BTW (By the way, and this will be another GPS-worthy sea day post), I know I often omit the comma I included in the prior sentence, but the reason is pure laziness. Or let's call it time savings. When I type this post while lying in bed with my iPad on my chest, it is simply hard to reach the comma key unless I really, really need to (like that time). The '.' key would be even harder but I have my keyboard shortcuts set to insert a '.' when I double space (a sentence that will be entirely clear to iDevice users and not at all clear to everyone else).
Anyway ;-) back to today. We were not awake early. We had managed to go back out last night for the Love Boat Disco Deck Party (totally overshadowed by the same parties held on big ship with MUTS, but perfectly charming in a Pacific Princess sort of way). These dancers are so darn much fun to watch (and even nicer in person), but I said to G last night that they had to be dying in those 70's costumes with the women wearing full Afro-style wigs. They said today that they were. The same weather that made it possible to hold the party on the pool deck (warm with no wind and rain) made it insufferable for them to dance so energetically. They are troupers!
We met up in the Panorama Buffet (G got there first but was waiting for me in the air conditioned inside; he said it was too hot on the Terrace!) and I had just a piece of toast and cottage cheese because I new there would be plenty of food today. But we struck up a conversation with a wonderful couple from Fort Myers, Florida, and talked and talked and G ate cereal and ate cereal until finally I had to utter those familiar sea day words: "Hurry up and finish eating so we can go to lunch". And we did go to the Club Restaurant where I had white bean minestrone and a spaghetti with seafood and some of the bottle of Ancient Peaks merlot we had opened last night in the Bistro Trattoria. And we lingered so long over lunch that we almost (but not quite) hung out there until the 2pm Grapevine Wine Tasting. I shared my whites with G and he his reds with me and by the time it ended at 3pm, I was feeling more mellow and laid back than I had in days.
We were entertained all day (in fact, we opened our eyes this morning and looked out the window to see a large bird looking back at us) by brown boobies and masked boobies who surrounded the Pacific Princess by the dozens. They swooped and dove into the water for fish but become airborne again after being in the water more clumsily than frigate birds. I took a photo of the ship's webcam shown on our cabin TV that showed at least eight birds right in front of the bridge. After the wine tasting, we sat on the Pomenade Deck for a few minutes to watch the birds up close.
Brown boobies by the dozens and captured on the Pacific Princess webcam
Tonight was the second formal night of the cruise (and the Captains Circle party, but I am abstaining from all things Captains Circle this cruise) and our dinner in the Club Restaurant was wonderful. We both had chateaubriand accompanied by more wine and I had a vanilla soufflé with Godiva sauce for dessert (because the end is near and I don't get soufflés at home). The sea was so calm today and the sky so cloudless that I saw the green flash at sunset as the last of the orange sun disappeared into the water. I think it's only the third time I've seen that, and it was quite exciting. Tonight's entertainment was production show Stardust and we sat on the opposite side of the Cabaret Lounge tonight than we usually do and it seemed a very different show.
We move clocks back an hour tonight to CST. Captain D hinted, in his matchless way, that we may have trouble getting into the tender port of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua tomorrow due to high winds. Apparently the Island Princess was there today and encountered 45 knot winds and a difficult tendering situation. It makes no difference to us whether it's a Nicaraguan port day or a sea day. This itinerary could have been so much better than it is; the San Blas islands off the coast of Panama instead of Santa Marta, Columbia (not the nicest place), Huatulco, Mexico in lieu of either our Nicaraguan or El Salvadoran port stops, Cabo San Lucas instead of La Paz. But we have sun and warm weather and that's what we're here for.
And, finally, a couple more nuggets of knowledge about the World Cruise... Have I mentioned there are dance instructors and a bridge instructor on board? Christian Heim (of the classical music lectures) is also a psychiatrist, and his two recent lectures, which I haven't attended, have been on relationships. There is a craft instructor onboard and the crafting sessions on sea days are very heavily attended and different than the usual Princess crafting sessions. That I haven't been feeling participative this cruise is an understatement and I have not attended any of these sessions.
The one thing that we don't like is that the Panorama Buffet on sea day evenings is not a buffet at all, but the Bistro Trattoria, which I understand is what is usually done on the World Cruise. It features sit down dining with covered tables and wait service, with a limited menu that changes every three days. The first night we went, it took 30 minutes to get freshly made pizzas that are supposedly personal-sized but I ate just a slice and a half and the rest was waste (though very tasty waste). I would have much preferred simply getting a slice of ready made pizza. And last night we had the lasagna which truly was personal-sized but the meal still took longer than a buffet would. I guess we don't grasp the concept of why they need two sit down dinner venues plus a specialty restaurant but no buffet on sea day evenings. And we miss the ability to simply wander through later in the evening and get a cheese plate to enjoy with wine. But it must be popular, since they offer it every year.
Could we ever do a World Cruise? Absolutely, positively no. The ratio of sea to port days is just not to our liking. And we have now done one segment of it and have replicated two more of the five segments on other cruises (transatlantic and transpacific). I can see us possibly doing the Hong Kong to Dubai segment someday, if it still exists, but even the Dubai to Venice segment has seven sea days in a row through the Middle East. But everything we do, whether or not we would repeat it, provides a learning experience and this first segment of the World Cruise has certainly been that.
