Honolulu, Hawaii

Today we are in hectic, noisy, crowded, cosmopolitan and WONDERFUL Honolulu!! I absolutely love this place and never get tired of visiting this incredibly vibrant and beautiful city.  I had visions of spending this gorgeous day on the beach exploring the sheltered bay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, my plans didn't work out that way.  Since this is our last stop in the U.S. before we head for Tonga and Samoa, we needed a few items we had forgotten to bring from home.  We took the shuttle to the enormous Ala Moana shopping mall and spent the next few hours there, browsing among the Dior, Tiffany, Prada, Hermes, etc. and then went to Long's Drugstore to buy what we needed :)  Between Long's and Walmart we are all set to head south!! This mall definitely has something for everyone!!! The drive back and forth from the ship on our shuttle was really fun.  Our bus driver entertained us by playing the ukelele while we waited for passengers to board.  You would be surprised how pleasant it is to hear Fur Elise played on a ukelele! Great guy and quite talented.

Once back on the ship we started getting ready for dinner.  We were very excited to have one of Bob's colleagues and her friend join us for dinner on the ship.  We looked forward to seeing them and showing them around our suite and rest of the ship.  It's really fun to have family and friends come aboard along the way.  When our guests arrived, I was shocked at how much Nick looks like my brother Dane.  They could be twin brothers.  He is the same height, build, has the same mannerisms, sense of humor, and even has a similar looking mustache! Very odd feeling and made me miss my brother, who lives in Connecticut. We did have a funny incident when we arrived at the restaurant with our friends.  We asked for a table for four and the fellow looked at us and asked us if we were aware that the dress code for tonight was "informal", and then proceeded to show us the printed dress code that stated that men MUST wear sport coats, with tie optional.  Ladies must wear dresses or pant suits.  Since Bob forgot to bring his sport coat he wore a nice collared shirt.  Our guest also was also wearing a nice shirt.  I guess the ship's interpretation of "informal" is very different than our Southern California idea of informal.  The host quickly got a jacket for Bob and Nick.  Bob's didn't fit very well (like, he couldn't move his arms to eat dinner) so they told them that once he got to the table he could put it over the back of the chair and put it over the back of the hair and put it on when he got up to leave!!!! Sometimes, when the dress code is "casual" Bob and I wear jeans and a sweater/polo shirt.  Many men are still wearing sport coats and women are in dresses or pant suits.  Bob and I feel pretty dressed up when we're in long pants and real shoes.  You can take us around the world but you can't take the laid back Southern California attitude out of us :) The other funny thing that happened at dinner was that I forgot my glasses in our stateroom so I couldn't read the menu.  As Bob was reading it to me the waiter asked if I would like to borrow a pair of glasses.  I said that would be great.  In a moment he brought over this huge wooden box of glasses, with each one carefully labeled above with their strength.  There must have been 20 pairs of glasses in there.  Quite amusing how prepared they are for any need a guest might have! We were having so much fun with Deborah and Nick that the reception desk called and reminded us that it was time for our visitors to leave the ship because we were getting ready to sail!!!! 

Now, a few more sea days before we arrive in Samoa and Tonga.  Hoping we can still go to Tonga after the huge storm they just had there.  The captain said that we have a week to evaluate the conditions there before we arrive and he'll make a decision in a few days.  Before we left home we knew we had to be flexible with our ports because you can never tell what is going to be happening in some of the places we are scheduled to visit.  For instance, we're just reading about political unrest in Bangkok, with thousands taking to the streets, so we'll have to wait and see if it settles down before we get there.  When we have to cancel a port the cruise line is always wonderful about finding another great and exciting place to visit.  Bob and I are just thankful to be on this trip, so we are thrilled with any port we visit.