Little Italy - Pride of America
We were back on the ship, it was 5pm, and our luggage was still missing :) We wanted to wear those clothes tonight, so Bob called down to ask about the bag. He was told security had the bag and they'd get it up to us immediately. We took a shower and waited for the bag. We had 6pm reservations for Little Italy. This restaurant gets filled up IMMEDIATELY because it's free and "special", so everyone wants to go there. So we wanted to have our reservations early in the week to give it a try.5:45 - no bag. Bob calls down. It turns out our bag IS NOT ON THE SHIP!!! What were all these things we were being told yesterday and today? Now we're told the bag is in Honolulu and will be flown to Maui to get to us tomorrow. Not that it's a huge deal - but heck, don't make us wait until 15 minutes before dinner to find out our clothes are on another island! They did give us a $100 credit as an apology. So we dug through our regular clothes to find something appropriate for dinner. The thing was it wasn't just dinner tonight - it was also a VIP reception with the captain, and the cruise critics reception. We wanted to look at least semi reasonable :)
So we dressed quickly and headed down to Little Italy with our bottle of barolo wine. Before we went, I left a pair of origami folded dollar bills and a little note for our cabin person, asking for a towel animal in trade.
At the restaurant, there were large groups of people around all wanting to get in to the restaurant, but it was already full up for the entire day. We were led into our table - a small two person against a wall, only a few inches from a large party at a long table. I.e. our table was sort of a "part of their table" that had been pulled apart. In fact my water had been poured and my bread plate already had oil and vinegar in it, because it had just been pulled apart from it. Certainly doable enough, but not very quiet or romantic or anything else.
They had four bread choices - two sliced, a thick sourdough and rolls. The menu had soup choices, salad choices, a set of pastas as a "primary" dish, a set of pizzas as a "primary" dish and then a set of main dishes as a "secondary" dish. I ordered minestrone, pasta and osso bucco. The waiter told me that I couldn't have pasta and osso bucco, that they were both too big. OK, so I ordered just the soup and osso. Bob got the navy bean soup and the osso bucco as well, as well as a hawaiian pizza.
It was a short while before the soups were brought, and a different guy came over to bring wine glasses and open our wine. He didn't ask for a receipt or anything to prove we had paid our fee on the wine. He wasn't great with pouring the wine, ended up spilling drops across the table :) We offered him a taste but he said he wasn't allowed to drink on duty. The soups were both really good. The wine, a Pio Cesare barolo was quite nice with licorice flavors. Bring one on board, for the $15 corkage it's still quite a savings over the mark-up of the ones offered on board. Bob's Hawaiian pizza was rather anemic - 10" round, 8 pieces, with only 3 tiny pieces of ham and 5 pieces of pineapple. On the up side it was actually a thin crust pizza rather than a cakey pizza like up in the cafe.
The Osso bucco was a little chewy, and had pretty much no flavor at all. Not that it was bad, but it was very bland. The mushroom risotto was also very mild and a little crunchy.
We had to eat quickly because with our late start we were now closing in on 7pm, the time for the VIP reception. So we finished up at 6:50 or so and skipped up to the room to put away the rest of the wine (with my cold, I wasn't drinking very much). Then we headed out forward to the Lanai bar for the reception.
We got there just in time, as everyone was preparing to walk in to meet the captain. We were each introduced in pairs and got to shake hands with the captain and hotel director, and have our photo taken. Then we sat for complimentary drinks, Champagne and appetizers. We were full from dinner, which was a shame - they looked tasty! But we only stayed for 15 minutes or so, because at the exact same time was the Cruise Critics meeting in the next room! So we headed over there, and the Captain was over there too, talking to people.
We had a great time talking with the cruise critics folks. We handed out our extra coupons, for others to share. I also signed one of my Ireland Wedding tradition books for one of the members. But I was exhausted by now, and we headed back to our room.
We got back to the room and I looked at the bed. No towel animal. I felt a little sad. "Well, I'll show him," I teased to Bob. Bob pointed up at the side of the TV. There was a towel monkey hanging there!! It was SO cute :) We left it hanging there all night.
The ride was a little rough to Maui, not wild, but a bit of movement. I'll also note that the TV sound is buzzy and sometimes has a high whine on it that goes away when you hit the side of the TV set :) For power outlets, there are 2 by the desk, and one by the coffee maker.
Photos from Little Italy
Hawaii Travelogue and Photos
Cruise Tips and Information
Main Travelogue Listing