At Sea Day 7 of 7

Belly Dancing Class

      Big happenings today. As we got up today we saw a bird flying by the ship, the first bird we have seen since leaving Bermuda. Then later in the day we passed 2 oil drilling platform and a small tender craft. Finally as th4e day went on, we started to see land and other ships. We had finally made it to the English channel and we were seeing the Irish coast near Cove (Cobb) which we had been to the last few cruises. Coffee and tea in the Atrium along with a donut and yogurt was breakfast. It is only the 2^nd donut that I have had on the cruise. Zumba for 40 minutes followed. We missed the enrichment lectures today. Judy has been wanting to buy a gold chain and ankle chain which took some time. She received a free gold bracelet with the purchase. We did make it to the port lecture on Holyhead just barely finding seats. Since we had a light breakfast we did go the pub lunch early where they had fish and chips. Maybe we will get some real English fish and chips ashore tomorrow.

In The Lounge

Lounge Drink

     We did go to the Rumba class (no not Little Rumba the line dance. Judy then stayed or belly dancing but she did not have her shawl. Then it was Lexi's turn for another Zumba class, the last one for 2 days as we are in port both tomorrow (Liverpool) and Monday in Holyhead. Actually after today we only have 3 sea days more. After all that it was time for an in room movie, a glass of wine and some rest before we headed out for drinks at the Elite lounge.

Chocolate Cookie!

      The entertainment tonight was a mix between the Irish fiddle players and the singer. We decided against the entertainment and just went down a little later to the lounge for a drink and a bit to eat. We have another time change tonight and then the early (7:45) report to immigration for a face to face with them. I guess with all the recent troubles that British Immigration is looking a little closer at people entering the country. We are trying to track down our laundry that has been missing (at the laundry) for about 5-6 days. I told the front desk that we would be wearing towels soon if they can't find it. When we returned to the room tonight after dinner, our laundry was there. Some of the socks were still damp but at least we don't have to wear towels to the immigration check tomorrow.

At Sea Day 6 of 7

    And on we sail. We can actually see the coastline of Europe on the navigation map that is on one of the ship's channels. We still continue to move along at about 17 knots. We have done many crossings but usually we have a stop in the Azores to break up the sea time. Crossing from Florida to England; across the Atlantic at a 45 degree angle is different. We are starting to be anxious for Liverpool which we will be in early Sunday.

Even with the time change last night we were up early enough to have a coffee and tea in the Atrium along with a muffin and yogurt. Zumba for 40 minutes followed. We both went to the enrichment lecture on cars. This one was on the British car industry through the ages. Today Britain is the number 12 in car producer. The leading producer is Mazda. He did talk about Austin Healys and did mention that they have the Lucas electrical system; so poorly designed even mechanics can't figure out why some of the pieces are inn there. The destination lecture on Liverpool followed. Since we have been before and have a good idea of what we want to do, it only gave a few ideas on what we might do. As usual, the theatre was packed. We also had a chance to put in our future cruise deposit.

    Since we had a light breakfast we decided to eat in the dinning room. It is a nice break from the Atrium or the Horizon Court but it takes a long time to be served and finish. We had nothing going until mid afternoon. I went off to see the Star Wars movie in the theatre and Judy did “Low Impact” Zumba although it was not much different from the regular class. The Elite lounge is closed tonight because there are 4 more parties for Captain Circle passengers. We decided to watch an movie. We do get Fox a and MNBC news channels. They seem to cover the campaign and everything that is said 24 hours a day! It is either that of the BBC!

Our Table

     We decided not to go to the early show tonight. The production is Born To Be Wild a show we have seen many times. Judy was still watching a movie when we were suppose to leave. Dinner with Mike and Marge followed. We wanted to go to the Crab Shack on Saturday but they were full up. We booked for May 2 instead. The roast beef at dinner was excellent as it has been all this cruise. We did pop in on one of the game shows that they hold every night that we can't get to because of the time we have dinner.

   We were informed that we will need to clear British immigration before we go ashore. This will take place after we dock. With 3100 people to go through the process, it should be quite a mess although we have been given a specific time to report.

At Sea Day 5 of 7

Ready For The Party

    Today we had a bit if a break from the routine that we have been following. I think all the things that we have been doing is having an effect as we seem to need a full 8 hours of sleep and then some. In any case breakfast at the buffet was followed by the only Zumba class today which lasted about 45 minutes. I did go the the Navigation at sea lecture when they talk about the ship. It use to be done by a very junior officer who had a hard time communicating. Today they had a short video presentation showing the changes in navigation techniques. That was followed by a series of slides detailing how the bridge actually operates. The navigation has certainly changed plenty from the days of slide rulers and paper charts. Now it is all done electronically although they stiff carry a set of charts for the areas they will sail in. There was plenty of details about the ship and the construction, speeds, foods consumed every day (18 tons) fuel use etc. He took many questions at the end of the talk. He did mention that the person who was next show.medivaced yesterday was a senior employee of Princess. He is the senior procurer for the fleet. He had a small heart attack and then a large one. We were about 200 miles from the Azores when the helicopter met the ship.

       We went to Sabitini's for lunch. They run the restaurant as a pizza place with the same menu that we found on the Regal Princess last fall. They have about 6 pizzas to choose from and you can add things if you want. They did not have the soups and salads as on the Regal. We were about the first in line which was nice for a change. We say with a very nice couple from Northern California and had a wonderful time. We finished early enough to get to the Salsa dance lesson followed quickly by the 45 minute Zumba class followed by line dance class. It was at a higher but not difficult level Same old stuff but by the time we finished those 3 activities we were ready for a rest.

Laura - Cruise Staff

      I went to the improv workshop and the waited to see if our names were drawn for the free package of formal portraits that we had done last night. Luck would have it, no luck. Then at 5:15 it was time for our Captain's circle party. There ship can hold 3700 passengers with all the extra berths in the cabins (we have one) on the ship. There are 3100 passengers on the ship, about 1000 at the Elite level. When you include all Captain's Circle members, they needed 4 parties to host them all.

     

We did attend the show – a singer from London. He did one song from Les Mis which was best. There are still long lines waiting to get into the next show. They did have a late show but since we are advancing an hour again tonight we managed the early one. Dinner as usual was very good. We have a good time with out table mates. After the rather tiring day we decided to leave the rest of the evening to the youngsters!

At Sea Day 4 of 7

Medivac

  Today started out quite exciting. We got up to a plane flying over the ship. Soon after that there was announcement that the medical transfer was going to take place at 8 am. Fire doors were closed in the passageways. I have never seen that happen before. Soon after we could hear the noise of the helicopter as it approached the ship.

The transfer took place on our (port) side of the ship. The helicopter seemed to hover directly outside our balcony. It was all quite exciting. Then it approached the bow of the ship. The transfer took place there. The last helicopter transfer that we saw was from the stern. The captain ask that the upper decks stay clear of passengers. Apparently the were many out there!

We had breakfast in the Atrium and then headed to the morning Zumba class. It seems that I am finally getting the hang of it. I can almost move my feet and arms in unison. I seem to have more flexibility that when we started on this cruise. The class continues to be quite large, especially in the morning. 45 minutes of Zumba is standard now. 

     The car lecture today was all about the muscle cars of the late '60's and early '70.

Dress For Formal Night

Dressed Up

Finally there were cars that we can remember. The Mustang and cars like that were featured. He even talked about the Dukes of Hazards. An interesting fact is that the opening jump scene wrecked the the car cars. About 100 were used in the series. He showed a picture of the cars after some of those scenes. He pointed out that the car that jumped was a 1973 model; the one they showed landing was a 1974. The science lecture concerned the ice age. There were plenty of details about what probably triggered the ice age and some of the outcomes, including the spread of humans out of Africa.

     Lunch in the Atrium (with tea) was followed by another Zumba class. The afternoon sessions are not as well attended as the mornings. After a walk outside, it was time to rest up for formal night, Out canapes arrived around 5 and we were out for a drink soon after. We had formal pictures taken again tonight. We always like to see what we look like the next day! We stand around and comment on how good that couple look!

Chocolate Journey Dessert

   We did receive our tour tickets for a tour to a castle. We had been on the waiting list. We are still waiting to get on another tour if we can. There was a production show tonight. We got seats by going early although we had seen the show before. I don't think that we are going to go early any more. Being formal night, we had our choice between prime rib or lobster. We decided on the lobster and had 2 each! We needed to walk around a bit after, stopping to see the Beatles music trivia. They are showing the latest Star Wars movie on the big screen outside but since it is over 2 hours long and it is a bit of a cool night, I watched only about 30 minutes of it. Tomorrow we have the Captain's Circle reception.

At Sea Day 3 of 7

    The seas were absolutely flat and very blue this morning when we went to breakfast. There were no waves at all. The swells were rather low. By the afternoon the seas were back too a moderate height although there is very little ship motion. We are still steaming along at around 18 knots. So far we have sailed about 3300 miles from Houston. It was cloudy all day with a heavy shower this morning. The rest of the day remained cloudy. The air temperature is getting noticeably cooler but still pleasant (60F). So day 3 at sea was much like all the sea days on this ship. Currently we are in the middle of the Atlantic about even with Halifax or the southern tip of the Grand Banks.

    After a light breakfast we were ready for the 9:30 Zumba. Theo the instructor reminds us that Zumba is like eating on a cruise ship – it needs to be continuous. It was a good work out. After that it was lecture time. Both lectures were back to back. Elegant cars (early on) was the topic. Tomorrow it will be muscle cars. The science lecture was on the difference between Nerds and Geeks! He has a collection of 150 t-shirts with some type of “science” on them. He called himself a geek. Apparently if you collect things you are a geek! It was a humorous break from the science although he has little jokes that makes the presentations interesting.

    We decided to eat in the dining room as we had a bit of time before afternoon Zumba and the line dance class. We skipped the Samba dance class and the art auction. The second workout last 45 minutes and we as harder one than this morning. This instructor did “Proud Mary” again and all we could think about is the dances in Highland Lakes where they play that song all the time. Line dance followed. She did one dance that I had on my list of starter dances for Highland Lakes but never did. After that it was time to rest before heading off to early snacks and then rushing to the theatre to catch the early show although there was a late show.

Our Passageway!

    This afternoon the captain announced that at 10 tonight there was going to be a medivac by helicopter sent out from the Azores. This is the second cruise in a row that we have had this done. It must have something to do with the age of the cruisers who take these re positioning cruises (Oh no that's us!) There was an ambulance on the dock in Lauderdale and another in Bermuda when we arrived there. As the day went on more announcements. The time changed to 10 tomorrow. An announcement just a few minutes ago placed the transfer at 6 in the morning. In any case it seems that it will be in the dark. Fortunately we are not in a cabin that must evacuated during the transfer. All this with a time advance tonight!

     The show tonight was a master of illusion (the old magic tricks presentation). We have seen the same tricks before but they always leaved you wondering how it was done. The show was packed and the line up for the next show was long. Dinner was chateau briand! After dinner we sat in on the “Queen Music” trivia although it was mostly over by the time we arrived.

At Sea Day 2 of 7

    We are still moving along at around 20 knots. Weather is cloudy but the sea remains moderate and the sailing is very smooth. The ship activities continues to follow the same pattern with most big activities in the morning with a rather light afternoon. We continue to meet new people but it seems than we never see them again.

     After the time change last night, we were up a little later this morning but still had time for a muffin and coffee for me and a yogurt at the international cafe in the Atrium.

There was only 1 Zumba fitness class this morning. Today we had Theo one of the cruise staff as the instructor. There are 4 on this ship. A few years ago they had trouble putting 1 one the ship. It was a good work out, probably one of the best so far. I headed to the lecture on the Model A Ford and the development of the flathead 8. The lecturer is a former mechanic (born in 1939) so has first hand knowledge of what it was like to work on cars from 50 years ago. Judy did a promenade walk and then came in for the talk on Yellowstone and the floods of lave. Again most of what was in the talk I was aware of although he did fill in many small details.

    We wanted to go to the pub lunch today but the venue is small and the line was long. We did not want to wait for 45 minutes to get a seat. We opted instead to go the Caribe Cafe where the theme today was Mexican. With a lesser choice it is easier to keep the pile of food down. That did not prevent us from having more than one (hint) chirros. Cha Cha lessons followed. That is one of the easier dances because we do many cha chas in line dancers so we were able to go through the steps easily. A deck walk followed the lesson.

I sent a note to the cruise director this morning asking him to schedule an unsupervised line dance session. There seems to be a lot of dancers (a lot of passengers!!!) on the cruise. We have done this on previous cruises. At least we can do something a bit different!

      We had the Captain's Circle grape wine tasting this afternoon. It is one of the perks of being elite level. I did notice that they have added a 3^rd level of wine tasting on the ships. I think it is around $40 per person. The wines used are the highest priced ones on the ship. We use to get a free shot glass at the tasting but that is just one of things that we have noticed over the last few cruises. All the wines in this wine tasting were in the $30-$40 area. We did find 2 wines that we liked and probably will order with our wine package.

   

In The Theatre

We headed off to the 7 pm show early enough to get a good seat. About a half hour before the show, most of the seats are filled. Livewire was the act, a duo that played guitar and the electric violin. They specialize in Celtic songs and it was a very good show. We have found that on this ship very few people applause for the acts. By the time the last note is played half the audience is getting up and going. I guess that they want to get out of the parking lot quickly! People were lined up through the smoky casino and were 45 minutes early for the next show.

Balloon Drop

In The Pit

   Dinner followed the show. |The dessert tonight was cherries jubilee – very good. They had the Princess 50^th Anniversary Balloon drop in the Atrium but by the time we finished dinner, all the balloons had been broken.  

At Sea Day 1 of 7

     We are steaming along at about 20 knots on the 7 day passage to Liverpool. Being Sunday it seems that things started a little later as there was a church service at 9am. We did have breakfast in the dining room again because of the extra time, although we did not order full meals. The program that this ship seems to follow is that all the enrichment lectures are in the morning right after each other. For us at least it means trying to choose between 2 activities that we want to do. By afternoon there is little for us. We do not do trivia or play bingo or want to take part in the betting activities or use the casino.

      The result is that we have fallen into the same routine. We did the Zumba twice today, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. They have 4 instructors that rotate so that keeps it fresh. They seem to be getting easier but I think that for me I am finally getting the hang of it. I do know that flexibility is getting better and there are no aches or pains. I missed the road lecture (part of the cars series) because of overlap. We did get to the Science lecture on plate tectonics. Not much new there for me. I think Judy did get a bit glassy eyed during it. It ran well past noon so after a light lunch we were off to line dance class. We did the Wobble as well as a few others. |In all a good cruise line dance class. At lease the instructor is doing different dances. We have started to go to those classes every day. They are pretty easy but at least they are not the same old things. I have been trying to practice the dances that we had during the 2 classes we had when we were in Windsor. Zumba followed immediately and then by 3 we were exercised out and had to have some down time.

At Nightly Reception

    We decided to try to get to the early show tonight. Dough Funk is a comic so we needed to be out early in order to get a seat. We were ready and out about an hour earlier than usual. After the elite reception that happens nightly (sushi tonight), we headed to the Princess theatre, getting there in plenty of time. It was standing room only again tonight. Doug Funk is a Canadian from Toronto who specializes in the improv style of comedy. We have seen him before and I remember parts of his act although with improv the characters and situations always change. He used 3 people from the audience to assist him. It was a very good show. Dinner tonight was Italian style. The rock and roll party was also on tonight but with so many people on the ship it is hard to get into the venue where the party was held. A walk on deck ended the night.

    We continue to steam along at a good pace. The ship has very little felt movement to it. I suspect that is because we are headed in the same direction as the gulf stream and the wind system. Another hour advanced tonight.