Hawaii!!!!!!

November 30th, 2005

What a great day, at least after I got all my school work done. I had a Strategic Management group presentation, a global studies final, and a Biology quiz all before noon. After I got all of those done we went to lunch where we were just starting to be in view of our first Hawaiian island I believe that it was Kona. So about that time a huge four engine US air force plane circled us four times tipping its wing greeting us back into the states. We spent much of the rest of the afternoon out on the pool deck enjoying the first bit of warm weather in a long time. Although Oahu came into sight not too long after because this day was considered a school day the ship couldn’t arrive into port before 5pm according to the University of Pittsburgh. We started making our way into the harbor around 4:15pm or so and the view of the island was much different from what I originally remembered 10 years ago. Although the Waikiki beach area was still there with its enormous hotels lining the beach. It was the Aloha Clock tower area that the cruise I had taken 10 years before from that had changed so much. With enormous hotels and office buildings almost interconnecting the area between downtown Honolulu and the Waikiki beach area. We were alongside around 5pm and then they started the process of having US immigration come onboard and do the face to face with our passports and us. It was very interesting because we were joking to some of our friends who live in other countries around the world for them to get ready for the US immigration about how tough they were. Well we went in the union got our passports from the RDs walked over to the immigration officials and handed them our passports they barely even looked at them and we walked off. I found it to be very surprising then again there are over 800 Americans onboard.
We got an announcement not too much later saying that the crew was having trouble getting the gangway into place and that there would be a delay. We ended up having a great dinner outside on deck looking out at the sunset and enjoying the skyline because Captain Jeremy had backed the ship into the terminal so the back of the ship looked out at the island instead of the ocean this time.
We were finally able to get off the ship around 8 or so. We didn’t ever end up exploring the giant shopping area right there on the peer, we just made our way a view blocks down the road to the bus stop to go into the Waikiki beach area. On the bus I ended up talking to a girl who was going to the University of Hawaii that was from California who gave us a few recommendations. We thought that we would just go straight to one of the hotels and watch a luau at the hotel. But it ended up that they no longer have them at the hotels and that most of them you have to take a bus to the other side of the island. So it was funny because a lot of my friends had told me that they had booked rooms at the Sheraton Princess hotel right there in Waikiki, which I thought that the name sounded really familiar to me. When we got off the bus and finally got to the hotel it was funny because it ended up being the same hotel that we had stayed at ten years ago. I ended up talking to the lady at the front desk and I was telling her the story and told her that I can remember the first day there I walked across the street to the burger king and she said that it was still there and in fact often times that is where she takes her breaks.
The hotel was beautiful as all of them are there in Waikiki all decorated for Christmas with giant trees and trains going around not to mention the Polynesian torches that light up the night sky. Well we originally had all planned on going to the club that was at the Sheraton Princess, but it turned out that there wasn’t one there and so when different people got there and found this out all the different groups got separated. So we all just walked up and down the main strip. We stopped in to visit some friends that were eating at the Cheesecake factory and I had some of their amazing bread. We had a problem though that occurred for the rest of the night, which was the fact that we were back in the US and there were people in our group that were under the age of 21 and couldn’t get into any of the places. So we ended up going from place to place and stopped off at the beach for a little while. We ended up all going in pretty early considering the time we went in on most ports knowing that we wanted to get an early start in the morning.

November 31st, 2005

Today we got up around 9 am or so and by the time we got ready and back over to the beach area we decided that we were hungry and got an early lunch at the McDonalds. It was great getting some more American food although I wished I had eaten more Hawaiian food. Lunch was nice but AJ ended up finding a nice surprise in his. We were sitting there and we thought AJ was flossing his teeth but it ended up being a hair that looked to be like a foot and a half long.
After lunch we ended up making our way across the street to the beach where we walked all the way to the end towards the ship where a lot of our friends were. It was nice almost like a public park with volley ball and lots of grass before the sand started. And it started to hit me a lot of my friends were staying in touch with their cell phones finding out where everyone was on the beach and stuff, and I realized after more than three months without a cell phone that it was a love hate relationship.
After sitting on the beach for a while we decided that we wanted to go back and find one of the catamaran guys that we had talked to earlier. They line the beach and take you on an hour ride out in the ocean for like $15 pretty reasonable considering it was in Hawaii. We ended up getting distracted because AJ wanted to look into going to a Luau that night. It was fun though because we got to explore all of the different stores that line the street that runs right next to the beach. There was every kind of designer store there you wanted but there was also the market that we had gone to the time before. It had all kinds of Hawaiian junk but we did end up finding a lady that was selling the real fresh flower leis.
She ended up making some for our group we got some drinks to take back to the beach with us. And by this time the catamarans had already gone back out for the next hour sailing trip. So we ended up going down to the other Sheraton that is actually on the beach that ended up having live music in the pool/courtyard area. We went up and watched for a little while it was some African American guy that was really good singing Christmas songs. It was interesting because there was no one really there watching him but there were tons of sound equipment and tons of professional video guys. It looked like he was doing some sort of music video and who knows in Waikiki it could have been some big celebrity singing but we didn’t recognize him. It wasn’t too much longer after being there that a ton more SAS students heard the music and made there way to the beach area around us to enjoy the music and the great beach. It was really fun sitting there and looking out into the ocean with the catamarans sailing, tons of people out in the surf trying to surf but the waves weren’t as big as I remember and I am wondering if that has to do with us being there this time in the winter and last time in middle of the summer. They also had the old school Polynesian canoes that you could pay to go and have a guide teach you how to do it in the ocean.
We spent the rest of the afternoon there and enjoyed a great sunset. After it was good and dark we decided that we were hungry and I had a craving for the jack in the box tacos that were down the street. After dinner we got some more drinks and made our way down the beach back to where we were sitting before in front of the Sheraton. It was cool because they had different people performing such as a comedian, a band, and a boy’s choir at the very end that came up and sang more Christmas songs by now the place was really packed though.
Overall Hawaii was amazing we had a great time and it is worth getting the expensive plane tickets once in a lifetime to experience this very unique part of the heritage that makes up our nation.
Although I did have a little trouble at the very end when we were heading back into the ship. Just as we had been warned at that happens on most occasions there is port security or depending on what country we are in their nations own military or police that check ids and bags to enter the port terminal before you eventually board the ship. We had been warned before we got off the ship that we weren’t aloud to bring anything off the ship because we hadn’t done through US customs just immigration and that they would be watching and checking bags as necessary. Well it ends up that we get in line and show them our cruise card and drivers license. I put my bag in the x-ray machine and before I realize what is happening the customs official starts to open my bag and while doing so she asks if there was any alcohol in it. I say yes and she grabs the bottle holds it up and sits it on the ground in behind the X ray machine out of my reach next to two other bottles of alcohol. Then the next conduct officer from the ship comes up and puts his not pad on the thing where your bags are shot out holding up the whole line. He asks for my Id which I still had in my hand and gave to him. I am still in shock as to what is happening and am very polite. When I realize that he is taking notes on this he asks me if that was my bottle of Bacardi sitting there that was full. I had known it is the other bottle sitting next to it that probably had two ounces in it. I then politely said do you honestly think that I was going to try and sneak on that little of alcohol in the bottle it came in, in my bag. (Considering the people that do try and some accomplish bringing it on the ship they tape it to there body in different places which is irrelevant all together). Anyways he didn’t really respond and after his was done writing down my info. He hands me back my ID and I go.
With this said I have two main problems. First say the same thing happened in an airport but this time it is a woman and it is a pair of her panties. The customs agent asks the same question do you have panties in your bag, opens it up grabs them in the air and puts them on the ground where you can’t get to them without asking you if it is ok. Next lets look at proper procedure here I mean this is the US customs agents that we are talking about who should be following proper procedure. OK I will give them this in a group of students some being of legal drinking age some not. But if there was a question weather or not it was ok for this to be in my possession it would be the customs agent to take me aside just as if they would do in an airport and ask me if they could see proper identification of my age. In that case I would show them that I was 22 years old and they would hand me back my bottle which I was not trying to consume in public I had it console in my bag not disturbing or hurting anyone. For this I am amazed at the lack of respect and the audacity of the US customs agents to break my rights as a citizen of the United States for doing what they did.
Second following proper procedure just as in an airport I am sure that there are regulations in the US Customs handbook saying that after a person has cleared customs they must then proceed forward a given distance and not aloud to return or stand in the “red zone” but instead must be behind a given line just like in an airport or any other customs situation. Knowing that the conduct officer had obviously been cleared through customs probably at least 30 minutes before he should not of been that close to the customs area and should of definitely had no right to be as close to be touching the x ray machine where I and other were trying to present our bags to the customs agents.
With this said I know probably that the conduct officer was “just doing his job” and that Semester at Sea had instructed him and the customs agents to also be looking for alcohol to confiscate.
But the bottom line was I was clearing customs to enter a terminal not trying to board a ship with alcohol concealed in my bag which would of then broken the Student Handbook. As in every other port terminal that we have docked in there have been trash cans to throw away trash and or anything that you are not wanting to bring aboard the ship.
With that said when I did leave the terminal and go up the gangway there was such a cluster of bags on the bag check table from people who were trying to go through the ship security and to slide the card to check back on the ship. Which the ship security at the time that I was trying to board the ship was just standing there trying to help people slide there cards not paying any attention to the bags that were pilling up or even trying to do there job and check to see if anything against there rules were in there. In fact it was so much of a cluster that the executive dean was standing at the usual onboard security check point asking people to try and hurry up and move forward.
Now that the hole story has been told, I have not at this time heard anything from my RD or anyone from the staff of the ship as to if they are going to try and give me any punishment or repercussion to the notes that were taken by the conduct officer. In most cases that this would happen during the voyage you would have a meeting with the assistant director of student life and she normally would give you your first warning and tell you that you are not aloud to go to the next three pub nights as this has happened to friends. But in this case there are no more pub nights. And in pre port they said if anyone tries that they were going to be the last ones off the ship. Also during that same pre port I found out that our sea would be the fifth group to get off the ship out of ten. Thus if I do end up being one of the last ones off the ship in San Diego then there is a possibility that I may miss my flight to Vegas that night. As I said at this time I haven’t heard anything but then again there it is still only 6:45pm on the first day at sea with four more to come.
As you can imagine by now you can tell that I feel as if I have done nothing wrong and to my knowledge I haven’t broken any rule in the student handbook because I was not trying to board the ship, I was simply trying to gain access to the ships terminal. And it was not to anyone’s knowledge that was entering the ships terminal that the crew of the ship as well as the Semester at Sea program that they had decided to not use there own security rather relie on the US customs agents check. Not to mention what if someone had already placed a dangerous device in the terminal before the US customs check point was manned. Which is scary to think what may of happened or what someone might of possibly been able to bring onto this ship at the present time. With this said I will keep you posted if I hear anything from student life about this matter which I hope that I do not.

With that said there were a few other interesting things that happened as you can imagine that seemingly always do in every port that we visit. Remember the professor that made such a commotion on the ship the night of the Ambassadors ball and the days to come afterwards. Apparently according to the students in her class said that she told them in class that the deans had given her two options because of her actions: that she could either remain in her room for the rest of the voyage with food being brought to her room, or she could depart the ship once we arrive in Hawaii. Well apparently she chose the later of the two. The other one was a kid that lived down the hall from me, who was in a relationship with a girl that was in my business class project group. Anyways they got into a fight and he packed all of his stuff and stayed in Hawaii. I mean I can’t believe it this close to being back home five days and now he will not be able to get any credit for any of the classes that he has taken.
As you can see the events of the MV Explorer just keep on keepen on.
As for Hawaii I had an amazing time and can’t wait to go back. We are looking forward to enjoying the last of our days onboard the ship as well as the night in Vegas. And most of all being home getting to enjoy spending time with those of you I love my family, and friends. I love you all, and miss you deeply. Look forward to more about everything related to us getting off the ship and heading to Vegas Baby!!!

Chad