Day 6 - At sea

Last day and it was spent dawdling up the left coast verrry slowly!  We were off the Big Sur coast at lunchtime so you can imagine how slow we’re going.  Now that it’s dark I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t go around in large circles!!

We spent a quiet day just enjoying having no where to go or anywhere to be!  Not much sun outside since the skies were overcast.  I did go to trivia this morning but, again, got stuck with “unbelievers”!  They didn’t believe me about the Emu on the Australian currency and insisted on Koala!  I also knew the largest state in Australia and they voted against the right answer!  Eeejits!!!

Poor Molly has come down with a cold so she was MIA most of the day, poor thing.  We did run into Jim a couple of times as he was getting her some coffee and breakfast.  Don’t know if they made it to dinner though.

We again ate in the Crown Grill!  The food is so good and the wait staff in there makes the whole dining experience so relaxed and fun.  We had the same waiter all three times and we won’t forget what a nice guy he is.  Darius from Romania!  We’ll make sure to give him lots of “attaboys” when we fill out the survey from Princess in the next couple of days.

Well, I know everyone is sitting on the edge of their seats right now waiting to see if I ever broke down and rode in an elevator……….ready?  Nope!  Never rode an elevator all week!  I am however know as the lady who gasps for air between the 10^th and 11^th floor!!  Hopefully, it makes the lemon meringue pie I ate go away!!!

It’s been a great week and a fun cruise.  Our highlight, of course, is the time we got to spend with Trevor in San Diego. 

Met a couple in the dining room this evening who recognized us from our cruise with the family last July!  Small world!

Thanks for following along.  We’ll be off the ship about 10am tomorrow and the van will pick us up about 10:30 and home by noon, I hope.

Till next time….

XOXOXO

M

Day 5 - Santa Barbara

Last port today and we had super weather…again!  Santa Barbara really showed off today! 

We waited until after lunch to catch a tender to shore because of all the crowds wanting to go first!  It was a smooth 20 minute ride and we were dropped just about a block over from the wharf.  We caught a trolley bus into the middle of town and wandered around watching people and window shopping.  I will have to say there were more beggars on State Street than in Ensenada!  I couldn’t believe how many there were!  The downtown area is quite beautiful except for the street people.

We had a bit of excitement in the Right Aid store as I spotted Michael Imperioli (Christopher on the “Sopranos”) in the checkout line behind me!!  I had to do a double-take because he was so short!!  They always say TV adds 20 pounds but it also adds a fair bit of height to the men!  He must have done all his work standing on a milk crate!  Seeing him made me think of James Gandolfini and the movie we saw recently (his last with Julia Louis Dreyfus) that was so good! 

We came back to the ship after our walkabout and did some reading on the balcony while watching kayakers and paddle boarders off in the distance.

We did run into the LaFayette’s, Fabiani’s and Kovaleff’s while we were downtown!  They were trolleying around and had been to the Santa Barbara Mission.

Dinner was quick and upstairs in the buffett since it is formal night and we didn’t bring those kinds of clothes!

Tomorrow is our last day and it will be a sea day.  I will try and catch a trivia or two but with no set team it’s hard at this point to crash a team.  Maybe I can drag the Commodore along….!

We ran into a crew member that remembered us from last summer with the whole family aboard.  She is from Thailand and her name is “Meow”!!  I’m sure that’s not her real Thai name!  Anyway, she is going home on Saturday for her vacation but will join the Emerald Princess when she gets back and will be seeing us in October when we do a transatlantic on that ship!! 

As Bugs Bunny says, “that’s all folks”!!

XOXOXO

M

Below is Santa Barbara from our balcony and the lower picture is the top floor of the atrium where the balloons are awaiting their drop later in the evening! (we'll be sleeping through the excitement!)

Day 4 - Long Beach

I was pretty surprised when I opened the drapes this morning just after we docked and looked out at the Queen Mary!  Instead of the expected dock in San Pedro we were tying up alongside the pier in Long Beach!  Pretty great view and it was interesting to see the size difference in the two ships.

We had been informed yesterday that everyone would have to disembark in Long Beach to go through US Customs and we were given times related to which deck we were on starting with the first time being 7:45 am!  Our time was between 8:45 and 9:15 (pretty civilized!). Well, right about 8 am the first announcement was made that there was a “delay” with customs and they would be starting offloading “soon”.  Ha!  I knew their game!  I told the Commodore that I felt that things were going sideways and we would find a spot to relax and wait to be kicked off the ship!!  That’s exactly what we did and were finally shooed off about 11am.  There was still another “delay” in getting folks back on board so we decided to walk over to the Queen Mary for a little tour.  They were nice enough to offer all the Grand Princess passengers free admission so we enjoyed our tour of the antique luxury liner!  We finally got back onboard about 1:30 and the Captain was so sorry about the “ratgaggle” that he gave every passenger a ticket for a free drink!  Yay! I’ll drink to that!!  I did hear a rumor that several people were escorted off the ship in handcuffs!  That might explain some of the problem!

The rest of the day was spent enjoying the awesome weather aboard the ship.  I played trivia this afternoon and couldn’t find any good teammates so I ended up playing with a group that argued for the wrong answers….eejits!

Had dinner at a new venue called the “Crab Shack” where they turn part of the café into a specialty restaurant.  Lots of shrimp, crab, mussels and clams and it was pretty good.  No choices for people who aren’t into seafood so I see a short life span for this idea.

Tomorrow is our day in Santa Barbara and we will have to take a ship’s tender to shore.  We will probably go ashore mid-morning and just browse around downtown.  Weather will be good so that’s a real bonus!

It’s bedtime! 

XOXOXO

M

Day 3 - Ensenada

We docked in Ensenada about 8am this morning and it seemed like no one was in a big hurry to disembark.  The Commodore and I went up for a quick breakfast and then he took off for the gym and I went down to the International Café for a “real” cup of coffee! 

We left the ship about 11 and walked into and all around the downtown area.  There isn’t too much “there” there!!  There was junk being sold on the streets and lots of beggars on the corners and it was very sad to see.  We did have a small mission which was to find some make-up remover for me.  Sounds weird but I use Neutrogena wipes to take off my makeup and the last time I was at Costco I thought I would save $2 and by the Kirkland brand…HA!  I woke up this morning looking like Rocky!!  I am allergic to the “off” brand! So we managed to put over five miles on the pedometer without any luck but as we were walking through the little market set up next to the ship….VOILA!  Just what I was looking for!  Cost me $8 for a $3 item…..so much for saving at Costco!  I’m not as bright as I look!!  :/

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading and dozing in the sun!  I was, of course, ambushed by a nice nap!

This evening we met with our friends and neighbors for a lovely cocktail party and dinner to celebrate Barbara and Joe’s anniversary!  There was a cocktail hour in the Wheelhouse Lounge and then we all went to Sabatini’s for a riotous dinner where the waiter sang to us and fussed over Joe!  It was very funny to all of us but I think poor Joe had quite enough of his new “boyfriend”!! 

I didn’t make any of the trivia’s today so will look for an opportunity tomorrow.  We are in LA and have to get off the ship to go through customs and then when all passengers have cleared off then they’ll let us board again.  Fortunately, our deck is one of the last to leave so our wait should be shorter than most others.  We really don’t have any plans for tomorrow so it well end up being another “sea” day!

Just for the record, I still haven’t  been on an elevator!  Today was a big climb from the 4^th deck where we embarked after Ensenada to the 11^th where our cabin is!  Right knee is annoyed!!

All for now, it’s past 11 and I turn into a pumpkin soon.

XOXOX

M

Day 2 - San Diego

What a beautiful day we had in San Diego!  The weather was as perfect as if we had ordered it ourselves! 

We had a bit of breakfast before the Commodore headed to the gym and I took a walk around the deck.  We had docked in downtown San Diego at 8am and we walked off about 10:30 and met Trevor just as he parked his car!  Perfect timing and that young man was such a welcome sight!  We hopped into his car (it’s a Mustang so I use the word “hopped” but it was really more like crumpled and folded ourselves!!) and headed off to park downtown for lunch.  It was our first trip to “Dick’s Last Resort” and we looked forward to the insults and jokes and we weren’t disappointed!  You can see from the pictures that we were teased and how nice the weather was!

After lunch we hiked around the waterfront and then said goodbye to Trevor and the Commodore and I walked back to the ship for a couple of quiet hours before we sailed.  I fell asleep and the Commodore went up on deck to read his book.  It’s nice when you have the ship to yourself on port days!

Didn’t see our traveling buddies till later this evening as they were probably headed for a show.  We’ll join them tomorrow evening for dinner to celebrate Barbara and Joe’s anniversary!  Then we’ll catch up with their adventures!

Dinner this evening was back in the Crown Grill!  Yum!  Steak and lobster……we’re not roughing it!  Then it was off to wave adios to $’s in the casino.  I have got to stop going there…those machines have it in for me!!

Tomorrow is Ensenada!  We have decided to do some mileage and walk into town, turn around and walk back!  By the way, we walked 3.6 miles today and I have still not used an elevator!  So far so good but no promises!!

No funny stuff today.  We were hoping for latecomers running down the pier to catch the ship but everyone was on time….darn!

 Talk to you tomorrow from Mehheeecohh!!!

XOXOXOX

M