This was our seventh cruise and second from Hawaii. We sailed The Pride of Aloha in October, 2006 and loved it. The itinerary and capability of seeing each island in 7 days is absolutely wonderful. We had heard and read reviews about the Pride of America and were leery, but this date was the only time we could get away, so we took it. We looked at this cruise like a mode to get island to island and we were not disappointed!
Thursday, January 24, we flew direct from Houston to Honolulu in 8 hours. We caught Robert's shuttle outside the airport for $15 RT to our hotel in Waikiki. We stayed at the Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber last time and loved it and the location, so we stayed here again. It is right on Kahaluana Blvd. across from the Royal Hawaiian and the Cheesecake Factory. I love the International Market next door so we immediately settled in and went there to watch the lady near the waterfall make me the most beautiful leigh from plumeria, orchids and tiny white flowers. Next, we stopped at ABC and picked up a bag of Kona coffee and small filters for the hotel room and cruise ship cabin. (Thanks for that tip on another review!) If you follow the yellow stripe on the ground, you get back to the food courts which remind me of the Hawker Stands in Singapore or Malaysia. We had Vietnamese noodles and shrimp and sat and enjoyed people watching and the wonderful food. After that, we went across the street to Duke's which has a great surfing history and beach bar. We watched the sunset and Diamondhead from there. This whole strip is filled with great shops and places to eat, as well as a great beach!
Friday, We had the Dollar Rental Car shuttle pick us up at 9am and spent the rest of the day driving North towards Diamondhead, Hanauma Bay, Blowhole, and up and around the scenic southeast coastline and beaches as we headed up and around to the North Shore beaches. I love this drive. We had done the Circle Island Tour in '06 so we went back to places we loved and got to spend our own sweet time! We stopped at Giovonni's shrimp truck -mmmmmmm and then the Banzai Pipeline to watch the surfers. It was awesome watching them! We turned the car in at night, had dinner at Duke's and literally conked out we were so tired!