Pre-Cruise Travel and Hawaii 2026

We are currently on a Circle Pacific Cruise, from Los Angeles to Los Angeles.  We had not planned to do another long cruise, but we do not like long flights and wanted to return to Asia.  This, for us, is a good way to do that.

Pre-Cruise Travel

We left Minnesota much later than desired, experiencing more winter than we hope to ever experience again.  We spent 5 nights in Grapevine, TX, and then 9 nights in Mazatlán.

Time Onboard

We find sea days to be quite relaxing, and a good transition to start a cruise.  Two highlights of our time onboard on the way to Hawaii were watching playoff football and visiting with our college friends Dea and Bill.  We booked separately and later learned we were all on the same cruise!

After several days at sea, our first stop was the Hawaiian Islands.

Honolulu, Oahu

This was our 4^th visit to Oahu, so we have done many of the “tourist” things previously.  Our day in Honolulu was spent primarily running errands, necessary on a long cruise, particularly since we left home more than two weeks before the cruise started.  During our errand running, we enjoyed the perfect weather and looking at the scenery and birds.

Nawiliwili, Kauai

Our second stop was Kauai, an island we had visited once previously.  We had not been to the port area before, nor nearby Kalapaki Beach, where we spent our day.  After a little shopping we had a good lunch at Duke’s Canoe Club Barefoot Bar and Grill, and then a nice beach walk and swim in the ocean.  A very relaxing and enjoyable day.

Kahului, Maui

Our 3^rd stop was Maui, an island we also had visited once previously.  While we had previously been to Kahului, we did different things on this trip.  Our primary mission was to visit the Kanaha Pond State Wildlife Sanctuary for some bird watching.  Although the sanctuary was small without much walking opportunity, we were lucky to see 3 of the 5 endangered endemic species found at the pond.

After our bird viewing adventure, we did a little shopping and then had lunch at Ale House, primarily selected because it had internet; we needed to update our kindles because the type of wifi onboard the ship does not work on those devices.

Kailua-Kona, Hawaii (aka, the Big Island)

Our final Hawaiian stop was Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.  We had been there previously.  It was a “tender” stop, meaning that there is not a place for the ship to dock, so we anchor out and take smaller boats (tenders) into shore.  We were dropped off near Kamakahona National Historic Landmark, a 1970s reconstruction of the residence of King Kamehameha I of Hawaii.  The only thing on our agenda was to walk to a nearby hotel which our guidebook said had 40 “historic” paintings from the area.  I thought that meant older paintings, but in fact they were paintings depicting local events throughout history, things we were already familiar with.  Oh well, we got to go ashore and did visit a beautiful large banyan tree.