RADIANCE/HAWAII Sept 11-21,2015 REVIEW w/lots of photos

[Hoopster95]

Unknown about Radiance. Navigator had a dry dock recently and did not get them.

 

Right! I should never assume... was on NOS 3 months after drydock last May, should have known. Funny how Jewel can have them, and yet not the newly upgraded ships. Strange. Wonder what the reasoning is.

[Hoopster95]

I missed mentioning that the Make-A-Wish walk was still held on Day 6. The Capt & all officers participated as usual. The line-up for donations was HUGE! Well done Radiance cruisers. The walk itself was small as I suspect most people simply donated and went about their final sea day.... as I did, this is the first walk I didn't participate.

 

I thought that RCL's involvement with Make-A-Wish had stopped, so I went over to donate and asked what the deal was.... RCL still has so many T-shirts in stock that they didn't know what to do with that they simply decided to continue with the program until most everything is gone. If someone can confirm on a recent sailing on another ship whether they did the walk or not that would be great. They suspected they'll end up with boxes small and XXL's when all said and done, and he said they've estimated January being D-day for them not to have anymore T-shirts left over (in Miami warehouse I assume??) and that'll when the Make-A-Wish walk will be officially retired. So I likely got my last shirt unless Jewel is still doing a walk come my December sailing.

[pspercy]

 

 

 

 

Great wine :) Why are the ones I like always so $$$:eek:

[Hoopster95]

Great wine :) Why are the ones I like always so $$$:eek:

 

Hehe.... yes, the Masi's tasty (heavy though, but great for meats!) Brought that one on board in my carry-on, RCL doesn't stock it.

[dreamer976]

Right! I should never assume... was on NOS 3 months after drydock last May, should have known. Funny how Jewel can have them, and yet not the newly upgraded ships. Strange. Wonder what the reasoning is.

 

It is my understanding that the only ships w/the Freestyle machines are those that only home port in the US. Navigator OTS, for example, still cruises over in Europe for the summer season. Something to do w/the availability of the syrup refill packs.

[Hoopster95]

Finally!!!!!..... we've arrived in Hilo, Hawaii! We docked very early at 6am so I did not get up early to watch sail-in, and thankfully I didn't as it's a very industrial port with not really that much to look at. The weather was suspect also with some dark clouds hanging around, but we were hopeful that things would clear up a bit.

 

 

 

As a precursor to the next 4 days, I would love any of you experienced Hawaii travelers to chime in and mention things I may have forgotten or I explain incorrectly....

 

I booked all 4 port days through RCL ShoreEx (excursion desk)... something I never ever do anymore. The reason? I had pre-purchased lots of $$$ with obc pre-cruise as RCL offers a $1.10 exchange rate on obc for Canadians (vs. paying via credit card with current bank rates at $1.35). I also checked private tours and so forth before making any excursion decisions, but decided on this route for this trip. The biggest example I can use is tomorrow's helicopter tour ... booking through RCL with the $1.10 exchange was actually less expensive than booking direct through the helicopter company and paying the $1.35 exchange! As as another side note... Hawaii is made for self exploration and I will likely not do a paid excursion there again. I've read several times the best thing in Hawaii is have a car rental at all the ports... that is 100% true imho.

 

Having said that, our booked tour today was the Kilauea Crater Adventure Hike (7hrs) booked through RCL, but was run by Arnott's Adventure Tours.

This would be our favorite tour and day out of the 4 ports!

 

We were very easily assembled... and early than the posted time... on the pier, and our tour guide for the day, Sean, loaded up a minivan to get us going on our way. After a short drive through the town with narration by Sean, we arrived at the Kilauea Visitor center about 10min before they opened. We hung out a bit, walked the grounds, and viewed the inside of the presentation center where park rangers have all the info you would need for the day.

 

 

 

 

If you were driving yourself here, there is a heap of easy to follow info to help you. But definitely you should do your homework before arriving so that you have a very good idea of your timing to/from the ship, exactly what you want to see, etc.

 

 

 

 

The 4 or more hours map does not include what we did today, as the hike itself at the pace we did it took a good 2-2.5 hours with stops, photo ops, explanations of foliage and history of the crater, etc. If you're doing this day on your own in a rental car, you'll be seeing other sites that I did not get to see on this day. I think this park needs at least 2 days of exploring and spending time in to see all the formations and sites. And from the close-up of this map below, we walked along a portion of the Rim Trail and headed down to the Kilauea Iki Crater (bottom right from the visitor center)

 

 

 

So having had some time to check the visitor center out for a few minutes, bathroom break, etc.... we headed into the van and went to the trail head parking lot to start our hike......

[Hoopster95]

I have to say now, and those of you who can remember witnessing this for the very first time, the following photos do not at all represent the beauty and awe of seeing Kilauea for the first time from the parking/viewing area at the trail head. These photos do zero justice compared to standing there in person and looking down into the valley.... outrageously gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

The lighting in my photos above changes as the cloud cover moves in and out of the sun... you'll see some pics much clearer than others as I progress through the review, and you can see above the zoom I took was right at a moment when a little sun broke through.

 

Also note that we'll actually be walking waaaaay down there!!!!! Simply amazing.

 

There's a couple of signs and maps posted at the beginning of the trail head explaining the history of Kilauea and it's last massive activity... 1959 was the last real big eruption. Note the height of the plume of fire erupting from the base, and take specific note of the height of the mountain to the left.... and then scroll up to the first 2 pictures to compare. Unreal!!! My pics coming up soon from below standing at that exact spot where the fire was coming at the base of the mountain are just as impressive.

 

 

 

Here Sean explains our hike, the timing, more history, etc. Note on this map there's a small quicky map just to give you further instruction if needed. The trail's are easily marked, I wouldn't think anyone could get lost to be honest, especially with one of the maps provided by the rangers as plenty of signage is posted along the way.

 

 

 

So down we descended from the parking area... elevations change quite a bit, and the trail isn't at all flat but it is kept free of debris and overgrowth for sure. 100% for sure this is NOT doable with sandals. There's lots of roots, muddy areas, etc. And unfortunately there is no way to do this hike if you are mobility challenged... on the other side of the hike, there's a very high ascent to the top with 7 switch backs. For at least half of that part of the trail only 1 person can fit, and there were a small group of older folk (approx 60-65) really struggling, sweat pouring down, taking their time trying to get up but a very long line developed behind them. Finally the were able to pull-over and stop, allowing everyone else through. So be aware and know yourself if you are considering this trek.

 

 

 

There were plenty of short stops and photo ops with the various trees and foliage that you just don't see everyday on your hometown. I'm normally not into the flowers/trees but all of this was very interesting on this hike.

 

[Hoopster95]

Continuing with the foliage/fauna theme, I've got a few pics of various different things we got to see. I really liked these little guys, they were found everywhere.

 

 

 

 

And they multiply into really awesome shapes and patterns, with the fern leaves growing out of them

 

 

 

Overall, with a few stops as described, we reached this viewpoint of the crater maybe within only about 30 minutes'ish, and we're actually going to be walking down there shortly!

 

 

 

Another stop along the way produced this vegetation that is not original to Hawaii, but was planted by a ranger's wife many years ago at the ranger's house... because she liked it the flower!!! It's some kind of ginger, and it's extremely evasive, and is attacking/killing some of the natural vegetation of the area. Sean said there's a program to kill these plants at the root that seems to be working, and showed us areas where they killed the plant and showed the size of the roots.... wow! Empty patches with totally huge roots (looks like bulbs) sticking out in massive clumps, hundreds and hundreds in various pockets everywhere along the hike.

 

 

 

And now we're almost there. Just 1/5th of a mile to go as you can see from one of the many and typical signs you see on the trail letting you know where you are.

 

[Hoopster95]

Right after the sign marker above, we reached a set of steep uneven stairs with switchbacks that descended quickly from the crater rim all the way down to the bottom. There were various spots to view the crater as we descended.

 

 

 

Within a few minutes, we reached the clearing below and whalla... made it!!!

Remember a few posts ago how high the plume of lava was is the 1959 eruption photos? Compare that now to the height of the mountain behind me. Wow!!

 

 

 

What a gorgeous/rare place to be. Below is a zoom way across the valley to the other side. Look closely right in the middle... there's people there, that's where the trail goes. Awesome!

 

 

 

So after this 10-15 minute photo-op and break, we gathered our things and headed down into the center of the crater. We were one of the first groups there, and in front of us there was a group we had caught up to... not to worry... there's no crowding around here in this expanse lol. This photo below I added even though it's a duplicate of the one of me in it above in that it gives you the depth perception of seeing the people walking ahead with how large this entire area is

 

[Hoopster95]

Walking onside the crater is so very surreal... very very cool. Love the odd plant life that is growing sparsely here and there. I don't know the name of this tree but this is the most common of any shrubbery within the crater

 

 

 

 

Here you can see how far we've come already

 

 

 

And here just heading up the ridge towards the mountain side in all the previous pictures

 

 

 

And here we're looking at ground zero ahead... just up that little hill and over is the actual mouth of the crater where the lava and debris erupted from

 

[Hoopster95]

So referring back to the first photo of Kilauea in previous posts, we are now standing at the base of that "mountain" where the lava spewed out. The view is just spectacular here. You can clearly see the rock formations from the spewed debris compared to the flatter areas where lava cooled off smoothly.

 

 

 

The rocks are chocked full of various coloured minerals. Note in the 1st photo below is Lisa down at the one of the lowest points into the mouth of the crater to have a look. After that it's pretty much an abyss, you can;t quite see down any further so who knows how deep it goes or what would happen if anyone were to ever fall into/slide down there!!!

 

 

 

 

And here is a rare clump of "Pele's Hair". You can find the odd single strand, but Sean found this clump. These are thin strands of volcanic glass formed when molten lava was ejected into the air during the eruptions. Note that taking any rock or "hair" away may result in "Pele's Curse". There's stories about bad luck inflicting anyone who removes anything from the earth

 

 

 

We spent a good 15min or so in this area exploring, and off went down the ridge towards the center of the crater where we see more of the smooth molten lava that has been cooled off over the decades. Nevertheless, even though the earth was obviously scorched, today there's still plant life scattered around.

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Walking through the last half of the crater was totally different from the front half. The front half as you can see from the pics was very rocky and raw... here is totally interesting, as were the fissure cracks caused by the cooling. Note the width & depth of these fissures.... they're not little cracks

 

 

 

 

Another good shot with depth perception... these pushed-up mounds of material, obviously steam blow holes created by the heat and pressure below, seem much smaller from afar. Then you walk up to it and realize even the smallest ones are a good 10-15 feet high and prob around 30-40 feet in diameter. From far above they look like little bumps on the surface.

 

 

 

It's very difficult to capture in a picture, but there are plenty of open cracks producing steam. Walk up to any of these and you can smell that sulfur smell. Place your hand close to the opening and it feels exactly like a sauna! Quite hot, you can feel the density of the hot air.... very strange. I tried to put my hand as close as possible and almost into the rocks and couldn;t go any farther without being uncomfortable. So underneath where we're standing here is a massive sauna going on that's too hot for humans... and likely not that deep... yikes!

 

 

 

Finally we had reached the outer edge of the crater at the opposite side and took this shot before we began a very short ascent before the trail head appeared to connect to the Crater Rim Trail head.

 

 

 

And the final shot of our group. just behind the photographer will be the trailhead heading upward almost immediately through switchbacks and stairs, and this crater disappears from view in the foliage. What an awesome way to start our Hawaii exploration.... and it's only around noon!!

 

 

 

Earlier I mentioned the switchbacks and stairs... in the heat (even though it wasn't sunny) and humidity, I definitely worked up a sweat. This hike is not for the faint of heart or for anyone with medical issues. Getting you out of there in an emergency would not be easy other than helicopter from the crater itself or being carried out. This is the first excursion that I have taken labelled as intense activity with various warnings (ie. no pregnant women, no one with heart issues, no one with back issues, etc etc etc) that I thought the warnings were not overstaed and should be heeded.

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Amazing pictures!!!

 

 

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[JamesEM]

BIG THANKS for doing such a great job of taking us along on your tour of the volcano.

[aussielozzie18]

Loving your review. Thanks for all the great photos. Looking forward to more.

[Hoopster95]

Amazing pictures!!!

 

Hey Debbie! Thx :D... I wasn't going to go in depth on this review but since people had asked, I hope this helps someone plan.

 

 

BIG THANKS for doing such a great job of taking us along on your tour of the volcano.

 

You're welcome. The Volcano Park has to be the absolute #1 thing you must do when visiting Hilo, hands down. Unless you've been there many times, I just can't see someone missing seeing this by going snorkeling for example, huge injustice imho.

 

 

Loving your review. Thanks for all the great photos. Looking forward to more.

 

Thank you for your kind words aussielozzie

Edited October 9, 2015 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Now reaching the top of the trail head I wanted to document the end of the trek by this sign... as you can see it's 1.2 miles through the switchbacks all the way down to where our group photo was taken above (not a short walk, and especially uphill!), and 4.0 miles total from where we started up on the other side.

 

 

 

If I were to take a photo looking away from the sign above, the main Crater Rim Road goes by and there's a large parking area for cars & tour buses. Directly across the street is the Thurston lava tube for tourists to enter and explore. The second photo below gives you a really good overview of where you are standing and where the tubes are... we spent maybe 1/2 hour here as it doesn't take long at all.

 

 

 

 

After a short walk through the "jungle", here's the entry to the tube.

 

 

 

If you look at google images "Thurston Lava Tube" you will see plenty of awesome pictures, many obviously with proper lighting and professional cameras. Many of my photos in here were garbage as the lighting is really challenging with the lanterns, and on night settings and the aperture open tends to over expose and blurry with no tripod.... I just couldn't get it right. But here are a couple to give you an idea of the size of these tubes. I can just imagine the volume and flow of love floor to ceiling down these tubes. Wow!

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Now we were all getting hungry, so we all packed up into the minivan and headed up to the Thomas Jagger Museum and lookout point (only about 10-15 drive from the lava tubes). We were were given a small box lunch consisting of a really good wrap actually, chips & cookie. Water was served throughout the trip as needed, and also in the morning were were given granola bars at the start of the hike.

 

 

 

Below is the walkway entry in the museum, the lookout to the right and the museum directly in front. I have a few pics of the inside of the museum and various exhibits including Pele's Hair, the types of magma and rock that's expelled, video of previous eruptions, etc. but I won't bother posting... easy to look info up on-line and see other photos inside. I only spent maybe 10-15 minutes inside as the view to the crater was everything to me and time was short.

 

 

 

So with lunch in hand, we were given 45 minutes to roam on our own. Sean mentioned to take our lunch over to the lookout point, sit on the ledge looking out over the crater, and have lunch there. We beelined to the right, picked an empty spot on the ledge, and this is what we saw.... absolutely perfect suggestion! Here we sat, slowly ate our lunch and just enjoyed the majestic view.

 

 

 

 

I have various shots up here, including a couple of close-ups showing the still steaming fissures within the crater itself and the expelled rock from that distance... also there's various signs describing what you're seeing in all directions with more of the history.

 

 

 

With our pre-determined meeting time approaching, we headed back to the van and headed off to our next site seeing adventure

[Hoopster95]

Our final stop of the day was to be Akaka Falls. I'll say up front that truthfully I was hoping to see large falls much more closely all over Hawaii, but that never transpired. Seemed that all the larger "touristy" falls are only viewable from a distance and from designated trails/lookout points. Akaka was no different.

 

 

 

It's approximately a 15min walk into the park to the lookout point, the walk entirely on paved walkway so easy walking, however there are stairs so anyone who is mobility challenged I don;t think has any way to get down there. Throughout there's a ton of very cool plant life I just don't see back home to stop and look at

 

 

 

Shortly, we come to a drop off with stairs, in the distance we can see the falls come to view

 

 

 

And here we are at the lookout point.... like many of my photos, this pic does not do justice to actually being there (my video is better). These falls are over 100 feet tall, so that water is really moving fast and you can totally hear the thunder of the water as you come down the stairs the picture before.

 

 

 

There's plenty of images if you google "Akaka Falls" and of the surrounding area. It only takes about 30min- 1 hour to go around the entire loop walk depending on how long you stay to admire the falls, and how many stops you make taking pics of plant life and whathaveyou. Hee's another example of the plant life.

 

 

 

And close to the end of the walk there's the second set of smaller falls off to the side, again no access to get any closer than this... and this was zoomed somewhat through the trees so not a viewable as Akaka itself was from the proper lookout point. This was a really nice stop and very much worth it if time allows. However, if I was in my own car and pressed for time, my entire focus would be on the Crater Rim Road and some of the other sites I did not get to see within the park.

[Hoopster95]

So we all gathered pretty much on time as per Sean's instructions. It was so nice to be in a smaller group as it seems smaller groups you never end up waiting an extra 15min for that typical one couple that always never listen, never gets back on time, has no respect for the rest of the group, etc... many of you know what I mean!

 

The Mauna Loa macadamia nut plant was not on this tour list but Sean said since we've done everything without a hiccup and we had left earlier than normal this morning, we would make an extra stop here for about 1/2 hour. So we packed up into the van and off we went

 

 

 

 

They have a self guided tour there that takes only about 5 minutes really to look through the windows of their plant. This brought up flashbacks of that famous Lucille Ball episode of the the chocolate factory and them screwing up the assembly line as the conveyor belt goes faster lol! This company still has the assembly line workers, and you can see them clearly sorting and moving the product as it goes by their station.

 

 

 

We ended up buying many bags of various flavored nuts incl dark choc, milk choc, toffee & milk choc, wasabi & teriyaki, and well as Hershey kisses covered mac nuts. We were told that this year Hershey bought out Mauna Loa, and well they will not change the plant or how the product is made, obviously all the chocolate used in production is Hershey now and the Hershey kisses with a macadamia nut inside is a new product for them. Also within the store is a deli/ice cream shop... and very very busy! I stood in line for prob 15min to get my double scoop of vanilla+coconut macadamia nut ice cream... oh so good! Sorry no pic of the ice cream itself

 

 

 

Finally it was time to head back to the ship after an awesome day in Hilo, what turned out to be our favorite of the 4 ports.

 

 

 

We have decided to go casual this evening. Having no dinner reservations and not wanting any, we stayed in very casual clothes (incl. shorts) and headed up to the Viking Crown overflow for the DL.... no problem as many others were very casual and in shorts already. I was planning to head down to the helipad for sailaway, but then determined that since we were in an industrial area without the best views, and I was getting veeeery comfortable in my chair, we would just sit here and enjoy sailaway through the glass from this vantage point. I have to admit, out of all the cruising I've done this is my very first sailaway just chilling out in the Viking Crown.... very nice with drink in hand

 

 

 

Our plan was to go with the flow while in the 4 ports in Hawaii, and very possibly weather depending do Windjammer all 4 nights to end the cruise so that we can go out to the back deck in the semi-darkness and enjoy the views and sailaway. However, we stayed up in the DL for a while speaking with friends that we went to the WJ a little later than our normal dinner time. Grabbing our food and checking out the back area, it was draped off with plastic and you can really feel the wind rushing through... it didn't look like anyone was back there and it was getting dark'ish anyways, so we sat in the main WJ seating area.

 

This was our worst meal of the trip... not very good at all. It turned us off from coming back here and we made the decision then and there not to the remaining 3 nights. But we needed to eat so tried to pick and choose a few things (of course the salads are a safe bet), and we made due no problem in the end. In my rating system I give this WJ experience on Radiance a 5 = "a pass, but just barely".... the hot dishes/main courses in need of improvement in my books, and no where close to MDR whatsoever as reported on some other ships.

 

Tonight's entertainment was Leo Ward "Master Illusionist". I think the crowd was very tired and wasn't clapping much, but this guy was superb! I had never seen him so glad that I did, and he received a standing O when done. We did go up to Starquest for a little bit and also walked around the ship (ie. Schooner Bar & Colony Club) just to see what was going on if anything... the Pig & Whistle had just a few people in there listening to the guitarist as did the Schooner for the pianist, is was very dead everywhere. I had assumed this would be the case with another early day in Kona scheduled for tomorrow. So we hit the sack relatively early as well... Kona tomorrow!!

[BekkaW]

Loving your review and pictures, thank you! I was on Radiance earlier this year and the design is one of my favorites, with all the glass walls it's a beautiful. We're now seriously considering doing the Vancouver through to Sydney voyage in 2017!

Edited October 10, 2015 by BekkaW

[goodycruising]

Sorry to hear the windjammer was not great. We went from the buffet on Solstice which was excellent, to having our next trip on Rhapsody which was poor (breakfast lunch and dinner). We are interested to see what our next trip on Voyager will bring as far as buffet quality. I remember it being good nearly 3 years ago so we are hopeful.

 

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk

[Beachcruzer]

Loving your pictures and the review. I can't wait to see more. I'm definitely going to have to plan a trip to Hawaii one of these years! :D:D:D

[Hoopster95]

I'm definitely going to have to plan a trip to Hawaii one of these years!

 

Heck ya!! ... let me know when you start planning ;)... try to urge a few others to join like Merion_Mom is doing in 2017. Btw, would have to be Explorer all the way (not Radiance Class) for my personal tastes... and even better if they decide to bring Q or Ovation over within the next few years!!!!... sigh... I know, I know... I'm dreamin' :rolleyes:

If RCL ever decided on Q Class comng over I'd have to pull a "Mario" and work from my on-board office for a few months :eek::D:D

[DavyJoneses]

Enjoyed the photos...brought back some good memories.