Honolulu, Hawaii

Wednesday, September 30

We enjoyed a lovely breakfast watching the coastline of Oahu pass by as we sailed towards our berth near the Aloha Tower on a hot sunny day, and as we disembarked all guests were given a beautiful orchid lei. We had purchased tickets for the hop on-hop off trolley to get around and see the sights, and this turned out not to be the best idea. There were a lot of other guests from our ship with the same idea, and we all headed for the same trolley stop. We don't think the trolley company was very organised as they didn't arrange extra trolleys for this first rush of customers, consequently some didn't fit on the first trolley and were not happy about waiting an extra 10-15 minutes to get on the next one!

Waiting for the trolley

We transferred at the DFS store for the Green line to take us to Diamond Head, but again we had to wait - at least it was cool and they had free wifi! Our next hazard was the Honolulu traffic as it was slowed by the many construction projects going on. Honolulu has certainly changed since we were last here 20 years ago, but then most major cities have in that time. We finally reached Diamond Head crater, but didn't have the time or energy on such a hot day (and without water) to walk to the top lookout. So we rode the trolley back to DFS, then went to get some refreshments before the next segment.

Statue of Duke Kahanamoku at Waikiki Beach

View from Diamond Head lookout

Tunnel into Diamond Head crater

Back on the Red line we headed off for some more sights, which took us through the downtown area again. It was slow going but we eventually made it to the Ala Moana shopping centre, where I got some quick retail therapy at Macy's. This was interrupted by the setting sun, so we made our way to the beach to watch a Hawaiian sunset, and we weren't disappointed.

Magnificent Hawaiian sunset

 

It was then time for the girls retail therapy, and after a successful outing we had some dinner before catching a cab back to the ship. We arrived just in time for the Drums of Polynesia show which covered most of the songs and dances from the main island groups, and it was a great way to end another big day in paradise!

 

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