Saturday, January 12, 2008: Volksmarch in Waikiki and Embarkation on the Pride of Aloha.
Bob: Having picked up the directions for the Waikiki Beach walk when we stamped our books for the Diamond Head walk, we studied the map carefully to see how close it came to our hotel. The idea was to avoid the hassle of taking the bus to the starting point by picking up the loop of the walk wherever it passed near us and then making the complete 10 kilometer circuit. So we ended up walking northeast along the canal that divides Waikiki from the rest of Honolulu until we joined the path of the walk. From that point we started walking the loop "backwards" and thank goodness we had the map as well as written directions because I'm just not very good at reading written directions and then reversing them in my head! So we ended up following the canal almost to the ocean and then jogging left a block or so and cutting over to the beach. There was a beachfront promenade at that point, and for a kilometer or so the walking was both easy and quite pleasant. Broad, smooth swells from the deep blue Pacific Ocean were rolling in from the right and curling up on the white, sandy beach in front of us. The skyscraper-studded skyline of Waikiki was a dramatic backdrop to a busy beach scene that included all the usual people in swimsuits, tatami mats for them to lay on, inflatable toys for the kids, and surfboards for the young, energetic, and invulnerable. |
Monika: We were again awakened by trucks, that had parked next door and now were bumping over rumble strips, maneuvering back (with beeping) and forth, and generally being very noisy. So by six we were thoroughly awakened. We ate most of the stuff that we had bought at the Safeway, Bob finished the cereal and milk, and I had a sandwich with cheese. Then we went down for breakfast for some juice, coffee, and fruit. Checkout was not until noon, so that gave us plenty of time to do the Waikiki Volksmarch. I had grabbed an instruction sheet with map the day before, so we knew where we could join the walk, and how to get to the checkpoints. We first walked next to the canal that was right beside our hotel, and then over to the beach by the Hilton Hawaiian Village. |
Bob: After the promenade came to an end, however, we were forced to walk along the beach in front of the row of beachfront hotels. Some hotels had left a band of beach for people to walk on, but others seemed to have built right down on the beach as far as the law allowed. We were apparently at high tide, because at some places the hotel had been built so close the the high water mark that beach disappeared entirely and the waves were crashing directly against the breakwater marking the boundary for the hotel's property. We were splashed with salt spray at that point and I pulled my shirt down over the camera case on my belt to protect it as well as I could. As we passed the "Pink Palace" a kind of Art Deco era hotel covered in pink stucco, Monika spotted the beach access alleyway (I missed it), and we went inland 1/2 a block to the next major street. There we chanced upon the International Market, a small marketplace with boutiques and kiosks ringing a courtyard that was filled with Banyan trees and other lush tropical vegetation. I remembered the place because I had bought Monika a coral necklace there on our last visit to Hawaii. She was anxious to see if she could find something else nice like that, so we made a pause and checked out the little kiosk stores in the courtyard. Monika did in fact find a necklace we both liked, so I bought it and we continued along the street a while before returning to the beachfront and ultimately the starting point for our walk. We once again stamped our books and then traipsed back to our hotel to pack and check out. |
Monika: The next section was a beach walk. Most of the time there was a path, but sometimes we had to walk in the sand. When we finally got to the hotel with the start point, we filled out the start card and wrote a check for this and the Diamond Head walks and then walked back to our hotel. |
Bob: Since our four day pass for TheBus was still valid, we wanted to use the bus to get down to our ship at the Aloha Center. Since the Pride of Aloha did not have "formal dress" nights, we were able to dispense with suitcoats and formal dresses, so we had only two carry-ons and one medium-sized wheelie suitcase. TheBus has rules that you can only bring on TheBus such things as can be stowed under the seat or carried on your lap, but we thought we could manage that if the driver would just let us on TheBus. The only thing that we had not counted on was how crowded TheBus gets in downtown Honolulu. When we got on I found a place for the wheelie and Monika sat holding one carry-on while the other was stuffed under her seat. But TheBus soon became absolutely jam packed; it was so full, in fact, that the driver simply skipped about 3 stops in a row because he had no more sitting or even standing spaces to cram more people on. Fortunately a couple of folks disembarked just before our stop, so I had just enough room to maneuver the wheelie past the folks in the center aisle when we finally did arrive at the stop closest to Pier 2. Unfortunately, Norwegian Cruise Lines had changed the pier for the Pride of Aloha, so after pulling our luggage all the way up the access road to the security gates we had to turn around and pull them back out to the street and then down a couple of blocks to the Aloha Center proper where our ship was docked. We were helped by an extremely thin young woman with a British accent who proceeded to tell us a doozy of a story about herself. She claimed to be a British doctor that had worked for Norwegian Cruise Lines on the Pride of Aloha, but had then left ship to take care of her elderly mother who was living on Oahu but suffering from Alzheimers. She had obtained a Green Card to work as a nurse assistant in Hawaii but then found that there were no jobs available. Then her purse with the Green Card, medical certificate, and all her money had been stolen on the beach, so now she was down to her last $30 and had a poor senile mother to support. Ostensibly she was going to the Pride of Aloha to visit her old cruise buddy "Jack" who worked on the ship and had a luxuriant handlebar mustache. I wasn't sure quite how to respond to this richly confabulated tale of woe; it was an excellent performance and perhaps from that point of view she deserved some money, but she kept saying things about "not being crazy" and "don't be afraid that I'm going to steal it" that raised all kinds of red flags and sent shivers down my spine. I mean, I kept wondering if she was going to pull a knife on us and was seriously thinking that she would have made a good receptionist for the Bates Motel. So I kept a careful eye on the carry-on she was pulling and was very happy when we arrived at the check-in line at the Aloha Center and she faded back into the crowd. We checked in, found cabin 8203, and had lunch while waiting for the staff to complete preparation of our cabin. The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking and stowing our belongings, exploring the ship, attending a lecture on the upcoming shore excursions, donning our lifevests for the mandatory lifeboat drill, and in my case at least, taking a nap. |
Monika: We packed and checked out. Since our four day pass was still good for the day, we had decided to take The Bus to the cruise dock. TheBus has signs all over, that they do not like luggage on their buses, but with Bob carrying our big suitcase like a briefcase, and I had the two carry-ons, like they belonged, the bus driver did not hassle us. The bus was much fuller than I expected; but Bob found a place for the suitcase, I managed to get a seat, so I could put one briefcase under my seat and the other on my lap, so we did not bother other passengers with our luggage. Our information had said, that the boat was docked at Pier 2. So we got out of the bus a block away from Pier 2. A woman from England also got of the bus and insisted on helping me pull one of the carry-ons. She said she had a friend on board the ship and wanted to say hi. When we got to pier 2, the Pride of America was docked there. We were told that the Pride of Aloha was docked at the Aloha Tower. This was another four blocks. But the weather was nice, and the woman from the bus kept tagging along pulling my carry-on. Her story was getting continuously more confused. But I think, she really wanted some money, which we, of course, did not give her. We just said "Thank You" when we got to the Aloha Tower and went in line for check-in. Check-in seemed somewhat more chaotic than with RCI. For instance, we were sent to a counter, where the guy had just left. So we waited until a supervisor saw that we were just standing there and started our check-in procedure, until the guy returned and the continued. Between the two, they forgot to make copies of our passports and later on we had to go to the reception desk to get that done. Our rooms were not ready, but lunch was being served in the buffet dining area. The ship seemed somewhat smaller than the Jewel or Brilliance of the Seas, but it also had about 2000 passengers. The buffet in particular seemed a lot smaller than the Windjammer, with two serving lines for everything rather than the individual counters. Thus around lunchtime there always seemed to be lines everywhere. Seating also seemed to be at a premium. But we found a table for two and had our first meal on board. We explored the ship until we were allowed to go to our cabin, which turned out to be about the same size as the one on the Jewel or Brilliance with a nice large porthole to let light in. In the afternoon we had the mandatory lifeboat drill and then tried to get acquainted with the layout of the ship. The layout is of course quite different and the decor Hawaiian, very cheerful. The one big difference is that there is no Casino on board. But we never quite figured out what the extra space is used for. Dinner was served from different food stations on the sun deck, but again we had problems figuring out, who served what and where did you get the plates and silverware. But finally we did find a free table, foraged for food, and sat down and ate. |
Bob: We watched a very nice Hawaiian music and dance performance on the pool deck just before we left port that evening. A male on a ukulele and a female on a guitar both sang very well and a dance team of four hula dancers were really top notch. The singers sounded like trained voices to us, and they could either sing a strong solo or beautifully blend their voices in duets, which is not as easy as it sounds. Afterwards we watched the sister ship Pride of America leave port just ahead of us, after which the Pride of Aloha backed up, spun slowly around on its axis, and slowly steamed out to sea. The lights of the Aloha Center, Waikiki beach, and downtown Honolulu gleamed out of the black velvety night and we were caressed by balmy breezes as we left Oahu and headed for the big island of Hawaii. |
Monika: Finally we watched as the ship carefully made its way out of the harbor and said good bye to Aloha Tower and Waikiki. After all this excitement, we went to bed early and got rocked to sleep by a gentle wave action. |
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