Day 6 of the cruise - 1st day in Kauai (Part 2)

The same rep was waiting for us once we came back inside and she took us back the long way so we could get a private drive through of the Marriot hotel in the area that's known for its gardens and the large sized koi pond. Once back at the ABC store, the shuttle hadn't arrived yet so we browsed the shops. By the time we'd picked up our two water bottles ($2/2 or $1.59/1) and peeked over at the beach, the shuttle had returned and off we went back to the ship.

Side note: NCL is known for not letting you bring on drinks at all whether it's at embarkation or in ports whereas most other lines will only care if it is liquor. And then it's taken from you, logged, and you get it back on the last day to take home. On other lines you can bring a certain amount of wine bottles per person on embarkation day and everyone (except for POA) offers the chance to pre-order the hard liquor bottles to be delivered to your stateroom. I've seen and read in other people's reports for NCL that even a soda you still had left from your time in port would get confiscated. When I still had that root beer bottle left over from our tour the previous day, I wanted to test whether it was an issue and held it tucked in my arm completely visible as we returned to the ship. Neither the cruise staff member who stood by the gangway welcoming people nor the security staff checking my bag cared about the bottle. Now whether it wasn't an issue because it was non alcoholic or because it was a single already opened bottle versus a case or 6 pack, I can't say.

Look who was hanging around our cabin while we were away!

A quick visit to the buffet for lunch - their attempt at a BLT club sandwich and my desperate attempt to find a pretzel roll that was hot! At least the curly fries were good and the pizza saved the day again.

After relaxing in our cabin for a little while, Dad opted to stay in and read while I headed down to Disney trivia. I love attending the trivia games on cruises so it was a little sad that this was the first one I had time to attend. A handful of people were playing including a family that had 8-10 people so I guess there was no team size criteria like other lines. A couple times the teens/young adults in the group would act like they weren't playing and cared more about their phones only to speak up when they knew an answer. I know some hard core trivia players that would have shared their opinions about someone being on their phones while playing. Their team ended up winning and got a whole pile of NCL branded items. The questions were also super esoteric ranging from simple things like what did Aladdin feed the villagers (remembering having watched the movie would give you that answer) to questions like which four Disney princesses are teenagers or what are the names of Walt Disney's kids or so and so characters address in the movie. Would you even remember whether it was Cinderella's right or left foot that lost the glass slipper?

About halfway through the trivia, one of the bartenders started coming in and out to get the nearby bar ready for the evening. He went from shouting out answers to the questions to cracking jokes like the answer to a villain's name must be Katie because that's the name of his ex-wife.

I returned back to the cabin having picked up some popcorn from the machine at the Gold Rush Saloon (free and portioned out in little bags so you can take as many as you want) and tried to relax on our balcony. Unfortunately, the scheduled "maintenance" that was causing us to stay in port later tomorrow was already in progress on the side of the ship right under us causing a lot of noise and vibration. I used my phone to play my music and it still didn't drown it out.

Our sweet treat for the cabin had shown up - I'm pretty sure it was either cashew butter or macadamia nut butter inside.

We had texted Adam and Amy initially because we considered going out into the port to eat dinner. We'd even checked in with Spencer about places he recommends. However by the late afternoon, the overcast skies became full downpours and we gave them the option of changing plans since their tour got back so much later than ours. They wrote back to say that they "were fine doing their own thing for dinner." Hmm, well we were asking about still going out versus making a reservation for four on the ship but alrighty then. Found out later that they'd gone back off the ship to have dinner at the Marriot hotel.

Off they go to the ship's luau excursion

We ended up being so stir crazy bored in the cabin that we headed to the buffet for dinner right as it was opening. We each wandered around trying to find something enticing until I stumbled upon the counter for getting your pasta combinations made to order. I ordered a simple spaghetti with marinara sauce and Dad went with Bolognese because all his mind saw was "meat sauce."

We'd each already picked up a mix of flavored chicken, pork, pizza, sandwiches, and rolls. It was relatively easy to find a table and after fetching drinks we dug in. While I could have sworn that the meat dishes I'd pulled from were hot, by the time we sat down to eat, the only thing still warm on my plate was the made to order spaghetti. Dad tried everything on his plate and hated it all. I ate a good portion of my pasta and ended up going back for pizza.

As we ate, a guy kept wandering back and forth past our table and taking a real vested interest in my plate each pass by. Each time he'd pass our table, he'd seem more and more interested to the point that at his second to last pass, he stood there for at least 20 seconds staring at my plate which I'd now pushed to the side. Just as I'm about to ask if he needs medical attention or a keeper, he wanders off. Before I could take my next pizza bite, he returns and finally explains that he's been coming by because he noticed my spaghetti and wanted to know where I'd found it. Just ask on the first pass next time dude instead of acting like a buffet peeping tom! We told him where to find it but Dad was so annoyed at the food that he gave a whole speech to the guy about how horrible the food is. The guy wanders off in search of the pasta. A guy from a nearby table walks over and tells Dad that he agrees with everything Dad said about the food on this ship.

Tonight they had the Creperie open and it was a popular spot:

On our way out of the buffet, we thought to get some more bananas for the room and thought it would be easy to grab some here rather than have to ask Spencer. While the buffet always has a fruit section that is honestly more than I'd seen on other lines, there was no bananas out. We asked the crew member who was manning the fruit section about the bananas and he said that while he can't leave, he'd ask someone to go grab us some. One of the young ladies bussing tables wandered by a moment later and he asked her to grab some bananas from the back. We've done that on occasion for both bananas and milk cartons when it isn't breakfast time and someone has always been willing to grab some from the back for us. What we didn't realize is how much of a contraband bananas were. As soon as we turned to walk out with our bananas, it triggered a bunch of people to rush over to the fruit stand and ask for their own bananas. The same guy who'd happily offered to help us immediately told everyone else no. Not "please wait until I can get someone to get them" or "here's where else you can find some", just an outright refusal to give them any. We scurried away like we had shoplifted precious cargo.

I really liked the display screens used in the ship elevators - they had large print, were bright, and displayed what was on the deck you were stopping on:

We rounded out the night with a visit to the Hollywood Theater to hear the comedy of Tony Daro. Dad found him very funny but what I noticed more was the large groups of people who got up to leave each time he made a joke about some country's people or a specific ethnic group. He could have lasted another hour if he was the kind of comedian who picked on the people that got up and left during his show.