2019-05-10: Shopping and Shave Ice

We arrived in Lahaina, Maui this morning. There is no pier big anywhere near big enough for a cruise ship in Lahaina so the ship stayed out in the harbor and we tendered in to the town. We woke up at 7:00, got ourselves dressed, and had some breakfast. After breakfast we grabbed our gear for the day from our room and headed towards the tenders to go ashore. There was a lineup of people waiting to go ashore so we had to wait for about 20 minutes.

Once on shore, we tried to find the Budget car rental shuttle. We quickly discovered that they would only take the driver to the rental agency, so we elected to take a cab instead. The family in front of us at the rental desk was grumpy about the shuttle for some reason and were raising a stink. They ended up complaining to both agents at the desk simultaneously which prevented them from helping the rest of us waiting in line. It was pretty rude. They finally finished complaining and we were able to get our Jeep for the day.

Since this is our last port of call, we wanted to grab a few items here to bring home. Our first destination was Kihei which is further South on the island. There was a store in Kihei that Amanda wanted to visit. We also stopped for some shave ice which was very yummy.

After we were done in Kihei, we headed to Kahului for some more shopping. We stopped by Costco but were disappointed in their selection. We still picked up a couple of items before heading to Wal-Mart to grab the rest of the items we wanted. The kids were hungry and begged us to hit McDonalds in the Wal-Mart. We caved and got them a burger before continuing on.

We made our way back to Lahaina and stopped at Hilo Hatties to check out their selection. It was a little after 4:00pm when we were done at Hilo Hatties. The last shuttle from the rental car office was at 4:30pm so Darrell left to return the Jeep. Hilo Hatties is a quick walk from the Lahaina Pier so Amanda and the boys walked back to the pier and caught a tender back to the ship. Darrell gassed up the Jeep and hit every red light between Lahaina and Kaanapali. He saw the last shuttle leaving as he pulled into the Budget parking lot. He got the car returned but the staff felt sorry for him that he missed the shuttle. They were also appreciative that he had listened to the rules and planned to take the shuttle alone as the driver instead of bringing the family. Apparently, he was the only one who listened to the rules and because they still felt sorry for him, they had one of the employees drive him back to the pier instead of making him take a cab. We were very appreciative of their help.

The tender that Amanda and the boys took back to the ship ended up having some sort of issue. An alarm went off but they managed to limp back to the ship. Rumor has it one of the engines failed. Darrell was on the following tender. Once back onboard, we all changed quickly and headed to the restaurant for dinner. The restaurant was pretty empty tonight as many people were on tours such as dinner cruises or luaus. After dinner we returned to the room and the kids changed into their pyjamas. It was PJ party night in the kids’ club. Once they were changed, we took them to the kids club and then headed off the ship again.

We spent about an hour and a half wandering along Front Street in Lahaina checking out the shops. There was a small market/festival set up in one of the parks that apparently happens once a month. It was a very pleasant way to spend the rest of the evening. We returned to the ship, picked up the kids from the kids club, and called it a night. Tomorrow we have a back day at Kaanapali planned.