Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
More tales from the Islands...
Sorry it has taken so long to write more about our Hawaii trip. I’ll continue where I left off.
We had just gotten to our suite and waited patiently for our luggage to arrive so we could unpack and explore the ship. I neglected to tell you that our concierge, Mareike, had come by to introduce her self and offer to help make our trip as smooth and enjoyable as possible. We also meet Ramadhan, one of our butlers, who brought us some salmon canopies to enjoy while we waited for our luggage.
.
Our luggage was delivered by one of our stewards, Emmanuel, who was from the Phillipines. Our other steward was Lea and she was also from the Phillipines. Both of them were exceptionally friendly and we enjoyed seeing them every day when they came to make our room or in the evening when they came to turn down our beds. They made us little animals out of towels each evening.
.
SO, after we unpacked we took a stroll on deck to watch the festivities of the Aloha deck party as we were leaving. It was threatening to rain a bit, but it never quite manifested itself. We had a beautiful view of Diamond Head and the Aloha Tower clock as we waited to leave port. We sat on deck drinking mai tais, strawberry smoothies with rum, and blue Hawaiis. Once we left port, we went to the Sports Bar on board to eat something at the buffet before heading back to the suite to go to bed. We were all exhausted by this point.
.
Let me describe the sleeping situation. First of all, as you walked into our suite, there was a hallway with a big bathroom to the left with a nice sized tub for soaking. It had a door on the other side that went into the master bedroom that had a queen sized bed, a desk/vanity, and a closet. It also had a TV and a huge sliding glass door that led out to the balcony. From the entrance hallway, on the right was a big walk in closet with tons of space for hanging clothes, a few cabinets for personal items, and a pulldown bed. Continuing straight down the hallway, there was a living area with a couch, two chairs, a coffee table, a curio cabinet with a desk, and an entertainment center with a 19 inch TV, a DVD player, and a CD player. The sofa pulled out into a queen bed for sleeping. It had a floor to ceiling picture window to the right and a sliding glass door to the left that also led out to the balcony.
.
Then there was the balcony. It sat four people comfortably and we spent a great deal of time out there watching the waves go by during this trip. We sat out there as we were leaving port and waved to people on the pier. It was a typical Love Boat moment…except there wasn’t much confetti in these more ecologically sensitive times.
.
Once we could no longer see the lights, we prepared for bed. Mom and Sandra took the master bedroom; Quanna took the sofa sleeper; and I took the pull down bunk in the closet. Now I haven’t been in the closet for years…but I actually enjoyed this one. I could go in there and close the door on the entire world if I wanted to. It was nice and cozy…and I slept very well in there. Before we went to bed, we met our other butler, Ryan, who came by to introduce himself. He and Ramadhan would bring us incredible treats every day. He came by to ask me about the three free bottles of alcohol that we were being given by the cruise line as a thank you for sailing in the Owner’s Suite. We got to choose what kind of liquor we wanted. So, we got a bottle of rum, a bottle of tequila, and a bottle of vodka.
.
Okay…break time. I’ll upload more later!! Pictures should be forthcoming in the next day or so!
We had just gotten to our suite and waited patiently for our luggage to arrive so we could unpack and explore the ship. I neglected to tell you that our concierge, Mareike, had come by to introduce her self and offer to help make our trip as smooth and enjoyable as possible. We also meet Ramadhan, one of our butlers, who brought us some salmon canopies to enjoy while we waited for our luggage.
.
Our luggage was delivered by one of our stewards, Emmanuel, who was from the Phillipines. Our other steward was Lea and she was also from the Phillipines. Both of them were exceptionally friendly and we enjoyed seeing them every day when they came to make our room or in the evening when they came to turn down our beds. They made us little animals out of towels each evening.
.
SO, after we unpacked we took a stroll on deck to watch the festivities of the Aloha deck party as we were leaving. It was threatening to rain a bit, but it never quite manifested itself. We had a beautiful view of Diamond Head and the Aloha Tower clock as we waited to leave port. We sat on deck drinking mai tais, strawberry smoothies with rum, and blue Hawaiis. Once we left port, we went to the Sports Bar on board to eat something at the buffet before heading back to the suite to go to bed. We were all exhausted by this point.
.
Let me describe the sleeping situation. First of all, as you walked into our suite, there was a hallway with a big bathroom to the left with a nice sized tub for soaking. It had a door on the other side that went into the master bedroom that had a queen sized bed, a desk/vanity, and a closet. It also had a TV and a huge sliding glass door that led out to the balcony. From the entrance hallway, on the right was a big walk in closet with tons of space for hanging clothes, a few cabinets for personal items, and a pulldown bed. Continuing straight down the hallway, there was a living area with a couch, two chairs, a coffee table, a curio cabinet with a desk, and an entertainment center with a 19 inch TV, a DVD player, and a CD player. The sofa pulled out into a queen bed for sleeping. It had a floor to ceiling picture window to the right and a sliding glass door to the left that also led out to the balcony.
.
Then there was the balcony. It sat four people comfortably and we spent a great deal of time out there watching the waves go by during this trip. We sat out there as we were leaving port and waved to people on the pier. It was a typical Love Boat moment…except there wasn’t much confetti in these more ecologically sensitive times.
.
Once we could no longer see the lights, we prepared for bed. Mom and Sandra took the master bedroom; Quanna took the sofa sleeper; and I took the pull down bunk in the closet. Now I haven’t been in the closet for years…but I actually enjoyed this one. I could go in there and close the door on the entire world if I wanted to. It was nice and cozy…and I slept very well in there. Before we went to bed, we met our other butler, Ryan, who came by to introduce himself. He and Ramadhan would bring us incredible treats every day. He came by to ask me about the three free bottles of alcohol that we were being given by the cruise line as a thank you for sailing in the Owner’s Suite. We got to choose what kind of liquor we wanted. So, we got a bottle of rum, a bottle of tequila, and a bottle of vodka.
.
Okay…break time. I’ll upload more later!! Pictures should be forthcoming in the next day or so!
Thursday, March 9, 2006
Tales from the Islands
Hi, everyone!
I thought I would take a moment to fill you in on the Hawaii trip. All I can say is that the service has been absolutely incredible. The trip has been everything I could've hoped for and with only one disappointment.
Let's start with the last few days before I left home. My Aunt Sandra came in on Sunday around noon. We spent the afternoon shopping at Mervyn's, Payless, and Ross to pick up a few last minute things before we left. I worked on Monday from 6:30am til around 3pm and then headed home to get packed.
Quanna was supposed to get to my house around 10pm, but her Mom's flight was delayed coming back from Savannah, Georgia. Quanna's Aunt Irene passed away earlier that week in Savannah. Quanna ended up not getting to my home until around 2am. We had to be up at 5am to get ready for the limo that picked us up at 6:15am on Tuesday morning.
The limo arrived early and Josh, our driver, was very nice and charming. He whisked us off without incident to the airport and we checked our baggage for Hawaiian Airline flight 19 at curbside and made our way to the gate to board our flight.
We left at 8:40am and had a pretty non-eventful flight to Honolulu. Arrived there at about 12:15pm and made our way to baggage claim. On the way, we met our limo driver, Steven, who brought us a baggage cart to load up our bags while he went to move the limo closer to the exit. It didn't take too long to get our suitcases and Steven loaded them up in the trunk of the stretch limo and hauled us all to the Hilton hotel in Waikiki. We got a picture snapped with the limo and I made my way to check in. Then we had a problem...we weren't staying at the Hilton. We were staying at the Hyatt Regency. So, I called Steven on his cell phone who realized he had dropped us off at the wrong place and came back to get us. He dropped us off at the Hyatt. We got checked in and went up to our room on the 31st floor. It had a view of Diamond Head that was effing fantastic!
We all got washed up a bit and headed down to have dinner. We walked over to the International Marketplace where the girls shopped for a while. Then, we all went out to the bar. Mom, Sandra, Quanna and I had quite a few drinks and laughed for hours before heading back up to the room about 8:30pm and fell asleep.
Next morning, we went down to have breakfast in the hotel before getting a cab over to Pearl Harbor. We took the tour...this is a very moving experience. It was the third time I've been to Pearl Harbor and each time, it is more intense. The Arizona Memorial is like being in a church. The reverance there is sobering to say the least. The tour starts with a video that describes the events leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. Then you take a tender boat over to the Arizona Memorial that is built over what's left of the Battleship Arizona which was sunk during the attack with over 1100 men on board. They are all resting there still because the technology was limited back in the 1940's. There was no way to get through the tangled metal to remove the bodies. So, it is a national shrine and a cemetary to this day. The problem now is that there is a lot of oil trapped in the hull of the Arizona which has been slowly leaking all these 65 years. And it's gradually getting worse.
After the tour at the Arizona, we headed back to the Hyatt to check out and catch another taxi over to the Aloha Tower Pier to check in for our cruise by noon. Since we had booked one of the Owner's Penthouse Suites, we had a very minimal wait time to check in. Within half an hour, we were on board and standing in our three room suite aboard Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Wind. The suite had a living room area with a sofa that pulls out to a double bed and chairs, a desk, and two huge floor to ceiling windows and a sliding glass door out to a private balcony; a master bedroom area with another sliding glass door out to the balcony, a bathroom with a tub and a shower, and a huge walk in closet with a pullman bed and tons of storage space. After getting unpacked, we walked out to explore the ship.
I thought I would take a moment to fill you in on the Hawaii trip. All I can say is that the service has been absolutely incredible. The trip has been everything I could've hoped for and with only one disappointment.
Let's start with the last few days before I left home. My Aunt Sandra came in on Sunday around noon. We spent the afternoon shopping at Mervyn's, Payless, and Ross to pick up a few last minute things before we left. I worked on Monday from 6:30am til around 3pm and then headed home to get packed.
Quanna was supposed to get to my house around 10pm, but her Mom's flight was delayed coming back from Savannah, Georgia. Quanna's Aunt Irene passed away earlier that week in Savannah. Quanna ended up not getting to my home until around 2am. We had to be up at 5am to get ready for the limo that picked us up at 6:15am on Tuesday morning.
The limo arrived early and Josh, our driver, was very nice and charming. He whisked us off without incident to the airport and we checked our baggage for Hawaiian Airline flight 19 at curbside and made our way to the gate to board our flight.
We left at 8:40am and had a pretty non-eventful flight to Honolulu. Arrived there at about 12:15pm and made our way to baggage claim. On the way, we met our limo driver, Steven, who brought us a baggage cart to load up our bags while he went to move the limo closer to the exit. It didn't take too long to get our suitcases and Steven loaded them up in the trunk of the stretch limo and hauled us all to the Hilton hotel in Waikiki. We got a picture snapped with the limo and I made my way to check in. Then we had a problem...we weren't staying at the Hilton. We were staying at the Hyatt Regency. So, I called Steven on his cell phone who realized he had dropped us off at the wrong place and came back to get us. He dropped us off at the Hyatt. We got checked in and went up to our room on the 31st floor. It had a view of Diamond Head that was effing fantastic!
We all got washed up a bit and headed down to have dinner. We walked over to the International Marketplace where the girls shopped for a while. Then, we all went out to the bar. Mom, Sandra, Quanna and I had quite a few drinks and laughed for hours before heading back up to the room about 8:30pm and fell asleep.
Next morning, we went down to have breakfast in the hotel before getting a cab over to Pearl Harbor. We took the tour...this is a very moving experience. It was the third time I've been to Pearl Harbor and each time, it is more intense. The Arizona Memorial is like being in a church. The reverance there is sobering to say the least. The tour starts with a video that describes the events leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. Then you take a tender boat over to the Arizona Memorial that is built over what's left of the Battleship Arizona which was sunk during the attack with over 1100 men on board. They are all resting there still because the technology was limited back in the 1940's. There was no way to get through the tangled metal to remove the bodies. So, it is a national shrine and a cemetary to this day. The problem now is that there is a lot of oil trapped in the hull of the Arizona which has been slowly leaking all these 65 years. And it's gradually getting worse.
After the tour at the Arizona, we headed back to the Hyatt to check out and catch another taxi over to the Aloha Tower Pier to check in for our cruise by noon. Since we had booked one of the Owner's Penthouse Suites, we had a very minimal wait time to check in. Within half an hour, we were on board and standing in our three room suite aboard Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Wind. The suite had a living room area with a sofa that pulls out to a double bed and chairs, a desk, and two huge floor to ceiling windows and a sliding glass door out to a private balcony; a master bedroom area with another sliding glass door out to the balcony, a bathroom with a tub and a shower, and a huge walk in closet with a pullman bed and tons of storage space. After getting unpacked, we walked out to explore the ship.
I'll post more later!!
Ray
Ray
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