Saturday, March 30, 2019. Oahu, Hawaii

Saturday, March 30, 2019. Oahu, Hawaii

This cruise has gone from one extreme to the other with the transition from sea days to excursion days. We had to set an alarm to get us up early enough to ready for our excursion to the Polynesian Cultural Center. 

The ship docked near downtown Honolulu by the Aloha Tower.  This time, disembarking was smooth with no long lines or waiting, and it wasn’t long before we boarded a bus driven by our driver/guide.  His commentary started off with “I don’t know why they have your out here so early because the PCC (Polynesian Cultural Center) doesn’t open until Noon (actually it opens at 11:45AM).  Even the Dole Pinapple Store doesn’t open until 10:00AM (It was 8:20AM when we were told to meet the tour in the terminal)”.  Then he somewhat reluctantly boarded everyone and started us off on our trip.  He did point out landmarks around Honolulu as we headed off to the PCC, but about 20 minutes into the drive everyone noticed that the floor heaters were pumping out heat, and within 10 minutes the bus was over 90 degrees inside.  The driver insisted he had never turned on the heat, and that there must have been something wrong with the automatic climate control.  One passenger even walked up to the cab to investigate.  We ended up having a mutiny and he was forced to pull over to troubleshoot.  He ended up going outside and fiddled with something in the luggage compartment in the undercarriage, and then the passenger who had gone up to the cockpit fiddled with the temperature control.  He and the driver discovered that when the knob was turned all the way to max cold, there was a detent that actually clicked the system OFF.  That seemed to have done the trick as the temperature stopped climbing, and the bus started to cool off. Interestingly enough, someone else we ran into later in the evening said the same thing happened on their bus, and they ended up abandoning the bus and standing on the side of the road waiting a half hour for a replacement bus.  Their driver and passengers weren’t able to troubleshoot the same problem, apparently.

We ended up arriving at the Dole Pineapple Store about 10 minutes before opening time, and there were people lined up to go in.  We lucked out again on the weather because it was partly cloudy and in the 70’s, with no rain in the forecast.  This too had changed at the last minute because earlier in the week, rain had been forecast.  Our guide explained that pineapple production in Hawaii has virtually ceased, and that the vast majority of Dole Pineapples sold in the US are actually grown in Costa Rica.  However, this operation was continued on a small scale for the tourism industry, and produces pineapples for sale and consumption basically just in Hawaii.  While the cost of labor was one of the drivers of the shift of pineapple production from Hawaii to Costa Rica, the lack of land for further expansion was also a primary driver because demand worldwide for pineapples was exceeding what could be produced in Hawaii.  We got lucky in the store which features “Pick your Pearl” where you pick a key out of a bowl, and if it opens a treasure chest, you can pick a prize slip out of it.  Ben’s key fit and his prize slip was a free Pick-a-Pearl worth $14.  You pick an oyster out of a tray and they open it to find a pearl.  All of the oysters have been seeded so each one should contain a cultured pearl, but you can’t predict if it will be white, black or pink.  Ben’s yielded a cute pink pearl.  Then just before it was time to go, Janet had a second to at it, but picked a dud key.  But she got to pick a consolation prize out of a basket, and pulled out another coupon for a free Pick-a-Pearl.  She picked an oyster with a white pearl.  Of course, the girls at the sales counter offered to swap it for another pink one and have the two pearls mounted into ear rings, which is where they make their money, but we declined and just have a pink and white pearl souvenirs of our visit to Oahu this time.

We drove along some surfing beaches and actually pulled over to take some pictures at Sunset Beach, which was beautiful. There were locals out working the surf all along the beach.  We also stopped at the Mormon temple adjacent to the PCC, which has beautifully landscaped gardens and buildings.  

We arrived at the PCC just as the park was opening, and our first stop was the buffet for a Hawaiian BBQ lunch, featuring pork ribs and teriyaki chicken.  This buffet also had a variety of desserts including miniature pineapple upside down cakes, gooey coconut lemon bars and a jello cheesecake- was was better than it sounds.

We then headed as a group to the Samoan village where they demonstrated coconut husking, cracking, and coconut milk extraction.  The main demonstrator was a man we recognized from our last visit to the PCC years ago.  He was very entertaining and his crew put on a fun, educational and entertaining show.  The show ends with someone scrambling up a tall coconut tree.

Next, we headed to the show lagoon where they do a pageant on canoes.  A little Chinese girl sat next to us who was about 10 years old was super excited because there were all sorts of Polynesian references in the Disney movie Moana that she recognized. We had front row seats and it was also a nice production with live music and dancing highlighting Polynesian culture through the years.

Then we headed to Tonga for a drum beating seminar/performance where volunteers from the audience were brought on stage for some fun, and finally over to Tahiti for a traditional wedding ceremony.

We had seen a little less than half the park, but it was time to go back to the ship.  Our driver took an alternate route back to Honolulu that took us through the rainiest valley on the island and saw some beautiful towering green mountains reaching into the cloud bank on one side of the bus, and the surf on the other.  We also drove through China Town and past the mini-Walmart.  It has become a running joke that people from the cruise ships come all the way across the Pacific Ocean so they can scramble to the Walmarts in Hawaii to buy potato chips and souvenirs.  True enough, and they have free Walmart shuttles from the Cruise ship terminal in Honolulu.  

We made it back to the ship in time to enjoy some sushi for dinner at the Elite and Platinum lounge.  Then we were off for our evening’s entertainment starting with a win at Flag trivia.  We managed a perfect score this time.  There was a flag enthusiast next to us who had missed just one, mixing up Iceland for Norway, but they didn’t put up any obscure flags, so it was pretty easy.  

Our regular trivia team showed up for Famous Faces trivia, but there were a few we didn’t know.  Then we had to leave part way through “Finish the Lyrics” trivia to see the local folkloric show they had brought on the ship, which was a local Hula school.  They put on a great show.  Hula is such an expressive and beautiful art.  It is wonderful that the Hawaiians embrace and cherish this. They start Hula classes as early as 3 years of age.  These performers looked like they ranged from about 9 years old to late teens or early 20’s.  There were all very graceful.

We have to set our alarm clock again for tomorrow’s early start in Kauai.  We have an excursion to see the Waimea Canyon and Fern Grotto with a Wailua river cruise.