Pride of America - All American Crew

Since NCL's Pride of America departs and ends from an American port without stopping at a foreign port; it is registered under the American Flag and has an American Crew.

We flew Hawaiian Airlines from Portland to Honolulu.  We were very happy with the service and food on the flight. ( Yes, I Said Food.)  And the flight was very reasonable. It was only just over $300 per person round trip; so we saved our frequent flyer miles for another vacation.  Truth is we could have flown using our American Airlines miles. Would have flown from Portland to Dallas-Fort Worth and from there to Honolulu. It just did not make a lot of sense.

We were now going to spend three nights at the Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club. We had to sacrifice a day, because our cruise was now leaving a day earlier than originally planned.

The  Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club is located on the western shore of Oahu, where waterfalls and fountains welcome your arrival. Only 18 miles away from Honolulu, this secluded beachfront oasis is nestled within Ko Olina Resort & Marina, a lush 640-acre gated community where seven crystal-clear lagoons shimmer.

So we checked in and sat down for a nice glass of wine.

And enjoyed a Hawaiian sunset.

Hawaii Cruise rebooked on the Pride of America

I had looked online to see what my options were. There was the Pride of America that left the day before the Pride of Aloha had been scheduled to leave.


The difference was in availability and price.  There did not appear to be any ocean view staterooms available. There were some staterooms with a balcony available; but they were about double what we had booked out ocean view for on the Pride of Aloha.

That following Monday after a short game of phone tag we reached the travel agent.  She explained that NCL has decided to remove the Pride of Aloha from cruise service in the Hawaiian islands. The had contacted the travel agents to offer alternate travel options to guests that were booked on the Pride of Aloha. She admitted that she had slipped up and would need a few days to see what could be worked out.

Well it probably took another five of six weeks to get everything finalize. That was a real worrisome period. In the end they gave us a balcony at the price of our original booking.

NCL is the only cruise line that has an itinerary servicing the Hawaiian Cruise market without stopping at a foreign port.  Most will leave from the mainland and stop in Encenada Mexico before proceeding on to Hawaii.

( to be continued )

What Happened to our Booking? And our Ship?

A month or so passed and we were busy doing our everyday routines.  Finally a question came up on a Sunday morning about our cabin on the upcoming Hawaii Cruise. So I went on line to pull up our reservation.  It came up as an unrecognized reservation. The travel agency was closed  on Sunday, so I decided to just pull up the ship and look at the room we had booked. It was an Ocean View.

I could not pull up the ship. Finally I called Norwegian Cruise Lines directly. They informed me that the ship had been renamed Norwegian Sky and was reallocated to an Asian itinerary.

I was  dumbfounded.

Needless to say, the first thing to do on Monday morning was to get ahold of the travel agent.

Hawaii - Cruise and Land combination Vacation

In Late 2007 we had received an offer in the mail to stay at the Marriott’s Ko Olina Beach Club on Oahu.  I had lived on Oahu twice; but there were a couple of places that I had never seen.  So we took the offer for 6 days and 5 nights for about $500. 

We did not have to make our actual reservation immediately and decided to look around for a cruise we could take in combination with our stay on Oahu.   We wanted to go there the following September; that would be September of 2008.

We ended up finding a 7 day cruise on NCL ( Norwegian Cruise Lines ) Pride of Aloha in late December of 2007 and made our reservation.  We also found a great rate on Hawaiian Airlines for our flight and booked our flight.  The plan was that we would spend 5 nights at the Marriott, take our cruise through the islands and then immediately fly home.

We did not think much more about it until we returned from another cruise in February of 2008.  There was a message from the travel agent requesting we call her back about our cruise.

We called the travel agent back and finally left a message in her voice mail indicating that we were returning her call. Tag your it.

We did not think any more about it and the return call never came.


( To be continued ).

More Photos of Grand Cayman / Morritt’s Tortuga Club and Resort

Once the sun came out we really enjoyed our stay. The Morritt's Tortuga Club and Resort is very nice. Grand Cayman is a scuba divers paradise.  We do not scuba dive; but we do snorkel; and once the water settled down after the storm, it was great.

 For someone living on the east coast it would be a great resort on own and frequent.  Given that we are on the west coast, we will probably bank out weeks and exchange for an alternative location.  Anyone out there that has a comparable resort in Mexico interested in trading resorts; let me know.

Fish are abundant.

Seven Mile Beach on the west end of the island.

  We had booked a snorkeling tour to Sting Ray City for the day before we were leaving. The tour was canceled because of rough seas.

It was a great vacation in spit of the weather in the early part of the week.

Finally Sun on Grand Cayman

Finally Sun on Grand Cayman.  Put on the bathing suits and head for the pool.

And the Hot Tub.

We also took a long walk down the beach.  The area along the beach in front of the resort is alway pristine. But as you get down a ways you begine to see all the things that wash up on the beach.

Plastic bottles and such you come to expect. What amazed us was the number of shoes that had washed up.  And then we came to the shoe tree.

And a few more picture.

And one of the locals.

And then back to the other pool.

Wind and Rain in the Cayman Islands

When we returned to our room we went on line to find out about the storm.  The storm had a name; Ida. Great!

It had a projected track to the west of the Cayman Islands.  But it was sure producing some weather.  Lots of wind and heavy rain on and off.

We went out to a nearby store and got some provisions and to the liquor store to get some wine and spirits.  Talk about sticker shock.  The food was somewhat more expensive than we were used too; but after all we were on an island. But the liquor prices were what really got our attention. We found a large bottle of Yellow Tail. Back home we would expect to pay about nine dollars. Her they were about thirty-two dollars.

Sunday was more of the same. More wind and lots of rain.  We did catch a break in the rain to take a quick dip in the hot tub.

We had heard about roadside fish fry that was only open on Saturday and Sunday.  So Sunday evening we decided to drive south about 10 minutes from the resort and try it out.  Very Good.

The next morning we woke up to Sun. The final storm track had brought hurricane Ida within 196  miles of Grand Cayman.

That's OK now we have sun.

Grand Cayman Island - Whats with the rain?

We got up the next morning and noticed that it was a little windy and the sky was overcast. It did not look like the kind of day that you go to the pool and soak up the rays.

So we decided to take a drive. Did I mention the you drive on the wrong side of the road in the Cayman Islands.  You get used to it pretty quickly. But you have to stay focused, go into auto pilot mode and you are in trouble.

 We took the road along the north end of the island over to Rum Point. It is a nice drive. Not a lot of traffic. You pass a lot of family cemeteries right on the waters edge.

Stopped to get a bit to eat and found them closing up the restaurant and bar. Seems there was a weather advisory.

 Found another restaurant still open and decided to have some fish and chips before heading back to the resort to check on the weather.

Continued tomorrow.

Last leg of the trip. Grand Cayman Island

The final leg of our outbound trip left Miami at about noon on Friday.  The flight from Miami was a short hour and a half.


Since the Morritt's Tortuga Club was on the opposite end of the Island from the Airport, we had reserved a rental car. We picked up our car across the street from the airport and were on our way.

We had only been here for a few hour previously, so we had to drive around in circles a few times to find a store where we could pick up a few things to make it through the night. Then we drove out to the Morritt's Tortuga Club and checked in. We have stayed in a great many timeshare resorts through the years, but this was the first time that there was an additional charge for electricity. They take a meter reading the day before you arrive and another the day before you leave and charge you based on that reading.  At checkout time that ended up amounting to a little over $100 for our one week stay. I was not happy, I do not like surprises.

By about 4:00pm we were in our room and enjoying our first glass of wine.

Later that evening we had a bit to eat at the bar on the dock. Our vacation had started and we were looking forward to some fun in the sun.

Grand Cayman Island Vacation - November 2009

We drove to Portland the day before our departure, as we typically do when catching an early morning flight out of Portland Airport. We use park and fly hotels, since they are typically a better deal than parking at the airport. We have become fond of staying at the Staybridge when flying out of Portland.  www.staybridge.com  Not only do they have very nice rooms at a reasonable rate; but on Tuesday through Thursday they had a complimentary meal in the evening. With Wine and Beer.  In the morning they have a buffet breakfast, though we typically have flights that leave too early to allow for breakfast.

This trip was an exception in that our flight did not leave Portland until about Noon. We were flying on American Airlines so we had a layover in DFW on the way to Miami.  For those that are wondering; yes we were using our frequent flier miles with American Airlines.  The Layover was brief and we arrived in Miami at 10:30pm.  After retrieving our luggage we called the Hotel for a shuttle.  Guess what .. it was too late. The last shuttle has already run.  So we hailed a taxi and made out way to the hotel.

Tomorrow morning we will complete our short flight to Grand Cayman.

Morritt’s Tortuga Club and Resort

Morritt’s Tortuga Club and Resort

The view from the balcony is of palm trees on a tiny island in the middle of an enormous free form swimming pool. Morritt’s Tortuga Club and Resort is the original Morritt’s playground with not one, but two pools, six buildings and a variety of appealing floor plans. The big pool is the place to be for a relaxing lunch, an invigorating swim, and some of the hottest nighttime Caribbean entertainment on the island. 

Just a quick overview on the Resort.

Grand Cayman port of Call

We have had a timeshare on the Grand Cayman Island for a number of years.  I had originally purchased it through a barter organization that I used to belong too. We had always banked our week and traded it for some other location. And we had enjoyed the trades; many in Mexico, one on Kaui, and a few in Orlando, Florida.


The Resort is the Morritt's Tortuga Club and is located on the east end of the island.
Finally we took a cruise on which the itinerary included a stop in the Cayman Islands.  The cruise ships stop on the west end of the Island and the resort is located on the east end.  We had signed up for a city tour which only took about an hour and a half.
Then we decided to rent a car and drive out to the west end to check out the resort.  The Island is not that big but speeds are kept low, so it is about a 45 minute drive.

It turned out to be a very nice resort and the light blue waters were fabulous.  We decided that we would have to come back and stay at the resort in the near future.

So tomorrow we will tell you about our week at the Morritt's Tortuga Club on the Grand Cayman Island.

Surprise Stop in Cabo San Lucas

So what do you do on a cruise.  How about Art Auctions.

A little wagering in the Casino.

It was interesting that we seemed to be sailing a lot closer to the coast on our return, compared to out trip down. Then the mystery was revealed. We were going to make a stop in Cabo San Lucas to allow one of our passengers off for medical treatment.  The Carnival Splendor was in Cabo San Lucas harbor at that time.

The stop was very brief and we continued on.

A couple of other pictures before we bring this series to an end.  We are due back into San Diego on Sunday Morning at 7:00am.  Back to reality. Happy Cruising.

Two sea days on the Carnival Spirit

Friday and Saturday were spent at sea. Thy were sunny days and fun days.

I neglected to mention that our group was too big to seat at a single table.  Five couples sat at the Captains table on the lower dining room floor. The remainder sat in the upper dining room overlooking our table.

The Elevators on the Carnival Spirit are quite impressive. The Entertainment was very good and we enjoyed it every night in the Pharaoh's Palace. 

The Spirit has 3 sister ships in the Spirit Class. Each has a slightly different theme for their main theme lounge.  The Carnival Pride is Taj Mahal. The Carnival Legend is Follies.  The Carnival Miracle is Phantom.

Carnival Spirit visits Manzanillo, Mexico

The next morning when we arrived in Manzanillo, Mexico at 7:00am. This would be our last stop. ( Well almost - but we will get to that later. ) Once again the sun was out! And once again we were docked. It make getting on and off so much easier.

The city of Manzanillo had a population of about 112,000. It is also Mexico's busiest port, as measured by total tonnage and volume of containerized cargo. The city is also well known internationally for deep-sea fishing and the green flash phenomenon during sunsets. Unfortunately we did not get a chance to see the green flash ourselves.

 Once again several in our party had signed up for shore excursions.  We opted to go into town with another couple and do some exploring on our own. First stop was to have a Bloody Maria at a street side restaurant.

The the ladies wanted to do some shopping.

One of skills needed in Mexico is bargaining over the price of a purchase.   If you pay the asking price, you will pay way too much.  On the other hand you can also insult a store owner by making an offer that is clearly way under the value of an item.

We were back on board way before the 6:00pm sailing time.  At six be said farewell to Manzanillo and started the return leg of our trip.

A Rainy Day - Zihuatanejo / Ixtapa, Mexico

The town of Zihuatanejo will be added to the list of places to return too. It is the old traditional town. With lots of little shops.  It has a beautiful bay and would be a great place to stay.

We did not get a chance to visit Ixtapa because of the weather. It is the new city created by the government. It has all the tall modern hotels and a championship goft course.

Map of Zihuatanejo / Ixtapa, Mexico

Well moving on. Well sail at 6:00pm for our next port of call; Manzanillo, Mexico.

Carnival Spirit - Zihuatanejo / Ixtapa, Mexico

We arrived in Zihuatanejo / Ixtapa, Mexico at 9:00am Wednesday morning. We would be leaving at 6:00pm. This was a tendered port so it's good be get back a little earlier.

The nice thing about an inside cabin, is that you have no realization of the time of day.  Still the body clock woke me at about 7:30am. Once on deck I could see that the weather had turned ugly. After grabbing a bit to eat at the buffett, return to the cabin with some coffee and goodies for my wife. Shortly thereafter they announced that all but on tour had been canceled because of the weather.

Normally at tendered ports you have to wait til they have the people taking  tours on shore before you can catch a tender to go ashore solo. Because of the downpour there was little waiting time. We did durchase some rain gear before catching the tender.

Once on shore it really started coming down.  We stopped at a little bar and had a couple of rather large Bloody Mary's and watched people.

To be continued