Sea days – Apr 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 & Fort Lauderdale, FL Apr 27

Sea days – Apr 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26

Apr 20 – I finally felt up to lunch in the dining room and the menu looked good. (the food not so much). Started feeling bad again just before lunch so came back and slept for a few hours.

Rondi called to see if we were going to dinner in the dining room. We both have been eating most meals at the buffet. The menu looked good, and we decided to go. It was nice to catch up with them. They both have had the ship crud too.

We went to the evening show which was Pianist Linda Gentile. She is awesome and we have seen her on a previous WC. Mostly symphony & Broadway and she speaks many languages. She lived in China for more than 20 years and she is the entertainer that has had the most performances in China that isn’t Chinese. Her famous trick in her shows is asking the audience for 10 different songs and then playing them in order backwards. Her fingers fly on the keyboard. She was trained early on by Liberace, and she loves to show off her diamond piano necklace he gave her.

Another sea day tomorrow….

Apr 21 – Voice is coming back, but still croaky and honky.

We opted for the lunch buffet.

We had booked dinner at the steakhouse, and we were into our meal when Heather & Matt came in and were seated next to us. We chatted a bit, while still trying to give each other “space”. Cathy & Tom came in after we left, and they saw Matt & Heather. Roy & Rondi came later and saw Cathy & Tom as they were seated for dinner. Guess we all had the same idea. We got a surprise however and we were charged for our meal, and it was supposed to be a gift from our Travel Agent. 4 came with the Princess promotion for booking early. We are trying to straighten it out, but the front desk is rude and not helpful.

The evening entertainment was comedian Daren Howard. Kind of a head scratcher as he was all over the place and not all that funny.

We then went to the evening game show which was Where in the World are We? We didn’t play but would have done well if we had with just the 2 of us vs teams of 6 that didn’t do as well. One team tried to say they had a certain number of points, but it wasn’t really possible, so they were eliminated and there was a tie for the win. (should have played)

Another sea day tomorrow……

April 22 – voice still not back totally.

We went to Alfredo’s Pizzeria for lunch and waited an hour to get in. Yikes!

We then went to the passenger talent show which turned out to be really good. Lots of talented people on board. A violinist, a couple of guitar players, some singers, some pianists and a couple of comedians. It lasted well over an hour.

Heather had suggested a get-together for our main tour-mates. We met at 4:00 in Explorer’s Lounge and it was such fun talking about the hits and misses and what everyone was going to do next. Bob & Phyllis, Cathy & Tom, Heather & Matt, June, Roberta & John and us. Host & Mark were missing. Heather and I both had a few “incidences” with people on tours that we didn’t know, but over-all everything went well. I feel so fortunate that especially on this cruise I knew so many fantastic people to tour with. It really makes a tour more special when shared with nice & fun people.

We ate upstairs at the buffet since it was Mexican night, and the evening show was Jason Neistadt a voice impersonator. He was pretty funny.

We then went to the "Yes No" game which is always fun to watch to see how long someone can carry on a conversation without saying” Yes or No” or any form of the word, like yeah or nope.

We got an extra hour today (we have two more time changes before we hit Florida.)

We watched a documentary on Jane Goodall and Louis Leakey in the beginning years of studying Chimpanzees.

Another day at sea…..

Apr 23 – I’m doing better, but still have a creaky voice and a cough. We had breakfast at the buffet and then went to the Pub Lunch. It can be very good food, but the last couple of times it hasn’t been good. Probably why it was not busy.

We then packed for a bit and then went to the Passenger version of The Voice. There is one lady on the cruise that can really sing. She nails an Aretha song every time we have seen her, so it was no surprise that she won today. Everyone else was also very talented, but she really stood out.

We went to the dining room tonight since the food sounded good. Roy & Rondi were going to the steak place for dinner.

The entertainment tonight was the wife of the entertainer last night. Claire Gobin is a violinist and did a fun show of rock & symphony songs.

No game show tonight so we came back and watched the movie, The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Interesting….

Tomorrow is another day at sea….

Apr 24 – Voice is trying very hard to come all the way back. Just a minor cough now.

Breakfast at the buffet and lunch at the buffet. They had another Alfredo’s Pizza today, but since we just ate there, we skipped it. (though it is very good)

There was an afternoon concert by Liberty one of the Assistant Cruise Directors. She really is a great singer.

It’s a formal night and we did eat in the dining room for the Escargot’s and Surf & Turf. First really good meal we have had in the dining room in a long time. Steak was thick, hot and tasty and the lobster was also hot.

The show tonight was a Production Show called It Takes Two. Hard to call what this group of performers are doing Production Shows. Some have been all singing, some all dancing and some a combination of both, but not a blow-out Production Show like we have seen on ships. This one featured only 2 of the singers which forced one to sing a solo in the show about famous duets while the other did a costume change. There is another set of singers that could have sung while the other two did costume changes. Only 4 – 6 of the dancers performed a bit with some of the songs. Just seemed like such a struggle to try to make a story out of linking the songs together. (unlike Liberty in her performances where she told the story and sang the song) The Production Show was more like a bad concert instead of a show.

We came back to the room and watched Bad Times at the El Camino Royale. It was quite the plot twister and a fun movie to watch.

We are almost packed to go home…..

Tonight, we got a paper saying there would be a World Cruise group photo tomorrow. I thought they weren’t doing one since it already hadn’t happened. Most of us that get off in Florida have packed just about everything. Not that anyone can see you in those photos anyway. LOL

Tomorrow is another day at sea……

Apr 25 – almost have my full voice back.

Breakfast at the buffet and then got showered and ready for the group photo on the pool deck. First sunny and warm day we have had in many days on this cruise. We stood up in front of the jacuzzi since it is elevated and joined Roy & Rondi. 

The dining room didn’t look interesting for lunch, so we went up to the buffet.

We had dinner in the dining room. Finally, the food is picking up in quality and we get off soon.

The entertainment tonight was the Princess Harmony/Pop Choir that David Crathorne leads each segment. Always fun to listen to the talents of our fellow passengers. David is really perfect for leading the groups and this one was the largest one ever. He also is just a great person.

Then a Crew Talent Show. This one was spectacular! A few from the last Crew Talent Show performed again and many new ones. Great singers, dancers and then the Bar Boys did a show with dancing and fancy bottle and shaker moves. The Entertainment Director, Susan sang and then brought out her husband whom she had met over 27 years ago when he worked security. They had performed together on a Crew Talent Show, and they sang the song that they did all those years ago, not knowing they would be together. (it was a love song) She said after 27 years of being together, they finally got married. He is retired and she is still working. Liberty also sang a song. One of the waiters that everyone knows from singing in the dining room performed and brought the house down. The show ran long, so it was off to bed.

Despite Cruise Director Andi saying we could buy our WC Group Photos, one did come as a gift for all World Cruisers, plus a plexiglass etching (paper weight) of the Island Princess with World Cruise 2023 on it and a matching key chain.

April 26 – I guess my full voice won’t return until we get home.

Last day of the cruise for us. Bittersweet for sure.

Breakfast at the buffet. Ran into Roberta & John who are staying on until Los Angeles and gave some final hugs.

Lunch in the dining room as they had banana splits for dessert.

Dinner in the dining room so we could have one final night with Roy & Rondi. Such nice folks and we each offered our spare bedrooms should we want to visit each other. They live above Montana in Canada and said they would meet us when we visit the western part of Montana. They came to have a quick lunch with us when we took the train across Canada in Banff. I guess our luck ran out on good food becoming a trend in the dining room. It was Prime Rib night. Rondi's was thick and med-rare and mine was thin and only a small part had any pink in it. Then, we find out there is no horseradish sauce as the ship had run out. Baked potato was hard. The Baked Alaska however was fantastic. 

Tonight, the show was a combination show with the Pianist Linda Gentille and Travis Turpine. They each pretty much did a full show each, so it ran long. Both very talented and fun to watch. We packed everything we won’t need in the morning and everything put out into the hall. Final hugs to our cabin stewardess Janice and she was so appreciative of the extra cash we gave her. She has 3 children in college and is paying for that. She was so sweet and probably one of the best ones we have ever had on a cruise. 

April 27 – Arrival in Fort Lauderdale for disembarkation. There will be quite a few continuing on to Los Angeles for the end of their 111-day journey. Holy Crap, what a mess this morning! Most all of the crew were going through immigration off the ship and at breakfast there were NO clean tables and NO silverware. Finally, we sat with some other people at a clean end and then waited to get some silverware.

Ran into a few people for last minute hugs and we were ready to get off. 

We chose the middle timeframe to get off. We got down to the sea of luggage only to find out that colors weren’t all in the same place and any that were in the right place weren’t put together by number. It took over an hour to find all our luggage. Then, had to wait in line for a porter. Finally, got through customs and the porter dropped our stuff at the curb. I stayed with the luggage and Greg went to wait for the shuttle to the rental car place. He got there (over an hour past the time of pickup) and the van was not ready. Finally, I saw him coming and then just had to wait until enough cars got out of the way to pull up to where our luggage was. We have never been that late leaving the port. We normally are home well before lunch. This time we had to stop for lunch on the way home. Just a fitting end to a cruise riddled with things Princess could have done better.

In 50 cruises there have only been 2 that I wasn’t sad when they ended, or I could have stayed on and done it all over again. This one on the Island, and the 60-day South America on the Island.

We've been home a couple of days now and I'm making progress with the laundry and getting things organized and put away. Soon, I'll get back to organizing photos and getting them uploaded to Google Web Albums and eventually added to my blog. 

I'm about done with my final thoughts on the world cruise and will post that in a day or two.