Day 4 – Overeating recovery day!!

It will be no surprise to anyone that neither the Commodore or I were the least bit interested in eating anything till after noon today!  We didn’t get moving till around nine this morning and headed for coffee in the International Café.  Pretty soon Betty and Don appeared for their coffee as well.  Don, being a very good boy, had already been to the gym and tells us that there are people waiting outside the gym door before 6am every day to enter when it opens!!!  Good grief!

His great challenge is to beat the competition to the two recumbent bikes!  So far, his luck hasn’t been so great!  The rest of us are exercising by proxy!  Thanks, Don!!

After coffee we headed to the Princess Theater to listen to a very entertaining Professor from the University of Hawaii tell us great stuff about Maui!  This guy has great stories and knows lots about the local fauna.  He tells about the most prevalent bird on the Island of Kauai being the chicken!  Says that once you catch and kill them you put them in a pot that has some water and lava rocks on the bottom.  You then boil the chicken for 4-5 hours and then drain out the chicken and the water and eat the rocks!!!  Very amusing.

Since the lecture was at the same time as trivia, I skipped the trivia.

This afternoon they had a showing of “Argo” in the theater so we went early to make sure we had some good seats and it was a good thing because the whole place filled up fast and there were no empty seats at all.  Great movie and even though I knew the ending it had me on the edge of my seat! 

Tomorrow we dock in Honolulu!  We have loved the sea days and now look forward to being on the Islands for the next four days.  We have a car reserved and will take a drive around the island in search of a ‘shrimp truck’.  This is apparently the Hawaiian version of our ‘roach coaches’ but the cuisine is legendary!  I’ll let you know.

We also have plans to check out the new Disney Hotel to see what that is like.  Betty and Don have a timeshare on Oahu so know their way around very well.  They will be our ‘guides extraordinaire’! 

Not much else to report for now so I’ll call it a day!  Up early tomorrow to watch the sun rise on Hawaii……beautiful!

XOXOXOXO

M

Day Three – It’s all about the food!

Getting this posted a little late today because we just now got back to our room and it’s just past 11pm.  (We gained an hour the night before last and will probably gain another one tomorrow night!)

We ended the evening by going to see a comedian in the Princess Theater named Carlos Oscar.  We have seen him before and he has a very funny show.  Carlos was named the best entertainer of 2012 by all the Princess Cruises passengers who voted.  It is well deserved and he does the whole show without swearing!  What a concept!

It was good that we had that to go to since we were STUFFED beyond belief by the excellent food served to us this evening at the Chef’s Table dinner!  Omigosh!!  What a wonderful evening and the Chef is a great guy who was lots of fun.  There were twelve of us passengers participating.  The Maitre ‘D is also a kick and that made it not only delicious but a lot of fun.  We started with a tour of the kitchen and then we were served Champagne and appetizers by the Chef in the kitchen.  Even the ship’s Captain came down and spent some time with us there.  Then we moved to a special table in the dining room where we were treated like royalty and enjoyed a fabulous dinner with excellent wine pairings and we had the undivided attention of the Maitre’D and the wine steward.  We were truly spoiled and enjoyed every moment of the two and a half almost three hour meal!  Burp!

Earlier in the day we had another spectacular meal during the luncheon for the ’40 Most Traveled’ passengers.  That also was delicious and again the chef was allowed to create away from the corporate menu’s and was able to show his true creativity.  He was a really happy guy and said he loves to do the special lunches and dinners.

While at lunch we found out only a little more about the ‘person in the water’ incident which was that it was reported on an emergency line by a passenger.  It couldn’t be ignored so they slowed the ship in preparation for launching a search vessel while they conducted the count.  They were happy about the speed of the census and only had problems with a few of the passengers who didn’t comply with the instructions to ‘stay put’! 

I am still not connecting with a trivia group and only played once this afternoon with another ‘slow’ group.  Tomorrow is another day!!

Weather is warmer!  Seas are calmer!  Another sea day tomorrow and then Honolulu on Thursday!

XOXOXO

M

Day 2 – Stay put and be counted!

People often ask me why I like to cruise and it’s pretty hard to explain to someone who’s never had the pleasure.  To me, it means being able to see lots of places without packing and unpacking every day or two, not having to search out hotels or restaurants and pretty much having all my creature comforts met for an agreed on price paid well in advance!

Another reason is that we are sailing on a “city at sea” and anything can happen.  Yesterday I described the incident of needing a blood donor for a transfusion for an ill passenger.  We’ve also been aboard during a medical emergency airlift by helicopter.  Another time we had a drunken crewmember go overboard and the ship had to be stopped so search boats could be dispatched (crewmember was found alive!).  Well, this evening, another one to add to our list!  Just as we were preparing to leave for dinner the Captain came over the intercom and in his now familiar “grim” voice announced that someone had reported seeing a person in the water.  Remember, we are 1000 miles from LA and 2000 miles from Hawaii.  It’s also formal night so people are dressed to the nines having their portraits taken all over the atrium!  We are to immediately go to our staterooms and stay there until a complete count of passengers and crew could be made!  Thank goodness we have lots of wine and gin!  Betty and Don and Ed and I made the best of things and had a lovely cocktail party while waiting for 3000+ people to be counted!  I peeked out in the hall as people were returning to their rooms and I saw one tuxedoed gent coming my way carrying his dinner plate!  Very funny! 

The good news is that everyone on the ship is accounted for and safe!  The whole process took about an hour and the ship had also slowed considerably which I assume was in preparation for a turnaround should we need to search.

Once the all clear was sounded we delayed our dinner for another half hour to let the crowds disperse.  Once we took a look around it was as though nothing had happened!

The rest of the day was relaxing and the weather is somewhat overcast but definitely a lot warmer.  I played trivia but am still in search of a group.  We did get 16/20 but the winners had 18.  I’ll keep trying! 

We saw the inside of the casino a couple of times today and this evening Commodore Ed and Betty made a stand at the Blackjack table.  Don and I are chickens and stay with the penny machines!

We looked at the art up for auction and found it very disappointing so we skipped the event all together.

Tomorrow we have our “40 Most Traveled Passengers” lunch so I’ll try and find out more about the false alarm today.  We also have the “Chef’s Dinner” tomorrow evening which should be fun.  I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.

Very few kids aboard and if I had to guess I would say less than 20. 

A few wheelchairs and walkers but very few scooters. 

All for now!

Lots of love,

XOXOXOXO

M

Day One AKA “Rock n Roll”

Overnight we had some pretty significant rolling from the 18 foot swells but it didn’t seem to bother us too much.  I woke up a few times with some big rolling but “the Commodore” had no such issues and pretty nearly slept the clock around!

So we had a light breakfast in the International Café since the best coffee on this ship is available there and we stayed away from the buffet since it’s usually a zoo on the first morning.  I forgot to mention yesterday that we had a note in our room advising us that we are among the top 40 passengers with days at sea!!  Ha!  So we are invited to a luncheon on Tuesday!  Should be interesting.

I played trivia this morning with three strangers and we came in third. Didn’t even go this afternoon but will try again tomorrow to find a brighter team.

Met Betty and Don at lunchtime in the atrium and we all had the same idea to have a pizza for lunch……delish!  Went to see a “Scholarship at Sea” lecture on Forensics and CSI stuff but realized it was the same guy we walked out on last year…..so we walked out again!!  Terribly boring guy who can’t speak in public with old grainy photos…..yuck.

Still to cool and windy to do too much outside so the day was spent all indoors and that, of course, includes the casino where we made an appearance and a small donation!  I’m only down about $10 but the Commodore might have dropped a bit more!

Had a lovely dinner in the dining room this evening and got some attention from the dining room captain so we’ll continue to have the same table for the length of the cruise.  After dinner we took in a show in the theater that we enjoyed.

The seas have improved over the day and the winds have decreased slightly.  We are only gale force and not ‘strong’ gale force.  (If the truth be known, I can’t tell the difference J)  The seas are down to 12 feet and all in all it’s not bad at all.  Tomorrow should be warmer and calmer and each day should bring improving seas.

We had an announcement from the Captain this evening that they needed blood donors immediately for someone in the medical center.  Betty is a blood donor and has her card along with her so she went down to volunteer.  We speculated they might not use her since her blood was filled with a nice Petit Syrah!!  Turns out that there were many volunteers and they did test her but already had enough donors.  Hope whoever needs the blood is alright since we are really out in the middle of nowhere!

That’s about all the excitement from here!

XOXOXO

M

Embarkation day! 2/23/13

Woke up too early this morning but it was a beautiful day and I’m glad we didn’t miss any of it!

After a nice breakfast at the hotel we packed up the car and made the short 35 minute drive to San Pedro and the pier.  Of course, we were early!  No surprise there for my family members ;)  The Christiansen curse is alive and well!  For those uninitiated, the curse is “early arrival”…….for everything!!  We arrived about 11 and Betty and I dropped Don and “the Commodore” off with the luggage while she and I scoured the parking lot for the perfect spot!  Actually, the parking lot was nearly empty and we could only have parked closer to the ship if we’d had a handicapped placard!!

We were directed to the check in area where we found no lines and were quickly given our cruise cards and shown to the “priority” waiting room.  After about 30 minutes we were allowed to board and went straight to our rooms and put away all the stuff from our carry on’s and then we were off to lunch!

It was a glorious day with lots of sun and hardly any wind.  After muster drill the Captain came on the PA system and announced we were in for a rough night!  Gale force winds and 18 foot seas but by 8 o’clock tomorrow things should be a bit calmer.

We had a nice dinner in the steakhouse this evening and during dinner we could feel the state of the sea change pretty dramatically!  At first we just thought it was the martini’s and wine!

Again, it’s been a day of fun and laughs with great friends and we look forward to the next few days of just relaxing at sea.

XOXOXXO

M