Tuesday, April 15, 2025
The last couple of times we have come to Kona, we took a snorkeling tour out to Kaawaloa Cove and the Captain Cook Monument. The snorkeling is wonderful but we thought we’d do something different today.
We did cancel the hike we had planned today because of the poor experience we had on Maui. Our Plan B was just to walk the town and visit the Huliheʻe Palace, the Mokuʻaikaua Church, and the Farmer’s Market.
Since we had no set schedule, we ate breakfast in the main dining room and then went out to the Sea View area to enjoy the nice day and have another cup of coffee. We ended up meeting a couple who remembered us from the 2022 South Pacific cruise. Small world.
Kona is a tender port. Since we had received no paperwork about priority tendering, we made our way to the BB King’s Lounge to pick up a tender ticket. When we got there and the greeter looked at our keycard, we were told that the priority tendering waiting area was down the hall in one of the conference rooms. We walked down the hall. Nobody else was there so we got a cup of coffee to wait. As soon as we sat down, the security woman announced that a tender was ready for us. No cup of coffee for us.
The tender was bobbing up and down so we had to be careful stepping from the ship’s landing to the tender. I was glad it was a short ride over.
At Kona, we were met by another security officer who said we had to be extra cautious stepping from the tender to the Kona landing as there had been several tripping incidents on earlier tenders. Luckily, nobody on our tender tripped or fell although one man seemed shaky.
The first stop I made was to the tourist booth to ask about the Farmers Market. Me – “Is the Farmers Market nearby?” Attendant – “Oh sorry, they are not open on Tuesdays.” Me – “Even with a cruise ship in port?” Attendant – “Sorry, they’ll be open tomorrow.” Oh well, strike one off the list.
We made our way down the street to the Palace that was the vacation home of the Hawaiian Royalty built in 1838. I was looking forward to the tour inside.
Strike number two off the list. The Palace was under renovation. No tours.
We crossed the street to go to the Mokuʻaikaua Church which is Hawaii’s earliest Christian Church built in 1820. We were met at the gate by a very nice gentleman who informed us that the Church was closed for renovation, but we were welcomed to walk the grounds outside. Strike number 3 partially off the list.
Since I couldn’t tour any place today, I could do the next best thing – shop and eat.
There were lots of shops selling shave ice, but I saw a sign in a shop that was advertising Dole Whip. I missed my chance in Hilo to get some Dole Pineapple Whip, so I was glad I would get a second chance.
I went up to the counter. Me – “I would like a cup of Dole Pineapple Whip, please.” Attendant – “We only have Coconut flavor today.” Me – “No pineapple?” Attendant – “We have no pineapples, so coconut is the only flavor.” Me (looking at a line of fresh whole pineapples sitting on the market shelf outside of the window) – “Okay, I really wanted pineapple and don’t want coconut but thank you anyway.” Attendant – “Have a great day. Come again.”
This was really not my day. At that point, we joined the line for the next tender back to the ship.
When we returned to the room, we found a nice gift from the Casino. It was not Dole Pineapple Whip, but they were good. 😊
We spent another nice afternoon at the pool and participated in the sailaway party.
We ate in the Lido enjoying their Hawaiian-theme night. We had ribs, fresh pineapple, and paella. They did not offer any Spam (which is a Hawaiian staple) but they did have a whole roasted pig on the carvery if you wanted to pretend you were at a luau.
We then went to two sets of the Rolling Stone Lounge band and then called it a night.
It had been a beautiful day for a stroll.
Tomorrow – Nawiliwili, Kauai
