DavidGarvin2012

Hello one more time from the Island Princess. We continued today on our cruise back to Florida. Earlier today they reported that we were about 50 minutes off the coast of Cuba. Anyway we should arrive on schedule. This morning we slept in until almost 8:00 – tomorrow will be a much earlier morning – so we wanted to be well rested at the end of our cruise. We went up to the breakfast buffet and had our usual breakfast. I guess we haven’t described that process as much as the dinners, so here’s our chance. Each person starts with a platter which is much larger than a full-sized dinner plate. There are virtually every kind of breakfast item you can imagine and you can take as much of everything as you want. Then you can ... read more

Today we arrived in Aruba as our final port-of-call of the cruise. Aruba is a comparatively small island, measuring only about 19.5 miles by 6 miles wide at the widest. There are only a couple of high points on the island. Aruba has a very dry climate with only 16 inches of rain annually. The interior is dotted with lots of cactus and the windswept divi-divi trees. There are picturesque sandy beaches along much of the coast (all beaches are public, even in front of the exclusive hotels), where both low-rise (6 stories or less) and later high-rise hotels and condominiums have developed in the past 20 years. Most people speak English, but the locals actually have a language of their own called Papiamento, which is a combination of Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, African and English. ... read more

This was the Signature Event of our cruise – going through the Panama Canal! This was quite an amazing day. I guess ships go through here all the time (40 were scheduled today) but this was our first trip through the canal and it was really special. The Canal Pilot arrived on the ship at 5:45 and David was up, dressed, and out the door by 6:00. It was a little cloudy on the horizon so sunrise over the Pacific wasn’t real clear. David grabbed a quick breakfast and headed for the highest deck on the front of the ship. He should have skipped breakfast because he was about 3rd or 4th back in the crowd. Fortunately except for the front row, most people were moving around and David got close enough to get some pictures ... read more

Hello from the Island Princess, cruising in the Pacific again. We are back in the Central Time Zone after resetting the clocks last night. Before we describe today’s activities, let’s explain that we have added photos to yesterday’s blog AND have added some additional thoughts to that entry which we did not remember last night. There is even more to say about Costa Rica, but your will have to settle for what’s in the blog now. Oh well, one more thought. Costa Rica turns out to be directly south of Pittsburgh. A lot of people would have thought it was further west, but that’s what the guide said. Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Also where we were is almost the geographic center of the Americas (tip of northern Canada and tip of southern Chile). Also, just before we sailed ... read more

Hello from a much smoother Pacific Ocean. We continue to head south today, but today the weather is sunny and warm, and fairly smooth sailing today. So we are happy to have a better weather report today. Last night was the Presidential Debate and it was available to watch on the big movie screen on the pool deck or on one of your cabin TV channels. As a small political comment, about 1/3 of the people were scheduled for their regular dinner serving, and almost half of us were in the Princess Theater watching a show (more on that later), so apparently there weren’t too many people glued to their TV. And that’s assuming nobody was using any of the other lounges, bar, or other shows. One of the shows each morning is something call the ... read more