LIVE - Island Princess - The Crills Down Panama Way

[The CRuIseLLS]

 

Welcome to the CRuIseLLS live (ish) holiday blog :D

I thought I’d get the ball rolling with an introduction as to who we are & where we’re going......plus, I hope it will also serve as a very big hello to everyone.

My name’s Sue and my wonderful husband is Terry. We’re both in our 50s & live in the north west of England on the Wirral Peninsular which, if you’re still none the wiser, is on the opposite side of the River Mersey from its more famous cousin, the city of Liverpool.

As this is only our 2nd cruise, we’re still relative newbies........A seven night trip to Alaska (Vancouver to Whittier) in 2012 was our introduction to spending holidays on the ocean waves. We enjoyed cruising so much, we’re not only giving it another go, we’re giving it another go on the same ship, the Island Princess :)

This cruise is 15 nights long & will last from 27th September thru to disembarkation on 12th October.

We’re travelling from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale via an eastbound transit through the Panama Canal (don’t think I’ll ever get tired of saying that, it just sounds so exciting) and we’re also stopping off at ports in Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia & Aruba.

Hope you can join us on our Panama Canal Adventure, we’re looking forward to writing all about it :D

 

 

I had a load of problems signing on to the internet so my ‘blogs’ for the past couple of days will all be getting posted at the same time, with luck I’ll be able to post today’s tomorrow (if you know what I mean :D)

 

 

 

Sue

[The CRuIseLLS]

 

27th September – The morning of embarkation

 

Woke up early embarkation morning – we wanted to get our packing done asap so we could spend the morning doing some last minute sight-seeing. Didn’t quite work out that way.

 

We did get up early but it took us ages to re-pack, I don’t know what we bought in SF but our cases are much heavier after being here for 1½ days. Once we’d eventually packed we went in search of a cable car to take us to Grace Cathedral – no luck again. Still don’t know why they’re not working. We were lucky enough to ride on them 20 years ago so I don’t feel too disappointed.

 

We told him our destination & in no time at all we were on our way to Pier 27 with excitement building every second :- D

 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2014 by The CRuIseLLS

[The CRuIseLLS]

 

27th September – Day 001 – Embarkation & Sail Away

 

It only took a few minutes to get to Pier 27 and as we got down the road a ways, we were met with a wonderful sight – The Island Princess in all her glory – I squealed (I was so excited, I punched Terry!). She looked magnificent.

There wasn’t a queue in sight as we got dropped off – I don’t know if the staggered embarkation Princess tried to implement helped or if the people who work at the pier had been practising – but there were none of the problems associated with the Star Princess’ embarkation a few days ago.

 

There was hardly anyone in the pier terminal so we (that’s the Royal we, I mean Terry) loaded our hand luggage for scanning & we were through security in no time. We got told to stand in line if we had wine so we did cos we did! and paid corkage on 2 of the bottles.

Got to say that it would have been very easy to just walk past the alcohol desk – nobody from security checked that we’d actually declared the extra bottles.

 

2 minutes later we’d filled out the “I don’t have a communicable disease” forms and then we were given our card keys for embarkation.

 

(I can’t give much of an impression of the new pier because I hardly saw any of it – from being dropped off by the cab to walking on to the ship took us about 15 mins tops. There wasn’t much chance to observe anything, except that it looked new)

 

We went straight to our room to drop off our hand luggage and then went in search of someone who would sell us an ultimate drinks package – turns out you can buy them at any bar. They bartenders fill out a form, the passenger signs it and you’re up & running in a jiffy.

For anyone wondering about paying state taxes...............although you’ve purchased the drinks package while still in port, the ship doesn’t actually charge you until it’s in open waters. I think that’s pretty damn marvellous of them – anything that saves us money sounds like a good plan to me.

We’d been upgraded to a mini suite on our last cruise so I was expecting to be just a tad disappointed with the size of our room – not so, it’s got plenty of space. The bathroom, however, is tiny – I’d read about how small the showers can be but I don’t think any description could adequately describe the tininess (yep, just made that word up), I think I’ll struggle to use it, don’t know how Terry’s going to manage. The balcony isn’t massive either but it’s big enough for us.

Put all of our posters on the outside of our cabin door (look fab & a very easy way to identify our room if the lights should fail or we have 1 too many glasses of vino ha ha).

 

Sail away was the best thing ever – going under the Golden Gate was brilliant – you could feel the excitement as we sailed closer & closer. Everyone was in a great mood – it was a super atmosphere. We were on deck 15 – it was packed but not so much that we couldn’t get a space at the railings to take clear, people free shots (haven’t counted them yet but I can imagine the total is in 3 figures ha ha). As we approached the bridge we could see all the walkers on it waving to us (we waved back, it would’ve been rude not to) and then everyone cheered as we sailed from one side to the other.

It’s an experience I’ll never forget – got a lump in my throat just remembering it.

 

We’ve chosen anytime dining and got there around 6:30, it was very busy & they were giving everyone beepers. We went to the nearest bar (name escapes me) for a wine & by the time we’d finished it, we were beeped (well we were flashed but that doesn’t sound nice!).

We had a table for 2 and funnily enough the people who were right behind us in the queue got the table for 2 that was right next to ours.

We were basically treated as a foursome – our orders were taken & delivered at exactly the same time. Didn’t worry us - we’d been prepared to share & this was sort of sharing. We both had spring rolls to start, Terry had Hawaiian Luau port for his main & I had seared basa filet with pineapple salsa (never heard of basa before but it was very nice).

Neither of us wanted a sweet (we were shattered – still jet lagged I think) so we came back to the room to find that Norman (our steward, very nice) had already done turn down & left our Panamaniac t-shirts (more of that in tomorrow’s blog) on the bed for us (thanks for the delivery Erik). Tried them on, mine fits lovely – Terry’s is too big but he reckons if we wear them on Panama Canal day, he’s going to want something loose not something that’s already clinging to him if the humidity is as high as we think it’s going to be. They’ll be getting ironed tomorrow morning (along with a load of other clothes) in readiness for our Meet & Greet.

 

After we’d put our clocks forward 1 hour, it was time for bed...........

 

Tomorrow is our Meet & Greet – can’t wait

 

 

 

 

 

[Grammyluvs]

Loving your review. We are doing the west bound Panama in Feb. Have fun!

[TLC535]

Wishing you a wonderful cruise...will be "sailing" along vicariously ;)

Edited September 28, 2014 by TLC535

[shredie]

If you can get some pics, that would be fabulous! The Panama Canal cruise is one of the best. Some of my best memories are from ours on the Coral.

[partybarbie]

I got off the ship the day you boarded. What fabulous weather! I'll be back on the Island in November. Don't miss the "On the Bayou" show.

[Kybabe]

Looking forward to your posts as DH and I will be boarding the Island on Oct. 12!

[2pbears]

We disembarked the Island the day you got on and agree with partybarbie that the weather in the City was beautiful on Saturday. Norman was our steward also and he was one of the best we have had for quite some time. Enjoy your cruise. We hope to do this cruise in the next couple of years and hope they will have a sailing out of San Francisco when that time comes.

[Bruinboy]

Great posts. I'm looking forward to more. We did the Panama Canal going the other way from Ft Lauderdale to San Diego. I look forward to "reliving" our cruise through your posts. Wasn't sure I would enjoy the cruise as much as I did. The Canal is remarkable. Can't remember exactly the book I read in preparation. I think it was David McCullough's. Enjoyed the history behind it. Love your attitude. Have a great time.

[7leagueboots]

Nice start...looking forward to more.

[nimiq]

Great start to a wonderful vacation.

Will love reading your live thread as we will be on the Island Princess Oct 23rd. All the the good will be appreciated.

 

Will read up on you later as I am working the night shift so that means sleeping during the day :-)

 

sea ya

Eric