Day 2 - Ohau

Still not used to the time change we both woke up at the butt crack of dawn, and since we were in one of the inside cabins, (no windows), we were really amazed that it was 5am. But that seemed like good a time as any to start our day.

We get ready and head to the buffet. Now for anyone that's ever taken a cruise you know that you usually eat your way from one end of the ship to the other. You've never seen so much food laid out as you will on a cruise.

One thing I am noticing is Norwegian Cruise Lines dedication to a germ free environment. Before you get on the ship they've got two people with spray bottle of disinfectant that smells like rubbing alcohol and a Dr.'s office, you must put both your hands out to be sprayed. Then before any of the buffets or restaurants there is a ball full of the same mixture of liquid to rub on your hands. This is actually reassuring to me, because the last thing you want is to get sick on your vacation.

We have our breakfast at the buffet and decide to take a stroll around the Aloha Tower Marketplace. Of course I had to stop at all the shops with the wonderful jewerly... black pearls, shells, and a unique style that is Island oriented.

Before heading back to the ship we catch a little hole in the wall coffee shop called, 'Bad Ass Coffee'... well when you see something like that you just have to stop and see if it's true...lol. So we had ourselves one Bad Ass Cup of Coffee. Not bad and amazing it's still in business. There was a Starbucks 4 doors down charging of course around $6 for a cup of coffee. The Bad Ass cup of ice coffee was around $2.75.

We head back to the ship mostly because I've been dumb enough to bring along 2 new pairs of shoes for this vacation. And although the ones I'm wearing are just adorable, I now have blisters on my heal about 3/4" across on both feet. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Off to the pool we go! There are 4 hot tubs in the middle of the ship bunched together like a clover with a deep pool on one side and a more shallow pool on the other side. After a bit in the hot tub I'm ready to venture into that pool. I get ankle deep and find that this pool is just like our last cruise, salt water pumped up from the ocean and is freezing cold. Back out of the pool I go. We did however get great amusement out of watching those kids all excited about getting into that pool only to do the same thing I did, ankle deep and right back out of that pool.

Ed tells me that it's been at least a 1/2 hour since he's eaten and is starting to get peakid so we prepare for dinner.

The ship sails at 6pm and we get a nice rainbow, (it was sprinkling off and on all evening, but that is typical of Honolulu this time of year I'm told).

Ohau Hawaii Day 1... Getting there

Alrighty... we're up at the crack of dawn and on our way to sunny Hawaii! It's 6am and the temperature reading is a whole 2 on the register.

We are plenty early to the airport and are really hoping that everything goes smoothly since we only have about a 2 1/2 hour window to get from airport to port in Oahu... that includes getting luggage and finding our way to the shuttle.

We're on the plane and awaiting take off when they tell us that there is a mechanical problem with the plane that they are trying to fix. Ed and I aren't currently thinking about our small window to the ship, we're still too thrilled about our trip. Well an small delay turns into a long delay... at about 45 minutes late it hits me like a ton of bricks that this is shortening our window. Ed and I go into an absolute panic! This cruise has covered our lodging, meals and rental car, so if we miss that boat there is no way we have the funds to cover those things for then next 10 days... especially with Hawaii prices!

I get on my cell phone and call Norwegian Cruise Lines to find out what we do.... I give the woman our reservation number, (which she doesn't even look up), and she then tells me that the ship leaves at 6pm Hawaii time and we need to be on that ship by 5:00 pm, shortening our window even further! I ask her what we are suppose to do and proceed to get snippy with her as I inform her that THEY are the ones that booked this flight and why didn't they allow for some extra time? She tells me she'll have to transfer me to customer service and at that exact same time the pilot comes on and says we're finally ready for take off.... so off goes the phone.

Once in the air the pilot gives our estimated arrival time as 4:42 pm. Yep, that's when the tears came... I cried almost all the way to Hawaii. In between crying Ed and I strategize on how we would survive in Hawaii for 10 days with no money... I told him, "Well if you have to be homeless, I guess you couldn't ask for a better place to do it in". We have a plan for about the first week or week and a half, but figure the credit card would be maxed out after that.

We land in beautiful Honolulu! The second they gave the go ahead my phone was on and I was doing acrobatics trying to get a signal in a small airplane isle crammed with people trying to get off that plane. Eternal hold. At last someone gets on the phone and I race through our dilemma. This person looks up our reservation number and proceeds to tell me that our ship does not leave port until TOMORROW at 6pm! ARGH!!!! All that stress and worrying for nothing.

So now we can relax and enjoy our vacation. We step off the plane and into the wonderful Hawaiian air and something hits me that I'm totally unprepared for.... Mr. Humidity...lol. Within walking a few feet the make up has melted off my face and my hair looks like I stuck my finger in a light socket. I don't care though... I'm in Hawaii.

The rest of the day is somewhat uneventful. We get our luggage, find the shuttle and board the ship. After settling our bags in the stateroom we checked out the 12 floors of the cruise ship from top to bottom, found the bar and finally relaxed.

No pictures from this day since we were just trying to get settled in.