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.
Day Two, At Sea – November 18
I woke up about 6:30 and sat out on the balcony writing yesterday’s blog post with the help of the Freestyle Daily newsletter.
We’re definitely off the river now but it’s still pretty calm. Some seaweed floating by – there might be a storm somewhere.
About 9:30 or so we went to the Garden Cafe for breakfast – and ate too much! A woman with a major Cushing’s-looking hump went by. I didn’t see her face but I’ve been looking for her since, just in case. We walked up to the 13th deck, the Sun Deck and wandered around.
I had signed us up for the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet and I was sure that it was at 11:00 am in the Star Bar on the other end of 13 but when I looked at my phone, the time said 10:00 so I was sure we’d missed it.
We sat on 12 of a while, by the pool, just relaxing and decided to go shopping. I needed some glue for one of my sandal soles that was leaving the rest of the sandal.
When we got up, I saw a guy in a Cruise Critic tshirt and we followed him to the elevator. He was going to the Meet and Greet! I guess my phone compensated for the difference in time zones and we hadn’t missed it.
We got to the Star Bar and signed in just before about 10 officers came in. The heads of the various departments were introduced and answered questions. We got their phone numbers in case of problems. We were able to sign up for dinner with one of them on Cayman Island night.
Left there and went shopping. On the way, I saw that no one was at the restaurant reservation desk. We signed up for Brazilian Churr-whatever for tonight at 7:30. We’d always wanted to try that. This was a perfect opportunity at only $20 each.
Tomorrow night we go to the Mongolian Hot Pot. We did that before when Michael was with us and loved it. We’re looking forward to experiencing that again. As an aside, I am the only person I know (or have heard of) who owns her own personal Mongolian hot pot. It makes a great conversation starter at dinner parties.
Finally got to the store. I found my glue and we got a couple tshirts, one on sale.
Up to the cabin. I was reading and suddenly it was quite a bit later. How did that happen?
Out on the balcony, I finished my first book Midnight at Marble Arch: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel
Started City of Dark Magic: A Novel
Back up to 13 for Tom’s meeting and I read out on the deck, same as yesterday.
The sunset was so glorious again. Looking out at it, it looks like you can get a glimpse into heaven. I said a few words to God and reminded Him to take good care of my Alice.
It got chilly after 5:00 pm, same as yesterday. Maybe tomorrow i’ll remember to take my hoodie.
We stopped by the grill to see if they had bratwurst and sauerkraut like they did last time, but no 🙁 Probably just as well. That was a daily occurrence before.
We did get burgers, fries and stuff to tide us over until dinner at 7:30.
Back to the cabin/balcony. Tom napped, I read.
I got semi-dressed up since it was what passes for formal night here and we headed out. We thought we were following the signs to Moderno, Brazilian Churrascaria but ended up in a long hallway of cabins. Back to the elevators and tried again.
We ended up in a horseshoe shaped area, in a bar. We stood there for a few minutes and finally had to ask for help. The waitstaff indicated we should be on the other part of the horseshoe so we went across the connected part. I’m sure these all have names but I have no idea what they would be.
We got to what turned out to be the back of Moderno but we didn’t know that. Another waitperson said we were in the wrong place and we needed to go up to the hostess station at the horseshoe tip. Sheesh! We followed their signs.
Came up behind the hostess and kind of surprised her, I think, but she took us to our table. Folks explained us things to us as we were going but I missed the info about the tongs.
Excellent salad bar with Brazilian and other exotic selections. Brazilian seafood chowder and bean soup. I had the bean soup due to my seafood allergies.
I used the tongs for the little round parmesan bread balls. No problem.
Turned the little card to green to let the gauchos know we were ready for the 10 different types of meat to start appearing.
The first one was 2 kinds of sausage. One was Spanish chorizio, the other Portuguese something. I tried both and they were both good.
Then, chicken legs marinated in lime juice and chicken breast wrapped in bacon and maybe marinated in something. I just had the leg. The gaucho had trouble getting it off the skewer (maybe wrong term for this) so she indicated I should take it. I used my fork. Should have used the tongs. Oh well – next time!
Pork rib with BBQ sauce and marinated in red wine. I had trouble cutting it but what I could get was very tasty.
Various cuts of been including sirloin and filet minion. All wonderful and so tender. No fork needed.
We could have made an evening of this, one meat at a time. I was already stuffed and wanted a dessert so I flipped my card to red. Stop the meat! I missed out on the lamb but it had to be.
Mango rice pudding for me made with tres leches. I had thought it would be like Mango Sticky Rice. Similar but different. I liked it and it would be a new favorite of mine had I never had the sticky rice version.
Back to the cabin. Our steward had left us a towel animal. Tom thought it was a rabbit.
I changed my clothes, mainly to lose the heels and back out . We saw our steward and I thanked him for the rabbit. He said it was a bulldog. Oh, well!
Out on deck. We wandered around a bit then back to the cabin.
I read (and napped) for a while as Tom went online. Then, it was close to midnight so I did my Pender website work.
Then, actual bedtime.
Tonight we change our clocks forward one hour. Easy for us since we never set our watch the hour back when we got to New Orleans. We’ll be on time again rather than automatically always subtracting an hour.
The show tonight was Band on the Run with music from the 70s. We didn’t go.
Did You Know?
The Norwegian Jewel was completed on August 4, 2005 by Meyer Werft Shipyard in Papenberg, Germany after 2 years and an estimated cost of $420 million.
The Norwegian Jewel’s maiden voyage started in Europe on August 10, 2005
Approximately 1,200 crew representing over 60 nationalities work on board
1,000 gallons of paint were used to cover the Norwegian Jewel’s exterior and an additional 3,000 gallons for interior surfaces
There are 12 passenger elevators and 10 elevators for guests and crew.
Today’s Stats:
Monday, November 18th, 2013
Today’s Forecast: Partly Sunny, 77F/25C
Sunrise: 6:19 am
Sunset: 5:02 pm
Related articles
- The Copa Brazilian Churrasco: Things You Need To Know About Gaucho Style Barbecue (placesandfood.wordpress.com)
- Norwegian Jewel (en.wikipedia.org)