We arrived in Hilo at 9AM and the gangway was open a couple of minutes early.
We had planned a trip with Ken and Marylou who are mentioned on the Hawaii port threads.  Marylou's Tours have limited availability.  If you want to see many things and plan your own day, this is the best there is.  We were met as soon as we left the port building and onto our private vehicle for our group of four.  I think another group may have had 6.  We were brought back to the ship at 4PM.  What a great day!
Our trip started by visiting Volcanoes National Park.  We went to the visitor's center, Thurston Lava tube, Lava flow areas and had an opportunity to do more there if we wanted to.  Next we went to the Volcano Winery.  They tasted 7 different wines.  They offered shipping if you did not want to bring your purchases with you.  We selected a nice red and we all were off to our next stop.
The Orchid greenhouse was next.  So many beautiful flowers to see.  They have a $20,000 orchid but it was not in bloom or on display.  They we went to the Hilo Coffee Mill.  
The Hilo Coffee Mill is a nice fully operational coffee factory on a small scale.  They grow, harvest, prepare and roast their own coffee and it is quite tasty.  Interestingly, they also provide preparation and roasting for other local farmers.  We were shown a 35lb bag of coffee from a local grower.  This farmer does this several times a year and uses the roasted coffee for his personal use.  It was quite interesting to listen to the operator as he described his mill.  What a neat small business and a great example of the local ohana spirit.  This is what living in Hawaii is all about and they love to share this feeling with anyone that wants to listen.  We were enjoying our visit and decided to stay and have lunch.  We had kalua pork plate lunches and pork wraps.  If you have the wrap, it is large enough to split.  I don't share my plate lunch, sorry.  Great lunch here as well!
Next stop was the Moana Loa Macadamia Nut Factory. They have all sorts of nuts and provide tastings for as many as you would like.  All kinds of nuts are available here.  If you want to buy nuts to bring home, ABC Stores or Longs drugs have better pricing on the exact same items.  They have a nice garden to walk through; a deli and Ice cream are available here.  
From here we drove through Hilo and learned about the last big tsunami and learned about the damage it caused.  A huge park area stands where much of the destruction was then.  There is quite a contrast in looking at the buildings.  At the edge of the damaged area was "old" Hilo with all of its old character.  The rebuilt part was all new construction and mostly government buildings.
The next stop was Rainbow Falls.  A smaller falls that flows over the opening of an old lave tube.  There is a nice viewing area.  I learned a new trick here.  At a waterfall, stare at a specific point of the waterfall.  After about 15 seconds of staring, quickly move your eyes (only your eyes) over to the vegetation or mountain to the side of the waterfall.  It will appear to be moving.  I tried this several times and it was really neat.  Thank you Marylou for this tip.  Try it, it really works!
Our last stop was the black sand beaches.  These beaches are not far from the ship, probably less than a mile.  As we got close, we passed an area that is a sanctuary area for green sea turtles.  There were 4 turtles sunning on rocks just off shore.  What a beautiful site and a good photo opportunity.  Then we arrived at the beaches and saw and felt the real black sand beaches.  Two different sizes of sand.  This is one of those things you just get to say been there, done that.  You just do not get to see this elsewhere.
Now it is back to the ship time.  I cannot say enough good things about Marylou's tours.  Google them and do use them when you visit.  Only a few will get this opportunity on any day in Hilo and I guess they do Kona as well.  Check them out and I am sure you will not be disappointed.  I never heard them before I read about them here on CC and I took a chance based on what I read.  All the good stuff was very accurate!
I asked Marylou to drop DW and I off at the small bar across from the entrance to the port where we tied up.  I believe it is called the Margarita Bar.  Just a dive bar with cold beer, good drinks and FREE WI-FI.   Even if you do not want to go out around Hilo, you have to be able to appreciate the FREE WI_FI so close to the ship (5 minute walk to the gangway).  After a couple beers and going through e-mails and we walked back to the ship.

Hilo

I lived on Oahu for 6 years so I had no interest in the excursions offered here.  I had one objective: Get to the Arizona Memorial to see the new visitors Center.  I was stationed at Pearl for about 4 years so this was a homecoming of sorts for me.
I walked off the ship and walked 4 blocks inland to Beretania St to catch The Bus to get to the Arizona Memorial.  You can take any of several busses to get there but the A express or 42 are best.  A is quicker and drops you off on Nimitz Hwy and you walk across to the visitors center.  The 42 actually drops off in the center's parking lot.  Either way the trip is $2.50 and about 30 to 45 minutes.  The Arizona is a must see if you have never been and the new visitors center and movie are excellent.  Often there will be Pearl Harbor survivors at the center and if they are there they are well worth the time to talk to.  I left and caught the bus back to downtown Honolulu.  
By now it was just after 10AM and DW was ready to get off the ship.  She met me downtown and walked over to the lei shops and bought a couple nice leis for the rest of the trip.  We decided to take the leis back to the ship and then we headed to Waikiki.  
A short walk off the ship, past the Aloha Tower market there is a bus stop.  Another $2.50 and 15 minutes and we were in Waikiki.  I always like to walk around the beach and the bars.  Dukes is a local favorite.  There is a Margaretville in Waikiki and it is close to the International Market Place.  It is easy to find a great bar on the beach and just chill.  Time fly's by and we were catching a bus back to the ship.
One of the things i did months before this cruise, I signed up for Groupon for Honolulu.  I got a new deal daily.  Most were nothing I wanted but we did get one for the Alli Kai dinner cruise 2 for 1.  This was a great bargain, close to the ship and a wonderful dinner cruise.  This is offered and a ship excursion but even without Groupon you can buy tickets online for much lower than the ship offers.  This went out at 5:30 and we were back on the ship by about 9pm.

Honolulu

Sailing into and out of this port is exciting.  The Captain and his staff deserve a great deal of credit since they had to thread the needle to enter and leave the small harbor.  On our previous Hawaii cruise we would have anchored out and tendered and we were forced to miss Kauai.  We made it in fine this time and DW made here first visit to Kauai.

We purchased our only ships excursion here.  We gathered in the Princess Theater.  we tooktThe Waimea Canyon trip which departed shortly after we tied up at 8am. We were led off the ship to thw waiting coaches.  Within about 15 minutes we were loaded on the bus and off. Our driver headed straight to the canyon and we were the first buss to arrive there that day.  It rained, stopped, rained and stopped all the way and while we were at the canyon also.  It is a beautiful place, even with clouds and rain.  This was a nice photo opportunity.  Then we started back.  We did make a stop at a shop for souvenirs and such.  They also had quite a collection of shell leis from the private island of Niihau.  There are very beautiful and start at $300 and go well into the thousands.  

After our excursion today, we had options for several shuttles into Lehui for shopping.  K Mart, Walmart and the local mall had their shuttles.  Taking K Mart will allow you a short walk to Costco.  We opted for the shopping area close to the ship. Kauai is the home of Red dirt shirts.  We passed the factory and also passed a small outlet store while we were on the bus.  I wish we could have shopped at the outlet store as they had a display outside that had shirts for just $5!  IMHO this is a great example of why you might rent a car and enjoying the island on your own.

Kauai

This is the only tender port.  The early tenders did not require tickets.  It may have gotten a little more crowded later in the morning.  We had decided to ride the Sugar Cane Train.  It was $23 each and lasted just over an hour and a half.  There are nice views from the train.  You can get off at the Kaanapali end and go down to the hotels and get back later in the day if you want to.  We just rode both ways.  The train is only a long block from Hilo Hattie's and an easy walk from the tender.

From there we walked over to the Cannery mall, about 20 minute walk.  There was a shuttle running there also.  We went to Aloha Plate Lunch for lunch.  it is located next to the Old Lahina Luau.  The food is well priced, tastes great and happy hour is at 2pm.  Bud/Bud light are $1.75 and a very good Mai Tai is $3.  We finished there, walked back to the Mall and shopped a bit.  There is a Longs Drugs there.  Beautiful 2012 Hawaii calendars were only $0.88 each (ABC Stores were $2.49 each).  They also had Macadamia nuts on special and we spent over $100 on gifts to bring home.

We waited for the shuttle and made it back to the Pioneer Inn.  They had $3 beer and $4 Mai Tai specials.  We sat there a while and waited till there was no line for the tenders.  Then we were back onboard.

Maui

E619 and 621 are obstructed view.  Both cabins are between lifeboats and have quite excellent views for obstructed.  I can tell from looking into other obstructed cabins that all they get is daylight and the side of a lifeboat.  In this case the depiction from the deck plans was accurate showing minimal obstruction between boats for our cabins.  We are directly across from the Laundromat and you would never know it.  There is no noise or bother from people doing laundry what so ever.

His show was good and full 20 minutes before show time.With the selections available at the IC and since I go there to get my fresh brewed coffee I find no need for room service breakfast.

Golden Princess Review

Golden to Hawaii 10/26 to 11/9 14 nights

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