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. :-)