Heads up

I am shutting down my blog for several days. You might be able to guess why. While what we are going through would make for interesting reading, I’m not yet ready to share. In fact, I’m feeling slightly ambushed and highly irritated. If things change, I’ll be back. Thanks for all the support. 

Oh, and it’s not worth it.  Not worth it at all. 

Day 2: At Sea

We were awake early today (no surprise) and G went to the ice cream place on the Lido Deck (Scoops?) to get his latte but when I left the cabin about 30 minutes behind him, I headed right to the International Cafe.  It was a good time to get there. I beat the crowd; by 7am or so a line had formed to get specialty coffees. G tried to find me using the Medallion App and couldn’t; he texted me instead, but that was when I realized I wasn’t even showing up in the app.  I couldn’t check my onboard statement, couldn’t order food or use any of the other features. I figured I’d have to get that fixed sometime today. Fortunately, I was reading the Live From the Discovery Princess on Cruise Critic this afternoon and someone mentioned a similar issue was solved by logging out and logging back in. That remedied the issue and might help someone else sometime also. 

We went to the same table for breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room that G’s been sitting at for weeks and met waiter Anatolio from Mexico and he was so much fun. We have that table at lunch, too, and he even came over to us at dinner tonight just to say HI. Best crew at sea, and the main reason we so often return to Princess despite our (occasionally) strained relationship with the company.

Wine bar Vines opened at 10am, and I settled in at a table by the window and tackled yesterday’s blog post. The sea had been very rough all night and most of today, but the difference between the movement in our cabin on Deck 14 Aft and Deck 5 midship where Vines is located was remarkable. Bar waiter Gusti set me up with a light and sweet wine. I will definitely return. 

We returned to the DaVinci Dining Room for lunch (are you seeing a trend here?), and then changed into swimwear and went out to the Terrace Deck to use the pool and hot tub. We had just settled into loungers when rain moved in, and stayed for most of the rest of the day. Luckily, our balcony stayed dry and it was fun to watch the storm clouds build and disperse repeatedly the rest of the afternoon. I’ve said it before: the first couple of sea days en route to Hawaii are usually anything but tropical. We’ve encountered this same weather nearly every time we’ve cruised this route. 

G has long lost the need to eat a lot at meals, and by dinner tonight I had already hit a wall and ordered just the Mexican salad made dinner sized and topped with grilled shrimp. It was one of my favorite meals ever, especially since I enjoyed a 24k gold margarita to go with it. My first margarita in five years…I can’t say enough good things about that. 

Already ordering meals like I eat at home


Worth waiting for

We skipped the show in the Princess Theater again this evening. I am, frankly, a bit nervous, watching what is going to happen with COVID on board for the cruise’s first few days. If we don’t hear anymore about it, I’ll be more comfortable attending events on board when we get to Hawaii. 

On other miscellaneous topics, once I signed in to the app again and it began working for me, I was able to order nightly turndown service. I love this. Love it!  This, to me, defines cruising. Steward Joao (we call him JoJo) stopped us on our way to dinner to confirm that we really wanted it, especially since G has, to this point, been having what amounts to weekly service, and I told him I did. G joked with JoJo,  “I told you things would change when she got here”. Damn straight. I really missed turndown service on the Emerald Princess in October. Returning in the evening to a dark cabin is a little too much like being at home. 

And, finally, there are no Elite amenities at all in the cabin. I can live with that, but sure do miss having at least a tube of lotion. I was counting on that and didn’t bring any from home. I guess that’s item #1 in the Honolulu shopping list.

Day 1: Embarkation on the Ruby Princess

This post is merely a place holder tonight. It is 8pm. and we are already in our cabin. I. Am. Spent. Even if I hadn’t had an early morning flight, the worst embarkation in over 125 Princess cruises would have worn me out. We stood (and most of my fellow guests were even older than I am) for two hours to get checked in, and at least 90 minutes of it were spent outside. No seats, no water…this was a rough one. G kept texting me to see where I was and simply couldn’t believe I hadn’t even made it into the terminal yet. Sure am glad I got that cortisone shot in my knee Thursday and went to the chiropractor Friday. Everything that didn’t hurt for a couple of days now does, and having nothing to eat except an oatmeal at 2am California time made me down right hangry by dinner. 

But…I am here, and it’s wonderful feeling. How many times have I said that the wonderful Princess crew members can smooth over any kerfluffles? A delicious dinner at a table for two with waiter Marcelo and junior waiter Aerold provided just the attitude adjustment I needed. 

And then there’s seeing my husband again for the first time in weeks. Bliss! Friend Tracie-Lynn was messaging me with ”Reunited and it Feels So Good”, a la Peaches and Herb. Exactly right, Tracie-Lynn. Exactly right. 

But now that dinner and a couple of glasses of wine have been consumed, and I have dealt with an urgent “I need help with something NOW please” text from McGee, I simply want to fall asleep to an audiobook more than I want to write a blog post tonight. I’ll fill in the blanks tomorrow.

So happy to be at sea (and out of that damn terminal parking lot)…

Me

It’s the next morning now, and cruise life is feeling considerably better. I am already ensconced at Vines having “breakfast wine” and will re-visit yesterday. 

I set four alarms to make sure I was up in time for my pick up. iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, Alexa…at 3:30am it was like I was waking up in a carnival. While G waits until the next morning to close up his suitcase, mine were already ready to set out on the front porch (much less stressful). I made a note on my hand as a reminder to cancel that superfluous Southwest flight, checked on the status of my United flight, and waited.  Driver Michelle was there right on time, and even gave me a hug when she dropped me at the airport. Uber doesn’t do that (thankfully). 

Everything went smoothly. I guess 5:30am on a Sunday may be the only time I could hope for no backups at security. When I reached the gate, they were making an announcement that anyone in boarding group 5 would have to gate check their roll aboards and some in group 4 might have to also due to the full flight. Did anyone want to volunteer?  Due to my late purchase of the ticket, I was in group 4 and after a couple of minutes of thought, decided to gate check my bag. I was assured it would be waiting for me at baggage claim in San Francisco. 

I am way too trusting. 

It took me about a day and half to deboard the plane, from my seat way back in row 42. By the time I reached baggage claim, the conveyor had already stopped moving and Final Bag was displayed on the screen. My big suitcase was there, but that gate checked bag was nowhere to be found. 

Sigh.

There was a similar bag still on the conveyor, and the agent set about trying to phone the owner of that bag to see if they had picked up mine by mistake. This went on for about twenty minutes; meanwhile, G was calling asking if I was at the ship yet. No, a harsh world away. 

While I was waiting, I started walking around other nearby baggage claims, and finally found my bag sitting on one of them, looking very lonely. Whew!  Dodged a bullet on that one. 

I had to wait for a second Princess shuttle to the pier, and when the bus pulled up to the terminal, a collective “OMG” gasp was hard to miss. There were a lot of people in line outside the terminal. A lot of people, many hundred, probably more than a thousand at that time (11:30ish). We weren’t entirely certain where to even start. 

The next long while (it may have been close to two hours) was spent standing in the sun in long lines that wound around the areas outside the terminal. Despite how long we waited, the line doubled in length after we got into it. It was not good, and I felt extremely bad for those people less able than me who were using walkers to stand in queue. No water…no excuse. 

G kept texting me…are you on the ship yet?  No, hon, not even in the terminal. My dreams of embarkation day lunch salmon were dashed, and it was nearly 2pm by the time I walked up the gangway. I was out of water, patience and energy. Oh well, some cruise has to carry the title of worst embarkation ever. I hope this one is never dethroned.

G was waiting for me as close to security on the Promenade Deck as he could get. I was scanned onto the ship, walked up to him, and my first words were “They’re all yours”, as I transferred my backpack and the handle of my roll aboard over to him. I was toast. 

We stopped by Club Fusion on the way to our cabin, to scan me in at our muster station, and never have I ever been so happy to step into our balcony cabin towards the back of Riviera Deck, kick off my shoes and use the bathroom. I was in hour 12 of my day, thirsty and hungry and tired. 

Thank goodness we were not re-tested in the terminal. We’d still be standing in line. As it was, around 3:30pm the captain made an announcement that they were still boarding guests, and our departure would be delayed (it was, until about 6pm). The only saving grace was that the rain didn’t start until we sailed; that would have quickly turned ugly. 

G was so proud, telling me that he and cabin steward Joao from Philippines had gotten the cabin all cleaned up for me (I can only imagine the condition of the “man cave” before this exercise). It’s a trick,  I discovered, to unpack and find a place for everything I brought when someone else has been living in the cabin for more than six weeks, but it got done.  Joao even had a towel elephant waiting for me in the cabin, and seemed as excited as G that I was finally on board. 

Elephant in bondage 😆

We rested in the cabin until we went to dinner in the DaVinci Dining Room at 5pm. And here’s where G’s tenure on the ship really paid off. We have a perfect table for dinner, and breakfast and lunch too. Dine My Way works perfectly…on a second cruise.

Waiter Marcelo and Junior waiter Aerold already seem great. Waiter Homer from the Ruby Princess in Australia came looking for me and asked me what took me so long. 😉   Love so many of the crew on Princess! I enjoyed three courses and two glasses of wine (I was starved) and then ordered the flourless chocolate cake, which was a shadow its former self, and not worth the calories, and so then ordered a dessert wine instead. I’ve not yet shared that, since G left in February, I reached five years free from the “Disease that No One Wants” (a huge deal) and was given the green light to fully enjoy my Princess Plus package with its unlimited drinks on this cruise. I’ve got years to make up for…and fully intend to.

What happened here? It was tough and brownie-like. 

I wanted to weep.

Steve Moris was performing in the Princess Theater tonight, and I was gung ho to go…until I was sated and tipsy and sleepy and then returning to the cabin was much more appealing. We knew that, between going to bed so early and moving clocks back an hour for the first time in our westward passage to Hawaii we’d be up before dawn (and we were), but that’s not a bad time of day to wake up on a cruise ship. 

Still, I was going to prepare my blog post…at least until McGee texted me with a “decently urgent” request (this kid always makes me smile). It took about 30 minutes to help him out, and when one of my “slide to type” responses to him from my iPhone was misinterpreted as “don’t wear transgender dresses” instead of “won’t even remember the stress” I thought I might be a bit too dangerous to publish a blog post that night. 

But sitting next to the window in Vines sipping something quite nice is a great place to get the job done. 

A 15-night cruise to Hawaii on the Ruby Princess

Honestly, Hawaii is one of our favorite places, but this cruise could be going around in circles and I’d be happy (and if Hawaii doesn’t let us in, that may be exactly what we end up doing). This one’s all about reunification and relaxation…oh, and that drink package!

It’s finally my turn!

My carefree life (haha) of bachelorette-hood is coming to an end. In case you haven’t been following our exploits, I put G on a flight in the early morning hours of February 10 and haven’t seen him since. He’s been living the Life of Reilly, cruising on the Ruby Princess, first to Hawaii, and then back to back through the Panama Canal. Six and a half weeks later, I am joining him in San Francisco for another cruise to Hawaii. I can’t wait…to see him, to relax on a cruise ship. I’m really looking forward to this one. 

G’s been sending me a lot of sunrise and sunset pics to heighten my anticipation. 

Here he is already drinking a mimosa before sunrise over the Pacific Ocean. 

(I have no idea who took this pic, because it was clearly very early.)

For further explanation about why he was cruising and I…was not, please see the first post I published from his first cruise. Yes, I blogged from a cruise I wasn’t on. My motivation was that I didn’t want to have an undocumented cruise that was lost to our memories years from now, but apparently that wasn’t enough incentive to write blog posts for the two Panama Canal cruises. I started but ran out of steam, probably from all the SNOW SHOVELING I’ve had to do since my husband was enjoying himself on a cruise ship. We don’t get spring showers; we get spring snow. 

Blog to the cruise I didn’t take

The early weeks of G’s cruising for me largely centered around high school basketball games and medical appointments, mostly physical therapy. When I last left you, I had really messed up my knee getting my suitcase downstairs just before leaving on our Panama Canal cruise. The MRI revealed a torn meniscus, torn MCL and osteoarthritis. I can’t say I did all that damage that morning; I had dislocated that patella skiing 30 years ago, and, with my need to catch a flight the next morning to Miami where I was living for work, never really got any medical attention. It’s been tetchy ever since, and a decade on crutches made it worse. The only surgery that will help is knee replacement, and I’m a long way from that. So I’ve begun the (common, I’ve found out) cycle of PT, cortisone shots and hyaluronic shots. I’ll admit, it’s been pretty demoralizing, especially since “that foot” is the best it’s been in years. Such is life.

When McGuy’s team lost by one point in their Sweet 16 game for the state championship, we all felt like we’d had the wind knocked out of our sails. I’ve watched this kid- and many of his teammates- play basketball for 13 years.  Now what do we all do?  It just about did me in when he walked out of the gym after that game and came over to me with a small smile on his face and tears in his eyes to give a big hug (a huge breach of teenage protocol when around teammates, don’t you know, which made it all the more emotional). I drove home in tears that night, but it’s the wonderful memories that have stayed with me now. Luckily McGee’s track season was just starting up. Onward!

I thought I was in for smooth sailing this week in my cruise preparations until I woke up last Saturday with a fever, sore throat and cough. Gosh darn it. I went to all those games (masked, when no one else was) without catching a thing except an occasional wayward basketball just to have this happen? I know exactly who I caught it from, and his name starts with Mc (but that’s as specific as I’ll get), when I took them to lunch last week. I took an at home COVID test and wasn’t shocked to get a positive result; as you might remember, I do sometimes with antigen tests. I tried a different brand and it was negative. I tried the original brand and it was again positive. This concerned me enough to run up to Walgreens for a PCR test that same day. Unfortunately, because it was a weekend, I didn’t get the results until Tuesday morning, nearly 72 hours later.  By then, my symptoms were much more cold-like and I wasn’t surprised it was negative. Time to start packing. 

I offer up my Wednesday experiences to prove that being married to me is not for the faint of heart. G can run, but he can’t hide, not with Princess’s MedallionNet internet. I left early for an appointment only to find that the battery in my SUV was dead. This was a surprise, because it’s a nearly new, expensive battery. I moved over to G’s vehicle but first had to reconnect his battery (which, thankfully, he’d shown me how to do) and made it to my appointment just in time. But I sent G’s several HELP! texts while I was waiting for the doctor. When I got home, he walked me through hooking up the battery charger to get my SUV started. That worked, I disconnected the battery on his vehicle and thought that was the day’s excitement. 

But I had already started thinking about leaving the house early tomorrow morning, and decided it might be prudent to make sure I had a key to the front door. These are the sorts of things I never worry about when I leave with G.  I just know he’s got them covered. We lock the garage doors, and have to exit through the front door when we leave on vacation. The front door has a key pad on it…we never use a key for the deadbolt. Except one time we returned home after months away and the battery in the key pad was dead.  G had had to unlock the door with his key. In case that happens again, where was MY key to the front door?  I couldn’t find it on my key ring. This stressed me out enough to actually call G on the ship. 

Me:  Where is my key to the front door?

G:  We went through this last year. It’s on your key ring. 

Me:  No, it isn’t.  There are two strange keys but neither one of them works. 

G:  That’s not possible. 

(I do some more finagling. Eventually…)

Me:  One of them kind of fits but it won’t turn. 

G:  That’s it. 

Me:  NO, IT ISN’T. It WON’T turn the deadbolt. 

G:  What is the name on the lock?

(I go off in search of reading glasses.)

Me:  Kwikset

G:  What is the name on the key?

Me:  um….Kwikset. 

G:   Bingo. 

Me:  But it doesn’t work!

G:  Find the can of dry lubricant, spray it in the lock and on the key, and see if it turns.

(Thank God for unlimited free internet on the ship, because this all took awhile.)

Me:  Oh yeah, it turns now. 

G:  Amazing. 

Me:  So what is this other weird key on my key ring?

G:  Hard to know, since I’m THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY, but try the storm door. 

Me:  It fits but it won’t turn.

G:  And repeat. 

And every day since then, I’ve used the keys in both those doors just to prove they still work. And even if I don’t have to go anywhere, I open the door to the garage from the house and lock and unlock my SUV doors using my remote, just to prove the battery still works. Momma didn’t raise no fools. And my husband, at times, is a saint. 

My COVID test from Thursday morning came back Thursday night and I’ve never been so happy to be negative. If G was on the cruise and I wasn’t…too sad!  I’ve filled the last two evenings watching March Madness games. And let me just say this: watching these games (I watched at least twenty last weekend) without G around to make comments has been possibly the best part of being home alone. As much as he loves football (it would be a deal breaker if he didn’t), basketball is anathema to him. The squeaky shoes, the horns, the hour long last sixty seconds of the games…these are not his thing. So I watched the first round of March Madness on as many as three screens simultaneously, and the second and third rounds on two screens. I controlled the remote, and that’s a rare thing in this house. 

The only hitch in my packing was that today I decided to move enough things to survive until Honolulu into a roll aboard. I started thinking about the fact that I’m flying in the morning of the cruise (don’t start) and it would be a real pity if my checked bag doesn’t make it. I am now set for all possibilities. I used EZ Air as my insurance that I will get to the ship in the event of a delay, but I even have a second, later flight booked on Southwest using points. (MUST remember to cancel that flight just before my EZ Air flight takes off!). 

Things heated up today with reports that there are enough COVID cases on the Ruby Princess that masks are again mandatory for all passengers and crew. As they always should have been (just saying). G has remained masked even when the requirement was dropped at the start of the current cruise, and tested negative when in transit guests went through testing today. We are continuing on with our plan to cruise tomorrow. If masks kept me safe at crowded basketball games, I have to have some level of trust in them keeping me safe on the Ruby Princess. My only fear (and it’s not insignificant) is that testing at the pier will be reinstated and I’ll be tested using an antigen test that will again yield a false positive result. I’m taking four antigen test kits that I know return an accurate result and will re-test myself in the terminal if that is what is required to get them to give me a PCR test. 

Crazy times. 

My morning pickup is arriving at 5am. I’m not sure I’ll make it through the second game tonight. Or maybe I will.  I’m really too keyed up to sleep anyway. 

With all the uncertainty, it’s nice to know that, in the event of a last minute keypad battery failure, I can at least lock the door after myself when I leave. 

Life is never dull.