Hawaiian Cruise: PART 5 Pearl Harbor

Awwwww!  About 16 months later and today, Erika and I are both recapping the FIFTH and final installment of our Hawaiian vacation!

If you missed the other posts, let’s recap:

First up, Erika and I kicked off Season 2 of our podcast The Bestie Breakdown by BREAKING DOWN HAWAII!  If you want to hear us chat about this trip in its entirety (both the land and the sea), make sure you listen HERE.

After that, I shared PART ONE where I went into a little more detail and showed you pics from our time in Ko Olina including both our character breakfast and luau at Disney’s Aulani Resort.

Next up, in PART TWO, we boarded Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America and set sail on a seven night Hawaiian island cruise.  I shared details from the day we boarded along with whale watching in Maui at our first port.

After that, in PART THREE, we shared our two days on the big island of Hawaii where we enjoyed a lot of activity and sightseeing in Hilo followed by the perfect resort day in Kona.

And then in PART FOUR, we recapped (briefly!) our two very lovely days in beautiful Kauai.

Today, we get off the ship and spend our last day in Hawaii at PEARL HARBOR.  It really was just one of those days we will never forget.

After a seven night cruise, we disembarked back in Honolulu and through Norwegian Cruise Line, we all boarded a bus for a day long excursion to Pearl Harbor before being dropped off at the airport to fly home later that night…

Off the ship and ready to check out Pearl Harbor.  I hadn’t been there in so many years, and I was so stoked to show Andrew and the kids!

This was the BEST tour through the cruise line!  Flying back into the States always means an evening flight, so this gave us all something great to do all day long (we disembarked around 8:00 AM!) and a place to keep our luggage (the bus held it while we explored).  I can’t recommend this one enough!  Clearly, the sun was shining bright on this day.

Such a sweet pic!!

The tour included all the bells and whistles of visiting Pearl Harbor.  Everyone was excited to visit, but these boys were extra excited.  My family watched the movie before we left for this vacation so that my kids had more context while visiting.

 

Our tour included a guided tour of the USS Missouri which was very educational and so thorough.  We were able to see all of the decks and quarters, and we all learned so much!

Here we were gathering for our guided tour across the top deck of the ship.

I was so impressed with how much they had preserved and/or re-staged to give us the full effect.

 

All the little ducks in a row below.

I, of course, took like 12 pictures of my lunch.  Hahaha!  They had a little outside cafe where we all enjoyed our lunch.

There was also a place to grab coffee and ice cream too.  We did this while we waited for our seating at the movie.  Before you board the boat out to see the USS Arizona, you go into a theater to watch a brief documentary on the events of December 7th.  After the short film, everyone in the theater was loaded into a boat and taken right across the water to the USS Arizona memorial.

It’s hard to understand unless you see it yourself, but the memorial is so well done and really sobering.

 

I didn’t take a lot of pics out of respect, but it was a really powerful experience for us all.

Friends, that wraps up OUR HAWAIIAN VACATION!  Don’t forget to catch Erika’s post today too!

It was really the most amazing vacation that I would do again in a heartbeat!  From beginning to end, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Don’t forget, if you want help with a similar Hawaiian vacation or ANY other vacation to Walt Disney World, Hawaii, Alaska or an international destination (no continental domestic trips outside of WDW), our travel agency would love to help!  Please contact us today!  You can visit our website HERE!

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!! xo