bluenoser2

September 22:  Embarkation Day!  Ruby Princess Here We Come!

(I did it.  I figured out how to do the pictures.  I think.  We shall see.)

Awake at 5:00 a.m. and feeling fantastically refreshed after 3 ½ hours of sleep, I remained still as a statue so that The Mr. could sleep until 7:00, when, well, nature called me.  Loudly.  All the tables were taken in the breakfast room, so we took our not-too-exciting breakfast back to the room so we could say we used the microwave there, and proceeded to re-pack and re-tag for the Ruby! We had decided to use Seattle Express shuttle service as, even with the two of us, it came to much less than the cost of a taxi, and being up and at-em relatively early, we had earlier booked the discounted 9:00 shuttle online.  Because really, who in their right mind would want to get to the port THAT early?  (Florence jumping up and down in that “I would I would” kinda way.)   We could wait at the hotel or at the pier.  We chose the pier.  Promptly at 9 a bus pulled up and the driver came out and called our names, we loaded up and had an enjoyable tour of most of the other airport hotels, before driving to the pier in a safe and quiet manner.  Except for the one lady.  She was not quiet.  She was talkative, happy, and LOUD.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that….I just noticed is all. 

 We were at the port at 10:00 and a porter met our bus with the words you love to hear “I can take luggage for anyone on Ruby Princess”.  Score!  We checked and noted that Loud Lady was not jumping at the opportunity and realized she was on the Other Ship.  Double Score.  We let him take our bags, and then watched them with the practiced eye of an experienced parent, making sure they went where they were supposed to go. 

Our initial plan had been to take a stroll on the Elliot Bay Trail towards the city since we were arriving quite early.  Plans are made to be decided against, and so we decided to stand in unity with the few others waiting to go in the building.  By 10:20 we were inside the building and heading for Priority line-ups (which really don’t help that much since at least a third of the passengers had priority boarding, but it’s fun to be able to do.) I have to say, I do not miss filling out the health questionnaire.  Well, obviously I noticed its absence, but I didn’t weep over not getting to fill it in.  Check in was super quick, and we were in Priority Boarding Group #2 and shepherded to the Platinum/Elite area where there was food and drink waiting.  We weren’t even on the ship yet and there we were – eating and drinking!

At 11:00 the Bon Voyage tour participants went on the ship, and once they were looked after, the Elite passengers followed.  We hadn’t been paying attention (I was involved with a donut) so we went up to inquire, and we were waved on.  On board by 11:10. Yes. Love that feeling of being on the ship before most and getting to explore.  It was cool (the temperature) and there were a few drops of rain, but it was fine for touring around the upper decks.  We had been on the Emerald Princess for our very first cruise when the Emerald was doing her very first cruise, so it was like going back in time and discovering the layout all over again.  Did I mention that The Mr. has a thing about NOT repeating ships?  Well, he does.  Deal with it.  I’m sorry.  That was rude.  Not fitting for my nationality.  Please accept my apology. 

It was 11:45 and The Mr. was getting a bit peckish so we headed for Horizon Court and settled on a table in Café Caribe, our favourite area.  Once The Mr. has his first bite of pineapple he knows he’s back on Princess, and there was that smile.  Having more recently been on the Royal, Regal, and Island, it took a bit of getting used to the layout again of Horizon Court – not my favourite layout, but hey!  I didn’t have to cook or do dishes – I’m all about that!

Text One. 

Text two.

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Oooh!!  Thank you for making it so easy!  

I can't figure out how to get my photos into the right spots in my review!  I've tried over on the test forum but it seems to be beyond me as of yet.  I will keep trying however, and day of embarkation will be up soon.  

SEPTEMBER 21:  THE DAY OF WAITING

When we last closed the book at the end of Flo’s last chapter, she had returned from the blistering heat of the Panama Canal to reconcile being returned to The Drawer (which really, she should have appreciated more, as it was the warmest place in the house that frigid February).  After waiting far too long to take another cruise (life got in the way), we may go down in our own personal record books as this being the least prepared for and least researched cruise of our history.  Are we becoming complacent?  I think not.  Just busy. 

And so it was, that Florence, still unbathed from her last adventure, was taken out of The Drawer, fluffed, and given new neckwear suitable for the autumnal adventure, and we began our trek which we entitled Coast to Coast Fall Fling.  For those of you who haven’t yet met us, we are a couple clinging to “Mid Fifties” status, who this time travelled without offspring, except for Florence, who never complains, never gets lost, and is pretty much the best travel companion ever – especially since she fits so well into my backpack.  OK, maybe not the BEST companion, The Mr. definitely gets that status.

For those of you who HAVE been following Florence’s adventures, a little catching up is in order.  Formerly residing in the beautiful Maritime province of Nova Scotia (in Canada eh?), we made the big move west a year ago.  Well, “big” might be pushing it, but it was “west” of us, and we did take up residence in a new to me province:  New Brunswick.  Just an hour away from our previous domicile, we are now the happy residents of a seaside resort town whose claim to fame among other things, is the World’s Biggest Lobster.  Yep.  That’s where we live now.  We have left the home of the songster Ann Murray for …. a Lobster.  Florence has yet to visit it – she’s a bit apprehensive.  We’ll get her there sometime. 

I digress.  One of the pros of our move is that we are now only 11 minutes (when The Mr. is driving) from an airport.   Another is (sigh) we still have three kids living with us and they could drop us off at the airport, so no long-term parking fees! 

The Day of Waiting began.  We waited to leave the house. Waiting STAGE ONE.   The Mr. WILL NOT book flights leaving at ungodly times of the day or night, so he had carefully booked all our flights (remember that) with this very thought in mind.  We were leaving from the bustling International airport of Moncton (insert laugh track here) at noon.  Construction demanded that we take more than the aforementioned 11 minutes, so after a circuitous route, we arrived at the airport and took our CARRY-ON ONLY luggage (because that’s the way we roll) out of the car, waved goodbye to the kiddos, and sauntered in to the building.  Watching The Mr. perform his Pre-Security Screening ritual is always mildly entertaining:  Belt off, watch off, bag of liquids/gels secured, I-Pad out just in case.  All this, while I stand motionless in my Sketchers and non-metallic clothes.  All this, before we get anywhere near security, because he doesn’t want to look unprepared.  Guess who scores the Random Body-Scan?  The Mr. of course.  Other than that, security was cleared without incident and he could re-clothe himself.   Stage Two of The Day of Waiting had now begun.

Despite the super busy airport we were in (a grand total of 4 gates, yes FOUR! But they were only using one) we were relatively on time (not the airport’s fault that we were incredibly early and were forced to wait) for our departure and after a few bumpy patches, gum chewing, swallowing whilst plugging my nose, and left ear pain, we landed, and I recovered.  My impression of Montreal has been and apparently always will be……WALKING……FOREVER.   How domestic flights can be so far from each other remains a mystery to me, but the walk was good for me, right?  Stage Three of The Day of Waiting wasn’t very long, and we were soon on flight #2, where we had not been able to secure seats together, but were in middle seats behind/in front of each other.  Because we don’t pay extra for choosing premium seats.  Again, the way we roll.  By the way, I should mention right now, that our carry on luggage all fit in easily in the places it should on both these flights.  Just sayin’.  

Once on board, another couple was in the same situation as us so we did a quick switch and everyone got to sit with someone they already knew.  Interestingly, I had mentioned before beginning our day of flights, having recently watched The Commuter, “ya know, you wouldn’t really want to see Liam Neeson walk on your flight wouldja?”.  This was the flight that (no, no, don’t get all excited) Liam was going to sit right next to us.  3 year old Liam.  However, another switch put him with someone HE actually knew, and the man who orchestrated the switch just looked at us, smiled, and said, “you’re welcome” ever so quietly. 

We arrived safely in Toronto, escaping the plane just ahead of Liam and his entourage (“Liam NO! Liam don’t do that.  Liam come back here!”).  Some walking, some facility usage, and we were ready to make the plunge into U.S. Customs and security.  After finally managing to make our way through the self-service receipting (parts one and two) and standing in line for part 3, we got to an actual real person who in all the time we had been in line had not cracked a smile in her interactions with anyone.  Most were being sent back because of some problem with luggage tags or other infractions (aha!  Checked baggage problems?  I cracked a bit of a smile at that).  She seemed to relax when she saw we had no checked baggage and when she asked “occupation?” and The Mr. (or actually The Rev.) said “pastor”, lo and behold, she smiled and after asking me my occupation (which as of the moment is “unemployed”) she affirmed my status by saying “You are a Pastor’s Wife!”  She wished us a nice trip and we were on our way, bringing sunshine and happiness into the lives of everyone we met.  Except maybe Liam. 

 Stage Four of The Day of Waiting began.

This is where I should mention again that The Mr. really tried to do this up right.  He had booked us flights on points and gotten really good connections that would get us in to Seattle early enough in the evening that we wouldn’t be too Zombie-esque.  Alas.  Stage Four was, somewhat appropriately, supposed to be FOUR hours between flights once the lovely organizers of Air Canada finished messing with all that insightful planning.  Hey!  I have a priority pass!  What a good opportunity to use it at this airport!  Well, the priority lounge that is supposed to be so special, was not – since the real one was being refurbished (for 6 months) and the one they were using was totally crowded and not looking very prioritized at all.  We decided a walk was in order, so we walked and found dinner along the way at Wahlburgers.  I think we were ever so much happier there (I know Florence was) and we had a great time and the food was delicious.  And calories don’t count when you’re in the airport, right?

Did we need dessert after that?  Of course we didn’t.  But we were trying to prepare ourselves for a week of incessant eating, so we visited Timmies (Tim Horton’s) for one last tea for me and a donut for each of us.  Waiting.  Waiting.  Long.  Waiting.  Now, Toronto is a much bigger swankier fancier airport than the Four Gates of Moncton, but another flight was being re-routed to use OUR gate.  Imagine!  The audacity!  This did not look good for our waiting.  The flight going to Fort Lauderdale had been delayed since the afternoon (said The Mr. expecting me to feel badly for them), so after the longest Final Call for Boarding in the history of final calls, they loaded on their plane, and then had to wait while another flight attendant was found for them, and then we had to wait for the incoming flight to de-plane and be freshened up for us, and we found out OUR flight crew was late due to bad weather ….somewhere.  

Sigh.  So with all that we hoped they would expedite our boarding. (I don’t know what we were thinking either.)    With an announcement that bags would be measured and any not meeting the stringent dimensional requirements would be tagged and we would be charged baggage fees for them, my bag, of course, was the one chosen to be an example for all the others apparently.  However, with a discrete kick to the edge of it (“NO!  You must not try to squish it into the measuring device!”) I watched it slip gently into place, and the Flight Nazi…er…. Attendant?....put away his baggage tag with great disappointment.  Interestingly, after easily storing my bag on the plane, I saw many, many bags far bigger than mine come on the plane to be wedged in their places.  Sunshine and happiness, sunshine and happiness.  At least we weren’t routed through Ottawa, which was suffering from tornadoes that day.

Seated together, and in front of a comedian (literally, not figuratively) heading for the Norwegian Bliss cruise also leaving out of Seattle, we settled in for the long flight with Pringles and granola bars aplenty. 

We landed at 11:08 p.m. local time.  Yup.  11:08.  The Mr.’s original plan had us getting in early evening.  Not so.  But we did have our luggage and that’s always a good thing.  I’m a little sensitive about that, ever since my luggage destined for Rome took a wrong turn at Albuquerque and ended up in Germany. The free shuttle to our hotel was another thing.  You should know (and you probably do) that to phone for the free shuttle to ANY hotel at Sea-Tac, you leave the airport, cross over the pedestrian walkway and go to the pick-up place and THEN find the phone to call.  You do not look all over the airport terminal, use the washroom, look again all over the airport, and THEN try going across to the parking lot where it is fairly obvious to anyone who is reasonably conscious, where to phone from.  After almost another half hour the shuttle bus arrived.  We were sharing the shuttle with a group of 6 or so people.  Upon arrival at the hotel, I nudged The Mr. and told him quietly to high-tail it for the front desk and I would collect our bags so we would not have to enter Stage Five of the Day of Waiting, behind all the others.  It worked.  We were in.  Sleeptime could not come soon enough, and we tumbled into bed by 1:00 a.m. (that’s 5:00 a.m. for our bodies) and fell asleep. 

Did I mention that my reviews are LONG and self-indulgent?

I don't think I can add any new information, but when we did the same itinerary as you, we booked the Embera Indian Village tour, and I have to say it was the BEST Princess excursion we've ever taken. We usually opt for privately run tours, but of course, with no other options, we took this one. It was a great tour, with a great guide. Also, we made sure we were up early so we could witness going through the locks, since we would only have that one chance (my husband going on the "ya seen one lock ya seen 'em all" principle) and first found one of the "secret-ish" decks at the front of the ship to observe entering the locks, and then as we entered, we progressed to one of the lesser known public aft decks to watch from a different vantage point (we were in an inside cabin, so you learn to be creative with your views!) We found this to be ample viewing time and could hear the running commentary that was being broadcast throughout the ship for information. Best of both worlds for us.

We took this tour a few years ago through Princess, and I copied the part of my review that pertains to that day, in case it is helpful in any way. We could not reserve a particular spot on the river cruise for the lunch. We looked at it, as others have said, as a "taste" - an appetizer if you will pardon the food reference, of a city we might never get back to. Better to have that than to not have it at all! We have no regrets and here is the excerpt from a very long review I did years ago.

So close, and yet so far...... and I’m not just talking about being in France and relatively close to Paris, but the time spent GETTING to Paris on this day. Furthermore, we did NOT get in group #1 this morning...missed it by THAT much....there was just one space left, so they decided to keep us together and we were relegated to group #2. However, we were in the bus that did NOT break down, and that was really good enough. We left promptly at 7:30. And another “so close”? That would be the seats on this bus that were clearly made for.... I don’t know, 5 year olds? People with no legs? The longest trek and the least amount of leg room. Sigh.

However, DH, again showing his intellectual prowess, had studied the atlas the previous evening (told you he couldn’t handle sea days...) and knew which side of the bus to be on to avoid being in the sun all morning. Now that’s planning. And he’s all mine!

The trip was through lovely countryside, and we stopped at a gas station for a break, along with every other motor coach in the country, and instead of waiting in line for a washroom break, I browsed. I love the part of the trip where one minute there’s nothing but trees on both sides of the highway, the next minute, we’re in a tunnel, and then....we were SO obviously IN Paris! That was exciting for little ol’ me, and a bit frustrating as all the sights were being passed by so quickly. I reminded myself that it was “just a taste of Paris”. By the 400th time ...”it’s just a taste, it’s just a taste” – I almost had myself convinced. Zoom – by the Arc de Triumph, whoosh, by Louis Vitton, Rolex.....and then we stopped at Lafayette, where we went up the “motorized staircase” as our guide Estelle would say (I was quite disappointed to discover it was just an escalator) to the roof to get our views of the city.

We had 40 minutes of free time (Paris...in 40 minutes? I don’t know of ANY guide books that give you advice for that one.) We walked a block or so in every direction, to the Opera House and around, so we could say we had strolled the streets, and returned to the store – what an amazing stained glass dome in the middle. While DH was having his washroom break on floor “-1”, I stood in awe. An entire floor devoted to women’s shoes. I pinched myself. It was still there. Every colour. Every style. Could it be? Alas, time was up, and we met our group, amazingly no stragglers.

On the bus we went, and whoosh...there was the Louvre, and on we went to the Seine and our Luncheon river cruise on the Cristal. It was very warm and very full, but we had a really nice time and the meal was delicious. I think. I was trying to eat, and see EVERYTHING at the same time. It WAS a lovely way to see Paris in such a short time. The violinist and pianist played suitable music along the way (Ave Maria at the Notre Dame, “New York, New York” at the Statue of Liberty and some beautiful classical selections in between.

Back on the bus, we travelled up to the spot where the best views of the Eiffel Tower are. That was very nice, but my favourite part of this stop was the HUGE crowd that was gathered by an appropriately HUGE screen watching France play their game of soccer in the World Cup. We were there, just as France scored a goal, and the sound that came from that field was amazing – the ground shook with their jumping and cheering. Awesome.

On the way back to port there was some serious napping going on all over the bus. We returned around 6:00.......

We will be on the Ruby Princess. Is there a shuttle from the airport to pier?

We're on that one day Seattle to Vancouver as well. We tagged it on to the end of our California round-trip from Seattle so that we can do some family visiting in BC after our cruise. I don't think they need to change anything - it's not that far for them to take the ship wherever it needs to be after the passengers have disembarked in Vancouver.

Well, for those of you waiting with bated breath to know what our decision is on how to get from Vancouver to Seattle, we, after reviewing the helpful advice given, and after re-working the points on our air miles card, found the best way to go was to fly directly to Seattle (well, certainly not DIRECTLY, there are two stops along the way) on the Friday, and get a hotel near the airport, and just get a cab to the port the next day for boarding the ship. Yay! Much simpler - we will see what we can see of Seattle at the end of the cruise before heading to Vancouver on the one-nighter. Next task - best bet for a hotel near SEATAC, and determining the best way to get to hotel from airport, and from hotel to port. My guess for the two of us is a cab each time. I think I still have lots of time to figure some of this out. Thanks all!

We did the European Explorer cruise several years ago and it was an amazing trip. If you want some light reading that may or may not correspond with the trip you decide upon, you might check out my review - it's also very good for any night you have insomnia.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1282933&highlight=European+explorer+review

Thank you all for your great help. The reason we want to fly in and out of Vancouver is that we can do it in half the amount of points that we would use going to Seattle and/or Seattle plus Vancouver. We also plan to spend a week post-cruise in BC since we have relatives to visit in the Okanagan Valley. I mean, if we're going to travel across the continent, we might as well do more than the cruise!

So really, our only wondering is that getting from Vancouver to Seattle. We don't plan to spend any time in BC pre-cruise, so we would probably fly in on the Thursday or Friday before the cruise leaves Seattle on Saturday. We want to do this particular cruise because with the exception of San Francisco, all the ports are new ports for us. (We've already done an Alaska cruise out of Vancouver.) With the extra one day re-positioning cruise tacked on, that's just for the experience and gets us back to BC where we will rent a car for the rest of our vacation.

Since we haven't made any hotel plans for Seattle yet, we are just trying to check into what transportation options there are, and where they end up, so that we would know how to proceed with getting a hotel.

Just started planning our west coast trip for next year. We will be flying into Vancouver but departing on our cruise from Seattle. It'll be a round trip cruise, but we'll be staying on for the extra day to get to Vancouver at the end. Sooooo.... we are trying to figure out the most efficient way to get from YVR to somewhere in Seattle. We don't know yet where we will book a hotel for one night pre-cruise so if anyone has advice on that we would greatly appreciate it!

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We did the Princess tour in February and after worrrying about this tour beforehand more than usual it turned out to be my favourite tour of all time! We did the long canoe ride and thoroughly enjoyed every minute.

Love the responses here! It makes me think of several things....

We choose anytime dining all the time, whether because we are travelling in a group, or because we, like others have mentioned, love having the time to be just the two of us. Our last time of sharing a table for 8 in Anytime dining was on a California cruise, where everyone else was from California. One lovely older lady sitting next to my DH kept asking over and over where we were from, and sent a paper around the table because she wanted everone's address. (We gave a bogus one.) The man sitting next to me insisted on playing with my knife during the appetizer service, so I was grateful to have ordered fish. His wife then asked for a roll from the basket and proceeded to handle every one of them before deciding she didn't want any. This was a good meal for abstaining from most of the food. And when asked what my DH did for a living, you could hear the crickets as he replied "I'm a Baptist pastor." We have yet to summon enough courage and research to go with fictitious occupations, but would love to try.

That being said, our favorite dining experience was on the Sapphire years ago when we requested a table for 2 every night and because we ate early, were always seated in the same spot with basically the same people close by. We had a delightful time with the older couple who were in the top 3 cruisers of that cruise (they didn't mention it - we just saw them at the cocktail party accepting their champagne!). They basically adopted us and would call me up to stand with them in the line if my DH wasn't with me, saying "they're with us....".

And, as a Canadian, we've had our share of stories when sharing tables....like the gentleman who asked us "what kind of currency do you use in Canada?", to which my husband replied with a totally serious face "beaver pelts."

did this with our 3 kids and they (and we) loved the cruise! Their favourites (late teenagers to twenty-somethings) were Berlin and St. Petersburg. It was exhausting, but we wouldn't have changed a thing. The weather was great in July - we had one terrificly downpouring day in Oslo which made us curtail some planned activities, but even that became a favourite memory! We did all our tours through SPB Tours, a private company that had tours in Stockholm, Berlin and St. Petersburg and they were superb! Not a single complaint about them - very professional, reliable and knowledgeable - and a whole lot less expensive than Princess tours. The other stops we did on our own. Lots of research beforehand, but that's half the fun.

Yup, that's what I've read elsewhere, but reading this blog, it sounds like she waited . . . but nowhere does she note that she nearly died of starvation while waiting (kidding, trying to copy her great sense of humor) for two hours or more, which is why I was trying to get a bit more detail from her.. . .

And here I am! Yes, there was no thought of starvation at any time on our sojourn. Eager anticipation of food, yes - starvation no. As for the long lines at Anytime Dining.....I will say it was the worst of times and the best of times. At no time did we experience the wait time you mentioned (oh my word - my computer just did that thing where the cursor jumps to a whole other place in the message - oh! and there again! - I must be leaning on it the wrong way!). Where was I? Oh yes, the only time we had to wait with a pager was the night we went at 7:30 and then only for 15-20 minutes that were enjoyed listening to the string quartet. We were not even feeling faint. At all. Well, my shoes were a tad uncomfortable, so I DID sit, but....

The other times we were there when the dining room opened, which was probably why the number of lineups and such that I commented on were at their best? Or worst? I am sure you would not have much of a wait if you were agreeable to sharing a table. We got some very disapproving looks from the head waiter for not wanting to share a table, and everyone who answered in the affirmative to the question of sharing was greeted with much warmth and friendliness.

Enjoy the day! And thank you again for your kind compliments!

Thank you for sharing your adventures with us. Your delightful storytelling enabled me to join you and Mr. and Florence on your exploits. You have brought sunshine to a rainy day.

 

If we ever meet on a cruise I would be happy to take tea with you.

And I with you! And speaking of rainy days......we're having a doozy today. Florence is tucked safely away, warm and snug (but still needing a bath) and I'm trying to get up the motivation to do something worthwhile. Other than dreaming about future cruises. Still haven't decided on what the 2018 event will be.....I sense the British Isles calling our names...with that lovely accent of course.

Speaking of "robust" statues, have any of you seen the bronzes in the large lobby area of the Grand Wailea hotel on Maui? There are quite a few of these--mostly recumbent figures, all beautifully sculpted, all at double (or more) human scale. And the models were obviously fed at cruise ship buffets, very bulbous, nearly bursting. Once I saw a worker there dusting off these statues and he was reluctant to actually touch the large, protruding hip of this naked lady as she lay there in her unclothed, shiny splendor--so he kept his distance and used his dust cloth as a fan, hoping that would do the trick without compromising his sensibilities!

lol! We have never been to Hawaii, but if we go, Florence would love to have her picture taken with the above mentioned beauties! And as for blushing - I will have to take a closer look next time we put her in an embarrassing situation - the things she's seen, the things she's done, the places she's been precariously placed in, the blush has faded - which reminds me - I really need to give her a bath - a blush wouldn't even show through all the dirt she's accumulated in her travels!

Thank you again for your compliments!

Thank you again for your kind compliments. Now I am the one blushing! And I will do my best to try to remember to provide a link from here....whenever that will be. 2018 sometime I'm sure! The Mr. seems to be "ALLURED" right now into looking at those mega-ships, but we already have our FCC for the next Princess cruise - and they always seem to have itineraries that we like the best.

As for the Florence idea - thank you! We're not up to the Elite level of Grandparenting yet, and happily waiting our turn. But interestingly, it was our children that prompted us to start taking Florence with us in the first place, when our girls were young enough to miss us when we took off without them, we "borrowed" a scrappy little zebra that one of them had tormented their older brother with in his university days.....they keep reminding me that she is married...to Larry Pylon. Larry doesn't travel well. We began by taking all those tourist shots with Florence to send to our kids and let them know what was going on. Then it got out of hand, because we took the kids with us, and THEY were embarrassed to be seen with Florence! Imagine! Embarrassed to be seen with World Traveler Extraordinaire FLORENCE. Sigh. Kids.

What an enjoyable review!!! Since I'm getting up there in years, and some of my brain cells are no longer functioning, I have forgotten where Florence is heading next. I want to make sure I don't miss her next trip ... and will you and the Mister be joining her by any chance?

 

 

Thank you all for your lovely kind words. I passed them onto Florence, and she blushed. Bruinboy, your brain cells are doing just fine - WE don't know where Florence is heading next.....so we're all in suspenseful waiting mode!

I have already decided that based on your review, Lotus Pool will be our "go to" pool! Did they serve cookie and cold milk by the pool in the afternoon?

No, I never saw the trays of cookies, or the backpack of milk (!) anywhere. They always brought out cookies at 3:30 in Horizon Court though. I tried to not mention that or The Mr. would have been sad. Not as sad as me having missed Sacher Torte. But pretty sad.

Wednesday, MARCH 1: Going home…almost.

(Bye bye flowers outside!)

Travel day donned and The Mr. really got it all right this trip (not that he doesn't EVERY trip, I'm just affirming him for all the thought he put in to this trip which totally worked - just in case HE gets to the end of this review).

Determined not to be stressed at all, we had chosen to go home the day after the cruise ended so we wouldn’t be schlepping bags around with us for the day until it was time to fly on the only available flight that day.

On this day there was an earlier flight available, but alas! It wasn’t a direct flight. But that was ok. No one was in a hurry going this direction! We were at the airport early,and spent lots of time walking, since they had checked our larger carry-ons forf ree (crowded flight and all) and everything went according to plan and schedule. It’s a long day when you have to fly to Montreal, and wait around, and then fly to Halifax.

By the time we got back to Nova Scotia it was 9:00 p.m. and we found our truck in the hotel parking lot, went out for a bite to eat, and stayed in the hotel again that night before driving to our home sweet home – which, in case you’re interested had lost all the snow that was pictured at the beginning of this review! Yay! We were all happy about that. Florence returned to her special travel drawer, happy to be home, at least for a little while.

For those of you who persevered and stuck it out to the bitter end, thank you for indulging me in my reminiscences. The Mr. has already started perusing cruise brochures. Where will our next voyage take us? That remains unknown for now –to date, we have not been on the same ship twice, nor the same itinerary twice. That still leaves a whole lot of options! Until next time then! Florence signing off.

February 28,Tuesday: Debarkation in Ft. Lauderdale.

There was no attempt at a walk this morning for The Mr. Not wanting to get in the way of deck hands who needed to be swabbing or whatever it is deck hands do, he decided to lay low. The last morning is always a surreal kind of time. Everyone was eating in the buffet when we went at 7:00 (so we’d have time to brush our teeth in our room one last time before vacating) but winter clothes have started to appear on those who will be flying to northern climes. And there are carry-ons. And people already have that look of the “real world” about them. We went for a stroll on the upper decks, and again – that strange feeling of it being deserted. No one was there except for us, watching our approach into the Ft. Lauderdale area. Quiet. Yup. Surreal.

We watched the end of yet another movie, before getting out of our room and peeking in all the vacated suites across the hall from us. Explorers lounge was our Platinum wait spot, so we huddled down therefor the next while, evaluating our time, and well, I can’t lie, sipping my last cup of Princess tea.

Our group was called right on schedule “Passengers with Other Arrangements” and we filed somberly and politely past all the crew members we met. And there it was. We were off the ship that last time. Into that real world. Thankfully, the real world had our 3 pieces of luggage we had entrusted to it the previous evening, and we gathered all our worldly belongings and joined the huge line-up for customs/passport check/whatever it is.

We were in it for a few steps, when one of the workers said “everyone just has American passports, right?” to which we eagerly shook our heads no, and we bypassed the long line-up for the wee Canada line up. Score. Everything proceeded easily and in a timely manner. Once through the checkpoint, we headed outdoors and found the taxi queue. Well, there was no queue, we just went and got a taxi. What a difference from embarkation day! There was virtually no traffic anywhere, since we had chosen not to leave the ship until after 9:00a.m. and since it was Tuesday and since there weren't seven ships in port. We were quickly transported to the airport where we were going to rent another car as we were staying an extra night before flying home. Baby steps. Transitioning back into real life can't be done all at once. We didn’t want to get back any sooner than we absolutely had to! Let’s just say that taxi ride was a third of the cost of the previous TO the port taxi on embarkation day.

After browsing the Hertz pick your own car aisle, Florence chose a sweet red Buick and we were off to Sawgrass Mills shopping centre for the day.

You would think we would be fasting for the next 2 weeks to make up for the past 10 days, but where did we end up for “tea” in the afternoon? Cheesecake Factory. Yep. I had tea alright. And more. And you know what? WE HAD TO PAY. Really. Imagine. It was good. But still…..we HAD TO PAY!

We stayed at at the same hotel that we had pre-cruise,so that was kind of homey for us. A relaxing time at the pool before the sun went down was a great way to end this last day “down south.”

So. Here are my reflections:

What I love about Island Princess: The Lotus Pool. LOVE the Lotus Pool. Love the fact that there’s enough pools for people on this ship. One can actually swim. It looked like there were enough hot tubs too, but I don’t do hot tubs, so I’m not the one to evaluate them.

Horizon Court Buffet. Location,location, location. It was just a lovely spot. Especially if you could score a window at the front. Even if you couldn’t it was roomy enough and bright enough, and there was food enough…..

The Hallway by the Wheelhouse Bar. It was cozy. It was a wide passageway, it was just a nice place to curl up with a book, no matter how bad the book was, and people watch….or…yes, I know what you’re thinking….nap.

The library. It was big, it had game tables, and games in the shelves, and it was just a really nice area to discover. It was also always open – since it was a passage to the other part of the ship.

What I missed on Island Princess: Well, it won’t surprise you that I did miss the International Café. I got over it mind you, unless I reminded myself that there was such a thing on other ships. Then I got a little wistful look in my eye….

Pizza that went later than 9:00 at the pizza place. Not room service pizza, I just liked going to the place where they made it to watch, and of course grab one, late at night.

Movies on Demand in the stateroom. This isn’t a deal breaker by any means, but we were always watching the last ½ hour of a movie and then starting it again. We liked being able to watch a movie from the beginning, on our time. Aren’t we the First World problem people.

Anytime dining that worked. It didn’t work. Well, it sort of worked. But it wasn’t like the old days. Just sayin’. I think if it were possible to get a table for 2 in Traditional Dining, we might just try that next time.

I probably have way more reflections, but I just can't think of them right now. Florence loves any ship. Any time. Anywhere. Oh! That's me too! And the Mr.

I will do that for sure Westendgirl! I do not think I ever saw Bavarian Night this cruise - I'm going with "they didn't have one" - so no one tell me "but they ALWAYS have one!" because then I will feel very sad.