Another last minute cruise opportunity came up and of course I had to jump on it. Especially when I could find very cheap business class $500 USD airfare from Puerto Vallarta to Honolulu on Thanksgiving Day! But my flights involved a few airport changes and overnights near airports to make connections, the business class price discounts were worth it.
Like I said, I leave Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day for the first part on American Airlines to Phoenix, Arizona for the overnight. The next morning I am on a direct flight with the same airline to Honolulu, Hawaii. I had arranged a 2 night stay at a condo hotel with a small kitchen, so I might prepare my breakfasts. But after seeing the prices of groceries in the local market, I nixed that idea! Might as well go out to eat by the time you purchased them.
I arrived in the afternoon and just walked around the area since my hotel was just 2 blocks from Waikiki Beach and enjoyed a wonderful sunset. Dinner was at a container restaurant as so many places were with outdoor seating and the seafood plate was quite good!
The next morning I went to a breakfast place as I seen it the day before, Eggs & Things, as I ordered I realized that there was an uncontrolled screaming kid in restaurant. Quickly changed my order to go and found a quiet place to eat in peace. I planned to go to Pearl Harbor, so Uber got me there in about 25 minutes.
I spent several hours at Pearl Harbor Memorial National Park exploring the sites including a boat ride out to the USS Arizona sunken ship area. It was quite emotional to be in the area were so many servicemen had died during the Japanese assault. Also there were gardens sculpture area and a film theater showing what had happened so many years ago. It was memorable and a must see if you are ever in Honolulu.
Boarding is just a short distance from Waikiki Beach area and quickly done and I’m on board by the middle of the day. This my 3rd time on the NCL Spirit and I think my favorite ship as the size is not too big, but offers all the restaurants, bars, and activities that I enjoy most.
Since our itinerary includes several Hawaiian islands we will be seeing Kauai, Maui, and Hilo, Hawaii in the next 3 days. Our first stop is Nawiliwili, Kauai and I had booked the NCL Tour “Discover Kauai” which takes us around the island and first stop at Smith’s River Boats that rides up a calm river to the famous Ferns Grotto. Lots of wild chickens around everywhere we go as we make several outlook stops along the way on this plush green island.
Our next Hawaiian island is the port of Kahului, Maui. It’s a rainy day and with no shore excursion booked, I just walk around the pier area and shops.
Finally we are back in the big island of Hawaii again in the city of Hilo. I had booked the NCL Tour “waterfalls and tropical farm” which gets canceled because now the weather has become very bad with torrential rains!
The next 5 days are spent at sea cruising south in pacific ocean towards French Polynesia. Arriving in the morning to Raiatea, French Polynesia the weather seemed to have followed us and it is still raining very hard, canceling all the tours for the day because it was too rough to tender to the port of the island in Fa’aroa Bay.
Onward to the next island the next day of Moorea, French Polynesia where I had booked a Jeep Tour and realized early enough that it would not be fun in the still rainy muddy streets, so changed to the NCL Tour “Moorea Island Highlights”. This was a nice bus ride around the most of the island with stops for overlooks and included a box lunch in the surf area called Haapiti District. Also a stop in a French Polynesian recreated village with black sand beaches and incredible crystal clear blue waters existed all around the island. Black pearls were the thing to buy here and of course prices depending on quality. The tour took us to ancient burial and ceremonial sights of the original inhabitants of the islands.
Our last island and final stop is the capital of French Polynesia to the island and city of Papeete, Tahiti. Since we were so close, we ended up there the evening before allowing passengers to go ashore before debarkation the next day. Since my flight plans involved spending the night, I was booked at the Sarah Nui Hotel with a midday Tahiti Island Tour planned.
Luckily the tour was not canceled but shortened and modified because this same system that was around Raiatea had impacted this island as well with many washed out roads on the east side of the island. This made it impossible to go all the way around, so we went back and forth with stops at the Fautaua Waterfall and Venus Point. At least we were able to see parts of the island.
Papeete, Tahiti was a big city and not a place that I would return to, but if you get outside of the city then you find those exclusive resorts with hotel rooms in huts above the crystal clear Tahitian waters. I am sure those are a wonderful and expensive experience! The cruise was meant to be a segment of the transpacific repositioning cruise because the next leg took passengers to other islands in the South Pacific, ending in Sydney, Australia for the next few months of those cruises between there and New Zealand.
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