The Hawaii Cruise, Part I (2/21/2020 - 2/26/2020)

Sunrise from the stern of the Grand Princess a couple of days into the cruise

[Blogger's note: I wrote this post a year ago, never quite finished it, so it didn't make it to the web site. I am getting into the mode of posting again, and when I came back to the blog editor, the story was still just sitting here. I figured, what the heck, go ahead publish it. I broke it into a few parts because it's pretty long. -03/23/2021]

Helga made the decision to retire early, in January 2020, during the fall of 2019, a decision driven by the passing of our young boat neighbor and friend Sam, along with other factors. I thought it would be nice to give her a retirement present. Yes, we have our own boat that is suitable for long distance cruising (San Francisco to Hawaii is a 12 to 20 day trip one way for us) but long distances are more of an adventure than a vacation. We have plans to start cruising this summer, but I thought Helga might like going to Hawaii, a place she has never been. At the time I booked the cruise, "novel corona virus" wasn't a phrase anyone had heard yet.

We booked a round trip out of San Francisco. One frequent bummer that is part of a cruise vacation is flying to the embarkation location, staying overnight in a hotel, and then traveling to the port. In this case, we could drive to our marina and leave the car there, take a ferry across the bay right from our marina, and then just walk along the embarcadero past a couple of piers to the cruise ship dock. This is an easy, convenient, stress free, and inexpensive way to start a vacation.

In the run up to our February 21 departure date, we were of course aware of the spread of COVID-19 and watched with interest the plight of the Diamond Princess. We considered the risk of going on a cruise. The Diamond Princess was visiting Chinese ports of call, we were essentially staying within the United States (except for the three-hour stop in Ensenada to comply with the Jones Act). Also, COVID-19 was and is a virus with mild symptoms for most people who are infected. We decided to continue because the risk of infection was low and even if infected the risk of serious issues was and is also low, given we are both healthy and not quite elderly yet.

Cruise day finally came, and we were taking our first ever ferry trip ever across the bay, accompanying a few hundred Friday morning commuters to the San Francisco embarcadero. We settled into chairs on the waterfront outside the ferry building, waiting a while for the time to start the loading of the cruise ship. It was during this wait I realized I was an idiot and left my cell phone on our boat. We thought for just a moment about going back to get it, but a cell phone is pretty useless while at sea, and I did have my iPad and camera. Two weeks with no phone is not a big deal.

Boarding the cruise ship, we had to sign a card that said we were not sick, had not recently returned from China, and were not aware we had been exposed to COVID-19, as I recall the card text. Other than that, boarding was normal. Since the last time we cruised with Princess several years ago, they had added soap-and-running-hot-water hand washing stations at all points of entry to the buffet area. They keep a crew member standing there to remind any passengers who might try to scoot by without washing. This is something that has been in place for a while, obviously trying to battle all sorts of buffet-communicable ailments.

At the bow, deck 15, while we're going under the Golden Gate Bridge leaving San Francisco Bay. Our cruise ship just barely fits under the bridge.

Passing Point Bonita heading out into the Pacific Ocean and a cruising sailboat motoring in.

Departure from San Francisco and the cruise out to our first stop in Kauai were normal. We had four full days at sea, giving us time to get in the rhythm of cruise ship life and enjoy the activities at sea. One of the highlights was Rowena's discussions of Hawaiian culture, lifestyle, and specific information about visiting each port of call, discussing one port of call each day at sea. Brian, Rowena's husband, taught Ukulele classes each afternoon. Rowena gave hula lessons each afternoon. Together in midships each early evening, Brian played Ukulele while Rowena joined him, dancing hula. The first couple days out of San Francisco the weather was pretty cold, but by the third day the temperature was getting pleasant.

Early morning in the stern area. That's Helga in the pink jacket having her coffee.

I don't mean this to sound like a cruise line brochure, but there are lots of different eating opportunities on board. Still, Helga and I prefer the traditional seated dinner arrangements, dining with the same group every night. The people are usually at least OK, but this time we really lucked out, joining two other really interesting and entertaining couples. They were so lively and talkative, I sometimes felt like Helga and I were the curmudgeons of the group.

The six of us plus our assistant waiter and waiter. They didn't always have to wear these silly outfits; it was Italian night.

Afternoon on deck 16, at sea. (This is a pano, click for bigger image)

The day before arriving at Kauai, we rented some satellite Internet time to figure out what we wanted to do in Kauai. Not a big fan cruise-arranged excursions, we looked at what we could do on our own and settled on hiking a mountain called Sleeping Giant. It would be a cab ride of just a few miles to get there.

Arriving in Kauai before dawn on 2/26. Nautical types will note we are flying the yellow "Q" or quarantine flag. This doesn't mean the ship is actually under quarantine, it just means we haven't yet cleared into the Nawiliwili port. This happens shortly after arrival. Once cleared, the ship lowers the Q flag.

Coming into Nawiliwili is a bit challenging for a ship our size. We had to approach with a 90 degree turn to starboard to follow the channel, followed by two 180 degree turns to make it around the breakwaters and into the harbor.

It's starting to feel like we are really in Hawaii

We had breakfast because we had to wait for the ship to be cleared in before we could disembark. Then we grabbed our packs and headed off the ship, got a taxi and headed from Lihue to Wailua, where were deposited at the trailhead.

Sleeping Giant as viewed from the trailhead. Except for a few cliffy sections, the four mile trail up was pretty gentle with lots of switchbacks.

Helga, chugging along up the trail. She is really a good sport, following me in pursuit of interesting climbs when others are spending the day having cocktails with little umbrellas at the beach.

We had a little cloud burst at the very beginning of the hike, just about ten minutes of rain. One thing about hiking trails in Hawaii; when they are dry the dirt is like concrete. Add just a little water and they turn super slippery. We didn't have any spills, but we were being very careful.

During the hike Helga started to develop a little bit of a cough. We figured it was her allergies, and her sinuses draining down her throat. The day was warm, and we had departed winter just days ago, and we figured the reason we were both pretty tired for such a short (five miles) gentle hike was adapting to the heat. Even though the hike was kicking our butts just a little, we persevered and made it up.

Rewarded with a great view.

Going down was a little easier because the mud was starting to dry, making traction a little better, but Helga was really dragging the last mile, so tired she was barely able to hike out.

Back on the ship, we were both more tired than we would have expected, but we still made it to seated dinner that evening.

Our next port of call was Honolulu, but Helga had a pretty rough night, coughing a lot, and perhaps running a fever. We were really worried that the dripping sinuses had developed into a sinus infection, a common problem for her. In Honolulu, Helga didn't leave the cabin. I only left to the ship to make a supply run to the closest Walmart, fetching some cough syrup so she could sleep, cough drops, and a thermometer. It turned out she was running a fever. She encouraged me to follow through on our plans to hike Diamond Head by myself, but I didn't want to leave her. Truth be told, I wasn't feeling all that motivated to go on another hike, especially by myself.

I wandered around on deck a little in the afternoon, but the ship was deserted, with most everybody else out playing in Honolulu.

A pano of the ship's deck, docked in Honolulu

There was no seated dinner that evening, so we stayed in the cabin, just resting. We debated visiting the ship's doctor to see what they could do for Helga's sinus infection, but she seemed to be getting better so we skipped it. On to Maui. Continued... Go to Part II