The Celebration Continued

To continue our celebration we spent a relaxing day and then we had the entire group come to our stateroom for Happy Hour.

We brought in the chairs from our balcony, we ordered canapés and we commandeered other food from the buffet. We had a bottle of wine for all to share and it was a lot of fun.

But the highlight of our day was a trip to the Crab Shack. The food was great and so was the service.

It was a memorable way to mark our special occasion.

Tomorrow we are in Cabo San Lucas and it is Cinco de Mayo.

Champagne Breakfast

May 4^th, our special day.

If you haven’t been reading the blog before this day marks 365 Days on a Princess Ship for Ken and I.

 On Princess.com you can tell them if you are celebrating something. Their choices were birthday, anniversary or other. I marked other. At the time I wondered if they would accept that and sure enough outside our door this morning were a congratulations sign and a blue balloon and a white balloon.

Our travel agent Kim gave us a champagne breakfast as a bon voyage gift and we used it this morning.

This is such an amazing treat and we love to do it. Our breakfast arrived at 8:00 complete with a waiter to set it up and take our picture for us

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 We enjoyed the champagne and the quiche and Ken also had his smoked salmon. I was full after the quiche and a tiny bran muffin. The rest of the food will be enjoyed at lunch. Of course we drank our champagne and toasted out travel and our hopes that someday we might just celebrate 2 years on board Princess Ships

May 3rd

Third Sea Day,

This has been another wonderful lazy crazy day. I am making the most of these days because I will be so busy when we get home that I will be wishing I had a few hours to do nothing.

We woke around seven and went to breakfast in the dining room. We were at a table for ten which is too many. One lady at the table is on her 91^st cruise. Her name is Carolyn, I hope that is a sign of things to come.

One couple was from Vancouver Island and the rest of the people were from Florida and Arizona. Our evening assistant waiter was one of our breakfast waiters. I had a wonderful fruit plate and some oatmeal, and of course lots of coffee.

Then I went to the library and answered the questions of the day. This time I answered in the name John. Using Ken’s legal name was a way of having a different name announced should the entry be drawn.

For several cruises now I have notices that they have a Sudoku challenge on most sea days. I have been doing these puzzles for a few years now and I figure I am pretty good at it. I decided to check this out. It was taking place in Crooners and there were about 20 people gathered to play.

Well did I get my comeuppance….. These people finished a puzzle rated as hard in less than ten minutes. I had not finished one number or one square when all three prizes were given to declared winners. WOW they were fast. I guess I have to keep practicing if I want to play with the smart people.

I returned here and got some sun. Then we ordered room service. We decided to share a club house sandwich. We also had iced tea.

It seems as if they have been doing a lot of maintenance this trip. Two days ago someone appeared to change the battery in the emergency lighting system. The next day 2 workers appeared to change the lights over this desk. I think it was changed to LED

Then this morning someone appeared to tighten a hinge on the cupboard door. He had just left when there was a knock on the door and a workman appeared wanting to change a florescence light tube.

I was unaware of any of these problems. But I guess our room steward Randell was aware of them. He really is a great steward.

Before dinner we were invited to have a bit of a happy hour at Fred and Mary’s. That was lots of fun and as usual Fred had us thinking.

At dinner tonight I had a couple of different things including a cold sour cherry soup which tasted a lot like yogurt and a pork dish from Puerto Rico. Fred and Caesar had a great time changing roles. We all had a good laugh.

After dinner we stopped and enjoyed the music of The Charade Quartet. They are very good and they do draw a crowd. I also stopped in the boutique and bought a bottle of OPI nail polish.

The show in the Princess theatre was vocals by Claude-Eric. He was a singer from Montreal. He performed a variety of styles including The Commodores and Josh Brogan. I can’t say that I was impressed by his vocals and I hated his stage presence. He pranced around and the thought that came to mind was a POPPINJAY.

That being said Ken kind of liked him.

We finished our evening with a special coffee.

Tomorrow is another Sea Day and our special DAY

May Second

This is Monday , May 2^nd and it is a sea day.

We slept very well last night. Around bed time we were entertained by lots of lightning. We did not hear thunder and we did not have any rain; just lightning in the distance.

The morning temperature was 28C and the sea temperature is 32C

We woke around seven and we went to the dining room for breakfast. We shared a table with Diane from Langley; Doug and Judy from Sydney, Australia , and a very nice Japanese lady from Tokyo. I can’t remember her name and I couldn’t spell it if I did remember it. We talked and laughed and visited until around 9:15. I love meeting new people and meals in the dining room is the perfect venue.

Next we went to the library and answered the questions for today. It is always a fun activity.

They are looking for inspirational thoughts of the day. Do you have any to suggest? So far I have suggested

“Choose to be Happy ,we are going this way only once”

“Life is short so don’t sweat the small stuff “

And the one I put in today was

“Make the most of every day because no one promised you tomorrow”

We returned to the room and I caught up on some e-mail and then I went down to the EFFY store. They were having a raffle and the prize was a Tanzanite pendant. I did not win. But it is amazing how many people attend their raffles. It is a mob scene for sure.

Tonight is the Captain’s Circle get together. This is the first time I ever remember it being smart casual and not formal dress. Ken and I plan to dress up a little.

Tomorrow night we have been invited to Fred and Mary’s place to have wine before dinner.

Then on Thursday they are coming here before we all go to the Crab Shack for dinner. Thursday marks 365 days at sea for Ken and I so we are planning to celebrate with Champagne Breakfast on the balcony (Thanks a bunch Kim)!

We are becoming quite the social butterflies, at least for the next 3 daysJ.

I sat out on the balcony in the sun for a little while today. The temperatures are getting better as we head north.

We went to the Captain’s Circle get together. I introduced myself to Michael and Micca. I figured they should have a face to go with the name from answering the questions on the Wake Show.

Dinner was great as usual. As a way of getting to know people better Fred has begun asking questions around the table. Tonight he asked:

“What is your earliest memory?”

“How did you earn your first money outside of allowance or money from your parents?”

“What is the first thing you remember buying with your own money?”

The answers were very interesting and fun to hear. Fred is something else.

After dinner we went to the Princess Theatre. The show was Motown and as usual it was very good. But I must say we enjoyed the longer shows much better. There are numbers like the Supremes set that we really miss, and suspicion is another one that we wish they had kept.

To end the evening we went to Horizon Court for iced tea for me and milk for Ken.

We turned on the Wake Show when we got back to the room. I won again and much to our surprise and pleasure Randy and Janeen and Fred and Mary and Pam and Nancy had put in a dedication to us and our celebration of one year aboard a Princess ship. That was so nice of them.

Another Sea Day tomorrow.

May Day

May Day

I was awake long enough to go outside and take a couple of pictures. We had never been here before and the mountains and the crashing waves came as a surprise. We had been told that the volcanoes here in Nicaragua have been acting up and that was obvious by the haze in the air and the smell of smoke. I guess some shore excursions were cancelled because of the volcanoes.

Just a few moments later the captain came on the PA system and announced that we would be aborting our stop here. Apparently the roll of the sea made it difficult for the tenders and that conditions were supposed to deteriorate as the day progressed. You could see the tenders bobbing around like corks. Just seeing them made your stomach uneasy. We would be getting the tenders back on the port side and then he would turn the ship so the tenders from the starboard side could be brought on board.

We were able to get a few pictures. Ken got one of their statue of Christ that overlooks their harbor.Christ the Redeemer in Rio is number one and this is number 2.in size.

We had plans to go for breakfast in the dining room so that is what we did. We sat with 2 other couples. One was from Surry and one was from the Everett area of Washington State. Again it was a fun breakfast.

We entered the Wake Show draw to answer the trivia question and I looked around to try to find the “Where on the Ship” contest.

Then Ken went topside and I roamed around a while. At 11:30 we went to a lecture on the Pirates of the Caribbean. Then it was back to our room to have room service deliver lunch.

We had a  Mai Tai during Happy Hour and soon it was time to dress for dinner. What a wonderful lazy day it had been so far.

Dinner was fun and we had our usual interesting interactions. Each night we change seats so we can visit with a new person and not always sit next to our spouses. I sat between Pam and Nancy and we learned quite a bit about each other. Pam runs marathons, Nancy has wine glasses that she loves, all three of us have special things we can’t part with and all three of us love pretty dishes

After dinner we looked at the photos in the photo department and then went to our stateroom so I could get my pills because I had forgotten them. Then we headed to the Princess Theatre.

Tonight’s entertainment was by David Pengelly. He was very entertaining. He sang, he told jokes and most of all he was a wizard with the ukulele. He played everything from dueling banjos to classical music.

We ended the evening with our special coffee and a little bit of television. Morgan Freeman and the science channel continues to amaze.

Sea Day tomorrow.

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, May 1/2016

Nicaragua is the largest Central American nation and has stunning landscapes, vast cultural treasures, and an intriguing history.

Until recent times Nicaragua was unfortunately known for the civil war (Sandinistas and Contras) that raged from the late 70s through much of the 80s. Today, the soldiers and guerrillas have given way sightseeing in a beautiful country. From strolling the cobblestone streets of colonial Granada on Lake Nicaragua, to exploring one of the many volcanoes, Nicaragua has something for even the most seasoned traveler.

Note: Due to time constraints in port, some tours may not be available on every voyage. Please refer to your Cruise Personalizer on princess.com for a complete list of tours available during your cruise. Tour content may vary based on the amount of time in port.
San Juan del Sur is an anchorage port. Transfer from the ship to shore will be via the ship's tender transfer.
In ports where guests utilize tender boats to go ashore, Princess staff will make every effort to assist but are not allowed to individually physically lift more than 50 lbs. (22kg). Guests requiring physical assistance must travel with an able-bodied companion. With your safety and comfort in mind, the final decision to permit or prohibit passengers from going ashore will be made on each occasion by the ship's Captain.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Puntarenas Costa Rica,

The day dawned with a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius and humidity of 92%.

We have been here since midnight and have just now been given permission to go ashore.; not than anyone would want to go ashore at midnight.

We do not have a shore excursion booked and I have no idea what our plans will include but it will begin with breakfast in the dining room. I heard a rumor that there are strawberries, yummy.

We went to breakfast and I was able to get a dish of strawberries and the papaya was perfect. Papaya can be wonderful if it is at the just right stage of ripeness.

Basically we spent the entire day being lazy. I watched 2 movies, I napped, I explored the ship and did nothing reportable. It was very very hot and so I stayed inside for the most part. We saw the gang go ashore and wondered how they would make out.

 They explored a little and were back on board for lunch. Mary said she almost passed out in the heat so I figure I made the right decision. Even Ken found it almost unbearable whenever he ventured outside. Do you think old people mind the heat more than young people??

We had lunch in our room, the salads were great. We went to happy hour and had our first cocktail of this cruise. We were able to order “The Issac” so that was fun. The wheelhouse was quite full with people taking advantage of happy hour.

We went to dinner and the menu was different but just as good. As usual we laughed and visited. Table mates sure can make your cruise , we are having so much fun.

My prize for the contest appeared. It was a very nice pen with the Princess logo. I passed it around for all to see.

 Fred had them prepare a special ice cream sundae for him and he had that for dessert instead of his usual one scoop of sorbet. Caesar made him a very special one.

Next we went to the show in the theatre. Tonight was “do you Wanna Dance” It was well done but we remember when it was so much better. They have shortened the show and left out a lot of the more special things. We really miss the waltz

After the show we went to the EFFY store, they were having a promotion and I picked up my free pendant. It is small and is a very bright clear garnet of a deep ruby color.

Then we strolled along the deck. The sun has gone down but it was still very hot.

We went to Horizon court for milk and a cookie and then returned to our room.

I turned on the Wake Show and we discovered that Ken has won this time, so it appears as if he will have a special pen also.

Tomorrow ( Sunday May 1^st) is San Juan Del Sur.