ALOHA!

January 13, 2025

ALOHA!

Day 7/121. ALOHA! (Aloha means “Hello”, “Goodbye” and “Love”.)

This morning as the sun rose, we cruised towards our first stop of this adventure: Honolulu. Honolulu means Shelter Harbor.

Mark and I watched from our balcony as we approached the beautiful city. The sunrise over Diamond Head was incredible!

We will be spending the whole day in Honolulu. Our ship docked at Port 10 by the beautiful iconic Aloha Tower which is a 10 story lighthouse built in 1926.

The first thing on the agenda today is a bus tour of Honolulu and a tour of Pearl Harbor.

On cruise ship excursions, the usual transportation to the destination is a bus with a guide. Today was no exception. Our excursion this morning is called “Honolulu Highlights and Pearl Harbor”. This is an included tour, meaning “no extra charge, free!”

Here is the description:

See Honolulu’s sights and explore Pearl Harbor’s Visitor Center for a glimpse into Hawaii’s World War II history. Meet your guide at the pier and embark on a scenic drive through Honolulu’s Downtown area and Chinatown district. Witness the magnificent City Hall and the Iolani Palace, the only royal palace on American soil, and pass by Kawaiahao Church, the Hawaii State Capital, the governor’s mansion and the homes of early missionaries. After your drive, you will stop at Pearl Harbor, where you will learn about the fateful attack that took almost 2,500 lives. At the Visitor Center, stroll the exhibits that document the events before the surprise attack and its aftermath, including displays of personal memorabilia, dramatic photographs and artifacts.

The bus tour did not disappoint. Our guide was very humorous and knowledgeable. Below are a few photos I captured from the bus. I think the landscape and architecture of Honolulu is beautiful!

State Capital Building

We eventually made our way to Pearl Harbor. Mark and I found this to be such an eye opening experience. Not being one to delve much into history, I had no idea the devastation and historical significance of the Bombing of Pearl Harbor. There were more killed here than 9/11. Since I was alive during 9/11, this one fact put everything in perspective for me. I found this to be a very somber experience.

First we stopped in at the museum part of the welcome center, watched a documentary and viewed the exhibits. That gave me the historical context I needed. Next, we ferried out to the site where the USS Arizona exploded and sunk killing 1,177 soldiers - most of whom were very young. The highlight of this site is a wall of names which is a memorial to those who were killed at Pearl Harbor. It also included a monument listing the soldiers who survived, but who elected for their remains to be with their comrades upon their eventual passing. This was very touching for me!

This hangs in the museum.

Replica of the USS Arizona as it rests under water.

This is where we got off the Ferry and up the ramp to the memorial.

This is the wall in the USS Arizona Memorial that lists those who were killed.

As we passed through the gift/souvenir shop on the way to the bus, I picked up this book as a souvenir. I thought that it would be a quick read and would offer a different perspective on the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I also think it will be a good book to pass on to my grandchildren for them to learn the historical lessons of Pearl Harbor.

Upon our return to the ship we passed through the Pier 10 and 11 Building. I was intrigued with the building and murals on the walls.

Back on the ship we enjoyed a light lunch on the Aqua Terrace. We loved the water views and the weather was beautiful! The weather in Honolulu is crazy! Beautiful blue skies, sudden downpour, rainbow and then beautiful sky again! This scenario happened many times during the day!

Mark decided that he had overpacked for this cruise, and decided that since we were still in the states, that he would “lighten our load” so to speak and ship some things home. We found a Fed Ex nearby, which was great since we wanted to walk around downtown anyway. We throughly enjoyed our walk and marveled at the lovely scenery along our route. We passed through an outdoor mall (hung out there for a bit until the rain stopped) and ended up at Hawaiian Pacific University just outside Pier 10. I was particularly enamored with the Hawaiian Girl statues that we saw.

Here are some photos that I snapped on our afternoon walk: