We're back from our Uke Cruise with Uncle Mike

quiltingshirley

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Well we're back home after two great weeks cruising from Los Angeles to Hawaii and back. We had lessons on the Sky Deck of the Golden Princess which is deck 17. What a view. Mike and his wife Collene met us every morning and afternoon. (On the sea days) What fun to be with about 50 folks who all love the ukulele and soon became friends. We had two books of music to play -- Favorites of Yesteryear and a Cruise Song Book. Then Mike helped us to add things to make the songs even better. Lots of new chords, techniques and such.

When we were in port we also did Ukulele things on most islands. Honolulu had tours of two factories, Kamaka and KoAloha (groups went on their own) and Kaua'i was the place to meet Sam (Kamoa) and Aldrine who helped me finally learn how to chunk. Yeah!!

I'll try to post a couple of pictures.IMG_1449.jpgIMG_1473.jpgIMG_1496.jpg

We had all levels of players and everyone seemed to be challenged. Hope this will give you an idea. FYI, Pop at KoAloha said the Juke Uke does not need any amplification. I got to try it and it is plenty loud. Nice.
 
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Fabulous sounding trip. AND you got to see Aldrine on top of all of it? Wow.
 
That is a great cruise -- I have never done the Ukulele Mike one but have done the Golden from LA-Hawaii before. So your lessons were up in Skywalkers?

Did you do the ukulele and hula classes taught by Dave and Leialoha as well? Did you perform in the Aloha Oe show? I know the uke classes are basic, but Dave is such a wonderful guy (Leialoha is wonderful as well) and Elua is a large part of what makes that cruise such a success.
 
That is a great cruise -- I have never done the Ukulele Mike one but have done the Golden from LA-Hawaii before. So your lessons were up in Skywalkers?

Did you do the ukulele and hula classes taught by Dave and Leialoha as well? Did you perform in the Aloha Oe show? I know the uke classes are basic, but Dave is such a wonderful guy (Leialoha is wonderful as well) and Elua is a large part of what makes that cruise such a success.
No kidding. They got me hooked.
 
Wow thank you for sharing...looks like tons of fun Shirley, so glad you both had a great time....wow the hubs is areal big guy... :)
 
Wow that sounds amazing. I would LOVE to do something like that.
 
We didn't have time to do the hula lessons and only got into the ends of the two Dave's uke classes. They alternated teaching them and they had the biggest group ever. Because the Aloha Oe Show was in the Princess theater at 2 and we were in the Vista at 3 we couldn't be in both. Dave of ELUA was who got us started playing the uke almost 2 years ago. This time they played while the dancers did the hula to Little Grass Shack. Really looked and sounded good.

Okay, we did Bring Me Sunshine, Lida Rose/Will I from Music Man, All My Loving, and The Golden Princess 12 Bar Blues. Did I mention we all took a crack at writing a 12 bar blues song? Only a couple of folks were willing to sing theirs while we played background. (Not us) If I say so myself, we sounded really good. It helps having that many folks playing together with a sound system and such.
 
That sounds like a fantastic trip, Shirley.

Thanks for sharing -- now I have something to think about when I walk the dog tonight! (NE has gone from early Spring back to Winter.)

Cheers.
 
:green with envy:

I've a good friend who retired a couple of years ago and I think he's spent more time at sea than on land ever since. I've never really had a desire to go on a cruise - I'm more the jump in the car and see where a road goes and stop when I see something interesting and move on when it loses it's shine kind of guy. Still, you make this one sound like so much fun I might have to think about it one day.

John
 
Looks like you had an awesome trip and you met up with Aldrine! Did ya bring home a new uke? :)
Nope, didn't bring home another uke but I did take the trip with 2 - one high G the other a low G since I didn't know which one I wanted to use. I did get to play with Aldrine's ukulele. Not for long though cause it made me nervous. Didn't bother him, just me. The majority of folks both in our classes and the ship's classes did get off the ship with more ukuleles than they started with.
 
Thanks for your report! It sounds like a great trip.
 
Nope, didn't bring home another uke but I did take the trip with 2 - one high G the other a low G since I didn't know which one I wanted to use. I did get to play with Aldrine's ukulele. Not for long though cause it made me nervous. Didn't bother him, just me. The majority of folks both in our classes and the ship's classes did get off the ship with more ukuleles than they started with.

What? You got to play on Aldrine's uke? Dang! Yeah, I'd be nervous too! Humm, wait a sec. when did you guys get back from the cruise? I think my coworker may have been on the same cruise by accident. She mentioned that it was "Hawaiian" themed cruise and had uke lessons every day as well as other events like hula dancing, lei making etc. They had a hoot with the uke lessons and she said they instantly got hooked and didn't miss a single lesson. Her hubby managed to secretly buy her a Kanile`a at Hilo Guitars for her birthday (her very first uke too! Damn!) through a couple they hooked up with during the cruise. She said she met a nice woman who mentioned the UU forum to her as well as a local uke group she created. Her name is Kim and her hubby is Steve from Toronto. Not sure if that rings a bell. That would be TOOOOO small a world! lol
 
What fun that would be! :cool:
 
Wow, that sounds like an amazing trip! Green with envy - though if I took a cruise I'd be green with sea-sickness (I don't sail well).
The most amazing part is that you went to the factories etc and didn't buy another uke??? I would've had to buy at least one as a souvenir.
 
I took a cruise I'd be green with sea-sickness (I don't sail well)
No worries, sea-sickness is usually over after a few days. And always remember: it is not a kind of infection, it is purely brain-made.

And regarding sailing in general you might like this picture - believe me, this was great fun.
 
What? You got to play on Aldrine's uke? Dang! Yeah, I'd be nervous too!

I don't think I'd want to play Aldrine's uke; or Jake's, or Jame's, or Taimane's. There is just too much chance that I'd still suck and then I'd have to admit that my "sound" is all my own fault...

John
 
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