Sunday, March 23, 2014

USS Arizona Memorial and Boarding the Ship

On Saturday morning, we checked out of our hotel and began our journey to Pearl Harbor. We were using Google Maps on my phone to guide us to our destination and well, it wasn’t the most reliable way to go. I had typed in Pearl Harbor before leaving and the GPS took us to the Naval Base. So, we turned around and then ended up at Hickam Air Force Base. We were U-turned around at the Air Force base and the nice airman told us how to get where we were going.

I had bought our tickets for the narrated tour and trip to the memorial way back in the fall some time. We were scheduled for the 9:30 a.m. tour and after being lost for an hour or so we just made it in time to pick up our tickets and get in line to start our tour with a movie about the attack on Pearl Harbor. After the movie, we got on the ferry and headed over to the memorial.

We got to spend about 30 minutes or so at the memorial which was a very moving and humbling experience. We then caught the ferry back to the main park and completed the rest of the narrated tour. Not long after our tour to the memorial, they stopped taking people over because of high winds. So, we were very lucky to have been able to make it over before the Navy called off the tours.

The narrated tour was very interesting and seeing the replicas of boats and artifacts pulled from the water and the photos from the bombing was all so interesting. I love learning about the history of our country and so it was a really great trip for me.

We finished up at Pearl Harbor about 12:15 p.m. and then we made our way to a Wal-Mart because no trip is complete without visiting the local Wal-Mart. The one we went to was in a downtown like area and there was a parking garage and y’all, this Wal-Mart was absolutely packed. My dad needed some socks, Justin needed some water shoes and I needed some more contact solution because my eyes have been bothering me and I was concerned I might run out.

We made it out of the Wal-Mart in one piece, dropped off the rental car, and caught a cab to the cruise ship. We got checked in rather quickly and soon grabbed a bite to eat because both Justin and I were rather hungry. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent piddling around and keeping ourselves occupied. I went down to Guest Services to ask about internet minutes and the laundry. The wi-fi on the boat is unfortunately, not free and so I bought a package of 250 minutes for a whopping $100. Y’all, that’s the price for three months of internet at home. I had read before coming that there was a laundry onboard and was disappointed to discover it’s not a do it yourself laundry, but a Norwegian Cruise Line will do your laundry for a price laundry. Sadly, I’m stuck paying to have the laundry done because I brought very few clothes with me in anticipation of doing laundry at night.

At 7:00 p.m. we went to dinner in one of the dining rooms. I had grilled shrimp and a salad and cheesecake for dessert. It was all very good. After dinner my dad and I went to see the show in the main theater which was a magician and I’m here to tell you that he wasn’t that good. I almost got up and left a few different times but it finally ended and I was glad. We then went back to the room and called it a night.  


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