It’s the kind of aloha that is difficult if not impossible to put a price tag on. But T.W. “Pete” Peterson of Kapa‘a loves his “job.” For nearly three years, he has volunteered to greet arriving cruise-ship passengers at Nawiliwili
It’s the kind of aloha that is difficult if not impossible to put a price tag on.
But T.W. “Pete” Peterson of Kapa‘a loves his “job.”
For nearly three years, he has volunteered to greet arriving cruise-ship passengers at Nawiliwili Harbor, oftentimes flying solo, sometimes accompanied by wife Nina Peterson.
He has greeted every arriving cruise ship during that period, he said.
Why do they do it?
“Because we want people to come back to Kaua‘i,” Pete Peterson said. “I don’t sell anything but the county of Kaua‘i,” he said with a wide smile.
At one time, Nawiliwili was the only Hawai‘i port with greeters, he said. Visitors have told him on countless occasions that Nawiliwili was the first port of call they’ve been to where there have been greeters.
Usually, a hula dancer, guitar player and ‘ukulele player serenade arriving cruise-ship passengers as well.
And, at times, Pete Peterson has greeted passengers off of two cruise ships in one day, simply moving between one pier and the other to accomplish that feat.
Most recently, the Petersons, bedecked in lei and aloha attire, greeted around 700 passengers and about half that many crew members coming off the Seven Seas Voyager, a Radisson ship, yesterday morning.
They hand out tons of “Kauai Loves You” buttons, now courtesy of officials at the Kauai Economic Development Board.
Visitors ask them where to go, what to do on Kaua‘i, how to get to the closest beach, and the best ways to get taxis and rental cars, he said.
“People love Kaua‘i because it’s the garden island,” said Nina Peterson.
Pete Peterson also gets passenger and crew counts, and arrival and departure times, for vendors who have to know when to get passengers and crew members back to the ships for departure, and for vendors to know how many people they have to plan for.
No fewer than six shuttles are waiting to take visitors to places like Kmart, Harbor Mall, Anchor Cove, Hilo Hattie, Coconut Marketplace, and other retail centers, tours and attractions.
During the last time when there were two cruise ships in the harbor at the same time, on a Saturday when both the Norwegian Star and Statendam were in port, a total of 5,371 passengers and crew were aboard.
Pete Peterson is a retired district sales manager for Santa Fe Railway. He also used to deliver The Garden Island newspaper. Nina Peterson works at Kauai Lagoons.
They have been on Kaua‘i for 13 years.
They welcome more volunteer greeters. All volunteers need to do is call the Petersons, 822-1726, leave their names and Social Security numbers so that they can be provided to the guard at the harbor gate, and come on down, he said.
More volunteers would allow the Petersons more time to talk with the visitors, they said.
“We enjoy it very much,” Nina Peterson said of their volunteerism.
Associate Editor Paul C. Curtis may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
