My wife, Charlotte (46), and I (52) had never been on a cruise and had never visited Hawaii so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and booked the Pride of Aloha cruise with Norwegian Cruise Lines leaving Honolulu on August 19th. Living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and having an intense fear of flying presents its problems when you want to travel halfway around the world, so it was with great trepidation that I awaited the trip out to Honolulu. Our journey took us from Myrtle Beach to Raleigh/Durham International Airport (3 hour drive) to fly to Salt Lake City (4.5 hours) and then on to Honolulu (6.5 hours), arriving on Saturday the 18th of August, a day before cruise departure. I had no fingernails upon arrival in Oahu. Too many miles and too many feet of altitude for way too long.

I had booked our hotel well in advance and did not use the NCLA pre-cruise hotel option. We arrived in Honolulu at 2:00 PM where I surprised my wife with a lei greeting (huge bonus points for that) and then caught the airport shuttle to the Ilikai Hotel overlooking the harbor in the city.

http://www.pbase.com/traderboynh/image/84644503/original (Ilikai) Read more