We’re still in Maui for one more day.  After breakfast, we caught a free shuttle to the Queen’s Shopping Center, then a public bus to Lahaina on the west side of Maui.  Including tips, our cost of transportation today was $7.  Public transportation really provides some aspect of an area’s culture, and we’ve found it to be more than adequate.  Arriving in Lahaina about 10:30 AM, we walked to view the world’s 3rd largest Banyan tree, taking up almost an acre.

The fishy smell of the boat harbor drew us there, where we observed a fresh catch of fish, and saw tourists signing up for snorkeling, surfing, boat trips, and fishing.

The beach at Lahaina is incredibly beautiful.

We did a walking tour of Lahaina’s many historic sites, and I returned to the Banyan tree while Kay shopped her way back.   Once again, we used public transportation back to the ship and a late lunch.

Tonight’s programs were equally as good as last night’s.  Once again, the cruise director sang Broadway songs, tonight was a selection from Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera.  He is very good, but missed a couple of notes on one song, and was beyond his low range on another.  The theater featured a touring group from Second City Comedy Company in Chicago, where most of the Saturday Night Live stars got their start.  The entertainment is definitely a cut above what we experienced on our previous cruise.  We also discovered that the buffet is much better and the service is faster than the restaurants requiring reservations, so we’ll begin eating our evening meals there.

Kay’s Take:  Lahaina is like an Hawaiian village of old.  It does still front the ocean and there are a lot of touristy businesses, but it is also a historical village that was the home of Hawaiian royalty for generations.  We walked about the old town and read the historical signs and toured the old areas.  The banyan tree in front of the old courthouse was incredible!  It occupies an area the size of an entire city block.  It was very peaceful there as we sat on benches and sipped a Coke.  There were many natives swimming, picnicking, surfing, and just sunning along the beaches as we drove the highway along the coast on the way to Lahaina.  We have noticed that there are also a lot of beach bums/homeless/brain-damaged druggies in each of these ‘beach’ towns.  On the bus, there was a young man with a guitar who sang his own songs he had written as we traveled to Lahaina.  I found some lovely sarongs as bathing suit cover-ups there.  We really enjoyed our ‘free day’, just moving at our pace, going and coming when we wanted  I went to the pool/hot tub area and laid out and soaked up some rays after we got back from our trip.  Donald did some computer stuff in the room.  We both chilled some.  We did learn that Oprah Winfrey has a large ranch (1000 acres + a large home) on Maui as well as Willie Nelson.  He can’t pay his taxes, but he owns a small Hawaiian town – how does that work?

Tonight we will go hear the cruise director sing some Broadway songs – he sounds even better than Robert Goulet (in his good days) and then we will go to a Second Stage comedy program after that.  We didn’t eat lunch until late so we will go light for supper tonight.  Neither of us has been impressed or really pleased with the food from NCL.  On a scale of 1-5, I’d rate it a 2.  I think the economy has affected how much help they have also because getting our drink glasses refilled is a major effort.  They remove used plates quite quickly, but refilling glasses is a low priority – probably because we’re only drinking ‘water’ and not charging another type of drink to our account.  We’re not really drinkers.  Go figure.