Disappointing Maui in 2017

Maui's head is upper left - crossed arms above the Haleakala Visitor Center

2 November 2017

On a Princess cruise, the port for Maui is a tender port (Lahaina) There is a dock for cruise ships on Maui, but it is a NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line) dock.

NCL Dock area

This is another instance where the NCL port is superior to the one for Princess. Maui is even worse than Honolulu. And we were only here for one day instead of two

Because the cruise line gives priority to people who are on their excursions. I knew that I would not have any luck getting a tender ticket for an early non-Princess tour. I could not do the Expedia tour for the Road to Hana, for instance. If I wanted to get off the ship, I had to take a Princess tour and there was only one tour I could take with a scooter. Even then, the Excursion desk made me come to see them so they could decide whether I would be allowed to take the excursion. That was even after I filled out their questionnaire. Although it was not publicized, their rule for whether a person could use a tender was that if the person was able to step onto the tender under their own power, they could go ashore.

Tour ticket

Polly's snorkeling tour was very early, so I set a wake-up call and asked for Room Service.

The wakeup call came about 5:55 and Polly was confused about where the phone was. She thought it was on the table between us but it is not. It is all the way on the other side of the room and not near either bed. Then my alarm clock went off. I used the bathroom and then Polly went in and while she was in there, Siri chimed in - I was able to turn Siri off. We were both dressed when Room Service arrived at 6:30 (the earliest we could get it) We ate and then went down to the Crowne Grille on deck 6 to check in and get our tender tickets. They sent Polly into the theatre, but of course from this deck there are steps.

I was group #17, she was #11. I sat in the Crowne Grille and waited my turn.

They sent all us crippled people down in an elevator to deck 4 and then there was another little elevator down to deck 3. The tender was bouncing around quite a bit, but I managed to get on and they loaded the scooter last. When I got to shore I took a photo of the lighthouse that was there.

lighthouse

I was to have a walking tour of town. I found the guide.

waterfront

The guide wanted to show us the history and culture of the area, and he did that very well

Waterfront

It was quite hot in the sun so the tour basically went from shade to shade. So first he took us up on the veranda in front of a hotel or restaurant.

We looked at the cannon which were on either side of a vertical concrete structure - apparently there was a wooden flagpole in the middle of this, but the old Lahaina Town flagpole fell down in 2013 on a wet and windy day due to rot and termite damage. The new flagpole will be a 50-foot aluminum pole with internal halyards and a white powder coating.

Structure which was on each side of the old flagpole

cannon

Sign about the cannon

He explained about how the royal family when they lived here farmed their own food.

map of Lahaina Historic Trail Sites

Waterfront tables

We went to the shade of a Banyan tree

A Banyan tree for shade

No Climb, No Swing Banyan Tree

We saw the

Lahaina Court and Custom House

Old Jail Gallery

The sidewalks were rough and when the front wheels of the scooter are wrenched to the side, if I hold onto the handles the wheels are going to be twisted sideways and the controls are pointing forward. And I have to reset. When we got to this point in the tour, I tried the grass, but it was too soft and I had to get off and move the scooter to harder ground without me being on it.

waterfront

We saw the library

And the

Master's Reading Room

Then he took us to a place where you could get sandwiches, and also order Hawaiian food (such as pineapple and macadamia nuts) to be sent home.

Sandwiches - Smoothies

I stayed on the porch as it was a small place. There was a parrot in a cage outside on the porch

African Grey Parrot

After that he explained about the breadfruit tree which apparently no longer has seeds but has to reproduce by air layering the roots.

I took a photo of a bird on the sidewalk while he was talking. Then he took us down the back streets so we could see how the ordinary people in Lahaina lived

Lahaina Shingon Mission

Lahaina Shingon Mission-Buddhist

Residential area

Yellow hydrant

Blackie's Boat Yard

Surfboards

Prison Street Pizza

tree branches

historic fort wall on the right

Tree leaves

It was a good tour and very informative and I was mostly able to stay on the sidewalk or at least a paved surface. . I talked to the guide afterward and he knew about FindAGrave and insisted on walking me to one of the cemeteries.

Bell in the churchyard

But it was pretty hot - I tried to deploy my folding umbrella and when I couldn't the guide did it for me. So I had some shade. It is, however, impossible to drive the scooter, hold the umbrella and also take photos. The cemeteries were all grass so I would have had to walk to take photos. My back was starting to hurt and the scooter was getting down toward the middle color (light green).

So I went back to Front Street where I had intended to maybe shop and also to wait for Polly to get back from snorkeling which was to be about 1:30. And I thought we might shop and have lunch. But I was too tired to shop and I didn't even want to use the bathrooms.

I lay down on a bench for a bit,

Looking up from the bench

and also talked to a man who was there (who put the umbrella back together for me). I called Bob, and then sent a message to Polly and she said that the guys on the boat said they would not be back until 3. I couldn't wait that long, so I just came back to the ship, and I've been watching Thursday night football which is in the afternoon in Hawaii

I gave Polly my snorkeling camera, but I had taken the battery out of it for storage, and had not put it back in. So she was unable to take photos. But I think she had a good time snorkeling.

For dinner Nov 2nd, I had the shrimp bisque which was advertised as "with sweet potatoes" which I am not always fond of, but it was good. Then I had the pulled pork with bok choy and rice with the frozen banana parfait (which turned out to be something like an ice cream cake) for dessert.

Shredded Kaui pig

Semi-frozen banana-toffee parfait

After dinner Polly went to the show which she said was good. I took a turn out on the promenade deck - it was nice out there.

Promenade deck

Atrium from the promenade deck

Looking in the window at the bar

After that I just went back to the cabin and set all the clocks ahead one hour (alarm clock, computer, cell phone and camera). Then I fell asleep. Polly said when she came in she shook out the duvet with a quilt inside and found out that the quilt inside had blood on it so she gave it back to the room steward to get cleaned.

2010 on Pride of America

In 2010, I visited Maui on NCL. We were there for two days and did two great excursions.
NCL America Haleakala Excursion June 20, 2010-Tour to Haleakala

NCL America Excursion June 21, 201o- Best of Maui