While I’m loving the Island Princess (what’s not to love - all those people dedicated to making sure I’m having a great time!), I’m having a bit of trouble navigating her. I suppose I’ll get the hang of it just about the time they boot me off the boat but for now I’m constantly relying on maps and notices posted around the ship. At 965 ft. long it’s the longest ship in the Princess fleet but seems quite a bit smaller (as Gerry says “width is everything” and he darn well better not have been talking about me!)The ship sets quite a bit lower in the water though. Typically we’ve had staterooms on Emerald (Deck 8) Promenade (Deck 7) is the deck with the outer walkway that circumnavigates the ship. On this ship, 2.8 times around makes a mile and I fully intended to walk at least one mile every day. But because on this ship Deck 7 is so close to the water line on days like today when we are out to sea and therefore moving quite fast, the deck gets a lot of “wave action” - ones splashing up over the side - and so the deck is quite wet. The Exercise Gods smile upon me once again - I didn’t bring rain gear so I guess I will have to do my walking elsewhere (which I suppose is why the Navigation Gods have arranged for me not to be able to locate my cabin - that’s apparently how I’ll be getting my walking instead!)
Upon arrival in our stateroom yesterday we were greeted with the first part of our anniversary package: champagne, roses and beautifully decorated chocolate-covered strawberries. A festive send off which we enjoyed as we were pulling out of Ft. Lauderdale. I suppose the best part of living here (if you’re a sun worshiper!) is having a home (aka “mansion”) with waterfront beach area. At least until the cruise ships leave port (our ship’s whistle as we are leaving port isn’t nearly as charming as that of Disney’s ships but what it lacks in charm it more than makes up for in volume!)We then enjoyed our first visit to the “Aroma Thermal Suite” (which will become a daily ritual while onboard). Gerry was hoping that they could somehow put one of those hot stone beds in our stateroom - it’s hard to remember to limit your stay to only 10 minutes. No doubt the description (a stone bed?) sounds extremely uncomfortable but actually it is very cozy. Then we tried all the various steam rooms - the Aromatherapy steam (wonderful if you are a bit stuffed up and Gerry is hoping it will completely cure him of his cold but it’s obviously going to take several sessions for that to occur!); what I will call the “Baby Bear” steam room (not a lot of steam but you can really burn sensitive areas of your body by sitting on the benches unprepared - OY! That’s hot!!!); the “Mama Bear” room - quite a bit more steam (they recommend 10 minutes here - I’d be lucky to make it 5!); and finally, the “Papa Bear” (or “Hell - Table for One”) room - again a recommended time is 10 minutes but I’m sure you’d be dead (but fully exfoliated). We pretty much walk in, try taking on breath without choking and walk back out. But the best part of the room (particularly after being blanched by the Papa Bear steam room) is the Rainforest Shower. It really is like showering in a cloud and perfectly caps off your visit to this suite.
Dinner was enjoyed as a group with 3 other couples (as we didn’t really want to wait another 45 minutes or so for a table by ourselves): Glen and Edith from Calgary, Alberta; Gary and Carolyn from Queensland, Australia; John and Katie from Stockton, California. Gary is quite the car collector (he’s got many from the US which he then has to reconfigure to drive on the right side of the road for use in Australia) and we all shared stories about cars, cops, unmarked cars and (this one surprised me) the fact that in Calgary they now have “green light” cameras - if you speed up during a green light just to get thru the intersection you get sent a ticket. They also have “yellow light” cameras - if you enter a yellow light and speed up to make it thru the intersection, you get TWO tickets! Gerry’s convinced that within 5 years the GPS device in our cars will just send us a ticket for every infraction (making cops trying to get their quotas a total thing of the past!)
- Terri’s Travel Tip: When cruising thru the Panama Canal east to west, select a cabin on the starboard side of the ship (and conversely if traveling from the west to the east, select a portside cabin). Did we? No. That’s not a sad thing - just means we’ll have to do it again!
Well it’s off to trivia we go!
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