Maui or Bust!

04-18-2026: Our flight from Fresno was uneventful. We saw beautiful mountains on the way up. Well, I did because I had the window seat! I could correctly identify 3 of the 4 big ones we saw. We enjoyed some wine and blue cheese stuffed olives in the Seattle airport. Our layover wasn't very long and we're on our way to Maui! I am so happy Stuart was able to get us earlier flights. The 10p arrival time we did have for Maui seemed awful. Instead, we landed about 4:15p, awaited the shuttle, and got the car at All Save, Fox, Nu, which we have not used in the past. The office was closed when we arrived to KBC but they had the lockbox on the door so we got into B108 just fine. We did a few things and headed to Moose's for dinner. It's very cloudy and gray, but the weather is nice, other than that it is a nice temperature. Stuart had a burger and I had my long-awaited potato skins. The place looks different. They have taken down most of their funny little wall hangings. They have replaced the small pane windows that opened, and added large pane glass that does not open. Oh well, the food was good and the service is always friendly. I will add, we were able to drive there and park in their lot, directly from KBC. The washed-out road is just after the parking lot driveway. That was nice since it has been a long day. Back to KBC, next a walk to the ABC store for coffee and a few things for tomorrow morning. It’s early here because of the 3-hour time difference, but we are tired so off to bed! 

Heading Home

04-11: We were up early, threw on our clothes, and headed to breakfast in the Lido Market. Back to the cabin and off the ship. We got a taxi to the airport, which was convenient and a set price. Our driver said the cruise line negotiates a set price. It was $46. An Uber would have been less (around $26-$28) but one would need to walk a distance to get to it. Since by back pain has increased a bit, we opted for the easiest instead of the cheapest. We have the cheapest flights home! Our flying time to get home is less than 3 hours … However, with a stop and lengthy layovers it will take us all day to get home. We saw a great view of Mt. Rainier on the flight out of Washington. We walked in the front door at 11:15p. Another fun trip. We leave for Maui 1 week from today!

Victoria, BC

04-10: We are in beautiful Victoria, BC today. It is cloudy but not too cold. We had lunch at Dive In. That is the hamburger, hotdogs, and fries bar by the Lido pool. We like the food there but this is our first time to eat there on this cruise. It is a shorter cruise and it is hard to fit in everything offered! They do have a vegan (or vegetarian?) burger, and a chicken burger. We also have to pack today because any luggage to be taken off by the crew needs to be out by 12 midnight. Nonetheless, we had a plan to meet our friends at the Tamarind Bar for our own happy hour with the wine we all still have in our packages. That plan didn’t work out because due to Canadian law only one bar can be open on each deck. This was not the chosen bar! We decided to just head to the dining room and share our wines there and have dinner as well. It was a lovely ending to the last night onboard. We are so happy we got to see Paul and Maureen again, and get to know Don and Lisa better. It looks like we will be on some future cruise and we can enjoy their company again. We went to the late show and it was great.

Astoria, Oregon

04-09: It is a lovely day to be in Astoria, Oregon. We have both been here before, so we did not get off. Instead, we had an early lunch and played Rummikub by the Sea View Pool. There is the Astoria Column to see, nearby Fort Steven’s State Park, and my favorite Lewis and Clark National Historic Park - Fort Clatsop. You can also stroll along the Riverwalk for some nice views. I think the most impressive thing is the Astoria Bridge that takes you into the state of Washington. Dinner tonight with friends back in Tamarind. The casino gave us a free dinner so we used that tonight when we met friends there for dinner. They also gave Stuart another $30 for anything else. He got a nice Sushi plate for the table to share. Everyone really enjoyed that.