Hawaii Vacation - Day 09: Luau in Kauai

 

Today's excursion takes place in the evening.  I booked a ticket to Luau Kalamaku, having no idea what to expect from this excursion.  And I hoped that this excursion would be well worth the time and money spent on it.

But first....

 

Since my excursion took place late in the afternoon, I slept late.  This was likely the best thing I could do, as I had to listen to my body and it was telling me it was time to rest.  Eventually, I got moving at a "civilized" hour, got showered and dressed, and made it off the ship for a couple of hours.  Unfortunately, I did not know of the shuttles that would transport me to and from the nearby shopping center, so I had to move slowly to stay comfortable.  After spending some time eating some ice cream and sitting in the shade, I caught the shuttle and went back to the ship to rest until the luau.

- - - - - -

I called RQS and chatted for a while and then freshened up to go to the luau  By now, I have gotten used to presenting my male ID to security while presenting as female.  Considering where many transgender folk are in their journeys, I consider myself to be very lucky.  Confidence in one's presentation is very important to being accepted in one's gender.  For example, there always seems to be a line for the women's room.  A nervous transgender will give off signals such as: "Will they see me as something other than female?"  "Will someone figure out what I am and cause me trouble?"  And I've silently asked these questions in the past when I was new to presenting as female.  Now, I stand in line with the rest of the women and chit chat when a woman wants to talk with me.  We're there to go and do our business, and being confident in how I do that goes a long way to being accepted as female and being treated as one.

Around 4 pm, I walked into the ship's theater which was being used to stage 3 groups of people going to the luau.  There was one person telling us about Hawaii, the Luau, and the Debarkation process to keep us occupied until our buses were ready to take us where we were going.  Since the ship was only 10 minutes away, we were all at the luau by 5 pm.

 

The luau consisted of 3 parts: General Entertainment, Dinner, and the presentation on Hawaiian cultural history presented in dance. The first part had performers singing various songs (including holiday tunes) to entertain us, and to get us used to the cultural history presentation to come.  I wasn't that impressed by this part of the luau, simply because I couldn't get into the performances - my mind was elsewhere, probably focusing on the dinner yet to come.

Dinner was served buffet style.  There were two meats available to eat - Pork and Chicken.  Both were very tasty.  But one does not go to the luau to rave about the food.  It is more like going to a dinner theater where the food is decent, but the performance is better than expected.  And that was true of the cultural history performance to come.

I was queued for the ladies' room when the show began.  Hawaiians, Tahitians, and others are cut from the same "Bad Ass" stock.  It took a lot of guts to explore the pacific in double hulled canoes and settle in remote islands - all without modern technology.  And this part of the show illustrated what these people went through to find, then settle Hawaii.  Although the show started off slow, it had an exciting climax with men dancing with fire in motion.  

All too soon, the show ended and it was time to return to the ship.  As usual, I had to get wanded by security, even though I had eliminated all the metal from my body.  My first stop was at the photography area, where I bought several pictures for display.  (I had to burn off the bulk of my $100 cruise credit, or lose it.) Then it was back to my room to relax for the evening.

Second Cruise - Day 7: Sea Day.

Day 7: Sea Day.

RQS and I awoke to bright sunshine, setting our clocks back an hour as we entered American waters. It feels strange, as we will be setting our clocks back again tonight due to the switch to Eastern Standard Time.  As a result, we ended up rising sooner than usual, and reached the buffet while breakfast was being served on both sides of the ship.

After breakfast, it was off to the onboard store to see what “junk” was included in their $10 sale.  (This is a good way to burn off any cruise credits one may have received for booking the cruise.) There wasn’t much of value here.  There was the usual t-shirts, the usual cheap costume jewelry, and other things that one could get for $5 on Amazon.

I’ve sailed on at least 4 NCL ships so far: the Gem, the Joy, the Escape and the Breakaway.  The Gem is a mid size ship for this fleet, and the ship I have cruised on most.  It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles found on the larger ships, but it has an intimate feel that is lacking on the larger ships.  The Escape and the Joy are among the larger ships in NCL’s fleet, Breakaway plus ships.  The Joy has all the bells and whistles one could want, including an on board go-cart ride and a pair of multi-story water slides.  Its size is impressive, and I am amazed at how many people the ship can handle on a single cruise. Last is the NCL Breakaway itself.  It is smaller than the Joy, but is still a large ship.  Although it doesn’t have the go-carts, it has almost all of the bells and whistles of the Joy, while retaining a semblance to NCL’s past ships.

When I last sailed on the Gen in December, the photography store was still selling some small cameras in addition to the usual collection of on-ship photographs taken by the ship’s photographers.  On the Breakaway and Joy, one could find a few SD memory cards, but no cameras.  People now use their cell phones to capture images, and no longer buy small, special purpose cameras when cell phones can easily perform the same function.  The newer ships are geared to sell more profitable products such as jewelry, high end watches and both duty free liquor and cigarettes.  Even then, I found it impossible to buy a liter of amaretto, and had to settle for the last bottle of Grand Marnier.

Each iteration of ship classes has their pluses and minuses.  I am a fan of NCL’s “Jewel” class of ships.  Others are fans of the Breakaway and Breakaway Plus classes of ships.  However, NCL has decided to go with a smaller, more intimate ship with their Prima class.  This is not a ship I plan to take any time soon, as cruises on newer ships tend to be more expensive than those on older ships.  Yet, if I see a great bargain, I’ll take a cruise on the Prima and see if the criticisms of Vloggers I watch are true.  Until then, I’ll keep my mind open about this ship.

Taking care of some items found in the mess on my desk

 

This will likely be one of my shorter posts.  

Recently, I mentioned that I had to file some paperwork so that I can get $100 cruise credit on each of two cruises, simply for being a cruise line shareholder.  To do this, I had to wade through the mess of papers found on (and near) my desk to find a recent brokerage statement.  Most of the time, I don't bother to print this statement.  Nor do I always file the ones I receive in the mail when I receive them.  So, it took me a while to find September's statement amidst all the clutter.

However, I have a simple procedure for dealing with my bills.  I pay several at the beginning of the month (one/two is/are on auto pay), some more as they come in, and then the rest at month end.  By handling the bulk as they come in, I don't have to worry much about finding the bills when I get around to paying them.  (I use an oversize clip to hold bills, and then pay them in batches.)  If I were to ever get my desk straightened out, I'd likely use a different method.  But until then, I'll continue to do what has been working for me so far.

Yet, even essential things have been known to go missing for a while.  Ever misplace a wallet on a messy desk?  I have.  What about glasses?  Yup, I have done that too.  Even house keys have gotten lost in my desk's mess.  Luckily, I've learned how to deal with the mess and use boxes to hold things while I conduct my searches.

Aren't glad you don't have me for a bookkeeper?