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THE BEST WAY TO SEE ALL OF HAWAII

Most tourists to Hawaii fly into Honolulu and spend most of the time in Waikiki, perhaps taking an around Oahu tour and a luau.  Some are more adventurous, flying to at least another island, which takes packing and moving about.  If you want to see all of Hawaii, the best way is to take Norwegian's Pride of America on a 7-day cruise that begins and ends on Saturday.  I've done this maybe half a dozen times, and enjoyed all of them, and have reservations to do this again on September 2.  

That will be a grand nine-day period, for the Hawaii football team hosts Stanford on September 1 and women's volleyball welcomes the University of Southern California.  Then the following weekend, Hawaii plays Albany (they have a football team??) at home, while the women's V-ball team has a tournament at The Stan with Liberty, UCLA and Pepperdine.

About your coming adventure (this article was written a year ago, so some ship facilities were closed...but not now), first, you board and unpack.  You know about cruises, so not much more I can add there.  But on each island there are various tours.  Sure, they're not cheap, but you get taken around to the worthwhile sites, or, you can rent car.  Otherwise:

  • The Pride of America features an Americana theme.
  • Has a 100% all-American crew.
  • Look for free promos.
  • Spends two days each on Maui, Big Island and Kauai.
  • On Day 7 the ship leaves Nawiliwili Port and takes you on a fabulous cruise to the north side of Kauai.  This might be your weekly highlight, and it's free.
  • What this cruise does is highlight where you might want to return on your next trip to Hawaii.
  • Or you can do what I once did.  Took the golf package.  Not exactly cheap, but I found it worthwhile.

I regularly receive the usual GolfAhoy e-mail about golf cruising in Hawaii.  As I just said, I took one of these a dozen years ago, so before I report on something for the future, here is a nostalgic look at what happened in 2011.

This was my second Norwegian cruise around the Hawaiian Islands.  Sailed at sunset.

I was in a cruise package where nothing was free, something I today avoid.
  • First night dinner was in Jefferson's Bistro for a surcharge of $20.  Would have been free if I had gone to the general dining room.  Had a great dinner of beef salad, salmon and filet mignon, with two kinds of wine, which of course, was extra.
  • Noticed that the internet charge was $25/hour, so had to keep blogs short.  But photos took a long time to insert.  This next time I will have "only" around 6 hours as part of my package.
  • The internet on the ship did not work, but a ten-minute walk away was Whole Foods, where the connection was free.  This is one way to handle your internet restriction.
  • The golf package is a luxury.  Get taken to the best courses, however, and returned to the ship.  Today, went to the Wailea Golf Course.
Dinner at Lazy J's Steakhouse was fabulous.  Tomato salad and Oysters Rockefeller, T-bone Steak and assorted desserts, with a few surcharges.
Ship next went to Hilo, from where I took a tour to the top of Mauna Kea, an elevation of just under 13,800.  Apparently, I already had future plans for visiting Cuzco and Machu Picchu, for I mentioned that my lungs did well.  Also in the party was a senior editor for the Huffington Post, where I had published a number of articles.  I compiled several of them in a book, Simple Solution Essays.
Day 4 took us to Kailua, Kona, where I golfed at the Kona Golf Club.  The golf pro on this trip was Cory McKim.  I looked him up today and found that he is now a Maui realtor.  These cruise postings were all very short, for I had to pay for using the internet.  The Pride of American is moored at sea.

Day 5 was spent on Kauai, with golf at the Puakea Golf Course, next to where Jurassic Park was filmed.  The posting on Day 6 was entitled, Hawaii:  End of the Rainbow.

  • I had brought with me a book of the same title.  It was written by Kazuo Miyamoto in 1964, and reports on  the families of immigrants who left Japan to work in the sugar fields of Hawaii a century ago.

  • Born in Ookala, Hawaii, he went to Stanford, then on to Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, Missouri.
  • Spent 9 years as a doctor in Hawaii.
  • He then went to Tokyo's Jikeikai Medical College to earn a PhD in Allergy.
  • While in the Orient he traveled to China to observe the Second Sino-Japanese War.  He wanted to see, first hand, how people suffered.
  • s
    He returned to Hawaii before December 7, 1941, and was subsequently interned when World War II started. It was during his incarceration that he began to write Hawaii, End of the Rainbow.
  • After the war he returned to Hawaii, and a few years later in 1951 was appointed a GS-16 medical consultant, the equivalent of a one-star general.
  • In 1981 he published One Man's Journey:  A Spiritual Autobiography.
  • He passed away in 1988.

Returning to my posting:
...the son of the original Miyamoto, amazingly enough, found his way to Stanford University soon after World War I, forty years before me.  While Shigeru Miyamoto truly struggled, not knowing much English and having to weather racial prejudice, “lucky” to be able to pick fruits and grapes during the summer period to pay for his education, my summers were arranged by my older brother, who got me summer jobs at the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory at Port Hueneme.

After graduating from Stanford in 1962 with a chemical engineering degree, my classmates mostly joined the Peace Corps, so I felt compelled to also do some self sacrificing, and was hired by C. Brewer (that's Charles Brewer to the right), the oldest sugar company.  On one of my early assignments at the Kilauea plantation on Kauai, a very old man came up to me and said he knew my grandfather, who was buried on the hill above our town.  You can read these details by clicking on my daily blog.  This led to my roots search, but 40 years later, for Kenjiro on Hokkaido, way north of Sapporo to Utashinai.

So, here, 12August2011, I find myself back on Kauai, anguished about whether to find my way to Kilauea tomorrow to plant flowers at Kenjiro’s gravestone, or golf at the Jack Nicklaus golf course just a long driver or two from this ship.  What was my pick?

I golfed four times and got worse with each succeeding round.  In case you were wondering if I visited Kenjiro’s gravestone or went golfing on the final day, the latter won out, mainly because I had a private ceremony on the hills above Kilauea earlier this year, and the ship cruised by that site yesterday.  But Kenjiro got his revenge, as I did horribly at the Kauai Golf Lagoons Nicklaus course. 

For dinner on Day 6 I went to Little Italy for some Pasta Fagioli and Cucina Insalata.

The second course was Ossobucho Gremolata and Penne Rigote, with a La Cucina Bellini and La Cucina Tuscan Chianti.

Unfortunately,  Norwegian abandoned their regular golf package from the Pride of America in 2016.  However, there are other ways to do this.  Norwegian now recommends:

Hire a travel agent. Travel agencies like GolfAhoy and Hawaii Golf Cruises are ‘one stop shop’ golf cruise professionals who have been selling bundled golf cruise packages in Hawaii for 30 years – in the case of GolfAhoy! And neither of them charge you service fees. They’ll book your Pride of America cruise and reserve all your Pride of America golf excursions in Hawaii. And they both have Errors of Omissions Insurance and Liability Insurance coverage 

But here's something from Golf Ahoy for a Vancouver to Hawaii cruise:  the Celebrity Edge Golf Cruise Hawaii from September 20 to October 3...but in 2024, so you have a lot of time to plan.

Five Star Luxury in The Retreat Suites.

Up to 75% off 2nd guest cruise fare.

Save up to $800 per stateroom.

Get up to $800 onboard credit.

 Total Sky Suite fares from US$18,000* include taxes and gratuities, current discounts, and bonus amenity benefits including unlimited Premium Alcholol drinks. Being a part of The Retreat on Celebrity Cruises Edge certainly has perks. Amongst them is one major dining perk, access to LUMINAE, a restaurant exclusively for Retreat Suite guests. Another Retreat guest exclusive is MICHAEL’S CLUB, a private lounge & bar just for guests of The Retreat®. Priority VIP Retreat guest embarkation and disembarkation, on GolfAhoy golf shore excursion days. Butlers to help with your golf club handling, Suite to the gangplank. 5 Days at sea cruising Vancouver to Hawaii. Wine & dine extravagantly every day, VIP seating at award-nominated nightly entertainment venues, sun and swim!

GolfAhoy Recommended. Prime Edge Stateroom with Infinite Veranda. Deck: Deck 7, Deck 8, Deck 9. Category: E1. Size: 202 sq. ft.; Balcony: 42 sq. ft. Occupancy: 2 guests. STARTING FROM $3,964.50 USD*Avg Per Person

  • Inside Cabin from $1,749 USD + GolfAhoy Golf Excursions
  • Ocean View Cabin from $1,965 USD + GolfAhoy Golf Excursions
  • Veranda Stateroom from $2,182 USD + GolfAhoy Golf Excursions
  • Concierge Class from $2,724 USD + GolfAhoy Golf Excursions
  • AquaClass from $3,990 USD + GolfAhoy Golf Excursions

Contact GolfAhoy for bundled all-inclusive Hawaii Golf Cruise Packages http://golfahoy.com/ Phone +1-239-344-9187 res@golfahoy.com

Then there are those who would rather do it themselves:

For ‘Do-it-yourselfers’.

  • Taxis, Uber, and Private Driver cars are located outside Hawaii island port security gates. On average, an Uber ride is 64% cheaper than the average taxi service in Hawaii https://get.uber.com/
  • Tee times can be pre-booked through online outfits like Hawaii Tee Times which is locally based in Honolulu https://hawaiiteetimes.com/

A major ocean storm has formed off the Philippines.  Typhoon Doksuri gained hurricane strength on Sunday, attained super typhoon intensity Monday, and has now weakened to 140 MPH.  Doksuri will skirt pass the Philippines as a Category 3, and will head towards Taiwan, making impact from Wednesday night.  Landfall is expected around eastern Guangdong or Fujien province of China on Friday.

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