PRIDE OF AMERICA: Maui to the Big Island

Although I am on a Hawaii inter island cruise, I have continued to keep track of this COVID pandemic.  For example:

• The CDC reported that people 12 years and older who are unvaccinated were 17 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than those who were up to date.
• There are pockets of high concern (orange color) in the U.S.

• 
  Hawaii is among the orange states, 
• The nearly 6000 new cases/day peak of January 2022 dropped to around 100/day at the end of March, but has increased to around 1000 new cases today.
• Since March, the deaths/day figure has increased by 20%.
• 20% of residents have been infected.
• Around 1 in a 1000 residents have died.
• The prediction is that Hawaii could reach 4000 cases/day and peak in June.
• For the U.S.
• The positivity rate was 3% on April 20, and has increased to 10% today.  On 25 January 2022 the positivity was 25.7%.
• Chances are all positivity rates should be much lower today because many these days just take the at-home version and negative tests are not reported, while positive tests generally are.  I can't seem to anywhere find any confirming details about this.
• The New York Times has all the COVID-19 data you will want to see.
• Relative to the world, cases in the past seven days/million population.
• #1  North Korea  61,589
• #2  Taiwan  23,280
• #3  Australia  13,330
• #4  New Zealand  10,899
•  
• World  628
• USA  1809
• Hawaii 5709
• Germany  3488
• Japan  1953
• Brazil  474
• UK  410
• Singapore 4611
• Canada  550
• Israel  1416
• Finland  2067

About this cruise I'm on:

• The Pride of America is less than half filled.
• It's kind of a luxury not to have a ship at capacity.
• There is only one show/night, and it is less than half full.
• About the unlimited drinks, which are part of the financial package we paid.
• Any drink under $15 is free, except they charge 20% for tip and the state tax, which is minimal.
• Thus, if you have 10 drinks per day, you still will be paying around $25/day.
• Johnny Walker Black is close to but below $15, while Glenmorangie is $17, so if you order one of this, you pay the extra $2 plus associated tip/tax.
• I ran out of the free internet time in two days.  I thus paid an additional $150 for unlimited use.
• They automatically charge you an additional $16/day for staff tips.  So this will add up to $120 for the trip.
• Almost no one wears a mask on board, with one notable exception, my suite mate.
• We are halfway through the cruise, and no mention of any COVID-19 cases.  Of course, they would keep this information confidential as long as possible.
• We decided not to take any tours, for all these islands are now on the CDC high concern red status.

However, yesterday I took a chance and walked from the ship to the Maui Mall in Kahului, wearing a mask almost all the time.  Had a guri guri, and that was about it.

$1.80 for two scoops.  Note those Maui chips.  Came back and had lunch on my balcony.

Kahului brushfire.

Just another exciting day on Maui.  The ship departed Kahului at 6PM for the Big Island:

The night was supposed to be a dressy evening, but most stuck to Hawaiian beach wear.  Went to the show.

For dinner we tried the French restaurant, called Jefferson's Bistro, which has a dress code. However, I was the only one wearing a sports coat.  We both agree that the meal was absolutely fabulous and maybe our best in many years.  Except for the tip/tax, the drinks were of course free.  The whole meal of our courses were also part of our cruise package.  The meal would have cost more than $125/person were it not for these freebies. 

Started with glasses of Conundrum by Cayman and an incredible escargot, with a lot of bread.

Also came a terrific endive salad with blue cheese, etc.

The main entré was steak topped with foie gras, a marvelous combination where the liver seeped into the tenderloins

Dinner ended with a cheese plate and Port Wine, plus cherries jubileé.

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