After a good nights sleep we have a lovely breakfast on the rear open deck at the back of the buffet. As soon as we sit down a flash of water just outside the harbour walls signals the presence of humpback whales, a majestic creature breaches the water before crashing back down.
No crush for tables though and nice warm weather. There's a little cloud hanging over the mountains, which is the norm & is expected to disappear in a few hours.
NCLs Pride of America is currently the only cruise liner that offers this intensive Hawaiian itinerary. Its home port is Honolulu on the island of Oahu and every Saturday, 52 weeks of the year it sets out to complete this weekly tour of the islands. No time wasted sailing from Vancouver or Seattle and much more time on the actual islands - as most ports,like today include an overnight stopover.
We deliberately did not arrange any trips for this first morning just in case we didn't wake up in time or felt dead to the world - so we stroll out of the port and onto the beach alongside to stretch our legs. We have a Zodiac Whale watching tour booked for this afternoon,on reflection I should have booked it later or earlier as I now realise we will be sat on a large powered dingy in the middle of the ocean with no shade to protect our delicate English skin from the midday sun!
Maui is made up of a huge flat valley surrounded on both sides by lush rain forest covered volcanic mountains. The main road just outside the port is where you will find a lot of the local tour operators hawking for business. A few options are available so we decide tomorrow we will find a car & driver and arrange a tour of the valleys and forests.
After lunch we take a short drive to the far side of the valley on the south coast for our whale trip. For such a small boat its rather odd that its parked up against a high quayside rather than a pontoon and this causes quite an issue for some of the older guests. But eventually we are all aboard and on our way.
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Two hours is quite a long time out here especially as the clouds have now cleared and the sun is beating down.
We do get a nice soaking every now and again though which keeps us cool but leaves us with a coating of salt. Its hard to look anywhere and not see a water spray up from a Humpback somewhere. Between December and the end of March the Humpbacks are here in Maui, having left the feeding grounds of Alaska to hang around here to breed - come April they make their way back north. Boats are not allowed within 100 yards of them, so bring a telephoto lens - should they get any closer then all power has to be cut & you wait until the whales move on their way - so if you arrange this trip on your own dont risk it the day your ship is leaving!
Liberty restaurant tonight - nice room, not too cramped; though it reminds me of Disney's Hall of Presidents - some seriously OTT silver star spangled velvet curtains (in fact the whole ships public areas have a touch of the White House).
Food again is great - this is actually one of the first NCL cruises where we haven't added or been given any specialty restaurants On the Jade's Transatlantic Cruise last November - click here - it was a little repetitive choosing from the menus because nothing has been added on the specialist restaurant menus over the years although lobster has been removed!. However we did get a very nice amount of cash based on our loyalty level, which helps with the bar bill.
Liberty restaurant tonight - nice room, not too cramped; though it reminds me of Disney's Hall of Presidents - some seriously OTT silver star spangled velvet curtains (in fact the whole ships public areas have a touch of the White House).
Food again is great - this is actually one of the first NCL cruises where we haven't added or been given any specialty restaurants On the Jade's Transatlantic Cruise last November - click here - it was a little repetitive choosing from the menus because nothing has been added on the specialist restaurant menus over the years although lobster has been removed!. However we did get a very nice amount of cash based on our loyalty level, which helps with the bar bill.
Thank you for the report! We are going in October and this really helps. I love the pink floral blouse you have on in the deck photo. Could you tell me the brand?
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