Maui Princess Sunset Dinner Cruise From Lahaina Entertains

Lahaina harbor from the wharf, Lanai in the distance.

Imagine 80 of your closest friends with you on a sunset dinner cruise from Lahaina, and then be happy you’re by yourself and don’t know anybody onboard. There’s a lot to be said for taking a sunset dinner cruise without 80 of your closest friends. This way, you don’t have to pretend to be nice to anybody, and you aren’t required to engage on any level. You can simply enjoy the journey.

That’s not to say I would not have enjoyed having my husband next to me, but he would just get ticked off when I dragged him on the dance floor to snuggle during a romantic song because that sort of thing makes him uncomfortable. Especially if the song is cheesy and many romantic songs are cheesy, you gotta admit. Plus, he’s still at an age where he cares what other people think of him. Unlike me.

Front Streets runs along the Lahaina harbor.

I came into Lahaina early. The cruise check-in time was 5 PM, but I wanted to spend the day in Lahaina Town. Plus, I needed to figure out how to take the bus since I would take the bus into Lahaina the following day to catch the Maui Ferry to Lanai. Did not want to get lost or have any screw ups when my schedule depended on me being in a place at a certain time.

It was pretty easy. There’s a bus stop in front of the whale in Whaler’s Village. Take the #25 and get off on the third stop. Plus, coming into town early gave me time to enjoy a leisurely lunch.

Papaya salad at Pho Saigon 808 in Lahaina.

I immediately noticed the Pho Saigon 808 when I got off the bus. It was right next to a Thai restaurant, but it’s been a while since I had Vietnamese. The signs in the window said this was the “most authentic” Vietnamese food of anywhere in Maui. I ordered spring rolls and a papaya salad, thinking it would be light fare.

The spring rolls were enormous, at least 8 inches long times two. Well, you can see the size of the papaya salad with shrimp. My only complaint besides huge portions is they cut the shrimp in half in the papaya salad, just like the shrimp appear in the spring roll. Since they use the same shrimp for 2 different meals, how authentic is that? I sorta like whole shrimp.

This hand-made Norfolk pine vase hails from the Simon-Jon Gallery.

Strolling about the Lahaina wharf village, I told myself I was not going to buy anything, just shop. Just look at jewelry and clothing and tourist knickknacks but I was not about to purchase anything. Most of it was over-the-top kitschy. Fun to look at but stupid to buy. Until I wandered into the Simon-Jon Gallery and discovered his wood carvings from Norfolk Pine.

I picked out this urn, er, wood carved vase with a top, and asked him to ship it. When I walked by later after a manicure, it was still in the window. The artist said it was the last one. I bet he tells everybody that as he reaches into his back room warehouse and pulls out another. I hope not, because I have already formed a special connection to this individual piece, and when it arrives, I will examine it thoroughly. Now I feel like maybe I should have put a little mark on the bottom.

Is it still the same if it’s another piece? I don’t think so, do you?

Picture post-card perfect scenery along the mauka of Lahaina wharf.

This image was too beautiful to pass by. It should be painted, or perhaps a pastel chalk art piece? It speaks of old Hawaii to me. Like, before there was air conditioning.  People have a hard time imagining a time without air conditioning, but I have memories of sitting behind a desk in grade school with all the windows to the classroom open and the air so sticky hot.

We didn’t have screens, so of course flies came in. I was very adept at catching flies. I watch them land on my desk, dart about, and if I moved very slowly, hands cupped, I could corner a fly and enclose it in my cupped hands. It’s a funny feeling to let a fly buzz around in your hand. It tickles. And then you have to let it go.

I wasn’t like those evil boys who pulled the wings off; those are the types who nowadays can get elected President. There’s a special place in hell for those people. I suppose they feel powerful, harming a fly. Whereas I was more powerful for letting them go. Because anytime I wanted, I could capture them again. I told them so. And the teacher made me go stay after class for being such a disruptive force and not paying attention to her drone.

Maui Princess pulled out of the harbor for the sunset dinner cruise from Lahaina.

Complaints, because you know I have them. Or, what I like to call “areas for improvement.” When we boarded, a crew guy directed all passengers to the first level for a photo opp, er, beautiful memory of your cruise. I informed the guy that I am not having my photo taken. OK, you troublemaker, then, you can crawl under that rope over there and climb up to the top deck. They couldn’t even unfasten the rope blocking the stairs for me. They also throw the photos away if nobody buys them. The photos only have value if people fork out the bucks.

It was also odd the order in which dinner and drinks were served on the sunset dinner cruise from Lahaina. When you are first seated, into plastic chairs that are glued to the deck, your table holds glasses of water, silverware, napkins and then the servers whisk huge trays upstairs and begin serving salads.

You would think a cocktail would be first. They serve you 3 cocktails or drinks on the cruise by taking something off your wristband. They didn’t bother with my wristband at all. I had long finished my salad by the time a cocktail appeared.

Expert crew served dinner aboard the Maui Princess on the sunset dinner cruise from Lahaina.

Dinner was decent, was my response to the server when asked. The guy could not get over the fact that I was dining alone. He looked at the second set of silverware left on the table, because the travel package bonus included dinner for two. Normal people don’t dine alone, I guess. There is no dinner option for one in the hotel package. He even asked what happened, “So your, er, friend, just couldn’t make it?” He inquired, as though it was any of his business. I didn’t invite anybody, I replied. He didn’t know what to make out of it.

Unknown people from Sacramento aboard the sunset dinner cruise from Lahaina.

The dinner for me was prime rib. It wasn’t particularly warm but prime rib doesn’t have to be warm. It was tasty, and when you’re hungry and at sea, you’re even hungrier. There is something about the sea air that stimulates an appetite. They could have fed me sawdust and I would have been happy.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed the strawberry cheesecake for dessert. Plus, the guitar player was entertaining and played a lot of Eagle songs. Everywhere I go in Hawaii are Eagle songs. That and Bob Marley.

I don’t know who the people were above in the photo, but they were having a good time and kept yelling things about Sacramento. I don’t have to tell everybody I am a top producer Sacramento Realtor. Sometimes, it’s nice to have a break from all of that. So I kept my lips zipped and pointed out breaching whales to the couple behind me.

We spotted many whales breaching during the sunset dinner cruise from Lahaina.

Some doofus behind me in line at the wharf where I picked up tickets for my sunset dinner cruise from Lahaina made the comment that it’s useless to shoot wildlife photos because “If I wanna see photos of whales, I can go to Google.” I felt sorry for him because he’ll never know the joy of capturing just the right photo of a memorable moment in time. Besides, you can shoot photos just like the pros if you practice. It’s a fallacy that you can’t.

You won’t do it every time. That takes knowledge and practice. It might take you a million photos and many years to perfect the skill, or you just might get lucky one day. You never will know if you don’t try.