Cruise Summary (1st Segment)

January 13 to January 28, 2012

Ports                    Distance (Nautical Miles)     Speed(knots)

Fort Lauderdale-Aruba     1083                        16.9             

Aruba-Columbia                  381                         10.6

Columbia-Panama Canal    266                          17.2

Panama Canal-Costa Rica  442                          11.4

Costa Rica-Nicaragua          188                          14.8

Nicaragua-San Diego         2305                          17.3

Total Distance travelled from Port Everglades to San Diego

4,665 Nautical Miles=5,346.75 Statue Miles

San Diego, California

 

We arrived here this morning at sunrise. It was a beautiful morning, the forecast was for high 70’s and plenty of sunshine.

Since Betty sister Pat lives here we got to visit with her and our nephew, grand nephew and great grand nephew. Below is a picture.

Mandy, our great-niece (boy are we getting old) volunteered to take the picture of the family below.

 

The afternoon was enjoyable, our great grand nephew Cole is adorable. It is a shame we live so far away and only get to see them occasionally, but when we do, we cherish the moments!

My nephew Mark is into making beer and made a great IPA. He also. brought some Stone IPA which is a local brew. I will eventually update the beer list.

After 5 days at sea the stop here was way too short. We are heading to Hawaii and have another 5 days at sea. Our course will be westerly out of the San Diego harbor than southerly towards the islands.

Five Sea Days to San Diego, CA

January 23, A nice smooth day at sea, I worked on pictures and the blog.. Hopefully I will get a lot of my pictures deleted and cataloged before we get home. Betty went to another culinary talk, more wonderful recipes.  We celebrated Chinese New Year in the dining room. Afterwards we went to the show which we really enjoyed. It was Bobby Brooks Hamilton, he is the son of Jackie Wilson.  Those of you over 50 probably know who Jackie Wilson was.

January 24, Happy Birthday Chris! Today was another relaxing day and I have got the blog up to date. Hopefully we will get an internet connect soon, of course everybody will be on and it will be slow. Betty went to a Scholarship at Sea Lecture, on “A day in the life of an Air Force instructor Pilot, given by Dr. D. J. Heinrich.  Dinner in the dining room was a Chef’s special, very different, our tablemates Woody & Barb opted to go get a burger. Actually the food was good and we both enjoyed our meals. We went to the show, the performer was Mark Preston, a lounge lizard and former member of “The Letterman”. He put on a fairly good show.

January 25, Still no internet aboard ship. A lot of dolphins around the ship this morning. We are still sailing along the Mexican coast and see land and more cargo ships headed to the Panama canal. We attended the last talk by Dr. Heinrich. It was titled “Who killed the Legendary Red Baron”  Tonight was our second formal night, the only good thing about it was that they served lobster. They did the parade of Chefs and cooks but no baked Alaskan. Below a picture of us and our table mates Woody and Barb at dinner. 

January 26, No internet, apparently the problem is bigger than we were lead to believe. We went to the Culinary Demonstration with Master Chef Alfredo Marzi. He prepared French Onion soup and made a Baked Alaska. His Baked Alaska looked delicious so maybe they will still have it. Nice thing on Princess is that these culinary demonstration are offered free where on HAL they charge. The weather has really cooled down , at noon it is only in the low 70’s. Too cool to sit on the balcony, as the sun is on the port side. Tonight’s show is the Pacific Princess Choir, a group of passengers. We heard them practice which was enough, skipped the show to watch the King’s Speech instead.

January 27, The internet is up, but running very slow. I was able to post the blog on Quepos, Costa Rica. Hopefully it will improve as we are getting near San Diego. I will also take my laptop ashore and hopefully use Betty’s sister’s internet. This morning we went to another lecture by Dr. Heinrich on aviation. It was interesting but more a filler of idle time, 5 days at sea is a little long. Betty had her meeting for the Book Club but the leader of the group (Princess Employee) did not show, so they discussed it among the members. I went to a luncheon for Cruise Critics. The chef made a special appetizer of penne pasta and shrimp, it was very good. Interesting people involved with this group. At dinner tonight we had Baked Alaskan, and it was prepared just like the Master Chef demonstrated it the other day. It was very good, twice as good as Holland’s. We should reached the USA/Mexico border at around 5:00am tomorrow morning. Looks like we will get off the ship around 9:30 after the complete ship goes thru immigration. Half of the ship is getting off and returning home or to other things. We are not sure how many new passengers are getting on.

January 28. We are in San Diego, well sitting in the Pacific Ocean, we arrived around 5:00 and sitting here across from the Coronado Bridge. We were suppose to arrive at 7, so we must be waiting for the pilot to show us the way.

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

January 22, This port is on the north pacific side south of Rivas. It was a nice smooth ride up from Costa Rica, we arrived at about 8am. Once we were cleared by immigration we had to be ready to tender ashore as a group since we ended up booking a tour. Our tour was to a Tobacco Plantation, Granada and Parque Central. This tour entailed a two hour bus ride each way. The drive through the countryside to Granada was very interesting, we passed many farms and small towns. It was a Sunday and everyone was out and about heading to church or just socializing. Of course all the cows, bulls and horses seemed to be out too. Apparently the grass tastes better by the side of the road. We drove through Rivas, a beach town settled in 1522 by the Spanish, featuring beautiful colonial architecture. Close to Granada we saw two huge volcano's, the Mombacho and Masaya. Quite impressive and beautiful. There are over 20 volcanoes in Nicaragua, 7 which are active.

Our first stop was at the Dona Elba Cigar tobacco plantation owned by Jennifer & Silvio Reyes. It is not a large plantation as he grows everything organic. Silvio showed us tobacco plants he was growing, some just 2 days old, some 8 weeks old and ready to be transplanted. After this he invited us inside where they cut and make cigars. He said we could smoke any cigar for free before we bought so I jumped on the offer. The worker pictured below rolled a cigar for me, even cut it and lite it.

 

The draw was perfect, and the taste very mild. Betty said it did not even stink. But she also added I still can’t smoke them in the house. I ended up buying 55 cigars at only $2.00 each. I would have bought more but did not have the cash. If only I could smoke on balcony I would be in heaven. Silvio Reyes (pictured below) gave me his business card so I can order directly.

 

Our next stop was Nicaragua Lake, the world’s 19th largest lake.  It contains 365 tiny islands, one for each day of the year. Most are owned for rich Nicaraguans and Foreign property owners.

We were then off to Parque Central which was the town square which included a beautiful Catholic church, Mass was being given while we entered.

There were other colonial buildings around the square. Some beautiful statues, a band stand. A market was going on, but could not find anything we had to have. They had peddlers that tried to sell us I am sure items made in China but were friendly and took a no graciously.

We then had to board the bus for the return trip, back on the same roads.

Once back to the port, we decided to walk to the beach town so I could get my Nicaraguan beer. We were also hungry, we could not find the place recommended by the beach bums back in Costa Rica so we went to “Laco Azul bar y restaurante. Our waiter could not speak a word of English so we hoped our fish burgers we a nice filet and there were. Very delicious and the beer was very good too and cold. I had all the Nicaraguan beers available. I will be adding these to the list soon.

After returning to the ship it was nearly dinner time, but we decided to skip going to the dining room and attended the Comedy Showtime show of Al Katz. He was good and funny, we saw him previously on Holland. After the show we went to the buffet and had a salad and sat outside on the aft and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

We then went to our room and watched the Giants-49ers game. We didn’t care who won this, but glad to see Baltimore lose.

At 6:00 they heaved the anchor and headed back into the Pacific ocean. Below is picture of Statue at the harbor entrance.

 

 

We will spend the next 5 days sailing to San Diego. We do not have internet connection due to sun flares.

1-27 going to try and send this although the internet is very slow

Puerto Quepos, Costa Rica

 

 

January 21, After navigating along the Costa Rican coast throughout the night we took a north-easterly heading towards this costal town. We arrived around 7:00 and dropped our 5.8 ton anchor. This is our first tender port. Princess talks indicated the local town was depressing and that it was really to far to walk due to the heat. The shuttle service was $8.00 each way per person which would be $32.00 for us. We planned on staying aboard the ship as it was a tender port also and the fact we have been to Costa Rica before. This is the first time a large ship has stopped here. Betty decided we should just go ashore and see if there was anything near the tender dock. We have never skipped a port. They were a few locals selling trinkets but that was it. We walked a little farther toward a boat club but then again nothing there. As we were about to turn back to the tender some fellow passengers were walking toward us and said it was about a 5 minute walk to the town. We started walking and in 5 minutes we saw a street market filled with vegetables and fruit. We bought a couple bananas, the best we’ve ever eaten. The ship has run out of them.  We strolled the market and at the end was the town. It was not depressing at all and quite large. We wandered around thru some stores and took in the local culture. A majority of the stores we went in were owned by expats from places like North Carolina and Florida and we also met a woman running PAWS International, a pet rescue group from Vermont.

 

There was a Best Western in town that had it’s own casino, we did not try our luck. The stop sign was a Texas Hold’em sign.  But nearby was the ‘World Famous’ El Gran Escape Restaurant and bar.

I figured we saved $32.00 by walking to town and we were parched from the heat, so why not stop? Actually it was very pleasant, I think our bodies are accepting the heat. I will update the beer list soon, but the best Costa Rican beer was Imperial. We met some beach bums from Florida that come to fish. Many world records have been set here. We were joined by Sam and Marty from the ship, they are from Manistee, Michigan. We will most likely do some on our own tours with them. She is a good bargainer!

If you are laid back, like great fishing, great beaches, hiking and snorkeling this could be the place to come. Not overrun with tourists but a lot of expats. Everyone was amazed that our ship was still going to cruise for 99 more days.

We walked back through the market on our way back to the ship, wishing we could buy some more of the fruit. Marty bought some flowers for their cabin, I was surprised the ship let them bring them on board.

After returning we took relaxing showers, one thing this ship has is nice hot water. We went to the dining room for dinner. This ship’s dining structure is different as it doesn’t have a evening buffet every night but only on port days, on sea days it has a Bistro Night in the Panorama Buffet. Gone are the days of the 24-hour buffets, a good thing!

Tonight we will stay in the cabin and watch the movie “Limitless”

Other things we have been doing on board, we play Sudoku everyday and attempt to do other puzzles and crosswords they provide. Of course Betty is constantly reading. I plan on attending a Adobe Photo Elements workshop, to improve my pictures. That starts after San Diego. I need to purchase the program. Betty has been attending Culinary Demonstrations that have been conducted by Culinary Ambassador, Master Chef Commendatore, Alfredo Marzi.

Betty has picked up a couple recipes from the chef to prepare at our next dinner party. They are

• Oysters, Sieur De Bienville
• Cacciucco Alla Livornese
• Cozze A Raganati
• Cavatelli with Sausages and BroccoliI

I have warned you! I hope the mussels are properly de-bearded.

Tonight we are to navigate a semi-circular route around the north-western coast of Costa Rica then eventually set on a north easterly course in the morning to our next port San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua. We again will be at anchor and tendering. A note on the tenders, they are in excellent condition and clean, a notch better than Holland tenders. Nice to know if we ever tip over.

Attempted to post on January 24th but no internet connection.    Happy Birthday Chris!

Update as of January 25, still no internet, plus my laptop stopped working, but I finally got it running again. Hoping that will not happen again. So if I get to post this and somewhere on the trip you don’t hear from me, you will know why.

January 26, No internet this morning, apparently some major is wrong.

CARTAGENA, COLUMBIA

 

 

January 18th, We arrived at 6:30 while we were eating breakfast and we were amazed at how big the city is. A population of over 1 million people. No one goes to the new city as it is not safe to walk around. Most tourist go to the old city.

We left the ship at around 8:30 and took a shuttle to the Port Terminal which of course is filled with shops. Betty bought a pair of earring that match her glasses. I bought a pair of Ray Ban’s for $8.00. Nice but counterfeit for sure. The label states they are tinest sunglasses made. I think they meant finest because they fit my big nose fine. It was warm but not hot, we stopped and Betty had some Juan Valdez coffee while I had a couple Columbian beers, the names are on the beer list. The beers were nice and cold and it was noon somewhere.

Above is a local Colombian woman dressed in tradition clothing.  Obviously this is not what they commonly wear since she has running shoes on.

Outside the terminal was an animal sanctuary filled with flamingo’s, parrots, lizards, iguanas, monkeys, a deer, humming birds and various other birds.

 

On returning to the ship, the crew was having the emergency drill and right above the gangway a Zodiac exploded open scaring us half to death. A Officer  was observing from the bridge area. We have never seen this extensive of a drill, it must be because of what happened on the Costa.

We sailed away at 1:00 and retraced our steps back through the Bocachica Channel before setting a westerly course to the Panama Canal. During the day we made a sign to display going through the Gatun and Mira Flores locks. Hope somebody saw us!

I know we are not artists.

January 19, We arrived at the Gatun Locks around 6:30 and entered 7:20 we displayed our sign for a little over an hour. No one knew where the web cam was, 95% did not know there was one, even the staff. Being through the canal for the 3rd time it was nearly as exciting. The work on the addition of a third lane is moving quickly, and it should all be open in 2014 for the large ships. Here I will say that Holland America does a better job of scheduling events for the transit. We missed the Panama Rolls and juice they served on deck. It is always about the food!

 

 

Above the Panama canal workers are lassoing the ship and then 2 workers are pulling the ship through the lock.  (Not really)

 

The ship is not stopping in Panama City, pictured below from the ship. I find that unusual but we are glad we are not stopping since we have seen the new and old cities and felt the heat and humidity.

 

 

Betty fell yesterday and injured her foot so she will have time to mend. Don’t worry she is okay. We also booked another cruise we might take in 2013 to Scandinavia and the Land of the Midnight Sun. At least we hope to, but it fully refundable if we don’t.

We have sailed out of the Mira Flores Locks with our sign out there for about 1/2 hour. This may be where the web cam is, who really knows. It was very hot and the sun intense. My doctor will be yelling at me for standing outside without sunscreen.

We just sailed under the Bridge of the Americas which connects Central America with South America and are now in the Pacific Ocean.

January 20,

PAT

 

Today we are sailing along the southern coast of Panama and this afternoon we will be altering onto a north westerly course heading to Puerto Quepos, Costa Rica This morning we saw porpoises from the dining room. Also there are many Brown Boobies flying along with the ship looking for fish.  (Bill is in his glory)

I see the morning temperature in Cleveland was 7 degrees, damn that is cold here it is a balmy 80 degrees. Has there been a lot of snow?

One person emailed and said they saw us and our sign as we transited the canal. Anyone else?

Next blog will be after our next 2 ports around the 25th. I need the time to figure out what I am doing. We then have 5 days at sea until we arrive in San Diego.

Oranjestad, ARUBA

January 16th, After a somewhat rough day at sea yesterday and thru the night, we have arrived here in Oranjestad, Aruba at 10:40 to sunny skies and 80 degrees. We are at a different dock this time around and we had to sail through a 180 meter wide harbor entrance assisted by 2 tug boats and a pilot boat. Also at the dock is the Queen Victoria and the Horizon so will get to mingle with another 3000 cruisers. We have travelled 1090 miles to this point.

 

We went ashore and walked around the tourist trap part of town, Betty didn’t want any new jewelry so we walked outside the tourist section and saw the Fort Zoutman and the cannons. It was built in the late 1700’s. Next door was the King Wilhelm Tower constructed in the 1800’s and named in honor of Holland’s reigning monarch It is now home to the Historical Museum.

The beaches here are beautiful and resorts are grand.

 

Next, we headed to Iguana Joes for some lunch, and of course Bill had to have the Island’s beer “ Balashi” so he could add it to his list. The Iguanas loved the french fries!!

We then returned to the ship as it was really humid and drizzly. One thing about this island is the amount of local traffic, just constant. If you like the heat, humidity and like to buy jewelry this could be the place for you. It is not for us.

 

We went to trivia today for the first time, we did not submit our answers as we were really bad. Or as we call it we were Shirley! Sorry for the inside joke but a few people will know what I mean.

We sailed out of Aruba at 5:45, right when we go to dinner. The chatter was all about the Costa Ship that capsized. The ship’s crew is having a very extensive safety drill today in case we tip over. Leaving Aruba our Captain did well and we are now maintaining a west south westerly course along the Venezuelan and then Colombian coast towards the City of Cartagena, Columbia.

We went to our first show, it was a ventriloquist named Dan Horn, we think we saw him before, anyway it was a good show and we got a good laugh at the expense of a fellow cruiser. That is why we never sit in the front row.

Upon return to our cabin we got our Pacific Princess pin and lanyard, more stuff to pack!

January 17, today is a sea day and Betty did our laundry and ironing. I helped, as I carried it to the laundry room. (Then ran as fast as he could back to the cabin.) I attended a computer at sea lecture on the magic of Digital Photo Editing. It uses the Adobe Photo Elements 10. I signed up for the classes and plan on buying the program while we are in San Diego.

In the afternoon we attended a Scholarship @ Sea Lecture featuring Rolly Crump, a Disney Animator ,imagineer and Disneyland designer on the early years with Disney. It was very interesting to hear about the early years.

The evening show was a harmonica virtuoso named Bernie Fields, he was no Bob Dylan but he very good and we enjoyed our second show.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to arrive in Cartagena, Columbia around 6-7 am.

Just a heads up for anyone interested, we will be going through the Panama Canal Thursday, January 19th.  We are scheduled to begin the transit at 5:00am and depart at 4:30pm.  I don’t know how much you will see on the web cam. The URL is www.Pancanal.com If we get a better timeframe I will email everyone.