Nov 8 - 15 At sea

 Nov 8 - 15  At sea

Last night we set sail from Tenerife to begin our 8 day crossing back to North America.  We are hoping the weather will cooperate and give us calm seas!

Today it is overcast, 23°C with some ‘swells’, but the captain announced that as we continue westward it should be smooth sailing!

I woke up with an upset stomach so just stayed in the cabin for the morning.  I ordered toast and a banana from Room Service for breakfast and I felt better after a couple more hours of sleep.  Mary is bringing me something for lunch.  

I got dressed around 12:30 and went to one of the presentations this afternoon.  The magician from last night, Davey McCauley, was putting on a show called The World of Pickpocketing!!  His talk was focussed on how to recognize and prevent people from becoming victims of scams. It was very interesting!

We came back to the cabin to shower and get ready for  ‘formal’ night!  This has become such a misnomer as there are twice as many people dressed in shorts and tshirts as those dressed for fine dining!  Mary and I have never gone to the extreme of what I would call ‘formal’ wear, but we do try and put a little extra effort into what we wear on these nights.

Princess always had a special menu for such dinners; gone are the days of Surf & Turf, and even the special cuts of beef have disappeared from the menu.  It was just a regular menu tonight.

For starters we each had Spring Rolls followed by Carrot and Ginger Soup for Mary and Caesar Salad for me.  The main course was Beef Brisket in a wine reduction for Mary and Weiner Schnitzel for me. Desserts were a Chocolate Raspberry Pie and Passion Fruit Torte.  The meal was very nice, but not what used to be served on ‘formal night’!  I’ll get off my soapbox now!

The entertainer in the Arena was Lisa Marie Holmes, who has an incredible voice!

It’s the end of our first day crossing the Atlantic.  I will continue to post on this page for the remaining days, so check back tomorrow for Day 2!!

💤

Nov 9

Temperature 75°F / 24°C under clear skies.

We are now in a new time zone - 4 hours head of home.  Seas are fairly calm with just a slight rolling as we sail along!  If you want to see where we are Sea Scanner will show you!

This morning at 9:00 Mary went to a presentation on the Treasures of the Spanish Fleets while I went to breakfast in the dining room.  I feel better today so am trying to avoid some of the food in the Eatery to help figure out what might be causing me to have these ‘off’ feelings in the morning.  We met up at 10:00 for Kez’ talk on Coffee ☕️.  Did you know it is the second largest traded commodity in the world after oil??  At 11:00 it was nap time for Dorothy and Mary stayed for the presentation on the Conquest of the Incas.

This afternoon we went to hear one of the officers talk about the  Navigation of this huge vessel.  It was a bit difficult to catch all of the information because of his strong Italian accent, but fortunately he had lots of pictures and diagrams!  In the picture below I have indicated where our cabin is!

Dinner time again!  This is the view from our dining table…

French Onion Soup, Crab Cake were the appetizers.  Mary had Garlic Chicken Breast and Dorothy had Salmon as the main course.  Mary had a Chocolate Tart for dessert! Talk about chocolate!!!!

Tonight’s show is Fiera.   We were supposed to have seen it on the first leg of the cruise, but there was an issue with the mechanics of the stage and it had to be cancelled.  It was excellent - one of the best we’ve seen on Princess!  the handicapped seats are in the front row so we have a totally different view of the stage than we are used to!

Clocks go back again tonight!  Now only three hours behind Ontario!

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post!

Nov 10

77°F / 25°C, partly cloudy skies; I am surprised at how warm it is!  The waves have flattened out considerably - just as the Captain said they would!  Here is our view from the balcony…

We had breakfast in the American Diner this morning. It was less crowded and as a result, quieter.  Then we made our way to the Arena for Kez’ talk on the Real Pirates of the Caribbean, followed by the other Enrichment speaker, Jacob Marvin’s presentation on The History of Sugar. That was a lot of sitting!!  

So we welcomed the walk to the opposite end of the ship for lunch!  Mary wanted to go to Jacob’s next presentation on Hispania: Rome’s Iberian Frontier while Dorothy went for a nap!!  I had intended to watch an aerial show but didn’t wake up in time so Mary went solo!  

A different menu for dinner tonight!  Mary had Citrus Tomato Soup and a Caesar Salad and Dorothy had the Date, Goat Cheese and Baby Spinach Salad.  The main course was Filet Mignon with Green Peppercorn Sauce which we both enjoyed.  To top it all off Mary had Sacher Torte, and I had the warm Apple Crumble Pie.

Off to the show - Livin’ the Dream with the Womack’s, a husband and wife duo.

Clocks stay the same tonight so that gives us a day to adjust!  

Come back tomorrow for the next post!

Nite! Nite!

Nov 11

Remembrance Day

75°F / 24°C, partly cloudy skies

Day four of our crossing!  We almost missed it!  A rainbow!

After breakfast in the American Diner we headed to the Arena for the Remembrance Day Service.   

This was a solemn ceremony honouring the fallen and those left behind.

Nov 12

BLOG ON STRIKE!

I spent three hours composing today’s post and it disappeared! !  So I will try again tomorrow!! 

😡

 

Nov 13 

77°F / 25°C a bit overcast with a few swells!

It’s a new day on the high seas!   The good weather continues, making this a very pleasant crossing.  We have enjoyed the calmest seas I have ever seen!

                A little afternoon refreshment while taking in the view!

We took our time getting started this morning and after breakfast in The Eatery we went to a couple of presentations - Caribbean Rum Running with Kez, and The Age of Whaling with Jacob.  I particularly enjoyed  Jacob’s talk; it made me so much more grateful that I have seen so many whales in my travels after the exploitation of these magnificent mammals that took place a few hundred years ago.  

In the afternoon we had intended to go to Cole’s Session -  Coffee with Cole and Friends.  We expected it to be an interview with some of the officers or something similar, but turned out to be just an informal collection of ship personnel mingling and answering questions, so we left.  After a stop at the  🍨 gelato 🍨shop, Mary went to a second performance by Lisa- Marie Holmes and I gave in to an afternoon nap!

Yesterday ended up being the most frustrating day so far!  I spent a lot of time doing a write up on the Sun Princess and making comparisons with other ships in the fleet.  Sadly it did not post and it simply vanished!!!  No doubt it was the author’s fault, but I would rather blame the blog program I use!!

So rather than try to recreate the whole post I will suggest you check out this Sun Princess link; it is the most comprehensive review of our home for the last month that I have seen.  Her photos and descriptions are great!

Last Night’s performance of Stage Struck was great!   The entertainment on this cruise has been very good - fewer magicians, ventriloquists, and comedians and more entertaining acts and shows.   Tonight’s show promises to be amazing so we will enjoy that after dinner.

The days are flying by now!😢

See you here tomorrow! 

PS. Tonight’s entertainer, Janice Martin was amazing!  awesome!  sensational!  Did I say she was really, really good?!?!   She’s a soprano, a pianist, a guitarist, a violinist and an aerialist!!  Incredible!!

Nov 14

Temp 73°F / 22°C

Day 7 of the crossing! Fairly calm seas, a bit overcast, but the great weather has continued.

After breakfast Mary went off to Cole’s show about Life at Sea.  I ended up chatting with a couple from NY who eat in our little dining room, sharing cruise stories among other things   I recognized the Brooklyn accent! and immediately thought of my friend, Linda!  

Mary and I met up at 1:00 for Janice Martin’s talk, How I Learned to Fly; it was about how she has overcome obstacles and challenges in her life to become the successful performer she is.  When that ended it was time for my nap!  Mary stayed out and checked out some of the areas of the ship that she hadn’t seen yet.

Dinner tonight was very nice!  Shrimp Cocktail to start, followed by a delicious salad of Boston lettuce and other surprises! -  feta, dried cherries, walnuts and green beans.  We both had the Short Ribs as our main course.  It was Tiramisu for dessert for Mary!

We hurried to the Arena to get a seat for the show White Magic!  It was a husband (Michael White) and wife (Hulan) team who combined his sleight of hand acts and she is a contortionist!  All I could think of when I watched her was ‘Ouch!’

An early night for us…. Back to the room, hoping our laundry comes back so we can pack tomorrow!  😢

Last Sea Day tomorrow as we inch closer to Florida!

Nov 15

Our final day! We didn ‘t do much, just enjoyed a relaxing time.  After breakfast we went to Meet the Captain, an interview with Captain Arrigo.  As always, it was interesting to hear about his family connections with Princess and how he became interested in becoming a cruiseship Captain. Both the Captain and the Cruise Director said they had never had such a smooth crossing!!

Mary stayed on in the theatre for the last of Jacob Marvin’s presentation and I came up to our cabin to get started on the packing!  We went for lunch up in the Lido - burgers and drinks!  Wine for Mary and a Bloody Shame for me (Bloody Mary without the alcohol!) It was another beautiful day to sit outside with bright sunshine, warm temperatures and calm seas!

Back to the packing before dinner!  We said our goodbyes to Jaydeep and David and thanked them for looking after us!

So now we must set our clocks back for that last hour!  We are finally on Eastern Time!!

All good things must come to an end.  We are all checked in with Air Canada and will have an early night to get us ready for a long day tomorrow. We have to be downstairs by 6:45 AM to go through disembarkation and board a bus to the airport!

Ciao for now!

💤 💤