Live “Wingin’ It” Quantum of the Seas Transpacific Honolulu to Vancouver April 28-May 8, 2023

[Familygoboston]

Quantum of the Seas in Lahaina Maui at night. 

[rsharp83]

The Day 2 Hike in Maui

 

I posted above that I was a bit apprehensive about the ship sponsored rainforest hike in Maui. As our group rounded the corner and headed to the parking lot, there it was, the van from Hike Maui — so yes, we got to go with the tour company I wanted from the jump. I was probably a bit too excited about this turn of events. Lol. 

 

We headed up to the Twin Falls near Haiku. There’s a public accessible area here that is popular but, lucky for us, Hike Maui has arrangements with the 4 farms that are adjacent so we got to go where other groups cannot. This kind of arrangement is a huge bonus when looking for hiking trips on Maui. 

 

We had some excitement right out of the gate. The water was raging because of some unusually heavy rainfall over the past few days. Therefore, the waterfalls were massive torrents compared to the usual flow. We had a local man out on the edge of the falls, he’d been drinking and was determined to dive in. Nothing was stopping him. We watched as our guide Mirna got out her rescue throw line. She was clearly worried. In the end he did jump. He surfaced and did make his way out. Our guide was eager to move on and get us to the private hiking area. 

 

Once back on the trail we were surrounded by flora and fauna. The trail was wide and well maintained. Mirna found some Inga edulis, known as ice-cream bean fruit. We all got a taste of the sweet fruit and yes, it tastes like ice cream. 

 

We eventually forded a stream and spent time at the base of one of the falls. Again, much higher flow rates than normal. We hiked up a more difficult set of paths to see more waterfalls and have our provided lunch. Complete with Apple Bananas, which are soooooooo good. 

 

This hike isn’t flat trails. We were confronted with lots of tree roots, rocks, etc. You must constantly pay attention to where you are stepping or you’ll go down. Twisted ankles and other minor injuries are certainly possible. One guy in the other hike group showed up in flip flops! The guide wasn’t happy about that! 

 

All the Hike Maui guides are super informative and interesting. It’s one of the standout memories from my hike with them from over 20 years ago. We got a constant narrative on the trip up and throughout the hike itself. Good guides can make or break your experience. They also provided all the essentials we needed: backpack, water, bug spray, food, etc. 

 

It was a great day and once again, the RIGHT kind of tour provider makes a huge difference.

[rsharp83]

Here are some more hiking pics, because you can never have enough pictures!

 

 

[Familygoboston]

As you can see Hike Maui did an awesome job! Although the hike is not long, about 2 miles, it was rough (wear closed toe amphibious sandals or hiking boots- possible bring both)  if you don’t wish to swamp your boots. 😳 

We swamped our boots because it made us feel rough and rugged and like we were really hiking in a rain forest! Here’s our boots- beware if your don’t want this to happen to you! 

 

 

[Familygoboston]

Day 2 and 3 cruise compasses (

all in line now) 

[Familygoboston]

Shows at a glance 

[Familygoboston]

Shows at a glance 

[Familygoboston]

GLITCHES AND OTHER INTERNET TALK 

Sorry for the double post! Uncle Elon is playing with us! 🤣 For some reason, looked like the photos didn’t go up, but then they did and now you have a double post! 2 for the price of one! I’m generous like that! You are welcome! 
 

But while we are on the topic- internet packages. 
We bought a a 1 device Voom Surf and Stream. On this ship, they are using starlink and we’ve had good success uploading photos (not as quickly as at home, but workable!) and downloading content like emails and photo rich social media apps. So far so good! 
 

So if you haven’t cruises in a minute because of …well, you know, this is how things have changed. 
Packages are still cheaper to buy early, during the Halloween, Holi, Arbor Day or puppy day sales, than to buy on board so we purchased early. Especially in summer with a lot of families on board for Alaska, I’d buy at the earliest time you can find, they won’t be begging you to buy it at a lower price later. This cruise has a lot of “we like to unplug” senior citizens onboard (IE I might not be able to work the internet without my 13 yo grandson) but AK cruises will be younger and fully connected. Don’t count on your cell service in most of SE AK, I was there recently and while you might get it in port, you won’t see bars in glacier bay or in the inside passage. 

So fingernail sketch of what’s usually on offer -

surf: for emails and looking at SM 

surf and steam : for uploading pics, or downloading movies/videos 

You can buy ONE device and share it so long as the last person to use it logs off first (use log out.com) 

You can buy multiple devices (2 or 4 etc) and everyone can be on at the same time. 
Logging in is different too, the package you pre package is already linked to you and when you join the RC Wi-Fi in settings, you’ll have a browser window pop up. You can select FREE if you just want to use the RC app. If you have a package you select the other option and it prompts you put your name in, and make a PIN number (remember this is you plan to be logging in and out to share) You’ll be logged in with whatever package you bought and ready to go. Easy peasy, no codes, no lines to stand in, no redemptions to do. If you get stuck they staff the technology “bar” with staff to help and upsell you! 

If you are sharing the internet - Go to log out . Com and it will log you out of the internet and your partner can log in using the same pin you had. Then have them log out when they are done, rinse and repeat! 

[perfect match]

I’m definitely on board for this! I’ve already read a lot of your past reviews including your big group shared one - do I get any extra credit for previously read reviews. I’ll also be looking for your uncruise review once it’s up. 😀

We just got off Odyssey a week ago, our first time on a Quantum class ship. We kept very busy all week and still didn’t manage to do or see everything there was to do on the ship. Our biggest miss - we never once made it into the Solarium! I’m still scratching my head as to how I let that happen, but the planner in me is ashamed to say that happen it did. Guess I’ll have to book another Quantum class ship to rectify that omission! 🤣

 

Meanwhile, I can’t wait to see what you and your group do on this cruise. 🛳 So far it sure looks like a lot of fun!

 

[Familygoboston]

2 hours ago, perfect match said:

I’m definitely on board for this! I’ve already read a lot of your past reviews including your big group shared one - do I get any extra credit for previously read reviews. I’ll also be looking for your uncruise review once it’s up. 😀

We just got off Odyssey a week ago, our first time on a Quantum class ship. We kept very busy all week and still didn’t manage to do or see everything there was to do on the ship. Our biggest miss - we never once made it into the Solarium! I’m still scratching my head as to how I let that happen, but the planner in me is ashamed to say that happen it did. Guess I’ll have to book another Quantum class ship to rectify that omission! 🤣

 

Meanwhile, I can’t wait to see what you and your group do on this cruise. 🛳 So far it sure looks like a lot of fun!

 

Yea Nancy! Ii remember you! And you do get big bonus points for being an OG! Yeah! 
oh my gosh- I can imagine that you missed the solarium, it’s really nice in there, we’ve been doing breaksaft  every morning! Book it immediately! 🤣

Edited May 1, 2023 by Familygoboston

[Familygoboston]

Kanapali Beach/Black Rock Maui

After an overnight in Maui, tenders began running at 8 AM, not tender tickets required today. 
Our group made their way from the tender on foot to the Boss Frogs store off of Front St at the corner of Lahianaluna and Luakini streets. Boss Frogs rents lightweight sun umbrellas and back pack beach chairs ($10 each) per day. Snorkel gear is also available. We then took an Uber over to Kanapali beach.

Boss Frogs

 

We told the Uber driver to take us to the Sheraton, but there’s a public access path just before your reach the Sheraton, and it’s marked with a blue sign. 

The beaches in all of Hawaii are open to all, so it’s no problem to cross through a private property such as a hotel to to access the beach, but it’s usually easier to find the public access. Additionally, all of the resorts on the beach offer bars and restaurants and shops. 
Our beach set up! 

Their are a few fun things to do here: 

For then young and brave (stupid) you can climb up the black rock and jump 30 feet into the ocean 

For the old and fearful (wiser) you can snorkel the base of the black rock, where there are lots of marine life! 

Friendly sea turtle 

 

R# and FGB snorkel the reef by Black Rock 

 

After a full day of sand and surf, everyone in our group made their way back to Boss Frog store to return rentals and walk back to the tender pier.  
 

So all in all, it’s sounds like the day went smoothly, doesn’t it? But you’d be wrong. So first RSharp forgot to bring his Sea Pass card with him to the tender line (roomie mistake and we mocked him ceaselessly for this) Then his adult daughters didn’t specify the Sheraton Kanapali for their Uber drop off and they ended up being dropped on the other side of the beach with the huge massif of the rock separating them from us in front of the Sheraton.  
After a fairly uneventful day (and exciting snorkeling !) We did not succeed in returning to the Boss Frogs very well! In separate Ubers, one party ended up at the WRONG Boss Frogs, 15 minutes away. A second party made the same mistake! And in the middle of all this drama- we received an email from our Kona Hawaii tour guide that we had lined up to take us to Volcano National park, had come down with, well you know… and could not take us out tomorrow on our last port day before 6 days at sea. 
 

We began scrambling to make alternate plans (no ships excursions left except the coffee plantation. There’s a possibility to rent a car, maybe take a helicopter tour, but this is why this is the “wingin’” it cruise! Headed to Kona now and we’ll be “winging it” 

 

We headed to dinner thinking “the day really can’t get worse” Then after dinner we sat through the 10 PM show of Steve Larkin, Mercury Rising, and things did in fact get “worse” 🤣

 

 

 

[Familygoboston]

Headliner Show Day 3 

It all seemed so promising, like my Boston Bruins hockey team, which after a record breaking season and the two best goaltenders in the league, blew out a flip flop in the first series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs today. 😫
Steve Larkin- Mercury Rising was billed a Freddie Mercury tribute. Imagine the performer was to Freddie Mercury as older Elvis was to younger Elvis.
 

The set started with a cut so deep that even the 80s kids in our group hadn’t heard of it. While playing the hits, he’d pass off the microphone to someone in the front row to do the falsetto! The crowd was streaming out of the theater like there was an abandon ship call! 

To be fair, finding an act available for 2 weeks at sea isn’t easy. An Australian performing for Australians probably made sense last week when the ship was mostly Australians but the act was lost in translation this week with so many Americans. And the “humorous” banter between songs went mostly over the heads of everyone in the audience except the people in the front row (who got all the falsetto solos.)   One joke involving a play on the word “piles” was a “crappy” as it seems like it would be, making most in our group who understood the British term (for the results of the noro virus) just cringe. 

 

But our “Freddie” went out triumphantly wearing a crown! 
 

Edited May 1, 2023 by Familygoboston

[Familygoboston]

 

it’s not all bad news! I have a menu! 

 

Day 3 Menu 

 

 

And I’ve been collection door decoration photos, just cause they are fun! I’ll keep collecting them and post a bunch during the sea days when we have more time! 

I’ll post more ship photos and some cabin photos along with some tips about the cabin during our many sea days. But off to bed tonight so we can “wing it” in Kalua Kona tomorrow- wish us luck, I feel like we are going to need it! 🤣’ 

[Ocean Boy]

Wow, seems like I haven't run into you forever on these boards. This year was also my first time on a Q class ship... Odyssey. I'm interested to see what you think of the class.

 

Have a great trip.... I'm following!

[snaefell]

Really enjoying this thread,hits home on a number of levels.

We had our Summer vacation in the Hawaiian Islands in 1989 & 1990,loved the place & vowed to get back,still haven't managed it!

Our last cruise was on QOTS in October 2019,a repo cruise from China to Singapore,fantastic cruise,beautiful ship,we would have got back on her if Covid hadn't brought life grinding to a halt,as a result the stay in Singapore for QOTS lasted a couple of years!

One low spot of the cruise oddly enough was a Queen tribute show,dreadful & saw a mass exit from the theatre,sound familiar!?😆

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

[BonTexasNY]

I always enjoy your reviews.  This one is no exception.  Have a blast!

[island lady]

Saw you all sitting just off shore Lahaina.   We arrived yesterday for a "land lubber" six weeks in a condo in Maui at Kaanapali on the beach (north of black rock),   Quantum indeed looked so pretty sitting there off shore.  🙂 

 

We are seeing a LOT of turtles indeed from our balcony just off the beach all the time now.  Pretty water and great view...happy you were able to experience it.  🙂 

[perfect match]

18 hours ago, Familygoboston said:

For the old and fearful (wiser) you can snorkel the base of the black rock, where there are lots of marine life! 

I’d be right there with you snorkeling at the base of the black rock with your friendly sea turtle! 
 

I have a pet peeve about singers who expect the audience to do their job for them. If I’m at a particular singer’s concert I’m there because I want to hear them sing, not the audience. I don’t think I would have liked your Freddy Mercury tribute group show much either.

 

I can’t wait to see where your day tomorrow takes you. I’m sure it will be a fun adventure wherever you end up going.
 

Thanks for the frequent reader extra credit! I know I’m not the only frequent FGB reader here though. 😀

[Familygoboston]

20 hours ago, snaefell said:

Really enjoying this thread,hits home on a number of levels.

We had our Summer vacation in the Hawaiian Islands in 1989 & 1990,loved the place & vowed to get back,still haven't managed it!

Our last cruise was on QOTS in October 2019,a repo cruise from China to Singapore,fantastic cruise,beautiful ship,we would have got back on her if Covid hadn't brought life grinding to a halt,as a result the stay in Singapore for QOTS lasted a couple of years!

One low spot of the cruise oddly enough was a Queen tribute show,dreadful & saw a mass exit from the theatre,sound familiar!?😆

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

Oh boy! Someone’s not reading the surveys! 

[Familygoboston]

Kona Hawaii

We got to the volcanos! 
So long story- Mr FGB woke at 6:20, and headed to Vintages for tender tickets, they were already handing them out and he scored 9 tickets for our group. We were assigned #10 which was called at about 15 past 8 AM. We were all mostly waiting in the casino for them to call our group- all except yours truly of course who was blissfully unaware that plans had been texted because she was on “airplane mode”. At 7:50, I was in the windjammer after a wrong turn trying to get to the solarium bistro for breakfast. 
 

Can I interrupt Kona to discuss the Windjammer project on this ship? 
So let’s make a little cookie out of my critique: positive first / room for improvement/ then more positive. 

 

First the good news:  On Quantum there’s a wonderful outdoor seating area! This is a feature I love in a ship; you see them on most celebrity ships and others too, and it’s great to sit outside for breakfast. 
(There is nothing like dining on the stern of a ship!) 

RFI: The Windjammer is like a Dante’s circles of hell pinball game. Guests from all over the planet with different line cultures careen around the space, where there’s no clear rules of engagement just trying to find a damn hash brown potato cake! Every wants a hash brown and they are hidden like Easter eggs all over the buffet. Guests wander, direction less, in search of the hash brown warming tray, which is most often empty.  (Who IS getting the hash browns? Because all of us CANNOT find one?!) We then congregate helplessly by the hash brown tray waiting for a lad from India to return with a full warning tray of hash browns. And then we are bouncing off in another direction in search of the ketchup, which apparently, according to Royal Caribbean rules must be located as far from and equidistant to every tray of hash browns. 

I was caught in this vortex of seeking hash browns when the rest of the group was gathered in the Casino and being ushered towards the tender despite them have only called up to group 9. I’m grateful my team patiently waited till I dashed from deck 14 to 3 to join them at 5 past eight AM! I fully expected to be voted off the island! I am the weakest link! 

Another Positive: I am positive I’m not eating another breakfast at the windjammer this week despite the beautiful stern seating area! 

GAME OVER! 

[Ocean Boy]

Apparently RCI does learn from its mistakes. By the time they got around to building Odyssey they made some Q class WJ tweaks. Though there is no outside seating, it is one of the most functional Windjammers that I have been in.

[Familygoboston]

Ok, so we were talking about

Kona Hawaii

Yes, we had great tender tickets, and we were on a tender just minutes after they started running. Overall, the tender operation went very smoothly! A few times in Maui, we were on a port traffic hold, awaiting the off loading of another tender, but never did we wait for a tender, other than in the early morning to disembark. Whenever we’ve been ready to go there was almost always a tender to walk onto in either direction. Although tendering adds some time and hassle to the process, at least in this part of Hawaii, with QOTS using its own crew and tender/life boats, it ran very smoothly! 

a tender, quite rugged actually! 
 

Once ashore, one of the first in our party spotted a man with a van and a sign. Exactly what we needed to look for because our originally booked guide for the group had canceled last minute. Covid was the stated reason- but here is the deal with tour operators working with cruise ships on Hawaii. Every week Norwegian runs Pride of America around the Hawaiian islands all year long and it ports in Hilo- 2 hours west of Kona. QOTS and other “one off” ships that call on Hawaii for just 1 or 2 weeks, port in Kona, but the guides are all based in Kona, meaning they have to drive 2 hours to Kona from Hilo, take guests to the most popular spots (one of which is Volcanoes National Park) which means going 2 hours west with guests, then 2 hours east to return them and then after leaving guests back in Kona drive 2 hours west to get back home. As you can see, a very long day with 4 hours of non guest driving. Not much incentive to do the tours in Kona. 

But we found Don, a man with a van and sign in Kona - with 4 pre booked clients for his 15 passenger van, he was delighted to see we were 9 looking for a tour to Volcanoes National Park. It was a match made in heaven, and we all squeezed into his van and heard off on a tour. Not the tour we wanted with no stops at macadamia farms because it wasn’t private- 4 other people had signed on expecting macadamia farms, so we had to take what we could get. 
 

What we got was Dan who began our tour describing the white knuckle driving required to get to our destination and scaring the bejesus out of one lady who requested no more car wreck stories  (what is bejesus anyway, and if it’s out why don’t we know?!) 

So instead we got a lot of tales about Don’s past crimes, his general terror of  National Park Rangers (is anyone less threatening than a NPS ranger ?!) But Don had had his run ins, which we listened to and cataloged carefully from the back seat of the van. They included but not limited to: 

-Speeding in the NP

-Speeding with children in a bus after swearing them to secrecy about the speeding 

-Touching the turtles 

-Taking the lava rocks (leave no trace people!) 

-Touching the Ne Nes (Hawaiian geese) 

-Smuggling birds out of Mexico (although the NPS does not have jurisdiction there) 

and 

-Peeling out of National Park turnouts like the driver of a bank heist get away vehicle if he spied oncoming traffic that might impede our further progress. (For this last infraction Mr FamilyGoBoston gave him mad props for “driving like a Bostonian” 

 

I do want to emphasize, that these are all PAST INFRACTIONS detailed by Don (with quite a lot wistfulness for his lawless ways) and we didn’t witness him do anything forbidden (Except the peel outs) during our tour. We think he’s been scared straight now.  
 

So during our tour we all had a fabulous time behaving like a bunch of buddies in a prison break out movie, with all of us on the look out at all times for law enforcement of any type. It was exhilarating for a van full of middle age people! 
 

Oh, and we also learned a bunch stuff about volcanoes and plants and the huge price increases in island real estate because Don is very knowledgeable. And we ate a lot of macadamia nuts. A LOT OF MAC NUTS! Truly it was a fabulous tour! 
 

SO let’s see some photos!!

 

[Familygoboston]

Kona to Hilo Volcanoes National Park 

 

a stop for lunch and malasadas (Hawaiian donuts) at the southern most bakery! 
 

1970s lava flow and scenic point of Hawaii 

 

Black sand beach and turtles 

 

National Park sign 

 

close up of a lava feild in the NP

 

a tree casting, where lava flow engulfed a tree and incinerated it leaving just a hole the size of its trunk! 

plants are just starting to grow in the lava fields from the 1970s eruptions. 

 

A bridge into the lava tube

 

entering the lava tube at Volcanoes NP

 

rainforest in Volcanoes NP

 

Rainbow Falls  

[Familygoboston]

Volcanoes National Park Hawaii

 

For me, the most exciting part of our tour was the visit to Volcano House where there’s an over look to the Kilauea crater volcano.  While not currently erupting lava, it’s still very active with steam

venting. It was really fascinating to see this national park with a variety of landscapes from barren lava fields to lush rainforest to active volcanoes! Don did a great job answering questions and sharing his love and passion for the area!  
we were very lucky to have been able to find him and join his tour! 

video of Kilauea volcano

Edited May 2, 2023 by Familygoboston

[Familygoboston]

Menu, Cruise Compass and Tonight’s Entertainment 

Tonight’s headliner - Active Comedian Rick Novell, had to work very, very hard to win back a crowd that’s been less than “Wow’ed” over the last two nights! He succeeded, giving the crowd something to cheer about with his high energy unicycle and juggling act, sprinkled with self deprecating humor. At the 10 PM - he won the wary crowd over and gave us hope for the upcoming 6 sea days! 

 

ONTO VANCOUVER!