Honolulu ~ HAWAII

Published on March 12, 2013 at 11:50am by Jess

Where To Stay
Waikiki is the touristy area and where you will find the largest selection of accommodation options. It is quite busy along Waikiki beach, so if you don’t enjoy crowds, I suggest that this is not the place for you!

Sunset at Waikiki Beach

A One bedroom ocean view room at the Outrigger Waikiki Shore will set you back $262.11 US a night (prices valid June 2012). The Outrigger Waikiki Shore provides apartment style rooms (kitchen, laundry etc) and is well located along Waikiki beach.Make note: There is another Outrigger hotel in Waikiki, only 15-20 minutes apart, so make note of your exact hotel name, in the event you need to call a taxi or be dropped off by a taxi. I learnt this the hard way!

Driving Around the Island
We hired a Mustang for $70 AUD to drive around Oahu Island. Without making any stops (which I do not suggest), it takes approximately 1 hour to drive around the entire island.

Cruising around Oahu Island in a Mustang

We began to head north towards North Shore where Billabong Pipe Masters surfing competition is held (comp is throughout December). Along the way we stopped at a supermarket to pick up some food and drinks for the trip and ended up making a detour…you have to love spontaneity!

Hawaiian Beaches

Waimea Falls
Our detour took us to Waimea Falls, the waterfalls that appeared in Elvis Presley’ movie “Blue Hawaii”. The gardens & the falls are quite beautiful and worth the detour. From memory, entry to the falls cost approximately US$20.

Waimea Falls

North Shore
In all honesty, the beach at North Shore in my opinion is no better than Waikiki Beach or any of the beaches we drove past while on our roadtrip around the Island.
If the whole reason for your roadtrip is to check out North Shore, I think you’d be wasting your time and day. I am sure though I would have a very different opinion if I had experienced the Billabong Pipe Masters competition.

Pearl Harbour
Set aside the day for a tour of Pearl Harbour. There are set times that the bus and boat takes you to the U.S.S Missouri and U.S.S Arizona and you may not necessarily end up on departures times close to each other. Take a walk around the area, if you’re lucky (as I was) you may even get to meet veterans who survived the Pearl Harbour attack.

Pearl Harbour

Luau
The Luau was my favourite experience while holidaying in Honolulu.
We did our research on the Luau’s offered on the Island before arriving into Honolulu and read a lot about the most popular Luau offered at the Polynesian Cultural Centre (Ali’l Luau). The concerning thing for our group was that there was no alcohol offered as the Luau was run by Mormons and was located on the opposite side of the Island, so a half day was required.
The Luau we chose was located at the Hale Koa hotel, the majority of guests at the Luau were involved in the US armed forces in some way or another.

It is authentic and entertaining. If you don’t wish to be chosen to dance on stage, I suggest you do not wear a flower in your hair!

Click here for Hale Koa Menu

Hale Koa Luau ~ Welcome Drink!

Alaskan Cruise ~ Golden Princess

Published on March 7, 2013 @ 8:00am by Jess

Princess Cruises
Golden Princess ex Seattle
7 Day Alaska Inside Passage Cruise

Itinerary
Seattle
Juneau
Skagway
Tracey Arm Fjords
Ketchikan
Seattle

Price
$1732.00 (AUD) triple share balcony stateroom *based on prices in 2012*

Absolutely fantastic experience and would recommend this cruise to everyone, old & young.

Being only 26 years old at the time, I had pre-conceived notions that the cruise would be full of retirees, those over the age of 60 years old. And yes, while there were many people in that age range, there were also a number of high school graduates, families, 25 – 35 year olds and young children… a very vast mix of people.

The Ship Itself
Do yourself a favour and book a balcony room. I can’t recommend this to you enough!!!
The balcony came in extremely handy when cruising Tracey Arm Fjords. While all the other passengers were crammed at the top of the ship trying to get a good view of the Fjords and the Glacier, I was sitting on my balcony with a front row view (with thermals top to bottom, a long sleeve top, a jumper, jeans, a beanie, gloves & my bed doona around me…it was freezing!)

Cruising Tracey Arm Fjords – View from our Balcony

There is something for everyone on the cruise ship, outdoor movies, indoor swimming pools & spa’s, gym, casino, nightclub, bars, dining areas, retail therapy, karaoke, pictionary & a beauty salon. I even joined a 5 km walk (laps of the boat 10 times) for Cancer research

Dining Options
As I travelled in a group of 8, we opted for the Formal Dining option (8pm sitting, alternative is 5pm) to ensure we were all seated together for dinner each night. Your other option is the casual dining where you can show up for dinner when you are ready and they provide tables as they are available (the down fall to this is that if there are no tables, you have to wait)
Our servers were wonderful – professional but a lot of fun! They worked extremely hard & thoroughly deserved the tip we gave them!

Excursions
It’s a smart idea to book these ahead of time, before even boarding the boat. This can be done through your ‘Cruise Personaliser’. Some of the excursions book up very quickly and you may even find them sold out once you board the boat.
Luckily, we booked Dogsledding on Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau ahead of time! Do yourself a favour and book this unbelievable experience, you won’t regret it! Yes, while it is expensive ($499 AUD), when are you ever going to do it again?! It is probably in my top 2, best travel experiences!