Live from the Golden Princess 10/25/09 to Hawaii

[browntm]

Thank you for taking us on your journey - I'm loving it

I'll be leaving on the Dec 6 cruise

 

Someone mention buying a ukelele in Hilo - do you know if they can be mailed back home from the store?

 

Do you know what dry cleaning prizes are? or know where to find them?

 

Maui Tender - got some old bad knees, are the tenders easy to get into?

Much climbing up or down? or just step in type thing?

 

Are you using the wi fi in your cabin, or going to the cafe?

Any trouble using it in your cabin?

 

Mahalo

 

We bought our ukes from Hilo Guitars and Ukeleles. We asked David (Cole) before we got off in Hilo if they shipped and he was pretty certain they did, but it would be expensive. Which would be worth it if you didn't want to fool with carrying them on a plane, etc..

We flew to Los Angeles from Texas and of course packed a ton so we figured we wouldn't be able to carry them on with us. David told us that having a musical instrument will typically allow you an additional carry on. We took his word for it, but were ready to check our backpacks just in case. Got to LAX and had no problems carrying them on with us. We each had a backpack, I had my purse and we each had a ukelele. Not sure if we just lucked out or what, but that was our experience.

But I also know shipping is worth the price if you just don't want to deal with it!

 

Waimea'sMom ... thank you for taking us along with you! I have enjoyed reliving parts of our cruise. We certainly stayed busier than we ever imagined. The only difference is we were running from morning ballroom classes with Vian to our ukelele classes! Anyway...thanks again and enjoy the rest of the trip.

We performed in the final show as well and since the dress rehearsal was on Friday night, it was also the last formal night. We walked out of rehearsal in the Princess Theater and there was a photo area set up for formal night pictures. We pulled our ukeleles out and had one taken. It is my favorite picture of the cruise!

~

Tracy

[Waimea'sMom]

Thank you for taking us on your journey - I'm loving it

I'll be leaving on the Dec 6 cruise

 

Someone mention buying a ukelele in Hilo - do you know if they can be mailed back home from the store?

 

Do you know what dry cleaning prizes are? or know where to find them?

 

Maui Tender - got some old bad knees, are the tenders easy to get into?

Much climbing up or down? or just step in type thing?

 

Are you using the wi fi in your cabin, or going to the cafe?

Any trouble using it in your cabin?

 

Mahalo

 

Buying a ukulele -- I bought mine back home in CA so I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that Hilo Guitars will ship it back for you, but then you wouldn't have it to play onboard for the last sea days. I have done a lot of traveling with my ukulele (and I have a tenor, which is much larger than the traditional soprano, in a hard case). I have never had a problem bringing it onboard a plane, in New York, Chicago, Boston, LA, Hawaii, Seattle or any other city I have flown out of.

 

I don't have the dry cleaning prices with me, but I will try to remember to bring a laundry list with me next time I log on and I can tell you the prices then.

 

The tenders are pretty easy to get into...though in Maui the water was a bit rough, so be sure to let them help you into it so you don't slip. They don't allow wheelchairs onboard the tenders though, so for anyone who uses one, I think you have to be able to get into/out of the tender on your own. :(

 

I don't use the Wifi onboard, I just use the internet cafe computers.

 

Paka -- send me a private message with your email address and when I get home I will try to scan the eyelash lei flyer and email it to you.

 

So last night was Chef dinner so we chose to go to the buffet instead. No offense to my English friends (including my mother in law, who is from Sussex) but I'm not a big fan of English cuisine. The kidney pie, bangers and mash and liver with onions didn't appeal to me so I just got a Yorkshire pudding and a couple of pieces of pizza. The pizza had been great the last time I had it, but this time it was soggy and undercooked. I was bad though, as I got a soft serve vanilla ice cream with sprinkles. You can never have enough sprinkles!

 

We wanted to play shuffleboard but the evening rain made the deck too wet, so we passed by MUTS and it looked really cozy. Everyone had the flannel blankets and they were passing around cookies and milk.

 

Sorry I have to cut off, my internet time is out. I'm planning on using some of my mom's excess time this afternoon to finish this post...

 

One last note, our combined ukulele/hula dress rehearsal is today at 430pm. That is a tad inconvenient for us since we have first seating dinner and it is formal night so I'm going to be running up those steps to change as fast as I can! :)

[IECalCruiser]

Maui Tender - got some old bad knees, are the tenders easy to get into?

Much climbing up or down? or just step in type thing? There are some uneven surfaces and I believe at least three steps once you get into the tender. If you need assistance, please use the help of the crew when getting on board. Lahaina waters were quite calm when we were there, but they can also be somewhat choppy. You will need to see the conditions when you are there.

Are you using the wi fi in your cabin, or going to the cafe?

Any trouble using it in your cabin? WiFi is much improved over 2-3 years ago. We had good speed in our cabin on Dolphin deck. We got the 250 minute package ($100) and we had 50 minutes left over after checking email 3-4 times a day and doing a little web surfing. Of course we didn't post on CC. With an offline email program and a laptop it works well.

 

Mahalo

We were on the 10/11 cruise with Tracy(browntm) and enjoyed sharing Vian's dance classes with them.

[Nancyquilts]

Dh and I tried the fish and chips at the pub lunch in the Crown Grill - I think this was the 4th day they had it. Lots of service, but we found the catfish in the dining room for lunch the day before was much better. We generally eat breakfast and lunch in the dining room - always something we like, and sometimes we can get a table for 2 when we're not in the mood to share.

If I could run into WM, I'd like to give her some of my minutes - I still had 170 when I logged on, and we only have one more day. I've enjoyed her descriptions of the cruise.

People are still out soaking up sunshine, but it is getting cooler today. Ensenada tomorrow, but we've been there, so that gives me another day at sea.:D The Pacific has been incredibly smooth on the way back.

IMHO the entertainment not to miss has been the ventriloquist, Willy Tyler and Lester, and the magician - he did a lot of good tricks, not just card tricks as so many do these days.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Willie Lester and Tyler were on our cruise four years ago. They must like going back and forth. We just never got around to seeing their show.

 

If looking for an ukelele, you can check music stores in your area, especially if you live near a major city. I would imagine ground shipping in the Continental US would be far cheaper than getting one shipped from Hawaii. We got ours from Baxter Northup in Sherman Oaks, CA, when my hubby was checking out the music there. Don't know if there's specific hard cases; we bought a soft one for carrying ours. That way, you can play around with it before your cruise, and have it for the first uke class.

[Waimea'sMom]

If I could run into WM, I'd like to give her some of my minutes - I still had 170 when I logged on, and we only have one more day. I've enjoyed her descriptions of the cruise.

 

Ha! If I could meet you, I'd certainly take them! I'm poaching off my Mom's minutes right now.

 

So, this morning we decided to go to the dining room for breakfast, they really do have the yummiest coffee onboard. I splurged and got pancakes and bacon. My mother in law insists they serve too much food...I say just don't eat it all -- or split with someone else. :)

 

After breakfast, I ordered my copy of the Reflections DVD (complete with the additional dvds on Hawaii, Alaska and the Baltic area). I figure maybe I'll get lucky and convince my accountant to write them off on my taxes since I own a travel agency.

 

Then we went to trivia, and struck out again, we only got 13 this time. I think we may actually be getting dumber -- either that or the questions are getting harder!

 

After trivia, my Mom made us practice our hula steps since tonight is the dress rehearsal. She is really worried about this. It is kind of funny because all she talked about after the last time we did this cruise was how she wanted to do the hula, and she dragged me into doing it with her, when I would really rather play my ukulele, and now she is panicking about it.

 

Originally we were going to try to rush upstairs to put on our formal attire after rehearsal to go to dinner in the dining room, but now we are opting out and we are going to just get a chicken sandwich from the International Cafe instead.

 

So knowing we were going light on dinner, we went crazy at lunch. We chose the dining room and got the weiner schnitzel and pumpkin pie. The pie was good and the schnitzel was pretty good too (though nowhere near as great as the one at the Ratskeller in Old City Hall in Munich!).

 

The weather has cooled down quite a bit and for the first time in a while, it was actually chilly and breezy out on our balcony. The seas, though, are incredibly calm right now. There are really no whitecaps out there, and it is smooth as glass. That condition actually allowed my aunt and mother in law to notice some dolphins off our balcony this morning, as they were alerted by the small breaks in the water.

 

And hey, browntm (Tracy), thanks for the tip. Mom and I are going to have our portrait taken after rehearsal in our aloha attire and with my ukulele! :)

[PookyCat]

It has been so much fun experiencing the cruise through your eyes and experiences. Thank you so much for the gift of your time in sharing all this with us.

 

It's had to believe that your cruise is almost over :( - so many months of planning and in 14 days it's time to go back to every day life.

 

The information you have shared has me really evaluating taking some chances and diving into hula lessons and other things. I know I'm going to google eyelash leis as I crochet and would love to make some ahead of time.

 

Take care and thanks again for doing this!

[Nancyquilts]

Here we are in exotic Ensenada. It's been a really smooth trip except for a little action the first day or so.

It's time for another "live from" from the next group. We wish you calm seas and a great cruise. Nancy

[Waimea'sMom]

It has been so much fun experiencing the cruise through your eyes and experiences. Thank you so much for the gift of your time in sharing all this with us.

 

It's had to believe that your cruise is almost over :( - so many months of planning and in 14 days it's time to go back to every day life.

 

The information you have shared has me really evaluating taking some chances and diving into hula lessons and other things. I know I'm going to google eyelash leis as I crochet and would love to make some ahead of time.

 

Take care and thanks again for doing this!

 

Don't feel too bad for me, I've already got my next time on this itinerary booked, and I'm going to Hawaii for ten days in December. But it will be nice to be home, see the kitty cats, and have a normal Thanksgiving (if DH gets the day off...sigh, the downside of being married to someone in law enforcement).

 

So last night was our rehearsal for "Aloha Oe" -- it went pretty well. Some how I got put up front, so I get to be seen by all. Oh goodie. They filmed the rehearsal since they had to complete the Reflections DVD (already picked up my copy today). So the way I see it, far fewer people will see me mess up at the live show tonight that would have if I had in the taping yesterday, and I think I actually did okay for the taping. The hula was fun, but I really longed to be part of the ukulele group. Maybe I will switch back for the next sailing next year.

 

Today was my last day in the gym on this ship, and I actually had a treadmill for a change. I followed that up with some yummy Cream of Wheat for breakfast (though my DH stole all the brown sugar. Grr!).

 

After breakfast, we did trivia (poorly, only 12 right this time), and then I went and packed. So now, I'm all set to go home except for the last minute toss in items.

 

I opted for the Mexican lunch buffet today for lunch (in honor of Ensenada, I'm guessing). As a California girl, I'm a big fan of Mexican food, and I've been missing it sorely. We probably have it at least 3 or four days a week back home -- usually I make it. As DH put it, this was like the food you would get in a Mexican restaurant in Sweden, but any tortillas were a good thing to me as this point. I must be trying to get in the last minute splurge because I followed it with a soft serve vanilla cone -- what do I have to do to get these girls to give me adequate rainbow sprinkles? Grr!!!!

 

Now that I'm packed (and not going ashore in Ensenada -- been there before), I'm looking to play my ukulele in a quiet corner for a while, then maybe catch the end of the Hawaii's Vengeful Goddess showing on the television. I figure since I named my favorite ukulele after Pele, it wouldn't hurt to watch a documentary on her.

 

After that we have afternoon trivia, dinner, and then the "Aloha Oe" show. Here is hoping I don't make a complete fool of myself doing my little attempt at the hula.

 

Oh, and browntm (Tracy) thanks for the tip. Mom and I posed in our "Aloha Oe" Hawaiian outfits, with my ukulele for our portrait, and it turned out to be the best photo we took all cruise. I got it and I plan to frame it in a koa wood frame. :)

 

If I have one piece of advice for you folks embarking on this trip, it is to put yourself out there. Maybe you want to just sleep, read, eat and relax (like my DH did) and you can have a great time doing that. But I think if you take advantage of the unique opportunities afforded by this particular itinerary, you will have a rewarding trip to last you a lifetime.

 

Who cares if you aren't the best dancer, or musician, or if your arthritic hands make it harder to make a lei? If you embrace the Hawaiian culture, and spirit of aloha, you can come away with such valuable experiences and appreciation for one of the most beautiful cultures in the world. And you just may discover a new hobby that will lead to hours of happiness and new friends (as the ukulele did for me when I did this cruise last year). So dance the hula, plunk the ukulele strings, make beautiful leis and create memories and skills to last you forever.

 

Thank you all for reading my postings, it made my trip more enjoyable to share it with all of you. And thank you for the kind words of encouragement along the way. I'll probably do a last follow up when I get back home...it has been great. Mahalo and Aloha to you all.

[mamag]

Thank you for letting me relive this great cruise through your eyes. It's been a couple years since I was able to make this trip and you have reminded me I do to do it again.

[LETS PARTY]

Glad you had fun....Aloha from Maui

PS say Hi to Audi & Wilber for me if you see them....they were on the Sapphire with us the week before they got on the Golden

[browntm]

Don't feel too bad for me' date=' I've already got my next time on this itinerary booked, and I'm going to Hawaii for ten days in December. But it will be nice to be home, see the kitty cats, and have a normal Thanksgiving (if DH gets the day off...sigh, the downside of being married to someone in law enforcement).

 

So last night was our rehearsal for "Aloha Oe" -- it went pretty well. Some how I got put up front, so I get to be seen by all. Oh goodie. They filmed the rehearsal since they had to complete the Reflections DVD (already picked up my copy today). So the way I see it, far fewer people will see me mess up at the live show tonight that would have if I had in the taping yesterday, and I think I actually did okay for the taping. The hula was fun, but I really longed to be part of the ukulele group. Maybe I will switch back for the next sailing next year.

 

Today was my last day in the gym on this ship, and I actually had a treadmill for a change. I followed that up with some yummy Cream of Wheat for breakfast (though my DH stole all the brown sugar. Grr!).

 

After breakfast, we did trivia (poorly, only 12 right this time), and then I went and packed. So now, I'm all set to go home except for the last minute toss in items.

 

I opted for the Mexican lunch buffet today for lunch (in honor of Ensenada, I'm guessing). As a California girl, I'm a big fan of Mexican food, and I've been missing it sorely. We probably have it at least 3 or four days a week back home -- usually I make it. As DH put it, this was like the food you would get in a Mexican restaurant in Sweden, but any tortillas were a good thing to me as this point. I must be trying to get in the last minute splurge because I followed it with a soft serve vanilla cone -- what do I have to do to get these girls to give me adequate rainbow sprinkles? Grr!!!!

 

Now that I'm packed (and not going ashore in Ensenada -- been there before), I'm looking to play my ukulele in a quiet corner for a while, then maybe catch the end of the Hawaii's Vengeful Goddess showing on the television. I figure since I named my favorite ukulele after Pele, it wouldn't hurt to watch a documentary on her.

 

After that we have afternoon trivia, dinner, and then the "Aloha Oe" show. Here is hoping I don't make a complete fool of myself doing my little attempt at the hula.

 

Oh, and browntm (Tracy) thanks for the tip. Mom and I posed in our "Aloha Oe" Hawaiian outfits, with my ukulele for our portrait, and it turned out to be the best photo we took all cruise. I got it and I plan to frame it in a koa wood frame. :)

 

If I have one piece of advice for you folks embarking on this trip, it is to put yourself out there. Maybe you want to just sleep, read, eat and relax (like my DH did) and you can have a great time doing that. But I think if you take advantage of the unique opportunities afforded by this particular itinerary, you will have a rewarding trip to last you a lifetime.

 

Who cares if you aren't the best dancer, or musician, or if your arthritic hands make it harder to make a lei? If you embrace the Hawaiian culture, and spirit of aloha, you can come away with such valuable experiences and appreciation for one of the most beautiful cultures in the world. And you just may discover a new hobby that will lead to hours of happiness and new friends (as the ukulele did for me when I did this cruise last year). So dance the hula, plunk the ukulele strings, make beautiful leis and create memories and skills to last you forever.

 

Thank you all for reading my postings, it made my trip more enjoyable to share it with all of you. And thank you for the kind words of encouragement along the way. I'll probably do a last follow up when I get back home...it has been great. Mahalo and Aloha to you all.[/quote']

 

I am so glad you were able to get the picture done with your ukelele. I know I love mine and I don't typically like pictures with me in them!

Looking forward to your follow up once get home and settled.

 

Tracy