lynwar

Bert was to return to the ship 11/15-12/22. He will recognize the names Lynne and Trevor.

I'm a night owl myself, but do make myself get up early on the last day. I tend to sleep in on my cruises so miss the early morning activities. We did make the 10:30 AM trivias some days but are usually eating breakfast in the HC right before it's switched for lunch. Hubby goes to bed earlier but likes to be up early. We meet in the middle most of the time. :)

Enjoy your cruises, Everyone!! Lynne

Hi

This is a marvelous photo. When you are on the ship, get up early and go up to the astro turf area around Deck 16-where the putting green is to have a wonderful perch for seeing everything while arriving back at port. I get there no later than 5:30AM but am usually up there between 4:30 and 5:00 AM, with my coffee. It's up by those two poles with the round things on top behind the Sanctuary. It's always my final "excursion". You can see over the Sanctuary from there.

It's so quiet at that time. You witness the flags going up, the final checks of the pools and decks by the maintenance people and see fellow cruisers who also enjoy witnessing the homecoming.

I also watched watched the sail away, which was a bit late today, (4:37 PM or so), but it was fun listening to the port traffic. I hope

MomK, I hope that your daughter and hubby will check out Bert Stratton in Crooners. I met him on our September cruise. Lynne with an E.

Again. What a nice photo of the ship. Thanks.

Lynne

Hi Terre!!

Nice to see you. The old gang is still posting!

We were on the Royal Princess last December and just returned to the Caribbean Princess for the first time since 2004. That was quite an experience seeing the gigantic differences in the ships, literally.

We have also been on the Emerald and the Ruby twice. Love those two ships.

Welcome back. Lynne

I recently got word that he was on the Emerald Princess in March. Perhaps he's on the Ruby Princess. I can't see him leaving out of Houston this season.

Lynne

I'm glad she enjoyed herself. Once one catches the bug and has a good experience, the magic of it all is inside and then the search for the next cruise begins. Welcome Aboard!! :)

The entertainer I enjoyed on our Sept. cruise rejoins the ship on Saturday for another short run, so I will be following the threads and watch the departure-and, the arrival back, if I can get up that early. :D. It's called "virtual cruising". lol.

Lynne

Hi,

We have had conversations about living on a cruise ship. lol. We normally don't go on excursions and have cut back on buy souvenirs for everybody. If we buy, it's for Christmas presents-like a shot glass! :D

Our big temptation is the casino. We would have to have the doors locked at all times. Even going in "for a few minutes" ends up being a couple of hours or over an evening.Every day. We've had some wins, and brought home cash, but that was to pay back the credit card. Do we spend in the thousands? No, but enough to blow our budget, sometimes.

We have the same conversation every time we go about staying out of there but....it's our entertainment while other people spend on specialty restaurants, soda and coffee cards, excursions.

And, we've stayed on the ship more the last few years.

Cruising is wonderful. We thoroughly enjoy it and it takes us back to the "What ever happened to..." because we've lost track of different entertainers and friends over the years.

We'll be back on a ship before we know it!!

Lynne

Hi Brilyn79

I'm so happy that you are enjoying your cruising experiences. We generally do it for the journey and not necessarily the destination.

I wish we could afford more cruises than one a year (we did 2 once) but we are on a fixed income so must watch our pennies. However, we were on the Caribbean Princess in September and the itch is still there. As I might have mentioned, we were on her 10 years ago. Compared to the Royal last year, it brought us back down to earth, lol, but I found that I liked the entertainer and his music and background so I want to get back to finish our conversation. He's on his break right now with his wife and small child-and other family members. There's always a draw to each ship.

Happy cruising! Lynne

Reader........

I'm glad you went up top to see the arrival in port. That is always the perfect ending to all my cruises. It is just so quiet up there at 5:30 or 6:00 AM.

All of our cruises have been good. No big complaints. We've been on the Ruby twice.

Enjoy yourselves, Everyone!! Lynne

I hope the poster with the bad cruise will try the Golden Princess again. We were first on her in 2001 and that experience set the standard for future cruises and we're up to #10 on Princess. We were thrilled with that cruise, were given a wonderful upgraded cabin (pat door A303 for me as you go by, please. :) ) which we learned we had when we arrived, and really enjoyed ourselves. We had no major complaints. I learned my way around all future ships from her-the cabin was at the forward lifts.

Maybe we will consider visiting her again, like we've just done with the Caribbean Princess, if she ever comes back to Ft. Lauderdale. We've enjoyed the ships from the Sun Princess to the Royal Princess.

Take care, and happy cruising. Lynne

Thanks for the update on Barty. That's probably the "home" ship for him. We had a good reunion and I had my picture taken with him. However, his business card did not have a valid web address so I couldn't find him again.

Lynne

Hi,

We were on the Royal Princess last December. She is a beautiful ship. Yes, the Crooner's singer had to wait until the atrium entertainment was over before he could start. I don't remember our person was, so I guess he didn't make an impression. I would like to know where Barty Brown is now. We've lost him since the Fall of 2012. We first saw him in 1998, and then not again until the 2012 cruise. I was happy to see him, as I didn't know that he'd be there ahead of time.

Have a great cruise---once you know your way around, you'll be fine because the floor plan is pretty similar to the other ships. Club Fusion in the back and Princess Theater in the front. Everything is just more spacious-like the scale is larger.

I will have to check our Patters to see who was in Crooners our week. Now I'm curious.

Lynne

I never tire of sailing out of Port Everglades. Thanks for the photos. I was right there with you.

Lynne

Hello,

We came upon Barty on the Emerald Princess in Oct. 2012, I believe. The years have gone quickly, again. We first saw him in February 1998 so missed him all those years between. Has anyone seen him lately?

Lynne

Our next door neighbors treated us to a cruise on the Sun Princess in Feb. 1998 and were our hosts, showing us the ropes. as they say. That really got me hooked and I was totally fascinated by the entire thing.

They moved away and we were able to afford our own cruise in Oct. 2001 on the Golden Princess. That cruise really spoiled us, as we were given a handicapped room with a balcony upon arrival at the terminal. There was lots of security only being one month past 9/11.

Our latest cruise card stated 10 Princess cruises, the latest being a return to the Caribbean Princess in Sept. 2014 after being on her in Sept. 2004. Last year, we tried the Royal Princess. We also sailed on the HAL Zuiderdam in 2003; Carnival Legend in 2006; Norwegian Jewel in 2010.

Other Princess ships were: Grand, Star, Emerald twice and Ruby twice.

I gradually get over each cruise when my husband says it will be awhile until the next one. However, it is he who starts researching another one. :)

I'm already hoping to get back on the Caribbean Princess once more, to finish the reunion, before moving on to another one again.

Take care, Everybody. Enjoy your cruises!

Lynne

To Skymaster-Ken,

Trevor is recalling his time on the Flavia. He and his then wife sailed on her around 1974, he thinks. It was the time when you could get a cruise at the very last minute and get on the ship before it sailed to visit people. Their cabin was very small with bunk beds and a little bathroom. It was like a large walk-in closet.

He remembers that at the dances people were going around to the different couples like it was a dance contest. People were actually invited to the Captain's table!

It must have been a good time as he always has remembers it when we speak of cruising with others.

Regards to the lovely Mrs. I hope we can attend one of the Central Florida gatherings again at some point.

I have been enjoying all the comments about this ship. It's given me a better idea of what the ship was like and rekindled some memories for Trevor. It's too bad it met such a bad end. Thank you, Everybody!

Lynne

You are welcome!! He is a wonderful person-aside from his performance. He's at home with his family during his break. He also writes lyrics for Christian music, anthems, etc. I'm hoping to get back at least one more time, now that I know him better.

Take care and enjoy your cruising. We have tended to stick with the Grand Class size, although, we tried the Royal Princess last year. Now she was a big ship!! :)

Lynne

He does have a website. ;) And, you can see him on YouTube.

What's my name? " BERT WITH AN E". :) He is now drinking a large bottle full of water and has a cup of hot water up there with him. No mention of a sore throat, but he was taking his pulse that he said got up to 150-(checking watch). That was after doing many sing a long numbers. Then, he slowed down to ballad or two to get it back down. I have his two CD's of music that span 16 years of music-Riding the Wind was written in 1992 and Infinity was the last one in 2007. The first CD is called The Best of Bert. The second one is called Infinity-all love songs, recorded in 2008, I believe. They are both good. I have listened to them several times already. I also have a DVD of him. I hope you get the chance to see him again.

Lynne

I saw that we have 10 Princess Cruises on our card. We are already Platinum so does it mean that we'll be up to 12 next time. If so, Yippee!!

For you folks who are working and looking forward to your cruise, I'd like to sneak into your luggage!! :D It takes me awhile to truly leave the ship, if you know what I mean. I haven't had a bad cruise yet!! :)

These cruise brochures and emails we keep receiving aren't helping my cause. I'd like to get back on board in November.... however, there are other obligations that must be taken care of first. Maybe in the Spring......

Lynne

Hi

Your photos take me right back to the ship. Thank you for taking the Sanctuary shots. I only saw it from outside the gate, and never got inside.

I miss all the ships I've been on but this cruise was especially nostalgic, having been on her 10 years ago and then returning for a visit.

Lynne

We didn't realize it was a b2b when we booked the cruise because it was "sold" to us as a 9 day. Hubby was surprised. However, it worked out OK. It was no big deal to go to the terminal as a group and then back on. We kept our same cabin which was a big plus, too.

The upside was that we knew the crew and entertainers and had the same cabin steward. The food was secondary because we ate up on the Lido deck most of the time because of our schedule.

I would do it again.

Lynne

Bert has continued to be on the Caribbean Princess. We saw him in September-2014. He left the ship in mid-October for a short break. He'll be returning November 15 and stay until Dec 22. He'll then be back on the ship in Feb or March 2015.

Yes, he is still really terrific and we are all "Bertified" and repeating "So good, so good, so good".

Lynne

Someone who does something similar is Barrington,"Barty" Brown. He's British. We first saw him in Feb 1998 and then happened to be on the Emerald Princess with him in the fall of 2010, I believe. I've been trying to find what ship he's been on since then. HELP.

Thanks! Lynne

We were on the Caribbean Princess 9/20-29 (5+4 day combo) and it was great. We'd last been on her in 2004, during her inaugural season. One thing we could say for sure is that the railings were always being varnished. lol. The guy was visible the first day we arrived and kept going.

After being on the Royal Princess last year and then returning to the CB, the scale was smaller, but there was no problem getting acclimated.

Have fun. And, yes, I would re-book tomorrow if I had the chance.

Lynne

Hi,

Thank you for your review. Well done, and I'm so happy that you and your wife had a fabulous week. We were on this ship in September and Toby was there as well. We sat and listened to him a couple of times. He had lots of competition in the Piazza area. I became a "Bert Groupie" and was "Bertified" by the end of 9 days. I stuck around until after his second show every night, as did some other faithfuls, as he did mostly instrumental music then-very little singing and we saw the "Serious Bert". Very talented.

The aft pool area was always our favorite spot. While we didn't swim, we ate several meals out there and viewed some sunsets. The camera never did capture the true beauty of them, though.

We were first on the ship in September, 2004, on the Western Itinerary, so enjoyed your summation of those ports. This was our first time back on her. It was a great reunion.

I'll be looking forward to your future comments.

Thanks, again.

Lynne

Al Katz was on our Sept. 20-29 sailing of the Caribbean Princess. He does have a following. He was out selling his CDs following his performance I think. Alas, we didn't get to see his shows.

I'm glad he'll get the chance to perform on the Royal.

Lynne