King Neptune and his Queeen make the entrance	Emma the Kings secretary on trial before her conviction	The operation to cure the patient	Slabbering the victims	An overview of the proceedings

Friday, May 5. Today we pulled up to the dock in Honolulu at the Aloha Tower at 9:30 AM. I had been hoping that the ship would pass the Arizona Memorial but that was not to be. We had to go thru Immigration inspection and by 10:30 we were out on the street heading for the Iolani Palace. The palace had been the home of King Kalakaua and his queen Kapiolani from 1882 to 1891. When Kalakaua died in 1891 his sister Queen Lili'uokalani took over the monarchy. Queen Liliuokalani was forced from power in 1893 by powerful sugar and pineapple interests  backed by the US military and a republic was declared. President Cleveland was in favor of the return of power to Iolani but as voted out of office before he could complete the task. His successor, McKinley was in favor of annexing Hawaii to the US so the matter stopped there. The queen was tried in 1895 for knowing the plot to restore the monarchy and overthrow the Republic and was sentenced to 5 years of hard labor and a $5000 fine. She spent less than a year under house arrest in the palace and then was moved to another residence where she was under house arrest for a period and then island arrest. She could move about the island but not leave. The queen died in 1917. The palace itself has gone under complete restoration since the 1960's and they have done a wonderful job of it. All of the furnishings were sold off after 1893 but the restorers are going to great lengths to reclaim the property that was illegally seized. Items are continually returning to the palace either through buy backs or plain returns. We toured the palace and were told that King Kalakaua was a very intelligent man who had traveled the world and even addressed the US congress. We will look up his address when we return. Kalakaua had even met Edison in France and as a result had installed electricity in the palace. The guide said that was even before the White House was electrified. There were no photographs allowed in the building so the pictures will be from post cards. We both enjoyed the tour. I will have to read up on the history of Hawaii and its monarchy. From what little I learned today it was a thriving institution for centuries before coming into contact with the western world. It seemed apparent to me that Hawaii was leaning more to ties with England and the European Continent but the proximity to the US led it by force elsewhere. The official flag of the State of Hawaii is the only US state flag to contain the Union Jack in its upper left corner. 

After the Palace we walked over to the King Kamahamea I statue across the street and joined the rest of the tourists in picture taking. From there we took  a bus up to the International Market Place which is a conglomeration of little stalls all selling the same things. We had been there in 1987 on our first visit to Hawaii. From the market place we returned to the vicinity of the Kamahamea statue to see the the Mausoleum of King Lunalilo. King Kamahamea V had died without naming a successor in 1872. Lunalilo was elected in 1873. He had been very popular and held the title of king for only one year until he died in 1874. Lunalilo had insisted that he be buried at the "Stone Church" rather that the Royal Mausoleum. Even after all this time the doors of the mausoleum were decorated with leis.

We returned to the ship around 4:30 PM to deposit our purchases and then went out to Hilo Hatties. No visit to Hawaii is complete without making a stop there. we returned to the ship by 7:00 PM to see the local Hawaiian dance school perform native dances and songs. The kids were spectacular. At dinner we met a couple who travel between Sydney and Boston twice a year. His medical condition requires him to fly first class but since they have the time they cruise for most of the trip. It is almost cheaper than flying and they said. After a short visit dockside at 10:00 PM to see the local Cinquo de Mayo party, we returned to our balcony to watch the sail away at 11:00 PM to the loud tunes of the Salsa Band at the party. A long but good day.

Aloha Tower coming into dock	Iolani Palace	Dining Room	Throne Room	Grand Staircase
King Kamahamea I	King Lunalilo Mausoleum	Hilo Hatties	Young Hawaiian Dancers	Young Hawaiian Dancers

Saturday, May 6. At Lahaina, Maui. When we finished up in Tahiti, Ken said that he was no longer in charge of weather and that we were on our own in Hawaii. He should have stayed on the job as his replacement was incompetent. In Hawaii there were light intermittent showers which didn't bother us at all. On Maui however it was a different story. We tendered ashore to a very cloudy sky. On reaching shore in Lahaina, Mom had to use the facilities and we asked a policeman where the nearest ones were. He advised that the hotel across the street had them but charged a quarter for the use. When he saw that I only had a $5 bill he reached in his pocket and gave me a quarter. Mom walked away and i told the cop that this was the first time I had ever been treated to a "P". He started to laugh and said that it was the first time he had treated anyone one either. Nice people on Maui.

We were going to take a tour of the Kaleakala Volcano Crater at approximately 10k feet. The tour started in partial sunshine up until we arrived at our first rest room stop. The Black Coral Factory Store. You had to walk through four sales rooms to get to the bathrooms. I wonder if they planned it this way. The store was beautiful but the prices were too. From the store we started to head to the Volcano. It was a long ride to the point where we started to make our ascent and the driver pointed out the many sugar cane fields as well as the pineapple fields. He said that within two years all the pineapple production will move off the island and that sugar cane will remain on Maui but only with one processing plant. All the raw sugar is shipped to California for refining and then some comes back at higher prices to Hawaii. When we started the ascent to Haleakala you couldn't see the top of the mountain and it was raining. I didn't mark the distances from our entry into the park but the ascent to the 7000 foot level must have been at least 25 miles of twisting 180 degree turns uphill. From the 7000 foot visitors center to the 9740 foot visitors center the distance was marked as 10 miles of twisting road. On the way up we saw some of the crazy bicyclists that make the 35 mile descent downhill. In the rain with poor visibility it was not a smart thing to do. When we reached the top it was really pouring rain and we couldn't see anything from the observation platform. 10 feet in front of you there was fog or raincloud. I did get dizzy from the thin air at this altitude. Our ride down was as sightless as the ride up so there were no pictures to be taken in either direction. I took a few shots at the 7000 foot visitors center and the summit but they are no great efforts. I did buy some postcards and a screen saver which will help with a photo description. Our lunch stop was the Maui Botanical Plantation where after lunch we could visit the grounds and also the necessary gift shop. Many people were buying at the shop as there would be no real time left when we returned to the tenders. It was raining at the gardens but I did manage a little stroll while Mom shopped. Even though the weather was lousy we did enjoy most of the day. We learned about Maui from our driver and did get to see our first Krispy Kreme store in over a month. Also a WalMart and Lowes. We must be getting closer to home. A McDonalds was hiring help at $10.00 per hour to start. Part of the problem with the pineapple industry is that the local youth will not work the fields. Help has to be imported from the Philippines and Indonesia. Housing is also a problem as the median income is between $20 to $30k and affordable housing  just doesn't exist at those levels of income.  We would like to come back and spend a week here to explore the island in more detail. Maybe in the future.

Tendering into Lahaina on Maui	Fishing Fleet at Lahaina	My only shot of the Maui Coast in the sun shine	Black Coral Factory Store	Sculpture of Haleakale Silversword at visitors center
Haleakala Silversword only grows on Haleakala	What we saw at the summit of Haleakala	What we should have seen	What we should have seen	What we should have seen
Monkeys at the Botanical Park	Flowers in the rain at the Botanical Garden	Flowers at the Botanical Garden	At the Botanical Garden	Vfiew from the Bus up the mountain

Sunday, May 7 to Thursday May 11.

The cruise and adventure was winding down. We had made all the ports of call and now it was just a matter at arriving in San Francisco and returning home. Between Hawaii and San Francisco we had four full days at sea with cloudy and very windy days. The hoped for relaxing on deck chairs was not to be. The spray from the ship made walking on the Promenade deck an unpleasant affair. We stuck to indoor activities such as our favorite past time of trivia. We had been playing as a team called Team USA since the beginning of the cruise and played as a unit twice a day whenever there were no port calls. We had won the door prizes three times during the cruise. We did OK winning luggage straps, luggage tags, reversible tote bags and the dreaded sports bottle. In the evenings we went to the theater shows which were always entertaining. Throughout the cruise we had to get to the theater at least 45 minutes prior to showtime to get a seat.  On one occasion there was a fist fight in the crowd over saved seats which is frowned upon. On Tuesday May 9, there was a Champagne Waterfall party at around 11:00 PM with a champagne glass pyramid set up in the atrium. Throughout the event champagne was cascaded down the glasses while the DJ played rock music and the crowd had a good time dancing. On Wednesday we had to go thru the dreaded packing. It was an ordeal. On Wednesday night we were treated to a Baked Alaska Parade by the dining room staff and also bid farewell to our waiter Alfonso and his assistant Luden. Two excellent people. Thursday morning we we were scheduled to pass under the Golden Gate bridge at 5:15 AM. I had a tough night sleeping that night and mom and I were up at 3:00 AM not able to sleep. We had a pre-breakfast at around 4:30 AM and I headed up to the nose of the ship to take some pictures of the bridge. We were a bit late and around 5:30 AM we finally got a view of the beautiful gate. Unfortunately I could not capture the sights I was getting in my eyes into the camera. It just couldn't handle the foggy background in the darkened sky. I don't blame Ken's camera as much as I blame the operator. I just couldn't get it to deal with the poor lighting conditions. We docked at Pier 35 along the Embarcadero at around 7:00 AM and after a full breakfast we waited for our assigned departure time of 9:00 AM.  After customs clearance of the 50% non US citizen passengers we finally left the ship around 10:00 AM to hunt for our luggage in the warehouse which had been placed out there after 7:00 AM when unloading could begin. Imagine getting the luggage of close to 2000 people out in less than 3 hours. After securing a porter we hit the street at 10:30 AM and by 11:15 were in the Comfort Suites hotel close to SF airport. My initial concern was to get rid of one of the extra bags we had acquired in the trip and get it shipped via UPS. I just couldn't deal with the extra weight that we could be assessed. I had a potential weight charge of around $300. I was able to shed 35 lbs with UPS at a cost of $100 including the cab ride to UPS. That settled Ken, Jeanne, mom and myself headed to the fishermens wharf area in SF. We first took the airport shuttle to the BART station and then took the subway to the Embarcadero center. We then took a trolley to Pier 39 which is a tourist area near the wharf. The Diamond Princess was scheduled to leave at 4:00 PM  but it was still tied up where we had left it even at 4:15 PM. At around this time we ran into the Captain Pickford who had been the captain throughout our journey from Sydney. We had assumed that he would be continuing with the ship for its summer cruising between Vancouver and Alaska. It turned out that the Captain had finished his contract and was returning to Sydney in the evening. We were really bushed by this time and retraced our steps to the hotel. Mom is suffering from a horrible cold which just started in the morning.

The Champagne Waterfall under Construction	The Goodbye Party is on	The Goodbye Party Continues	Trivia Team USA Paul - Denver, June from Waterbury, Conn, along with Ken and Jeanne and mom an me
Ken and Jeanne with Alfonso	The Baked Alaska Parade	Alfonso and Luden, two great people	My pathetic photo of the Golden Gate in the dark.

This concludes our great journey. The next big one will be on 2007. Who knows where or when.

 

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