Live From The 10-24-2013 Ruby Princess to Florida (51 Days)

[ccrain]

Thanks for all the information. Now for a quick question: can you find out the time for the muster drill on Nov. 17? Princess says they don't know. We need to know so we can use our sight-seeing time in Venice fully.

 

Muster drill should be on the 18th prior to actual departure. I will ask around but the last time we left Venice, the 25th of October, we had muster around 5pm and departure around 6. It was dark going through the canal.

 

Double check the departure itin. We will have muster 45 minutes prior to departure.

[CruisingObsessed]

Love your "Live From" threads, especially this one and thanks for writing it! We were on the first leg of this trip, just got home yesterday. Fabulous cruise, great weather, great ports, everything was so interesting.

 

I hope you do go to Delos this round; it exceeded my expectations and I had high hopes for it! Definitely a good way to spend your morning.

 

October 28th in Greece is Ochi Day, and that's the celebration you saw in Corfu (and the reason for the police). It's a holiday celebrating the day Greece said no (Ochi in Greek) to Mussolini and decided not to join the Axis forces in WW2. We went to the celebration too and had a terrific day there. That's why the band (I hope you saw it they were really good), the Greek flags being sold and waved everywhere, gatherings in the parks and so many people off work--note the shops in non-tourist areas were closed up.

 

Afraid I have to respectfully disagree about the CD. While I do agree he was a great host and performer, IMO he was a terrible manager. Activities were feast or famine, and he rarely used Club Fusion for anything significant in the evenings; making the rest of the ship seem more crowded than I can remember any Princess ship being. We are elite and have been on each Princess class ship a few times except the really small ones (that are still sailing).

 

That being said, with such a port intensive cruise it didn't matter a lot to us; we were pretty tired most evenings.

 

Very jealous you are still on, hope you continue to have great weather and smooth sailing! Thanks for taking us along! :)

[cnelle605]

Departure is at 8:00 a.m.

[cnelle605]

Oops, I sent the last note before I was through. We depart at 8:00 a.m.

Surely muster drill won't be at 7:00 a.m. Thanks for checking.

[ccrain]

Oops, I sent the last note before I was through. We depart at 8:00 a.m.

Surely muster drill won't be at 7:00 a.m. Thanks for checking.

 

I noticed the am departure time, but thought that was a misprint. You are correct, they won't be having a muster drill that early in the morning. We left late in the afternoon, early evening. I will check and see what I can find out and let you know...

[ccrain]

11-07-2013 – At Sea to Santorini

 

A nice relaxing day at sea to rest the weary feet. A lot of the service staff in the IC has rotated out to other positions, so we are working with a new group, still as smiling at 0500 in the morning as always. Seas were a bit rough this morning and the Messina Straits pilot boat woke me up at 0430. That wasn’t so bad, but he hung around for a while moving away from the ship, then moving closer, not sure what was going on. That big diesel engine kept throbbing in my ear. After he pulled away completely, I was able to capture a few more minutes of sleep.

 

There was absolutely no plan for the day, but because of the wind, gusting up to 32nm in the afternoon (gale force), the ship was moving quite a bit the higher up, especially as we entered and exited the leeward side of the many islands in the area. This put Judy either in the Piazza, or flat on her back in bed.

 

Paul and Elizabeth and I joined in on Eve’s morning Zumba class, and there were several trivia’s during the day, but that was about it. We did all go see Red2 on MUTS. It was OK. Of course not nearly as good as the original. An obvious formula sequel that tried to hit all the check marked audience focus blocks – sexy ex-girlfriend, new girlfriend caught in similar circumstances, Victoria and her body disposal techniques, the new Kid, the cunning and clever bad guy. It had its moments, little snippets of funny here and there, but its not one I’d buy the DVD on, for sure. On the other hand, we had a great time bundled up on the deck watching it.

 

It was formal night, but we didn’t pack formal wear. So we ate in Café Caribe. Not the best meal we’ve had. Everything was ok, but nothing spectacular. The lamb chops were overdone and really needed some seasoning. The Beef Weelington had that soggy outer layer of puff pastry that was just gooey and sticky. (One of these days I really want to try a Gordon Ramsey beef welly just to see how they are supposed to taste.) it needed some more seasoning. The desserts on the other hand were very tasty. Pumpkin cheese cake, peanut butter and chocolate pie, a coconut crème cake. Oh Yum!

[ccrain]

11-08-2013 Santorini

 

Today is Santorini. We will decide whether or not to get off later in the morning. We don’t have any excursions scheduled, and as indicated in the prior visit, we were not that impressed by Santorini. The shops are way overpriced, compared to some other ports, as are the restaurants. The views are incredible, the cliff hugging dwellings – they look like snow capped peaks from a distance, the blue water and the sheer rock cliffs. Historically everything is pretty much gone, so the remaining interests I have are in the geology and the people. There are no excursions that concentrate on these aspects and I guess I really should just rent a car and drive around, but I take cruises so I don’t have to drive, and I hate driving especially in foreign countries. If I was to drive, it would be on Corfu where there is much more to see and do.

 

For someone who does like to drive, I would highly recommend simply renting a car and seeing the island on their own. You can even follow the busses to the winery and just blend in for your free samples. Its hard to get lost as it is a small island.

 

We arrive around 0800 and last tender is 1815.

 

So for today in the patter. Tonight the headliner is comedian vocalist Gary Delena. MUTS is the Wolverine. Tonight is Rock and Roll night. Dancing starts at 1800 in Fusion with canned music, then we have Jean and George in the wheelhouse and Atomic in explorers.

[ccrain]

Afraid I have to respectfully disagree about the CD. While I do agree he was a great host and performer, IMO he was a terrible manager. Activities were feast or famine, and he rarely used Club Fusion for anything significant in the evenings; making the rest of the ship seem more crowded than I can remember any Princess ship being. We are elite and have been on each Princess class ship a few times except the really small ones (that are still sailing).

 

That being said, with such a port intensive cruise it didn't matter a lot to us; we were pretty tired most evenings.

 

Very jealous you are still on, hope you continue to have great weather and smooth sailing! Thanks for taking us along! :)

 

No problem about the disagreement, in fact I do agree that Fusion is underutilized. I think it is underutilized for three reasons - 1) the reduction in cruise staff, and 2) the need to staff Adagio with entertainment 3) fusion's layout only lends itself to certain functions. With the addition of another cruise staff member they could use Fusion as a sports bar venue with sports trivia and sports specials running on all the screens.

 

On some ships, Fusion was used for all the Karaoke, Pop Star and specialty night venues, while explorer was utilized for secondary comedy or variety acts.

 

In the end, you are correct. With the port intensive nature of this cruise, I think Princess cuts back on the entertainment budget a bit. We'll see if this theory holds when we start the TA as we have many, many sea days in a row there.

 

Note that Dan is getting off in Barcelona and Lee Childers is taking over as CD for the TA. That will give us a one for one comparison between the two...

[ccrain]

11-08-2013 Santorini Evening Update

 

We did not go ashore today, but rather did some port day catching up. Judy had her nails done, I did a workout in the gym and a mile on the upper deck on top of skywalkers, we watched a chick flick together (Letters to Juliet), did sushi and Japanese slippers in skywalkers, danced in club fusion and the wheelhouse, dessert in the HC – a really great day of just kicking back and relaxing without all those people on the ship!

 

The little vignettes in the Piazza are great. We have two professional ballroom dancers in the dance troupe and they were showcased in the ‘Hey Mambo’ vignette. Love it when they let the singers and dancers loose in the Piazza. Balazs is a gymnast/acrobat/balancing person who does a performance with one of those big rings in which you roll yourself around and balance inside. That was pretty amazing. He did things I didn’t think you could do in one of those rings and made it look so easy!

 

Tomorrow is Kusadasi and we have something special planned and hopes it comes off ok. If so we will let you know about it tomorrow night. Otherwise we plan on getting off and just exploring the Kusadasi port area, the Grand Bazaar and stuff like that. We are here again on the next cruise as well.

 

So that’s about it…talk to you all tomorrow morning…

[ccrain]

11-09-2013 Kusadasi

 

A gorgeous day with blue sky, 70F high, slight breeze, low humidity (for the Med) and only two ships in port. No excursions today as we did Ephesus on the last stop. Today was going to be a get off the ship and wander the town day. But we got invited to something really special.

 

For those of you familiar with our travels you know we love to interact with the crew, and with the local population, see different sights and taste different foods. Well today we got to do all of these things at the same time. We got invited to a crew BBQ/cook out on shore at Balikiclar, one of the unique waterfront seafood restaurants in Kusadasi where you purchase your fresh fish downstairs in the fish market and then have it cooked to order upstairs in the restaurant. We saw crew, officers and at least one chef in the fish market, and a lot of crew cooking, and having cooked, their fresh seafood. There were a lot of locals in this particular restaurant as well and the view of the harbor and the back of the ship was great.

 

In our case the seafood, fish, calamari and prawns was cooked by the crew that invited us to the feast. We had Indian curry spiced fish, chili calamari, grilled prawns and marinated fish, over a charcoal fire, with a few local brews and we had ourselves a great time. The food was fantastic and we had a great time interacting with the crew members at the table, watching the locals watch us. It was a very special meal and a special day.

 

After lunch we wandered around the shops looking for goodies for the crew. The sales pitches are practiced and annoying, that’s for sure. There were only two ships in port today, the Ruby and the Regency, and all of the locals know the season is ending. Half off, two thirds off, you name it, the sales prices are amazing. Too bad we didn’t need or want anything like rugs, leather coats, handbags and the hilariously labeled “genuine fake watches”.

 

We eventually did find what we were looking for – a candy store. We had such a blast handing out Halloween candy to the crew, we bought some lollipops, with flavors I can’t even pronounce as they are in Turkish, to pass out to the crew. The girls in security, the pursers desk, various bartenders and servers, this is just a lot of fun – and they love the candy! We just have to do this more often. When we get back to Naples I plan on buying a bunch of chocolate to pass out to the crew as well…

 

We were still reasonably full at the Elite lounge with the marinated goat cheese and tomato bruschetta. We did some dancing in Fusion, then went and picked up our Kusadasi group photo with the crew members who invited us along to the feast. Too bad we can’t do this again the next time we are in Kusadasi, but the crew can’t get off as we are only in for half a day.

 

We did try to make it to the Ultimate Deck Party and actually got in on the practice dancing, but the wind is just too cold on the deck and we have an early excursion in the morning to Delos from Mykonos.

[Oahucruiser]

What a unique and fabulous treat you had in Kusadasi. Lucky you to do something so special! We look forward to your excellent and thorough reports each day! Enjoy!

[ccrain]

11-10-2014 Mykonos/Delos

 

We did tour 200A to Delos, half day tour, this morning. The weather is absolutely perfect, but we hear rain may be in the forecast for tomorrow in Athens. It was low 70’s (F), not a cloud in the sky, and a slight breeze, no chop, no swell on the boat trip to Delos. Our guide was good and the ruins very interesting and highly recommended. Not quite the grandeur of Ephesus, but if they were to excavate more of the place, it could easily rival Ephesus in scale and scope. The museum is kind of small and run down, but it has the real critical pieces from the site including the actual lion statues, but a very small carved marble piece no bigger than your little finger, but just as accurate and gorgeous as any other larger piece. It was amazing how they could have carved that piece without iron.

 

The excavated houses and shops, including a reputed bank and a house of ill repute (or are they one in the same?), are really interesting, especially the plumbing systems, the sewer system and the very large cistern that captured the runoff of the amphitheater. The island has many more places that should be excavated as you can see Ionian and Doric columns all over the place. If what they have in the museum is just a sample of what they found in the current excavations, the rest should be amazing.

 

The sunshine on Delos is a killer. Bright and hot, and with no breeze to speak of, definitely a 3 or 4 bottle of water tour. Luckily we are not in the high season – so next year if you go, take a LOT of water.

 

We’ve now seen what I consider the “Big Four” must sees on an Eastern Med – Ephesus, Acropolis, Delos and Olympia – and I rank them in that order on the must see list. These are sights where a reputable guide is a necessity to understand what you are seeing. Don’t try them on your own unless you do a lot of study. Hire a guide or go on an excursion with a guide. Its not just a pile of old rocks, each one has meaning and history wrapped in 2000+ years of mythology. All of it worth at least sampling with a knowledgeable person.

 

Since we were in Mykonos the trip before, we did not have to go into town this trip. So after the tour we did lunch in the IC. I just love that grilled vegetable salad and Judy can eat the shrimp salad which has no mayonnaise in it. We also tried the frappacinos for the first time since we were planning on skipping the power nap today in lieu of watching WWZ on MUTS this afternoon. Fast Zombies. I have read the book and I must say the movie is just a so-so adaption. B grade at best. (I have to admit I am currently reading John Ringo’s new “Zombie” series and it is one of his best works to date with realistic “zombies” and dealing with the all important question – what do you do AFTER the Zombie Apocalypse? So WWZ is kind of lame and tame compared to that series – and I can only dream that they would turn that into a movie or a mini-series!)

 

The best part of the movie was the fresh plate of fries AND the ice cream cone.

 

Dinner was just light snacking at the Elite lounge. We then hit the ballroom dance session in Fusion, a drink at the Wheelhouse, and found out about a place in Katakalon that the crew really likes – oh yeah, we’re there!

 

Some dancing with Atomic rounded off the evening.

 

Tomorrow the plan is to scout out the way to Athens. The Acropolis museum is closed on Mondays, according to Rick Steves’ book, so we will probably get on the metro and at least get to the Plaka for some shopping and lunch. We will reserve the Agora and the Acropolis museum for the next time around.

 

That’s it for now. Night all…

[ccrain]

11-11-2013 Athen Revisited (On Our Own This Time)

 

We now have blisters on our blisters with a thoroughly satisfying day in Athens, topped off with an evening of dancing, intermixed with some nice ginger twist tea in the IC.

 

Trust me, this traveling on your own is way outside my comfort zone, but it’s time to step off into the deep end and Athens is an easy place to do it. Just as Rick Steve’s book says, you keep to the left side of the street all the way to the large bus stop when the main drag does a right. You look up that street and see a pedestrian walkway over the main drag. That is your target. Head to the pedestrian walkway, cross the street and enter the yellow ugly building on your left. That is the metro station. Get on the train, there is only one (Line 1) and ride to the stop of your choice. Monastraika is where we chose to get off and as soon as we hit street level I knew where we were. It was the same square we were in the preceding cruise following our tour to the acropolis. Hey, this was way cool for me!

 

I have to confess though that we did meet another couple on the way to the metro and we just sort of hung together to the metro until the stop in Athens. Safety in numbers I guess…

 

We got a day pass on the metro, 4E each, which also pays for unlimited bus fares as well. Good deal. We got that at a stand on the way to metro just outside the cruise ship port. Look for the sign that says Metro tickets. It was just simpler than trying to figure out the machines at the metro station. Remember to validate your tickets as you board. The machine simply time and date stamps your ticket so you only have 24 hours to use it in.

 

During the previous tour we did the Acropolis. On this excursion we did the other stuff in detail and at a much more relaxed pace. The Agora, the temple of Haephestus, the Arch of Hadrian and a couple of other miscellaneous spots with ruins of ancient Greece. Doric, Ionic and Corinthean columns (nice to know what they meant and the time frame of each) all over the place.

 

We decided to shop for more specific and special t-shirts for the kids, grandkids and one of Judy’s best friends new grandson – he of course gets a Hercules T-Shirt from Athens! 100E later, boy this place is expensive, but the shop keeper was so nice and helpful, we decided we had already spent our lunch money and headed back to the ship. It was about 5.5 miles total walking and both of our feet are aching and begging for mercy. One the next Athens stop we will be doing the Acropolis museum.

 

Lunch on the ship was absolutely delicious and we were starving after a light breakfast in the IC. (Food on a ship always tastes better when you are hungry!) Chicken sandwiches, fries, margherita and tuna pizza (which actually wasn’t too bad), washed down with MGD and vodka drinks from our mini-bar. (Judy brought flavored drink mixes for martinis on this cruise from the dollar store. $5 for 5 bottles and she only uses a third of a bottle to make her cranberry, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry or pomegranate martini from our mini-bar. I use the rest and mix it with Sprite Zero for my drinks. Actually not too bad.)

 

A relaxing nap later we went up to the Elite lounge for drinks with Paul and Elizabeth. Some dessert and coffee in the HC, mmmm key lime cheesecake, followed by some Ginger Twist tea in the IC. It’s really good, decaf, and included with the coffee card!

 

Dancing then proceeded with Atomic through the 70’s party. Judy’s pedometer registers 7.9 miles for the day. Enough is enough, so now it’s time to kick back and let the feet regenerate.

 

I should mention the weather. It rained as we arrived early this morning, but it was mostly cloudy all day with a thunderstorm passing through as we left the harbor. The actual day could not have been nicer as far as cool air and a nice breeze, but the humidity was still high. The streets were wet and slick in most spots from the early morning rain. We didn’t get rained on, therefore we were very happy.

[homeinboca]

Loving your reports, thanks for sharing!!

 

Ron

[CI66774]

Love your reports. Keep 'em coming!

[bcnvcanada]

Suggest that your next stop in Athen, if you are taking the Metro, once you get the all day pass at the shop that you take the bus to the metro (electric) stop, can also be used an the return on bus which stops at port entrance. Much easier on your feet. So glad you made it to Delos. It is a very special place. Really enjoying you reports.

[ccrain]

Suggest that your next stop in Athen, if you are taking the Metro, once you get the all day pass at the shop that you take the bus to the metro (electric) stop, can also be used an the return on bus which stops at port entrance. Much easier on your feet. So glad you made it to Delos. It is a very special place. Really enjoying you reports.

 

True, but we need the exercise. I've only been to the gym once on this cruise, so we've deliberately walked a lot on our outings...nice thing about Athens is that everything is really close together.

[ccrain]

11-12-2013 Katakalon (In a Thunderstorm!)

 

Our feet hurt. That’s all there is to it. Good thing we brought a lot of bandaids and various pads for the feet.

 

It’s raining cats and dogs. Lightning woke us about 0630. Thunder followed. One stroke was within 2000 yards – that’s pretty close. Love those Caribe deck half covered balconies. You can stand out, watch and listen to the rain, the lightning, the thunder. Really enjoy doing it at home and it’s pretty neat to do it as sea. So great we had clear weather the last stop here and got to enjoy Olympia without umbrellas and raingear.

 

The plan today is fluid, no pun intended. We have the Christmas shopping done for the kids, now for others – but t-shirts won’t do. Got to find something unique for mom and dad.

 

Things to do in the patter. Trivia at noon. MUTS has The Way, Way Back, Zumba late this afternoon. (Dinner is Italian night, so we will be dining in the MDR for sure.) Dance class is Salsa. All aboard is 1730. There is a “Rock this Town” vignette in the Pizza from the singers and dancers. Line dancing is at 1930 with country western night at 2100. George Casey, Irish Comedian, is the headliner in the Princess theater tonight. Bingo late at 2130 tonight. Are you smarter than a cruise staff game show tonight as well. Lots to do, and Italian dinner to boot.

[ccrain]

11-12-2013 Not Katakalon

 

We did not make Katakalon today at all. At first they delayed arrival until 1330 so that a Costa ship could clear the main dock – we apparently was scheduled for a secondary dock. Commodore Romano tried to get in and decided to abort at about 1400. We had a hard time getting out. Katakalon does not have a turning basin inside the breakwater, so once you are in, you are not turning around and backing out of Katakalon into the teeth of the wind and the swell are just not fun things to do. It was the right decision since the forecast was for increasing wind and swells for the rest of the afternoon.

 

So basically we had a sea day, which was what Judy wanted to rest her aching feet! (After Zumba of course.) The cruise staff did a great job in revising the activities and having to put out two new Princess Patters for the changes. With all of these people on board, lunch and dinner were a challenge to negotiate, but we managed. It is to be expected when the entire ship is up and about ready to go ashore and then plans are changed.

 

So this was a do nothing, rest up day, followed by Italian night. Judy pronounced the Penne pasta adequate, but not as good as the last guys pasta. I had the eggplant parmegian, and the rosemary roasted chicken which was very tasty. Elizabeth had something different and something I will have to try. She had a large salad with the vinagarette on the side and had them put the salmon filet on the salad. Great idea.

 

We all had vanilla ice cream flavored with the coffee liqueur we bought in Sorrento. Much better than Bailey’s, thicker, creamier and tastier. Good homemade stuff!

 

After that we went to see George Casey, an Irish Comedian, who was tossed up the pilot boat’s ladder just this afternoon. A really good show, funny guy, after two days of traveling. One of the best comedians we’ve seen on the ship so far. (Only Dan Riley, the singing comedian, and “Blew By You”, was funnier.) But give George a few more days sleep and he might be even better!

 

By the time we got out of the theater, Explorer’s and Country Western night was packed. So we just headed up to bed for the evening. Tomorrow is Corfu and more walking…

[ccrain]

11-13-2013 Corfu

 

I actually like Corfu a lot. Especially when its not so crowded. The bus to town is perfect, but it is easily walkable – although today it was raining so it was busses for us. 1.5E each way and it takes 10 minutes or less. The bus is just past the taxi line outside the terminal. The terminal has an ATM which worked for our ATM card, no chip, just fine.

 

Today was not a holiday in Corfu, so the streets were far less crowded, the square almost empty, the crowds not so much, the shop keeper’s less harried. We were also the only ship in town, so there were just as many locals on the back streets as tourists. Because of the rain, today was a shopping day. Something for my mother, Judy’s sister, a good friend of ours at home, special snacks for our movie date today, some water and some Kumquat liqueur. We scored on all counts. The backpack was so loaded down we took the bus back – and ended up getting escorted back onto the ship by Security – story to come later.

 

We wandered the streets, in an out of various stores until we found stores whose proprietors were friendly, helpful and talkative. We found mom a hand embroidered silk throw pillow cover with a rooster on it. She collect chickens of all kinds – ceramic, copper, plates, bronze, embroidered, etc. I was looking for a bronze chicken god thingy, but never could find one. The silk pillow cover should be perfect.

 

When we were in Singapore we bought Lynn, our friend at home, spices from the orient, but without instructions in English. She hasn’t figured out how to use them yet. This time we found a spice box, with a bottle of EVO, of various spices and their use listed on the particular spice bag along with a greek cookbook. Hey score on this one as well.

 

For Judy’s sister we found one of those “Its all Greek to Me” t-shirts. She loves the various t-shirts we find her on our travels. Have to get an Italian one in Italy for her.

 

Today we have a movie date with Paul and Elizabeth in their minisuite. “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is playing and we are bringing two different kinds of olives, one with chilies, along with finger food from the HC, to the movie. Since mini’s have two TVs, there should be plenty of room. We also scored some diet coke and water.

 

Oh yeah, the security thing. I have been taking my Gerber multi-tool off the ship in my backpack since we arrived on board. (Never know when a multi-tool can be useful ashore. It goes along with the first aid kit, the toiletries kit, the LED flashlight and paracord bracelet with compass. Now don’t start laughing…) We even had it in the backpack the first time in Corfu. However, as usual, different people, different procedures. They did not like this multi-tool at all. You never know if I might just decide to disassemble one of the engines and steal it. Better not show them the steak knives in Crown Grill, they might have a heart attack. Anyway, I wasn’t concerned as I have a back up multi-tool in the cabin anyway. The Gerber is basically a POS anyway, but its better than nothing and I’m thoroughly prepared to leave it at any Security checkpoint.

 

But this time they insisted on escorting me back to the ship and turning me and the tool over to ship’s security. Ship’s security cleared it back on board, those lollipops have paid off I guess, but requested I leave it on-board. If we have a zombie apocalypse while we are on shore and I’m without my multi-tool, the president of Princes is going to get a real nasty letter.

 

Later…

[bcnvcanada]

Sounds like you had a great day shopping, that is really part of the fun of cruising. Always love to visit local markets and the like. Love the co-op coop in Venice. So handy to the port, good wine and drinks.

[Ethel5]

I love it that you are protecting us from the Zombies with your pocket multi-tool! LOL I am so enjoying your reports.

[ccrain]

I love it that you are protecting us from the Zombies with your pocket multi-tool! LOL I am so enjoying your reports.

 

Actually they are quite handy in the cabin for all sorts of repairs and things to luggage, not to mention to be able to open just about anything!

[ccrain]

Sounds like you had a great day shopping, that is really part of the fun of cruising. Always love to visit local markets and the like. Love the co-op coop in Venice. So handy to the port, good wine and drinks.

 

We've seen the vacuum packaged olives at prior ports, but never tried them. They are really, really good! The green olives packed with chilis are the best...

[ccrain]

11-13-2013 Corfu Evening Update

 

Had a great lunch with Paul and Elizabeth in their mini watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Forgotten how nice and roomy a mini is. Snacks from shore, the HC and miscellaneous stores and we were good, plus a delivered pizza which was PDG as well. Watched some tv with some napping in between, then hit the elite lounge. Both of us were still way too full from lunch so we stuck with Perrier’s and a twist – yes I passed up chips, salsa and guacamole – three of the most important food groups. We hit fusion for some dancing to canned music. A couple of good sets kept us at it for at least an hour and half until it was time to go to the theater for the International Cruise Show.

 

We haven’t been to one in a long time, but this one was one of the best. First of all we always take e-readers or IPADs with games to pass the time. Someone in the crew had the brilliant idea of blowing up and passing out balloons prior to show. Dozens of balloons all over the theater being volleyed back and forth amongst all the people. It was a blast. Judy’s got some great video on her IPAD of the whole affair – not a grumpy person in the room.

 

The show itself was pretty good, with a singer, magician, comedian, bar flare, a really funny skit by the cruise staff (Boogie catching a sneezing fit, a really bad tick and then gas before running away screaming from a pregnant Eve) and then the all time favorite If I were not upon the sea with Dan as the taxi driver and Colin as the ballerina. Very well done, very funny and a great cap to a fantastic day.

 

After the show, and since we get an hour back tonight, we danced a few in the wheelhouse to Jean and George (the Atomic tribute to the Beatles was SRO, so we went to the wheelhouse). We did actually make it up to Skywalkers to see Chris, but that dance floor basically sucks for any turning or spins. Its just plain sticky glass and ceramic tile. Not at all like the wooden dance floors. So we talked to Chris for a while and called it a night.

 

That’s what I call a great day cruising!