My husband and I have been self employed for over 30 yrs. We hadn't taken a real vacation in about 22 years. We thought, how about Hawaii with a cruise. The affordability was a factor of course. Just getting to Hawaii when you live in Michigan is quite expensive and we were warned about the cost of everything in Hawaii once you get there. We booked our plane tickets, hotel, cruise and one excursion through a local travel agent. We started our trip by staying two nights in Waikiki at the Hilton Double Tree hotel. Nothing spectacular about the hotel. At $150.00 a night you have No view. But we figured we were going to see the ocean everyday for the next nine days anyway, so we opted for the cheaper hotel for the savings. Waikiki is a hustling bustling place. Lots of people and nightlife. Plenty of stores and restaruants. We heard lots about Waikiki beach but only got to the beach once for sunset. You get so busy sightseeing that you just don't have time to lay around all day. We wanted to see all that there was to see. ABC Stored everywhere to get whatever you need. Prices reasonable too.

We went to see Pearl Harbor and the USS Missouri. Both were nice. Touring the Missouri was the highlight of the day. You can actually walk through a large part of the ship right to the top. How massive! While we were on the Missouri 3 different submarines came into the harbor and one blackhawk helicopter. That was impressive in itself.

The day we were to get on the ship we called a taxi to pick us up at noon from our hotel. $20.00 will get you a taxi to the port which is about 10-15 minutes away depending on traffic. Read more