At Sea

            On Tuesday, 11 February, Jesse awoke about 7:00 and Sally, about 9:15.  In between times, Jesse did a little hand laundry.  We had breakfast at 10:00 and shared a table with a couple from London, but we didn’t exchange names.  With them, we discussed, first, the unusual weather; London has been getting a lot of rain, which has been flooding the rivers.  Second, we discussed health care.  As with most people from other countries, they shook their heads in disbelief about the health care disaster in the U.S.  Sally asked about a university education – whether it is free as it was in Germany (and still might be); they said that their government made a big mistake and started to allow people to take any classes, such as knitting, with no cost.  “After the bills came in,” a university education started costing the student; now young people graduate with big debts, just as in the U.S.  After breakfast, Sally napped while Jesse read (and napped between paragraphs).

Although we skipped lunch, we attended an afternoon tea dance from 3:00 to 4:00 – where we had small sandwiches, scones and Jesse had 4 desserts.  At dinner, we shared a table with two other couples and a single woman:  Dennis and Suzanne from British Columbia, Canada; Larry and Emma from Norfolk, Virginia; and Mary from San Diego (but originally from China).  Suzanne is an emergency room physician and was the only one at the table not yet retired.  After dinner, we danced again to the Playlist Band in the Wheelhouse Bar before retiring for the night.

On Wednesday, 13 February, Sally awoke about 8:00 AM and Jesse, about 9:30.  We went to breakfast at 10:00 and shared a table with a couple from Riverside, CA.  They were both very familiar with Claremont, where Jesse’s brother, Jon,  lives, and said it was only about an hour drive from the port to Claremont.  They also told us that there was no convenient public transportation from the port to Claremont, and that our best option was to have Jon pick us up from the pier.

After breakfast, Sally used some of our excess internet minutes to do a little genealogy research, while Jesse did a little hand laundry.  Since we would be eating a late dinner tonight, we delayed eating lunch until 3:00 PM.



3rd Formal Night

We dressed for the formal dinner and left for the Captain’s Circle Cocktail Party at 6:30 PM, and were allowed into the Universal Lounge about 6:50.  At the beginning, a band was playing.  Although we danced to one song, when no one else rose to the occasion, we sat out the rest of the songs.  On our last Princess cruise, the Captain was somewhat of a comedian.  This time, although our Captain seemed a little short on words, he ended by singing a wonderful excerpt from an opera – in Italian, of course! 

We started dinner in the dining room about 8:00, where we joined a table of eight.  Our tablemates were Les and Marge from Canada, whom we had dined with previously, and two couples from San Francisco, who were traveling together:  Al, Jan, Tom, and Maggie.  Jan and Maggie worked together 31 years ago and have been good friends ever since.  Tom was the only person at the table that is still working.   After dinner, we danced to the Playlist Band in the Wheelhouse Bar until they went on break at 10:00 PM.  Tonight we set our clocks back again one hour – to Mountain Time.

On Thursday, 13 Feb 2014, Jesse awoke at 8:00 AM and did a little hand laundry before Sally awoke around 9:15.   We shared our breakfast table with two women, but they were carrying on a private conversation.  After breakfast, Sally worked on a couple of genealogy e-mails, while Jesse read.  At lunch, we shared a table with a Canadian couple from Calvary, Canada.  They are traveling with the large group of Canadian ranchers and farmers.  Conway and Carol, also from Canada, stopped and talked with us for a little while.

We shared our dinner table with Janet and Carol, from Seattle; Harriet and Norm, from Chicago; and Bev and Mel, from St. Louis.  Bev is an operating room nurse and makes a trip to Columbia every year with a group of pediatric surgeons.  After dinner, we danced to the Playlist Band in the Wheelhouse Bar until they went on break at 8:00 PM.

On Friday, 14 February, Jesse awoke at 8:00 AM and Sally awoke at 8:30.  After a romantic Valentine’s Day breakfast, with just of two of us, Sally did a little laundry, while Jesse went down to the laundry room and ironed a couple of shirts; then we both started folding clothes in preparation for our packing routine.  Although we watched the start of a ballroom dance review lesson, we decided that it was too basic for us to learn anything new; then we went to lunch.   We shared a table with a couple from Canada.  When hearing them speaking in French, Jesse asked if they were from Montreal.  The man told us they were from New Brunswick, and then he gave us a small history lesson about the French in Canada; he said that many of them died when they were “relocated” to the New Orleans area.  Apparently, there are pockets of French-speaking Canadians throughout Canada, not just in Montreal.  Jesse promised to Google the subject when we get back to Iowa.  After lunch, we started our serious packing.

At dinner, we shared our dinner table with two familiar couples (dancers), Peggy and Lou, and Eileen and Scott, from near Philadelphia; and one new couple, Merrill and Grace, from the Chicago area.  Grace is originally from Poland, but is a very good Argentine tango dancer.  After dinner, we danced to the Playlist Band in the Wheelhouse Bar until they went on break at 8:00.  Then, we listened to music by the Rhapsody Trio (violin, bass, and piano) in the Atrium before returning to our cabin for a little while.  We decided to go to the Explorers’ Lounge for the Valentine’s Day Dance at 9:00, where the others at our dinner table planned to be.  There, we sat with Grace and Merrill; however, the band soon went on break and would not be returning until much later.  Going back to the Wheelhouse Bar, we danced to the Playlist Band until 10:30, before retiring for the night.  Merrill and Grace promised to meet us sometime when we dance at the Willowbrooke Ballroom, near Chicago.

 Tonight, on our last night on the Island Princess, the ocean shines in the light of the full moon.  We’ll be setting our clocks back by one hour (to Pacific Time).  By 8:30 tomorrow morning we must be out of our cabin, and then will sit and wait for our scheduled disembarkation at 10:10 AM.