PandaBear62

I ordered the French onion soup for you tonight. No chick peas or dressing!

Princess (the Ruby) And to be clear, when I say “really dressing up” I’m talking women in cocktail and formal dresses, men in traditional suits with coat and tie or tuxes.

LOL!!!!

I think that’s a misprint. The French onion soup is regular. The chickpeas and Caesar dressing are in the Caesar salad.

I ordered an iced coffee for your today. Non fat latte with one pump of syrup. It was good

Somehow I missed this post! Cole is our cruise director and he is adorable. Only 26, the youngest in the fleet. I think the activities staff is excellent. here is the crew:

We are on day 10. One thing I’ve noticed is that most people are not really dressing up at all on formal night. The first formal night I wore my “flowy” dress with a scarf/pashmina and flats…..I would say there were only maybe 20%-30% of the people dressier than me. The majority fell in my range….nice pants and a dressier top or simple dress. The second night I wore my LBD and kimono and my flats and I felt the dressiness was even less. We haven’t had the third formal night.

We actually brought insect repellant wipes (forgot to note, sorry) and have not used them at all through the canal. I would certainly agree to pack them, I was just surprised I didn’t need them. excursions we did: Costa Rica: sloth sanctuary and butterflies Panama City: boat ride through the old locks Cartagena: mangrove canoe ride and walking tour of the old city. I also did not spend tons of time by the pool-too humid for me-but of course, that varies by person.

Saturday April 22 We had an extra hour of sleep, but our phones didn’t change on the ships internet. So between the engines of the ship and making sure we didn’t oversleep our excursion, we were up early. Remember when I said there were app problems at the beginning of the trip? We changed todays excursion but our friends excursion was wrong. We had gone up together to make sure there were no issues. Unfortunately, she didn’t check the tickets when the arrived. So do so! This tour was sold out, but in waiting until the very last minute, she got on this excursion. No delays today in taking off and we drive to the first stop, the sloth sanctuary. This is someplace I really wanted to see. We arrived after about 1 ¾ hours. Groups of 16-18 were sent with a volunteer to tour the sanctuary. I LOVED it! The sanctuary utilized many volunteers and take in animals that are abused or were pets whose owners can no longer care for them. Some are orphans. Most of the animals cannot be rehabilitated to live in the wild. Some of the animals can roam free. Others need to be in enclosures because they can be aggressive towards humans (especially those that were abused) Now my rant…..we are in a big bus and I HATE big bus tours. We’ve now been on the bus for 20 minutes waiting for a group of people who haven’t bothered to return. Dh likes the security of a ships tour and I am more adventurous. So I am sitting here fuming. Okay, we’ve now left 25 minutes after the other bus, and my rant is over and my attitude back where it should be. We drove to the Arial Tram (90 minutes). It took more time because we got stuck behind a tow truck pulling a big rig cab. We had lunch here and it was quite good. Chicken or beef, rice and beans, cabbage with salsa (unusual but good). Dh and I bought a local beer. We then took a “nature walk” with a guide and she was very informative. a March of ants carrying leaves to their destination…..I wish I could share the video! They have a small butterfly solarium and we were told that the butterflies in there live about 14 days. In the wild, maybe 1-2 days because so many animals will eat them. We then took the arial tram. It really was beautiful views. We even saw a toucan high up in a tree! We then boarded the bus after a quick bathroom break and buying some cold water. (As an aside, the bathrooms were very clean here!) It started to rain on the way back….so glad it wasn’t while we were on the tour! A little excitement on the way back to the pier…..a car just stopped on the road. Our bus driver honked, hit the brakes and we slowed to a stop to avoid hitting the car. Thank goodness we had such an observant driver or things could have been very bad. Back to the ship, we met friends for dinner at the buffet. I’m not typically a big buffet person, but I made an eclectic plate of green beans with onions, mashed potatoes, German potato salad (although it had a mustard vinaigrette, which is not at all German style but it was good) and black bean salad. Being a CA girl, I always loved going to Cracker Barrel when we visit the south. My plate was like a cracker barrel vegetable plate! (I don’t really care for most meats in gravy or sauces, which are often of buffets). Then I indulged in bread pudding for dessert, which I love. Here is the menu from the dining room: We went up to the Explorers Lounge to play music trivia and it was country music. We didn’t do too bad, with 19 out of 30. We then got a little punchy and started our own music trivia game, playing songs from our phones until the band there returned. My friends went to their rooms and dh and I went to Crooners again, since the pianist started at 9. We met another couple (Bruce and Nancy) and enjoyed chatting with them until we went up to our room at 11.

Friday April 21 Patters: I slept until 9:45 today after falling asleep a little after midnight last night. I have not slept like that since we boarded the cruise so I am feeling great. I was sure dh was by the International Cafe reading and I was correct. On the way I was stopped by someone from the art gallery to guess the price of a painting. The artist was Peter Max. The “hint” was it was between 80-140k! Good grief! I was stunned. I guessed 111k and went to find dh who was in Vines. I checked in with him and then returned to the room to change for the thermal spa. When I got there it was empty, but another couple joined shortly after. I love the ceramic loungers. It’s warm without being too hot. So I read and just relaxed. After the thermal spa I decided to try the buffet (I hadn’t eaten there yet). The buffet on the Ruby is very small. I had a salad from the salad bar and that was small. I was not impressed and don’t plan to go back. I ended up walking out to the pool area and had a slice of pizza. I met up with dh and we read a bit in the room and then met up with friends to play cards. They brought a new game for me: Skipbo. We played up in the Adiago Lounge until it was time to get ready for dinner. Our friends went to the Crown Grill but dh and I chose not to. We went to the dining room and it was another formal night. Once again, not a lot of people were dressed up really formal. I didn’t care for many of the dinner choices. Menu: The beef satay wasn’t bad and I liked the peanut sauce better tonight (more flavor). The salad was a salad, nothing special. I had the lentil cakes and they were okay. I did forget to snap the dessert menu, but I had key lime pie and it was excellent. Dh and I went to the room to change and get his kindle and went back to Adiago to read. Our friends joined us and we played cards (We didn’t care for the evening activities and we live to play cards) We played cards and then left to go to bed. We had to be at the aprincess Theater at 7:20, but were happy to be gaining an hour

The commentator during the Panama Canal cruise day announced the web page you could send to friends and family that showed ships going through different locks. I just went to the page myself and screen shot it.

Our cruise went through the new locks and our boat tour through the old. A great combination. We actually planned to go to the casino last night (even had cash to do so) but then decided to go to Crooners instead. We’ve been through the casino a couple of times and it wasn’t too smoky, but haven’t been at night. I’ll let you know!

This part of the excursion (the boat ride through the locks) was fantastic. The guide for this essentially talked about the canal, Panama, etc for the 3 hours we were in the boat. It was amazing. For the second set of locks, we stayed in the back of the boat, to see the gates close (we couldn’t see in front because of the large freighter) We transferred to the busses that brought us and it took us about two hours to return (this included about 20 plus minutes by the pier waiting). The city “tour” was essentially nothing for me. I’m not sure if it actually added time back or not. We were walking on the ship about 2:30. We went back to our cabin and took a nap before dinner. Between the early rising and the humidity, I was exhausted. We joined our friends for dinner Menus: I had the scallops which were reasonably good and the orange and fennel salad, which I really liked. Dessert: the cherries jubilee which was also good because the cherries weren’t too sweet. After dinner we went to the Colors of the World production and I thought it was significantly better than the Stardust show. We then went to the Crooners Lounge, which we have not been to before. The music was nice and a good volume…some of the music has been SO loud. We stayed until about 11 and headed back to our cabin.

Thursday April 20 Patters for today As I mentioned, we had to be at the Princess Theater for our excursion at 6am. Unfortunately, due to some delays we didn’t leave until 7am. While I’m not necessarily a late sleep (under normal circumstances), waking up at 5 was early for me. I was a little concerned, as our ticket said there wouldn’t be access to a bathroom for 4 hours. And while I should have read our ticket more carefully, it was never mentioned in the tour description. I have some intestinal issues as well as “tb” (tiny bladder) so I was kind of panicking. I thought about just bailing at the last minute and sending dh. I then decided I wouldn’t eat or drink for the entire tour (8 hours) and dumped my morning coffee. We loaded a bus for a very short (maybe 5 minutes) trip to get on to our boat. Once we boarded the boat it was announced there was a toilet on the lower level. Whew! We had a little delay as we waited for the canal pilot to board. We have a tour guide per bus (for the way there and back) and a guide on the boat who essentially narrates the entire trip. This trip is through the old locks, which is really a great comparison to sailing through the new locks. You can really see being in a small boat. When we entered the old locks, we were so low with the canal edges so high, it was quite hot. You could really tell as we rose, because the breeze came back. If you look at the pictures above, look at the line where the red and black on the boat meet. You can really tell how much we rose that way. There are little cars on tracks like railroad tracks. They attach to large ships going through the old canal and keep the boat straight. We’re currently sailing through Miraflores Lake. The photo below helps show the new and old canals. More later

For us, yes. Keep in mind we are in an obstructed view room. That is basically considered the highest of inside cabin levels. So price wise, a cheaper room, so $60 a person vs the cost of a balcony is (I think) at least $1000 more per person. The view is awesome going through the canal. You are at the front of the ship, at the very top, so the view is fantastic. Early in the morning, people were three deep at the front of the ship. The service is wonderful and the loungers super comfortable. You get a free picture from the ship. I would 100% do it again. If you want it, reserve for Panama Canal day the day you board the ship.

Wednesday April 19 Patters: My friends decorated my door for my birthday: Dh was up early to see us go into the locks and take pictures. I was not. Thankfully, I had a good night of sleep (finally) so I got up at 7:45 and was at the Sancturay by 8am as they were opening. Everyone was around the windows until about 9:30, when we started cruising across Gangun Lake. The progression of the gate at the locks It’s very peaceful up here. While there is some mesh coverings to help protect from the direct sun, it was still quite sunny in the morning. By 11:30 the sun was shining but we weren’t feeling the heat. I planned to pop into the adult pool but it was empty. But I did use the hot tub. Lunch was delicious grilled shrimp and white bean salad. In the afternoon I’ve cream was offered. Staff moved our loungers to right up by the windows which kept us in the shade and made a world of difference. We have been offered cool washcloths to cool down, orange water and of course, any drinks we might like. Coincidentally, today is my birthday and this has been such a treat. It couldn’t have been planned better if I tried. Afternoon tea was served. Small sandwiches, like served in the International Cafe and small cakes and cookies. We went through the last locks between about 3-4pm. At 4 I left to go to the room as we had 5:30 reservations at Sabatinis for my birthday. My cabin attendant also had something special for my birthday: We arrived a few minutes early to Sabatinis. We had actually originally had a 7:30 reservation, but changed to 5:30. We arrived an no one was in the restaurant except staff. Throughout our dinner, there was never more than 4 dining groups. Quite a change from our Alaskan cruise last summer, when there were very few or no reservations available. Dinner was lovely and the service was excellent. It’s really a treat to eat here. We were back in our room about 7:30 ish and went to bed early, as we had to be in the Princess theater at 6am tomorrow for our excursion.

I do not know. I thought about it, but we did not.

we did the Alaska Cruise sailing out of SF last summer (July). It was great! If you are interested, send me your email and when I’m home I can share that trip report with you, if it’s helpful. It is a year old though.

I believe you can just ask for a coffee over ice.

here I am! I haven’t forgotten about you! I just had a busy day! Tuesday April 18 We had to be at the Princess Theatre today at 8:40 for our excursion in Cartagena. Not great for me, as I had an extremely bad night and didn’t fall asleep until close to 4am. But I got up, had a coffee and made my way to the theatre. The tour is "Canoe Tour of Mangrove Tunnels & Old City Stroll 8:00AM - 12:00PM". When we arrived at the theatre it appeared to be a small group. We were divided into 2 groups, each about 18 people and were traveling in a small tour van. I was pleased because I prefer smaller tour groups. The weather was quite warm and humid, I heard about 88 degrees. The tour was originally scheduled for 8-12 when I booked but was changed to 9-1, which I preferred. It took us about an hour to get the mangrove area. There were bathrooms which I was grateful for. I was glad I brought a bunch of dollar bills. We also then tipped for coconut water. We were fortunate enough to see a mama raccoon and then a nest of baby raccoons. We assume mama was out for food. We really enjoyed the canoe ride. You stop part way and there is a fishing demonstration in the water. So bring a buck or two for this as well. We then stopped in the walled city, where the old prison was now shops. I’m not a big shopper but did get a keychain for my travel tree. It was only about a 20-25 minute stop so it wasn’t bad. Next was the actual walking tour. It was very interesting and beautiful. There are vendors everywhere you go. The walled city is a UNESCO heritage site. The fortress: As an aside, being a California girl, we don’t generally get the real heat and humidity of other locations. So I’m not used to wearing hats. But I took a packable hat with me and wore it today and I was really glad. It really helped keep me cool. While it was humid, there were wonderful sea breezes and in the shade it was quite comfortable. I did laugh, because the bus picks you up right at the gangway. However, on the way back, you are dropped off at the parking lot so you can walk through the port shops. I told our guide we call that the “Disney effect”, since many Disney rides and Disneyland or Disneyworld have you go through a shop while exiting a ride. Our guide Oscar in front of the statue of Simon Bolivar. He was outstanding! We were dropped off about 1:15. We had to be back on the ship by 2:30. We were in our room because dh had another acupuncture appointment. I fell asleep as I was exhausted. We got up and went down to dinner a little before 5. I was also starving, as all I had to eat was a latte and shared croissant with dh. So I tried a tapas from Vines….a scallop and rice bowl. We went to dinner and celebrated a friends birthday. Dinner menu: I had the scallop with polenta. The scallops were seared nicely but a little chewy. The polenta was outstanding! Just perfect. Six out of seven of us had the potstickers as an appetizer and liked them. For dessert, we had ordered a carrot cake birthday cake and it was quite nice. After dinner four of our group went up to watch a game: Majority Rules Myself and two others went up to Adiago to play cards. A new server was there tonight and she was a doll. She’s just 21! I can’t believe I forgot her name already….chalk it up to too many Amalfi Spritzers. My friends were teaching me a new card game called Hand and Foot. It’s a little complicated but I started to get the hang of it. We finished by playing 3 to 13, a favorite of mine. We were back at our cabin by 11:30 to get ready for our Panama Canal day.

Monday con’t After lunch dh and I separated. I went down to the thermal spa and enjoyed the lounger. Read a little, dozed a little. It was empty when I arrived. Friends I was traveling with have a balcony so they spend more time in their room, enjoying the balcony. I have a lesser room but enjoy the thermal spa. As they say, “different strokes for different folks”. After the thermal spa I met dh in the room and we relaxed until before dinner. We grabbed a glass of wine at Vines and sat and listened to music before heading to the dining room. I did forget to tell a funny story from the other day. As I have mentioned, this cruise does skew older. I’m 60 (turning 61 on the cruise) and while I have been told I don’t look my age, im not exactly young. The tables in Vines can be crowded and I I was passing by a table, I excused myself and the older gentleman said “no problem young lady”. Made my day (and week!) Dinner menus: I had the Caesar salad (again), the chicken satay and fettuccine Alfredo. The satay wasn’t bad, but the peanut sauce wasn’t flavorful enough for me. I had the apple pie for dessert and it was quite good. We ran over to the Princess theater to see Darren Dowler for the second time this cruise. This show was even better than the first. We really liked both of his shows. He does “vocal impressions” that were quite good. We then went to the musical bingo game. We didn’t win but it was fun. This was our scorecard: We have to be ready for our excursion at 8:40, so we headed up to the room. We have been enjoying watching a Love Boat episode when we’re back earlier, so we did tonight and then turned in.

Patters from Saturday (Day 2)

While having coffee I ran into Megan, who we met the first night when we shared a table (we are now eating with the group we came with). She is traveling with her parents and all three are delightful. We discovered we’re on the same excursion in Costa Rica and agreed to try and be on the same bus with them. We chatted a bit and I headed back to the room to meet up with dh. I saw his bag of supplements and man, they were expensive. Gulp! But, dh doesn’t spend a lot on himself and treats me like a Queen. I am extremely spoiled. So if he wants to spend a lot on some supplements, good for him. In terms of budget, we typically sail in an obstructed view outside cabin. Dh likes natural light and I tend to go for the cheapest room. So this is a good compromise. We actually have a nice view as a lifeboat is next to us instead of in front of us. And with the staircase we have essentially an unobstructed view. It is Emerald 119. We 100% of the time get Princess Plus but do not upgrade to Premier. We may gamble a little bit but not much. We used to do things like wine or liquor tasting but since we now have drink packages, we don’t. We also don’t tend to shop much or bring home souvenirs. I buy a small keychain from where I’ve been. When I get home, I take off the keychain part and add a ribbon. They all go on a tabletop Christmas tree I call my travel tree. I also sometimes buy a piece of clothing if it’s something I’ll wear at home. Dh might get a nice polo with a small emblem or a funny graphic tee. We sometimes play Bingo. And I usually do something in the spa. I’ve been trying to convince dh to get a pedicure. So that’s about us. While I was in the room I received a phone call from the Sanctuary. There was a cancellation and they wanted to know if we wanted it. I said “yes” immediately and ran upstairs to see the location. Well, it was excellent! Super thrilled!’ We got our clean laundry put away and went to the International Cafe for lunch. This time I had the tomato and mozzarella with pesto and dh had a ham sandwich and a mortadella sandwich. They are all in different kinds of bread and are essentially pretty simple. Dh had the egg salad yesterday (on a Dutch crunch roll) and he has liked all of them. As an aside, dh shared that this morning while waiting for coffee, a woman in front of him was complaining that it took so lon to get coffee. There was someone taking orders, two people making coffees and a fourth delivering. There really isn’t much space there….if you want it quickly don’t go at the primo time between 8ish and 9ish. I was there around 9:30 and there was no one in line.

The app is now working fine. I do wish it showed on the daily your reservations. You have to go to different topics on the app to find them.

Which night do you mean? (For MDR) I’ve had the prosciutto sandwich and the Brie. I don’t remember what else, but I’ll start to note it. They were both good. I typically only drink vodka (with an occasional margarita) so I like the sorbetto and the Amalfi Collins (my favorite). here is the menu