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And after getting there, I felt validated. (Though I realized there were two other reasons to visit Hawaii: to surf and to snorkel. We saw a lot of that.) But going to Hawaii to absorb a culture, to observe life in a world different from ours as we have done before on our European trips, or see famous historical sites, artworks, and artifacts, old and new, was not to be. What we saw in Hawaii could be seen in many places on the U.S. mainland, specifically, from what I imagined, in Florida or California, where palm trees and tropical flora lined the streets.

There were several places we went that did make the whole trip worthwhile for me: the Waimea Canyon on Kauaʻi, smaller than but more beautiful (in my opinion) than the Grand Canyon:

and the Kīlauea Volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island of Hawaii, not erupting or even bubbling with bright orange molten lava, just steaming, but still quite impressive:

Unfortunately, on the shore excursions we purchased through Norwegian Cruise Lines, not enough time was allowed at these two sites. On both of these tours, more time was allowed at stops at souvenir shops (so we could help out the Hawaiian economy) than at the site. And to see both of these sites, long drives were required and, to keep us tourists awake, the drivers talked incessantly. The driver who took us to Waimea Canyon talked for the whole trip, never once mentioning Waimea Canyon, rambling on quite repeatedly about some rich white guys that, in the early growth years of Hawaii's economy, helped develop it with vast sugar cane and pineapple plantations, buying up land and forming big corporations like C&H (California & Hawaii) Sugar and Dole Pineapple! These, what should have been breath-taking discoveries of natural beauty with time to soak it all in, turned out to be anxious minutes of hurry up and see what you can see so you can get back to the bus on time and not embarrass yourself in front of your fellow travelers by holding up the tour (and pissing off the bus driver.) And these tours were not cheap.

Our 8-hour Road to Hana excursion wasn't a whole lot better. The driver, Thomas, also talked the whole time (Mei-O thought he did that so he could stay awake), and often repeated the same Hawaiian history stories. He was a nice friendly guy, but there was not a whole lot of stuff to see (a lot of greenery out the van windows), which made for a long day. If you notice in the description of the trip from the tour company, many of the sights we were to see were to be "passed by without stopping." I'm not sure we saw most of those, or if we did, there wasn't much to see as we drove by. At one point, one of the riders in our van got car sick and vomited from the 8-hour ride along the winding road (even with a bunch of stops it's exhausting. It's said to have 600 curves!) Fortunately for all of us, they vomited into a garbage can with a plastic liner that the driver was able to remove and seal up and put in an external storage area. Leaving Hana, wanting to desperately get back to the ship, the long ride back was not enjoyable.

Once our cruise was over, we took what was called a Grand Island Circle Tour which was meant to keep us busy on our final day in Hawaii from when we got off the ship to when we had to be at the airport to catch our 9:59 PM flight to Los Angeles. While we had a great mid-day lunch of yummy huli-huli chicken at a nice quaint restaurant, the tour basically consisted of a 6½ hour drive with several half-hour or longer stops at tourist shops (including the hour-long stop at the restaurant/gift shop) that sold all sorts of Hawaii-related crap. I was excited to be going to visit the Dole Pineapple Plantation, to be led out to a field of pineapples extending as far as the eye could see by a knowledgeable guide and learn how pineapples are grown and harvested^noteLike we experienced in
New Zealand last year
at a kiwi farm., but that was not to be. The Dole Pineapple plantation was just another junky gift shop.

We did see a bunch of nice beaches and shorelines during the week:

Some had big waves which surfers, a traditional symbol of Hawaiian culture, attempted to ride in. The Hawaiian beaches and rocky shorelines were okay at first, but not that exciting to see over and over again; the same bright sunshine, a sandy or rocky beach, the blue sea with white breaking waves pounding the shore, and maybe surfers getting thrown off their boards left and right (literally.) Again, sights like these could be seen in many places on the mainland (or in other countries all over the world.)

I was hoping to go swimming in the Pacific Ocean at one of the Hawaiian beaches we would visit, but (and I'm not blaming anyone for this^noteRemember, this is an essay on
why I didn't enjoy the cruise,
not a bunch of complaints against
NCL or the tour companies.) with my weak legs, I couldn't stand up in the surf, or even on the beach when a wave came in and rolled back out, taking the sand beneath my feet with it.

That was really scary, and quite disappointing. I almost fell two or three times. Even Teresa and Mei-O, both who had tried to advance into the waves with me, had a tough time remaining on their feet. So much for me swimming in the Pacific Ocean.

As for the food on the Pride of America, it just wasn't very good. The dinner choices available on the nightly menus in the formal dining room were seldom to my liking; I often had to settle for the best of five or six bad options. Many of the entrees ordered by my fellow travelers were left uneaten after just one or two bites. The buffet in the Aloha Cafe wasn't much better, with not that many good choices. In the end, I was always able to find something to eat, though usually not very healthy stuff.

The nightly shows on the ship weren't very good. The ship didn't have its own troupe of singers and dancers like most other cruise ships we've been on had. No lavish musical performances with colorful costumes full of great musical numbers would we see, the closest thing being the second night's show where a group of Polynesian dancers came on board to perform dances from their respective countries.

One evening, a comedian, Vince Acevedo, put on quite a disgusting show. His act was billed as "All Ages Comedy^noteHe also did some adult only
shows, but this one was spe-
cifically meant to be for
families, even with young
kids.," so several couples brought their teenagers to see him. It turned out he was an insult comic; he spent some time bullying an 18-year-old girl and her 15-year-old sister, and even telling an 11-year-old girl her parents were going to abandon her and leave her on the ship when the cruise was over. He also picked on a young married couple - she was 18, he was 21 and had a low-paying job - going on and on about how they married too young, that he was a loser, and that their marriage was bound to fail. He had the house lights left on so he could see anyone trying to sneak out, and after he bullied one woman who walked out as she was leaving, I didn't see anyone else leave. We wanted to leave, but I feared if he picked on us as we left, I might just do something or say something back to him which might have gotten me kicked off the ship. In another show, a juggler and his assistant spent half the performance just dancing around with a glowing ball; the juggler tried to juggle five balls, but after about three or four juggles, he dropped them and just gave up. Ugh. (They did have some nice background visuals and did some impressive silk work at the end though.)

The Pride of America is a small ship and apparently, the Pacific Ocean around Hawaii is not gentle. Both Mei-O and I got seasick (on separate nights) due to the rocking and rolling of the ship as it plowed from one island to another. We've never gotten seasick on any of our 10 previous cruises because, well, we've never traveled on such rough seas on such a small ship.

Upon returning home, knowing I had over-indulged on a lot of bad, unhealthy food, I immediately got on the scale, which read 15 pounds higher than it did the night before we left Rochester! Fifteen pounds in a little more than a week! I knew a lot of it was water weight; I gain 2 or 3 pounds just going out to eat at any regular restaurant, and I ate a lot of salty food which causes me to retain water, but it was still very depressing. Could I, would I be able to, lose it all again? (I spent the last year losing almost 45 pounds and keeping it off.) As it turns out, as I write this just nine days after our return, I'm back to my pre-trip weight! (We're going on a 17-day cruise in June. I hope I've learned something about eating from this cruise, but now I'm pretty worried about how I'm going to do on that cruise, especially with five sea days that often lead to a lot of eating).

To top it all off, Mei-O came home with a bad cold that, as I'm writing this, she still has not shaken (though it is slowly getting better.) I'm pretty sure it was from the Delta Airlines plane rides back home, where the cabin temperatures were kept at what seemed like freezing levels.

How much did I not like this vacation? Even doing this website was a task. I just didn't have my heart in it. Yet, surprisingly, it turned out better than I expected.

So, as I said, there was a lot to dislike about this vacation. But then, there was Waimea Canyon and the Kīlauea Volcano, and even though we spent just a short time at both of those natural treasures, at least I have a couple of good things to remember about Hawaii.