Have you ever heard of the white pineapple? Some people on the ship said they were able to taste them while on a tour and how sweet they were. It is apparently white-fleshed. According to this article, they are difficult to find outside of Hawaii.
And to finish up on my cruise ship hot tub stories, husband M and I spoke for a long time to this young couple from Wisconsin. They were newlyweds. I remember them saying they lived on a 20 acre farm in a rural area. The bride was beautiful with pretty red hair. It seems she had accidentally deleted all her wedding photos on her camera. She had been checking at the ship's photo studio to see if it could somehow be restored. Apparently it could be done at a cost. So she would investigate more at home. They were relieved the wedding went ok. It seems her parents are divorced and had remarried. Both parents attended the wedding, although her sister was not invited. I assured her that many families are like that, with people not getting along.
It was only when she mentioned she wanted to take her 8 year old daughter to Disneyworld that I realized they must be in their early thirties and not twenties as I had assumed. Then her husband started to say how much he missed his kids. His daughter would email him and say how much she missed him. Hmm, modern life is complicated.
Anyway they were an adventurous couple. They spoke of how they rented this jeep and drove the complete windy road to Hana, on Maui, even the parts where rented cars were asked not to drive to. At times the road got so bumpy they ended up losing some of their bags as they bounced out of the vehicle! Their wheels got so dirty on the muddy road. When you have a rented car you don't worry about these things.
On the last day of our tour, I heard that a man was taken off the ship in Kauai suffering from a heart attack. It was not fatal. Then an hour after we departed for Honolulu that night, I remember looking out and seeing land and wondered how that could be possible. The next day I learned that the captain had decided to return to Kauai as there was another heart attack. They used tender boats to take the man and some of his family members to shore. Apparently if the ship docked, they would have to pay docking fees for each person on board. Then the boat went full speed back to Honolulu and docked on schedule. Thus everyone could complete their itineraries, make all their connections.
