Cruise #14 and 15 – Cal Coastal and Mexico 2017

Back to Back Cruises. Leg One was California Coastal in late October, 2017. Identical to our last cruise in April of this year except that instead of Santa Barbara, we’d stop in Monterey. Leg two is Mexican Riviera. What’s cool is that we will be in Mexico for Halloween and, more importantly, Dia Del Los Muertos, the Day Of The Dead.

We invited our friendsMark and Ann to Bon Voyage Experience. They have been on several cruises but not on Princess. They were really impressed by Ruby, especially the Gelato Bar… Fortunately, our favorite Lido 214 was available for both Legs.

After our relaxing day at sea, San Francisco. The City by the bay where summer and fall are unseasonably chilly. WRONG!!!! 93 freaking degrees. We booked the Hop On Hop Off tour through the ship. Why? Cause it’s free (Cruise Points!) Our only “hop off” was Haight Ashbury. Was it to see the birthplace of the hippie generation? The home of The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin? No… At our age, we needed to find a bathroom.

The view from our ship after dusk.

The next day was Montery and Carmel. These cities are also known for cooler climates. NOT! 102 degrees. We booked an excursion for the 17 Mile Drive with free time in Carmel.

The 17 mile drive is on of the most picturesque sections of the California coastline and where the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course is. Also the famous Lone Cypress Tree.

Now, 2 1/2 hours of free time in 70 degree weather is great. 2 1/2 hours in 100 degree weather is about 2 1/2 hours too long, especially since there aren’t many stores that have air conditioning… They usually don’t need it. We found two stores with A/C. A chocolate shop and an ice cream store.

We did get a little walking in and found our favorite place, the Tuck Box.

The next port was San Diego. Been there, done that. Did our usual walk to the downtown area. Didn’t even take the camera. At least it cooled down a little but still above average.

Next day was Ensenada, where we raided the town for Suzi’s favorite gum that’s only available south of the border.

The next day was completely different. We had a nice leisurely breakfast at Horizon Court and said goodbye to some of the new friends we met. We didn’t need to congregate at the Wheelhouse Bar until 10:00 AM with the other “In-Transit” guests. I think there were 40 of us. We all disembarked, were escorted through the terminal, down through US Customs, back upstairs and into the “holding area” until the ship was cleared, maybe a half hour. As soon as it was cleared, back to the ship for Leg Two.

A perk for In-Transit guests is… It’s recommended that you attend Muster drill but not required, so we opted to sit at our favorite spot on the ship, Deck 15 Aft outside of Adagio and SHARE.

Not only did we get the same Stateroom, we also get to keep our table in the Main Dining Room and, more importantly Jimmy, our Waiter. We also built a good relationship with our Head Waiter, Carlos. When you ask Carlos how long he’s been on the ship, his response is “For about 80 pounds”. Both Carlos and Jimmy provided excellent service.

Since the cruise coincided with Day Of The Dead and Halloween, we decked out our cabin Door.

The next two days were at sea. Our routine is… Go to Horizon Court around 9:00 AM and look for a large 6 + person booth, and ask to join, unless we are lucky enough to find an empty one. Although we like to have dinner by ourselves, breakfast and lunch is our time to meet and make friends. On more than one occasion, we’ve sat down for breakfast with another couple, start talking and next thing you know, it’s lunch time. I think our record was… Breakfast at 9:00 they turned into lunch then at about 3:30, it’s nap time for yours truly.

On this first sea day, we sat down with with a lady, Nhu (pronounced New), who said she was with a group of 15. Then another gentleman, Bud, sat and joined us. We never saw the group of 15 so began joking with Nhu that she was making the whole thing up. We were all cracking up over it.

Day two, we headed to Horizon Court for breakfast and who was sitting at the same table? Alone? Nhu. About the time we got our plates and sat down, here comes Bud. The laughs continued as now we were certain Nhu’s friends and family had to be imaginary. We called ourselves “The Breakfast Club”.

Our first port on this Leg was Puerto Vallarta. The date? 10/31. Halloween. Since we had recently been to PV, we did what every tourist should do. We went to Wal-Mart. We picked up Halloween Candy to add to what we had brought with us, then we walked around the big Liverpool mall, both right across from the ship.

That night, we passed out candy to the crew and all the kids we saw on board. Later we went to the Halloween Party in Club Fusion. Lot’s of great costumes!

The next port was Mazatlan. We hadn’t been there since 1993 on our Honeymoon, so booked the Mazatlan City Highlight excursion. Guess who was on the same tour? Nhu and some of her group, proving she wasn’t completely crazy.

Our last stop on the tour was to watch some cliff divers.

Next Stop, Cabo San Lucas. We booked the Cabo City Highlights excursion. Our first stop before heading out of town towards San Jose del Cabo, we stopped by a glass factory to see a glassblowing demonstration.

Afterwards, we hopped on the bus for our ride to the old town. Our guide mentioned that if we got thirsty, there were several places in town that served a special margarita. This piqued my interest as, if you recall on a previous cruise, I had the best margarita of my life but didn’t know what made it so special. So the tour guide mentions “Damiana Liquior”. So I wondered if this was the answer. After arriving in town and seeing a few sites, we stopped by one of the bars the guide mentioned and I ordered a Damiana Margarita. YES!!!! This was it! Daniana is an herb grown in Mexico. It’s supposed to have several health benefits and act as a an aphrodisiac. Upon seeing the bottle, it looks like it’s shaped like a Buddha, but research says it’s an Incan Goddess. Either way, I found it!

On our last sea day, Suzi and I went on the Ultimate Ships Tour:
This was a highlight as there were only ten of us plus Assistant Cruise Director, Jase.

Mooring Station – Officer-In-Charge gave us a detailed overview of machinery used to drop anchor or tether the ship to the dock.
Back Stage Area – Met with the Stage Manager who gave us an overview of everything that happens before, during and after a performance. Then we went into the Dressing Room and had a discussion with the Talent lead as to how the productions are rehearsed and executed.
Galley and Food Production Areas – Met with an Executive Chef about inner workings of the ship’s kitchen areas while enjoying a glass fruit punch and chocolate covered strawberries. Got a peek into some of the ship’s food storage and production areas.
Engine Control Room – At the center of the vessel’s mechanical and electrical systems, the engine control room and met the chief technical officer who will explained the numerous functions overseen by the control room, including the vast amount of power generated to operate the ship.
Incinerator Room – The ship’s environmental officer showed us just what happens to the waste discarded during the cruise.
Print Shop – Saw where the Princess Patter, among other things, are produced.
Photo Laboratory – Princess operates a full photo lab with the latest in digital printing equipment. Saw how they manage the thousands of pictures taken and printed each day.
Medical Center – One of the nurses showed us the state-of-the-art medical facilities, including treatment rooms, laboratory facilities, critical care unit, and x-ray room.
Main Laundry – The ship’s onboard laundries operate 24 hours a day to wash tons of guest and crew linens, towels, and clothing – including more than 20,000 towels a day alone. Here we meet the laundry master and will saw this impressive operation in action.
Bridge – The tour concluded at the ship’s command center, where we met the captain and his bridge team to learn about the state-of-the-art navigational equipment and safety systems on board.

After the tour, we all went up to the Adagio Bar where we had Champaign and more chocolate covered strawberries. Jase opened the floor for any “off the record” questions.

When we returned to our stateroom after dinner, we were met with:

Princess Robe
Princess Apron
Photos taken by a ship’s photographer
Picture Frame
Princess notepad

Time to say goodbye to our new friends, real or imagined…

Cruise #13 – California Coastal 2017

7 day California Coastal, Round trip Los Angeles. April, 2017 on Ruby Princess. What? Only 7 days? It’s OK. We’re doing two cruises this year. Actually, three. We are doing our first Back To Back, or B2B, cruise in late October.

Time for another Bon Voyage Experience. This time, we invited Suzi’s California brother, wife and two sons.

Our beloved Stateroom, Lido 214, was already booked, so I went with an Aft Balcony, Baja 752. As the six of us walked down the hall, we noticed our youngest nephew, who is very inquisitive and scientific by nature and probably knows more about electronics than most adults, was waving his hand horizontally under every light above every stateroom door. He stopped and one door and had us look. When he waved his hand, it looked like he was waving in slow motion. He told us that the light must be pulsating. To prove his hypothesis, he asked his dad to video the light in slow motion. He did and yes… the slow motion playback showed that, indeed, it was flashing like a strobe light. Amazing!

So we made our way aft to our stateroom. Our older nephew immediately began searching for a place to stowaway. This cabin did have a somewhat obstructed view but was the only aft balcony available when I booked.

We all made our way up to Horizon Court, then gave our family a tour of the ship until it was time for them to disembark.

Suzi likes to attend sail away parties, where I like to be on the veranda. Until now, we have always booked on the Port side of every ship, so it was a bit different being at the stern of the ship with a 180 degree view of both sides.

After a sea day, San Francisco. Cousin Jerry lived in the Bay Area, so we visited San Francisco regularly. One of the places neither of us had never been was Alcatraz. Thanks to our Shareholders Benefit and Princess Visa cruise points, we booked a tour of Alcatraz and Sausalito, a beautiful little town on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge.

It was a spectacular day. Temp in the mid 70’s and sunny. Our tour guide walked us to the Alcatraz landing and got our tickets. After boarding, we noticed the guide sitting by herself, so we invited her to sit with us. Always good to be friendly with the tour staff.

Alcatraz is amazing with so many photo ops.

And the view of the city from our balcony.

After a sea day, we tendered off of Santa Barbara. I’ve driven through Santa Barbara many times but only stopped once on business. Suzi has been there a few times but has been awhile. We booked the Santa Barbara Trolley Tour excursion.

The next port was San Diego. This is another city Suzi and I had been to many times but it just seems so much better when you pull in on a cruise ship instead of fighting traffic on the freeway. The last time we cruised here, it was 105 degrees. This was a much more comfortable mid 70’s. We took a walk towards Seaport Village then onto the Gaslamp District. Here is a shot of downtown from our balcony as we set sail.

Thanks to The Jones Act, Ensenada. Suzi loves to chew gum and is always looking for new flavors of sugarless gum. She found one in Ensenada, so she bought a few packs only to find out it’s not available in the States. Our new mission when visiting Mexico? Gum.

Here is a panorama of Ensenada from our favorite sitting area on Ruby

And, we’re back home.

Cruise #10 – Alaska 2014

12 Day Alaska round trip from San Francisco. August, 2014 on Star Princess. Something a little bit different. Instead of Cuz coming down from the San Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles, we decided to go up to San Francisco to join Jerry and the ship. So did our pals from Hawaii, “Paul” and “Jody”.

Us two So Cal couples drove up independently the day before the cruise. P & J booked a hotel closer to San Jose while Suzi and I stayed with Cuz. As usual, we got to the port in plenty of time and good thing… The new cruise terminal in San Francisco was about a month shy of opening, so the ship was moored at one of the old pier buildings. I dropped Suzi and Cuz off with the luggage and made my way to the 55 Francisco parking lot which I had reserved months ago. I met them at the terminal to find out that due to limited space, we weren’t scheduled to board for three hours. Well, if you’re going to get stuck waiting at a port, none better than San Francisco.

It was finally time to board so as we were making our way to the ship, we ran into Paul and Jody.

Although the three of us had booked Lido 210 and Lido 214, Princess upgraded us to Premium Balcony staterooms. We were Caribe 320 and Cuz was Caribe 604. Nice upgrade but one of the main reasons we like the Lido Deck? Why it’s the same Deck as the Buffet… Now we actually have to take stairs or elevators. HAH!

We were right at home on Star Princess and looking forward to our departure taking us under the Golden Gate Bridge. Yes, it was as spectacular as imagined.

After two relaxing days at sea, we pulled into Ketchikan. Thankfully, it was not 82 degrees this time. The three of us did our normal trek to Creek Street.

Next port was Juneau. The three of us booked an excursion to Mendenhall Glacier. It was a gray day with a light mist. Suzi and Cuz stayed in the dry, warm observation building and I decided to take a hike to Nugget Falls. Yes, I saw the sign that says “Bears. Travel in parties of two or more!”, however, I’m a fairly big guy so went for it. I thought I’d run into other hikers. I got involved looking at the scenery so missed the fork in the road for the falls.

I continued the hike that kept going and going. I checked the time and decided it was time to turnaround. It was about 5 minutes back, then I saw the sign for the falls. Oh well, excuse to go back.

Next stop, Skagway. All three of us booked the White Pass Rail and Klondike Highway excursion. This is our third cruise to Alaska and have always wanted to do this excursion but opted not to because of the price. Well, this ended up being free… Free you say? Tell me more? Once Suzi and I decided to make Princess our “Cruise line of Choice”, I began researching ways to get more On Board Credits.

Going off topic a bit but here is what I came up with:

Check to see if your preferred cruise line offers a credit card. Princess offers one we’ve been using for all regular monthly purchases (What we can pay off in full every month). Purchases on Princess get 2 Points per dollar, all other purchases get 1 Point.

Check to see if your cruise line offers a Shareholder Benefit for owning stock. Since Princess is part of Carnival, I purchased enough to receive the benefit. By the time we step on the ship, we have at least $600.00 in OBC’s.

Now, where were we… Ah yes, the “free” excursion. Rather than take the train both ways, we opted to take the bus up the Klondike Highway that parallels the train up to Fraser, British Columbia where we transferred to the train. The weather was not great. Quite foggy in the middle section of both ways but it did add an interesting element.

As we got further down the mountain, things cleared nicely.

The next day was cruising up Tracy Arm Fjord up to South Sawyer Glacier. Folks, this is truly an amazing experience. The fjord was created by glacier. As you are going through the narrow passage, for what seemed like hours, all of the sudden, you can see the glacier peeking through.

Once you pass through to the end of the fjord, you see the South Sawyer Glacier in all its glory.

After a beautiful day cruising the Inside Passage, we ended in Victoria, BC. No excursions other than the shuttle into town where we walked up and down Government Street.

Two more sea days and back to San Francisco.