From the Navigator (this appears on page 1 of today's Princess Patter): After yesterday's departure the Pacific Princess will continue to follow her North-Easterly course through the Pacific Ocean for Los Angeles...
<<And we get another maritime lesson today, which I am typing in full here, so you can see that I am feeling better :-). >>
The lesson for today is about the most famous and used terms, "Port" and "Starboard". Port and Starboard are the nautical terms for Left and Right respectively. In the very early days of shipping, vessels were always steered from the back by means of a long, wide-bladed oar (or steerboard) mounted on the right-hand side. Over the centuries, steerboard has simply become starboard. So as not to damage the steerboard, ships always laid their left side against the dock when loading and unloading. This became the port side, referring to the opening in the ship's side for the cargo loading/unloading.
Sunrise: 6:43am
Sunset: 6:01pm
It was nearly 10:30am before I left the cabin in search of coffee this morning. I returned G's cappuccino to the cabin, pulled on my fleece pullover, plugged in my earbuds and headed up to walk. I finally felt well enough today to do that. I just have a lingering occasional cough, a bit worse by tonight. Once again, the sun was shining brightly and, though there was still some wind, the seas had calmed down a lot. What a great day!
By noon G was up and about, and we went to the Club Restaurant for lunch. G brought one of our two remaining bottles of Veuve Cliquot and we shared it with two couples at the next table. We had spoken with one of the couples earlier this cruise when they thanked us for disembarking the Pacific Princess on December 28 for one cruise; that allowed them to be the Most Traveled Passengers that cruise. ;-) In the way that these things go, they didn't even make the top three this cruise. But they were well familiar with Veuve Cliquot champagne, having been awarded a bottle of it last time around, and were happy to share ours.
We had a harious conversation over lunch. It turns out that this man (he and his wife are from Lorain, Ohio) is G's brother by another mother. I thought my husband was the only man in the world who insists on doing everything around the house himself (with my assistance) and is convinced that no one else can do the job as well as he can. Apparently not. There is another just like him walking around (and standing on ladders and crawling under cars) in Lorain, Ohio. We had a lot of fun swapping stories and drinking Veuve and doing some wifely commiserating.
We spent the afternoon alternately sitting in the sun on the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet and sitting in the sun on the Promenade Deck. The tartan lap throws that are used on the ships with MUTS for nighttime movie viewing have appeared and we needed them on the Promenade Deck this afternoon. The air temp was 65F (brrrrr...) but the sun felt delicious. It was exactly like a Spring/Fall day at home, with lower humidity and the bluest of blue skies. My headfull of curls have loosened a bit from their tropically frizzy state; all's right with my world.
Where do we move to have this kind of weather 365 days a year??
In a case of déjà vu, we were snuggled into our tartans in side by side loungers and G kept tickling my thigh. I thought he was being romantic; you know, telling me what an incredible experience we've had without saying a word. Turns out he was trying to share body heat to keep his hand warm. Moving on...
We traded in a full minibar of items for two coffee cards. We still have eight little bottles of liquor that, I guess, we'll have to try to get on the Grand Princess on Saturday. Is it sneaking to carry alcohol from one Princess ship to another? Will our suitcase end up in the naughty room? Que sera sera. If we had really wanted to drink it, we would have. We haven't started packing per se, but are still doing a lot of straightening up and organizing in preparation for packing.
Tonight was the third formal night of the 16-night cruise, as superfluous a thing as has ever been invented. We had already had G's tuxedo shirt laundered and tucked his tuxedo back into its suit bag, and so went as casual as we could get away with. G wore black slacks and a white shirt and dress shoes and I wore a casual combination of formal and non-formal clothing and we passed muster. We went to dinner exactly at 5:30pm so as to get to the Captains Farewell cocktail party at 7pm. We haven't had one of those in a very long time; maybe they're reserved for the longer cruises.
Well, the Farewell Party turned into a hugely fun, drink-y and dance-y party with lots of people on the dance floor and some wonderfully romantic tunes from Chico and Dawn. Captain Ciruzzi made a farewell speech acknowledging that many crew members were also saying goodbye in Los Angeles at the start of the 2015 World Cruise. He is staying on until Sydney or Singapore, I forget which. I actually tear up whenever I see the dancers/entertainment staff, which just goes to prove that literally being in the same boat for three months does make heretofore strangers good friends. We have had the BEST time we've ever had on a cruise, and keep telling each other it will never be this good again. I know, I know...we said that after the Emerald Princess cruise last year, and, in one sense, we were right. It will never be like that was after 130 days in one winter, 400 days altogether. The Emerald Princess is home. But this was the best in a different way, a small ship, tightly knit group sort of way and we have enjoyed every day of it.
Violinist David Klinkenberg performed in a new show at 8:15pm (amazing) and we then went to listen to Jere Ring for one of the last (or maybe THE last) times. He, too, is disembarking in Los Angeles. In fact, that has given this cruise quite the air of finality, with it marking the end of the French Polynesian season and the start of the 2015 World Cruise. I'm very glad we've stayed until the end. It was so cozy there, sitting in the den-like atmosphere of the Casino Lounge playing Name that Tune to Jere's piano playing with guitarist Dan Riley whispering cheats to me from the next chair (we still didn't win) and Bobby Brooks Wilson stopping by and lecturer Douglas Pearson sitting on the sofa and bar waiter Nik keeping me supplied in fuzzy waters without me even needing to ask. This small ship provides an intimate cruise experience that will never be topped.
As for Internet on the ship...we have it, but it is so bad as to be pretty useless. I have to log in five times to get a blog post published. And please notice I have not tried to upload a single photo since Hawaii. I have received emails that I can't open, and am not sure emails I've sent have actually been sent, but I have 33 hours in Los Angeles to get it all sorted out. Hopefully, I will have wifi at the Crown Plaza, too. I'd love to get some new magazines and books downloaded on my iPad (it does not have cellular Internet, only wifi). But, I'll deal with it, whatever it is, 'cause after 96 days on the ocean, I'm going on a cruise!!
Life is soooooo good! :-)