Although the Zuiderdam arrived to the port of Kahului, Maui, at 7am, the ship was not cleared until after 8am. According to Captain Frank, the entire shoreside security team had not arrived yet. By the time they got their act together, the ship was cleared around 8:30am. The Captain said that we would stay an extra hour to make up for the late start. That was directed more to the shore excursion guests we assume. Speaking of tours, there were a few here like Haleakala biking for $190. or the pineapple plantation and Ocean Center for $160. A beach break was $130, while the transfer to Lahaina was $90 per person. If you wanted to add the Atlantis submarine with the transfer, it cost $290. When we first heard that the stop in Lahaina was cancelled, we thought we read our substitute port was Kaanapali, a short distance north of Lahaina. Well, after looking closer at the itinerary, we discovered that Kahului was located far away from Lahaina, and the drive would be one hour each way, if the traffic was light. Now we understand why the transfer was so expensive.
With all of the times we have visited Maui , we never stopped in this port. Doing a little internet homework last night, we learned that the ship was docked and we would not have to use the tender boats. Guess that is a plus. It looked like the town was near to the port area, but how far was the walk there? One of our gripes here is that the port talks are not repeated on the TV. And since we have chosen to avoid large crowds in lounges, we have missed every informative lecture. No maps are handed out, like we always got on world cruises. Maybe those will be discontinued as well. It's the "green" thing once again.
Getting out of the pier was like going through a maze. Once out of the terminal building, we entered a narrow walkway that had cyclone fencing on both sides. It seemed to go on forever, and oddly enough, we saw many empty cans of cat food on both sides of the fencing. We can only assume that there are a lot of rodents here, and the cats serve a purpose. Finally, we reached freedom at the main street. Directly across the street was a decent shopping mall called Maui Mall Village. Probably not exactly what most people want to do, but we know the crew will be happy with this stop. This outdoor mall had Whole Foods, Longs Drugs, TJ Maxx, Ross, and numerous boutique-type shops. In addition, there were many fast- food eateries like Jack-in-the-Box, Burger King, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and Wendy's to name a few.
While passing through the mall, we ran into Howard, who we have not seen for weeks now. We must be on a different wave length. Then we saw two more world cruise folks we know, Margaret and Donald. They had boarded in Vancouver, and had not crossed paths with us either until today. The bigger the ship, the less likely you see folks you know.
We asked a Whole Foods checker if she knew where Marco's Deli & Grill was located. She pointed to the main drive, and said follow it to Dairy Road. It was well over a mile, where we did find it on the corner. Our main reason for going there was that we knew they had a five star rating and good pizza. We were a little early. To eat up some time, we ducked into a fabric store, one of my favorite things to do. Ninety percent of the materials were cotton, more suitable for quilt-making. The more interesting items were the new sewing machines that have really gone high tech. Some were priced over $7000, and were very large compared to my Husqvarna I use at home.
So we entered Marco's Deli & Grill restaurant, noticing that it was almost full. Many folks were eating breakfast. Once we were seated and checked the menu, we did not see pizza anywhere on it. Asking the waitress about it, she said they have not served pizza for several years. They just never changed their advertisement on the internet. For the first time we can recall, we thanked them, but were really set on pizza today. We left the restaurant, making space for waiting customers.
We had passed the Ale House in the mall area, which had pizza, so we headed back there. A good sign was that the parking lot was full and it was only noontime. Their extensive menu was on the wall outside the door. Once seated, we noticed the only menu available was by scanning the QR code with your cell phone. Well, we do not have one, so the waitress, (who was new we think), showed us the menu she had printed for herself. When we asked what Hawaiian pizza had on the top, she went outside to check the wall menu. She came back giggling that it had shredded pork, mozzarella and goat cheese, and a BBQ sauce with diced pineapples. Sounded good to us. We ordered a 14 inch pie along with two draft beers. It was so hot outside, the beers went down easy. So did the thin crust tasty pizza. Glad we took a chance and came back here. This place is more like a sport's bar, so by the time we left, most of the seating was filled….mostly with the local younger working crowd.
One more stop to make was at Longs Drugs for a few items we did not get at Walmart the other day. Made it back through the maze before 3pm, and chilled out the rest of the afternoon. The internet has been acting strange again, and some of the reports are missing the photos. We are trying to figure out a better way of sending or a better time to do it. Some days it works, the other days, it doesn't.
The ship left close to 7pm, and by then, it was dark. But we did get a brief sighting of some stingrays directly below our veranda. Even got some pictures. It was also nice watching the fading lights of the city get smaller and smaller as we sailed towards Kona, Hawaii, tomorrow's port and the final one in the Hawaiian Islands. It will be the first tender port of this trip. And there will be many more to come.
Dinner was in the Pinnacle Grill for us. Starting with cocktails, we had our usual wedge salads, 7 ounce filet mignon, a baked potato, and sauteed mushrooms. All cooked perfectly. This venue was not crowded this evening, but we think with so many port days in a row, the guests are getting tired. Our meal ended with a scoop of ice cream and a couple of the cute chocolates they serve there.
Bill & Mary Ann
