TCL Chinese Theatre, Olvera Street and Farmers Market/ May 8th

This is the description of our tour for tomorrow

Tour Overview

Despite its modest beginnings as a little pueblo, Los Angeles has transformed into one of the most vibrant cities in the world: a center of business, culture, media, fashion, technology, education and, of course, the entertainment industry. Experience the highlights of the City of Angeles during this half-day, guided driving tour. Begin at your pier where you will board an air-conditioned motorcoach and set out to explore this glittering wonderland.

As you journey, your guide will point out the landmarks you encounter. En route to Downtown Los Angeles, you'll see the Museum of Natural History, the Los Angeles Coliseum (home to the USC football team and two Summer Olympics) and the University of Southern California.
Olé! Your next downtown stop is the vibrant Olvera Street, the birthplace (in 1781) of Los Angeles. Explore this colorful village featuring historic buildings and a marketplace offering traditional Mexican food and handcrafted Mexican wares.

Want to know what it's like to be in the shoes of some of your favorite stars? You'll get the chance at your next stop for and outside visit of the world-famous TCL Chinese Theatre (formerly Grauman's) & Dolby Theater (formerly the Kodak Theater) also located on Hollywood Boulevard. One of the most sought-after sites for movie premieres, this landmark theater (opened in 1927) features a forecourt with over 200 Hollywood celebrity handprints, footprints, and autographs in concrete. Feel the glamour envelope you as you take in the prints of such stars as Marilyn Monroe, Harrison Ford and John Wayne. Stroll along the sidewalk to marvel at the star-studded Walk of Fame - featuring over 2500 stars that recognize a mix of actors, musicians, directors, producers, musical groups and fictional characters.

Marvel at the glitz of old (and new!) Hollywood as you drive along the famed Sunset Strip (renowned for restaurants and nightclubs that are playgrounds for the rich and famous) and the popular, neon-lit Hollywood Boulevard - a bustling tribute to the entertainment industry featuring souvenir shops, the Walk of Fame and Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum.

Shop and dine at L.A.'s classic Farmer's Market. Back in 1934, this was open land where farmers sold their produce. Today it is home to one of the most popular shopping, dining and entertainment venues in the nation. It's also a favorite spot for celebrity sightings so keep a keen eye out!

Transfer back to your Princess ship

Las Angeles, California, May 8th/2016

The City of Angels always hovers between dream and reality. Once a near-forgotten colonial outpost, the pueblo metamorphosed into an agrarian paradise before reinventing itself as a movie colony. Perhaps no other city owes so much to the technological innovations of the 20th century, from the automobile to the airplane. Little wonder that LA is oft described as the "dream machine." In LA, reinvention is a way of life. Yet this talent for change has created a city with a rich ethnic diversity and a sizzling culture. LA is the source for trends that migrate across the country and then the world. Where else can you enjoy a Thai taco or munch on a kosher burrito? Or travel from downtown's high rises to the beaches of Malibu, shopping in Beverly Hills along the way?

May 7th

May 7, 2016,

We began our day with breakfast in the dining room. Bryan was our waiter . I wonder if these people ever get to sleep.

I had fruit and oatmeal as usual and lots of coffee. We roamed around a little and I came to the room to work on the blog.

For lunch we went to the Pub Lunch.

I had Scotch Eggs for the first time. It is too early to have my May French Fries.

 We were placed at a table for four and the other couple were from England. During the visiting and chatting we discovered that Arthur was the man who was in front of me last night, the one with the I pad that was not recording. What were the odds of that happening???. Her name was Diane and they were from outside of London. They are sailing through to Vancouver and then on to spend time with Family in Vancouver and Edmonton.

We went to the big draw at Happy Hour and we did not win.

Then I went to the EFFY buyers draw. The prize was wonderful and I came close to winning. The number ended in 4529 and I had 4528.:-(

Then it was on to the last dinner with Fred and Mary. They disembark in the morning.

Tonight they sang Happy Birthday to Nancy and we got to share her cake.

This was Baked Alaska night and we had lots of fun. The horrid Sugar Free Chocolate tapioca was on the menu. I recounted our story about that dessert and everyone had a good laugh and everyone agreed with me. We bought Baileys to go with our coffee so now we have 7 red glasses. Our collection is almost complete.

After dinner we went to the theatre for The Voice of the Ocean. Julia was a contestant and she invited us to be her guest. It was so much better than we ever expected and we had a grand time. It was so nice of her to invite us and as a result we had a front row seat. Julia did not win but she certainly deserved to be a finalist.

While congratulating her we met one of her table mates who wanted our blog address. She said she had been given a free cruise because of how much she spent in the Casino. We didn’t ask how long the cruise would be or when it would be. We didn’t ask if they want her to come back so they can try to get some of their money back or if they want to get more of her money. But either way a free cruise is a free cruise.

We finished our evening with special coffees.

Tomorrow we are in LA and we begin another cruise. Number 37 but it is only a short one. We are home on Wednesday.

May 6th

Friday May 6^th,

Another wonderful relaxing sea day.

We went to the dining room for breakfast and we were sat at a table for six. One couple was from Australia and the other one was from New Jersey. We had a good breakfast and a great visit about cruising and suddenly Jerry asked us for our address because he might want to move to Canada if Trump were to win the election. We were so surprised because no one has mentioned the US political situation before. Because he brought it up we were able to at least say a little about our feelings on the matter. We did give him our card just in case he and Debbie decided to escape what might become a disastrous situation. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry.

Around ten I checked out the Onboard outlet sale. It was CROWDED and people were buying but there was nothing that I couldn’t live without. We did go to the liquor store and we ordered our 2 bottles to take with us. We got a rum and a Frangelico. They assured us that customs never asks but we are sure that if we broke the rules and bought more that 2 that is the day they would raise a fuss. So two it was.

We decided to have our usual salad lunch in our room. We are avoiding the buffet. I know we have both gained weight on this cruise so we will be dieting big time when we get back home.

Three o’clock was the Grapevine wine tasting and since that is a perk of the black card we decided to go. It was the best attended ever. They announced that 246 people were in attendance. It was very well done and the people were very respectful and listened to the presentations, a fact that we appreciated. As usual I enjoyed the whites and let Ken have my reds after taking the mandatory sip. I just can’t seem to appreciated red wines no matter how hard I try.

This is formal night so we went straight to our room to get ready. Our canapés had arrived and before long we were ready to head out. Our dinner is at 5:15 and the performance of the POP choir is at 5:00. We found a spot to enjoy the performance and enjoy it we did. It was a very large group and the result of having that many voices made for a wonderful powerful sound. The selections performed were from The Sound of Music.. They did a wonderful job. There were hundreds enjoying the performance at every level of the atrium.

A neat aside: I was standing behind a man who was supposed to be making a video recording of the presentation because his wife was in the choir. I looked at his I Pad and the numbers on the screen were at 00:00:00 and they were not moving. So I glanced at the I Pad of another person and their numbers were changing. I watched for another few seconds and then I decided to do something. I did not want to talk in case I was mistaken and he was indeed recording. I reached in and used my finger to point out the numbers. He turned and sort of stared when my hand appeared out of nowhere. Then as I underlined the line of zeros; e suddenly looked shocked and began frantically pushing and tapping his screen. Within seconds the numbers began to roll and he gave me this look of thanks and appreciation and I gave him a thumbs up. We never did speak because as soon as the performance was over people began to move to their dining rooms but I am certain he was glad that he had a nosey passenger looking over at his I Pad.

This was formal night and lobster night. Besides the lobster that have escargot which really pleased me. They have these wonderful pinwheel rolls that they serve with the escargot so we ordered a full basket of those and the six of us who ordered the escargot were in our glory.

Ken ordered 2 lobster and I gave him mine because I was full and Pam was full also and she gave him hers. Ken had 4 lobster tails. He was a very happy lobster lover.

We got another 2 red glasses and Howard also bought a Baileys and he graciously gave us his glass so we now have five of the red glasses. We need only three more to complete our set.

At the end of our meal Caesar offered to take a group photo for us, so we all posed and he used our cameras so we all have a good picture of our infamous group. Mary and Fred are disembarking in LA so we have only one more day of all of us being together.

Because we had both forgotten our pills in the rush we returned to our room, took our pills and headed for the theatre. There was a production show tonight and it was a new one “ On The Bayou” We expected it to be good because the production shows are always good but this one was exceptional. It began with the troupe coming from the back of the theatre and marching as if part of a New Orleans funeral procession with the performers dressed in black and with musicians accompanying them. Some members of the Princess Orchestra were in the procession.

 The costuming, the singing, the dancing were all very good but the special effects and the lighting and the computer work made it amazing. Don’t miss it if you get a chance. Also it was a 45 minute presentation which was great we love the longer shows. I do not have the skills to properly describe it you will just have to go and see it yourself.

After the show we strolled a little and then called an end to another amazing day.

Our Day in Cabo

We were surprised to have our breakfast arrive at 6:50 and we had ordered it for 7:30 and a wake up call was for 7:00. But it was not a problem because we were already awake enjoying the arrival into Cabo.It was bather in sunlight so we got  great pictures.

We were amazed at how cool it was after the blistering heat. A few degrees of latitude make a big difference.

It was cool in the morning but by afternoon it was bearably hot. Good for tanning.

We went to Explorers where our excursion group was to meet . We sat with a couple who had just retired and he was on his first cruise. Their names are Judy and Joe. We spent the entire pre excursion time chatting with then and giving them some tips. We ended up sitting near them on the beach and we had lunch with them as well. We invited them to come to our room for a drink of wine before dinner. They seem to be very nice. Talking with them brought us back to our first cruise and how excited we were then.

But back to the tour: When we disembarked we ended up on a Cabo tender rather than a Princess tender. It was much smaller and that meant we were loaded and on the move before the other Princess tender.

When we arrived on shore we waited for the entire group to assemble and then we walked to the 3 waiting vans which drove for about ten minutes and left us at Casa Dorada. It was the same resort that we were at in December.

 Amazingly the guide remembered us. Last time there were only about 9 of us this time there were at least 40. We were given our wrist bands and our coupons which entitled us to a meal and a beverage. The hospitality suite was very beautiful and it actually reminded us of our time share at Westgate Lakes. It also had a Grecian tub and a wonderful patio.

We chose recliners on the sand and went into the water right away. Ken went deep but I did not. I sat in the water for awhile. By the way that was not wise. The wave action meant that sand was in places it was not meant to be in.

Back at the loungers we discovered that drinks were very reasonable. We got 2 Bahama Mamas for only six dollars which we thought was very reasonable after a month of ship prices for drinks.

The vendors were very respectful of the rope that separated us from them. Some people were shopping but when you went to the water a simple no thank you did the trick. Judy bought a silver ring and Joe got a temporary tattoo. He is going to tell his friends that he got drunk and does not remember where or when he got it. He will not tell them it lasts only 2 weeks.

Lunch was not as grand this time. It was a buffet. We used our coupons and had a second beverage.

We were expecting to see a lot more signs of Cinco de Mayo but except for a few lantern you would not know it was a special day.

Soon our 4 hours was up and we were in a van and on our way back to the pier. We roamed through a couple of markets but the pressure from the vendors makes it not suitable for browsing so we went to the tender pier.

This time we were on a Princess Tender back to the ship.

We got back to our room around 3:30 so there was just enough time to clean up and dress for dinner because we had invited Joe and Judy to stop by at 4:15. We showed them our room gave them a few more tips and generally had a great visit.

We went to the dining room and had a very nice dinner. The maitre d came by and spoke to us again. He is really am amazing officer. We all like him. The entrance to the dining room and the bars all had decorations for the Cinco de Mayo celebrations.

On the last cruises on the Regal we made a point of collecting a set of those liqueur glasses. We choose blue. On this cruise they tried to sell them to us and we said we would buy them if they had red ones. They did not. Caesar, our waiter wanted us to buy but I kept telling him I would only buy if the glasses were red.

You buy Baileys to go in your coffee and it comes in one of these beautiful glasses and you get to keep the glass. Well much to my surprise last night the red glasses appeared. We will be having Baileys with our coffee during each of the next 3 nights so we will have our set of 8 red glasses when we disembark the Island Princess. Yeah!!

After dinner we went to the show. It was billed as a funny magic . Lorenzo Clark was labeled a comedy Magician. I was not expecting much. He was much better that I expected. But for some reason I was very tired and it was hard to appreciate him.

So when the show was over we returned to our room and even though it was early we called it a night. Tomorrow is a sea day, yeah!!

A funny thing happened the other night that I forgot to comment on. Pam is a walker and the other day she walked the deck. She has a smart phone and she set an app before she began. It was supposed to tell her how quickly she walked that mile. When finished she looked at her phone and it told her she had walked that mile in 3.61 minutes. A WORLD RECORD !!! Wow. After a confused few minutes she concluded that the app had registered her speed combined with the speed of the ship. So a tip: don’t use a GPS app to record your speed when you are jogging or walking on a ship. I wonder what it would have recorded had she been on a plane??

Exclusive Beach Resort Getaway/May 5th

This is the official description of the tour we are taking today!!

Tour Overview

Cabo San Lucas is home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Your half-day tour provides ample opportunity to bask in the warmth of the sun, swim and relax on popular Medano Beach, one of Cabo's premier resorts. Luxurious amenities, a sparkling pool and a delicious beachside meal provide all the added touches to make this exclusive getaway that much more special.
A comfortable ride takes you to a luxurious beachfront property at Medano Beach. Cool ocean breezes, golden sand and the Sea of Cortez beckon you.
Upon arrival you will be escorted to a specially reserved area of the resort providing a sense of privacy and exclusivity. Receive your complimentary towel and settle yourself into a lounge chair, perfectly positioned for maximum views.
Whether you enjoy water activities or just reading a good book while working on your tan, your needs will be met in this unspoiled stretch of sand. The azure water is suitable for swimming, and there is also a resort pool if you prefer. Take a walk along the shoreline, snap some picture-postcard photos or relax with a cocktail – the day is yours to enjoy any way you like.
When hunger strikes, depending upon your time of arrival, a buffet of either breakfast or lunch is just a few steps away. Bring your appetite, as the bounty is plentiful and includes delicious options. One complimentary beverage is included, and you have the option to purchase additional drinks if you wish (credit cards accepted).
At the completion of your day, take one last swim before meeting the convenient shuttle transportation that will return you to port.
If you wish to remain longer, simply arrange your own transport to the pier

Cabo San Lucas

Millennia ago, Cabo San Lucas was part of the Mexican mainland. Then a massive rupture of the San Andreas Fault sent the waters of the Pacific crashing into the newly formed depression, creating the Sea of Cortez and the Baja Peninsula. Lying at the very tip of Baja, where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez, Cabo San Lucas - or "Cabo" - is one of the premier resort destinations in the Western Hemisphere. Swim in the transparent waters, marvel at the wealth of marine life, relax on one of the white-sand beaches or try your hand at some of the finest sportfishing in the world.

Port of Cabo San Lucas: An Overview

Cabo San Lucas is an anchor port for all cruises sailing on Mexico's Riviera and Sea of Cortez itineraries, but passengers are a small minority of the tourists who flock there. The heavily Americanized party town serves as one of the most popular beach escapes for Californians and other West Coasters who come here to let loose (spring break festivities are intense and not a proposition for the more ...

Cabo San Lucas is an anchor port for all cruises sailing on Mexico's Riviera and Sea of Cortez itineraries, but passengers are a small minority of the tourists who flock there. The heavily Americanized party town serves as one of the most popular beach escapes for Californians and other West Coasters who come here to let loose (spring break festivities are intense and not a proposition for the faint of heart). One of Cabo's major attractions is Cabo Wabo, a cantina owned by rocker Sammy Hagar. Rocks of a different sort -- El Arco, with its jagged points protruding from the Sea of Cortez, make more impressive photos.
Yet for those passing on the beer-pong tournaments and temporary tattoos, Cabo has a lot to offer. Located at the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula, Cabo San Lucas -- together with its more elegant and much quieter sister town of San Jose del Cabo -- is an ideal spot for adventure-oriented pursuits. If conditions are right, the clear waters make for great snorkeling kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, parasailing, sailing and jet skiing. The Sea of Cortez is among the biologically richest areas in the world, with pods of whales that winter offshore; if you're here in season (late December through late March), a whale-watching trip is a must.
Cabo also has some of the best sportfishing in the world, and it is the quest for marlin that put the town on the map. After World War II and the advent of private planes, Hollywood royalty such as Bing Crosby and John Wayne arrived to fish. In the 1970s, a highway was built to connect California to Baja, and the travel industry began in earnest. Now, it's hard to open a celebrity magazine without seeing photos of A-listers lounging at the six-star resorts that have sprung up in "The Corridor," as the coastal stretch between the two cities is known.
One of the downsides for most cruise travelers: There's no cruise pier, so all ships must anchor and tender passengers to the port. That means you'll need to factor in extra time getting to and from your ship. Even odder is the fact that some ships only stop for half-day visits, which means that actual on-land time can be extremely limited (although excursion providers usually time their tours to meet the needs of cruisers). However, other ships spend two days in Cabo, allowing passengers to stay out until 9 p.m. before the ship maneuvers offshore to open casinos.