April 30, 2012 At Sea

Today was our 3^rd day at sea.  The weather has been good, but the ship continues to roll a little bit. 

We lost another hour last night and will lose another one tonight.  It is playing havoc with our internal clocks.  A nice breakfast in Sabatini’s and then off to learn how to play bridge.  This afternoon we played bridge with friends, tried out what we had learned, and lost.  We hope to improve in the future, after more lessons. 

The meal tonight with our Canadian friends was very enjoyable.  After dinner we went to the Princess Theater and watched a very funny British magician / comic.

Since we are losing another hour tonight we headed back to the cabin and some well deserved sleep.

A LITTLE NAUTICAL KNOWLEDGE:

We have departed the Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil’s Triangle or “Triangle of Death”.  The Bermuda Triangle is 1 million square miles, in the North Atlantic Ocean between the Bermuda Islands, Puerto Rico and Key West, Florida.  The myth originated in the fifties after a few articles in the press about accidents and disappearances of ships and aircraft which took place in mysterious circumstances attributed to supernatural or extraterrestrial forces.  These cases have undergone scientific scrutiny and various explanations have been given.  After years of research all that remains of these stories are just legend and a certain number of resulting sci-fi movies and books.  The Commodore says that the waters are as safe as any in the world, ….but we knew when we entered the triangle because we started bouncing all over the place.  If you really believe him; I have some land in Arkansas that I would like to sell you.

DAY 4 AT SEA:

I decided to add the 4^th day at sea with this blog.  The reason being that this has been our lazy day.  We slept late and ordered breakfast in our cabin.  Then a quick trip to our bridge lesson and back to the cabin.  We had lunch in the cabin and bridge with our friends this afternoon.  A short nap and then some pizza to night and we are now through for the day.

The constant time change is wearing on us.  We want to catch up on our rest as we are only 800 miles, a day and a half, form the Azores.  We are looking forward to being on something that is not moving around.

April 27, 2012 First Day at Sea

First day at sea and it is good.  The weather is still warm and sitting on the deck is very restful.  Up this morning and ordered some coffee and hot water.  I bring my own tea.  Picky I guess.  We sat on the deck and had the coffee and tea and then finished dressing and up to Sabatini’s for breakfast.  Most of the waiters up there are from Romania.  Since we passed through there a few years back, it gives us some common ground to talk about.  Our friends, the Wymore’s joined us and we all ate too much.  

I came back to the cabin and worked on my pictures.  I like to keep up to date on them, so I do not have to do them all at once.  This afternoon we played bridge with the Wymore’s.  Bill and I won.

Tonight we ate in the main dining room with are new table-mates.  Lots of good conversation.  The food is still good.  After dinner Judi and I went up to the Adagio Bar to listen to some nice piano music.  We then stopped by the Atrium to listen to a nice string quartet.  It was then back to the cabin, set the clock forward an hour and hit the hay.

 

Click here to check out some of our cabin pictures.

Our Cabin A-752 on the Emerald Princess 

This is my first try at adding Shutterfly pictures.  Sorry for so many.

April 26, 2012 on the Emerald

Today is the day we have been waiting for.  We were up fairly early and went down stairs to have breakfast and read the paper.  Then it was back to the room and try and fit everything into our suitcases.  Last night we met several people that we will be sailing with at the Lauderdale Grill.  Met some very nice folks and had a nice dinner.  Afterwards we headed over to the Publix grocery store for some supplies.  Our eyes were bigger than our suitcases.  Judi went back in and found some hot/cold bags and we used them for our overflow.  We took a cab over to the restaurant and  arranged for the same driver to pick us up.  Nice young man, born in Haiti, but raised in Florida.  We found out he was a Country and Western music fan.  He told us about his favorite singers and even turned on a Country and Western radio station.  I asked him if he ever heard Patsy Cline, which he had not, so I played some for him off of my I-Phone.  He fell in love with her and is going to get some of her music.  We try and provide culture wherever we go.

After stuffing our suitcases to the max, we took them down stairs and waited for our ride to the port.  It went very smooth at the hotel, but once we got to the Port not so much.  It took us almost an hour and a half to get on board, and we had priority boarding.  Once on board we were blown away with our Cabin.  We could really get use to this.

We checked out the Cabin and then since and since our luggage was not there, we went down to the dining room and had a nice lunch. When we got back to our cabin some of our luggage was waiting for us and we started to unpack.  The Wymores arrived about the same time as did our room steward.  We all introduced ourselves and the steward left and came back with Champagne for all of us.  We moved to the deck and about then a nice young lady showed up with canapés.  We then spent some time enjoying the fruits of our labors. 

After the Wymore’s left we finished unpacking and got ready for dinner.  We are at a table for 8 and we seem to have very nice table mates.  Four of them are from Canada.  The two couples are traveling together, a brother and sister and their spouses.  Then there is Bill and Janie.  Janie came over from Holland when she was 14 and Neal, the husband of the sister, came over from Holland when he was 22.  It is a small world.

We all went to the live show and then for us it was back to the cabin and bed.  It has been a long day.

April 24, 2012 Ft. Lauderdale

Tuesday and we are on our way to Florida.  Up at 4:30 AM, I thought that 4:30 only came in the afternoon.  Last minute packing and off to the airport.  A quick stop at the curbside check-in and then through the security check.  Kansas City's TSA people are the most friendly and courteous in the business.  The American flight left on time and next stop was Dallas.  Flying in we looked down on all the houses packed in to a small amount of land.  It would seem that as big as Texas is they would be a little more spread out.  After landing and checking out our 3^rd gate change we caught the tram and found our gate. 

The flight to Ft. Lauderdale was very nice and we and our baggage arrived early.  Collecting our bags and with the help of a sky cap we waited for our pick up to the hotel.  There were other passengers on board and they were headed to a cruise on Wednesday through the Panama Canal with Holland America.  We shared some must see locations with them for this cruise.  We did the same cruise back in 2008.

The Courtyard is a nice hotel, but not a lot to do around here.  We walked over to Isalamorda (a fish restaurant) and had dinner. Judi was fascinated with the sign outside the restaurant, you don’t see this everywhere! 

The dinner in the restaurante was good, but after travelling all day it was time to head back to our room.  Judi is going to watch Dancing with the Stars and I am going to check out the back of my eyelids.

Night before we depart for Florida

It is Monday evening and we are packed and ready to go.  American Airlines at 7:40 AM tomorrow.

It has been quite a week for us.  First off, Judi and I both came down with stomach problems, then I received an invitation from the IRS to donate more money to their cause.  "It is a privilege to pay taxes".  And finally last night the washing machine gave up the ghost.  So today, finish packing and purchase a new washing machine so that my house sitter can keep up with the washing.  That is three, so hopefully it is all good from here on out.  I just knocked on wood.

The upgrade fairy landed on our shoulder last week and moved us up to an Owners Suite.  YEA!!  What is funny or maybe I should say nice is that our good friends the Wymores were upgraded into the suite that we vacated.  So now they will be right next door to us.

Here is hoping that American do not lose our bags.  A friend flew to Orlando on American and his bags flew to Singapore. 

FRIDAY THE 13TH OF APRIL

We are in the process of packing and organizing our suitcases.  Trying to split up between the 4 of them so that when American Air Lines loses one of them we can still get by.

This is also a practice to see if Blogspot still works.