Good bye till October

This wonderful trip has come to an end and I have been busy unpacking and getting things put away. I still had Easter decorations on the mantel but they are now safely stored till next yet.
The laundry is gathered and downstairs perhaps I will get it done tomorrow.
It is a beautiful day and Ken is outside washing the Jeep.
I went for a short walk this morning and we are off to choir practice this evening. We are well on the way to getting back to our routine.
But some final thoughts:
It was an amazing adventure. We liked the Regal Princess but she is just a little too big for us. She holds 4400 passenger and the Emerald princes holds 3600 passengers. That additional 800 crosses the line. She is a beautiful and elegant ship and I am glad that we sailed on her. But I don't expect that we will book a trip on her again. The cruise was during spring break for some schools so there were many children on board. That was a nice change and not a problem. The very special new thing about the Regal was the Princess at Sea program. It provided an on line patter and lots of things for the ship. But the biggest improvement is the speed of the internet. You are able to download pictures in seconds instead of minutes. The other big thing is Movies on Demand. You have so many choices that you could spend the entire cruise in your room watching television and still not see it all. They say that this will eventually be available over the entire fleet.

Our transit of the Panama Canal was exciting as usual. We did it on the Island Princess in 2011 and again this year. I enjoyed the 2011 cruise much more. That cruise was in October and so the weather was much more to my liking. It was just too hot and too humid this time. 90+ degrees with humidity around 95% is almost unbearable. It was almost like being in a steam bath. Also in the fall the entrance to the canal is much more dramatic because you enter just as dawn is breaking. At this time of the year the sun has been up for awhile. I can't say that we were all that pleased with the changes that have been made to the Island Princess. With those new cabins at the front it makes a complete walk around the ship impossible. We really missed the International Café as it has become our favorite place on a Princess ship. The demographic on this cruise was much older. Because it is a long cruise you pretty well have to be retired to take it.

The last 3 days... the repositionable part of the cruise was completely different. Young adults were very prevalent and it was very clear that they were on board to party. It was a lot of fun. They were not rowdy they were just having a good time.

We experienced amazing weather for the entire time. Only one day was a bit rocky and actually nothing to speak of. Both ships rode very well. We felt little or no movement at any time.

This was the first time we tried the special dining rooms. We liked Sabatini's better that the Boyou Café, but both were very good. We would do Sabatini's again but probably would not do the other.
The one thing that was extra special was The Crab Shack. If you enjoy sea food you should give this a try. Ken is the shell fish lover in the family and he was in his glory. The King Crab legs and the mussels and the shrimp kept him smiling and smacking his lips.

We met many wonderful people. For the first time we were table mates with people we knew from other cruises when we were on the Island. It sure is fun to travel with old friends.

The service and the entertainment were exceptional and definitely up to the high standards of Princes Cruises.

They have new collectable shot glasses and we were able to collect 16 of them, 8 are red and 8 are blue. I am happy to report that we got all of them home safely and not in pieces. They also come in yellow and green but we chose red and blue.

Our next cruise is aboard the Star Princess in October. We travelled around South America on her and she is a wonderful ship.
We have also booked a month on the Caribbean Princess in early winter of 2017. We have never sailed on her so that is something to look forward to.
Randy and Janeen and Fred and Mary have booked the first part of this adventure so we will be certain to have a wonderful time. They are so much fun to travel with.

So until next time travel safely and remember

CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY
WE ARE GOING THIS WAY ONLY ONCE!!