Germaine’s Luau was a good experience...off the beaten track in an industrial area but once in the ‘compound’ it was a good experience.  Food was plentiful and enjoyable although a bit bland.  You get a free drink ticket although it may be worth your while to buy a tiki cup ($10, I think) as they will fill that and which is giving you the equivalent of 2-3 drinks.  Entertainment was good.  Transportation was good.

We booked our Pearl Harbor tickets (plus audio tour) on our own 2 months before our arrival.  We had a timed ticket for noon and arrived on site just before 09:00 am.  There was no line to pick up our tickets at that time (although we talked to some folks who waited in line for 90 minutes later in the day).  We were able to complete most of the audio tour prior to our timed tour to the Arizona memorial.  We took a taxi from the pier ($40) although you could also take The Big Bus ($2.50 each) if you had time.

We booked the Advanced Snorkel at Lanai’i.  Please note that the boat ride to the snorkelling spot is about an hour.  The day we went seas were rough on the way there and very rough on the way back.  They had to bypass the number 1 snorkelling site but were able to anchor at the more protected number 2 site.  We did enjoy the snorkelling and felt safe and well looked after by the crew.  We had a little over an hour to snorkel.

This was a fun excursion.  We have visited the mud volcano in Columbia and while this was a very different experience it was, nonetheless, enjoyable.  We were greeted with music and singing followed by a Kava ceremony and then were broken into small groups of 10 where we went with a guide to our mud pot and covered ourselves with mud which then dried in the sun.  While the mud was drying we walked over to see the source pool (discovered by American soldiers in WWII) and then into the mud pool to rinse off.  Once we were (mostly) clean it was into the thermal pool which was very nice.  Following that we were treated to fruit and water while waiting for a 10-15 minute coconut oil massage (which was very nice).  Then back to the hut for more entertainment.  Overall a very good experience.

We enjoy sea days and the Cruise Director (Dan) and staff did a great job of ensuring a wide variety of activities were offered on this cruise.I also want to commend the ice skating team and in particular Alex who choreographed a new Ice Show (Rock of Ages) specifically for this journey.

Explorer of the Seas Review

Wonderful transpacific passage!

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Oceanview Stateroom

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