Florence the Zebra takes on the Panama Canal and the Island Princess!

[bluenoser2]

Yes, I know – some of you are practically bouncing up and down in your chair with the excitement of discovering Florence the Tiny Zebra has returned to Princess. After a brief dalliance with Carnival in 2016, she has returned to her home and is quite excited to share with you her adventures down south.

 

For those of you who haven’t heard of Florence, or me (Bluenoser2),don’t feel badly. We’re just excited to be able to once again indulge ourselves in reliving this year’s trip and critiquing and praising our experiences along the way. Every experience. Every moment. If you’re going to read this review, I’m not going to lie, it’s going to take commitment; it’s not going to be short. Epic, perhaps, short, never. There will be pictures…. if I can wangle them from the Mr. who took all the good shots. I mostly just take the embarrassing Florence pics with my phone.

 

So, after the autumn breezes brought with them a totally vile and lingering case of bronchitis for the Mr., one that went on and on and on,and resulted in him wistfully looking at cruises online in between hacking, he decided we (he) NEEDED to get away and escape at least a little of our magnificent winter in Nova Scotia (that’s Canada….). With great trepidation on our part, we booked the cruise, giving ourselves a couple of days before embarkation to get to Ft. Lauderdale – “if the plane doesn’t take off, I can still DRIVE there” were his exact words I think. We don’t like to do winter cruises – I mean, we would love to be cruising in the winter, we just don’t like the stress that goes with air travel from our neck of the woods. (The very snowy and often stormy neck.)

 

We tortured ourselves for the 14 days before our February 16 flight by looking at that 14 day forecast – which, as it always does, changed every 4 hours to be anywhere from a foot of snow to nothing for our travel day. No wonder I had to use stronger hair colour before leaving, with the extra grey usually only caused by our children that resulted.

 

 

3 days before the flight we had a monster storm which caused us to spend all day and some of the next digging out from – at least 2 feet of the fluffy white stuff – you know – the stuff everyone gets all romantic about on Christmas Eve…..let me tell you, there was no one getting romantic about this –nothing says “I Love You” like shoveling the driveway together on Valentine's Day. I had already made the Mr. promise not to get us roses or take us out to dinner since the roses wouldn’t get appreciated for long enough, and we were going to be “eating out” for 2 weeks starting in two days. All that was left was the romantic shoveling date.

 

 

The forecast for our little town did not look good. We live an hour and a half from the Halifax airport and big snow was forecast AGAIN for Thursday morning – the very time we planned to leave for the airport.

 

The Mr. is the best – he managed to get us a hotel room at the airport hotel and we scurried out of our place on Wednesday evening to beat the blizzard. Florence was delighted to find that she had her own bed with lots of pillows. It doesn't take much to please Florence. That's why we let her come with us.

We did beat the blizzard, and spent the early morning in our room watching the clearing of the parking lots. We like this hotel because it has free parking - the price of the hotel is the same as the price of parking at the airport, so we like going this route. We just parked our truck close by until the winter duds trade-off was made in the morning so we wouldn't have to wear our mukluks and parkas to Florida. Then the truck was taken to it's farther away place to spend the next 2 weeks, hopefully not under 4 feet of snow.

 

We had an enormous amount of time to leisurely make our way to the airport via the hotel shuttle, and then enjoy lunch and people watch.

 

Lots of walking since we'd be sitting enough on the flight. Florence made it through security unscathed and we headed off to departures to wait.

The flight was only ½ hour late and while we looked at a few grumblers around us – we were so glad that it was going – and that it was a direct flight to Ft. Lauderdale. Stay tuned for the next installment!

[Bruinboy]

Whew!!! That's a lot of snow. Glad you made it out. Looking forward to the epic adventure.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[MGnut]

Oh! Good. Florence is back! :D

 

Following....

[retiring soon]

Hi all!

 

bluenoser2 ~ never followed you & Florence (& DH) before but looking forward to this cruise. DD lives in Fredericton & they got quite hard hit with snow this winter whereas here in southeastern Ontario we lucked out.

Have a great time!

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[cnd crsr]

So glad to see Florence cruising Princess again. Can hardly wait to hear about her adventures.:D:D:D

[riansgrammy]

Yippee!!! Another trip with Florence. :) Thanks, Marla! It's always fun to read about your adventures.

Vicki

[bluenoser2]

Because we had used airmiles to book our flights, and because we are, well, let’s just get this out of the way right off the bat,cheap - yes, we are frugal - we wouldn’t spring for the extra money it would have necessitated to book our seats earlier, and so it was that we were left EACH in middle seats across the aisle from each other since the flight was totally booked with other snowbirds seeking refuge from the storms.

I am often the middle-seat dweller on flights, so I didn’t really mind too much. The Mr. minded. I don’t think he moved at all for the 4-hour flight. (We did splurge this time and pay to check one large bag – those men’s shoes just don’t lend themselves to carry-on AND formal nights - and he is the one who likes the formal nights, just sayin’.)

I slept through the de-icing process and all of the take-off procedures and then awoke to watch a couple o fmovies before we successfully landed in Florida. Getting from the tarmac to the gate took longer than the whole flight it seemed (well, it seems that way when you would rather be using the facilities in the airport and not still wedged in the middle seat). We triumphantly retrieved our checked bag, and sought the car rental center. While a line-up of people waited for the shuttle, we chose to walk, happy to stretch our legs.

(I know, I know – some of you are tsk-tsk-ing me and muttering things about not needing to rent a car in Ft. Lauderdale…. deal with it. The Mr. likes to have his car. He likes to drive. We rented a car.)

 

 

Hertz was great – being Gold Plus meant we could just go choose our car. The problem with us choosing our own car, is that we don’t rent cars very often, so this becomes a huge occasion in our lives. What colour? What make? Will we make the right choice? Well, we chose black because we like black,and we got a Chevy that could fit our luggage in the trunk.

We did great at finding our way in the darkness that was upon us by this time, until we exited the parkade, and immediately took the wrong road. Feeling like the Amazing Race team that simply can’t catch a break, we figured ou twhere we were going and got to our hotel via the “scenic route” (aka the road with a lot of stoplights). We were staying at the Best Western on Powerline Road. The price had been right (note above statement about frugality) and we were not disappointed. It wasn’t downtown or anything but we were fine with that – because we had a rental car!

After checking in, we were more than ready for supper – it was after all 11:00 p.m. and since McD’s was beckoning us with its golden arches we figured that would do for today’s repast, and after gobbling up our morsels we hit the proverbial sack to get some zzzzzs.

Everything about our hotel was great – the king-sized bed with 6 pillows was great for us – Florence just got a chair this time, but she was ok with that. We had read on some TripAdvisor accounts that the train noises were awful at this place – I found the sound comforting and reminiscent of my childhood visits to Grandma’s house– I love the sound of a train. It wasn’t like it was going all through the night – I only heard it from a distance (cue Bette Midler) in the morning and late afternoon.

The complimentary breakfast had lots of choices and we enjoyed many of them, feeling the need to start preparing for overeating on the cruise. Feeling sufficiently strengthened we prepared to go out on the town. Maps were consulted (yeah, like that helped last night….) and off we went. Sure enough, only a few hundred feet from the hotel, we were already on a different route than we had planned, but we still got to our desired destination, so I’m not counting that as a fail.

(Desired destination.)

 

 

(Florence was really into posing at the beach....she tried to make a few friends but they weren't having any of it)

 

 

We parked at the beach and sunk our winter-white toes into the warm sand and said “ahh” many times, before embarking ........

(yeah, you thought you were getting off easy and I was already going to get on the ship…. not so!) on the Jungle Queen for a 90 minute tour of the Ft. Lauderdale harbour. Yes, it’s corny and a little cheesy, but it was also relaxing and a fun way to see how the other side lives – in very expensive yachts and mansions apparently. I bet they miss having 3 feet of snow on their front step.

(then again, maybe they don't miss snow at all.)

[bluenoser2]

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POSTS MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES OF FOOD. SENSITIVE READERS MAY WANT TO AVERT THEIR EYES.

 

 

(awwwww.....)

 

 

 

 

After more beach walking, we returned to the car and drove up to the other end of Las Olas, found parking and re-visited the Riverwalk area that we had been to a couple of years ago. And, like the previous visit, we stopped at Briny’s Pub on the Riverfront for lunch. Hey…if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Eating outside in February is such a novelty to us, I hope we didn’t look too excited! Lunch did not disappoint – we tried to be virtuous and shared a couple of items.

 

 

 

 

 

After some more walking, we returned to the car and then the hotel for a rest. The Mr. chose the outdoor pool, and I chose the cookies and tea available in the lobby. We sampled the fitness room (to justify our pending dinner plans) and then went out in our RENTAL car to Red Lobster for supper. Eye rolls? Do I see eye rolls from some of you? The only time we can go to Red Lobster is if we are in NYC, or Ft. Lauderdale. We don’t have these places of yumminess where we live. Now that we can get the biscuits at our local Costco, there is some relief, but still…. everything was great, and there were no leftovers on our plates.

 

On the way back to the hotel we remembered to make a quick stop at the Safeway on the way for, you guessed it, a 6 pack of Coke bottles. I know, I know…. I could get stuff on the ship…. but for the mere price of $3.00 we had more than enough soft drink to last us the whole cruise on those hot “gotta have a coke” days. The amusing part of all of this is having two Canadians studiously gazing at the pop (sorry – soda) display and trying to figure out the best deal – what size bottle, or can? After spending entirely too long doing this, we made our choice, and when the cashier rang it in, the price was $2 less than we had been seeing on the shelf signage anyway. We just grinned at our good fortune, and made off with the goods. (Would’ve saved a lot of time if we’d known that price earlier!).

[JF - retired RRT]

Now that we can get the biscuits at our local Costco...

Marla, I tried the Costco Red Lobster biscuit mix (add milk and your own cheese) and thought "I can do this without paying Costco for the mix.

Try it on your own.

Bisquick, milk, butter, cheese and garlic salt.

Prepare mix as directed, adding cheese and garlic.

I think they taste better than the mix.

Loving your review...carry on :D

[AF-1]

You are too funny.. Love your travel buddy

[hllwdcruiser]

Really enjoying your review! Looking forward to the rest.

[bluenoser2]

February 18, SATURDAY: Embarkation Day

(Sounds of crowds cheering in the background and happysmiles all around.) After a good night’srest, and a hearty breakfast in a very busy breakfast room attended by astalwartly cheerful attendant, we retreated to our room to make finalpreparations. Which is to say, I dranktea and read the paper, while The Mr. re-packed everything into less bags, andproperly, so that all we would have to “carry on” were our very small carry-onsthat had been previously tucked inside our small carry-ons (not to be confusedwith our large carry-ons or checked bag). What can I say? He’s amazing.

 

 

So, after watching all the home improvement shows we couldtolerate, we decided we could wait at the hotel, or we could wait at the port,and made our departure at 10:00, tootling off to the airport to deliver ourcar, and then to get a taxi. The quickpart was getting a taxi. The slow partwas getting to the port. OK, maybewaiting at the hotel a LITTLE longer would have been the more prudent choice,or at least the more frugal choice. Itwas a VERY slow drive to the port, made perhaps a little longer by the factthat The Mr. (being the conscientious type he is) had checked the e-mail thatcame THAT morning from Princess saying our ship would be in Berth 2. I had looked at the Port Everglades schedulethe day before where it said the Island Princess would be in berth 21. (just sayin’). So off we went to the alternate entry thatwould be the fast route (lol…fast…there was no fast this Saturday morning with7 ships in port) to #2. As we enteredthe port, the signs stated that Island was at #21. So we may have paid the highest pricepossible for a taxi to port from the airport. You can feel free to chime in here if you think YOU paid the most everfor a taxi in a similar situation, but I bet we will win. (Good thing we bought the Cokes ahead oftime…)

 

 

After the agonizingly slow drive to our ship where I brieflyconsidered bailing and escaping from the car, but decided against it since Iwasn’t sure how I was going to get the luggage out of the trunk, we did indeedarrive unscathed with a lighter wallet, and were quickly relieved of ourbaggage and sauntered in to the terminal through the “preferred guests”lineup. Which didn’t have any morepeople in it at that time than the regular lineup, but it made us feelspecial. (We’ve only been platinum for 1other cruise, so we still have that new-platinum-smell.)

 

Key cards were obtained quickly, and we were instructed totake our places in the “grey card” waiting area. Grey card? Well, that doesn’t sound nearly as nice as “platinum”. The woman in charge of our seating area wasVERY much in charge. Her leadershipqualities were most impressive. Therewas no passenger getting on before their appointed time to be sure. (Not that we tried…you know we’re Canadians,right?) When it was time for platinum…. Grey card holders to make their way onto the ship (around noon) shevigilantly made certain that everyone went in the proper order, and no non-greycard holders usurped the place of a ‘grey’ carder. As we made our way ever closer to the ship,we soon realized that, even walking at a slow pace for us, we were overtakingmany other passengers. We weren’t in ahurry – we just can’t walk….like that. Iwill just say that this cruise, made us feel very youthful indeed. We looked and looked and over the 10 days onboard, we counted 3 youngsters, and perhaps 4 teens. The rest may have been hiding out at theSplash pool, but I didn’t see any more than that.

 

 

So there it was. Wemade it. We came in on deck 6 and trueto our promise to ourselves, we didn’t take any elevators on the wholetrip. We headed upwards, and stopped atC729, our home for the next 10 days, met Rodolpho, our efficient and cheerfulsteward, dropped off a couple of things, and continued on up to Lido deck….ofcourse. Our cabin was the very lastinterior on Caribe. Pretty much as faraway from Horizon Court Buffet as you could get, especially when The Mr.,believing that the buffet would be aft, as every other Horizon Court he hasexperienced has been, kept taking a wrong turn. Rather than being disappointed about not having known that when webooked, we saw the silver lining – more exercise equals more justification fordesserts. Right? No? Whatever. We did a LOT of stairs.

 

 

 

 

We had most recently been on the Royal and Regal, and thisbuffet looked to be quite small in comparison. The Island is actually the smallest ship we’ve been on – once wenavigated our way through the line, we decided it was a great set-up and we hadno problems with it whatsoever. It’s notlike we were going to run out of food. The dessert area (pastries in the morning) was lovely and well presented. My favourite of the lunchtime feast was theopera slice for dessert. Mmmmmm……..

 

 

 

 

 

We dropped back at our room next before going exploring andlo and behold! Our luggage had alreadyarrived and was happily waiting for us (that’s what happens when you put brightpink duct tape on them – they’re happy all the time). We delayed exploring and decided to unpackinstead.

 

 

[bluenoser2]

Now that we can get the biscuits at our local Costco...

Marla, I tried the Costco Red Lobster biscuit mix (add milk and your own cheese) and thought "I can do this without paying Costco for the mix.

Try it on your own.

Bisquick, milk, butter, cheese and garlic salt.

Prepare mix as directed, adding cheese and garlic.

I think they taste better than the mix.

Loving your review...carry on :D

 

 

Thanks for the tip! I'll try it some day. The Mr. still just likes seeing the Red Lobster logo in our house. I could just frame it.

[chet the jet]

Great review. Will be doing this in Oct. Just would like to make one point. Could you make sure to check to see that the words do not run together. Love the little one.

[suzyed]

Hi!

Love your style of writing and your humor is similar to DH and mine!

 

We are sailing on the Island from FLL to LA....15 days with the "2 day canal experience". Is that what your's was?

 

We are traveling (actually meeting up with) some friends from Oklahoma and California on this cruise. We have all cruised together several times and have decided we don't want to do the MDR formal nights. Unlike your DH, mine was thrilled when I told him he didn't need to pack his tux!!

So what we would like to know and maybe if you still have your patters, it would be in there...what nights were formal nights? Not what "dates" of course, but what nights of the sailing. We would like to make reservations in the specialty restaurants for formal night. I know, I know, we're still supposed to dress nice, but we don't have to be "formal"

 

Thanks for your review....looking forward to more!!

[Colo Cruiser]

Great review!

[easyboy]

Nice to see Florence again. Will be following along.

[bluenoser2]

Great review. Will be doing this in Oct. Just would like to make one point. Could you make sure to check to see that the words do not run together. Love the little one.

 

 

Oh this is so frustrating! I'd like to say it's a secret code, but after checking and checking and fixing my first couple of posts, I thought I had it fixed, but I was obviously lulled into a false sense of security. I don't know why it does that - it looks good, and then when I preview post it changes all the words to join them together. Aargh. Can I blame Florence? She's not a great editor.

[Bruinboy]

Please don't throw Florence under the bus. The problem obviously has to do with an anti-humor individual, probably male, secretly hacking your posts. Need to launch a bipartisan parliamentary investigation as soon as you get home to get to the bottom of this.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[westendgirl]

Please don't throw Florence under the bus. The problem obviously has to do with an anti-humor individual, probably male, secretly hacking your posts. Need to launch a bipartisan parliamentary investigation as soon as you get home to get to the bottom of this.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

Marla - so happy to see that Florence is sailing again!! I've been following you for years and your posts are so entertaining and informative!

[bluenoser2]

aw shucks, you all are too kind. And as soon as I figure out what a bypartisan parliamentary investigation is, I'll get right on it. Inthemeantime......

[bluenoser2]

Was there ever a time when Florence was frightened, you might be asking me?

 

 

Was it going ashore in Cartagena? Traversing the rapids in a dugout canoe? Eating plantain onshore while trying to remember if your Twinrix vaccination was up to date?

 

 

No! It was none of those – it was in the next moment in our room (yes, we're still on embarkation day - hang in there with me) while we were innocently checking out things like what channel is The Love Boat on, when we were heart-racingly startled……by the loudspeaker in our room announcing Muster drill preparations. Apparently we were in the hearing-impaired room – and when that announcement came on there was no ignoring it! We were relieved to later discover no other broadcasts came over that particular speaker – the rest were in the hallway and we missed most of them. After picking ourselves up off the floor and regaining our composure, in a totally submissive and obedient state, we made sure to be on time for Muster Drill.

 

 

Exploration began in earnest, and we were delighted to discover that the Island has her own unique style and we didn’t feel like we were on the same ol’ ship. One of our favourite areas would prove to be the Lotus Pool, the indoor pool with air conditioning. Actually, just to have 2 –yes 2! - reasonably sized pools for a smaller ship was a delight to us, after being on newer ships who shall remain nameless that have drastically reduced the amount of real estate devoted to pools.

 

 

 

The library was much larger than the others I have seen – you’ll hear more about that later. (Ooooh, I know! The suspense! The foreshadowing!)

 

 

We dutifully went to Muster Drill which gave us a good look at the gym facilities – the first and last time we’d be in this room. (I had good intentions….) I thought it was a great gym with plenty of good equipment – no, it does not have windows, but who would be able to see out them anyway, what with the sweat pouring down one’s eyes as I’m sure it would be, running all those miles on the treadmills. Anyway, it was the first time I didn’t almost fall asleep during Muster Drill as I couldn’t get comfortable enough to do so.

 

 

We explored some more – discovered Florence’s favourite spot – the Splash Pool up on 16. A full 8 inches deep, this pool boasts….um…well it doesn’t really boast anything, but there’s not much activity up there.

 

 

Sailaway. The party. The hoopla. Oh dear. Our last cruise was on Carnival Vista, so to compare would be totally unfair – but that won’t stop me for a minute. Callie the Cruise Director tried valiantly to entice dancers and participants with lures of free champagne and the like, but it was like pulling teeth. Without anaesthesia. Or sterile instruments. Or a dentist.

 

 

(Sailaway Party at the height of its....er...party-ness.)

 

 

It was altogether too much excitement for us so early in the cruise, so we retreated to the front of the ship. Can you do that? Retreat to the front? Whatever. We went to the front and watched the Royal Princess make her way out of the harbour in first place. Would we be next? Alas, we were third out of the seven ships to make our way, and once we were convinced that we were a go for the cruise, we withdrew to our room to fix ourselves up for supper, so I wouldn’t scare anyone with my humidity-intensified frizz-bomb accentuated by tangles from the gentle sea breezes.

 

 

 

 

(Contrary to some beliefs about Canada, we actually didn't know these people on their balcony waving wildly at us....though if they're from the Maritimes we may be related to them.)

 

 

We had chosen, as we do on every cruise we have been on, Anytime Dining. We like to eat early anyway, and since our home time zone is an hour ahead, 5:00 feels like 6:00 to our stomachs, and we just headed to the dining room right away. We snagged a table for 2 upon arrival. I wasn’t thrilled with the location – too close to the entry – which can be highly entertaining at times, but not exactly a romantic secluded spot. Not that there were any romantic secluded spots anywhere in the dining room. I just found that area to be my least favourite. However, it would be the last time we were seated there anyway, so no biggie.

 

Skip to the next paragraph if you hate food. I had the Caribbean shrimp cocktail for starters which was nice, but not so nice that I ever ordered it again – I just felt obligated since that was the direction we were heading – the Caribbean. The Mr. ordered the fettucine Alfredo as an appetizer (his favourite appetizer on Princess…. the look on his face when he takes his first bite brings tears to the most hardened observer), and some butterflied shrimp thing (you’re impressed with my gastro-vocabulary, I can see). Prime Rib for him and Leek and Ricotta Tart with Vegetable Ratatouille for me. Oh – that was a great dinner. I gave it my first 4-star rating. Ok, that’s not saying much, since it was pretty much the first main course I had, but it was good. Very good. I can’t believe it, but I did not order the chocolate hazelnut soufflé for dessert. Nothing usually stops me from soufflé eating, but I wanted to try different things this cruise. I tried the chocolate flourless cake and while it earned three stars, I found myself gazing covetously at the soufflé on the other side of the table.

 

 

(The flourless chocolate cake, looking a little sad - I think it knew...chocolate is like that.)

 

 

We checked out the atrium in the evening. Lovely. I just miss chairs on deck 5 to watch things. They’re in the lounges, I know that, but I like the bigger ships layouts a little better. I got over it. No worries. The showtime wasn’t until 9:30 pm – that’s pushing it for us wild and crazy Canucks, but we managed to hold out for it. We were in the theatre a little before 9:00 and it did fill up totally soon after. The comedian was ok – he got better as time went on – or maybe we just got sleepier and giddier.

 

 

One of our disappointments with this ship is that the pizza on Lido closes at 9:00 – we always liked sharing it for a late night snack on another unnamed ship from last year. Oh well. It’s not like we were hungry or anything, and we do like that the buffet stays open until midnight on Princess…unlike the above unnamed ship from last year. Give and take.

 

 

We walked by the MUTS area (Movies Under The Stars) and it was the first time I’ve ever seen a packed audience! Mind you, we’ve been on some chilly cruises where one just wouldn’t want to do that – and this was a beautiful evening so I get it. Less seating too than on the bigger ships, so I’ve explained it all to myself now. Thanks for your patience.

 

 

 

End of Embarkation day. Turn the clocks ahead – oh good! We’re back in our home time zone tomorrow. (Just when we were getting used to this one!)

[bluenoser2]

So sorry for not being clear - we were on the 10 day partial transit cruise, so my patters wouldn't help with formal nights. Though I think I'm pretty safe in guessing the first formal night will be the first sea day. After that, I wouldn't presume to guess!

[jlf1]

I'm thrilled to see Florence once again and of course you and the Mr.

Judy

[G&Gcruisers]

Enjoying your style and following.

Nova Scotia is on our bucket list. We are thinking maybe Fall 2018.