We escorted a group of 54 people to Hawaii. We flew from Ohio to Honolulu. Now at this time we had been using a third party travel company to arrange our group travel for us. They are out of NJ and will remain nameless. First class ground transportation was supposed to have been arranged for our group to take a short trip from the airport to the Marriott on Waikiki Beach. All we can say is never use a bus service by a person named Aunt Hattie! Seems our “used-to-be” travel company went on the cheap with our ground transportation. If you held your fingers near the window you could almost feel the AC in these vintage 1960’s buses. We ended up putting one of our suitcases on the ground for a step at the hotel because the hydraulics’ didn’t work and they couldn’t lower the bus closer to the ground.
Remember this blog is not all fluff. If we come across something you should be aware of we will mention it.
OK enough of that! The Marriott Resort at Waikiki was beautiful. The beach was spectacular as was our view of Diamond Head. Several of our group made the trek up Diamond Head the next morning.
We found there was a free concert at the open air bar every Sunday evening by locally famous Martin Pahinui and his band playing traditional Hawaiian slack key guitar, lap steel guitar and singing traditional Hawaiian songs. Very nice!
We did discover the International Market Place on Kalakaua Ave. This is a large open air market within walking distance of the hotel. There are many different vendors to choose from here. We also stumbled across a small open air breakfast buffet that was really great. Lots of fresh fruits, melons and regular buffet items. All you can eat for only $5. Our point being don’t be afraid to explore and ask the locals where they go.
From here we took a short ride to the cruise docks and boarded the Norwegian Cruise Line ship Pride of America.
NCL started the whole Free Style Dining experience for cruise ships. One tip I would pass on to you is: once you get settled in take a tour of all the restaurants and choose any that you want to have reservations in. Make your reservations the first or the second day in advance as the premium dining times do fill up. Just a tip to get you a head of the game.
Taking a cruise line, like NCL, is really the best way to see the Hawaiian Islands. All of your meals and lodging are already paid for. You don’t have to pay for inter-island transportation or any other extras, except maybe any shore excursions you want to indulge in. We took a couple excursions, but on two of the islands a group of us rented a van and shared the cost and driving and toured on our own. It was great!
Points to remember:
If you learn just two words in Hawaiian, learn these. They are two of the most important words in the Hawaiian language. Aloha and mahalo pronounced ah loh hah and mah hah loh.
The other thing you will see often is the unique wave. With your palm facing inward point your thumb up while curling your middle three fingers toward your palm and extending your pinky. Now flex your hand at the wrist up and down. That's it you have it!
You can view pictures of some of the sites we visited in Hawaii by clicking the link Hawaii Pictures to the left.
If you have interest in vacationing to the fabulous Hawaiian Islands please contact us at travel@sandtravel.com or visit our website at http://www.sandtravel.com/
Sally & Norm
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