We arrived in Honolulu early one morning, stayed in port overnight, and departed in the early evening of the next day. It is very fortunate that we were there that long as we needed to take care of a mishap that happened the first day.

Our plans were to climb Diamond Head the first day and spend a couple of hours at Waikiki Beach the second day. We headed out early to find a bus to go to Diamond Head. We walked about ½ mile to a bus stop. We bought all-day passes from the driver and asked which bus we would need to take to get to Diamond Head. We needed to take two other buses, one to Waikiki then another to Diamond Head. The bus did not go all the way to the state park, we had to walk about ¼ mile to the entrance than another ½ mile to the visitor center.

We walked up Diamond Head to the summit, notice we have changed climb to walk as there is no really rough section. The trail to the top is evenly paved, rough paved, and stairs. At the top we took pictures with phones, as no surprise we left the camera on the ship which we seem to do at least once on every cruise. The top is not what we expected, Dale thought there would be a trail along the crater and Ernie thought there would be an open area. What is at the top is a multi-level cement platform. There are several spots along the trail to stop to enjoy the scenery and take pictures.

When we were done taking pictures and ready to start the descent, we noticed a man stamping tickets showing we had completed the ascent. He also had certificates with details of making the descent. The ticket stamp was free and the certificate was $5.00. We had our tickets stamped and bought a certificate. The man selling the certificates is not a calligrapher so we have to find one to put our names and the date of the ascent on the certificate.

We made the descent then sat at the bottom for a while watching some children playing and birds looking for someone to feed them. We then walked back to the bus stop and upon asking the driver which bus we needed to use to get back to the ship found out we only needed to change buses once. When we went through security Dale discovered her passport was not in her passport case. She did not have any other form of identification but they accepted Ernie's acknowledgment that she is indeed his wife and who she says she is. We thoroughly searched the cabin, the clothes we had worn, and the backpack Ernie had brought, all to no avail. Dale spoke with someone at Guest Services who told her she needed to report it to the police.

We asked directions to the police station which were not very accurate. After asking a few people on the street we finally found the station. Dale made out a report. The next morning we had a note in our mail box that said we could go to the federal building to apply for a replacement passport with a map showing where the building is. It was less than a 10-minute walk to the federal building. Dale applied for the passport and had her old passport invalidated. They told her the passport would be ready at two o'clock.

The ship was docked at the pier on which the the Aloha Tower is located. We went to the top of the tower, viewed the scenery, and took some pictures. We went back to the federal building where Dale's passport was ready for her to pick up.

Though we did not get to Waikiki Beach we did get to visit two places, police station & federal building, most tourist do not visit. We thank God that if this was to happen it was where we had time to replace the passport and where we could get a new passport printed. (Pictures)

Last updated:   feb 13 2018