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Travel Journal March 2, 3024 Hawaii Cruise - Day 16

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Saturday, March 2, 2024 Ensenada, Mexico This afternoon we arrived at Ensenada, Mexico. This is a new port for us! I think it might be a fairly new port for cruise ships as I had never heard of it before booking this cruise. We spent part of the morning packing our suitcases. WOW! That’s a lot of laundry! That made it somewhat easy to pack - we just had to stuff it all into our suitcases. As we approached Ensenada, we relaxed in a lounge to read and watch the ocean go by for one more time. We got off the ship at 3pm and joined a Segway excursion. This is the 3rd or 4th time we have ridden Segways, so we considered ourselves old hands at it. There were only 6 people in our group, which made it very nice. However, the 2 guides spent way too much time giving us instructions on how to operate a Segway. Two of the people had never ridden Segways before, so perhaps they needed a little extra attention. But I have found that the best Segway training is just hopping on the thing and e
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Travel Journal March 1, 2024 Hawaii Cruise - Day 15

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Friday, March 1, 2024 Aboard the Carnival Miracle Cruise Ship, North Pacific Ocean This was our last full day at sea. Tomorrow (Saturday) we dock at Ensenada, Mexico (which I don’t think is one of the Hawaiian islands), and on Sunday morning we will finish our 15-night cruise in Long Beach, California (which could very well be part of the Hawaiian Islands). This has been the longest cruise we have ever been on. We’ve been on eleven 7-night cruises, one 8-night cruise, and one 11-night cruise. Fifteen nights on a cruise ship has been delightful! What could be better than cruising to Hawaii with absolutely no responsibilities and everyone waits on you hand and foot? Most of our cruises have been in the Caribbean. We’ve had one Alaska cruise, and one cruise from New York to Bermuda. We have definitely preferred the warmer-climate destinations. This cruise has been, surprisingly, a little on the cool side. Daytime temperatures on days at sea have been mostly in the 60s, and most days
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February 2024 Hawaii Cruise - Day 11

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Monday, February 26, 2024 Hilo, The Big Island, Hawaii This morning we arrived at Hilo on The Big Island of Hawaii. Thankfully, the ship docked at a pier so we did not have to endure the fiasco we had yesterday with the tenders, which was not very tender. We joined a 4-1/2 hour bus excursion that stopped at 5 sites and it was excellent. First we stopped at a Japanese garden here in Hilo, called the Liliuokalani Gardens, which is a mouthful. Why they couldn’t have just kept it simple and called it “Japanese Gardens,” or something like “栗林公園,“ I don’t know. I was amazed at how authenticity Japanese it was, complete with torii gates, shishi lion-dogs to “guard” the entrance, Japanese style bridges, ponds, and Japanese stone lanterns. I felt like I had stepped off the bus and into a garden in Kyoto! Next we went to a candy and cookie making facility called Big Island Candies. This, too, had a Japanese connection as it was started many years ago by a Japanese family. I assume it is
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February 2024 Hawaii Cruise - Day 10

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Sunday, February 25, 2024 Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii Today we woke up to find ourselves in the harbor at Kona, Hawaii. Kona does not have a pier where cruise ships can dock, so the ship had to drop anchor in the middle of the harbor. That meant we had to use the ship’s lifeboats as “tenders” to shuttle passengers from the ship to land. We signed up for a “History of Kona” excursion that was to start at 10:30AM. Our tickets, however, told us that we all had to meet in the main theater at 9AM, which was 1-1/2 hours before the excursion was to begin! I thought that was strange. But, we went to the theater at 8:45am and took a seat, with what appeared to be about 200 other people. They announced a few excursion groups that allowed many to disembark, and it seemed like everything was going smoothly. I thought that Carnival really knows its business and had this disembarking system down to a science! Sure enough, at 9AM, they announced that our excursion group could head to the tend
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February 2024 Hawaii Cruise Day 9

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Saturday, February 24, 2024 Kauai, Hawaii Today we joined one of the best optional tours we have ever been on in the over 1 dozen cruises we have been on. I do not count yesterday‘s visit to the PCC as an optional tour, because that was not actually organized through the cruise company; I don’t know how any optional tour could ever beat that!. We were gone from 8:30am until 4:30pm, traveling by tour bus and flat-bottom boat to several places here in Kauai. We traveled about an hour or more to Hawaii’s version of the Grand Canyon in the Waimea State Park . It is considerably smaller than its Arizona cousin, but incredibly beautiful. Next we traveled down to the ocean to see the Spouting Horn Park. There are holes in the lava rock by the ocean, and when the waves hit the shore, some of the water travels into the underground tubes and into the holes to make it look like a geyser. Not quite Old Faithful, which we saw last May, but impressive nevertheless. Our tour guide said that
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February 2024 Hawaii Cruise - Day 8

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Friday, February 23, 2024 Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii This day did not start out very well! We were supposed to disembark the ship at 9:15am, but for some reason, we were delayed until 10:30am. No explanations, no apologies. Very frustrating and annoying! We had hoped to get to the Pearl Harbor Memorial by 10am, enjoy a couple of hours leisurely exploring the sites there, and then take an hour’s drive to the Polynesian Cultural Center. However, we did not get to Pearl Harbor until after 11am and we felt quite rushed to see just a part of what we had wanted to see. We had a reservation to visit the USS Arizona Memorial but we missed our reserved time slot. But luckily we were able to join another group without too much delay. That was a very moving experience, much like visiting Hiroshima in Japan. There is not much to see at the USS Arizona Memorial, but there certainly is a sobering spirit about it. We had hoped to take a self-guided audio tour of Pearl Harbor. However, after ge
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February 2024 Hawaii Cruise - Day 6

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Wednesday, February 21, 2024 Aboard the Carnival Miracle, Pacific Ocean, Just East of the Hawaiian Islands Today was a beautiful, sunny, warm day on board the Carnival Miracle. It feels like we have finally escaped winter and have entered spring! Even the seas were relatively calm. The Beatles song, Here Comes The Sun, comes to mind. One of the things we love about cruising is the plethora of music venues scattered about the ship. Throughout the day and especially in the evening, musicians playing all sorts of different music can be found everywhere - poolside, outside on the decks, in the many bars and lounges, and in the main theater where there is a musical show or 2 every night. Anne and I especially enjoy going to the evening show in the theater after dinner and then going bar hopping! We review the calendar’s list of events and can choose to listen to country music, modern rock, 60s, 70s, 80s classic rock, Motown, violinists playing various genres, and even an Irish couple
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