PandaBear62

I do not know. I thought about it, but we did not.

we did the Alaska Cruise sailing out of SF last summer (July). It was great! If you are interested, send me your email and when I’m home I can share that trip report with you, if it’s helpful. It is a year old though.

I believe you can just ask for a coffee over ice.

here I am! I haven’t forgotten about you! I just had a busy day! Tuesday April 18 We had to be at the Princess Theatre today at 8:40 for our excursion in Cartagena. Not great for me, as I had an extremely bad night and didn’t fall asleep until close to 4am. But I got up, had a coffee and made my way to the theatre. The tour is "Canoe Tour of Mangrove Tunnels & Old City Stroll 8:00AM - 12:00PM". When we arrived at the theatre it appeared to be a small group. We were divided into 2 groups, each about 18 people and were traveling in a small tour van. I was pleased because I prefer smaller tour groups. The weather was quite warm and humid, I heard about 88 degrees. The tour was originally scheduled for 8-12 when I booked but was changed to 9-1, which I preferred. It took us about an hour to get the mangrove area. There were bathrooms which I was grateful for. I was glad I brought a bunch of dollar bills. We also then tipped for coconut water. We were fortunate enough to see a mama raccoon and then a nest of baby raccoons. We assume mama was out for food. We really enjoyed the canoe ride. You stop part way and there is a fishing demonstration in the water. So bring a buck or two for this as well. We then stopped in the walled city, where the old prison was now shops. I’m not a big shopper but did get a keychain for my travel tree. It was only about a 20-25 minute stop so it wasn’t bad. Next was the actual walking tour. It was very interesting and beautiful. There are vendors everywhere you go. The walled city is a UNESCO heritage site. The fortress: As an aside, being a California girl, we don’t generally get the real heat and humidity of other locations. So I’m not used to wearing hats. But I took a packable hat with me and wore it today and I was really glad. It really helped keep me cool. While it was humid, there were wonderful sea breezes and in the shade it was quite comfortable. I did laugh, because the bus picks you up right at the gangway. However, on the way back, you are dropped off at the parking lot so you can walk through the port shops. I told our guide we call that the “Disney effect”, since many Disney rides and Disneyland or Disneyworld have you go through a shop while exiting a ride. Our guide Oscar in front of the statue of Simon Bolivar. He was outstanding! We were dropped off about 1:15. We had to be back on the ship by 2:30. We were in our room because dh had another acupuncture appointment. I fell asleep as I was exhausted. We got up and went down to dinner a little before 5. I was also starving, as all I had to eat was a latte and shared croissant with dh. So I tried a tapas from Vines….a scallop and rice bowl. We went to dinner and celebrated a friends birthday. Dinner menu: I had the scallop with polenta. The scallops were seared nicely but a little chewy. The polenta was outstanding! Just perfect. Six out of seven of us had the potstickers as an appetizer and liked them. For dessert, we had ordered a carrot cake birthday cake and it was quite nice. After dinner four of our group went up to watch a game: Majority Rules Myself and two others went up to Adiago to play cards. A new server was there tonight and she was a doll. She’s just 21! I can’t believe I forgot her name already….chalk it up to too many Amalfi Spritzers. My friends were teaching me a new card game called Hand and Foot. It’s a little complicated but I started to get the hang of it. We finished by playing 3 to 13, a favorite of mine. We were back at our cabin by 11:30 to get ready for our Panama Canal day.

Monday con’t After lunch dh and I separated. I went down to the thermal spa and enjoyed the lounger. Read a little, dozed a little. It was empty when I arrived. Friends I was traveling with have a balcony so they spend more time in their room, enjoying the balcony. I have a lesser room but enjoy the thermal spa. As they say, “different strokes for different folks”. After the thermal spa I met dh in the room and we relaxed until before dinner. We grabbed a glass of wine at Vines and sat and listened to music before heading to the dining room. I did forget to tell a funny story from the other day. As I have mentioned, this cruise does skew older. I’m 60 (turning 61 on the cruise) and while I have been told I don’t look my age, im not exactly young. The tables in Vines can be crowded and I I was passing by a table, I excused myself and the older gentleman said “no problem young lady”. Made my day (and week!) Dinner menus: I had the Caesar salad (again), the chicken satay and fettuccine Alfredo. The satay wasn’t bad, but the peanut sauce wasn’t flavorful enough for me. I had the apple pie for dessert and it was quite good. We ran over to the Princess theater to see Darren Dowler for the second time this cruise. This show was even better than the first. We really liked both of his shows. He does “vocal impressions” that were quite good. We then went to the musical bingo game. We didn’t win but it was fun. This was our scorecard: We have to be ready for our excursion at 8:40, so we headed up to the room. We have been enjoying watching a Love Boat episode when we’re back earlier, so we did tonight and then turned in.

Patters from Saturday (Day 2)

While having coffee I ran into Megan, who we met the first night when we shared a table (we are now eating with the group we came with). She is traveling with her parents and all three are delightful. We discovered we’re on the same excursion in Costa Rica and agreed to try and be on the same bus with them. We chatted a bit and I headed back to the room to meet up with dh. I saw his bag of supplements and man, they were expensive. Gulp! But, dh doesn’t spend a lot on himself and treats me like a Queen. I am extremely spoiled. So if he wants to spend a lot on some supplements, good for him. In terms of budget, we typically sail in an obstructed view outside cabin. Dh likes natural light and I tend to go for the cheapest room. So this is a good compromise. We actually have a nice view as a lifeboat is next to us instead of in front of us. And with the staircase we have essentially an unobstructed view. It is Emerald 119. We 100% of the time get Princess Plus but do not upgrade to Premier. We may gamble a little bit but not much. We used to do things like wine or liquor tasting but since we now have drink packages, we don’t. We also don’t tend to shop much or bring home souvenirs. I buy a small keychain from where I’ve been. When I get home, I take off the keychain part and add a ribbon. They all go on a tabletop Christmas tree I call my travel tree. I also sometimes buy a piece of clothing if it’s something I’ll wear at home. Dh might get a nice polo with a small emblem or a funny graphic tee. We sometimes play Bingo. And I usually do something in the spa. I’ve been trying to convince dh to get a pedicure. So that’s about us. While I was in the room I received a phone call from the Sanctuary. There was a cancellation and they wanted to know if we wanted it. I said “yes” immediately and ran upstairs to see the location. Well, it was excellent! Super thrilled!’ We got our clean laundry put away and went to the International Cafe for lunch. This time I had the tomato and mozzarella with pesto and dh had a ham sandwich and a mortadella sandwich. They are all in different kinds of bread and are essentially pretty simple. Dh had the egg salad yesterday (on a Dutch crunch roll) and he has liked all of them. As an aside, dh shared that this morning while waiting for coffee, a woman in front of him was complaining that it took so lon to get coffee. There was someone taking orders, two people making coffees and a fourth delivering. There really isn’t much space there….if you want it quickly don’t go at the primo time between 8ish and 9ish. I was there around 9:30 and there was no one in line.

The app is now working fine. I do wish it showed on the daily your reservations. You have to go to different topics on the app to find them.

Which night do you mean? (For MDR) I’ve had the prosciutto sandwich and the Brie. I don’t remember what else, but I’ll start to note it. They were both good. I typically only drink vodka (with an occasional margarita) so I like the sorbetto and the Amalfi Collins (my favorite). here is the menu

Late to the party, but here are the patters from yesterday.

Monday I finally had a decent nights sleep (no fault of the bed or the cruise….I have terrible insomnia). We were back to the room last night around midnight and after reading for awhile, I was asleep by about 1. I woke up about 9:15. Dh left earlier, he tried acupuncture! His left shoulder has been difficult and he can’t raise his arm more than shoulder height. I was leaving the room when he came in and he was now able to reach his arm all the way up. So he was happy. Of course, he was also sold some supplements. (He has a hard time saying “no” sometimes”). I’m sure they were pricey, but honestly, if they help, that would be great! I should add, I also use the spa. I booked the thermal spa ($300 for the cruise) and a fire and ice manicure and pedicure. They aren’t cheap, but really, the staff are very good. I typically get a manicure or pedicure when I sail and I have never had a bad one. I’m planning to add a facial or massage as well. I went to the International cafe. I eat lots of breakfasts and lunches here. Here’s an example of breakfast: I had a plain croissant and latte. The coffee menu: Here’s lunch from the other day: So I’m sitting being lazy and as soon as I finish this, I’m going to read a bit. More later.

Truth!! Sunday The app seems to be working correctly now with no issues, which is nice. After multiple nights of terrible sleep, I did okay last night so was up at a reasonable time. I misread my time for the pedicure so went to the thermal spa to read. A very nice error! Spa service price list: Dh went to the gym to use the treadmill and then we met up to go to the Sanctuary. I saw it yesterday and it was empty. I guess that’s typical when the ship isn’t so crowded. We decided to try and book for the canal day. It’s $60 for the day (regularly $40 on a sea day). It is warm and humid and dh is a (former) redhead who needs to be careful in the sun, so this seemed a good idea, as it’s covered (he’s already had numerous pre-cancerous skin lesions removed). Unfortunately all the loungers in the covered section were taken so we didn’t do it. We did put ourselves on the waitlist but certainly aren’t optimistic. So we’ll try and get up quite early to get our preferred loungers. Disappointed but not a biggie. I really should have know better. Lunch was at the grill by the pool. For me, the veggie tacos, fries, a heineken and a bottle of water. Dh had some kind of hamburger. I left to go to my friends Cabo and see if we could add her to our excursion in Cabo. The shore excursion desk was, of course, closed. Open 9-12 and 3-6. We sat by the international cafe. My friend had a sandwich and I drank some water. The ended up going shopping and I joined dh in Vines. After finishing my water I had a glass of Prosecco. They have a red wine I like as well but it seemed heavy for an afternoon drink. I asked for the sweeter of the two offered. I’m kind of a funny wine drinker in that I don’t really like white wine and no sweet reds (unless it’s a port) but I like sweeter sparkling wine. Our friends eventually joined us and we played scrabble as one of the crew activities. There was a group playing where one woman was so incredibly rude to the activities crew member one of our group when over and told her to be nice, that the staff was working really hard for everyone. Not surprisingly, she told my friend to go away but I was proud of him. Because truth is the staff is awesome on the ship. My girlfriend and I went to shore excursions to try and add her to our excursion in Cabo. We got the last spot! We then headed back to our rooms to relax a bit and get ready for the formal night. Our group did 5:30 reservations. We skew a little older than me….I will be 61 on the cruise but our group goes up to mid 70’s. So they like the 5:30 dinner to see the 7:30 show. Then some people do more after the show and some go to their rooms. We had dinner and again, it was quite good. I sometimes find the dining room to be not that great, but I’ve actually been relatively happy with the choices I’ve made. We walked over to the the water and my goodness, it was packed! Like almost full. The show was called “Stardust” and it was music of the 50’s. It was a a typical cruise ship show. We then went to our rooms to dress down and met at Adiago to play cards, which we did until midnight. On our Alaskan cruise last summer, this was are absolute favorite bar and the bartenders were the best. Last night not so much. I tried to order a drink at 9:45 and was told the bar was closed. Okay, whatever. But then about 15 minutes later we were brought our drinks. The Princess Patter actually said it was open to 10:30. Maybe the staff was new? Because when I ordered my drink she didn’t seem to know what is was. Whatever it was, we had a fun evening.

so there are 4 steam rooms/saunas. Two are rather large, two are smaller. 5 ceramic heated loungers. The cost for our cruise is $299. We have SO many sea days and so few port days it seemed worth it to me. On a cruise that’s more port intensive, I don’t typically purchase but for this one, definitely yes.

It was so steamy the last picture is blurry!

The thermal spa is rather small. I went in yesterday and this morning so far. A couple people in yesterday and this morning (9:45) I am peacefully by myself. No water feature but the adult pool and spa is right outside the the main spa. pictures for you. I’m doing each steam room in a separate post each so I don’t get mixed up!

We met up with our friends for dinner. Menus for Saturday: I had the caprese salad. The tomatoes weren’t really great, which is typical for April and I wish there was more balsamic, but it’s still a favorite of mine. The strip sirloin and accompaniments were good. Wasn’t that crazy about dessert options so had some ice cream wigh caramel and whipped cream which I enjoyed. I am not really a chocolate eater but I love vanilla and caramel. After dinner all 7 of use went to music trivia. My small group of 3 did pretty well and ended up in second place with a score of 31/40. The winning team had 32. It was fun! We then went to the yes/no game. I’d never seen it before and it was a hoot. The rest of the group headed to their rooms but dh and I headed to the show. I should add, I was doing this for my husband. I wasn’t really interested. I really enjoyed the show, even though I wasn’t expecting to do so. We stopped at the casino bar and got our nightcaps and headed back to the room. The app was finally working by tonight, in some capacity. But you still can’t access your account or dining and the shore excursions tab is funky. I’m hoping it works tomorrow! Good night.

Saturday I had a bad night last night (I have terrible insomnia) so got up later than I’d like and made my way to the spa for my manicure appointment. It was a lovely experience and my nails look great. I am unfortunately a mail picker and she was able to make even my nails look good. I headed to the International Cafe for lunch. This is my favorite place to eat for lunch. I love the sandwiches that are offered. We sailed on the Ruby last summer and on that trip there were also little salads as offerings. I am hoping I’ll see some of those in days to come. My sandwich was a prosciutto sandwich but they had many other lovely options. Really this is a great option! I then went to the thermal spa and read and dozed. After I checked out the Sanctuary. It was empty….no one there but staff. It’s $20 per morning or afternoon and $60 all day through the Panama Canal I think we may book for the canal crossing. I read we should be on the left side of the ship so we can see Panama City as well…I hope that’s accurate! It has been beautiful out….warm and humid. The Sanctuary would be nice for the canal I think because it will give you some protection from the sun and it’s quite close to the adults only pool. The Princess app is not working today. We wanted to change one excursion in Costa Rica and staff at guest services had to note our change and told us they would change it once they had access. I often book our own excursions and don’t go through the cruise line, but I do have an exception. When we have to travel long distances with little wiggle room for time, I use the ships excursions. Many of our port days are short and involve a lot of travel. So all of our excursions are though Princess. This is what we’re doing: I also considered upgrading to Princess Premier but decided against it. It would be $620 for the 2 of us. We have one speciality dinner planned. Even if we have a second dinner and I have upgraded wine at dinner, we’d still be quite behind dollar wise. We made our way to Vines. After a couple of misses, I tried the Petite Syrah by Spellbound and enjoyed it. It has the added benefit of being in the Plus package. Dh had gone to the acupuncture presentation and decided to make an appointment for his shoulder. I am glad he’s trying this. He always encourages me to do different spa treatments or to get something at the shops and doesn’t care about the expense. I’m glad he’s doing something for himself.

Pre-cruise We booked a Panama Canal cruise last year, leaving from San Francisco. There is little I enjoy more than driving across or sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge. However, that cruise was cancelled by Princess and we had to choose another. We might have chosen to do an entirely different cruise, but were sailing with a group, so we decided to choose a cruise that starts in Galveston and ends in San Francisco. We won’t enjoy the sail away under the bridge, but will be almost home when we end the cruise and that is certainly nice. Coming from CA, the other advantage is there are multiple airlines we can fly non stop to Houston. We chose to fly in early (arriving Tuesday for a Friday sailing) because I have cousins in Houston and it gives us a chance to visit. We had an uneventful flight to Houston, collected out luggage and were off. We enjoyed our time in Houston and I especially appreciated that we drove to College Station and visited the George HW Bush Presidential Library. I’m a history buff and my goal is to visit all the Presidential Libraries. Friday We took a private car service car from Galveston Saltwater moms Moms. I accidentally gave her the wrong address…..my cousin's old house. Luckily they were only a couple of miles apart and she quickly arrived. Kat was delightful and pointed out sites of interest along the way. We hit very little traffic except around Katy and had an in energy drive to Galveston. We had a 12pm boarding time but the port was very quiet and no one was checking arrival times. We quickly went through security and boarded the ship with essentially no waiting. I had been told that our cruise would have about 2000 passengers. We went upstairs to the Lido deck and both had a slice of pizza. I like their pizza, it’s very thin with a thicker crust around the edge….it’s exactly what I prefer. We went to the spa and took a price list of services and then I went up to Adiago…..it was empty, which was exactly what I needed. I am retired but have gone back to work part time for a school. I’m a speech pathologist who case manages for a school site. So I did my parent meeting online and then met up with my husband. We went back to the spa and I booked some services and then we headed to the room to unpack. While I am traveling with some former work colleagues, we aren’t doing everything together. Our friends were resting longer, so we went to dinner and asked for a shared table. We had delightful table mates and enjoyed the conversation. I had the seared garlic prawns, green vegetable risotto and vanilla cream brûlée. Dh had the seared mahi mahi and cheesecake (don’t remember his appetizer). He thought the mahi mahi was quite good and the cheesecake was, well cheesecake. Not fantastic, not bad, just cheesecake. I liked the shrimp. The risotto was okay. Not horrible but not that good. I had a glass of old vine Zinfandel that was not in the plus package ($17) so paid the up charge. It was quite good and I will likely have it again. After dinner we went to the One Hits wonder trivia and then then the comedian. He wasfine. Not super funny all the time, but I did enjoy some of his bits and he was also not off color or crude and I was happy for that. Dh thought he was funnier than I did, LOL. There are 1969 guests per the cruise director on the ship. This demographic definitely skews older….dh and I joked we’re youngsters in this cruise. After the show we headed back to the room. I stopped at the pool bar for my nightly amaretto. One thing I like about Princess…I can have a double amaretto. We watched an episode of Love Boat before going to sleep.

Lol, so maybe that’s what I have! I just bought some to try, so maybe I already have them!

I’ll be sure to post how it works out!

Good to know! I did bring along 1 packable hat. I don’t love it but it’s something. Maybe I’ll look for another one at our first port.