Advertiser travel editor Wanda Adams is on a Norwegian Star cruise around the Islands, originally scheduled to also visit Fanning Island in Kiribati. This is the third of her daily diaries.

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Travel Editor

SOMEWHERE OFF HAWAI'I, Aboard the Norwegian Star, mid-morning — We're cruising slowly and aimlessly today as we kill time until our next port of call, Kona, early tomorrow morning.

If you O'ahuans look out and see a big ship today, it may be us, because the plan is to circumnavigate the island. The bowed head in the window of the reading room will be mine, reading, writing in my travel journal or, possibly, dozing.

It's been an exciting couple of days and we've arisen early and gone to bed late, so I'm beginning to find the ship's motion very conducive to drowsing.

Today's report will be short; we're spending the afternoon getting a special tour of the bridge along with state Sen. J. Kalani English, D-6th (Hana, Moloka'i, Lana'i), who is on board with a party, and we're going to attend some classes.

A couple of things you might wonder about:

The food is something people always comment on in cruising. The expectation is of hot and cold running food and particularly lavish buffets.

But after the first afternoon, when only buffet meals were available while people were coming on board, we have avoided the buffet restaurants in favor of the sit-down dining rooms. We've visited four of the ship's dozen or so eating areas and found portions ample, choices fairly standard and quality good, but even in the high-end restaurants, not particularly creative or interesting.

The breakfasts in Versaille are our favorites: Lots of choices, attentive service, continuous coffee and everything delicious. But we are disappointed to find the menu so very un-Hawaiian (they don't offer rice, for example, but they do have grits; the only Hawaiian fruit offered is pineapple — no papaya, even).

This brings me to another topic: how Hawaiian is the Hawai'i cruise? The answer: Not very.

There are plenty of dendrobiums in evidence for drinks and some decor in the Grand Atrium, but flower arrangements are mostly artificial. Why not some hotel-style giant tropical displays? They'd certainly last long enough.

There is a daily class in some Hawai'i-style craft — among them lei-making and lauhala craft. And Keali'i Reichel is on the soundtrack to much of the voyage.

Many onshore tours are offered that allow people to see the Islands, of course. But in menu, in opportunities to really encounter and understand the culture, in use of language (other than aloha and mahalo), this isn't a very Hawaiian place. This is perhaps not surprising as the very international crew has enough trouble with English and with American-style friendliness and openness. To add a Hawaiian veneer would probably be a reach.

For now, a hui hou.