Hawaii / Tahiti 30 Day Cruise - Day 6 Honolulu

Thursday Day 6 - Honolulu

I woke up early this morning and kept getting up to see if I could see land.  Finally around 7:30 it was LAND HO!  The first time we’d seen land in four days.  On our way into Honolulu we saw a whale and several dolphins.  The weather was warm with just a few clouds so it looked like a good day.  We docked next to the landmark Aloha Tower, but there was no music and dancers to welcome us as there was last time we sailed into Honolulu.  We didn’t actually dock until 10:00 so we had a leisurely breakfast before we went ashore.

 

Coming into Honolulu.  That's Diamondhead on the right.

Entering the harbor.

Honolulu

The Aloha Tower.  We will go past it and then dock along side it.

Before we left home we purchased tickets for the Waikiki Trolley so that was our plan for today.  The Waikiki Trolley is a hop-on / hop-off trolley with three lines that run around Honolulu, the red, pink and green line.  The red line stops at the Aloha Tower next to the ship so we hopped on and headed downtown.  The pink line runs mainly in the Waikiki Beach area and the green line runs out to the Diamond Head area and then back into the city.  After visiting various areas and having lunch we caught the red line and headed back to the ship.  Although the main focus today was not picture taking, here are a few we took along the way.

Waikiki Beach

The view from the Diamondhead parking area.

The green line Waikiki Trolley.

We had fun on shore, but the crew had to work.

We got back around 4:00 and got cleaned up and relaxed until dinner.  It’s getting redundant to say this, but we had another good dinner as you can see from the pictures.

 

The Aloha Tower just before dinner.

Appetizer - Seafood Ceviche

Appetizer - Seafood Croquette

Entre - Roast Pork Loin with Carmalized Apple

Dessert - Chocolate Avalanche Cake.

Because we were in port, there was only one show tonight at 9:30 so after dinner we were off to the show.  The entertainment tonight was The Drums of Polynesia Cultural Review which was pretty good.  I took a few pictures, but as you can see, they are a little blurry as they were moving too fast.

After the show it was off to bed as we have to get up early tomorrow for our trip to Pearl Harbor.

Hawaii / Tahiti 30 Day Cruise - Day 5 At Sea

Wednesday Day 5 - At Sea

Today we woke up to sunny skies for the first time on the trip.  It was also much warmer and the humidity continues to climb.  There is a suite function in the Pinnacle Grill today, so we had a light continental breakfast in the Neptune Lounge.  Val and I decided to do some walking on the lower promenade deck so went down and did two laps around the decks.  From there we decided to spend some time at the sea view pool, but it was pretty crowded so we spent the rest of the morning relaxing on our balcony.

The Pinnacle Grill suite luncheon was nice, but I thought not organized too well.  It was set up as a buffet and to keep the line short, only certain tables were let go at one time.  This created delays and by the time we got up there some of the food needed replenishing and others had cooled off.  All in all though, it was good and we got to meet some of our neighbors.  After lunch Val returned to the team trivia competition where her team again did well, but not well enough to win.  Today was the second qualifying slot tournament and I had a coupon for an entry so I gave it another try.  Unfortunately, I did even worse today and didn’t come close to winning.  From there I went to a lecture on the little known smaller islands in the Hawaiian Island chain.  There are actually 132 islands in the Hawaiian Islands stretching 2500 miles with the last one being Midway.

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading and taking it easy.  We decided not to go to the show tonight, but instead went up to the Crow’s Nest and had a couple of drinks and hors d’oeuvres.  It was very quiet up there at that time of the evening and nice for a change.  Later, after another very good dinner, it was off to the casino to finish the night.  This time my luck finally changed and not only did I gain back everything I lost, I am actually up for the trip.  Unfortunately for Val, her luck turned for the worse.  That was the end of our day, tomorrow morning we sail into Honolulu for our first port of the trip.  

Here are a couple of pictures Val took of our sunset tonight.

Hawaii / Tahiti 30 Day Cruise - Day 4 At Sea

Tuesday Day 4 - At Sea

I got up early this morning to take some pictures around the ship before too many people were out and about.  I’m not normally an early riser, but we have been gaining an hour every day since we left so it was pretty easy to get up before seven.  We’ll pay the price on the way home as we’ll be losing an hour every day.  Today the weather continued to get warmer with noticeably more humidity.  After breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill again, Val was off to a seminar on black coral and pearls in the Islands and I did some reading and then caught up on the blog.  Lunch was again snacks in the Neptune Lounge and then it was on to the team trivia in the Crow’s Nest.  This time we participated as someone asked us to join their team, but we didn’t help them much as our team did not win, but our score was respectable

 

I hadn’t gotten much exercise since we’d left so I decided to do some walking.  The best place to walk is the lower promenade deck as it is continuous all the way around the ship, once around equals one third of a mile.  I managed to walk a brisk two miles and felt pretty good, something about walking while looking out at the ocean made me feel pretty good.  After I had a quick shower, Val and I decided to sign up for Bingo and the chance to win a free cruise.  Val came close, but she didn’t win this one, but it was fun.

From there we had a little time to relax and then it was time to get ready for the evening’s entertainment and dinner.  The show tonight was a Beatles tribute band called Paperback Writer and they were quite good, better than the Beach Boys tribute band we saw a few nights ago.  

 

Beatles tribute band Paperback Writer

After another good dinner (I did remember pictures this time, Mikie), we finished the night with a stop in the casino to spend our allotted gambling dollars.   Val is actually doing pretty well.  Tomorrow is our last sea day before we reach Honolulu Thursday.

 

Because of the lighting in the dining room, the color balance in the pictures was way off.  I will try to do better next time.

Dave at dinner.

Entree - Broiled Paillard Beef with Dijon Mustard Sauce

Dessert - Chocolate Seduction

Val at dinner.

Entree - Spice-Rubbed Grilled Basa Fillet

Dessert - Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Sauce

Hawaii / Tahiti 30 Day Cruise - Ship Tour Part 1

Westerdam Tour Part 1

I’ll take a little time here to give a photo tour of the Westerdam, but first a little background.  It was built in 2004 and is 950 feet long and 106 feet wide.  There are eleven passenger decks and it holds 1950 passengers and 800 crew members.  As I have said before, it is a pretty small ship compared to many of the newer cruise ships which hold thousands of passenger, but it is very comfortable and we prefer the smaller ships.  The following pictures show most of the main public areas and some of the bars and gathering places scattered through the ship.

 

The Atrium from Deck 1.  The Atrium is in the center of the ship and extends up three decks.

Looking up into the Atrium.

Looking down from above.

Crystal Ship chandelier.

The Culinary Arts Center.

The Casino.

The Vista Lounge where the entertainment is held.

Looking back from the stage.

The Vista Lounge.

The Vista Lounge from the balcony.

One of the many alcoves to sit and relax around the ship.

The Explorer's Lounge.

The Vista Dining Room.

Looking down into the lower level of the Vista Dining Room.

The Vista Dining Room.

The Ocean Bar.

The Ocean Bar.

The Sports Bar.

The Exploration Cafe.

The Library.

The Crow's Nest.

The Crow's Nest.

The Crow's Nest.

There is lots of artwork scattered around the ship.  These are some of our favorites.