We shortened our stay in Maui because we simply couldn't find any reasonably priced accommodation which supported the quintessential Maui experience- namely a room somewhere near the beach. We bit the bullet and booked into some sort of hotel/timeshare/condo complex that was located right on the beach. I'm pretty sure that allowing the princess to get used to a really nice place is going to come back to haunt me at some point in our trip (probably right a...

After the Big Island the ship did dock at Lahaina in Maui for a day but since we were planning on returning to Maui after spending some time in Oauhu, we didn't go activity crazy and just wandered through the town. There were a couple of historical sites (including the jail which gave DH a little policing jolt), the usual souvenir stands, and a surprising number of high end art shops (just who comes to Hawaii looking to spend tens of thousands on a piece of a...

Today we were on the other side of the Big Island in Kona and, like other Hawaiian Islands, the weather was the complete opposite of the rain forest type weather we had experienced in Hilo. It was sunny and warm so we went on a kayak trip to a bay with some excellent snorkelling- the brochure didn’t say anything about a double kayak but with the patience I’m known for, we were able to avoid the divorce-like conversations going on in the other spinning...

So full disclosure- I've never seen the magic in the cruising underworld. The idea of being transported, along with 2,000 of your closest friends to various ports of call that could easily pass for very large souvenir stands selling the same T-shirts and trinkets didn’t hold much appeal. And the never ending buffet line-ups and riveting shuffleboard tournaments couldn’t pull me to the dark side. But when I mentioned the idea of a slow boat back to...