Day 4 At sea

Ummmm.  We need to get our bodies acclimated.  We got up at 7:30 body time, but the clock said 9:30.  Will miss our tours if we don’t make some adjustments.

Went up and ate breakfast in the Horizon Court…that place is huge with all kinds of nooks and crannies full of food.  We just opt for the ole bacon and eggs…very good.  Came back to room and got our Kindles, phones loaded up with music and our ear buds and went in search of a quiet place to read…well, there’s really no such thing when all 3259 people (plus over 1000 crew) are inside.  But we found Club 6 –pretty full of people—but we found a corner on a bench where we sat down w/o disturbing anybody.  Had a footstool (my legs NEVER are long enough to be comfortable on the floor) and proceeded to read and listen to music in our own little world. 

Several hours later, we are still astonished at what happened ..a lady came up, put  her hands on our footstool and said there weren’t enough chairs for them and could she have the footstool…just took it right out from under our feet.  Could not and still  not believe it.  I would NEVER, EVER do something like that. 

We left and found a place on an aft deck without too much wind and read for a while.  Captain says we are having “rahtha heavy seas” with swells coming from two different directions.  And are about 900 miles west of the Azores.  Ship is still pretty steady, but there are times, I hold on to a railing when I walk.  And we feel a thud or two every so often.  Cloudy, hazy, not too cool—in the 70’s.  He says more of the same for the next several days.  

We found a quiet ?? spot to sit and read…in the Piazza, so there was always something going on on the deck below…music of all sorts…dance lessons…but we put our buds in and were fine.  Ronnie went to the treadmills for a while, but I enjoyed my corner. 

Had a Captain’s Circle Welcome just before dinner, so we attended that ….just a short show…dinner was okay…steak was a bit tough.  This particular dining room is for traditional diners (those who come at a set time every night… same table..and then, once they are seated, open for Anytime Dining.  For the last three nights, there’s been someone sitting there, arriving shortly after we order.  Twice, it was a German couple…speaking in German and once was, I think, an American couple….

We are still enjoying our other next-door table mates.  Very congenial.  I really hope they can get to stay in the US….they really want to, but he said they’ve just spent too  much money and if this last effort doesn’t work, they’ll go back to Australia.  So sad and unfair….

They were going to have a C & W band in the Piazza tonight after dinner, so we had plans to do some dancing, but it was ALL line dancing with the cruise staff….got in one dance afterwards and ….their C & W was not what we were looking for!   That, so far, is the only dancing venue on the ship that we can find….very disappointed.

Later, went to a show…comedian who was good..nothing else appealed to us so we came to the room and read…Time had changed again so we’re now running 3 hours later than home.

We’ve been out of satellite range, so we’ve had no internet or news…so not aware of much that’s going on.  Can’t do anything about it anyway. Probably won't  post again  until we are on land on Wednesday....days are all about the same, anyway.

Day 3 Friday At Sea

Slept IN…it was 8:15 before we even stirred, but felt like we’ve caught up now.  It was dark and gray…ship’s rocking a little bit up here, but not so bad.  It’s not real cold, but the wind’s blowing and makes it cool outside.

We got dressed and went upstairs for coffee.  Skipped breakfast because we had our massages scheduled for 11….didn’t want to lay on a full belly.  Massage was fantastic and just what we needed.  Ronnie had an Asian therapist and mine was from Jamaica…both were terrific and did a reallly good job working on knots …After the 28 flights of stairs up and down, our calf muscles could use some help and a full body would have been good, but I didn’t want to shave my legs, so we opted for an upper back….lol. 

After the massage, we found a map showing our “flight” plan so we now have some idea of where we are and where we are going.  I did not know the Azores were where they are…we are obviously going due east in the mid-Atlantic.  The map also showed the depression that is now located just immediately south of Nova Scotia….glad we missed it and looking forward to seeing the Azores on Wednesday.

Went up to Horizon Court for lunch.  I had my usual salad with a little tuna on it and fruit;  Ronnie (who was going to just get coffee) got some kind of burrito looking thing….The food has been excellent everywhere we’ve eaten.  We’ve had everything from salmon, red snapper to steak and prime rib and it’s all been very good.  I get the “chef’s choice” for dessert….no choosing; they just bring a gluten-free dessert.  First night was flourless chocolate cake…omy…Ronnie tasted it and even rolled his eyes….so good and chocolaty!!

Walked around a bit this afternoon and then came back to room for a nap.  When we got up, sun was shining…it’s probably in the 70’s but the wind is blowing, the ocean has some swells, but not as large as last night.  And the ship is going pretty fast.

Tonight was formal night so we doodied up and got our pictures taken before dinner.  Lots of people dressed up…the majority…but there was an occasional slob walking around (ewww…that sounded tacky).  We had a very animated and enlightening conversation at dinner with our next-door-tablemates.

He’s a citizen of Denmark, she’s a citizen of Japan and have tried to apply for citizenship to the USA, but have been denied…no explanation…just a runaround by our State Department.  They are here on an Investor’s Visa and have to reapply every two years.  He’s a builder so they established a business and buy older homes and remodel and flip….We were just astounded at what all they’ve been through to try to become citizens…they love Kentucky and have lots of friends there (just as astounded as we are).  They will try once more at the American Embassy in Copenhagen and hope for the best.  This is their latest lawyer’s advice.  They spent thousands of dollars…once, they were told they could reapply but he (the Embassy person in Australia) would just deny it again.  No explanation.  He keeps asking what is wrong and what can he do to fix it…they say:  we don’t like how often you come over here.   When we think of the millions crossing from Mexico….my blood boils.

We went to the show after dinner….a soul music production..good.  Walked around and listened to the various music venues.  So far, we’ve found only one place to dance….in the Piazza in front of hundreds of gawkers…don’t think I’ll get Ronnie to do that.  We’ll look again today for another place….I KNOW there’s one.

Came “home” and watched a movie that we’d not seen before….lasted til midnight…then we were rocked to sleep.

Tomorrow is probably more of the same. 

Day 2 Thursday 4/16 At Sea

Slept in a little bit this morning and had room service bring coffee around 8:30.  Dressed and around 10ish we headed out to find Vista Lounge where we met up with the others from Cruise Critic.  Everybody just introduced themselves and tried to hook up with the leaders of the various tours…we couldn’t find ours, but we “sorta” know where to meet them.

Went from that end of the ship to the other end to try to catch some port information….theater was overflowing with people so we just stood around and listened…it was just on Halifax, which we’ve done before and probably won’t do anything there this time….supposed to be 39 degrees…

Then we proceeded to take care of some business.  Our internet package was screwed up…tried to make me buy it again without my extra minutes that I got when I prepaid it.  So we went to Internet Café to learn that we’d lost satellite so they advised to wait a bit.  We were somewhere in the area of Bermuda so I think it was the Bermuda Triangle…guy said they have trouble in this area.  Too, the skies had clouded up (got up to blue skies, hot and muggy) and we were running into rain showers here and there.  But got it straightened out and got my extra 20 minutes.  And it worked great from  the room yesterday.  Pleased with that.

We then thought we’d go grab lunch at the Horizon Court, but it was stilll serving breakfast, so we just ate breakfast at 11:30…perfect. 

When we walked in our room Wednesday, there were two notices ….”A Special Gift For You” ….from the Lotus Spa.  An anniversary present from son, Scott and favorite DIL, Angie and kids, Braden and Payton.  They had given us a card showing a Gift Certificate back in January and we’ve been very curious to know what it was…Princess showed nothing on our booking information page.  So, we proceeded down to Lotus Spa and are now set up for a massage tomorrow morning for each of us.  And I need it….knots in my back from lugging a heavy purse.  Thanks from us!!!

We then proceeded to find the Fitness Center …some how we went the wrong way and ended up in the rain for a bit…but we did get on the treadmill for a 22 minute mile (for me)…just enough to justify going down and getting a soft swirl ice cream.  Okay, so probably didn’t walk off enough to completely burn that, but it helped. 

It’s kinda cooling down a bit and has been blustery and rainy most of the afternoon.  We came back to room and watched a movie….nice and relaxing.

Went to dinner…seas are HIGH, but the water in the glass didn’t move.  Great food…..catering to my gluten- free menu excellently…is that a word?

Anyway, tried to get into the Princess Theater for a comediian, but it was packed so we just walked around a bit and then….Captain came over intercom…ship went dead quiet and we got the announcement.  No stop in Halifax, NS on Sunday…a developing depression with  high winds and heavy seas, so we’re going more south and will stop at Ponta Delgada, Portugal (not sure that’s spelled right) in the Azores instead….on Wednesday.  Have no access to a map right now, so we don’t know where we are or where we’ll be….Interesting developments…  Captain commented when we left Ft. Lauderdale that we had full tanks of fuel and could go anywhere in the world….so I guess that’s what we’re doing. 

Satellite is slow so no more  pics…

Our mini-suite...bigger than the pic looks and the bath has a soaker tub....

The day has been good, but we are tired and ready to lay flat.  Up here on the 14^th deck, we are feeling it a little bit….just enough to rock us to sleep.  Time zones are starting to change rather quickly now …

Had our cake with a candle and a Happy Anniversary song from the waiters tonight….officially celebrated.

Day 1 Embarkation

...or as we say, "gettin' on the ship".  Princess has a progressive check-in by deck.  Ours was at 1:30, but the check in and registration was smooth... no problems

After leaving the hotel around 11 a.m., we finally got on the ship around 12:30…lines, but registration was quick and easy.    Proceeded to find our room, BUT was rerouted to Deck 16 because the rooms were not ready….first time for that to ever happen.  But, the Horizon Court (huge, huge buffet) was on 16, so we got a small lunch to pass the time.  Fortunately, for us, Ronnie had only a backpack and I had a pursey-type carryon….that’s all we had to carry around…others had pushed the limit with carry-ons and now had to wag all that luggage around, find a place to park it while they ate….

We walked around a bit, tried to find the webcam, but wasn’t successful in getting it located and once we did, they turned it to point out to sea, so unless we jump overboard….picture us waving.  We did locate the important places….the dining room, the theater and the Piazza (beautiful!!)  

The elevators were packed with people and luggage all afternoon—so we took to the stairs.  We must have walked 30 stories up and down and from one end of the ship to the other….many, many times.  We are becoming more familiar with the decks and where things are located.

We are on Deck 14 and our cabin is located under the Skywalk.  We chose it knowing that there would be people walking on the Skywalk and that didn’t bother us…we don’t do anything on the balcony that we don’t want people to see…lol And we’ve been on a lot more open balconies before.  So that’s not a problem.   At night the SW has blue lights along the bottom and sides…gives a nice glow to our balcony, but Ronnie likes a dark balcony so he can look at the sky….Doesn’t bother me….The room is super nice….we got a mini-suite considering how long we have to share space….plenty of room and more storage space than we needed…have drawers empty.

The Piazza

 We joined Cruise Critic several years ago (cruisecritic.com) and it has been an invaluable source of information on every cruise we've taken.  Reviews of ships, ports, tour companies in various ports and a roll call for people going on the same cruise as you.  We found several tours that we joined via cruise critic.  After our August Alaska Cruisetour, we vowed to each other to never ever do a ship's tour again.  They all involve a motorcoach (every tour description leads with: "embark on your a/c motorcoach....") and after 7 days of motorcoaches in Alaska with 45-50 other people, we will never do it again.  The tours we chose are a maximum of 26 people with most at 16.   One has 8.  And they are much cheaper than the ship's tours.

When we aren't with an organized tour, we just DIY and have had very good luck with that.  From getting a car rental on an overnight ship stop in Hawaii at 3 a.m. and driving up to Kilauea for sunrise to driving on the left in St. Croix and making a right hand turn....never had a problem.

Also, someone on Cruise Critic roll call always sets up a Meet & Greet on the first day at sea for CC members....we have over 270 that will meet up on Thursday a.m.  It's an unusually large group and Princess had to find a bigger venue for the M&G.  We'll meet some of the people that we'll be touring with there, I hope.

We learned a trick from Cruise Critic that worked out great.  –magnetic clips that you can stick anywhere on the walls to hold papers, etc to keep the clutter at a minimum.  There is NO scarcity of papers on a cruise, for sure.

We left port right at 4 p.m. (after a hot, boring, crowded muster—hate those things) and about 5 we came to room to get freshened up for dinner.  Just at 5:30, an announcement came over speakers that a medical evacuation was causing us to return to Ft. Lauderdale…So, we did a u-turn and headed back to port.  By the time we got near the port and stopped to wait on the pilot to board the ship, we were at dinner.  By 6:30 or so, we were docked and there was an ambulance and Fire & Rescue trucks waiting.  Don’t know any of the details, but it was just so sad.  I know how excited they must have been and to have their cruise end like this is just heartbreaking.

Dinner:  We had asked for a table for two when we booked this in August.  And that’s what we got.  In a little nook at the back of the Concerto Dining Room there is a bench along the wall with 3 tables for 2 nestled right by a window.  So we have a wonderful view (and watched us return to port).  We are in the middle table with the table right beside the window empty.  A very nice couple from Kentucky are next to us.  Well, they live in Kentucky, but they are not FROM Kentucky.  She’s Asian and he had a difinite accent.  Found out that they have lived in KY for 10 years but lived in Australia for 35 years.  And he’s originally from Copenhagen, Denmark.  They will leave the ship in Copenhagen and visit his mother who still lives there.    So very lucky to get such a nice table with nice people next to us.

The table for 2 was important to us for one reason….We had Anytime Dining on a previous cruise (New England to NYC) which means we walked in anytime we wanted and sat with whoever they put us with.  Has worked out in the past, but on this particular cruise, on this particular night, we sat with another couple and two ladies.  Near the end of the main course, the man (who had been just stuffing his spaghetti in) all of a sudden threw up right in his plate.  I was talking to the lady next to me, but Ronnie was looking right at him.  Just destroyed what was left of any appetite…the ladies left really quick and we left as soon as we could.  From that night on, we didn’t go back to the dining room…went to the Horizon Court and had a nice table for just the two of us.  So now, we insist on just a two-seat table!!!

After dinner, we walked down to the Princess Theater and watched the show …a comedian who was hilarous.  It was good to sit down and laugh.  After the show, we decided to call it a night.  We are beat and will shower and read or watch a movie (one of our favorite things to do)  Regal Princess has a large selection of On Demand movies and we’ve got 2 32” TV’s in the room….

Oh, we met Henry, our cabin steward,….very nice young man from the Phillipines.  We visited with  him a bit tonight while he turned down the bed, brought robes and more papers.

Tomorrow is first full day at sea.  Going to Meet and Greet in the a.m. and then to gym, maybe.

Posted from our stateroom via Princess@Sea....

Fort Lauderdale

Well....here we are..finally...(an hour and half late) in Fort Lauderdale soon to be on our way across the North Atlantic.  Celebrating our 50th with a 28 day cruise to Europe including the Baltic Sea.  Although our official anniversary was back in January, this particular cruise wasn't available until April.  We are so excited and so looking forward to all the places we'll get to visit:  Ireland, Normandy, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia and Russia--2 days there in St. Petersburg.

It's taken a LOT of planning and researching, but we think we're ready....loaded with Euros, Krones and Rubles.  And a couple of credit cards and debit card for ATMs.

I plan to do a complete blog of our trip, but WiFi will be scarce in some places (and not real sure how my internet package that I purchased on the ship will work).  So the blogs will not be posted everyday...only when we can get service on the ship and/or at a wifi hotspot in port.  So check back every few days.

We will be on the Regal Princess, a newer ship from Princess and, I hope, big enough so we don't realize we are crossing the North Atlantic and with a good enough sonar that we don't run into an iceberg.   We were on a Royal Caribbean last fall and, while returning across the Gulf of Mexico to Galveston during the night, ran through a terrible storm...the hail on the balcony doors woke us up and learned the next day that we were going through gale force winds....never felt a thing.  So, planning for this cruise to be that smooth also.

We have one stop, Halifax, Nova Scotia, before the long voyage across.  Not sure what we'll do there, as this will be our third visit and it's not a very big place.  We love NS, though.

Packing has been a little different from a Caribbean cruise....early spring and temps are to be in the 50's during the day.  But then, they say, there could be a warm spell or a cold spell.  We managed it with 3 checked bags....one is pushing the limit.

Regardless of our late arrival here in Fort Lauderdale, it has been a very nice, comfortable, relaxing day.  TSA was a breeze and everybody has been super polite and nice.  EXCEPT, we are wired to the gills with pc charger, cell phone chargers, all kinds of wires to plug in on the plane, in the waiting area....and Ronnie packed our "cord package" in the checked bag.  We listened to our downloaded music from our phones until my battery completely ran out...just as we landed in Ft. Lauderdale.  We're now wired up to every outlet in the hotel room.  LOL.


http://www.cruisin.me/cruise-ship-webcams/princess-cruises/regal-princess.php 

This is the link to the bridge camera on our ship....you can see what we are seeing.  Pray for good weather and no icebergs and that we survive 28 days on a ship to see our 51st!!


Ronnie and Anita