Sea days: they’re our equivalent of living in an Airbnb or VRBO, but on a ship. Or maybe just a more relaxing mode of getting from point A to point B (in this case, the mainland to Hawaii) than airports and flying. Either way, we generally try not to expect too much of them beyond good food, a few educational and musical diversions, and a comfortable spot to read. We know they can’t compete with being in an exotic port of call.

1. SUNDAY

I got started a bit late today, with just time for a quick coffee and a raisin bun from the Grand Dutch Cafe before taking in back-to-back lectures: Jewels of the Pacific, and Geology & Geography of Hawaii.

The first talk was a broad overview, touching on geography, culture, immigration patterns, and the huge impact of WWII on Hawaii’s journey to statehood. Less “Jewels of the Pacific” than “An Introduction to Hawaii”. Cruise Director Kristen narrated, and as usual there were filmed interviews with Hawaiian residents from various walks of life.

There was a LOT of information shared, which meant that none of it was particularly in-depth. I found myself looking forward to some of the (hopefully) more narrowly focused follow-up talks.

The second talk today, to an absolutely packed theatre (it seats 670 of the 2700 full passenger complement), was given by the ship’s Hawaiian “ambassador” Kainoa, a native Hawaiian who spent 30 years on the mainland of the USA promoting Hawaiian culture and tourism as a career. THIS was the kind of talk we love: a speaker sharing their area of expertise. Kainoa’s sonorous bass voice and humorous anecdotes kept the audience entranced during his explanations of the motion of tectonic plates, volcanic activity, landslides, erosion, and “new” island growth. His enthusiasm for geology was absolutely contagious. My confidence in HAL’s lecture series was instantly renewed.

After a quick lunch in the Lido, the highlight of which was apple pie à la mode, I headed to the library (with a cup of coffee) to find a copy of the novel Molokai, recommended by a friend (thanks, Heather) who’d read it on a previous HAL cruise. Sadly, there were no copies to be had (perhaps none originally, or perhaps already gleaned by folks ignoring the “one book at a time” sign and leaving the library with armloads), so I settled in to read the first few chapters of The Cuckoo’s Calling, the first in Robert Galbraith’s CB Strike novels, already downloaded on my iPad. (A big thanks to Rae for recommending this one!)

At 3:30 the Art Studio was hosting “Dam Dots”. I wasn’t the only attendee who showed up expecting pointillism and disappointed that what we got was a piece of paper with a 283-point connect-the-dots that yielded a drawing of the Koningsdam (hence the pun on “Dam”). It seemed as if we’d walked into the Kids Club instead of an adult arts & crafts activity, so I felt completely justified in rewarding myself for completing the task with an order of hot crispy fries and mayonnaise from the Dive In. Their fries are called “naked”, but are definitely coated with some kind of addictive delicious extra-crispy secret ingredient.

We changed our dinner seating for this leg of the cruise from early (5:00 p.m.) to late (7:30 p.m.) to accommodate changed evening performance times (now 6 and 8 p.m. vs 7 and 9 on the Mexican leg) and also allow us to attend the Aloha Sunset Music Hour with more of the onboard Hawaiian cultural ambassadors in the Crow’s Nest at 6 p.m. on our sea days.

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A tasty dinner followed.

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2. MONDAY

More talks today: one on the various shore excursions available in our Hawaiian ports, and the second by Kainoa entitled Migration of the Hawaiians.

The interesting thing about the shore excursion talk was that Maria, the ship’s hilarious Liverpuddlian Excursion Manager, only talked about excursions that are still available; if it was sold out, she didn’t tease us with it. Ted and I are still hoping that we’ll move from the wait list to actually going on the Haleakala Crater excursion in Kahului Maui.

Kainoa’s talk (again to a full house, today with people turned away) about how cultures from all around the Pacific and Europe have melded into one of the most diverse populations in the world was fascinating. The migration of peoples from Polynesia to Hawaii via extremely fast lightweight double-hulled canoes, preceded by the migration to Polynesia from Indonesia and southeast Asia, is an interesting progression. For Canadians, there is also a Hawaiian connection! The possibility that migration even further north to the Haida Gwaii created a DNA connection between Polynesians and the indigenous peoples of British Columbia is an intriguing idea currently being explored.

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There was smooth sailing and a nice view from the Lido buffet for my lunch of a mortadella and provolone sandwich with a side of tortilla chips (totopos) and salsas, plus tomato juice.

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Ted went for pizza at the deli and to reserve some deck seats for this afternoon’s Buffalo Bills / Pittsburgh Steelers game.

After a successful Bills win, we enjoyed dinner in the main dining room before calling it an early night (mostly on my account, because the boat was rocking just enough to discourage me from heading to any of the music venues).

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3. TUESDAY

In a rare turn of events (maybe because the clocks turned back), I was up in time for the 9 a.m. coffee chat with our Cruise Director.

I was also up early enough for breakfast, and to prep a bag of laundry to be sent out. Instead of the high per item laundry prices, or the “unlimited” package which we really didn’t need, we opted to take advantage of the $25 per bag option. While the bag didn’t seem very large, by folding clothes tightly we were able to send out 4 dress shirts, 5 casual tops, a pair of pants, and 14 pairs of underwear. Individually that would have been over $100; unlimited for 7 days is $59 (all USD). With 14 cruising days left before we reach a place with its own washer and dryer, at most we’ll need one more bag done.

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Kristen’s coffee chat guest was Jerald, the ship’s Technical Production Manager. Jerald began his work life as an aircraft maintenance engineer in Manila, Philippines, and changed to a production/lighting career after aircraft industry layoffs. He’s been with HAL since 2006, when he broke through the cultural barrier to become the first Filipino backstage technician. He joked that it was because Filipinos are hard workers and obedient, but quite honestly shared that they are also cheaper, and the work ethic of people from more affluent countries can be “different”, since there are more opportunities available to them. Jerald has a crew of 7, who manage not only the tech needs AND DESIGNS for all the production shows and guest entertainers, but also the video behind lectures and all of the background music on the ship … as well as doing auxiliary jobs like arranging the piano tuner for the instrument used in the World Stage. He said it can be hard to keep up with the pace of change in new technology, and to maintain equipment on a moving ship, but that he has always enjoyed “playing with toys”! There is backup equipment on board, since repairs could take months. Speaking of months, and work ethic, Jerald’s contract is 6 months on board and 2 months off. He told us that American crew members prefer a 4/2 rotation, but Filipinos prefer the longer onboard stretches since it helps them save more money for their families at home. In fact, when Jerald goes home, he still works … as a solar panel installer!

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This morning’s World Stage talks were The Kingdom of Hawaii, by our Cruise Director, and Kingdom to State, by Kainoa.

That second talk was really quite sad in many ways, chronicling first the eradication of 90% of the original population of the Hawaiian Islands via diseases brought by whaling ships, Captain Cook’s expedition, and American missionaries, and then giving us the story of greedy American businessmen – not the Hawaiian people, and not even the US government (prior to McKinley) – as the driving force behind changing Hawaii from a sovereign country to a US state. That was accomplished first by overthrowing the Hawaiian royal family via a “bayonet constitution”, by selling Pearl Harbor to the US, lobbying unceasingly for status as a US territory/protectorate (largely to eliminate trade tariffs), and subsequently pushing for statehood – which was not, however, granted until after WWII.

Kainoa told the stories of both of his grandfathers, who lived through and experienced the aftermath of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, even volunteering to assist with the cleanup efforts. He also shared an incredibly touching story of visiting the USS Arizona with the mother of a sailor who lost his life there, reinforcing the fact that Pearl Harbor is not a tourist attraction – it is a memorial.

He told us about the most highly decorated US military units, comprised of ethnically Japanese Hawaiians who volunteered after Pearl Harbor, and were sent to fight in the European theatre in some of the longest deployments of the war.

Kainoa ended his talk with a short discussion about sovereignty, and whether Hawaii could eventually have some version of autonomy, being in effect a “nation within a nation”. While Hawaii is the 50th state, its cultural identity remains not “American”, but Hawaiian.

There was a TON of information presented. I continue to look forward to Kainoa’s daily talks.

A note about the morning talks: they’re packed. I only got a seat by coming to the earlier talk – a strategy folks have figured out after not being able to get seats yesterday. Lots of people were turned away. Today Kainoa’s talk was simulcast into one of the music lounges, but I’m curious as to why it isn’t broadcast on the stateroom entertainment systems (as it is on Viking), or offered twice (the way evening shows are, but perhaps that’s a cost issue). Similarly, over 100 people were turned away from the 9 a.m. bracelet-making activity in BBKing’s (a venue that seats over 200); nothing in the daily program indicated a maximum number of participants, but the Hawaiian cultural ambassador running the event said she’d only brought 100 kits with her. It’s a disappointing aspect of sea days.

At any rate , all that learning made me hungry.

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After lunch, Ted went to walk a couple of miles on Deck 11, while I parked my lazy self in the sun and breezes on Deck 9 aft to continue reading my book.

By late afternoon the Pacific was not living up to its name, but instead creating increasingly large swells. Several people on another cruise line had been posting rough seas over the past couple of days on their crossings to Hawaii, but until now we had avoided them.

We took in the early show by very funny, very talented Nova Scotian ventriloquist/comedian/magician Mike Robinson and his sidekick Terrence. Mike, who grew up in Atlantic Canada, shared that his mother was a Canadian from Nova Scotia, and his dad an American “posted to Canada during the Vietnam War”.

No dinner pics tonight. Ted enjoyed a custom-made pizza in the deli; I enjoyed a Perrier on ice and a chewable meclizine tablet.

4.WEDNESDAY

Beautiful sunrise. Roiling seas.

Ted and I attended both talks in the World Stage this morning: Kristen’s Aloha Baby! all about ukuleles (created by Portuguese immigrants ) and Hawaiian/Aloha shirts (created by Japanese immigrants), and Kainoa’s Creatures of Hawaii.

The information about Aloha shirts, given in the video through interviews with Sig Zane, took me back to the wonderful textile lectures by Dr. Linda Bradley that I enjoyed so much on our Viking world cruise (beginning at Episode 169).

The second talk began with Kainoa explaining that because Hawaii is so isolated, there are not a lot of land creatures. No snakes. No raccoons. No skunks. Also no rabies and no lyme disease. There are migratory birds, and also some which have stopped migrating (because Hawaii is perfect, right? No predators!). Eventually, some of these birds lost the ability to fly entirely, and also became larger. Interestingly, Hawaii is the only state that does not have seagulls.

We’ll be looking forward to seeing iwa, the magnificent frigate, flying high above our ship as we near the islands. Hopefully we’ll also see one of the remaining varieties of honeycreepers, whose feathers were historically used to line royal cloaks, or some of the very colourful small birds and green parrots. The only predatory bird here is one that is endemic to these islands: the io, or Hawaiian hawk.

Whaling ships brought the European rat and mosquitoes, both previously unknown in Hawaii, and both of whom threatened the bird populations. In a misguided attempt to eliminate the nocturnal rats, diurnal mongoose were imported. They’re now thriving, having found other food sources. The rats still are too. Speaking of imported nuisances, it is always open season on wild pigs on the Hawaiian islands.

Sadly, Hawaii leads the US states in number of species which have gone extinct.

If we were snorkelers, we’d see many turtles and fish species, but the Hawaiian green sea turtle likes to sun itself on land, so we may see some of them.

What we can do without seeing are Hawaii’s endemic large centipedes, smiling face spiders, and flying cockroaches so large they’re nicknamed 747’s. No, thanks.

As I was weaving my way to the Dutch Cafe for lunch, the captain’s noon announcement reminded everyone to take it slowly. The outdoor promenade and walking decks are closed, with grey skies, windy conditions, and 5 m/16 ft swells expected to continue for at least the next 24 hours, or almost until we reach Honolulu. It was suggested we not use our balconies. As we learned on prior cruises, it’s not the wave height that makes the ship rock, but the magnitude of the “swells” under the surface. Anything over about 3m/10ft is noticeable by most people, and significant to those of us who suffer from motion sickness.

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One positive thing about the rolling seas is that they provide an excellent excuse for taking an afternoon nap.

Dinner tonight was in Canaletto, the ship’s specialty Italian restaurant, located just off the Lido buffet.

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Having settled my stomach with a pill before my nap, I was able to enjoy dinner despite being on deck 9 on a rocking ship… and it was our best dinner yet!! Not only was the food excellent and the pacing just right, but our server Eula and the restaurant hostess Denise were exceptional. Added to that, Chef came out to check on every table.

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It was a funny coincidence that Ted’s shirt matched that of the servers, so Denise insisted we take a photo of him with her staff. Maitre D’ Rifki even gave Ted his name badge!

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After dinner we had just enough time to catch the late show in the theatre: Canadian (from Burlington, Ontario!) singer and pianist Suzanne O. Davis, with her tribute to the music of Carole King.

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Then it was a set of Motown in BBKing’s and up to our cabin.

5. THURSDAY

“Rock and roll is here to stay” – Danny & the Juniors, 1957, and Captain Arno Jutten, MS Koningsdam, January 18, 2024.

Yup, we’re still rocking, but life shipboard must go on.

This morning’s Coffee Chat with Kristen featured Hotel General Manager René Tuinman. We have such fond memories of hard-working, fun-loving Johann on the Viking Star in 21/22 that I was looking forward to hearing about all the things René is in charge of on a ship that is so much larger. Certainly he has not been as visible to or as interactive with passengers, but that’s to be expected with greater duties, overseeing over 800 crew members, organized under 7 direct reports (including food and beverage services, housekeeping, casino, and even I.T. !)

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It was fascinating – and very entertaining – to hear the very roundabout route he took to his now 31-year career with HAL, from studying civil engineering in his homeland of the Netherlands, to a stint as a plumber’s assistant in the south of France, to working hospitality in resorts on Aruba and Saint Martin, to joining his first HAL ship only because a friend was doing it. Naturally, he did have to go back to school to get a BA in Hospitality.

He also told us about his experiences on the Volendam during Covid, with MNOM (minimum non-operational manning), anchored initially off the Bahamas with 615 crew members. Without flights operating, the ship was used to drop crew members home to places like Capetown South Africa, Jakarta Indonesia, Manila in the Philippines, and more – a journey that lasted from March to August!

While he could not share typical operational budgets due to confidentiality (I asked), he did tell us that for a 16 day Hawaiian cruise they load 350 pallets (each pallet can hold 1000 lbs) of supplies, and use them all!

René shared his most “interesting” guest request, by a guest who became very belligerent when the cruise did not meet his expectations of 24-hour casino, 24-hour food, etc. The eventual request? “Get me off this ship!” The solution? The guest was offered a transfer onto the ship of a sister brand, which he took in Grand Cayman. The followup? The guest was thrilled, and the new ship’s hotel manager shared with René that the passenger spent until 3 a.m. daily in their casino, happily eating, drinking, and spending money. The story also reinforced that each cruise line has a different style, and it’s important to find the one that suits what you want. HAL must be doing something right, because 1900 of the ship’s current 2700 passengers are repeat customers.

In a continuing effort to simply sit all morning, I next headed to the World Theater for back-to-back talks. First was CD Kristen with the exctalk entitled Extreme Paradise: How Volcanoes Shape Hawaii’s Culture, followed by Kainoa and The Polynesian Lei.

I had no idea before Kristen’s talk that there was an ancient sport, halua, that involved sledding down the side of volcanic mountains, that the original Ironman extreme sport event was created in Hawaii, or that at the top of Mauna Loa there is the HI SEAS space research and training centre where not only the Apollo astronauts trained, but also future Mars astronauts live in isolation for a year in a 1200 square foot geodesic dome, preparing them for life in a Mars-like landscape.

Then it was Kainoa’s turn.

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Leis? They can be made of flowers, silk, vines, ribbon, seeds, shells, feathers, candy (!) … even money when given as graduation gifts. While they are considered to be the giving and receiving of spirit, they are also big business, available everywhere from Walmart to Chinatown to specialized lei shops, and ranging in price from $3 to $300 USD depending upon the material and complexity, with nihau shell leis running into thousands of dollars.

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Leis are given as greetings, at every significant occasion from birth through marriage, and even at death, as well as at business meetings, and are worn equally by men and women.

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Enough lei-ing around. Lunch time!

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The sun came out mid-morning, sending lots of folks up to the pool deck, where the continued rolling seas turned the leisure pool into a wave-pool , with water sloshing over alternate sides with the ship’s motion. The kids in the pool seemed to enjoy the effect.

Ted headed up to do his daily laps of the walking track, undeterred by the swaying, but I just settled in on the balcony to finish my book and pose for a happy sun and ocean picture to match Ted’s selfie from the other day.

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Before we knew it, it was time for dinner.

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We called it an early night, having already seen the evening’s stage show on our Mexican cruise leg. Up early tomorrow for our excursion on Oahu.