Day 16: San Francisco

G was obviously up and about early for turnaround today in San Francisco. The weather looked promising right from the start. 

Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill

With the COVID tests for in-transits out of the way yesterday, they simply had to gather in the Wheelhouse Bar sometime after 10am this morning, and were scanned off and back on the ship quickly. G had to move cabins this morning, but only a few doors down, so it was a fairly easy process.  He says the thermostat in his new cabin isn’t working and the temperature won’t go above 68 degrees. Sounds just perfect to me. 

Another familiar face!

If it’s embarkation day, it’s beef tenderloins for lunch in the dining room

Sightseeing anywhere, even San Francisco, takes a back seat to this lunch. 

 But he did leave the ship after lunch and made a beeline for Telegraph Hill

Climbing up Telegraph Hill

Such a pretty day!

Alcatraz

Days 10-15: At Sea and a few hours in Ensenada

The days at sea kind of ran together, and G slowed down in sending me pics, so I’m just going to lump them all together. These days definitely ran together for me at home, too, as we faced a blast of arctic cold accompanied by more snow, just a few inches, every day for three days straight. Our neighbor who took such good care of me twice since G left by clearing our driveway was out of town, so I went out for three days in single digit temps to shovel both our driveway and theirs. To add insult to injury, there wasn’t even a game to look forward to, as it was the first round of the state basketball championship playoffs, and, as a top ten team, McGuy’s team had a bye in the first round. The furnace ran and I read all day long for several days in a row. 

Juggling show in the Princess Theater

Jazz in the Adagio

Day 10 Princess Patter

It was about this day that G mentioned that the Princess banner at the top of

the Patter was always being cut off when he used PhotoScan. 

Welcome to my world. I have lost hours of my life trying to get the 

Princess banner on the Patter using PhotoScan. 

G was being seated for lunch today and the waiter asked if his wife would be joining him. And G said he seriously doubted it and asked what the waiter was looking at that prompted him to inquire. As soon as I was added to that March 27 cruise booking, I appeared in the app on all the cruises. 

That darn app!

Day 11 Princess Patter

It was formal night and Captains Circle party night.

Captains Circle party for Platinums and Elites

The flowers for these are always so pretty. 

G with Captain Lewis. I like the way Captain Lewis smiles with his eyes. 

Captain Lewis and Sherita

Dinner at Crown Grill afterward

G with Sherita

Day 12 Princess Patter

Day 13 Princess Patter

Carnival Radiance in Ensenada

Almost sunset at the Port of Ensenada

PES Lounge while the ship was in Ensenada

Sunset in Ensenada

G’s favorite hot tub 

Day 14 Princess Patter

It always happens…people you don’t see for two weeks suddenly show up.

The is Melvin, our waiter for most of our 2015 season on the Pacific Princess

in French Polynesia!


In transit instructions

Get a mimosa, give a nasal swab sample 😆

Day 9: Hilo

It was a rainy, misty morning in Hilo, which wasn’t a surprise. Hilo is on the wet side of the Big Island of Hawaii, and gets copious amounts of precipitation.  Still, the sky over Mauna Kea was clear enough that G could see the patches of snow (in Hawaii!), and the observatories at the top. Mauna area is the tallest mountain on earth, as measured from its base on the ocean floor, and we had taken a tour to the top when we were here in 2015 (I think). 

Mauna Kea 

Elevation above sea level 13,803 ft. 

Elevation from base 33,500 ft. 

I had to laugh at this. People on Cruise Critic were asking me about how many guests

will be on the next few sailings. And I asked G…repeatedly. 

Finally, today I got the answer, accompanied by a visual aid demonstrating

why he doesn’t always respond on command. 

 By the time the ship was docked, the sun was out.

G reminded me of that time we flew to Papeete for what we thought would be 60 days on the Pacific Princess. And then we totally changed plans, and ended up staying on the ship for 96 nights and then immediately boarded the Grand Princess after that.  And very kind passengers were bringing us things we needed (because shopping is entirely different in French Polynesia) and when we finally got to Hilo and went to the WalMart, we thought we had reached nirvana. 

So nice to be greeted with cool water upon return to the ship!

I went to a big game tonight. Huge. Another top ten in the state rivalry. And the opponents were taken down handily in an away game for our guys. I guess it’s no surprise that our student section way out screamed that of the home team. It was a great night!

I love this pic. You can’t even see McGuy’s face (up in the air with his back to the camera),

but that spontaneous chest pump when he hit a three and the pure exuberance of his

 teammates kind of say it all. These games are must see entertainment. 

Day 9 Princess Patters