😉
It was a gloriously beautiful day in Hilo. Hilo can be like that. It can also be grey, overcast and wet. On our two cruises to Hawaii last winter, one Hilo day was like today; on the other visit, we couldn’t see to the other side of the port. We got lucky today.
I arrived at the Terrace Pool as it was being un-netted this morning (almost 6:30am). I was very VERY happy with the water temp; even after an hour, I wasn’t a bit chilled. May it be like that, please, until Fiji, at least!
I stepped out on the Promenade Deck to take pics of the beautiful Mauna Kea summit, testing out the zoom feature my new iPhone 18 Pro camera. I think I mentioned that I got it just days before we left home, and haven’t had much of a chance to photograph things (with our many sea days). That phone photography class I took last cruise had me most excited about the levels of optical and digital zoom. What better place to try them out than photographing the summit of Mauna Kea on a clear morning?
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| 8x optical zoom |
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| 40x digital zoom |
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| A perfect weather day!! |
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I was walking from the Promenade Deck back into the ship after taking those photos and held the door for a couple just behind me who said they knew who I was and had read my blog for years. I’m always kinda shocked when that happens, but I am so glad they said something. It was a pleasure to chat with John and Gail from near Vancouver, BC.
Sabatini’s was quiet this morning, with many people already off the ship for their excursions. We lingered (and one of us drank a (few) Bloody Marys today) and then walked off the ship (no mal de debarquement today for either of us, thankfully, which can happen after five days at sea). We joined four crew members we know in taking a taxi ($5pp) to the Hilo Walmart to pick up an order I had placed online.
That was a bit of a comedy…I had placed a drive-up order because I couldn’t figure out in the app how to make it a pick up order. How does one collect a drive-up order without a car? Well, with some amount of difficulty. We had asked our steward Robert if we could get him anything today and he said he collects refrigerator magnets. I felt fairly confident (that’s a joke) that we could find something in the souvenir aisle at Walmart, so we first went into the store, got the magnets and then were directed to the delivery/drive up area by the garden section. A manager set us up to wait just outside and our order was brought out. I didn’t have to stand in the parking lot, but I did have to stand outside the door.
Let me mention here that I do not frequent Walmarts at home. Being in a crowded Walmart on a Sunday is definitely not on my list of fun things to do. Being in a Hawaii Walmart on a Sunday while the Broncos are playing…I was shook.
Having completed the Walmart mission, we still had to walk down the street to Target, where I had another order to pick up. This one was primarily Mountain Dew in bottles and more thank you notecards. I had brought a pack from home but have only two remaining. We’ve been pretty thrilled with the fantastic service we’ve received on this ship, and I’ve used several already.
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| Magnets for Robert |
Then G decided he wanted to look at swimsuits at first Target, and then Walmart, so, shlepping all our purchases, we walked back to Walmart where G did find a swimsuit he could sacrifice to the ship’s hot tubs. All our shopping complete, we joined up with some of our Sabatini’s breakfast wait team from last cruise and rode back to the ship with them.
We got back to the ship in time to watch the Broncos come back with a great Q4 and win their game. It was shown in the Vista-less Lounge but we chose to watch it in our cabin. We grabbed a light and late lunch in the Horizon Court and sat on the Terrace Deck until it was time to clean up for dinner. It was nice to not have do “vacation math” in my head the whole time I was showering. Having re-stocked toiletries today, I now have way more than I’ll need, and will end up leaving some on the ship, but it’s a price I was willing to pay.
We sailed just before 5pm, going around the northern side of the Big Island to get to tomorrow’s port of Kailua-Kona, a bit of a disappointment since it’s nice to take the southern route with its possibility of seeing the volcano at night. I don’t think it’s particularly active right now, so it would have been a slight possibility.
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Tonight’s Princess Theater was the quartet The Modern Gentlemen. This is the group we saw last year on the Emerald Princess and one of its members, Todd Fournier, is from Toledo and went to high school with my brother and our parents went to the same high school and church. When I stopped to say hi to the group after the show, I told Todd that I bet he graduated from Central Catholic and had nine siblings. He was shocked…until I explained the connection.
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G and I got watermelon and sat on the Terrace Deck afterward. It was warm and calm and a beautiful night. I I realized today that I could happily cruise all my future cruises on this ship. There is absolutely no tension from too many people and not enough space, and the crew is second to none.
We’re loving this so much!!
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