OUR STATEROOM ON THE NOORDAM APPEARS to be an afterthought. It’s about one-third smaller than a normal inside cabin and is oriented longitudinally. I suppose we, too, are an afterthought. The cruise began in Vancouver but we didn’t board until Honolulu and maybe our diminutive cabin was our penalty. But as Rick Steves says about train travel in Europe, both first-class and coach go at the same speed to the same destination. And we still don’t have to make the bed! Besides, we understand that the 6-day crossing from Vancouver to Hawaii wasn’t the smoothest on record, a combination of rough seas and a need to speed up to evacuate a medical emergency.
Honolulu Harbor from Noordam Going ashore in Lahaina, Maui
We will be back to both Maui and the Big Island next year so we weren’t too concerned about our stops in Lahaina and Kona. As we expected, we had to use the tenders to go ashore in Lahaina. We took the requisite photos, raided the ATM and picked up some Diet Pepsi for the cruise. Connie mooched off someone’s wifi outside the closed library for a final check of our accounts before our forced communication blackout.
Under the Banyan Tree, Lahaina
We also paid a visit to Lahaina Galleries where we had previously purchase several sculptures by Frederick Hart, Connie’s favorite. The gallery still had a few of his works on display— Rick has gone to that Studio in the Sky.
Noordam from Kona Kailua
The action in Kona is more centered on the resort hotels so we spent less time ashore stretching our legs. It will be another six days before we reach terra firma in American Samoa.
