Friday, September 5th, 2003: One thing about the Hawaiian Islands, whether you are at sea or on land, the sunrise never disappoints. It is simply beautiful !! And for our arrival on Maui it was exactly as we thought it would be ... breathtakingly beautiful. Our fruit and coffee were delivered on time once again, so we enjoyed them as we watched the tenders on the decks below us, being lowered into the water to ready them to take alot of the passengers, including us, into Lahaina.

We finished breakfast, got ready and waited in our cabins till we heard our tender tickets called and we were off. By the time we were called and we made it down to Deck 8 it was about 10 A.M. You could see as we were waiting in line to get on the tender, the seas were quite choppy and they had two attendants to help you on board. Once on board the tender, we were slammed around pretty good, and I do have a tendency to become sea sick on smaller boats, so I was hopeful we would start moving soon. The sooner we started moving the sooner we would be on shore and the sooner my stomach would calm down. Of course we were one of the first ones on the tender, so it would prove to be a long wait before we began moving. Once we did start moving we did have a swift but bouncy ride, so I was very happy once we reached shore.

Once on shore, I took a moment to get my stomach under control, we had pictures taken of us with the ship strategically placed in the background and we were off for a fabulous lunch at one of our most favorite restaurants on all of Maui, The Pioneer Inn.

The Pioneer Inn is on Wharf Street but it is visible from Front Street as you lQQk toward the pier. It is has a lQQk and feel of a plantation type structure from Maui's whaling days. While we have never stayed in the hotel itself, we have gone to the restaurant a number of times for great service, great food and a wonderful laid back atmosphere. It is an open air restaurant with heavy wooden furniture, ceiling fans and a varied menu. We enjoyed a few rounds of really good Bloody Marys, some great food and fun conversations. Once we were done with lunch, some shopping was in order ... Lahaina Style !!!

Lahaina is a major tourist attraction on Maui. It is a wonderful mix of rich history, great shopping and wonderful restaurants. The main street in Lahaina is Front Street. This is where you will find most of the shops. But we have noticed over the last few years, Lahaina has begun to expand to the streets surrounding Front Street. Lahaina has a charm like no other place on Maui, it is quaint, modern and oh so charming ... and it is hot, but I don't just mean "Duh it's Hawaii of course it is hot" ...no I mean HOT. Lahaina means "Unrelenting Sun" and they are not kidding. You can drive 2 miles in either direction away from Lahaina and it will never be as hot as it is in Lahaina, don't ask me why, it just adds to its special charm.

So we made our way down Front Street, stopping in most of the shops admiring and buying as we went. We were quite hot and thirsty and decided to stop in Hard Rock Cafe and have a beverage. We sat at the bar of the open air establishment and enjoyed people watching as all the tourists made their way down Front Street.

Finally it was time to make our way back to the ship and bid Lahaina Aloha Oe' ...till we meet again. We had a super time ...took lots of pictures, bought some great fun stuff and made some more great memories of a perfect day!

We got back to the ship around 4 P.M. and we were all a little undecided as to where to go to dinner. 4 of us wanted to try the Endless Summer Restaurant and 4 of us wanted to try "something else". So we decided to meet later at Dazzles for a night cap after our perspective meals.

We went to Endless Summer on Deck 8 with our two "Left Coast Friends". We arrived at 6 P.M. and were seated almost immediately. We were greeted by two very friendly waitresses from Malaysia. We chated with them for a few minutes, they took our drink orders and we were left to enjoy the view from the floor to ceiling windows that lQQked out upon Lahaina from about 5 miles out to sea. The sun was beginning to set and in colors, it set the West Maui Mountains on fire. I have been lucky enough to enjoy many sunsets on Maui, but never have I seen one so brilliant in color as we were enjoying that evening with Lahaina laid at our feet. However I am sorry to say that the sunset and the company was the best part of the evening. The service was really great, our wait staff was very attentive and we wanted for nothing. I would like to note here however, the main problem I had was with the pretense of the restaurant, it was a Hawaiian themed restaurant, not be confused with a Hawaiian restaurant. The food, while it was good and I ate it, it was a "Tourist Replica" of Hawaiian food. I like Hawaiian food, I mean authentic Hawaiian food, not food that they give the tourists at luau's, who usually stick their noses up at something "different" anyway, but authenticate Hawaiian food. So it was a combination of my mis-understanding of the word "Themed" and the ships attempt to make Hawaiian food seem not so "Different" !!!! So I will recommend this restaurant because the service was good and the food was good for what it was. However if you enjoy authentic Hawaiian food or an atmosphere that promotes the Hawaiian culture, lQQk somewhere else, you will not find it The Endless Summer Restaurant.

After dinner, we met our other friends at Dazzles Nightclub for a nite cap and we were very shocked to hear that they had had a terrible dining experience in the Aqua Restaurant on Deck 6. From what we were told, it was just one mistake on their food and drink orders after another. Which sounded so odd to hear considering none of us had encountered any type of problem, all the staff and crew seemed very professional at all times. Some how our friends found out that The Aqua Restaurant is a training restaurant for new crew members on board that are going to be working in the restaurants. I do not know how they found that out and I have no way to verify this so I am simply including this incident in this day to day review as a part of what happened at this particular time, I am not claiming this to be the truth.

We all turned in around 11 P.M. as we had a very big day tomorrow on Kauai. Our first and only shore excursion, and we wanted to be fresh and ready for it. So we all walked back to our cabins and said Good Night and Sleep Tight ... I have no doubts that we all did.

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