At Sea, Wednesday March 5 ~ Panama Canal Cruise
Weather Forecast: Sunny High 81 / Low 77
Sunrise 6:32 am / Sunset 6:06 pm
From the Navigator: After passing the Santaren Channel, Coral Princess will alter to an easterly course as we enter the Old Bahama Channel, which lies between the Great Bahama Bank and the Northern coast of Cuba. We will continue to follow the north coast of Cuba before rounding Punta Maisi at the eastern end of the island. We will then pass through the Windward Passage which lies between Cuba and Haiti.
I woke up about 8:30 and took a shower in that tiny shower stall. A removable head shower would be better in tight quarters like that.
Tom was reading on the balcony. He’d brought me coffee, a croissant, banana and yogurt. Nice!
After a bit of me writing this, Tom napping, we went up to Horizon Court for real breakfast. We almost always sat looking out the windows over the bow. It was such a nice view.
We wandered around a bit and went to the Wheelhouse where I’d planned to join the Princess Pop Choir. Tom was going to wait but ended up knowing all the songs so he’s singing with us, too 🙂
We’ll have rehearsals every sea day and a final show the last night. James, the leader, said we’d get special pins to wear. Oooh!
Our songs, complete with choreography, will be:
Oh, What a Night
Waterloo
Isn’t She Lovely
It’s Not Unusual
We Are the Champions (might not be in the final show)
Sweet Caroline
We Will Rock You
We will be wearing black and white (where have I heard that before?!?) and our pins.
I have some black shorts with me but I didn’t think that they were performance-ready so when we were walking around later, I bought some black capris (and a *few* other things)
We talked to one of the young crew members, Hannah from Southhampton. We’d seen her at the show last night. Turns out she lives right up the street from James but they’d never met until this cruise.
After choir, we wandered around a bit, toward the atrium and into a couple shops (see black capris, above) , watched a bit of “Goofy Golf” and ran into some folks Tom knows (Jim and Rosie). Goofy Golf consists of hitting a golf ball down a stairway with a right turn and hill at the bottom. The ball was supposed to go into a plastic cup…eventually.
Back to the cabin for some reading and email, Then I decided to go out to a deck to read, instead.
We sat by the Lotus Pool for a while, then out on the deck. I think I rested my eyes in both places.
It was formal night but I didn’t feel like going to the bother so we just got a bit more dressy, but nowhere near formal.
We ate in the buffet, anyway, and the main meat offering was roast lamb. Yummy!
We were a bit early for the show, but there was a string trio playing in the Wheelhouse across the hall. We went in there – they were playing Mozart, Vivaldi, Ravel, Strauss but the thing that got to me was when they played Astor Piazolla’s Oblivion.
Several years ago, Alice and I were talking about skating and I mentioned that several of the skaters were using the music of Astor Piazolla. She’d never heard of him so I played some of his music over the phone for her. She immediately fell in love with his Oblivion and ended up buying the music for herself.
I couldn’t believe that this little group was playing this, another reminder of my Alice.
There are several versions of Oblivion on YouTube, none with string trios, so I liked this the best since it showed off a violinist:
We went into the show in the Princess Theater – it was completely full – so we sat in the 3rd row. It was wonderful. The show was called What a Swell Party and featured music of Cole Porter – how can you go wrong? I was just amazed at the talent the singers and dancers have.
After the show, we went out to see what was running on MUTS. It was the end of Jobs and we stayed for the rest of that and into the beginning of the next showing.
After getting a glass of ice water, we went back to the cabin. A reminder that we change our clocks forward tonight.
Lots of promising activities tomorrow, including choir practice.
And, on TV tonight – Great Expectations. I loved that book. The movie (2012 version), not so much.
I read about a paragraph of mine (Pigeonwings) before I fell asleep.
Tuesday, March 4 ~ Panama Canal Cruise
What a day! I spent most of the first part being nervous that we would miss the ship. There were phone calls from employees that weren’t sure what to do while we were gone, emails…
At 11:00 we were supposed to check out and housekeeping came by to check on us and I told her “soon”.
My sandal broke, the part next to the heel separated from the sole. <sigh>
Finally, we checked out at noon and set off to find the place to return the rental car that we never really used. A wrong turn or 2 and we finally got there about 1:00. Tom called for a taxi. We waited and waited. Tom called again. Finally, the driver got there and we reloaded our luggage.
Fortunately, the port was only about a mile a way but there was a lot of traffic to the port and all cars had to stop and everyone had to show IDs. That slowed everything up.
Dropped off our luggage and finally got in the terminal building. It was nearly 2:00. Tom had been thinking we had until 4:00 to get onboard – I reminded him that this ship sailed at 4:00. We had to be on by 3:00.
Fort Port Lauderdale Embarkation
Weather Forecast: Sunny High 77 / Low 69
Sunrise 6:41 am / Sunset 6:23 pm
From the Navigator: As soon as all the passengers and crew are onboard and all pre-departure checks have been completed, the Captain will give the order to let go our mooring lines. Once clear from the berth, Coral Princess will make her way out of the harbor before disembarking our pilot and altering our course to starboard. We will then set southwesterly courses through the Straits of Florida toward the Old Bahama Channel, as we make our way towards Aruba.
A hustling, bustling port – not just cruise ships. As far as I could tell, we were the only cruise ship there.
A lot of people got there about when we did but the lines moved fairly quickly…until it was time to actually board the ship. That’s when you swipe your new card and they add your picture to the record for to be sure you’re who you say you are when you come back from port.
We got on the actual ship and were directed to the left. We followed lots of other folks and ended up at an elevator. Up to our cabin and our first 2 pieces of luggage were already there. The third was only a few minutes later. Very speedy!
I like this ship – Coral Princess!
The cabin is (or seems) bigger than the one on Norwegian (NCL). There is a desk instead of a couch (NCL). The couch wasn’t very practical – the desk really is.
We have a walk-in closet which is really nice. We haven’t even filled it halfway up (yet). It’s at a right angle to the sleeping area which makes it seem like a separate room.
The bathroom is small. I think the shower is smaller than NCL’s but I don’t spend that much time in there.
The end tables by the bed have actual drawers instead of open shelves.
The chairs on the balcony recline. They’re fixed on NCL.
No coffeemaker, though. NCL had one in the cabin.
We have a TV guide telling us what is on for the whole trip. The new Hobbit movie will be on later. Glad we didn’t see it in the movies.
Pool/Beach towels are in the closet. We return them to the cabin and the steward brings us new ones. We didn’t have to check them out and return them to the pool each day. Hooray!
This ship has a self-service laundry on each deck. I’ve never seen that on another ship.
We went off for muster Here, we had to take our lifejackets and put them on at one point. NCL, we didn’t take them. They showed us how to jump off the side, if necessary. Um, no.
I noted for future reference that many women on here wear white long pants. Not likely!
Tom went off to a meeting, I did some church work – uploading Sunday’s sermons.
I took a little video of the sail away and some regular pictures.
The sheriff’s boat, acting as pilot
Tom came back and wrote some emails. I think I napped. I didn’t feel like getting dressed for dinner so we went to the buffet. It seemed smaller than NCL but then I realized that they didn’t have the pizza and burgers mixed in. The buffet was all real food. Among other things, I had prime rib. Yummy!!! We got to sit right ”up front” in the center of the stern. Very impressive!
We walked around a bit, trying to get our bearings. This ship has a lot of wood on it, more “real” than the mostly metal ones I usually see. Teak tables, wooden doors.
I understand that this ship line used to be P&O from England before they became Princess. There are British hints all over, from the afternoon Tea Time, to the huge selection of teas at dinner. There are also pictures from the P&O line on the walls and 2 grenadiers guarding the casino. Tom thinks that P&O might have stood for Pacific and Orient – I’ll look that up when we get home. (Note – it is Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company)
I had wanted to go to the 7:45 Welcome Aboard show but there was some email to be sent. I think I rested my eyes.
Then, we went out and walked around some more – by Movies Under the Stars (MUTS) which seems to mostly be showing a variety of things. There are 2 movies later this week that I’d like to see. They put cushions on the deck chairs and give out blankets, popcorn, cookies and milk. It’s also right by the ice cream, pizza and grill so not too much chance of hunger.
We walked all around a couple of decks. It seems like we’re nearly alone on this cruise. Except for embarking, we’ve seen very few other people.
At 9:30, we did see the show. I thought that they would do snippets from upcoming shows but the singers/dancers did a “welcome to Princess” type song and dance and the comedian told some jokes. The cruise director, Susan Rawlings, told us a bit about what was coming up.
Walking around some more. We decided to get some pizza but they were just closing up. Back to the buffet – Horizon Court – and I had some fruit (and another egg roll)
There was a note on our bed after dinner that they would be happy to deliver whatever fruit we wanted to our cabin. Nice touch. Also, a Princess tote bag.
We had chocolates on our pillow!
Just a bit of church work, should have taken about 2 minutes, tops, but it took 11, thanks to this s-l-o-w internet connection.
I think I fell asleep almost immediately. If anything, I read one paragraph in my book.