Aloha from Honolulu!

Aloha indeed! 

The evening before arrival into a port, the ship holds an arrival briefing on the bridge. Those of us responsible for the arrival procedure head up to the bridge at the nominated time where we work through the arrival plan. What's the weather doing, when is the pilot boarding, what manoeuvre will the ship need to undertake to get us alongside, when will we execute all this, so on and so forth. I had some paperwork for the Captain to sign before we started the briefing. During this exchange he mentions to me that I should prepare some signage for the gangways in preparation for possible crew shore leave! 

Despite the disappointment of San Francisco Day two where the US stopped our right to go ashore there had been a very small seed of hope that Hawaii may take a different view. I had no evidence that this would be the case but the eternal optimist in me had hoped that it may be. And now the Captain had just confirmed that my optimism was not entirely wasted! 

Upon the conclusion of the briefing I left the bridge with a skip in my step thinking of what tomorrow may hold. One thing I did know was that we had a full crew drill the following day which would eat up the morning! So in the meantime I needed to keep this knowledge to myself. There's no way I'm going to be the one that is responsible for raising the hopes of the crew for those hopes to be destroyed should the US border control decide that keeping us on board would be their preferred choice. 

The following morning I had a brief chat with one my supervisors and asked them to produce signage indicating that shore leave was granted and that they needed to keep this news to themselves but upon any announcements, swap out the existing signage and prepare for an exodus!!

The drill started just after 10am, a simulated engine room fire. My role on this occasion was outside of the drill. I was to go around the muster stations situated across our guest areas and check the knowledge of our crew to identify areas for improvement. Which in essence meant I was back in my office prior to the drill finishing.

At around 11:30, around three quarters of the ships company were informed that the drill was complete. The other quarter comprised of those keeping the ships core service running. The announcement was made, but the very last sentence????

'crew shore leave is granted, all crew must be back on board by 1900'

I could hear the collective cheer from my office 6 decks below where the crew were mustered!!!!

Not to put to finer point on it, we're a family, the QM2 is a challenge. And the crew give everything to deliver. To hear that cheer warmed my heart.

Whilst I was a guest on board I had the privilege to meet two fellow guests who were sailing with us from New York to San Francisco. Father and Son. We had shared shared several beers and the odd whiskey and swapped many, many stories. I can't explain what the affinity was that we built. We had no right to, our backgrounds were so very different but somehow we had formed a friendship. I'm guessing this is what a lot of our guests find in each other from time to time. Sailing the high seas is a great leveller, we're all here because we want to be, crew and guests alike.

Ironically, they had left in San Francisco to continue their holiday, flying to Hawaii to meet another son whilst the QM2 took a slightly slower more leisurely journey to the same destination. And as is so often the case, fate played it's hand and they were in their hotel in Honolulu, prepping for their next leg on the day we were due to arrive! We touched base and we agreed to pick up where we had left off. Meet for drinks? Ok!!!

And so it was that I left the ship, jumped in an overpriced Uber and headed towards Pearl Harbour and the airport to meet up and find out what they had been up to.

I had limited time, three hours. I'm not going to accomplish a lot in that time. A guided tour of Honolulu ain't gonna happen. Sometimes, just jumping in an Uber and staring out of the window for 30 minutes is a tour in itself, and so that's what I did!!!

The ship had parked up near the central business district of Honolulu. Not the most exciting part of the island but it still had it's beauty.

My Uber took me out of town and into a typical area of the city full of random businesses, tile showrooms, beauty parlours, greasy spoon cafés, car showrooms. I was on an Interstate and the signs kept saying Pearl Harbour. That in itself was pretty cool. Pearl Harbour is a big deal to the US and rightly so, and I'm wise enough to know that I need to doff my cap to this and be respectful to it's history. En route to the hotel I passed by the huge pads estates where the current US service personnel live. Pads estates is a British Army parlance for a military community, one that looks after each other. I've seen a few and this one had the same look about it but on steroids!

Public transport was buzzing around, I particularly liked the straightforward branding! A bus is indeed The Bus!

Arriving at the hotel and meeting the gentleman was an absolute pleasure. We slipped straight in to the usual story telling and listening and spent a few hours putting the world to rights. I have no idea how this relationship came to be but it's here to stay.

We enjoyed a few beers together, the hotel wasn't actually their accommodation but a preferred option a short distance away. Food was served by robots and there was live music. Standard stuff!

Time waits for no man

And unfortunately it was time to leave. An Uber back to the ship. I bugged out an hour before all on board time. It pays not to be that person who is cutting it fine. To alleviate any anxiety I opted to say my goodbyes and get back to the ship. You need to know when not to push your luck

On arrival back to the ship I was faced by Hawaiian security! Well this was an unexpected pleasure!!

Showing my crew pass I was met with an interrogation. Which member of the Mama's and Papa's is still alive? The guy at the counter had his mini speaker playing California Dreaming and proceeded to ask me a question set that I was unprepared for. No matter, I raised my game and played along, nodding at the right bits and pretending I knew what the hell was going on!!

Turns out Michelle Phillips is still going strong. I can only hope that the royalties are helping there!!!