Aulani ~ What a Way to End a Vacation

So many people, after a cruise, go right to the airport and fly home. That is often us, as we have to get back home for work, the pups, life in general. But this trip, we planned two nights at Disneys' Aulani Resort. If you recall, I blogged about our trip to Aulani as a 'second honeymoon' when we spent nine glorious nights there June of 2024!!! This time, I 'rented' points from a friend since we were not sure if they would have availability at the seven month window for us to book with our DVC (Disney Vacation Club) points. Renting points is a LOT cheaper than paying cash (which we did for our last trip!!!). But no matter how you can get to Aulani, it is a resort everyone should experience at some point in their life!

Our room was not ready since we had arrived probably before 10am directly from the cruise terminal. But, we checked in and got our 'keys' and went to enjoy the pool area and then grab some lunch. Since we had some time, we took a short 'tour' around the resort, pointing out different hidden gems you might never notice. During our tour, we got a text our room was ready and it was only 1pm (our friends were envious, lol). We had a studio garden/pool view room this trip to save money. We had a beautiful view though and since we were only here two nights, we didn't need the big one bedroom villa with a full kitchen. We got settled into our room and when it was dinner time, we walked across the street to the Mexican restaurant that we had eaten at during our last trip there. They had a 'salsa' flight that was so good (no photos, sorry).

The next day, we woke and enjoyed some time by the pools, the lazy river and lunch poolside and then it was time for Mixology with a few of our cruise friends. We had such a good time at the mixology when we were there before, we decided to book it again. This is a DVC members activity so I invited our friends to join us. It was so nice to get to spend some more time with them.

We finished out our last evening at Aulani with dinner at the 808 Craft House, right across the street. There is a small shopping center directly across from Aulani and we have had the pleasure of eating at a few of the places there. Dinner was delicious. Dale wore his Eagles hat and found a large Eagles following again (this happens whenever we are in Hawaii, lol). Found out the Craft House opens early on Sunday since the are open for game time on the East coast. The next morning was time to check out of our amazing 'home' away from home and make the very long trek back to the east coast.

We were fortunate enough to have once again booked Delta One for our flight so we knew we had the luxury of the lay down seats for our flight home. We also had access to the Delta lounge at the Honolulu airport. This time, we actually found the beautiful garden within the Honolulu airport. It was so pretty and peaceful. We took a short stroll around there before heading to our gate.

After a short delay, we were soon on our flight to JFK (we found it so easy to fly into JFK, rent a car and drive home, much more affordable than flights to Philly, without having to stop for a layover somewhere).

We made our trip home without any issues and were welcomed with our pups who miss us terribly while we are away. Another wonderful trip with amazing memories made. So thankful for the time Dale and I get to spend together making these memories. Up next, we are cruising through the Panama Canal!!!! 

Let's Get This Finished!!

 

Well, life has gotten away from me and I fell off the wagon and never finished up blogging our cruise to Hawaii. With another amazing trip starting in just a few days, I figured I better finish this one up. We left off leaving Honolulu on to the next port on Day Eight of Nawiliwili on the island of Kauai. This trip enabled us to see a glimpse of the other islands, which was nice, but hope to one day get back to visit some for longer. Our excursions here were to the Waimea Canyon (the Grand Canyon of the Pacific) and Sprouting Horn (an area on the beach where the water shoots into the air through holes in the rocks. We ended our day with a friend on board who gifted us with a bottle of Prosecco.

The next day, it was on to Kahului, Maui. I so desperately wanted to see sea turtles, so we (me) went snorkeling. Dale observed from the boat. I saw lots of beautiful fish, but no sea turtles. My friend who gifted us the Prosecco the day before actually got a great video of some sea turtles. You just had to be in the right place at the right time.

Our last stop on this cruise was Hilo, Hawaii (the big island)! We were so quickly approaching the end of this cruise and realizing how 'short' these port visits were, but still enjoyed everything.  Our first stop in Hilo was a small family 'zoo' with was the cutest little refuge. We got to see some animals up close and personal. We then stopped at a coffee plant where many enjoyed a fresh cup of good coffee. I opted for a latte, lol. We made our way to Punalu'u Black Sand Beach where we did finally see the Green Hawaiian Sea Turtles!!! They were bobbing in and out of the surf. We finished out this island with a stop at Rainbow Falls (didn't see a rainbow), but it was a pretty stop.

Our last evening on board the Disney Wonder. We said goodbye to our amazing concierge staff who took such good care of us and got to know us so well. We truly felt like they were family. We finished our last morning on the ship with mimosa's before we made our way to the concierge lounge for breakfast before being escorted off the ship. (such a sad day). BUT.... we were off to a couple of nights at Disney's Aulani Resort!

The amazing Concierge Staff on the Disney Wonder

My friend Eddy & his hubby Raph. Eddy and I became good friends via our Facebook group.

Our last morning before disembarking. Enjoying a mimosa in our room.

After we disembarked, we took Disney Cruise transportation to Disney's Aulani Resort, along with a LOT of others from our cruise. It was like extending the party!!!

Day Seven ~ First Stop Honolulu

 

Our first port was Honolulu on the island of Oahu. We had been to Oahu in June of 2024 and did the big things we wanted to do then so we tried to select something we hadn’t done. The excursion we picked was the Hawaii Scenic Shores and Sea Cliffs. As we sailed into port, we could see Diamond Head. We did hike Diamond Head on our  last visit so this was really neat to see from this view.

As we pulled into port, we saw the pretty Aloha Tower. We were led off the ship with our group and to a waiting bus to take us on our excursion. We had a great tour guide ‘Cousin Loni’ who was very informative about the areas we rode by. The first being Waikiki Beach. This tour was mostly driving by these sites though, with a few where we could get out to view. We were on the windward side of the island and the water was so beautiful and blue. As we climbed up the elevation to a lookout we could see the water from various beach areas and it was just amazing!

We made a stop at a look out over Makapu’u Beach Park. The water is so rough crashing into the rocks in some areas, yet we saw a crazy person jumping into the water from the rocks!!!

We then made our way further up the mountains to the Nu’uanu Pali Lookout. From there you could see for miles! It was so windy though and so much cooler up there! 

After the lookout it was time to head down the mountain and head back to the ship. After getting back on board we enjoyed some relaxing time on the concierge sun deck with some refreshments and then hit the Rainforest Room for a little more relaxation to finish out our day before we went to dinner.

When we returned to our cabin that evening our host had decorated our bed in celebration of our anniversary (which we were celebrating on the cruise since it was just a few weeks before).

We of course made a stop to the atrium to get some photos in our ‘Hawaii’ outfit since this was the ‘typical’ Hawaii night on the cruise, yet it was not actually celebrated this time (which was odd).

Next stop will be the island of Kauai! - Things get real busy from here on out!

Hawaii Scenic Shores and Sea Cliffs 

Day Six ~ All About Relaxing

This was our last sea day and we were going to enjoy it! We made sure to get our pics with the characters in their Hawaiian outfits. It’s one of the fun things on the cruise, getting everyone in one photo! Makes for some great memories. We spent some time relaxing about the ship, breakfast in the lounge and some time on the sun deck. Dale played a game or two of bingo (maybe not this day but at some point, things get fuzzy the further out we get from the trip). I got some magic shots around the ship.

And I picked up Dale at some point for some more photos. We. knew we were getting close to Hawaii as they were serving drinks in pineapples on the pool deck this day!

The water is so beautiful, the closer we were getting to Hawaii, it was getting more beautiful. I had to grab this shot of how pretty it was, it matched the blue in my bathing suit, before we went up to the spa.

We had booked a Couples Choice 130 Minute Spa Villa in the afternoon and were looking forward to that. This was something special we had planned. We like to book a couples massage when we go away. A little relaxation since Dale doesn’t get massages (thankfully, I do) on a regular basis. 

The Senses Spa Villas on the Wonder are open air verandahs where you will discover a tranquil oasis. These spa villas on the Wonder have open-air verandahs where you will discover a tranquil oasis. You start your amazing couples treatment with a foot cleansing ceremony. You then have time on the verandah with your own jacuzzi or just relax on the loungers and enjoy the amazing ocean view. After a period of time you are escorted back into the room for your couples massage. You have your pick of which massage you want. I went with a hot stone where Dale had a deep tissue. After you massage, you go back onto the verandah for a tea ceremony, which was just such a relaxing way to end this amazing treatment. We did not feel rushed at all and it was the perfect amount of time.

After this amazing time, we actually made our way back to the concierge lounge as another character was making his way for a special appearance. You never know who will be showing up, so you have to be there to see. Tonight, it was Goofy in his formal wear, because it was going to be ‘semi-formal’ night, so we knew we had to get changed soon for dinner.

Years ago on our first seven night cruise on the Fantasy, we ran into Chip & Dale just walking along and I got my photo with them similar to this evening. It was so fun to have this happen again.

We had a great last sea day and were looking forward to docking in Oahu in the morning for our first excursion, a bit bittersweet, since that meant our cruise was winding down, but we still had several days of activities to go and lots of excursions planned before we had to truly disembark the ship for good.