We booked our cruise early in January 2008. This was a family cruise that include my husband and me, my sister and her husband, and my son, his wife, and their 2 1/2 year daughter. All were very excited about being in Hawaii and our cruise. My brother-in-law and I did most of the planning. We arrive in Honolulu Wednesday evening before our ship departed on Saturday.

Thursday morning we were up early to get to Pearl Harbor before the crowd. Thank you Cruise Critic posters for that advice. Once we were finished at Pearl Harbor, we drove our rental van on to the Dole Plantation. We enjoyed our time there. Later we drove the North Shore to Turtle Bay Resort. I highly recommend that, if you are hungry, you make time for lunch at the Turtle Bay Grill. The hamburgers were wonderful, and the chocolate chip cookies were GREAT. After lunch, we started back towards Honolulu but, we make stops at several beaches along the way. By the time were got back to Honolulu we were tired and spent the remainder of our time lounging around the hotel.

Friday morning we were up early again for our swim with the dolphins @ Sea Life Park. I personally thought the beaches on our drive to Sea Life Park were some of the most beautiful that we visited while in Hawaii. We had great fun at Sea Life Park. Once we finished our time @ Sea Life Park We tried to find the H3, but we were not successful, so after a while, we drive back to Honolulu and spent time at the beach and shopping. Later that evening, we took a sunset cruise - this was the only time it rained while we were in Hawaii. Thus, no sunset, but a lot of fun. Read more