An epilogue to our seventh (winter...kind of) season at sea

We've been home almost exactly 72 hours, and they have been a predictable whirlwind. I spent hours in my car today, at times stuck in traffic, and it occurred to me as I sat there that the dichotomy between our cruise life and our home life is massive. But despite that, we haven't had any issues navigating the transition this year. The biggest single predictive factor in how well we'll cope is the weather; if we come home to a foot of snow (or get that much during our first night at home, as has happened in the past), it's a cruel adjustment. But we've had a few good days. 

Still, despite running nearly nonstop for three days, I have yet to unpack a thing. I haven't done a single load of laundry. In fact, the dirty clothes bag from the end of the cruise still resides in a suitcase (which has thankfully been opened up to air out). These first few days have been taken up with far more important activities. 

I made a speedy run to a grocery store Saturday morning, returned home, unloaded $35 worth of groceries, and sped off to start the sports spectatorship portion of the weekend. A college swim meet (they won!) and two 7th grade basketball games (they didn't) kept me busy from Saturday afternoon until Sunday afternoon when it was time to watch two unspectacular NFL conference championship games on TV. For what it's worth, I'm rooting for Atlanta this year. "And sometimes, against all odds, against all logic, we still hope." (I don't know who first said that but I heard it on Grey's Anatomy, and it seems appropriate here, too.) We sorted through the mail during the parts of the games when our eyes glazed over from the lack of excitement, so it goes without saying that we had no trouble getting through all of it and still had time to shred and file and make up our separate to-do lists for this week. 

Today was busy from the start, and I took advantage of our good weather to spend seven hours running errands, with ten different stops along the way. Tomorrow, I will stay home, unpack, do laundry and put most of it away and repack a few things in my roll aboard for Hawaii. We're traveling light for once; there'll be no formal nights this time around.  :-) !!!!  And then I will begin the laborious process of making phone calls to clear up issues and starting the paperwork to handle travel and health insurance claims. Please may it all be straightened out before we leave for warmer climes next winter!

"And sometimes, against all odds, against all logic, we still hope." ;-)

Although our season at sea was a bit of a shipwreck (literally) at the beginning, and a definite downer at the end, the 90% in the middle was spectacular. The countries that especially impressed us were three that were new to us, Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro. Our love affair with the little Pacific Princess continues; I can't say with certainty that we'll ever cruise on a larger Princess ship again. In fact, I can't say with certainty that we'll ever cruise with Princess again. Our plans for next winter are highly contingent upon our experiences in Hawaii for the next month. I simply can't speculate where we'll end up. We have been enormously fortunate to have had the opportunity to cruise as we have for years now, but it's time to reassess and once again reconsider all our options.

Many of you have written asking if I'll be blogging from Hawaii. I'm sorry to disappoint, but the answer is no. I have to remember that the original purpose of this blog was to stay in touch with family and friends while we were out of the country. In Hawaii, it will be no more difficult to do that then when we're home. Talking, texting, heck, McGee and McGuy even installed Snapchat on my iPhone yesterday and gave me a crash course in using it...I'll have all sorts of toys in my digital toy box to communicate with. Also, our stay in Hawaii is less vacation than it is like being at home, albeit a warmer home. We won't be doing the usual tourist things every day, though there are a few sites we want to visit. But I predict lots of taking the public buses around the island simply to walk along a beach that's new to us, and BBQing and eating dinner poolside with new friends. Like being home, there won't be a lot of blogworthy content to share. 

Still, if I've left you wanting more, you're in luck!  I have already started to add some of those nearly 1000 favorite photos to my blog posts. I am trying to add a few days' worth each evening, with that extra hour I have now that I'm not writing blog posts. (It was either that or pay a late night visit to the gym. Looking at photos of our travels won out. Shocking!) The last post for this year (the post following this one) will be updated as I add more photos so you'll be able to tell quickly which posts have new material. Our condo in Hawaii is supposed to have high speed WiFi, so this is something I can continue while we're there...hopefully. 

I thank you so much for following along with our adventures at sea again this year. Quite frankly, it is only knowing that you're counting on a post each morning that incents me to keep writing at the end of each day. That motivation is priceless; just imagine how many hours of reading and reflecting on our experiences we'll enjoy for years to come.  I am grateful to you for making sure they'll be waiting for us when we start to slow down a bit. 

But, as always, I am most grateful to my husband. Trust me, without him, my travel opportunities would be far more limited, and, if I'm honest, I'll admit that my travel appetite might sometimes be, too. He challenges me, he pushes me, he infuriates me, he calms me, he is my biggest cheerleader and my very best friend. I am blessed. 

From one of my favorite books. 

Source: the quagmire that is Pinterest  

Life is good. :-)

Day 101: Home!

Today was as easy as a disembarkation and travel day could be, which is a good thing because I had a heckuva time falling asleep last night and was still up by 4am this morning. We weren't awakened by the sound of the ship docking at 3am though. We slept right through that, but I think it was more the bright lights of the port area shining in our window that propelled us out of bed very early. We were in the Panorama Buffet well before 6am, looking out at the steadily falling rain. Well, we weren't surprised. That was part of the storm system that is keeping the Pacific Princess at the pier in San Pedro until 4am Sunday morning, and that returned the Ruby Princess to LA a day early. They must really be expecting some heavy seas!

After we had some coffee (and wildly used our AT&T internet...yay!), we returned to the cabin to pack up a few last minute things and were out of it by 7:30am. I think that's the first time in nearly 100 Princess cruises that we managed to be completely out of our cabin that early. Go us!  We returned to Panorama Buffet with our roll aboard luggage and had breakfast (fresh strawberries and toast with cottage cheese and orange marmalade for me). We spent some time saying goodbye to the waiters and galley crew in the buffet and then swung through the Club Restaurant to do the same. The Pacific Princess crew is the best!!!

Finally, about 9:15am we walked off the ship (for the last time? Who knows?) and walked right through immigration (another plus of a smaller ship) and found our luggage sitting alone, the last of its luggage tag color code to be picked up. Just the way we like to do it; it's much easier to be toward the end of the disembarkation process!  We pushed our luggage through pouring rain and puddles to the shuttle area where a Prime Time Shuttle was waiting for us. We have used Prime Time in LA every time we've sailed in or out of that port and find their service to be excellent.  

Traffic was heavy and the rain didn't help, and it took awhile to get to LAX, but we had plenty of time. We checked our suitcases and settled down in their chairs with power outlets to ABC (always be charging). Southwest offers free TV on most of their flights, and G was desperate for some Law and Orders but I was happy making more progress with that audiobook I've been listening to. Once at our home airport, our three large suitcases were on the luggage carousel by the time we reached it and the UberXL we requested was there to pick us up in just four minutes. 

It's kind of surreal to arrive home after months away.  Part of me could be convinced that we had never left home in the first place but another part feels like we've been gone forever. We walked into a house with no issues and immediately turned on the water and turned up the hot water heater and turned on the refrigerator. The funniest thing was seeing the detritus of our quick trip home after Nice spread all throughout the house:  receipts to be submitted for reimbursement on the desk, baggage claim tags and boarding passes from the flight home from Nice on the kitchen island and even part of a half gallon of ice cream that G had forgotten in the freezer (luckily in a freezer bin so clean up will be easy). Those few days at home in mid-October were a blur. 

Even though it's just temporary, it is so good to be home. To sleep in our own bed. To use our own (separate) bathrooms. To reconnect with friends. I'll post a wrap up to our seventh season of cruising in a few days. Tomorrow the work will start, but this evening we are basking in the glow of 100 days of memories and a successful and safe homecoming.

Life is good. :-)

Day 100: At Sea

100 days!  We made it! This has been our shortest cruise season in six years, but, honestly, as measured by degree of difficulty, this year surely tops the list. I thought things were complicated two years ago when we had a complete change of plans mid-season. Last year we added the side trips to Easter Island and Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. But this year, with its 23 countries and over 60 port days and an extension of 17 days and an Atlantic crossing in December, not to mention a shipwreck and three flights across the Atlantic in three weeks was definitely the most challenging season of all. And while I'll admit we still preferred our months spent in French Polynesia, we are returning home with some wonderful memories of our many adventures in Europe and the Caribbean. 

 

 

Our beautiful weather of late changed on us today. The day was cooler and mostly overcast until late in the afternoon, which is when we began to experience the swells that Captain D had warned us about. I went outside only to observe breaching whales- and there were many, many of them- from the Promenade Deck. I love cruising in this area in January! Breakfast was once again in the Club Restaurant and the rest of the morning was spent sorting through paperwork and packing. G had checked the weather in LA for tomorrow and the forecast was for 100% chance of rain. We have fingers crossed that our flight departs on time, but there's no point in worrying about it. At least the weather at home looks decent and we should have no difficulty getting from the airport to our home. 

Captain D, in his noon update from the bridge, said that these winter storms rolling across the Pacific had affected four Princess ships sailing from the West Coast, and tomorrow was expected to be so bad off the coast of California that he was speeding up and the Pacific Princess will arrive in the Los Angeles Cruise Port in San Pedro at 3am in the morning and stay there until 4am Sunday morning. He also said that he was supposed to be going home to Italy from Honolulu but would instead be leaving the ship on Saturday and wished all the onward World Cruisers a wonderful journey. Captain JP Bryant, newly married and just back from his honeymoon, will re-join the ship early for the next segment of the World Cruise. 

We were not one bit hungry but still went to lunch. At this point it is the fact that there is no food in our house that compels us to keep eating until the end. I had a wonderful chicken soup and calamari, and blueberry roulade for dessert, because I really, really wanted it. After lunch we sat side by side in the library with its strong WiFi signal to simultaneously check in for our Southwest flights tomorrow. I got position A58, not bad, and G was just six positions behind me at B04. That bodes well for our travel tomorrow. 

The remainder of the afternoon was spent at the navigational chart auction (it went for $300 for charity, which Princess matches), and then going to the Human Slot Machine game in the Casino Lounge. G had had so much fun with this last cruise that he convinced me to join him, and we added to our Princess water bottle collection. By 4pm our packing was nearly complete, and we dressed for dinner and went to our final PES Lounge of the season. It was sad to say goodbye to Cornilio from the galley team who did such a wonderful job setting up and plating hors doerves every night, and to some of our favorite bar waiters, but the suffering was just beginning...

We finished our last bottle of wine with our last dinner, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset despite the cloudy day (the sun had appeared about 4pm). I had mussels for the first time this winter and we finally celebrated my birthday with a cake and lots of waiters singing Happy Birthday. And all the time I was dreading saying our final goodbyes. It was just as hard as I'd imagined. We love this dining room team, from Maitre d' Oscar right down to the assistant waiters. They were just wonderful and thoroughly spoiled us. 

We popped into the back of the Cabaret Lounge to catch the early show by cellist and vocalist Brandon and James, but just weren't feeling it tonight. Instead we returned to the cabin and packed away the clothes we had worn to dinner and set our suitcases outside our cabin door the earliest we ever have, before 8pm. Go us! I was secretly so relieved not to be finishing the packing at 11pm as we sometimes have in the past. It has helped that we moved cabins a lot this season which kept things organized; plus we had two sea days at the end of this cruise to slowly and thoughtfully pack. I can assure you that packing up a cabin after being in it for more than four months in a row is much harder!

The Pacific Princess is only an hour or so away from crossing the US/Mexican border. We are going to sleep early, and moving clocks back one final time to PST tonight. I suspect we'll be up very early tomorrow, even if we manage to sleep through the ship docking in San Pedro at 3am. We simply cannot wait. I know that G us most looking forward to decent TV and high speed internet, and I am too, at least the latter. But seeing friends and possibly spectating at a college swim meet on Saturday (if I get my car battery reconnected on time) and definitely at 7th grade basketball games on Sunday top my list. And to Suzan, who has so faithfully stayed in touch with Mom and sent me lots of cheering texts...warm up your texting fingers. We have a lot of lost time to make up for!

Day 99: At Sea

Today was simply another lovely sea day:  sunny (though chilly) with calm seas, wonderful entertainment, great food...oh, and we finally saw breaching whales! That never ceases to thrill. In fact, the first time we saw them, Captain D made an announcement that there were whales at 10 o'clock, which naturally led G to comment that these must be very punctual whales. ;-)

After breakfast in the Club Restaurant (more papaya and poached eggs...I have naturally low cholesterol but I think I've given my numbers quite a boost in the past couple of weeks. Too soon I'll be back to eggs beaters and Greek yogurt), we attending Bill Fall's lecture on the Panama Canal expansion. This was the first time I've heard what the locks for the NeoPanamax ships are called; on the Atlantic side are the three chambers of the Agua Clara locks and on the Pacific side are the three chambers of the Cocoli Locks. Both have water saving basins and have reduced the amount of water required for a ship to transit the whole canal from 52 million gallons to about 48 million gallons. Other modifications to accommodate NewPanamax ships included straightening the shoreline of Gatun Lake and widening the Culebra Cut. This lecture was just as fascinating as Bill's other lectures.

Back in the cabin, I took advantage of a sudden motivation to pack, pulled out a suitcase and folded all my clothes except what I needed for formal night tonight, dinner tomorrow night and our flight home. It was chilly enough outside that today (and tomorrow) I'm slumming it in yoga pants and a fleece pullover. All that's left for me to pack tomorrow are toiletries and the over the door shoe rack items (really...that's exactly how we refer to them, and they include sunscreens and first aid supplies and a ziplock bag with a few office supplies and a Sucrets can holding a few pins and a sewing kit). We've reached the end of an era with this shoerack; we purchased it in 2002 for a 25-night back to back cruise through the Panama Canal and out to and around Hawaii with the intention of tossing it instead of bringing it home. 15 years later we really are going to retire this one and purchase a replacement through eBay. I can't imagine cruising without one. 

We went to British Pub Lunch in the steakhouse, and I had the chicken curry which I have really enjoyed this season. Then we went to the Panorama Buffet for dessert and ate it sitting on the Panorama Terrace. It was warm enough back there with our fleeces, and brightly sunny. The coast of Mexico's Baja California was on our starboard side and it was simply a stunning afternoon. We have been so lucky with weather this cruise, at least after the winds that held us in Santa Marta, Columbia overnight. However, at that moment, Captain D started an announcement that indicated change was coming...

The next segment of the World Cruise, from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia, is starting on Friday when we disembark the Pacific Princess. The scheduled itinerary included Honolulu; Pago Pago, American Samoa; and Tonga and then a couple of ports in New Zealand. Captain D said a series of severe winter storms were crossing the Pacific and it would be unwise to leave Los Angeles Friday, and equally unwise to travel as far north as would be required to get to Honolulu. Instead, the Pacific Princess will remain in Los Angeles for two nights, sailing at 4am on Sunday, and will skip Honolulu, Pago Pago and Tonga. Instead it will sail in a more southwesterly direction, spending 8.5 days at sea and arriving in Bora Bora on January 30 and Papeete on January 31, and then continue on to New Zealand as planned. 

Our first thought was about all the crewmembers who were supposed to disembark at the end of their contracts in Honolulu. Since the ship won't be stopping there, how would they be affected? And my next thought was remembering that we had been sitting in that exact same spot on the Panorama Terrace a little over a year ago the last time the Pacific Princess sailed out of the beautiful Bora Bora lagoon. Apparently we weren't the only ones who remembered that; when we went to dinner tonight, Maitre d' Oscar greeted us by saying he'd hold our table for us if we wanted to stay on for the next World Cruise segment to return to French Polynesia. He knows how much we (and the crew) adored those cruises. We have other plans, of course, and even if we didn't...8.5 days at sea in a row. Ouch.  It's not in the cards for us, this or any year. 

I sat out on the sunny side of the Promenade Deck covered with pool towels, listening to an audiobook and watching for more whales breaching. Tomorrow should offer more viewing opportunities. We were dressed formally for the 137th and final (!!!!) time this season and up in the Pacific Lounge for the PES Lounge by 4:45pm (soooo early, but then so is dinner, at 5:15pm). Dinner was another formal night feast and I even had a soufflé for dessert. I'm trying to enjoy those things I deny myself all season long but can't get at home either. 

There was a farewell party in the Cabaret Lounge at 7pm and we enjoyed chatting with Passenger Services Manager Carla from Portugal who took Gidea's place. She is a sweetheart and so good at her job, too. As we left, I spoke with Captain D and told him we had just been talking anout him last night with a couple doing the World Cruise, singing his praises. In fact, we had specifically mentioned how he never skips a port due to weather without trying to substitute another one...and his announcement today was a case in point. He said that watching the weather and coming up with alternatives had kept him busy for the past week. 

We ended the evening with our last viewing of production show Motor City. I know others bemoan the fact that this show has been around for over ten years, but we love it. We sat on the opposite side of the stage tonight and saw it from an entirely different perspective. Who can get bored with entertainment that good? With music that good?  Still, I am ready to go home. In fact, I've been ready to go home since January 7. It's not that I didn't enjoy this cruise, it's just a sense that I have that it is time for this adventure to come to an end and the next adventure to begin.  In fact, G and I have spent most of our time since the Panama Canal transit discussing our upcoming Hawaii trip. We've wanted to do this for years; the time has finally arrived. 

Life is good. :-)

Day 98: La Paz, Mexico

It was still pitch dark outside when we first awakened, but we could see lights in the distance, confirming that we were nearing La Paz. Due to last night's time change, we were up and at 'em early, and off the ship as soon as it docked just before 7am, to take photos of the hills/mountains surrounding the port. I love the arid beauty of the American Southwest, and La Paz very much resembles Arizona and New Mexico...if they were surrounded by sea. Unfortunately, the ship docks at a freight pier, so the first impression of the immediate area is not quite so picturesque. The hillsides were carved out to build up land on which to construct  the pier, and it's a bit like docking in a quarry. But, oh, that orange sunrise in a cloudless blue sky more than made up for it. 

 

 

 

We reboarded the ship and enjoyed breakfast in the Club Restaurant (our days of full breakfast service are dwindling down). After that morning pill taking activity, we walked off the ship again...and right to one of the vendors set up by the terminal. Some silver jewelry had caught G's eye when he first disembarked, and he was in a gifting mood today. I left sporting a new bracelet,  ring, pendant and earrings and love them all. It's kind of like a slightly belated birthday present!

The port was offering two free shuttle services today, since it really is located in the middle of nowhere. First, luxurious motor coaches had been driven up from Cabo San Lucas (complete with WiFi!) and these were making the 17-mile drive into the town of La Paz. Then, some shuttle vans were making the 20-minute drive in the other direction to Tecolate Beach. Not that it was beach weather- it was beautiful and sunny and in the high 60s- but the photos of the beach on display were nice, and the beach itself looked endless. We opted for the beach, and just the two of us were driven there in a van and dropped off at a pair of very rustic beach bars. 

 

 

 

 

The water (this was the Gulf of California, or the Sea of Cortez) was a brilliant bright blue color, clear and placid. Though the beach was a little rocky; it was extremely walkable. We first settled in at a bar and each had a Pacifico beer and soaked up the solitude. Just across the water was Isla Espírito Santo, which looked uninhabited. I think it's a nature preserve. After awhile we decided to walk the full length of the beach. And as we got to the other end, we saw for the first time a handful of motor homes scattered on the wide beach. We were greeted by two couples, one from Washington Stqte and the other from Canada who were traveling together. They said they spend several months each winter in the area and that was their favorite beach. They can camp there for free but once a week or so they pay to camp in La Paz to empty their sewage and get water and do laundry. We talked with them for quite awhile before we continued on our walk. 

 

 

  

The most interesting campers were a couple with young kids from Lithuania who were camping in an old school bus, but there was another guy from Germany camping in a van. The beach was so long and wide that they all had lots of space but apparently do socialize each evening and have a big campfire on the beach. It sounded like the kind of vacations we took when we were first married. We had a blast then, but I'm not certain I'd want to be bathing in the Sea of Cortez these days. 

We made our way back down to the end of the beach where the couple of beach bars were located and drank a second beer. We kept an eye on the area where the shuttle van had dropped us off; we hadn't seen another come by yet, and there were no fellow passengers (or anyone else) on the beach at that end. But just before 1:30pm, a van did show up and we took it back to the port terminal. Without even getting back on the ship we decided to take the large bus into La Paz, and at that time of the afternoon we were the only passengers doing that. It took almost 30 minutes to get there, and, once there, we only had about an hour to walk around. I was hoping to get some fish tacos but we didn't see a restaurant offering them on the main drag. There was a local craft fair taking place (color me shocked) and, interestingly, a few classic cars on display, including three old Ford Broncos (one of which could have been once owned by G).  But by 3pm we were taking the (completely full) bus back to the port. I'm glad we spent most of our day at the beach. I think it was much more enjoyable. 

 

 

We returned to the terminal just in time to see some local folkloric dancing and then reboarded the ship. It was nearly 4pm and we were starved...and tired. We decided to skip dinner in the Club Restaurant (it was the Chefs Menu) and instead just enjoy sailway and sunset from the Panorama Buffet. It was too chilly to sit on the Panorama Terrace (weep!) but we kept going out there to take photos. The ship sailed shortly after 4:30pm and passed close to land, offering gorgeous views of the craggy mountain peaks. We saw a beautiful sunset and then continued grazing the buffet and talking with fellow passengers until after 7:30pm. The entertainment tonight was a cellist and vocalist duo called Brendan and James, but we were still wearing our clothes from the day and didn't have the energy to get cleaned up or attend the show. Instead we are tucked into bed early tonight, watching videos on TV. 

 

 

 

I think tomorrow will be a yoga pants and fleece pullover day. Even today we were chilly when we weren't in the sun. But hopefully the payoff will be some whale sightings. Captain D said the weather should continue to be good until we are almost in LA, when he is expecting some swells again. But he said that he is going to try to increase our speed while the ocean is fairly flat, so that if the swells arrive early, we will be earlier. 

We will really miss sailing with Captain D. He is aces in our book. :-)

Day 97: At Sea

Today we passed a sad and sorry point on this cruise, one where we've lost the ability to comfortably sit on the Promenade Deck in just shorts and t-shirts. Fewer people are enjoying those wonderful padded loungers and those that do are bundled up in pool towels. I have a feeling that the temps we've enjoyed since December 20 are gone for good. Add to it the reality that this cruise is nearly over and there is a sense that we are simply biding our time until we reach Los Angeles. 

Already I am refraining from sending too many clothes to the laundry. Several items (including a swimsuit, a rash guard and all underwear) will be tossed instead of packed, and for most other things I'd rather launder them at home. I knew that the temperatures north of La Paz, Mexico tomorrow would be considerably chillier and had kept out a couple of items I had worn in Europe, but I hadn't anticipated that even La Paz would only be in the high 60s. It may be time to pack away the shorts altogether and bring out a couple more long sleeved t-shirts. 

Are all of you who are shoveling snow tonight feeling sorry for us yet?  I didn't think so.

On a happier note, we are thrilled to be seeing our first signs of non-aviary wildlife. Yesterday and today it's been dolphins, sometimes in larger pods and other times just a few. The water is so clear that we can see them racing underwater and then breaking the surface in graceful arcs. I haven't yet seen any whales on their winter migration but I'm sure we will. We were in the area just a week later in January 2015 and we had all sorts of sightings. I can't wait. 

We enjoyed breakfast in the Club Restaurant this morning and then parted ways. I went to the morning's craft session where we made lighthouse notecards and then, discovering the Promenade Deck was just too chilly, I sat up on protected Deck 9 near the hot tub in which G was soaking. We opted to skip a formal lunch, but, as he was in still in his swimsuit sitting next to me on a lounger, I brought him French fries. A cheeseburger without the bun. A slice of Virginia ham. A bowl of ice cream. I managed to eat a slice of pizza myself and bid him farewell to attend Christian Heim's lecture on the Secret to Happiness. One element of happiness is doing things for others and I figured I had that aced that for the day. ;-)

 

Sunrise viewed from the Panorama Terrace 

 

 

I tried the Promenade Deck one more time, but simply couldn't stay out there wearing shorts, so I plugged in ear buds and went up to Deck 10 and walked while I listened to an audiobook, which is so much better for me anyway. Still, it was breezy up there and even that started feeling a tad chilly. Well, we enjoyed the warmth while it lasted (and won't have to wait too long to enjoy it again. Hawaii here we come!). 

Tonight was our final Italian menu night of the season, and I enjoyed the last of a bottle of merlot and headwaiter Antonio's penne arrabiata. First though I had one of my favorite salads- mixed greens, sundried tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese topped with balsamic vinaigrette. If I had been hungry enough, I would have had a second for dessert, but I wasn't and so instead enjoyed orange sorbet. I will miss Italian nights on the Pacific Princess perhaps more than any other menu. 

 

Headwaiter (and friend) Antonio from Portugal preparing penne arrabiata

We managed to finish dinner in time for a spectacular sunset viewed from the Promenade Deck. There were several of us out there, all simultaneously remarking on the beautiful sunset and complaining bitterly about the cold. We tolerated the cold as long as we could to view the after-sunset that kept getting better and better, and then went into the Cabaret Lounge to get good seats for tonight's production show, What the World Needs Now. The interesting thing about the World Cruise compared to the several others we did previously on the Pacific Princess is that our fellow passengers are getting to the Cabaret Lounge 30 to 45 minutes before every show, armed with books and iPads and Kindles. Our days of wandering in five minutes before a show starts and snagging great seats are over. That was one of the things we most liked about the Pacific Princess, that there was never a need to arrive for a show as early as on the larger ships. I think this change is just something that's inherent to the World Cruise.

 

 

 

We move clocks back another hour tonight and will be on MST for our stop in La Paz. The current map of the ship's location on TV now shows cities we are well familiar with in the southern US. In view of all the traveling we've done this season, we are very nearly home. 

Life is good. :-)

Day 95: At Sea

The day started out sunny and calm, but around 10am the Pacific Princess entered the Gulf of Tehauntepec, near the border between Mexico and Guatemala. This is the area where Pacific hurricanes form, and Captain D, in his noon announcement, explained how the Tehauno wind actually comes from the Caribbean coast and is trapped between mountain ranges and exits on the Pacific side, rushing down the coast from the north. The ship got bouncy and the outside decks were closed off, but, honestly, it was nothing compared to what we endured around Greece on our final Meeiterranean cruise and certainly not nearly like The Crossing. 

But, backing up, we were in the Club Restaurant by 8:30am and I enjoyed poached eggs well done and six grain toast again. We returned to the cabin to sort through paperwork and start some initial clean up in preparation for packing (guess where we'll wake up a week from today?). I am finally feeling a little participative, or perhaps it was the draw of today's craft project (pilot flag bookmarks) that had me attending today's session at 10:30am in the Atrium. I went a few minutes early to get a seat; these craft sessions are proving to be very popular on this World Cruise and there is a couple on board whose sole responsibility is to conduct them. As you know, bookmarks are my weakness, despite the fact that I scarcely ever read a paper book anymore. This one involved needlepoint on plastic canvas and we will finish the second half in tomorrow's session. And then it will be added to my shoebox of life! ;-)

Speaking of needlepoint on plastic canvas, I was reminded of a set of twelve blocks I had stitched on 3" plastic canvas squares and constructed with a jingle bell inside. I had made them while I was traveling so much for business for my first nephew (now 34!) and they were used by three more nephews and several friends' toddlers and finally the twins. I wonder where I put them when they were returned the last time?  Note to self:  find them (though they will not fit in my shoebox of life). 

G and I were in our midship Deck 4 cabin just before lunch when huge splashes of water began hitting our window. We had felt nothing; our cabin is very stable.  But at noon, Captain D announced that we had entered the Gulf of Tahauntepec and that things would be rough until about 5pm. He said we were experiencing about 8 foot swells, which pale in comparison to the 17 foot swells we had around Greece during those three consecutive storms and who knows how high swells we had the night before we arrived in Bermuda. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Club Restaurant (we both had pasta and wine AND dessert...we have some serious adjustments in our near future) and then returned to the cabin where we read and watched videos on TV.  There was no use fighting it; tomorrow is supposed to be much better. 

Captain D was exactly right; by the time we went to dinner at 5:15pm, things had calmed considerably. Not that we were hungry, we still enjoyed salads and an entree, and pineapple sorbet for dessert. Maitre d'Oscar made of point of walking around and reminding us that tomorrow there will be a large Sunday brunch served in the Club Restaurant from 10:30am to 1:30pm, in lieu of dining room breakfast and lunch. We didn't need to be reminded, of course. The opportunity to enjoy one of these World Cruise Sunday brunches was part of our motivation for adding this cruise. They are offered each Sunday that is also a sea day on the World Cruise, with a different theme for each of them. That, and the fact that they were very well regarded by past World Cruise passengers is all I know about them, but I'll make a full report tomorrow night. Production show Cinematastic in the Cabaret Lounge and music trivia with piano entertainer David Crathorne in the Casino Lounge completed our evening. 

Tomorrow should still be sunny and warm (we've had amazing weather) but much calmer than today and I predict some pool exercise time during my day.  I'll need it to work off that breakfast buffet!

Day 93: San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

Today's port will likely end up being the sleeper hit of this 17-night cruise. We were fortunate that, although the winds were high and the tendering tricky, we were, in fact, able to get into San Juan del Sur today. We awoke and looked out the cabin window at the side of a mountain with water sprays as the waves crashed against it. That was a nice way to start the day! G was on the first tender over while I was still getting into my day. I enjoyed some slow time and went to the Club Restaurant where I had well done poached eggs (love them). G returned shortly after and I accompanied him to the Panorama Buffet where we sat on the Terrace. The swell from starboard to port was high, and we watched the ship roll from side to side as we sat there. G said the tender ride was bumpy but not too rough so we returned to the cabin and packed for a non-beach day. 

San Juan del Sur is set on a large, picturesque bay surrounded by mountains.  We tendered over to a barge and from there walked onto a dock. The waterfront is being renovated and I suspect that when it is finished there will be a pier for tender boats. The waterfront is edged by restaurants and beach bars with outdoor seating, and there is a long, very wide brown sand beach that narrows considerably at high tide. We walked along the waterfront and eventually crossed the main street to look at the vendors' stalls. I immediately spotted a bracelet made of woven bugle beads for $5 that I thought I needed. G encouraged me to buy a matching necklace for $15 but that I didn't need; I've already purchased two this season, on Murano island in Venice and on the beach in Barbados. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked back a few blocks into town then, and were immediately taken with the several very small hotels (I think they were called tiendas, but I'm not sure about that) with just a few rooms opening onto small courtyards with narrow pools and fountains. They were furnished in simple but beautiful Nicaraguan style. Then we saw several simpler hostels and were beginning to wonder what the draw was in San Juan del Sur. Another block down we figured it out; there were dozens of 20-somethings from all over the world gathering at adventure shops and loading school buses and pickup trucks with surfboards for trips to the nearby beaches. The area is a worldwide Mecca for surfing. Finally, all the hotels and hostels made sense. 

 

Hostel row

We walked though several markets (mercados) to look at what they sold (and thought of you Marlene). They were similar to the small stores we saw on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) with enough food to live on but most of it processed. On a bench outside of a store was a lady selling avocados out of a bag. I saw an English speaking guy wearing flip flops drive up on a dirt bike and buy 7 or 8 of them, hang the shopping bag over a handle bar and leave again. The whole place had a very laid back and hippie-ish atmosphere. 

We saw a father and son with a cart filled with oranges and they were making fresh squeezed OJ they served in sandwich-type plastic bags knotted around a drinking straw. We had seen others drinking these and wondered what they were, so we each got one. Yummy!  Eventually we were getting tired of walking and hired a taxi on a corner in town. Jorge offered to drive us up as far as he could to a tall statue of Jesus high on a mountain overlooking the bay. Called Christo de la Misericordia, it stands 24 meters high and is 110 meters above sea level. For comparison, Corcovado (Christ the Reedemer) in Rio de Janeiro is 38 meters high and stands 709 meters above sea level. Christo de la Misericordia was opened in October 2009 and houses a small chapel at its base. 

 

 

 

Jorge drove us up extremely steep and broken roads and then we climbed up about 100 extremely steep steps to the base of the statues. It was very windy up there, but the views were spectacular. We could see the entire bay with the Pacific Princess at anchor and the surrounding mountains dotted with houses. The houses on the nearby hillsides were large and new and many had pools, but they must have been second homes. The locals live way more simply. We spent about 20 minutes taking photos and climbing even higher up the base of the statue and then walked back down those extremely steep steps (always harder) to where Jorge was waiting for us. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a tiny chapel at the base of the statue

 

From a photo in the chapel, an aerial view of the hill on which the statue is located

  

 

 

 

He drove us back into town and dropped us at a restaurant with seating right on the beach, and we ordered local beers and plantain chips and settled in to uss their fairly high speed WiFi. Though we had had great (but windy) weather to that point, every so often the winds picked up even more and rain showers moved in, and the waves crashed even harder on the beach. The last tender back to the ship was at 4:15pm, and at 3:30pm we settled up at the restaurant and walked back to the tender loading area. We were in our cabin by 4pm and washed up just enough to crash for a few minutes before we got cleaned up for the evening. 

 

We skipped the PES Lounge and went directly to dinner in the Club Restaurant. As soon as we had eaten, we realized how tired we were and decided to skip tonight's entertainment (comedy magician Martin Lewis) and the Festivals of the World Day of the Dead party afterwards (some passengers made masks in a craft session hosted by Entertainment Staff members yesterday) and simply returned to our cabin to watch some video I'd downloaded in Fort Lauderdale. Tomorrow is another new port for us (for the life of me I can't remember the name of the El Salvadoran town we'll be at) to be followed by three days at sea. If they are as smooth and sunny and warm as what we've enjoyed so far on this cruise I think I'll manage just fine. And if they aren't...well, a week from tomorrow we'll be home. It won't be warm but it may be sunny and it will definitely be smooth.

Life is good. :-)

Day 92: At Sea

You know, the funny thing about this season is how slowly it seems to be moving for us. I remember reaching Day 90 in prior seasons of cruising and it felt like we had left home just a couple of weeks earlier. The only explanation I can come up with is that we have had such distinct sections to our season. After the start / restart at the beginning, the Mediterranean portions have kind of blended together (and have interestingly become much more favorably memorable, as thoughts of shipwrecks and cold and rain...and Italian toilets have faded from our minds and we are left with charmed memories). Then there's The Crossing section, perhaps not quite so favorably remembered, though Gibraltar and Funchal and Bermuda are still standouts. It was followed by the holiday Caribbean cruise (perfection from start to finish) and now this one. It seems like this has been going on forever. Maybe it feels that way to you, too. ;-). Still, you're tuning in. Thank you for that!

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. 

Day 91: Panama Canal

We are wiped out tonight after a full day of transiting the Panama Canal. Not that we actually played a role, of course, but we were up at 5:30am and outside most of the day. At 7pm we are already in bed...with an alarm set for 9:30pm. Tonight is the Love Boat Disco Deck Party on the pool deck, and the weather looks like it will be perfect. 

Just as we walked in the Panorama Buffet around sunrise, a torrential rain moved in and we couldn't see anything outside the windows. Luckily, it was not a harbinger of things to come, and we were gifted with a full, vivid rainbow as soon as the rain stopped and the sun returned. Aside from a couple very light, very brief showers in the morning, the day alternated between sunny and partly cloudy. It was actually cool by Panamanian standards, which means it was pleasant for us unless we were in the sun for an extended period of time. In fact, it was the best and most comfortable weather we've enjoyed on any of our transits. 

We started the day significantly behind schedule. It seemed we were approaching the first Gatun Lock at glacial speed for nearly two hours. We got quite a kick out of the number of pilot boats that dropped off- and picked up- people, most of whom we suspected were line workers. We were standing on the Promenade Deck and couldn't hear the commentary that lecturer Bill Fall was making from the bridge (today was his 50th Panama Canal transit on a cruise ship!) but didn't want to give up the peace and space we had...and the ability to easily cross from one side of the ship to the other through the forward elevator lobby. We watched as the ship's photographer and videographer climbed down the Jacob's ladder onto a waiting pilot boat and eventually saw them standing along the locks, recording the ship's transit and taking passenger photos. 

 

The early morning downpour left us with a beautiful full rainbow

 

 

 

While we were still in the staging basin, workers kept boarding the Pacific Princess...

 

...and boarding...

 

...and boarding...

 

...and boarding (and waving to his peeps).

 

Here the ship's photographer is getting off the Pacific Princess to take photos from the sides of the locks  

 

Handing back the lifevest for the videographer 

 

He videographer disembarks the Pacific Princess 

 

Both of them standing on the pilot boat waiting to be taken to the locks. 

The Panama Canal workers are part PR people. Most of them waved and smiled for photos, and it caused me to recall that my very favorite photo of our first transit on the Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas in 2002 was of a mule driver bending down to look up out of his window and give me a big smile and wave. We saw who we call 'the rowboat guys' who attach a line from the ship to the line from the mules (the 55000 ton locomotive-type vehicles that hold the ship centered, forward and aft, in the locks). They are especially friendly and photogenic, and know that they are a novelty in the increasingly modernized Canal. 

Speaking of that, we clearly saw the entrance to the new Panama Canal, and even saw a NeoPanamax freighter transiting the Gatun Locks. The canal is on the east side of the original canal near the Gatun Locks but on the west side after the Culebra Cut through the Continental Divide. We saw the same freighter making its way out of the last set of locks at the end of our day as we passed under the Bridge of the Americas. 

 

The Atlantic side bridge (still unnamed) that is being constructed to cross both the original and new Panama Canal 

 

The bridge is massive to allow NeoPanamax ships to pass underneath; you can judge its size relative to the workers standing on it

 

A NeoPanamax ship entering the new canal

 

Retracting the over the side lights 

 

Tug keeping us lined up before we enter the first Gatun Lock and the Regent Seven Seas Navigator following us through the canal. 

 

 The 'rowboat guys' coming to collect the lines to connect the Pacific Princess to the mules 

  

 

 

A mule turntable

We alternated between the Promenade Deck (Deck 5), the walking track on Deck 10 and the Panorama Terrace at the ship's aft on Deck 9 while we transited the three Gatun Locks, and grabbed a quick, light breakfast while we were near the buffet. On our first transit, the Radiance OTS was the largest ship that had ever transited the Panama Canal and we were on only its second transit. We have a photo of me standing on the Promenade Deck reaching out over the side and touching the lock wall. There was only 2 feet of gap on either side of that ship. On the Pacific Princess we probably had 12 feet. It's the smallest ship on which we've ever transited the canal. 

 

There was a large gap between the sides of the Pacific Princess and the canal walls 

 

One of four makes holding the Pacific Princess in place in the locks

 

The bridge that crosses the original canal retracted when the lock is in use

 

Ladder in the lock wall. You can see where the lock height has been increased since 1914. 

 

The mule system is essentially a cig railaway ans the miles xant slip but it must be one heckuva ride anyway

 

Stairs to walk the length of the Gatun Locks

 

The Pacific Princess leaving the first Gatun lock and the Regent Seven Seas Navigator waiting its turn to enter

 

Mules pass as one mule returns to the first lock to assist the Regent Seven Seas Navigator 

 

A lock wall as seen from our cabin on Deck 4

 

Here we are exiting the second Gatun lock 

 

Panama Canal workers cross from one side of a lock to the other when the gates are closed

 

The NeoPanamax ship making progress

 

The Pacific Princess exiting the second Gatun lock

 

The Gatun Northbound Rear lighthouse

 

The Regent Seven Seas Navigator in the first Gatun lock

 

The Pacific Princess exiting the Gatun Locks

 

A mule turntable in operation

When the Pacific Princess entered Gatun Lake, we settled on the shady side of the Promenade Deck in loungers and watched as we passed by the 'islands' (actually the tops of the mountains that were covered with water when the Chagres River was dammed to form Gatun Lake and provide the water to operate the Panama Canal). We also kept an eye out for new NeoPanamax freighters, which are absolutely massive. 

 

Not islands...mountain tops

At noon we went to the Club Restaurant for a serious lunch and then returned to the Promenade Deck as we passed through the Culebra Cut (the hardest part of the canal to construct as it involved cutting through the rock of the Continental Divide) and under the Centenario Bridge. We had left the Gatun Locks nearly 2 hours behind schedule but time was continually made up as we transited the rest of the canal. We went through the single Pedro Miguel Lock about 40 minutes behind schedule. There was much to see between the Pedro Miguel Lock and the first Miraflores Lock as we crossed Miraflores Lake and made up even more time. We could see mule and tug boat maintenance warehouses and storage, and various canal offices off the port side. 

 

The Culebra Cut (the American Continental Divide)

 

The Centenario (Centennial) Bridge

 

 

The 'rowboat guys' coming out to catch thenlimes attaching the Pacific Princess to the mules in the Pedro Miguel lock

 

The large arrows used to direct ships to the correct side of the canal for their transit but now they are mostly

 for the tourists as the Panama Canal pilot is in constant communication with canal operations

 

 

 

The walkway on top of a canal gate retracted when the gate is open...

 

...and in place when the gate is closed

 

The infrastructure is showing its age in places

 

The Regent Seven Seas Navigator transiting the other lane of the Pedro Miguel lock

After that, it seemed like no time at all before we were entering the first of two Miraflores locks. There is a large visitors center located on the Miraflores Locks, and there was a crowd of people standing on several viewing decks watching us. The bridge gave a quick toot on the ship's whistle and the crowd went wild. It was quite fun to see, and the Pacific Princess eventually repeated it and the crowd went wild again. They were taking pictures of us and we were taking pictures of them and waving and it was the best part of the transit. We passed under the Bridge of the Americas exactly on time, and the Regent Seven Seas Navigator that had been following us all day was shortly behind us. 

 

The visitors center on the Miraflores Locks crowded with spectators who enjoyed our ship's horn 

 

The Pacific Princess videographer recording our transit of the Miraflores Locks 

 

The NeoPanamax ship finishing its transit of the Panama Canal

After a last look at the new canal, we turned to the east to view the huge metropolis that is Panama City. We had last been through the Panama Canal in 2007 and were shocked at how the city has grown. It's called the Dubai of South America for a reason. There are probably over a hundred stunning new skyscrapers, some with very unique architecture (a twisted green glass skyscraper...I'll upload a photo). We sailed past the freighters at anchorage on the Pacific side awaiting their turn to tranist the canal. While cruise ships reserve specific daylight times to transit, freighters may wait a few days at anchorage and then transit the canal at night. It operates 24/7/365. 

 

 

The Brudge of the Americas

 

 

Freighters on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal awaiting their turn to transit the canal

 

We just couldn't do a big dinner in the Club Restaurant tonight and went to the Bistro Trattoria that is the Panorama Buffet on World Cruise sea days. We ordered from a more limited menu and had just lasagna and dessert, and watched from the Panorama Terrace as the last light of the day faded and the lights of the Regent Seven Seas Navigator came on. After a quick nap, we'll be up partying in a couple of hours. 

While we have done full and partial Panama Canal transits, I am partial to full, westbound transits from Fort Lauderdale to California, probably because that how we did our first one. G likes the partial transits too, because, frankly, the Gatun Locks, three in succession, are probably the most impressive. But I think seeing the carved rock ledges of the Culebra Cut provides the best reminder of just what the builders went through over 100 years ago. Given the heat and rains and crocodiles and mosquitoes, it must have been horrendous work. 

Bill Fall told us that it costs $134 per passenger to transit the canal, plus the cost of the ship itself (based on displacement). Both G and I think it's the best excursion anywhere. :-)

 

Click here for more information on the original Panama Canal from Wikipedia

Click here for more information on the Panama Canal expansion project from Wikipedia