I did pretty good keeping up with blogging the first 5 days of vacation, but once we got on the ship all bets were off. While we could get cell service and use our phones as hot spots, it never worked all that well. Couple that with my sea sickness problems, and the fact that when we weren't moving I wanted to enjoy the ship, and I just never got around to doing another while we were on our trip.
We're home now, we got home very early yesterday morning, and we still haven't time adjusted all that well. So, we're all up until 3 AM complaining about how we aren't tired. The last load of vacation laundry is in the washer, Asa is working from home, and Allison is back in Ohio.
So now, on to the blog for me! I'll do my best to recall our days. It probably helps that I took 2500 pictures over the course of 17 days.
Nearly 2 weeks ago now, we checked out of our condo on the North Shore of Oahu and headed towards Pier 2 in Honolulu to hop on our cruise ship. We had to be out of the condo at 10 AM, but we couldn't be on the ship until noon. It's a little under an hour drive, so we had some time to kill. We decided to try out Shark's Cove to do some easy snorkeling with the kids.
The thing about Hawaii beaches is that they really aren't like Florida beaches. First of all, there's hardly any signage to tell you where you are. Of course the locals know, but for tourists it can be a bit more tricky. Parking for most of them is scarce, and mostly just a small parking lot or a side of the road type of thing. I had been here before when I went to Oahu, and I had no trouble parking but that was on a weekday in March. We got there around 10, and took one of the very last spots on the side road (shout to to Asa for parallel parking a mini van). It's also vastly different there in the summer. If you click on my link from my March visit, the waves are crashing over the top of the rocks, but on this summer day it was calm and quiet.
You do really need some water shoes to do sharks cove, because you have to climb out over tons of rocks to get to the little pools. Climb over more rocks, and you get to more pools. Keep climbing over rocks, and you'll find more pools (see the trend?). It looks like a shorter distance out in the pictures, but it really was kind of a long way. I made the mistake of taking my camera back, and then wanting it again later and it was a decent climb.
But other than that, it does make a good spot for kids because there are shallower, calmer areas where you can see plenty of fish, anemones, crabs and such without going into too deep of water, or even having any waves hit you. Even some of the rocks have their own baby tide pools where we found sea urchins and sea cucumbers.
We brought along three sets of snorkel gear, so when we used it we did have to take turns. But the boys were all really good about it. In the larger pool areas there were lots of colorful fish for even Hayden and Calib (who aren't big snorkelers) to see.
While you're snorkeling in Sharks Cove, you don't really even see the ocean in its entirety. But if you climb the last set of very tall rocks, you can see where it meets the ocean. I tried to take pictures to show off how cool it looks, but like with most of my Hawaii pictures, they just don't do it justice.
The stronger swimmers got a little closer to the ocean, but in all it was pretty calm, so there was no danger to it. People were being much more daring than we were. I did have a talk with Asa before we went to Hawaii about how they do some seriously scary/dangerous things out there- and that we shouldn't follow suit, so he was nice and cautious to make me feel better.
There wasn't much in the last of the tide pools, you could tell it had been pretty picked through by the birds- there were lots of crab shells.
Peyton, though, was totally in his element (pretty much the entire trip- except Hilo day on the Big Island, but I'll get to that). See that teeny tiny person WAY up there on the rocks? That's a wild Peyton in his natural habitat.
We did really enjoy our trip to Shark's Cove, and it was a lovely stop on our way to the ship- but we had been there almost 2 hours when we decided it was time to head on out.
So back in the mini van we went, and made our way back to Honolulu. Asa dropped us off at the pier, returned the rental car at the airport, and then taxied in to meet us at the cruise terminal.
We each got some lei's when we checked in. I was a little bummed I got flowers again, and not the cool shell ones the boy's got. (My flower lei didn't travel well back home, and I had to toss it- but they can keep their shells forever!)
We checked in and boarded the boat that would be our home for the next week. The ship comes and goes from Honolulu every Saturday. That Saturday must be crazy for the crew who has to clear out a whole group, and bring in another on the same day.
We were taken up to our state room on deck 13. A couple of these pictures are out of order and from other days, but I pulled them all together to try and show you our rooms. My family, plus my mom were in 13508, the six person suite. Cort, Holly, Gwen and Garrett were next door, in a connecting room. 13510 only slept four, however, so our rooms were similar but not exactly the same.
Our room had the pull out couch, and the murphy bed that pulled down, along with a king sized bed. It was very similar to our suite in Mexico, except in this one, only the king sized bed had it's own curtains to close it off from the rest of the room, and the table was on the opposite wall so it didn't have to be moved every day.
Our bathroom was nice too. We had the two sinks, and the big soaking tub complete with jets.
Behind glass door number one, you had the toilet room. And glass door number two housed the shower. It was a little small for this claustrophobic girl, but I survived. (I think my gigantic shower at home makes everything seem small.)
But really, the most awesome thing about our suites were the balconies. We didn't have one in Mexico, so while this made the room a bit smaller, it was totally worth it. We had two lounge chairs and a table with four chairs.
Cort and Holly next door had the same balcony and view as we did.
But they won't unlock the door between the rooms on the balcony. They say that's only for maintenance purposes. Garrett, however, could squeeze (very safely) between the partition.
Cort and Holly's room was pretty much the same. It just lacked the Murphy bed, and a table and chairs. Their bathroom was a little different, too.
Of course, a suite perk is all the snacks they bring you on a daily basis. Our Butler, Peter, took good care of us.
We also had a fresh bowl of fruit everyday, which we often took out on our excursions, and a bottle of champaign in each of the rooms. (We actually had two, since we were 'repeat suite visitors', for a total of 3 bottles between the two rooms).
We were also taken care of in the coffee, and pop areas.
And our pretty Hawaiian flowers held up well all week.
The ship in Hawaii is a little different from other cruise ships, because it never sails into international waters. It's all USA, all the time. Called the Pride of America, it boats awesome murals of some of the most recognizable American landmarks.
Some of the restaurants are even president themed. There was the John Adam's Coffee Bar, and the French placed, aptly named 'Jefferson's Bistro' (and I mean, we all know that's a mural of Monticello!)
And of course, no cruise ship is complete with somewhere for your kids to disappear to. The boys spent a lot of time at Entourage (the teen club), and Splash Academy (the kids club).
As soon as we dropped our stuff off, we headed down to the buffet for lunch. The buffet on this ship was really pretty impressive. Too bad we skipped lunch most days since we were out and about. Peyton and Calib were also very, very fond of the ice cream machine.
Mom, meanwhile, was living carefree. She had money to dish out for excursions and souvenirs, and was more than happy to throw it around (literally), for my family's and Corts.
We all had dinner together the first night at Cagney's Steakhouse. I didn't take near as many food pictures this trip, but I got a crab cake for my appetizer, and it was one of my favorite things I had on the ship. The brussel sprouts and the filet mignon weren't bad either though.
Mom had shrimp with her steak, and Calib went with a porkchop.
Peyton, meanwhile, proved he was my kid with an order of truffle fries, and an order of truffle mashed potatoes to go with his filet mignon (because YAY potatoes!)
The boat seemed to be really rocking that first night for me (nobody else seemed to have any trouble), so while Cort, Holly and mom went to the show- I didn't join them until they had drinks at the Champagne Bar. The kids, however, enjoyed their trip to kid's club. Gwen and Hayden actually became the best of buddies on this trip, so you'll see a lot of pictures of them together. They hung out with the same kids at Splash Academy, and they would talk about all the kids club happenings. Asa went to pick them up nearly every night and would take them on little detours to find cool stuff on the ship and have ice cream or a late night snack. They really had a good time together.
We sailed away from Oahu that evening, and on to our first stop.
Next Up: Peyton's Birthday in Maui!
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