PandaBear62

Yes, my method is similar to 5-4-3-2-1. It really varies trip to trip what I bring. Some trips it's all pants and tops, other times mostly dresses and sometimes a mixture. It's a little more flexible. I brought 2 pairs of navy pants, but one was ankle pants and the other a pair of capri like (longer than mid calf, but not to my ankle). I like to reduce shoes, so prefer one color of shoe that will go with everything. I don't wear skirts. I normally would have brought a patterned pair of pants with blue but the ones that currently fit weren't what I wanted. In terms of sleeveless blouses, I did that because we were cruising the Panama Canal and it was quite warm and humid. Sleeveless blouses with a lightweight cardigan were great because I could be outside and then have an extra layer when I went into the air conditioning. Other trips I would bring other sleeve lengths.

I pretty much follow this packing guide for all trips: I call it Base + 5 (I got the basic idea from the Vivienne website). For every trip, bring the basics. (This includes what you wear on first travel day) 1 sleepwear Socks (if needed, up to 7 pairs) underwear (up to 7 pairs) 1 swimsuit (if appropriate for trip) 1 heavier outerwear (if needed for trip) bras (up to 3) shoes (up to 2) Cold Weather Bag (contains 1 scarf/pashmina, 1 neck gaiter, 1 pair of magic gloves, 1 pair wool socks) I bike short if packing any dresses (you could also pack a slip or slip shorts...whatever you want) 1 quart bag for liquid toiletries Small bag for other toiletries Then you start with 5 items......2 tops, 2 bottoms and 1 jacket/cardigan/coat. They should all match with each other. Tops can be blouses, tees, etc...whatever works for you. Bottoms can be shorts, slacks, jeans, skirts....your choice. Then, for every trip, add one item per day, up to 10 days. (This is in addition to the items mentioned above). So if you travel for 3 days, you get 5 + 3 items. If it's 10 days, you get 5 + 10. This works for many trips. But, let's say you're going away for a week and this includes a wedding, with more activities. Or, you're going on a cruise and want to wear something nice for gala nights and want to have extra swim suits and cover up. So, if you're on a trip like that, add one item for a trip that's 1-3 days in length, add 2 items for a 4-5 day trip and 3 items for a 6-7+ day trip. Your items can be bottoms, tops, dresses, extra shoes, extra swimwear, etc. Whatever works for you. As an example, I'm traveling to Orlando in July (I'm volunteering at an event). The gym will be freezing and I'll want pants and a lightweight jacket or sweater. Then I'm going on a 7 day cruise. I like to wear dresses on warm weather cruises. My trip is 16 days long. So I am packing my basic items, my 5 base items, plus 10 added items (I'm going longer than 10 days, so I maxed at 10) AND I'm adding three items because I have different clothing needs on this trip. So that's 18 items. I'm a 1x/18-20 size. These items plus toiletries fit in my Travelpro rolling suitcase (I believe it's the 22" one). Then I take a smaller personal item. I frequently take a Kipling Sasha or a Kipling backpack, but it does vary. For my trip in July, this is what I'm taking: 3 slacks (think Athleta Brooklyn lightweight). Two navy blue and one taupe. 6 tops that match (I will bring all sleeveless) 5 dresses (all sleeveless) a 2nd swimsuit 2 very lightweight cardigans (1 navy, 1 red) that are nice when inside the ship, like at dinner 1 sweatshirt material cardigan (for the gym and airflights....I'm flying coast to coast and will be on the plane awhile and am always cold on planes!) That's 18 items. The dresses I have all have some kind of blue in them. The tops for the taupe pants also have some blue in them. That way I don't need as many shoes. Planning your wardrobe to reduce shoes is really important for doing carryon only. In winter, I tend to use black and blue as bottoms and bring a pair of black skechers and a pair of blue skechers. If there may be snow or rain it would be a pair of sneakers and a pair of ankle boots. The two shoes I'm bringing (included above) are a pair of navy skechers and blue tevas. The blue tevas can work for the pool as well. I don't need dressy clothes because I'm sailing on NCL. Sleeveless tops/dresses are nice when out on deck and it's warm, but I bring the cardigans because I do get cold. Now, if you're not a dress wearer, you can bring more slacks and tops. Now, do I follow this exactly for every trip? Well, no. But it does me a nice structure to consider as I'm figuring out my packing list. And it's easy for me because I know this will fit in my carryon. Now, having said all this, really, you do you. I prefer to travel with carryon luggage only. I don't like managing all of the clothes and don't mind doing a little laundry. If you don't, that's really okay. It's not a contest. I think the reason people post about carryon packing lists is that you do need to think and be a little more careful than if you're bringing lots more and it can be helpful to see what other people do. I'm actually one of those people that pack carryon for every cruise I've done. I did a 5 day out of LA with a personal item. I've sailed to Alaska twice with a Travelpro carryon and a personal item. I did a 16 day Panama Canal cruise in April and brought way more clothes than I usually do. It didn't fit in my trusty Travelpro, so I used a Rick Steves 22" backpack. Still a carryon, but you get more space since there aren't wheels. I spent three weeks in Europe (including a Norwegian Fjords cruise with HAL) that I did with only my Rick Steves backpack (no personal item). With most of my trips, the people I'm traveling with carry more.

typically it was a notebook with a Princess logo, a bottle of champagne or wine stopper. The last day or so there were some string backpacks.

The first Bingo, about $130. Second $200ish. Third Bingo maybe $250ish. Fourth Bingo was the rolling blackout, so about $3300 if someone won in a certain number of called numbers. No one did, so it went to $330. We did not go to the final Bingo, when the blackout game had the winner of it all. To play Bingo on the iPad, it was $69. It came with the games in the iPad (maybe 16?), three paper games and a scratch off card (we won $5).

I’m way behind!!!! Tuesday April 25 I am typically writing notes throughout the day, but didn’t do anything on the 25th. So I am writing this the day after. So it will likely have less details. Sorry. Patters for the Day Menus: I have eaten way more meat than I typically do, because I have been really impressed with the meat dishes this trip. The meat has been tasty, cooked how I requested and tender. Tonight was no exception. I had the chateaubriand and it was really good. I could have cut it with a fork. The dish came with yellow squash and it was also good…..not mushy, yet cooked. I didn’t care for any dessert on the menu so had my standard: vanilla ice cream with caramel and whipped cream. We went to the Explorers Lounge for 80’s music trivia. I would have done terrible but Tom (a guy in our group) and Debbie (a woman we met in the Sanctuary on Panama Canal day who had joined us for activities since then) rocked. We knew 18/20 songs and artists. That was not enough to win…..the winners had 20/20. It was a lot of fun and our entire group enjoyed reminiscing about 80’s music. We then headed to Crooners and stayed the rest of the evening. I bought Kevin Brando’s CD. I’m not a souvenir person but I thought his music would be fun to enjoy when we get home. Dh and I headed to bed and watched yet another episode of Love Boat and went to sleep.

I ordered one today for dh and I to share. The tiramisu one. Because it’s a sundae glass and quite sloped, there wasn’t even 2 scoops of ice cream in it. The top has a little ice cream, 2 thin rectangles of chocolate and a square of tiramisu fall red cake. So not nearly as big as it appears. We enjoyed it, but it’s probably a one and done for me this trip. I asked if I could “make my own sundae” and the answer was “no”. Just the 5 or 6 they offer.

Monday April 24 I was up earlier (note I said earlier and not early) and was out of the room around 9:30. I first went to the International Cafe but it was quite crowded-there was going to be a presentation on making sushi. Dh had gone to the hot tub and I made my way to the Lido deck to sit in the shade and read. As we’re making our way in the Pacidic towards Mexico the humidity is greatly diminishing and it’s very comfortable being outside. We ate lunch in the buffet. I said I wasn’t impressed earlier in the trip but I’ve found it more to my liking the two times I’ve eaten there since. I had a couple of prepared salads and enjoyed my lunch. Dh and I headed back to the Lido deck and sat and read. We left about 1:30 to make our way to the Explorers Lounge for trivia, this time about Broadway and West End musicals. I knew I wouldn’t know much but wanted to play anyway. Well, I was wrong. We had a great time! We ended up with 16/20. The song was played and the team had to name the show. It was a good combination of easy, harder and more obscure. Our group then agreed to meet up again for trivia at 4:30, which we did and then head to dinner. Menus: Not overly impressed with dinner and the menus were slightly different from the app (the menus were correct, not the app). Small changes, like sides. I had the sirloin, which was fine, but I really enjoyed the polenta side. I chose the ameretto creme brûlée for dessert, which wasn’t “ameretto” enough for me. We went to our room and then went to get seats for the Holiday Hiccips game. It was silly, funny in a juvenile was but we laughed and laughed. A background was put on the screen Then crew came out in funny simple costumes and acted out a scene. Obviously, this was Jaws and the Entertainment Director was the MC. He used to be a cruise director but still does this, because it’s so much fun. (According to Cole, the current cruise director). I would never have attended if another one in our group hadn’t been before and recommended it. We then went to Crooners for the Motown music but it was packed! Luckily people did leave about 9:45 (at the first break) and we got seats. Music ended at 11:30 but we stayed and chatted with a couple we met until after midnight. Such a fun night!

yes, absolutely! The dresses I have used for Princess would not be appropriate for Cunard.

Sunday April 23 I slept late today. I had a really bad night. Falling asleep wasn’t the issue but I woke up probably 5 times with leg cramps. So when I finally slept for any length of time is was probably after 3 or 4. So I didn’t wake up until close to 10. I wandered up near the International Cafe and listened to a trivia type show that was crew against guests. It was actually pretty funny and the cruise director managed to penalize the crew enough for the guests to win. For example, during the music trivia, the song played was “Candle in the Wind” and a crew member said it was “Candle in the Wind” by Elton John and was penalized because he didn’t say “Sir” Elton John. And then one of the questions was the sing the refrain from Country Roads by John Denver (does everyone in the US over a certain age know this?? I think so). I know I’m not describing it well but it was pretty funny. Dh met me here and after the game we went to the Lido deck for lunch. I think I’ve mentioned before I don’t like the buffet much on the ship (I LOVED the buffet on the Celebrity ship we sailed on; it was AMAZING, so it’s not that I’m anti-buffet) but I do really like their pizza. So I had a slice and dh had a hot dog from the grill. It is really humid on deck so we didn’t stay here long. I went and changed and visited the thermal spa. I’d like to say I read the entire time I was there, but I read and dozed, read and dozed. I then went upstairs to the room and we just relaxed until dinner. Our nightly reservations are at 5:30. With a group of 7, dinner takes about 1 ¾ hours. So we will do a show at 7:30 and then perhaps a game. Or just go to the room to relax. Dinner menus: I had the fried Camembert cheese, which was quite good. Not heavily breaded and the cheese was nice and melty. I tried the French onion soup for the first time this trip and it was good. Not too salty, which sometimes happens. Not much appealed to me for dinner, so I had the chicken pasta. The pasta was a flat pasta, not as wide as fettuccine and not rounded like spaghetti. Dessert was vanilla ice cream and caramel (kind of a standard for me) Afterwards, we went to see the show. It was excellent, I thought. Of course, I do love Elton John and Billy Joel. But to show you it is individual taste, a friend said he didn’t care for some of the renditions. We went to the game show. It’s kind of a version of Family Feud, but with three teams of two. It was kind of hard to follow, because people were telling out answers, so it got kind of noisy. But it was fun. Dh and I went to Crooners for a drink after this but only stayed a while. We headed back to the room and watched an episode of Love Boat. It was definitely a very lazy day.

I ordered the French onion soup for you tonight. No chick peas or dressing!

Princess (the Ruby) And to be clear, when I say “really dressing up” I’m talking women in cocktail and formal dresses, men in traditional suits with coat and tie or tuxes.

LOL!!!!

I think that’s a misprint. The French onion soup is regular. The chickpeas and Caesar dressing are in the Caesar salad.

I ordered an iced coffee for your today. Non fat latte with one pump of syrup. It was good

Somehow I missed this post! Cole is our cruise director and he is adorable. Only 26, the youngest in the fleet. I think the activities staff is excellent. here is the crew:

We are on day 10. One thing I’ve noticed is that most people are not really dressing up at all on formal night. The first formal night I wore my “flowy” dress with a scarf/pashmina and flats…..I would say there were only maybe 20%-30% of the people dressier than me. The majority fell in my range….nice pants and a dressier top or simple dress. The second night I wore my LBD and kimono and my flats and I felt the dressiness was even less. We haven’t had the third formal night.

We actually brought insect repellant wipes (forgot to note, sorry) and have not used them at all through the canal. I would certainly agree to pack them, I was just surprised I didn’t need them. excursions we did: Costa Rica: sloth sanctuary and butterflies Panama City: boat ride through the old locks Cartagena: mangrove canoe ride and walking tour of the old city. I also did not spend tons of time by the pool-too humid for me-but of course, that varies by person.

Saturday April 22 We had an extra hour of sleep, but our phones didn’t change on the ships internet. So between the engines of the ship and making sure we didn’t oversleep our excursion, we were up early. Remember when I said there were app problems at the beginning of the trip? We changed todays excursion but our friends excursion was wrong. We had gone up together to make sure there were no issues. Unfortunately, she didn’t check the tickets when the arrived. So do so! This tour was sold out, but in waiting until the very last minute, she got on this excursion. No delays today in taking off and we drive to the first stop, the sloth sanctuary. This is someplace I really wanted to see. We arrived after about 1 ¾ hours. Groups of 16-18 were sent with a volunteer to tour the sanctuary. I LOVED it! The sanctuary utilized many volunteers and take in animals that are abused or were pets whose owners can no longer care for them. Some are orphans. Most of the animals cannot be rehabilitated to live in the wild. Some of the animals can roam free. Others need to be in enclosures because they can be aggressive towards humans (especially those that were abused) Now my rant…..we are in a big bus and I HATE big bus tours. We’ve now been on the bus for 20 minutes waiting for a group of people who haven’t bothered to return. Dh likes the security of a ships tour and I am more adventurous. So I am sitting here fuming. Okay, we’ve now left 25 minutes after the other bus, and my rant is over and my attitude back where it should be. We drove to the Arial Tram (90 minutes). It took more time because we got stuck behind a tow truck pulling a big rig cab. We had lunch here and it was quite good. Chicken or beef, rice and beans, cabbage with salsa (unusual but good). Dh and I bought a local beer. We then took a “nature walk” with a guide and she was very informative. a March of ants carrying leaves to their destination…..I wish I could share the video! They have a small butterfly solarium and we were told that the butterflies in there live about 14 days. In the wild, maybe 1-2 days because so many animals will eat them. We then took the arial tram. It really was beautiful views. We even saw a toucan high up in a tree! We then boarded the bus after a quick bathroom break and buying some cold water. (As an aside, the bathrooms were very clean here!) It started to rain on the way back….so glad it wasn’t while we were on the tour! A little excitement on the way back to the pier…..a car just stopped on the road. Our bus driver honked, hit the brakes and we slowed to a stop to avoid hitting the car. Thank goodness we had such an observant driver or things could have been very bad. Back to the ship, we met friends for dinner at the buffet. I’m not typically a big buffet person, but I made an eclectic plate of green beans with onions, mashed potatoes, German potato salad (although it had a mustard vinaigrette, which is not at all German style but it was good) and black bean salad. Being a CA girl, I always loved going to Cracker Barrel when we visit the south. My plate was like a cracker barrel vegetable plate! (I don’t really care for most meats in gravy or sauces, which are often of buffets). Then I indulged in bread pudding for dessert, which I love. Here is the menu from the dining room: We went up to the Explorers Lounge to play music trivia and it was country music. We didn’t do too bad, with 19 out of 30. We then got a little punchy and started our own music trivia game, playing songs from our phones until the band there returned. My friends went to their rooms and dh and I went to Crooners again, since the pianist started at 9. We met another couple (Bruce and Nancy) and enjoyed chatting with them until we went up to our room at 11.

Friday April 21 Patters: I slept until 9:45 today after falling asleep a little after midnight last night. I have not slept like that since we boarded the cruise so I am feeling great. I was sure dh was by the International Cafe reading and I was correct. On the way I was stopped by someone from the art gallery to guess the price of a painting. The artist was Peter Max. The “hint” was it was between 80-140k! Good grief! I was stunned. I guessed 111k and went to find dh who was in Vines. I checked in with him and then returned to the room to change for the thermal spa. When I got there it was empty, but another couple joined shortly after. I love the ceramic loungers. It’s warm without being too hot. So I read and just relaxed. After the thermal spa I decided to try the buffet (I hadn’t eaten there yet). The buffet on the Ruby is very small. I had a salad from the salad bar and that was small. I was not impressed and don’t plan to go back. I ended up walking out to the pool area and had a slice of pizza. I met up with dh and we read a bit in the room and then met up with friends to play cards. They brought a new game for me: Skipbo. We played up in the Adiago Lounge until it was time to get ready for dinner. Our friends went to the Crown Grill but dh and I chose not to. We went to the dining room and it was another formal night. Once again, not a lot of people were dressed up really formal. I didn’t care for many of the dinner choices. Menu: The beef satay wasn’t bad and I liked the peanut sauce better tonight (more flavor). The salad was a salad, nothing special. I had the lentil cakes and they were okay. I did forget to snap the dessert menu, but I had key lime pie and it was excellent. Dh and I went to the room to change and get his kindle and went back to Adiago to read. Our friends joined us and we played cards (We didn’t care for the evening activities and we live to play cards) We played cards and then left to go to bed. We had to be at the aprincess Theater at 7:20, but were happy to be gaining an hour

The commentator during the Panama Canal cruise day announced the web page you could send to friends and family that showed ships going through different locks. I just went to the page myself and screen shot it.

Our cruise went through the new locks and our boat tour through the old. A great combination. We actually planned to go to the casino last night (even had cash to do so) but then decided to go to Crooners instead. We’ve been through the casino a couple of times and it wasn’t too smoky, but haven’t been at night. I’ll let you know!

This part of the excursion (the boat ride through the locks) was fantastic. The guide for this essentially talked about the canal, Panama, etc for the 3 hours we were in the boat. It was amazing. For the second set of locks, we stayed in the back of the boat, to see the gates close (we couldn’t see in front because of the large freighter) We transferred to the busses that brought us and it took us about two hours to return (this included about 20 plus minutes by the pier waiting). The city “tour” was essentially nothing for me. I’m not sure if it actually added time back or not. We were walking on the ship about 2:30. We went back to our cabin and took a nap before dinner. Between the early rising and the humidity, I was exhausted. We joined our friends for dinner Menus: I had the scallops which were reasonably good and the orange and fennel salad, which I really liked. Dessert: the cherries jubilee which was also good because the cherries weren’t too sweet. After dinner we went to the Colors of the World production and I thought it was significantly better than the Stardust show. We then went to the Crooners Lounge, which we have not been to before. The music was nice and a good volume…some of the music has been SO loud. We stayed until about 11 and headed back to our cabin.

Thursday April 20 Patters for today As I mentioned, we had to be at the Princess Theater for our excursion at 6am. Unfortunately, due to some delays we didn’t leave until 7am. While I’m not necessarily a late sleep (under normal circumstances), waking up at 5 was early for me. I was a little concerned, as our ticket said there wouldn’t be access to a bathroom for 4 hours. And while I should have read our ticket more carefully, it was never mentioned in the tour description. I have some intestinal issues as well as “tb” (tiny bladder) so I was kind of panicking. I thought about just bailing at the last minute and sending dh. I then decided I wouldn’t eat or drink for the entire tour (8 hours) and dumped my morning coffee. We loaded a bus for a very short (maybe 5 minutes) trip to get on to our boat. Once we boarded the boat it was announced there was a toilet on the lower level. Whew! We had a little delay as we waited for the canal pilot to board. We have a tour guide per bus (for the way there and back) and a guide on the boat who essentially narrates the entire trip. This trip is through the old locks, which is really a great comparison to sailing through the new locks. You can really see being in a small boat. When we entered the old locks, we were so low with the canal edges so high, it was quite hot. You could really tell as we rose, because the breeze came back. If you look at the pictures above, look at the line where the red and black on the boat meet. You can really tell how much we rose that way. There are little cars on tracks like railroad tracks. They attach to large ships going through the old canal and keep the boat straight. We’re currently sailing through Miraflores Lake. The photo below helps show the new and old canals. More later

For us, yes. Keep in mind we are in an obstructed view room. That is basically considered the highest of inside cabin levels. So price wise, a cheaper room, so $60 a person vs the cost of a balcony is (I think) at least $1000 more per person. The view is awesome going through the canal. You are at the front of the ship, at the very top, so the view is fantastic. Early in the morning, people were three deep at the front of the ship. The service is wonderful and the loungers super comfortable. You get a free picture from the ship. I would 100% do it again. If you want it, reserve for Panama Canal day the day you board the ship.

Wednesday April 19 Patters: My friends decorated my door for my birthday: Dh was up early to see us go into the locks and take pictures. I was not. Thankfully, I had a good night of sleep (finally) so I got up at 7:45 and was at the Sancturay by 8am as they were opening. Everyone was around the windows until about 9:30, when we started cruising across Gangun Lake. The progression of the gate at the locks It’s very peaceful up here. While there is some mesh coverings to help protect from the direct sun, it was still quite sunny in the morning. By 11:30 the sun was shining but we weren’t feeling the heat. I planned to pop into the adult pool but it was empty. But I did use the hot tub. Lunch was delicious grilled shrimp and white bean salad. In the afternoon I’ve cream was offered. Staff moved our loungers to right up by the windows which kept us in the shade and made a world of difference. We have been offered cool washcloths to cool down, orange water and of course, any drinks we might like. Coincidentally, today is my birthday and this has been such a treat. It couldn’t have been planned better if I tried. Afternoon tea was served. Small sandwiches, like served in the International Cafe and small cakes and cookies. We went through the last locks between about 3-4pm. At 4 I left to go to the room as we had 5:30 reservations at Sabatinis for my birthday. My cabin attendant also had something special for my birthday: We arrived a few minutes early to Sabatinis. We had actually originally had a 7:30 reservation, but changed to 5:30. We arrived an no one was in the restaurant except staff. Throughout our dinner, there was never more than 4 dining groups. Quite a change from our Alaskan cruise last summer, when there were very few or no reservations available. Dinner was lovely and the service was excellent. It’s really a treat to eat here. We were back in our room about 7:30 ish and went to bed early, as we had to be in the Princess theater at 6am tomorrow for our excursion.