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

[greenie082756]

Marla,

 

 

Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to share your cruise with all of us! Enjoyed it immensely

and you answered a question we had.

Lotus pool is covered!! Yeahh!! Guess where DH and I will be... :D

 

We will be on the Island April 2018 for 19 days. Seems like its going to be enjoyable!

 

Again, Thanks!!

[GoHuskies!]

Did you see the reclining chubby lady statue in Cartagena? The rather, shall we say, robust, reclining naked lady? If you touched her on a certain private area on her chest, it was said you would return to Cartagena.

 

Ever since, my husband has called me Princess Cartagena. Due to my, shall we say, robust, figure.

 

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!

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

I thoroughly enjoyed this review! Thank you so much!!! And thanks to Florence for posing for all the pictures! :)

 

As one who is about to embark on her first Princess cruise (after 4 Disney, 2 RCCL, 2 fathom...and 1 Emerald Seas when I was 11) - and by "about" I mean in 330 days... - on the Ruby I'm soaking up all the Princess info I can!

 

Again, thank you!

[GoHuskies!]

Well, I have read all seven pages of your great blog--didn't even find it to begin reading until yesterday. I;m looking forward to future tomes of yours from various cruises. I'm wondering, if Florence blushes, is it in the black or white stripes?

I absolutely give your writing an A+, which is something I rarely ever did as a teacher of creative writing, either in my high school or my college classes. Great job.

[bluenoser2]

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!

[Pepper0074]

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.

[GoHuskies!]

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.

 

Hey, don't sweat it, Marla. We are (or should be) able to parse the words apart as we go. My keyboard does something even worse--as I write along, the cursor jumps up (or down) sometimes several lines to the middle of something else, making gibberish of a whole paragraph! And since my eyes may be on neither screen nor keyboard, I may not know of the problem for a while--and it takes time to even find it!

 

When I am writing a log such as you are doing, I seedon't worry it as pretty much the rough draft and --OK, there's an example of what I just mentioned. So I go on-- I see it as pretty much the rough draft and don't worry about its presentation until later. But this keyboard/computer (which is an Apple MacPro laptop) does this without warning, just occasionally. (Otherwise I absolutely love the computer, having left the Windows environment and its slowness and problems behind). Keep on writing just as you are and let us worry the words apart. Great Job! We will be on the Island for the canal trip on Sept. 23, so I'm particularly interested in Florence's take on the cruise.

 

Jim and Norita--from south of Tucson, Arizona, where the thought of three feet of snow just can't register in our sun-baked minds! Although we retired here from western Washington, as waterlogged a set of people as you ever saw. When we first arrived here, I opened the trunk of the car and a huge cloud of moisture billowed out!

 

Today is Mother's Day--it was 104 degrees yesterday but the humidity was only 8%. Now that is a DRY heat!

[BruzrCruzr]

Thank you for the great reading adventure. I haven't moved from my seat since I started reading at page 1. Quick question for you - I've been reading about how horrid Anytime Dining is on the Island Princess and the waits are really long. We're fine with going with a big table, does that mean it goes faster? How long do you think the waits were? I've read that folks have waited up to two hours in line to eat.

[Bonnie1750]

I have been following along and since we took the Island thru the Canal 3/15/17 I thought I would interject. We were in the new Club Class and Club Class is assigned to a good third of the anytime dining room. We could walk in at anytime and be seated. The criticism I heard from those using anytime dining was unless they called in each morning and reserved a time there were long waits.

 

 

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[BruzrCruzr]

I have been following along and since we took the Island thru the Canal 3/15/17 I thought I would interject. We were in the new Club Class and Club Class is assigned to a good third of the anytime dining room. We could walk in at anytime and be seated. The criticism I heard from those using anytime dining was unless they called in each morning and reserved a time there were long waits.

 

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.

 

Thank you, tho, for taking time to respond. We're not in Club Class so we'll be hanging out in those long lines . . . :loudcry:

[bluenoser2]

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.

[bluenoser2]

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!

[newdestination]

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to do it.

[SeekingKillerWhales!]

Wonderful review - thanks!

 

Now I have to go find some of your old ones. 😀

 

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