Honolulu: Doing It All in One Day

We docked at Pier 2 right in downtown and could already hear the ukuleles from the Aloha Tower marketplace. We took an early Uber to Pearl Harbor (20–25 minutes) and arrived just after opening – the Arizona memorial boat leaves every 15 minutes and we walked straight on. Standing over the sunken battleship with the oil still bubbling up felt exactly as heavy and necessary as it should. Back in Waikiki by 11 a.m. we had plenty of time to walk the beach, grab a shave ice at Waiola, and hike Diamond Head (the trail is fully paved now, 1.6 miles round-trip, hot but very doable – we were at the top in 45 minutes).

Lunch was poke bowls and a cold Longboard lager at Duke's while watching surfers ride waves under the shadow of the crater. Afternoon traffic back to the ship was light and we were onboard with hours to spare. The pros: everything is genuinely close and the public bus/Uber system works perfectly. The cons: Waikiki is busy, but the beach is long and the vibe stays remarkably relaxed.