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.

Bermuda

Because the ferry to Hamilton did not leave until 9:30, we decided to have breakfast in the dining room. We sat with some nice people from Texas! It was a very pleasant start a great day ashore

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    Today we ashore in Bermuda, our last port before the 7 days at sea on our way to Liverpool. The captain did it again; he was over an hour late getting to the berth. The seas were calm and the morning was bright and sunny! Maybe his watch isn't working!

   We were the last people aboard for the ferry for the 20 minute crossing to Hamilton. We stopped here years ago so we did not have a particular agenda that we wanted to follow. We wander the streets, stopping at city hall that had a small art gallery. All the paintings were done by local artist. It was not the official art gallery. We then stopped at the cathedral but did not climb to the top of the tower. We had been there the last time and decided to move on. We headed to the botanical gardens (never did make it) and diverted to the old fort. It was built about 150 years ago in the typical British fashion. It was interesting that they did not have a fortification before then.

    The fort itself is all open with few plaques or artifacts. It is just a nice place overlooking the city. However w e were able to walk thorough the space between the outer and inner wall. It probably would be called a moat if it had water in it but we were not sure since the fort itself was on a hill. In any case natural vegetation had taken over and it was as good as the botanical gardens. There were a number of flowers in there that we did not see anywhere else on the island. It would have been a perfect place to film Jurassic Park. Lush vegetation, high wall on both sides, etc. Just a wonderful discovery.    

Blue Waters

 After wandering down the main street and stopping at some of the shops, we opted to take the bus back to the dock. Having been walking for nearly 6 hours we returned to the ship, had a snack and then rested until sail away. After a cocktail we tried to get into the 7 pm production show (we had seen it many times before). However since we were only 20 minutes before the show, the theatre was packed with no seats available. On these cruises people eat early and the go to the early show. The late show occurs during our dinner. I guess we need to be there 30 minutes before in order to get a spot.

    After dinner we headed to the upper deck. The ship was holding a disco/70's party with the Love Boat theme. The night was cool but there was lots of action. The cast dancers were there to do dance routines.

   We left Bermuda only a few hours ago but we can already feel it getting cooler. Before we left the captain made an announcement about rough weather. As mentioned before he has a heavy accent and we could not tell if he was expecting bad weather or if he was doing it as a “..we warned you.” It may have something to do with the Royal Caribbean ship getting caught in a storm earlier this year.

Sea days to follow – 7 to be exact!

Bermuda – One Day Out

    We had the time change last night and that meant that we did not get up very fast this morning. |In fact we had little time for breakfast. We grabbed something light at the International cafe and headed to Zumba class. Having skipped yesterday some of aches were gone. They have 4 different instructors on board so there is lots of different music and routines. We skipped the cooking routine so we could work out our tours. Sine we decided to do one more (courtesy of Princess) we had booked something yesterday but by today decided that we did not want it. We put ourselves on a wait list for 2 tours that we wanted to take as well as booking another tour just in case we do not get on the castle tours. In any case, we will be doing an all day tour in Liverpool. We are back to doing Holyhead on our own.

    I did catch most of the talk on the early days of Chrysler and how many companies came to be the present corporation. The talk went all the way through the mini-van. That talk was quickly followed by the talk on the end of the dinosaurs. Although I knew most of the story, there were many interesting details that came to light. I left that to go to the line dancing class. I must admit that it is somewhat better than other cruises. We did a version of the Watermelon Crawl and Sweet Home Alabama. Judy even did the Cotton Eye Joe which she hates. I was late so I missed being in the line. Another Zumba lesson followed. The instructor this afternoon did not seem to be as hard as some of the others. We even did a routine to Proud Mary which had some semblance to the one Judy does in Florida. Then it was rest time and an in room movie.

    After a stop for pre dinner nibbles, we took in the entertainment, a very good classical piano player. After another fine meal, we were on the 17^th deck to go star gazing. It was a very clear night with few clouds. The moon was absolutely bright! It was hard to follow the explanation we did have earphones provided. The highlight was a bright meteor went across the sky. I do not know how Princess arranged it but it was worth the time on deck. Bermuda tomorrow!

NOTE:   Itried to post pictures but could not get them to insert.

At Sea To Bermuda

           We finally got out of Lauderdale at 3:30 this morning. For whatever reason we missed our sailing time by more than a few hours. I think that they were changing one of the radar domes and I suspect that was the reason for the delay. Either that of the captain can't tell time! In any case we got up late this morning to the sounds of the sea!

     All the stairs (108) to the lobby was starting to take a bit of a toll so we decided to skip Zumba for today and just have a slow pace to the day. Judy did a slow walk on the deck while I went to hear about the General Motors story at the cars lecture. One thing that I did not know was the large number of car companies that were formed around 1910. Slowly they became the big 3. He has photos of all the different autos from back then which are very interesting.

|     Morning tea followed and then we listened to the port talk on Bermuda. Having been before we had a good idea of what there is to do there. We plan on just taking the ferry to Hamilton and wandering around. We both went to the science lecture.

Chocolate Again

It was on disaster movies and how they abuse science in awful and hilarious ways. It was quite light hearted . We did catch the last part of the line dancing class. It was jammed and she was actually doing something more interesting than the standard Princess dances (electric slide – agh!) The rest of the after noon was spent by the pool enjoying the nice weather and listening to the live music.

     Tonight was the first of the 4 formal nights. Of course that meant the champagne waterfall and greetings by the captain. He has a heavy accent and does not seem to be comfortable in public. Although the ship seems to be really crowded now there did not seem to be many people at the waterfall . There was a show going on at the same time. Princess use to serve mixed drinks and wine but now it is only champagne. 

Chocolate Dessert

Dinner was good again. Our table is down to just to the 4 of us. If someone was scheduled to have dinner with us they did not show up the last 2 nights. We skipped the show as it was a full show with the singer from last night. Since this is a time advance night we decided to turn in early.