Comes to an end!!

Well all too soon this cruise has come to an end. The suitcases are packed and weighed. We have at least 5 pounds to spare.

Marg and Dave are picking us up tomorrow . We leave the ship at 8:45, we fly at 12:55 and land at YVR at 15:47

We are hoping all will go well and we will be able to get to choir practice.

Last night the show was a wonderful magician; but before the show there was caroling with passengers and crew on the special staircase. I loved it.

It is hard to believe that it is over already. Yesterday the sea was very rough so I spent the day being very quiet. It is much better today.

We had a farewell lunch with Michael and Jan and Barb and Craig.

The ship is wonderfully decorated for Christmas so I will end this blog by showing you some of the decorations

Cabo

Monday, December 14, 2015

We are in Cabo San Lucas today. We have an excursion that is do to go at 8:15 . For that reason we ordered room service for breakfast. We woke early enough to get a good view of the sun rise. We ordered berries and they delivered a nice selection of strawberries and blue berries. YUM!!

Then we gathered our stuff and went to the lounge where we were to get ready for our tender ride. There were only 8 of us on that tour. There were only a couple of dozen people on the tender. This is so different from what is normal on the bigger ships.

The crossing was smooth and took only about 5 minutes. There were dogs sniffing our bags when we arrived. They were looking for drugs.

Then we waited for our guide to lead us to our bus. WE walked less than 5 minutes and boarded a van. We were headed for Casa Dorada at Medano Beach. This high end resort is our destination. We will be here from 9 till one. During that time we have access to a hostess suite, the ocean with a lounger and umbrella, a wonderful sandy beach, a pool and a Jacuzzi. We will be served a 4 course meal and given a beverage of our choice.

This is definitely a 6 star place. A room in the off season is $500.00 and during Christmas a room is $1000.00.

I took lots of pictures. We played in the water for awhile. The usual vendors were there but there was a rope all around the beach and the vendors were prohibited from crossing the rope. So if you didn’t want to be bothered you stayed on your side of the rope and if you did want to look at hats or blankets of jewelry etc you went to the other side of the rope.

The water was cool at first but once you got in it was warm enough.

Next we went up to the fresh water pool for awhile. Soon it was time to go to the hospitality suite to change. The rule in the dining room is no wet clothes or bathing suits.

The suite was wonderful, I don’t think it was $500.00 a night wonderful though.

Lunch was very tasty and the service was fantastic.

After lunch I was able to get a few pictures before it was time for the ride back to the tender pier. We got on right away. There were 19 people on the tender. The ride was quick and smooth.

Back On board I decided to go to the gym and do my walk since we had not walked much in Cabo. After the walk I was able to get some pictures of the decorators. They had arrived to do the decorating of the ship for Christmas.

Soon it was nap time. Then it was time to get ready for dinner. I wore my Christmas necklace and Ken wore his Santa hat in honor of the occasion.

When we arrived at the dining room we discovered that all of the wait staff was wearing Santa hats. The atmosphere was very festive. Before dessert they had a conga line featuring the wait staff and a lot of the passengers. Lots of fun to be sure.

The evening show featured Jill Whelen. She starred as Vickie Stubbing in Love Boat. We were very pleasantly surprised. She has a very powerful voice and she did an amazing job.

We returned to the cabin to take our meds since had forgotten them and that was the end of our day in Cabo San Lucas!

Sunday I think!!!

Sunday I think

It is amazing how time and days have very little meaning when you are cruising.

We are in La Paz today. It is COOL and the wind is blowing lots of dust around. On the dock a wonderful Mariachi band entertained for a long time. The men have beautiful voices and I wish I spoke Spanish. Whatever they are singing sounds very romantic. They are very determined to stand out there in the wind and the dust.

We do not have an excursion planned for today, but there are lots of vendors set up so we will probably go ashore and explore what they have for sale.

Because it was so windy I did my walking on a treadmill instead of on the jogging track.

After walking I picked up a couple of coffee and some fruit for me and Xmas bread for Ken. We ate in our room and enjoyed the music from our balcony.

After we had breakfast I decided that I wanted to roam the ship and take pictures before the Christmas decorations arrive tomorrow. Ken decided to come with me and I went everywhere. After taking dozens of photos the camera signaled that I was out of memory and I had to return to the cabin to get a new card.

By now I had lost Ken. When I got to deck Four Ted Lange was there. I mustered my courage and began a conversation with him. We chatted about the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman and his plays etc. It was wonderful we chatted for more than a half hour. I even had a picture taken with him and Doc who had arrived during our visit.

 I came back to the cabin and sure enough Ken was back here. I told him all about the encounter and I decided to go back and find Isaac ( Ted Lange) and give him our card. I found him on deck 5 and during this chat I told him the story of Ken and my romance. He loved our story and told me that I had made his day. But he made my cruise.

After that excitement we went topside and had lunch out in the fresh air. It was very nice. I even treated myself to a sugar free dessert.

 We came back to the cabin and Ken went to deck 10 to work on his tan and I went ashore to shop.

The set up on shore is very nice. You can buy many different crafts as well as have a cold beer in a beer tent.

I found a very nice black leather belt for Ken and I bought myself an amazing silver bracelet. It appears to be 17 bangles but it is one bracelet. After that purchase I headed back to the ship, afraid I might see something else that I liked.

After that I got some sun, had a rest and then got ready for dinner.

The wind was quite strong at sail away and the thrusters were doing their work to fight the wind and get us on our way.

This was Italian night in the dining room. We both had the scallops and we also had lemon chello to end the meal.There are no special glasses any more so the price was three instead of seven.

Next stop was the show with the singers and dancers. It was a new one for us… Cinematastic. We loved it. As usual there were wonderful costumes, quick changes and lots of energy.

After the show we had our special coffee with brandy.

A  perfect finish to an amazing day.

Loreto

Saturday, December 12, 2015

What an amazing day this has been so far. I woke at 6:30 which has become the norm. It looked cool and dark and very very cloudy.

 I stayed in bed another 15 minutes thinking it was too dark to go topside. I dressed quickly and was up on deck ten just before seven. Because it was so windy and cool I did 2 laps downstairs and then went into the fitness center when it opened. This was going to be a treadmill morning. I walked for 30 minutes and then went for coffee.

Because we had lots of yesterday’s breakfast left I brought Ken a coffee and a coffee and fruit for me.

We had breakfast inside and listened to the captains announcements about our situation. He said it was 19 C and would go to 21C in the afternoon. That temperature and the breeze made us decide to wait until afternoon to go ashore. We did not have an excursion booked. Having been here before we knew there was a very nice sandy beach right next to the tender dock.

 Loretto is a beautiful little town surrounded by impressive mountains. We put on our swim suits and sat on the balcony enjoying the view and the sun and the shade and the breezes. The ship was at anchor and it swayed back and forth so that we would be in the hot sun and then after a few minutes we would have cooling shade. It was ideal. We watched the tenders go back and forth and commented on how unusual it was to see tenders with only a few people on board.

I have a good book on the Kindle so I relaxed and read .I reminded myself of how lucky we were to have found each other. I made a note to self to write and thank Valerie for inviting me to go to Toronto with her and to thank Rose for telling me about Classmates. Who would have known then what a change it would have made in my life?

 I felt happy relaxed and peaceful all at once. Life with Ken is good. I am so very blessed.

Before we knew it the clock was showing noon and we had not yet allowed Romano into the room. Time for lunch! We put shorts and a top over our suits and went topside. We each had a hot dog, some fries and an iced tea. Then we went up on deck ten to sit in the lee side and still get some sun. The wind was now quite strong and we were thankful that we were not on shore. That tender ride would not be good. It would have been a GRAVOL day for sure.

 I lasted almost a half hour, but Ken stayed and I left and headed back to our cabin stopping for some iced tea along the way. While I was getting the tea the captain came on the PA and informed everyone that all shore leave was cancelled. The weather had deteriorated; the winds were up to 30 knots. The priority would be getting people back on board safely.

I watched the tenders bobbing up and down in spite of trying to attack the waves side on. Returning tenders had huge waves crashing over the bow. I am so glad that we decided to stay on board and enjoy the ship. I am So happy that I was not one of those passengers taking that rough ride across the bay.

Everyone returned safely but I gather there were a few cases of mal de mer.

We went to dinner and I brought Canada pins for everyone.

At the end of the meal we got an anniversary song from the staff and a wonderful cake that we shared with the group.

Because the show was a vocalist we were neutral about and because the ship was doing a lot of moving we decided to return to the cabin early and just put our feet up.

Another great day had come to an end.

Only 4 more days of cruisingL

Anniversary Celebration

December 11/2015

This was a very busy, very special day. Even though our anniversary is not until January 7^th we were celebrating it this day. You see you can have Princess celebrate an occasion for you if your cruise is within 45 days of that special occasion. So we began our day with a champagne breakfast on our balcony. There was a very nice congratulations sign outside of our room and a lovely card in our door when I left the room.

I went topside and walked my 13 laps and got some lovely sun rise pictures.

 Our breakfast arrived promptly at eight o’clock as ordered. There is something decadent and celebratory about a four course breakfast complete with champagne. The menu included

Juice

Coffee

Champagne

Quiche

Smoked salmon

Fruit

Pastries.

There is no way that a person could eat it all in one sitting… at least these two people couldn’t . We nibbled on it for most of the day and had the second salmon plate and the rest of the pastries the next morning.

Before we knew it, lunch time had arrived. This was the day of the special Cruise Critic luncheon. There were 130 of us having lunch together. The chef prepared a special pasta dish for us and there was an amazing chocolate cake for dessert.

After lunch I had a rest and then it was time to shower and get ready for formal night and the Captains Circle Party.

While getting ready I watched the new Mission Impossible movie on the stateroom television. Those special effects are always so amazing and impossible in reality. But the movies are fun.

The sunset was unbelievable this evening. We got a few pictures from the balcony and wished dinner were later because we could have taken many more outstanding photos.

 The dinner menu included Canadian lobster so of course that could not be missed. We had them save our anniversary cake for the 12^th since so much was happening on the 11^th.

The main dinner entre was lobster and crab cakes. I ate my crab cake and gave Ken my lobster tail. I had mixed berries for dessert and they were fantastic. The raspberries were just as good as we have in Abbotsford and that is saying something. We had a half bottle of Robert Mundavie Chardonnay with dinner.

Then we headed for deck nine. Because all but 12 people on board are Captain Circle members they were set up on the open deck instead of using the lounges. Of course they were serving free cocktails. Ken and I each had a rum punch. We chatted with Michael and Jan and Barb and Craig and took some pictures and then we headed down to deck 5.

On the way we took a few more pictures. I was wearing my new dress so posing was required.

 The show tonight featured vocals by Donny Most. He will be remembered as Ralph Mouth from Happy Days. He was quite good and surprised me. He sang the old swing tunes from the 30’s and 40’s.

There was a Love Boat Anniversary party being held on deck ten but by then we had had enough so we went back to the cabin and called it a night.

December10

December 10, 2015,

Mazatlan,

I got up and did my walk and then we got ready for our shore excursion.

The ship came into the harbor just before ten and we were greeted by a full military band playing local music as well as 2 fireboats spraying plumbs of water into the air. It was quite the spectacle.

Then we met our bus and the adventure began. Our guide Paulo explained what we would be doing for the day. After about a ten minute ride we met our boat. It was a flat bottomed boat that could float and maneuver in 5 inches of water. We would need this because we would be travelling up a mangrove lined estuary.

Paulo was very knowledgeable of the flora and fauna of the area. He told us about the different birds and plants and the efforts to save the ecology. Mexico is very aware of the problems and they are doing a great deal to mitigate wherever possible. We were impressed by their programs.

He gave us a check sheet and we were to mark off all of the different species that he pointed out to us. By the end of the adventure we had seen 39 different birds. 

One highlight was visit by what were basically pets. He told us the story of how this came to be. Apparently he came upon a pelican that was soaked in oil and was going to die. He managed to feed the bird and clean all of the oil. In a couple of days Miguel was well enough to fly away but he kept coming back. That was nine years ago and now Miguel and his 2 friends return daily to get fed fish and entertain the people on tours with Paulo.

 As well as the 2 hours spent in the mango forest we were taken for a ride in a tractor pulled wagon. The ride was about 35 minutes long. Paula called this the limo.

 At the end of the ride we arrived at a very nice place to eat. It had a thatched roof and was open air. The meal was authentic Mexican and it was included in the tour. We also had time to walk an amazing white sand beach. Unfortunately there was not enough time to swim. But we did wade in the wonderfully warm water.

Then it was back in the limo, on to a boat and back on a bus. We were delivered to the pier and the Pacific Princess just in time for a very nice evening meal.

The ship was in port until eleven pm, but we planned nothing else for the evening. We just relaxed.

Tomorrow is a big day.

Wednesday and it is Manzanillo

Wednesday and it is Manzanillo

We docked so smoothly this morning that when I opened my eyes we were already in and tied up. It was seven am and it was still dark. A bright red channel marker was shinning in the balcony doorway. The sun was not up yet so we could see the lights of the city. I dress quickly and went topside for my walk. It was dark enough that I could plainly see that there was a lighted cross on the top of one of the near by mountains. It was not as grand as Christ the Redeemer but it was a cross.

I did my 14 laps and enjoyed the coolness of the breeze. I can tell this is going to be a very hot day and the humidity is high, and I do mean high.

A military type vessel was checking out the ship. I don’t know if that was calming or nerve wracking…. But it was different to be sure.

I picked up coffees and fruit and returned to the cabin. Ken and I decided to do breakfast in the dining room this morning. Yesterday was the buffet and the day before was room service. We are doing it all. On this small ship they do not have an international café so we can’t do that. I had the papaya and Ken had the breakfast special of eggs and bacon and sausage and beans. The nice part was the warm soft toast. On a ship the toast is usually hard and cold but this morning was different. Again the size of the ship allows they to get you toast to you while it is still toast. Love it.

We were just ready to leave when Barb and Craig arrived so we stayed and visited with them while they ate. Barb told us we had a message from jenny on her facebook page. I will drop her a line today.

I decided to take a quick run ashore. We had a tour booked but it was cancelled. It was our lighthouse tour. I guess there were too few interested . Anyway I walked off and saw the sculptures. They have artist painted dog statues all along the wharf. Actually quite interesting.

 There were some crafters there. The prices were reasonable and the quality appeared to be very high.

There must be a naval base here because there was a navy vessel tied up. It looked like a war ship. Yikes!!

This harbor is very busy with tankers and cargo ships coming and going. The day was hot and it was overcast and very humid, that made the visibility less than optimal. But more than that it made the air heavy somehow and it was almost hard to breathe. Our light house tour was classified as strenuous and involved hiking up a hill so I am glad it was cancelled. Just the walk back along the pier left me panting. The haze shrouded the surrounding mountains most of the day.

They had safety drills on the ship today so we were entertained by watching tenders go up and down and around.

We decided to just have a piece of fruit for lunch, enough for me to take my pill.

We had an early departure today, all aboard was 3:30 and sail away was 4:00. This is as far south as we go, leaving Manzanillo we headed north.

Dinner was special in that they had Prime Rib on the menu. Ken enjoyed that. I had the orange roughy. For dessert I ordered mixed berries and they had fresh raspberries which I really enjoyed.

After dinner we headed to the lounge for Carlos Oscar. He was his usual excellent self. He is so good and his presentation is so unique. We sat next to Mary and Richard again.

After that we went to the café and got our special coffees, mocha for Ken and a skinny Latte for me. We took it to our rooms, added some brandy and sat out on the balcony to enjoy it.

Another wonderful day has come to an end, It is hard to believe that this cruise is half over.

Second day in Puerto Vallarta

Second day in Puerto Vallarta( Dec.8)

We had nothing booked for our second day here; we knew we would have to have time to recover from the day before when we had 2 excursions and a late night.

Basically I spent the day catching up on the blog and visiting. I got up at seven and went to the jogging track for my walk. I did 16 laps and then headed to the coffee bar. I picked up a regular coffee for me and a Mocha for Ken. I came back to the room and got Ken and we went topside to have breakfast. It is lovely up there most of the time but it was really great this morning. The sun was shining and there was no wind. The air was warm. I went to the omelet station and had the chef make me a vegetarian one. He asked if I like peppers and when I said yes he added jalapenos. Well, when I ate it the insides of my ears burned. What a great omelet. Ken didn’t want a taste, I wonder why?  

After breakfast I sat on the balcony and got some sun and I worked on the blog. Because we had such a large breakfast I had a banana for lunch and called it a meal.

Even though we were right across from a large shopping mall we resisted the temptation to check it out. We did not need anything and going there may have resulted in us buying a sombrero.:-)We have noticed that a lot more of the cabin doors are decorated for  Xmas. I believe Wal-Mart did a good business.

We were having trouble with our television and the movie for the evening was supposed to be The Martian. So I called passenger services and within an hour we had a NEW television. The repair person said the company made a mistake and ordered poor quality Chinese televisions and they were dying all over the ship. Michael and Jan and Dave and Barb have also had to have new televisions installed.

Dinner was very good. I had the seafood kabobs and Ken had surf and turf. After dinner we went to the show in Cabaret Lounge. It always amazes me that they can do the shows in such a small venue. The audience is so up close and personal. We were in the second row and the dancers can almost sit in your lap. The show was “Do you Wanna Dance”. We have seen it done many times, on th e big ships, when the production was long and when it was shorter and now in the small venue. We have enjoyed it every time.

After the show we chatted with Richard and Mary for a few minutes and then we came back to the cabin to change. This was go to the pool and hot tub night. We had both all to ourselves. It was like being on a private yacht.

 Every now and then someone would pass by carrying their bed time snack.

One passer- by was Carlos Oscar. We made sure to tell him how happy we were that he had joined the ship and that we were really looking forward to his show. He has to be one of the best comedians ever. I am actually tempted to skip dinner so I can see his show twice. He seemed flattered that we remembered him.

After the pool we returned to the cabin in time to watch The Martian.

What an amazing relaxing day this has been.

Tomorrow we will be in Manzanillo