8 Day Crossing Part 2 - She Broke The Egg!

   We are in the last day at sea with Whittier less than 12 hours away. Today at breakfast we spotted 3 spouts. People had see whales in the last few days but they were the first for us .The last few days have been spent in much the same routine as before. However, I have taken up the Zumba exercise in full and I am finally getting the hang of it. This is not Zumba gold but regular Zumba. It has a lot of high impact steps which can hurt the knees. As Walter the 27 year old instructor says, do what you can! Last night was the last of our 6 formal nights. We had our photos taken but did not win the free prints.

      After all the ball room dance classes that we have had, we are finally getting the hang of it although when the Asian take to the floor, we fade into he woodwork. They are so graceful and dance with such flare that it is hard to stay on the floor with them. We spent part of the afternoon packing but need to wait until later tonight to finish the job. We don't leave until 8 am tomorrow but need to do the U.S. Immigration exercise at 6:30. Since we are not leaving Anchorage until nearly midnight it will be a long day. We cancelled our transfer to the airport in favour of a small excursion to take up some of the day. However, I imagine come Sunday afternoon, we will be a bit tired. We still have 4 time zones to make up but that will be done in the air.

Our Prize!

      We entered the egg drop contest this cruise. Briefly, you need to drop a raw egg from deck 7 to deck 5 without it breaking. Since we have seen it done before and assisted on an egg drop on our last cruise, it should have been a piece of cake. We used a Vietnamese type hat to hold a coffee cup (it acted like a parachute) and broke the fall with some balloons. It made it safely to the bottom (as did others ) but when Judy went to retrieve the egg to prove that we were winners, the host had turned the container over. Judy had seen the hours of engineering time that had gone into the development of what was probably the best looking egg drop device. The egg came out unscathed but she did not catch it (I should have raced down there to get the glory) and it promptly fell on the deck and smashed! I made my way to the fifth floor but stayed in the background. The good news is that all entrants received the coveted Princess water bottles. At least it was not a key chain. It was a fun exercise.

    This will be the last post from the ship. If we have an exciting day in Anchorage tomorrow, I may attempt to post something. Thanks to all who have sent emails or left messages. We hope you enjoyed reading of our adventuress and seeing the photos of some of the highlights!

CHEERS!

8 Day Crossing Part 1

     It has been 4 full days at sea since we left Yokohama and as of now (Day 5 at sea) we have 3 more after today. Life at sea is not exactly the same as cruising between ports because now you are always just looking forward to another day crossing the Pacific as opposed to resting after a day ashore . Actually we crossed the International Date Line late last night and now we are on the same day as the rest of North America. Interesting part is that we actually had 2 Mondays this week! We are also advancing the clock 1 hour each nigh as we creep back to Alaska. We have another hour time change tonight.

We Won!

      Our days are filled with a few basic activities. Since Yokohama, the ship now has a real Zumba instructor. This is not gold like in Florida but “real Zumba” . It is a very hard workout for nearly 50 minutes. They started offering it twice a day, morning and afternoon. With the time changes and the early start time, Judy barely has time to make it. I usually get my coffee and start about 15 minutes after her. After that it is either ballroom dancing class or line dancing. Actually we rest during line dancing and just dance when the music is on. With all the ballroom sessions we have had, we can almost dance to whatever is playing. The instructor has done 6 basic dances and have kept the moves the same so the only real difference is the beat of the music. Last night we went to one of the venues with the live band and did some practicing! “Brazil” the instructor is probably the best teacher that we have had except for the professional that were on our Panama cruise about 12 cruises ago. The line dancing is forgettable as is to be expected. We also made it to the big indoor pool for a swim today.

      We usually spend some time having tea in the lobby bar. We find 2 empty chairs (they are grouped in fours), sit down and chat with whoever is there. Sometimes we have morning tea with our dinner companions. It is nice not sitting next to that post during dinner as we did on the first part of the cruise. We now have dinner with 2 other couples, one from Ontario, one from California. 2 nights

Formal Night Attire

ago was a formal night with the Captain's Circle Party. We won the bottle of champagne after saying we never win anything. We saved the bottle for our table so we could all celebrate. My name was also pulled for the question of the day. I won a photo of the Great Wall and a $1 coupon for the casino. Big deal. Gone are the days of winning a free drink! However with 2 wins in a row behind us we have entered the egg drop contest. We will see what happens on Friday.

    The Captain was on the PA system today with a special announcement. We immediately thought that “Nor-virus” was back. However he said that he had altered course last night and is headed for one of the Aleutian Islands to land a passenger who has a serious medical problem. There are only 300 people on the island but it has a WW 2 age landing strip. They will offload the passenger to a boat and then air evac him(?) to Anchorage. We have been steaming at around 21 knots (top speed for this ship) since last night. The transfer will occur around 11 PM tonight. He will make his scheduled arrival time in Whittier. My comment was that the Tour office will be open soon with a special tour of the island! Escape Completely the Princess way. I was just commentating today that a stop sometime would be nice! The seas remain moderate to rough but the ship has been very stable. Currently the white caps are still out there (5C temperature) but not as many as earlier in the day.

Sharing Our Chanmpagne

     We seem to have cut down on how often we eat although we do enjoy that part. Missing breakfast and trying to limit the between snacks is now the pattern. That is not as bad as hitting the food wall and not eating anything (except desserts). Glad to see the Red Wings won. Sorry for the Leafs!