"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report # 16 Honolulu, Oahu October 8, 2017 Sunday Mostly sunny & 82 degrees Part #1 Of 3 54 Pictures

Quite early this morning, the Eurodam pulled into the Honolulu Harbor, and docked at Pier Two. We had been expecting to dock at Aloha Tower, but it might be possible that this ship is too large. We were not bumped from there, because no other cruise ship was in port today. On the plus side, we are docked closer to downtown, shortening up the hike to town by a bit.

Located in the massive expanse of Pacific Ocean, Honolulu is considered the largest and most remote city on earth. Or at least that is what's stated in our port guide. Honolulu is the capital of the state of Hawaii, and has a population of over 905,000 people. It's most famous beach area is Waikiki with 175 high rises that can house 33,000 visitors. This 1 ½ mile stretch of beach ends with the extinct volcano, Diamond Head.

Another interesting fact is that there are 600,000 vehicles on the island, with only 1500 miles of mostly two lane roads. In the afternoon, we did notice that the main boulevard, Ala Moana, was solid traffic. A few years ago, a couple of cruisers with us on the Amsterdam missed the ship. Getting caught in the back-up of cars, they missed the ship by perhaps 20 minutes. We heard that major fines can be levied against the cruise lines by staying later than they should. Thousands of dollars by the minute in fact.

The weather was on our side today. It was mostly sunny with no rain in the forecast. At one point, we did get some light misting from a passing cloud, but we welcomed it.

Breakfast was served from 7:30 to 9am, as it always is on most all port days. And as we have been doing, we got to the doors around 8:30am. Today, there was no greeter at all. We waited at the kiosk, hoping that someone might spot us. Some pushy folks came up behind us, and said to just go in and seat ourselves. Saying no, we would wait a minute, they almost knocked us over to race to the back of the room.

Shortly after that, Mega, our head waiter buddy, did come to seat us, apologizing for the wait. Unless we have an assigned table for breakfast and lunch (which we do on the Grand Voyage), we will never take any seat in the house. If there is no waiter in that area, you will end up waiting forever to place your order. So, this is a first for us….seat yourselves? They don't even do that in the chain restaurants at home. There is always a greeter.

So, after we were seated at a very nice table for two with good waiters, we had a private word with the manager, Luis. He agreed that this method of seating folks in here is incorrect, but for just this cruise, it will remain this way. The excuse is that the average age of the guests at the moment is well over 80. In fact, he added that over 28 people came in with walkers and scooters this morning. They literally have no place to park them, without breaking the safety rules. He confided to us that so many of these guests demanded to be let inside without waiting, they gave in to their demands. They do not want to challenge the ADA rules, so the head waiters compromised the best they knew how. Make it a free-for-all. Despite it all, our food and service were excellent, because our dinner waiters took care of us.

We did our early morning emailing first before heading off to town. Leaving the ship around 10am, we were hit with the heat and humidity the second we went down the gangway. Barely a breeze blowing, it was promising to be one hot day. In hind sight, we should have brought more beverages with us, as the heat and searing sun sort of wiped us out on the way back. OK, maybe it was just one of us more than the other. Lingering in the shady spots taking photos along the way worked just fine.

Many buses and shuttles were passing by us on the boulevard. Some were tour buses, while others were free shuttles to Walmart or Hilo Hatties. At least they still have stores here in Oahu. One large store is near the airport, and the other is in the Ala Moana Mall, a smaller version. So if we wimped out to walk back, we always had that option. Of course there are always taxis, but we prefer to get the exercise instead.

One place we like to stop at is the Ward Center. This complex, one of the oldest shopping areas built back in the early days of tourism, has been under renovations the last few years. The final section had been closed down, and fenced off to begin the remodeling. Gone is one of the shops one of us always has luck in finding some unique clothes, one of a kind items suitable for cruising. Hope they relocate here the next time we come back.

A group of new condos are about complete in front of the Ala Moana Mall. These appear to be 5 stories high, and are probably a small fortune to rent or buy. It appears that the underground parking may tie these apartments to the mall shops and restaurants. We will probably come back here tomorrow for lunch.

Continuing on, we walked to the Hilton Hawaiian Village built right on Waikiki Beach. During a past trip, we spent a few days here before boarding a ship. Everything you need is right here. And obviously, scores of tourists have figured that out. Compared to the activity we saw here in January, we would estimate that four times the amount of tourists were here today. The lobby was jammed with folks coming and going, the spacious pools were full of sunbathers and swimmers, and every restaurant and café had few empty tables. Even a wedding party was in the beautiful garden and pond area, getting priceless photos taken. The beaming young couple looked like they came right out of a fashion magazine.

Snapping pictures of the koi streams with the visiting ducks, we continued on with our walk towards the sandy beach. Once again, the beach was full of umbrellas and beach towels, with hundreds of folks cooling off in the shallow aqua-blue water. It was so hot that one little girl, maybe 3 years old, found it impossible to put her tiny bare feet on the sand to follow her mom and sister. You could see that the tears were coming, and they did.

Every Sunday morning, a church group has a morning service on the beach. Signage indicated that permits are required to do this. What is not permitted is smoking, drinking alcohol, littering, biking, skateboarding, or soliciting among other things. Looks like it has worked, with the exception of a few people hiding in the shrubs sneaking a smoke.

By now, it was well past noon, and we needed to get out of the sun. One fun place to go here is the Hard Rock Café. Getting there, we walked through Fort Derussy and the US Army Museum. Finding Beachwalk Rd., we turned left at the Trump International Hotel and Tower, and made our way to the high end shopping area. A well as the HRC, a new Tommy Bahama shop is there, with their new restaurant located on the second floor. Maybe we will try lunch there sometime.

The Hard Rock was pretty full with customers for this Sunday morning. What drew some locals there was a singing contest with some groups of young kids, well-practiced little musicians and singers. These youngster, some only 8 years old, took the stage to sing tunes that only they knew. We ordered appetizers of Tupelo chicken tenders and a Margherita flatbread pizza to share. Ended up with a Southwest pizza, but said nothing, as it did look good with diced chicken and slices of avocado. With the music blasting, our waitress probably did not hear what we had ordered. Good way to try something new. We both enjoyed the pints of Longboard Island Lager.

Back-tracking, we slowly headed back towards the pier, cooling off in the shade along the park walk. Something new we had not seen in January is a rent-a-bike program. Just like we saw in Seattle, these bikes can be rented through an app on your cellphone, and the use of your credit card. The flyer did not state the price, but outlined the rules. Once in the Waikiki area, we spotted many of them being used by mostly young couples.

It was most welcomed getting back onboard into the air-conditioning at least for a few hours. By 5:30pm, we were headed out once again, but went in the opposite direction. This was the high light of the day…..dinner with longtime cruise friends, Bill & Leta. They have come to Honolulu every October for the last 10 years, and stay for one month at a hotel right on Waikiki Beach. This was our fourth year of meeting them at the Aloha Tower and a popular beer place. At one point, we all checked our watches and found it was 8pm. The next time we looked, it was 10pm, and the pace was shutting down for the evening. What a nice time we all had catching up on ship news and everything that has happened since we saw them in July on a two week Alaska trip. The ship was overnighting here, so the gangway would be open all evening. The streets were fairly empty of walkers this late, with the exception of groups of our kids from the ship. The only other company were hundreds of rather large cockroaches scurrying over the sidewalks as we walked by. Yuck…..

Bill & Mary Ann

Eurodam docked at Pier Two