Aloha!

Breakfast was rather a hurried affair - only opened at 6 am and we wanted to be away by 6.15 to get the car back before check-in time. Still managed a bowl of porridge, a yoghurt, 2 slices of cinnamon and raisin toast and 2 cups of coffee! Am so loving this American coffee - it's so drinkable. Haven't really even given tea a thought, except to realise that I'm not missing it at all! The signs for the car return from our hotel at the airport seemed clear enough, then panic set in momentarily when we found ourselves seemingly heading back on the interstate towards San Francisco. But actually the signs were correct, and we were just directed off again pretty quickly - big sigh of relief all round, (well just in the front actually - only cases in the back). Sad, very sad, to say goodbye to our flash little car with its V6 engine and wicked overtaking power. Must win lotto. Fifteen year old station wagons are going to seem sooooo lame! 

Check-in was a little drawn out - we hoped that Hawaiian Airlines trained their pilots better than their ground crew! Honolulu is hot and sticky - I'd forgotten what humid heat is like - I really do prefer the dry kind! The waterfront is rather reminiscent of Auckland in its appearance, too. We'd looked for our ship as we came in to land but hadn't seen it (her?) - don't know how we missed it, it's huge! As we checked in, all the women were adorned with leis made of real orchid  flowers, and the blokes with shell necklaces - lovely :-) And then we were on board. WOW! I've ways wanted to go on a cruise, and here we were! Soooooooo exciting! We wandered around, up and down, and along and around, looking at the pool and spa pools and dining rooms and fitness centre, then decided to head up to our room to get rid of our bags. The door was propped open with a bucket (odd) so in we went, and there from Steve were the most gorgeous roses, a bottle of bubbly, chocolate covered strawberries and a letter listing loads of other things he'd organised for my birthday and our anniversary. What a beautiful surprise; what a terrific hubby I have :-) THEN the cabin chap came in and shouted at us because the room wasn't ready!!! Did we feel like naughty children or what?! (He came round later to introduce himself, so we were able to apologise - all good!)

Anyway, not having eaten much since breakfast (only cheese and crackers on Hawaiian Airlines) we went off in search of food - and what a selection! And beautiful too. And all free (well, you know, included in the ticket price!) We kept thinking of Mick from Benidorm! We explored a bit more then decided there was nothing for it but to get in the pool and laze a out for a bit, like lots of other people. All the time we kept having to pinch ourselves; it's fantastic! We had an emergency evacuation drill, another long wander around, then time to open the bubbly and drink a toast to ourselves, on our own balcony, as we left port 7pm Hawaiian time. Still unreal, still bloody brilliant! 

Apologies for lack of photos in the post, but had a bit of a mare with this one - had to rewrite it all on my phone as we have to pay for wifi on the boat, but I still have heaps of data left on my American sim. All photos from yesterday are on my laptop and deleted off my phone. Hey ho!