pride of aloha, fundraiser

[seabourndt]

Hi Y'all.

Here Is My Short Cruise On The "pride Of Aloha".

I Booked This Cruise From Someone Who Sent Me An Email Concerning This Fundraiser With The Charities Listed. As I Love The Maritime Museum As Well As The Bishop Museum I Emailed Them. They Told Me The Prices Of The 1 Day Cruise. I Asked Them To Hold One Balcony Cabin. I Sent Them A Cheque For £400, I Though6t It Was For One Person But Later Was Trold It Was For 2 People. I First Thought Of Taking My 80 Year Old Mother But After Finding Out The Fare Took A Friend Who Lives In Hawaii. After Reading The Very Negative Reports On The 1st Cruises Of The Ship. Then Reading About The Cruises That Were Cancelled Thing It Was This One, It Was Not. I Asked For The Tickets To Be Sent To Me But After Being Told They Were Being Sent Out Later I Gladly Decided To Have Them Sent To My Friend. Who Only Got Them On 1st July. I Booked The Flight Quite Late Then Found The Only Airline At The Cheaper Fare Was Delta. I Have Never Flown With Them Before (i Won't Be Flying With Them Again!) Booked A Hotel Over The Net For The 1st 3 Days.

 

Wed 30th July 2004.

As The Check-in Was 3 Hours I Had To Get Up Very Early. Luckily The Railway Strike Was Called Off As I Would Have Had To Get A Taxi To Gatwick Airport. The Plane Was A B767-300. Usually I Get Asked If I Wanted A Window Seat But Was Not. I Then Found I Had An Isle Seat Which In Don't Like. When I Got To The Gate I Tryed To Change It. I Was Then Told You Had To Request It With The Airline, Nobody Mentioned This. I Managed To Get A Window Seat To Atlanta But The 2nd Leg Was Full And Had To Do Wityh A Seat Right In The Middle. A Good Atlantic Flight To Atlanta, Where It Was Pouring With Rain. I Then Found Out This Leg Was A Purchase Your Food With Cash. As I Did'nt Have Any Dollars With Me I Just Had Orange Juice. I Have Never Heard Of This, Only On The Day Flights Though. Also Beer And Wine Were Not Free As I'm Sure They Are On Other Airlines And Headphones Were Extra. Had To Get Off In Los Angeles So They Could Change Aircrew. I Arrive At Honolulu Airport At 2242hrs. I Had Booked A V.i.p Bus Through The Airline Network And Finally Got It After Being Mis-directed By Some People. I Made It To The Ohana Sky Court Hotel Around Midnight, 33floors Up But No Balcony. The Window Only Opened An Inch Which Was Strange(perhaps They Thought Some Would Try To Jump Out And Commit Suicide!)

 

Thu 1st July.

After A Good Nights Rest I Met My Friend Judy Who I Was Sharing The Cabin With. We Had A Nice Dinner Out Where She Gave Me The Tickets. The Baggage Label Was Juststicky Paper (very Poor!) The Embarkation Time Was Shown As 1pm When It Was 12noon.

 

Fri 2nd July.

Today I Went Down To The Aloha Tower To See The Beautiful Ship, Unfortunatly The Tower Was Closed For Servicing So Coold Not Get A Good View Of The Ship Which Was Dissapointing.

 

Sat3rd July.

After Breakfast I Checked-out Of The Hotel And Got A Taxi To The Tower. I Had A Japanese Taxi Driver Who Spoke Very Little English. The Queue Had Already Formed It Was Only 1130hrs. I Met Judy Soon After We Waited For The Queue To Go Down. Mainly Because I Thoughtthere Was A Blessing At 1145hrs. But It Was Not Seen, Neither Was The Naming Which I Thing Was On The 4th July. After A Very Fast Check-in, Had Our Pictures Taken Before Boarding The Ship. No One Was Showing People To Their Cabins So Got The Lift To Deck 10, Had To Carry Our Own Luggage As Well! The Cabin Was Very Nice. The Sofa Was Very Smallnoit Big Enough For One Person Never Loan 2 People. The Drawer Space Was Tiny 6 Minute Drawers. Luckily Judy Was Not Going To Unpack Leaving Her Clothers In Her Case Instead. I Just Got Mine In The Drawers. Good Space For Hangers Though.the Daily Paper Seemed To Differ To The Days Program We Were Given Meaning The Places We Could Have Dinner Was Very Confusing. As We Both Hate Buffets We Wanted A Proper Restaurant. Crossings Was Closed We Used The Palace Restaurant On Deck 5. This Was Not Supposed To Be Open. But Asthey Were Using It For The Ship Visit Just Finishing We Had Lunch Here. The Travel Agents Having Lunch Were Very Loud! This Seems To Be The Case Where Free Drinks Abound! Not A Good Thing I Think!!

We Had Peking Duck Breast Fan On Mango-black Bean Salsa With Plum And Oyster Sauce Drizzle For Appetizer.cream Of Wild Mushroom Soup With Fresh Thyme. Main Course Was Lobster Tails With Beurre Noisette On Fennel Risotto And Lokalalani Tomato Concasse With Polynesian Ginger Cream Sauce. Creme Brulee Was The Dessert Not The One I've Had Before, Not Crispy. Free Drinks So Got Plenty Of Wine Here. Before We Sailed We Had The Mandatory Lifeboat Drill Which Was Very Long They Had The Crew's Evacuation Followed That We Had To Endure. Judy's Lifejacket Was Not Even Complete, So Happy It Was Not Proper Drill As The Clip Holder The Belt Together Was Missing, No Whistle Either. Reported It To The Steward Who Did Replace It.we Left At 4pm 30mins Late. It Was Quite Windy 20mph After We Left The Port You Could Feel The Motion. Judyu Had Already Taken A Dramamine As She Is Not A Very Good Sailor. There Were Coastgurds Around For Security 1 Boat And A Helicopter, Also A Press Helicopter As Well. After Getting A Few Shots of us leaving honolulu. got dressed in long trousers and aloha shirt in the kahiri restaurant (italian) it was a lovely restaurant, not too crowded as we got there early as it was an alternative one normall with extra cost but not on this occasion. the menu was in italian as well as english.

i had mediterranean seafood cocktail with aioli,avacado and fresh herbs.

pureed red bean soup with broken pasta and scallions.

judy had a caesar salad that was prepared at the tablewith was great. i had a portion of hers as i don't usually had salad and main course.

entree was shrimp scampi with 40 cloves of garlic.(only 2 choices of entree which was a bit of a small choice in my opinion!)

the dessert was home made zabaglione with seasonal fresh fruits which was the best ever dessert i have tasted.

after dinner we watched chris alpine a comedian i have never seen before he was very funny.

then i bought a few pics whichy like cunard were quite expensive. only 1 choice a set of 1 large photo, 2 wallet size, a key ring, a photo of the ship for $29.95. i also purchased a booklet of pictures of the ship for $14.95. i found ther shop[ after much going up and downstairs, it was very out of the way. it did not have much choice in my opinion, no key rings, badges, no ships on t shirts or hats. only thing worth buying was a lovely model,of the ship at 20$. i went to the show, "runnin' wild"with the jean ann ryan singers and dancers. seen these performers before on the norwegian dawn accross the atlantic. not this show though they are very good indeed. the lounge was not that full, maybe mopre were in the 1st show.after the show judy was getting ready for bed as she is an early to bed sort of person. we were hoping to see the fireworks from the ship but we were too far away but could just about see them. i thing we went round the island, someome said it was kauai or molokai but i don't think so. i went to the cigar lounge for my usual cigar and left judy in the cabin. not a room to itself but at the back of the captain cook's bar. it got quite crowded here as the drinks were all free, i had a margaurite not salt in it. no cigars seemed to be on sale so i was glad i brought my own. i went to my cabin to retire to my cabin to find judy asleep on the balcony. i think she likes the outdoors. either that or the double bed put her off! (i don't think it could be changed to a twn, it was notb that sort of a bed.

 

sunday 4th july.

i woke up, judy said at 3.45am were have arriived back in port, i missed us arriving. got up and found judy gone. i had a lovely breakfast in crossings, a nice couple of girls sat at my table, they were so friendly. i had juiice, cereals,scrambled egg and bacon. went back to my cabin to find judy in bed, she went to the buffet. we left the cabin soon after, no tips were mentioned i guess they were all included. i left judy andf got a taxito my new hotel the OHANA REEF TOWERS in WAIKIKI, an older hotel but at least it had a balcony on the 6th floor. as check-in was not until 3pm i left my luggage there. i went on the submarine trip to see reefs and wrecks, as itv was still windy it was quite a rough trip out to the submarine. after i unpacked i went back to the aloha tower for dinner. before seeing the "PRIDE OF ALOHA" sail, and seeing the fireworks nearby for 4th july.

 

i stayed until friday 9th july at thec same hotel, went to the arizona memorial though i did not get to the memorial itself as the tickets were all sold out. i went to the submarine and thev missouri was was very impressive twice 6the size of the belfast in london. the security was very tight, no camera bags or money belta even, had to leave them and carry my cameras around by hand.

another long flight back 20hrs.

 

hope you enjoyed this review. the staff seemed reasonably happy, they were eager to please.

[Aloha]

Sorry to hear that you didn't make it in time to see the Memorial. All in all it sounds like you had a nice trip.