Tales of the South Pacific - Sea Days

Cruise Day 14

Sunday, October 12, 2025

After staying late in the casino last night, we slept in a little late, but not too late as we had a presentation at the World Stage at 10:00 we wanted to see.

We skipped our Neptune Lounge breakfast and went straight to watch a talk on the ship excursions offered on the next segment of our cruise.  We usually don’t attend these as we normally have everything planned out, but this trip is a little different, so we wanted to see what was being offered.

After the presentation, we walked over to the excursion desk and cancelled one of our tours and added two more.  Tomorrow, we need to sit down and review what we’ll be doing as things have gotten a little confusing.

The reason we didn’t have our breakfast in the Neptune Lounge this morning is we decided to go to the brunch they offer in the Main Dining Room when a Sunday falls on a sea day.  Sadly, we were disappointed in both the menu and the quality of the food they offered so it is doubtful that we’ll do it again, but who knows, they do change the menu.

After the brunch we returned to the room and Val went out to read on the balcony (it was a very nice day outside), and I had to catch up on the blog.  I didn’t get completely caught up, but we had another presentation we wanted to see at 1:00.  We didn’t go to lunch today as the brunch was at 11:00.

We have a new lecturer on board named Dr. Christine Blake and she did a talk called “The Pacific Ocean: Key Characteristics” that was very interesting.  After the lecture we realized that one of the tours we added hadn’t actually been added so we stopped into the Neptune Lounge where Kyle took care of it for us, it is so nice to have the concierge available.

After that we relaxed for a bit and Val went out on the balcony and I went back to work on the blog until it was time for trivia.  It had been two days since we were at trivia, but Arthur and Donna were there waiting for us when we arrived.  We did pretty well, but once again, we were in the middle of the pack.

We returned to the room where I finally got caught up on the blog and then we went out on the balcony and watched the sunset.  Tonight is a formal night with the theme of Casino Royale.  I’m not sure what the entails, but we’ll see.

After dinner we went to the casino and Casino Royale was in full swing in the casino and the Mix Lounge adjacent to the casino.  Many of the ship’s officers were there and they had various casino like games in the Mix where you could win raffle tickets that were awarded every 15 minutes.  In the spirit of Casino Royale, they had encouraged everyone to dress in the best James Bond style, and many did as there were many men in tuxedos and women in fancy gowns.  Some people really got into the spirit of it and wore elaborate costumes, but Val and I just wore our usual formal night attire.

The casino was so crowded we could hardly find a place to play.  The table games were packed, and almost all the slot machines were taken.  When we did get to play, Val and I did terrible so after a while we returned to our room and called it a night.  Tomorrow is another sea day, but Val and I have a lot to do.

Cruise Day 15

Monday, October 13, 2025

There is another sea day ahead of us but today will not be a relaxing day for us as we have a lot to do.  We were both up at eight and after breakfast in the Neptune Lounge we started reviewing our upcoming tours.  In one port we have ended up with two tours at the same time and with Val’s hip getting worse, we have to evaluate the activity level on others.

After straightening that out we headed off to the World Stage to hear a Port Specialist Kristin do a presentation on Fanning Island, tomorrow’s port.  Since we wanted to attend another lecture at 1:00, we decided to eat in the Neptune Lounge today instead of the Lido.  After lunch we headed off to the World Stage to hear a lecture on Kirabati, the island nation that Fanning Island is part of.

When the lecture was over, we met with Jessika, the Signature Travel Representative, as she had been doing some research for our day of private touring in Samoa and she had some suggestions for us.  We spent about an hour talking to her about that and then returned to our room.  Jessika was so nice to do that for us, I think she went way beyond the call of duty, and we appreciated it.

With the activities planned for our private tour, I had to fill out a form and give it to the excursion desk so they could forward it to our guide.  With that taken care of we had a little time to relax before we headed off to trivia.  As usual, we were in the middle of the pack, but we do enjoy talking to each other and had a good time.

As soon as trivia was done, we couldn’t linger as we had been invited to a reception with the ship’s officers for Neptune Suite guests and President’s Club members (an elite and select group of people who have spent over 1500 days sailing on Holland America ships).  We don’t generally enjoy things like that, but Kyle kept telling us we needed to go.  We actually did enjoy it and spent quite a bit of time talking to Mel, the officer in charge of the Ship Services Department.  She had been with the company for twenty years and told us what it was like being on the ship for months at a time.  We also talked to Ted and Sharon, fellow Neptune Suite guests who we met at lunch today.

After the reception was over, we returned to the room and relaxed until it was time for dinner, but I did take the time to update the blog.  Dinner was very good tonight, and the casino was back to normal, so it was a good night.  Unfortunately, the casino being back to normal didn’t help Val and I, and we had another bad night, so we were back in our room early.  Tomorrow our port will be Fanning Island and we are looking forward to that.

Tales of the South Pacific - Hilo, Hawaii (The Big Island)

 Cruise Day 13

Saturday, October 11, 2025

Today is our last stop in Hawaii and we are in Hilo on east side of The Big Island.  We had nothing planned for the morning, so we slept in and took it easy until around eleven when we decided to go into Hilo.

Our last stop in Hawaii is Hilo on the east coast of the Big Island.

Our plan was to take a taxi into Hilo and visit the large Farmer’s Market they have there, but as we walked out of the terminal a person at the information desk said there was a free shuttle ready to leave so she walked us out and we were on our way to the Farmer’s Market.

This is a map of the Hilo area.  Our ship is docked off to the left with the Hilo Farmer's Market in the center, and OK Farms outside of town on the left.

The Hilo Farmer’s Market was huge with one area of fruits, vegetables, coffees, teas and many other edibles.  The other side was full of craft articles, clothing, jewelry and souvenirs.  We walked around for a while checking things out and Val found a small shoulder bag to use when she didn’t want to carry her big bag.  I bought some banana nut bread that looked very good.

 

Right next to the Farmer’s Market was the Kula Shave Ice stand that we were told was the best Shave Ice in Hilo.  In case you’re wondering, I am not misspelling it, we were told many times by the locals that it is shave ice, not shaved ice.  Rather than try to explain it, here is a description of what shave ice is: “Hawaiian shave ice is a fluffy, snow-like dessert made by shaving a block of ice into fine flakes, which are then soaked in sweet, colorful syrups, often flavored with tropical fruits like pineapple, mango, and guava.”

Val and I shared a small Rainbow Shave Ice that had a mix of syrups and fruits and was topped by homemade coconut whipped cream.  It was delicious, but we were glad we got a small one as that was almost too much for both of us.

When we got up this morning, we went out on our balcony and the sun was shining directly on us and it was hot, so we thought we were in for a very hot day, but it turned out to be pretty pleasant.  As we wandered around the Farmer’s Market it was warm, but certainly not too bad, especially in the shade, and there was a breeze that was cooling.

Val had found a local farm called OK Farms that gave tours, so she had signed us up for that.  It was at 2:00 and we finished up our shave ice just after noon, so we had quite a bit of time to kill.  We looked for a bench in a nearby park to relax for a while.  Unfortunately, there weren’t many empty ones in the shade so we walked over to the nearby bus station and found a place to sit.  The bus station was also where the taxis were available, so at least we were in the right spot.

After sitting for a while we thought, why wait here in town, let’s just get a taxi out to OK Farms where the tour started and wait there.  We quickly found a taxi and were on our way.  When we arrived, no one was around so we found ourselves a nice bench in the shade with a wonderfully cool breeze and sat down to wait.

This was a working farm, but it was Saturday, and everything was closed so we were all by ourselves.  After a while, the owner drove up in his truck to unload some boxes and we talked to him for a bit, and he told us someone would be here soon to get ready for the afternoon tour and then he left.  As I said, it was a nice spot to wait out in the country, so we didn’t mind at all, it was much better than sitting at the bus station.

Finally, at 1:30 a lady named Rose, who would be our guide, arrived and started loading supplies into the van we’d be riding in for the tour.  Other people on the tour started trickling in and it was almost time to get started, but several people had gotten lost trying to find the farm, so we left a little late.

There were twelve of us on the tour, but we fit comfortably in the van.  The OK Farm is 1000 acres, but only about 350 acres were actually being farmed.  They have macadamia nut trees, but their main crops are coffee and fruits.  They also have spices and some other things as it is very diversified.  As I said yesterday, the farm doesn’t look like a typical farm with neatly laid out fields, it’s more kind of helter skelter, but in this tropical climate that seems to work best.

As we drove, Rose described what they grew and pointed out various types of trees and plants stopping at several places to get a closer look.  We stopped by a waterfall where there was a pavilion looking out overlooking it.  We drove on to another waterfall called Rainbow Falls that also had a pavilion and Rose set out a picnic of nuts and fruits for us.  We learned how to crack macadamia nuts with a special nutcracker that would supply the 300 pounds of pressure it took to crack the hard shell of a macadamia nut.  They were freshly picked and dehydrated nuts and were very good.

We're off on our tour.

Looking down into Hilo.  You can see our ship docked off in the distance.

Another waterfall, here we were served a delicious snack of macadamia nuts and various fruits.

Cracking macadamia nuts.  You needed a special nut cracker as it took 300 pounds of pressure to get through the outer shell.

She also served fresh star fruit, rambutan, logan, finger lime, lemon drop mangosteen and some others I don't remember the name of.  All in all, it was delicious, and we all enjoyed our picnic.  From there we were supposed to view some cacao plants that chocolate comes from, but the gate was locked since it was Saturday.  Val and I had already seen these plants in Ghana, so we didn’t really mind.  Next, we did a short hike where Rose pointed out some of the spices that were grown on the farm and gave us leaves to see if we could identify them by their smell.

We took a short hike to see some of the spices that were grown on the farm. 

Cloves

That was the end of the tour, and we were running late because of the people arriving late.  Val and I were concerned because we had made arrangements with the cab driver to pick us up at 3:30 and it was already 3:45, but I gave him a call and he said it wasn’t a problem, and he would wait.

It took only a few minutes to get back to the farm building and we were relieved to see our taxi sitting there waiting for us.  It took about 20 to 30 minutes to get back to the ship, and we were back in our room by 4:30.

We loved our tour on OK Farms and had a great time.  Kudos to Val for finding it as it appears it is not really well known; even though it wasn’t too far from downtown Hilo, our cab driver didn’t even know where it was, and we had to give him the address.

Val and I got cleaned up and then watched our sail away from Hilo out on our balcony as it was another beautiful, balmy evening.  It was dinner as usual, and the casino was open again so that’s where we headed after dinner.  I did surprisingly well and left with more money than I came with, but Val had a terrible night.

We sail away from Hilo.

Five of the next days will be sea days so we’ll have some time to recharge our batteries.  We have spent six straight days in port in Hawaii, so some relaxing sea days are certainly welcome.

Tales of the South Pacific - Kahului, Maui

Cruise Day 12

Friday, October 10, 2025

Today we are docked on the north shore of Maui in the town of Kahului.  The only other time we visited Maui we anchored outside of Lahaina on the south shore of the island and tendered in, but because much of Lahaina was burned down or damaged in the devastating fires a few years ago, here we are in Kahului today.

We had an early excursion planned today so we were up at 6:00 and at the World Stage by 7:30 waiting for our tour to be called.  Our tour today is called “Hana Road Adventure and Picnic”.  The Road to Hana is a famous drive along the northern Maui Coast to the small town of Hana.  On our previous visit to Maui, we had rented a car and had intended to drive the Road to Hana, but we were told it was a long and slow drive, so we gave up the idea as we were afraid of not getting back to the ship in time.

We arrive at Maui

Into the breakwater before docking in Kahului.

It took a while for the ship to be moored and the gangway opened, but finally our tour was called, and we headed out through the terminal building to the meeting place where two vans were waiting for us.  It turned out that only twelve people had booked this tour, and one had cancelled so there were only 11 of us for two vans that held twelve each.  Six of us were assigned to the first van and the other five to the second, so we had plenty of room.  The van was very nice and comfortable with very good air conditioning, and we were soon on our way.

We drove through the town of Kahului and the surrounding area until we reached a signed marking Mile 0 on the Road to Hana.  We also entered a pretty dense jungle area.  Our first stop was at a small park beside a beautiful cove.  It was mainly a bathroom stop, so it was brief, but the area was very scenic.

Picture from the bus.

We made a short rest stop here, but it was a very scenic spot.

 

After that we began to see why the road to Hana takes so long and is difficult to drive.  It is an extremely winding road with very narrow and sometimes one lane stretches of road.  It was a beautiful drive through the jungle with view of the coast as we drove.  It was also a heavily driven road so there were many cars, and our driver / guide Genaro had to be very alert through the narrow and especially one lane sections.  He had driven it many times though and knew just what to do while all the time giving us an excellent commentary on the area.

More pictures from the bus.

There was quite a bit of farming going on though not the kind of farming we are used to seeing and it pretty much looked like just jungle to us, but there were macadamia nut trees, banana trees and many other tropical fruit trees.  Most of this was being grown for roadside stands and local use.

One of the small farms we saw along the road.

I knew that many famous and wealthy people had homes in Maui, but I didn’t know where, but our guide pointed out an area along the Hana Coast where several well-known people lived or had owned farms such as Willie Nelson, George Harrison, and Kristofferson.  Jim Nabors (famous for his Gomer Pyle character) also had lived in the area before he died and raised macadamia nuts and sold them at the Hana Farmers Markets labeled as Gomer’s Nuts.

We passed up several of the scheduled stops along the way as there were just too many people and not enough parking.  As we neared Hana, we stopped at Wai'anapanapa State Park where we had an hour to walk around or even swim at the beautiful black sand beach if we wanted.  None of us were prepared to swim so everyone passed on the swimming although the water did look inviting. 

The was a very nice black sand beach where you could swim and snorkel, but no one from our group was prepared to swim.

 

Before we left, our guide brought out a very good picnic lunch that we had before continuing on our way to Hana.  Hana was a very nice, but very remote small town that supplied the only services for this part of the island.  We drove through the town and down along its small harbor with our guide pointing out points of interest and telling us stories about Hana.

By this time, we were running a bit late, so it was time to start heading back.  Our first stop on the way back was Pua'a Ka'a State Park where there was a nice waterfall and an area at the bottom of the waterfall where you could swim if you wanted, but once again, no one in our group wanted to swim although the water looked inviting.

Next, we stopped at the Rainbow Eucalyptus tree that got its name the unusual coloring of the tree.  This was just a brief stop for photo taking before we moved on. 

Our last stop of the day was a stop at Ho'okipa Beach Park or Turtle Beach as it is known locally.  Once you see the beach you know how it got its name as there were quite a few very large sea turtles lazing on the beach.  Because of the trees growing along the beach, it was hard to get a good look at them unless you walked all the way down to the beach, but by this time of the day we had neither the energy nor the time to do that.  Further down the same beach is a very popular spot for surfing and wind surfing and there were plenty of both out today.

 

The was the end of the tour so we headed back to the ship.  This had been a wonderful tour today, the weather was beautiful and not too hot, our guide was great, and best of all, the Hana Coast is amazing and beautiful.  Before I had ever visited Hawaii, I pictured it as a tropical paradise with lush foliage and a beautiful coast, and the Hana Coast was the epitome of that.

We got back to the ship around five and after cleaning up a bit we watched the sail away from our balcony as it was a beautiful balmy night.  We had our dinner as usual, but again no casino and called it an early night, it had been a long night for us.