Day Nine Jan 14th: Honolulu

Bill and Paul got on the first shuttle bus early for the huge Ala Moana mall downtown Honolulu. The mall was billed as being right across from Waikiki beach and we wanted to walk it and meet Dawn there. We walked around the mall looking at all the super upscale stores, none to be found in Central Wisconsin. We bee lined for Lulu Lemons so I could show Bill the fine sporting wear. Bill agreed and left with a bag containing several items. We then walked to Waikiki, a walk of about 45 minutes then walked down the Very Crowded beach until we couldn't walk anymore. Ended up being a 22,000 step day, about 8 miles. We rented two chairs for an hour just to have a place to put our stuff while we went for a swim. The water was pretty calm, crowded, and cold! 78 degree ocean water, Brrrrr. Our ship pool is at least 84 degrees. After swim we continued our walk until we got hungry and stopped at Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant with no Buffett affiliation. We each had a salad, hows that weight game? We did have a few beers though. Dawn called as we were finishing and she took a cab over while I ordered her the Ahi Tuna salad that Bill had, more beers please.

After lunch (late) we went back to the ship and Dawn started getting ready for our World Cruise event, an evening aboard the Battle ship Missouri that fought in WWII through the Korean and even Desert Storm. Her guns are impressive! All 140+- of us left in two buses and had to pass through security as the ship is on the active military base of Pearl Harbor. The Missouri is truly impressive. It was the sight of the signing of the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII. After a ship walk around we had snacks and drinks at the aft of the ship while being entertained by signing crew members from our ship. Then back to the Whisper for "desert under the stars" located pool deck they had tons of deserts and a Pineapple flambe for us. It was off to an early bed.