Blogs from Oceans and Seas - page 5

Hello from the deep blue sea. It is continuing to turn cooler as we travel further north. This morning it was only about 44 degrees but, in the midafternoon, it had gone down to 42. It continued to be nice and sunny this morning but overcast in the afternoon. It was breezy again making it pretty chilly out on deck. Fortunately, the seas have been fairly smooth, and we are having very little deck motion. Some interesting facts about Halifax which we omitted yesterday: (1) Halifax used to be the main export seaport for Canadian grain until the St Lawrence Seaway was opened. Now most of it is put on ships in the great lakes. (2) The distance from Halifax to Vancouver is about the same as the distance to London. (3) There are 121 bodies ... read more

Happy Memorial Day! While we are sailing around in this enjoyable cruise ship and being pampered by all the services, we are reminded of all those who made sacrifices to allow us to have this good life. At 3:00 pm the bridge announced a minute of silence throughout the ship in honor of Memorial Day. One of the things they covered in the Wake Show was the numbers of passengers by nationality. There are 1559 from USA, 163 from Canada, 47 from UK, 20 from New Zealand, 18 Australians, and various others. On the next part of our cruise, we expect the UK to take over leadership. We got up this morning in time to go to the dining room for breakfast. Janet was able to have eggs benedict. She has long felt that Princess serves ... read more

March 27 – 30 - What could possibly go wrong..... We had a wonderful evening after leaving Madeira, first dinner, then the main show and we strolled through all the piano bars sipping our wine. We will have a day at sea and then arrive in Casablanca tomorrow morning. This is why Kirsten picked this cruise. Everyone on the ship is buzzing around and talking about Casablanca and where to go and what to do. Lots to see. The ship’s captain is Italian, the cruise director is British, we’re sailing to Southampton (by the way...this is where the Titanic launched from). What could possibly go wrong....... It’s noon the next day at sea, Kirsten and I are having a wonderful lunch in the pizza café. The captain comes on the announcement system updating us on our ... read more

March 19 – 25 The First Week It’s Sunday morning or is it Wednesday morning? It doesn’t matter, we lost track of what day it is.... days ago. Our room is comfortable, roomy and we have a balcony. Plenty of room to run around without stepping on each other. Our cabin steward is Edwin. Whenever we open the door, he’s standing right there. I believe we’re his only cabin. We have breakfast on the Lido deck. We stroll around till we find an isolated spot and hide there until other guests start gathering around us and then we move on to our next retreat. They think something is going to happen, so they gather around us. Me... I think Kirsten has such a magnetic personality that they are just drawn to her. Everywhere we turn, we ... read more

Our port of call on Tuesday, March 14, 2023 was a popular winter get-away for mainland Americans -- Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The U.S. Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles to the east of Puerto Rico and to the west of the British Virgin Islands. When most people refer to the U.S. Virgin Islands, they are referring to the main islands of Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas; however, the U.S. Virgin Islands also includes 50 other surrounding minor islands and cays with a total land area of 133.73 square miles. The territory's capital is Charlotte Amalie, and the residents are referred to American Virgin Islanders. The islands were ... read more