x
The scent of vanilla infuses the warm air in French Polynesia's Taha'a, where 70 percent of the region's vanilla is produced. On a day trip to a vanilla plantation, you'll learn about the painstaking process of production and have a chance to buy your own pods to bring home -- or better still, some vanilla-infused rum.
In Hawaii, Cruises offers several excursions exploring the local cuisine. Sample Hawaiian specialties from the port of Hilo, dining in three different kama'aina residences. Local dishes include taro malasada, a fried dough pastry made from taro root and coated in sugar, or mango gazpacho, sesame ginger shrimp and papaya stuffed with chicken macadamia nut salad.
On Maui, experience a different side to Hawaiian food on a daylong grazing tour. Maybe start with banana pancakes, moving on to loco moco at the Tasty Crust, an island institution. We're not talking health food, but it's filling; rice, hamburger patty, brown gravy and a fried egg on top. Another weird, but strangely satisfying Hawaiian specialty is Spam musubi: two slices of Spam around rice, bound with a strip of seaweed. Lighter fare includes sashimi and saimin noodles, all washed down with craft beers from the Maui Brewing Company.
Cruising The World
