Our First Cruise and Trip to Hawaii

During the winter of 1982, John and Sue Rogers, Bob and Marge Greene, and Hazel and I decided that we would like to go on a cruise. I contacted a travel agency at Belk's and found that we could go on a seven day cruise for a little over five hundred dollars each which this sounded pretty good so we each booked a reservation. We flew to Atlanta, GA and after a short snow delay headed on to San Juan, Puerto Rico and then on to the Cunard Princess Cruise Line.
We sailed all the way to South America and to four islands on the way back to San Juan. We enjoyed the cruise and the land tours very much! The last night on the ship Hazel slipped on some wet stairs and hurt her lower back. We went to see the ship doctor and were given some pain pills. The next day Hazel's back side was hurting but she would not take any of the pain pills which made a bad day for all of us. We got on the plane home and headed for home. The plane was not full so she had five seats that she could lay down so that made the trip home a little better. Later on we found out that we could sue the Cruise line and get a free cruise and some money but we did not think that we should because we did not think it was the fault of the cruise line. I think we enjoyed this cruise best of all over all the ones we went on during our cruise years. After moving to North Myrtle Beach we joined a senior citizen group called the Nifty Fifties and were able to go on many other cruises.
Bob and Marge Green and Hazel and I went to Hawaii in 1980. We were out to dinner one night and someone suggested that we go to Hawaii which sounded good to us all. After we finished our meal we went directly to the airport to check out a flight and found that a round trip would cost us $500.00 each which did not sound too bad so we went on to Bob and Marge house and called the Sheraton Hotel to check on the price and we could get Sheraton Wikkie Beach. We found that we could get the room for $80.00 a night which did not sound too bad so we booked for 10 nights went back to the airport and booked our flights for the same time and we were set for the trip. Pam,Shannon and Christy went to the airport to see us off early one morning and they watched us get on to the plane. They watched it take off and fly into the western sky. When the plane went out of sight, Christy started to cry. Pam ask what was wrong and Christy said that her grandparents disappeared and she wanted them back. Pam assured here that we would come back in 10 days and that helped her understand so she said that she would wait for us.

We arrived in Honolulu that afternoon and were met by a friend who let us rent a car for the time we were on the Island. Upon checking into the hotel we found out that our reservations were made for the next day and they did not have two good rooms for us and we would have to sleep in rooms with only two single beds. That upset me so I told the clerk that I did not come all the way to Hawaii and not to sleep with my wife the first night. I ask him to put the two beds together and he did.

The rest of the time went really well and we had a wonderful time. We flew to five other Islands and spent time on all of them, we were able to tour all of Honolulu and did most everything that could be done! We bought some pineapples, Macadamia nuts,and Kona coffee to bring back home with us. Pam, Shannon and Christy met us at the airport early that morning and Christy sure was glad to have her grandparents arrive back through the skies just like they had disappeared ten days earlier.  Listen to me tell this story.