and once again I was helped down the stairs and through the surf up onto the beach. This part is very fuzzy - it was dark, I’d had two MaiTais, but somehow G got me back to the main street and we caught a bus back to the ship. It was nearly 8:30pm when we returned to our cabin and I knew dinner, and tonight’s hula entertainment (we’ve seen them before) were not in the cards. We fell into bed and not even the knowledge that I needed to write a blog post was enough to keep me awake. 

Day 6 dinner menu, page 1

We didn’t go to the dining room, but I took these photos the day before. 

Day 6 dinner menu, page 2


Day 6 dessert menu

Day 6 Princess Patter, page 1

Day 6 Princess Patter, page 2

Day 6 Princess Patter, page 3

Day 6 Princess Patter, page 4

Day 5: At Sea

I managed to sleep until 6:30am, which was wonderful. It just took one night of staying up until nearly midnight to get me back on track. Naturally, G was long gone when I woke up. He couldn’t miss a Liars Club session in the International Cafe! We move clocks ahead again tonight (so we’ll be six hours behind EDT), and then just two more times before Sydney. But there’s also that day we’ll lose altogether, somewhere between American Samoa and Auckland. G said that we need all these sea days simply to keep adjusting our watches. ;-)

Still, I was a slug this morning, and stayed in the cabin reading and watching TV instead of going to breakfast. It was the Most Traveled Guest luncheon day today, and I knew I would be facing a plethora of eating opportunities all day long. We had gotten back the laundry we had turned in on the first evening of the cruise (so, it is taking 72 hours as we had been told it would), and I decided instead to hand wash the quick dry items I’ve been wearing since we boarded. Luckily, all of my shorts and short sleeved T-shirts can be washed, wrung out in a pool towel and hung up to dry and they’re ready to wear again a couple of hours later. Since we’ll be in port during our next two days, it was nice to get that done. 

That left plenty of time before lunch to change into a swimsuit and use first the Terrace Pool to get some water exercise and then the hot tub on Deck 17.  Though the day had started out cloudy, with a few rain drops early this morning, it was brightly sunny by 9am. This is starting to feel like a tropical cruise!  Even better, the forecast for tomorrow in Honolulu continues to improve, and we’re quite happy about that. 

This morning, while clothes were soaking in the sink, I also took a few minutes to document the log in procedure for Medallion Net when you are sharing the plan between two devices. I most often use it on my iPhone, but occasionally want to use WiFi from my iPad. I initially thought I had to physically log off the first device to be able to log on to the second, but it is done automatically after verifying that you’re certain that is what you want to do. 

I’ve set up a bookmark for Ocean Concierge on my home screen.  

Choose MedallionNet Get Online

Choose Purchase/Redeem even if it’s not your first time logging in. 

Here it says I’m already running MedallionNet on another device (in this case my iPad), 

and asks if I want to disconnect that device and connect this device instead. 

At this point, you still have to click Get Online Now, or you aren’t actually connected to the internet. 

I felt...well, almost normal this morning when I used the two flights of outdoor stairs to climb from the Terrace Pool to the hot tub on Deck 17.  I was very careful, using a single crutch and taking it one step at a time, but the only reason I was able to try was because G was unaware I was doing it. Somehow, when I was getting out of the hot tub and had to navigate those 7 or 8 steps down to Deck 17, he suddenly appeared right there to lend a hand.  Seriously, how did he know? 

I was glad I had spent some time outside, because I knew that, once I had gotten cleaned up for the Most Traveled Guest luncheon, I would want to stay cleaned up for the rest of the day (and not use a pool or hot tub again). At noon we were dressed up a smidge and having our photo taken with Captain Ron Wilson. We had never previously met him (frankly, his name was new to me), but he is a most personable master of the Ruby Princess. His wife, Joan, travels with him, and she could liven up a funeral. We had so much fun over lunch, with them and our fellow passengers, which was quite a relief. These luncheons, when things don’t “click”, can be as onerous as a dental appointment. Even Captain Ron mentioned in his short post-luncheon speech, that he had never heard such a loud Most Traveled Guest group. Apparently, conversations at all the tables were as as animated as at ours. 

This entire area, used as a backdrop for photos with Captain Ron, had the fragrance of star gazer lilies. 

Most Traveled Guest luncheon menu


Menu page 1

Menu page 2

My lunch was almost entirely off-menu, to meet my vegan plus seafood dietary requirements. 

Mixed greens salad

Vegetarian pappardelle

This was beyond delicious. 

A wonderful dessert that could not possibly have been vegan. 😉

Pastry chef, sous chef and executive chef Raggie Saldanha

Assistant maitre d’ and Maitre d’ Mike

Following lunch, there was no question that a nap was in order.  In fact, we joked about it amongst ourselves. What else does one do after an Most Traveled Guest luncheon? It’s quite like Thanksgiving Day afternoon in that regard. I took advantage of the downtime to pull together a few things I need for our day in Honolulu tomorrow. Yes...land ho (very soon). These first four sea days have been most tenable, and we have shockingly enjoyed them immensely. 

BTW, if we hadn’t had a Most Traveled Guest luncheon invite, this was the lunch menu in the DaVinci Dining Room:

:

Day 5 lunch menu, page 1

Day 5 lunch menu

We had no right to go to the Elite Lounge at 4:30pm for chips and salsa, nor to dinner in the DaVinci Dining Room at 5pm...but, of course, we did. It was a sea day. Eating is what we do. 

I was very much looking forward to tonight’s dinner. Hunger (or the lack of it) had nothing to do with it. I was simply looking forward to two on-menu vegan items that were new to me. The first was a grilled pineapple starter with a wonderfully smoky flavor. The other was a garlic roasted cauliflower steak that I was so anxious to dive into that I neglected to take a photo of.  The sad part of these wonderful menu items is that they may not be offered on our shorter cruises; there are obviously more menus (and menu items) on this 28-night cruise. I will miss them. 

Grilled pineapple in a sweet ponzu tea 

Day 5 dinner menu, page 1

Day 5 dinner menu, page 2

Day 5 dessert menu

Once again, we finished dinner in time to make it to the 6:30pm Princess Theater performance of female vocalist Sonia Selbie, back in an all new show. The entertainment these first five days has been extraordinary; these guest entertainers leave us tomorrow in Honolulu and a new batch come on board to keep us entertained during the five sea days en route to Tahiti. 

We dove right back into bad habits tonight when we just happened to stroll the Lido Deck after the show. It’s very easy to be tempted by all the food choices up there:  pizza, ice cream, burgers, the entire Horizon Court Buffet. G enjoyed an ice cream while I managed to get back to our cabin unscathed. However, we did see the tail end of tonight’s sunset, the first one we’ve seen since we boarded. 

The Neptune’s Reef Pool at sunset

We want to be up early to watch our arrival into Honolulu tomorrow. Our plan for the morning includes a big Target shopping trip; the afternoon will find us at the Hale Koa and keep your fingers crossed that we have good weather for our sunset sail tomorrow night. It’s an easy day, but then we are no strangers to Honolulu, having spent a month there in each of the past three years. It will be great to be back.

And, finally, I received two pieces of good news today:  Mom is out of the hospital (please may it be for good!), and McGee had a personal best time in a regional race today and was awarded the trophy for his role in winning the competition for his team. The collection continues to grow. (I’m just a little proud). 

Good news (and unlimited WiFi to get it), good food and a wonderful day at sea. 

Life is good. :-)

Day 5 Princess Patter, page 1

Day 5 Princess Patter, page 2

Day 5 Princess Patter, page 3

Day 5 Princess Patter, page 4