Disembarkation & Drive Back to Bettendorf

             Monday, 29 Sep 2014 – We awoke to our alarm at 6:45 AM.  After breakfast, we vacated our cabin and waited in the Club Fusion with Jim and Kim until our group was called to disembark.  When that time came, we stood in the usual long line to get through customs, though it moved quickly and we were outside waiting for our shuttle by about 9:15.  Then, waiting was the bad part, standing in the hot Florida sun for what seemed like forever.

After finally being picked up and taken to our motel, we loaded our luggage and were



Waiting for Hotel Shuttle

on the road by about 10:10 AM.  We made a few pit stops before stopping for the night about 11:15 PM in Dalton, Georgia at the same motel where we had stayed on our way to Ft. Lauderdale.
          The following morning we were on the road by 9:20 AM.  We stopped in Chattanooga, TN, for breakfast and later in Clarksville, TN, to buy fruit at a Sam’s Club for the trip home.  Somehow, we missed an exit in Illinois and rather than make a U-turn as directed by our navigator, Miss Garmin, we took a two-lane highway to get back on our route.  Although the road was paved, for a few miles we followed a farm vehicle that was kicking up a lot of dust from the road shoulder.  The dust on the windows was so thick that Jesse and Jim spent several minutes cleaning off the accumulated gunk when we stopped for dinner at a Cracker Barrel in Lincoln, IL.  After dropping off Jim and Kim, we were home by 10:45 PM, tired from the long drive.

Signing off at the end of another lovely and relaxing cruise!

At Sea

            Sunday, 28 Sep 2014 – We both slept later than usual, and went to breakfast about 10:00 AM.  Afterwards, we went up for a swim, but the pool was so crowded that we decided to delay our swim until after lunch.   Although Sally had been calling it “our pool” because we had seemed to be almost the only ones using it, apparently others had found it!  Until 1:00 we worked on packing, and then hurried to the Tango lesson.  There, we learned the basic steps to the Argentine Tango, which we hope to remember when we get back to Iowa.  Afterwards we went for a quick lunch.  Also, we checked out the swimming pools, but they were all overflowing with people, so we returned to our cabin and continued our packing.

            Jim and Kim decided not to eat dinner with us tonight, so we shared a table with three other couples – all from Florida.  One of the couples had shared the dance floor with us on a few occasions.  Two of the men were retired postal workers.  We heard a lot about the Holland America and Royal Caribbean cruise lines, and will definitely have to try them out sometime.  After dinner, we danced to the Sundown Duo in the Wheelhouse Bar.  They played one Tango, but we chose to do the ballroom Tango instead of trying out the new one.  We danced for about 45 minutes before retiring for the night.

Princess Cays

        Saturday, 27 Sep 2014 – Although we had set our alarm for 8:00 AM, we were

With May (Our Cabin Steward)

On Ship's Tender

Jim and Kim

both awake by 7:00.  We discussed Princess Cays with May, our cabin steward, because we had received no information about it; she told us what to expect.  After a quick breakfast, we met Jim and Kim; and soon (about 9:45) we boarded a ship’s tender for the short ride to Princess Cays.  Princess Cays is an exclusive port of call and private beach on the southern portion of the Island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas.  As advertised, there were thousands of lounge chairs and lots of shady spots; however, most of the chairs in the best spots already had towels thrown on them by early arrivals in order to reserve them.  However, we did manage to find an area that was somewhat shady under a palm tree, and in conjunction with the use of our umbrella, we avoided further aggravating Sally’s sunburn.   At 11:30 we boarded a glass bottom boat and sailed out to sea, leaving Jim and Kim lounging on the beach.  The boat’s captain maneuvered the boat around the reef as we watched various fish and sponges amid the coral below us.  (Jesse mostly napped during this adventure.)  After returning to the island, we ate lunch at the buffet and then swam in the ocean for a short time before boarding a tender for our return trip to the ship.  Jesse was able to repeat his water treading experience again in the salt water.  Before 2:30, we were back onboard.  After our showers, Sally napped while Jesse did a little laundry.            As usual, we went to dinner with Jim and Kim at 5:30 PM.  However, dinner was very slow tonight, so that we didn’t leave the dining room until about 7:15.  On our way Club Fusion for pre-recorded ballroom dance music, we passed the Explorers Lounge.  There, the Sundown Duo was playing, but this time their music was more danceable.  We danced only the last half of a tango and then one more song before they announced their break at 7:30.   At that point, we proceeded to Club Fusion; however, the music soon deteriorated there, and we retired to our cabin for the night.

9-Night Grand Caribbean Sampler

Drive to Ft Lauderdale

            Thursday, 18 Sep 2014 – We booked a 9-night Grand Caribbean Sampler Cruise about 3 weeks ago.  We found the discounted price and the $700 worth of cruise credits too much to turn down.  We even managed to convince another couple from our YMCA water aerobics class, Jim and Kim, to come join us.

            We picked up Jim and Kim about 7:00 AM and started our drive to Ft Lauderdale.  After stopping a few times for fuel and necessities, we made it to Dalton, GA, around 8:30 PM and spent the night there in a motel.  We resumed our drive to around 7:00 AM, Friday, and arrived in Ft. Lauderdale around 9:00 PM, after a very long day of driving (through terrible Florida traffic).

We had booked Park & Cruise rooms at Quality Inn and Suites, Cruiseport, where we received a complimentary breakfast, transportation to and from the cruise port, and up to 14 days of parking.

Ft Lauderdale & Embarkation

Embarkation

On Saturday, 20 Sep 2014, we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast and boarded the hotel shuttle at 11:30 AM.  There was almost no waiting line for Platinum passengers, so we were onboard the ship by 12:30 PM.  After dropping off our carry-on bags in our cabins, we took the stairs to the Lido deck and enjoyed our first meal in the Horizon Court.  After lunch, we returned to our cabin and found our luggage already waiting for us.  After unpacking, w relaxed until the mandatory lifeboat drill at 3:30 pm, when we also met our cabin steward, May, from the Philippines.

At Dinner

Since Jim and Kim have different interests than ours, we decided that we would do our own thing during the day and meet for dinner in the evening.  At about 6:30 PM, we headed for the Island Dining room with Kim and Jim for our anytime dining.  After dinner, we danced to the Epithani in the Explorers Lounge until they went on break at 9:00 PM.  Then, very exhausted, we retired to our cabin for the night.

1st Formal Night

 At Sea

           On Sunday, 21 Sep, went to breakfast at 9:30 AM, for a swim at 1:00 PM, and to lunch at 2:30 PM.  We found a small pool in the back of the ship for “adults only” who don’t mind swimming in cold water.  Tonight was a formal dinner, so we dressed in our formal attire and met Jim and Kim for dinner at 5:30 PM.  By now, we began to realize that anytime dining is different on this cruise compared to previous cruises; because it is so short and informal, most people prefer to eat in their shorts and sandals, thus eating in the buffet instead of the dining room.  As a result, we’ve never had to wait for seating on this cruise.  Afterwards, we danced to the Rockin’ Paradise in the Wheelhouse Bar.  Before retiring for the night, we set our clocks back one hour.

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands



Seven Mile Beach

On Monday, 22 Sep, we went to breakfast at 9:30 AM before boarding a ship’s tender to the pier at 10:15 AM.  We then boarded a bus for a 10-minute drive to Seven Mile Beach.   The shimmering white sand stretched for 5.5 miles (not 7).  There we chose a spot for our lounge chairs under an umbrella and shade tree, since neither of us wanted to spend a lot of time in the sun.  Upon arrival, we went for a long swim in the ocean.  Jesse tried doing some of his water aerobic steps while Sally did the actual swimming.  Afterwards, we spent the rest of our three-hour excursion on the beach under the shade tree and umbrella.  The excursion included a complimentary drink, which to our surprise, was non-alcoholic.  (Although the brochure had read “rum punch,” the choice was either water or soda pop.)  Upon returning to the ship, we noticed that Sally had gotten sunburned in patches missed by sunscreen despite our precautions.

At 5:15 PM, we went down to the Club Fusion for the Captain’s Circle Party with Jim and Kim where we danced to the Epithani and enjoyed complimentary cocktails.  Afterwards we walked down to the Island Dining Room for dinner.  We then danced to the Rockin’ Paradise in the Explorers Lounge before retiring for the night.

Island of Cozumel, Mexico

Passion Island

On Tuesday, 23 Sep, we went to breakfast at 9:00 AM before disembarking the ship at 10:30 AM.  At 11:00 AM, we boarded a motorized boat for a 40-minute transfer to Passion Island, located just off the northwestern coast of Cozumel.  Our boat guide was Filipe.  On our very first cruise in 2004, we had taken an excursion to Passion Island.   The water there is an iridescent greenish-blue.  Sally was afraid to aggravate her sunburn, so we spent most of the 3 hours at a table under a thatched roof “umbrella,” enjoying the scenery.  The excursion included a Mexican-style buffet and complimentary drinks (including alcoholic beverages this time).  Our waiter, Jose, kept us supplied with rum punch.  We did finally go for a short swim in the ocean.  Jesse treaded water for the first time in his life, but found it very exhausting and much more strenuous than water aerobics.  We both tired very quickly and returned to our table under the umbrella.  As we air-dried, we noticed that our skin was very sticky from the ocean water, so we both took advantage of the open-air beach showers.

We re-boarded the ship about 4:30 PM and got ready for dinner.   We had to wait a little while for Jim and Kim beforehand; they had decided to do their laundry and were having a few problems.  I had suggested that they bring a couple of rolls of quarters for the machines; however, it turns out that since our last cruise, Princess has refitted their machines to accept only tokens.  Then Jim stood in a long line to purchase tokens from guest services, they were out of tokens.  Jim had to search from floor to floor to find a (working) machine that dispensed tokens.  As the saying goes, “The best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray.”

We finally met Jim and Kim for dinner about 6:15 PM.  Afterwards, we danced to the Rockin’ Paradise in the Wheelhouse Bar.  Before retiring, we set our clock forward one hour.

At Sea

On Wednesday, 24 Sep, we went to breakfast in the Horizon Court about 9:30 AM, which was very crowded for some reason.  Afterwards, Jesse picked up a couple of books from the library and went to an onboard Outlet Sale, but didn’t buy anything.  Jesse went (alone) to a Tango dance lesson at 12:45 PM, but left early.  They were teaching the Argentine Tango, which is not familiar to us.  The instructor announced, “This is the original Tango, not the ballroom Tango.”  We went to lunch about 2:00 PM before returning to our cabin to relax until dinner.

This afternoon we skipped swimming and napped instead.  We went to dinner at 6:00 PM, then dancing to the Epithani in the Explorers Lounge until they went on break at 8:30 PM.  Afterwards, we followed the other dancers to the  Wheelhouse Bar, where we danced to the Rockin’ Paradise until they went on break at 9:00 PM.  Thursday would be an early day, so before retiring, we set our alarm for 6:00 AM.

Ft Lauderdale

Thursday, 25 Sep 2014 – Originally, we had intended to stay onboard the ship at Ft Lauderdale, but when we found out that all passengers would be required to disembark and go through US customs, we decided to book an excursion for the morning.  (The cost was zero for us, as we used part of the onboard credit we had received for it.)  When the clock buzzed at 6:00 AM, Sally hoped this trip would be worth it!  At 7:45 AM, after a quick breakfast, we proceeded to our excursion meeting point in the Princess Theater.

Florida Everglades

The tour group was ushered through customs very quickly, and by 8:30 AM, we were on our way to the Florida Everglades Holiday Park.  Our tour guide, Joan, pointed out the local sights during our 30-minute drive to the Everglades.  Shortly after arriving at the tour site, we boarded an airboat for our 30-minute ride through the Everglades.  Don, the airboat captain, pointed out interesting wildlife during our ride.  We were all startled when an alligator slid through the water very close to our boat.  The captain pointed out a buzzard colony and various bird species and apple trees with extremely deadly arsenic filled fruit.  One of the apple trees was covered with vines that are extremely irritating to the human skin and very difficult to clean off.  Before leaving the tour site, we attended an alligator show, where we watched a man drag an alligator from the water by his tail and wrestle open his mouth to show his set of 80 teeth.

We returned to the ship and were back onboard for lunch by 11:30 AM, where we ran into Jim and Kim.  They had opted out of the excursions, instead waiting in one of the ships lounges until about 10:30 AM; and then they were ushered through customs to a port lounge where they waited until time to re-board the ship.  According to Jim, there was an awful lot of waiting!  We were glad that we had booked the excursion, which turned out to be very interesting.

After lunch, we went for a swim in our almost private small swimming pool.  (When people test the water temperature, they usually walk on, leaving the pool to us.  It’s not really that cold after we’re in the water for 3 or 4 minutes.)  It rained a little while were in the pool and hot tub, but it didn’t bother us since we were wet anyway.  Afterwards, we returned to our cabin for napping and relaxation.

Jim and Kim did not join us for dinner tonight, but we shared a table with two other couples and two singles.  One couple was from Pennsylvania and only came aboard for the 4-day cruise.  They were both Platinum members.  The second couple was from Canada.  They had opted for the 9-day cruise.  They were cruising with a party of ten [relatives] to attend their son’s wedding.  He had been married “legally” in Canada before the wedding, and the ship’s captain officiated the marriage ceremony onboard.  One of the single ladies was from Ottawa, Canada, and the other was from Denver, Colorado.   We all shared some of our cruise experiences and discussed the legalized cannabis situation in Colorado.

            After dinner, we went to the Wheelhouse Bar for dancing; however, their new band, Sundown Duo, only played jazz, which was not suitable for ballroom dancing.  Also, there was a man on the dance floor with four very young kids, who were running and rolling around the dance floor.  (There seem to be more children on this 4-day segment of the cruise.)  We left the Wheelhouse Bar after three songs and vowed never to return!   We tried the other bars and did not find any dance music, so we returned to our cabin and watched BBC and MSNBC on the TV before retiring.

At Sea

Friday, 26 Sep 2014 – Today was an “at sea day,” so we both slept until 9:00 AM, before going to breakfast.  We went for a swim at 10:00 AM.  Jesse has not been able to repeat his “water treading” experience in the ship’s pool.  According to Sally, it’s much easier to float and tread in salt water.  Jesse went to a Cha Cha lesson at 2:30 PM, while Sally tried napping (but just rested).  Jesse didn’t learn anything new this time, except that Sally should gracefully wave her hands during the dance, the way our dancing instructor, Diane, does.

Dressed to Impress

As Elite Captain’s Circle members, we each received a free drink ticket for the Skywalkers Nightclub tonight from 5:00 to 7:00 PM.  Apparently, this free drink replaced the Captain’s Circle Party that we usually attend on longer cruises; there we each usually receive at least two free drinks.  After drinks, we met Jim and Kim for dinner.  Tonight was a “dress to impress” night, as scheduled in the Princess Patter.  Since we had been told that there would be two formal nights on this cruise, we dressed accordingly.  In general, we noticed that women were usually more dressed up than men.

After dinner, since dance bands weren’t playing in the usual places, we went to the Club Fusion with Jim and Kim, where “recorded” country music was playing.  It was a little better dance music than the jazz being played in the Wheelhouse Bar.  Jim and Kim stayed for the country music trivia contest which started at 9:00 PM, but Sally and I called it a night and retired to our cabin because we have to rise and shine a little earlier tomorrow.

Disembarkation

             On Saturday, February 15 we awoke to our alarm at 6:45 AM.  We shared our breakfast with a couple from Maine who winters in Florida and will be staying in the Los Angeles area with friends for a couple of days before returning to Florida.

After breakfast, we vacated our cabin and waited in the Provincial Dining Room until or group was called to disembark.  During most of that time, we sat with Conway and Carol, the same couple that we had sat beside while waiting to board.  Unfortunately, they don’t have e-mail, but we’re hoping to see them again on a future cruise.  Today they were flying home to Alberta, Canada.

When it was time for our group to disembark, we had to stand in a long time to get through customs.  While we waited, we watched fork truck drivers load pallets of food onto the ship.  At one point, a load of zucchini was spilled after some of the lower crates collapsed.  Although the process was working like clockwork until then, the zucchini cleanup was very labor intensive, with five workmen reloading the crates.

After clearing customs, we waited on the dock for Jesse’s brother, Jon, to pick us up.

Signing off at the end of another lovely and relaxing cruise!

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.

Puerto Chiapas, Mexico

            On 10 February, we awoke to our alarm at 7:30 AM.  At breakfast, we conversed with a couple at the next table from Colorado, and then with a man from England.

At 10:00, we proceeded to our tour meeting point on the pier, and our bus departed about 10:15.  Our tour guide, Ernesto, described the sights and gave us a brief history of Chiapas region of Mexico, which is Mexico’s southernmost point on the Pacific Ocean.  Guatemala is not very far away.  Chiapas’ produce includes mangos, bananas, and cocoa beans.  According to the 2005 census, there were 957,255 inhabitants, out of the total population of about 3.5 million in the state of Chiapas, who spoke an indigenous language.

Ernesto told how they celebrate Christmas and also their holidays on 01 and 02 November, when they honor the dead.  The first day in November is to honor dead children; the second day, for dead adults.  People take food and drink to the cemetery and party all day; before leaving, food is left there on plates for their dead relatives.

Izapa Mayan Ruins

After a 45-minute ride, we arrived at the Izapa Mayan ruins.   As we walked through the ruins, Ernesto shared information about the Mayan culture.  Since it was extremely hot (95 degrees) and humid, Ernesto tried to walk us to shaded areas for his talks, when shade was available.  (Sally was soon looking for big rocks to sit on, which weren’t always handy, either.)  The Mayans considered crocodiles gods, because they had never seen one die.  (Crocodiles live for about 100 years and never stop growing.)  Also, the Mayans practiced human sacrifice and cannibalism.  Since they considered the hands and feet dirty, they amputated them and fed them to the crocodiles.  The heart, which they considered the most precious part of the body, was removed and burned in special containers so that the smoke would be carried into the sky where their gods resided.  The head was wrapped in rubber, and they played ball games with it; the losing team would be sacrificed.  The remainder of the bodies were cooked in special containers and eaten by the surviving Mayans.  How’s that for gruesome!

This Izapa site is the oldest and most primitive of the three Mayan sites we have visited.   Although there were some cobbled terraces visible, mostly we saw what seemed to be only stone walls remaining. 

In 2004, we visited the Tulum site on the east side of the Yucatan peninsula.  Tulum was one of the last cities built and inhabited by the Mayans.  And in 2012, we visited the ruins at Kukulcan, which was the most impressive of all three.  At Kukulcan, also on the Yucatan peninsula, the Temple of Chichen Itza is a rectangular structure perched atop a step pyramid with wide stairs that go up the front to the top structure.  A photograph of that temple is often shown in any discussion of the Mayan culture.

After leaving the Tulum site, we drove to the city of Tapachula, Ernesto’s home town.  Since Ernesto spent 10 years in the USA, he speaks very good English, by far the best of any of our guides for excursions from this ship.

Rather than participate in the walking and shopping tour, we decided to remain on the air-conditioned bus.  Neither of us felt like enduring any more of the heat and humidity.  After the rest of the group returned to the bus, we were disappointed that we had missed visiting the very close Archaeological Museum, which houses Mayan artifacts found in the region.  Others told us that the museum is not air-conditioned; since we could see that the front door was open as the bus drove by it, our conclusion is that we probably didn’t miss very much.  (Perhaps we can tour the museum through the Internet when we get back to the USA.) 

By 3:30 we were back onboard the ship.  Right away, we went to the Horizon Court for a very light lunch.  Although Jesse kept reminding Sally that we would be eating again in two hours, she noticed that he couldn’t resist taking three desserts!

We shared our dinner table with all familiar couples tonight:  Don and Barbara, from near San Francisco; Mike and Ellen, from near St Paul, Minnesota; Desmond and Gail, from Vancouver, Washington; and Bill and Diane, from the San Francisco area.  We also found out tonight that Mike is an accountant and Gail is a retired computer consultant.  (This time, we talked most with Gail (who sat by Jesse) and Desmond.  After dinner, we went to the Universal Lounge for big band ballroom music by the Princess Orchestra.  Although the music contained too much jazz for our taste, we danced only a few dances anyway before they finished for the time being.  We were tired anyway and retired to our cabin.

Today will be followed by four “at sea” days before we disembark in California in the Los Angeles area.