Friday, January 3, 2020

Friday, January 3, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken on December 7, 2007. My mom snapped this photo of the three of us. Ironically given the number of photos I always took, I have very few photos of the three of us together. Which is why this one is one of my favorites. 





Quote of the day: I wanted freedom, open air and adventure. I found it on the sea. ~ Alaine Gerbault

Each day on the ship, you receive a newsletter. The publication basically gives you some fun facts for the day ahead along with a calendar of activities on board for the the entire day. The night before we disembark from the cruise, I have Peter photograph several of the Princess Patters.

The Sanctuary is open on the ship from 8am to 5:30pm. At 5:30pm when we were about the leave, Peter snapped this photo of me.

This cruise, our cabin was on deck 15. The same deck that has the pools and the buffet. It was our first time staying so high up. For the most part it was fine, but on the first two days it was very rocky at sea and you could feel every wave and rocking motion in these cabins. The cabins were very close to this main passenger observation deck at the front of the ship. Yesterday, passengers we had gotten to know from South Africa,  snapped this photo of Peter and me.  

I am pictured with Oscar, the Maitre D' of the ship. We met Oscar during our Canadian cruise in August. Oscar was extremely helpful with our dining arrangements for both cruises. I felt he really looked out for us and made sure our needs were met. 

Our head waiter, Antonio (from Portugal), treated us to these wonderful coconut covered prawns last night. 

On the last night of every Princess Cruise, the tradition in the dining room is that the Maitre D' gives a farewell greeting and then there is a parade of the Baked Alaskas. I have no idea how this tradition started, but the dining room lights are dimmed and all the assistant waiters come out of the kitchen carrying a baked Alaska. In addition the song, the macarena is piped into the dining room. So picture a team of people carrying this dessert and walking around the entire dining room to the macarena. It is a sight and passengers really get into it. 

At the end of the evening, we took a photo with our assistant waitress (Lezaan) and our waitress (Danielle). Both ladies are from South Africa and this is our first female dining team we have ever worked with. They were lovely and we all got along great. 

The sight we saw this morning from our window in the cruise ship. We docked in Fort Lauderdale at 6:30am. Unlike disembarkation in Brooklyn, NY in August, today's process was beautiful. In fact, we got off the ship and to the hotel in less than 90 minutes. Which is truly smooth sailing, because when you get off the ship, you have to first find your luggage in a sea of suitcases (remember the ship has over 3,000 passengers), you have to process through customs, and then find transportation to your next destination. The person who drove us to the hotel was lovely and he understood the psychology of coming off a cruise ship. As cruise ships are VERY accommodating and try to meet your every need. Which is disorienting as the REAL world doesn't work this way. So it is an adjustment! Almost like coming home from a foreign country, you need to re-acclimate. 

When we got to the hotel, we walked around the property for a bit. The vegetation is beautiful, and I was taking it all in, as tomorrow, I will be back to grayness and winter. 

The hotel even has a vegetable garden. 

The beauty of a hibiscus in January. 

We were even greeted by this cute lizard. 

The vegetation around the hotel is so lush and green. When we arrived at the hotel this morning we had breakfast. We know one of the hostesses at the restaurant, since we have been coming here for many years. So we got to see Rosa and as always she took good care of us. 

This big green guy was hanging out by the pool!

x

The hotel is right on the ocean. It is a sight to see. When we arrived in Florida two weeks ago, it was raining and cool. That weather is a distance memory and today was sunny and in the 80's.

A view of Fort Lauderdale from our hotel floor. 

The hotel looks out onto the Atlantic. 

We took a four mile walk today along the boardwalk of Fort Lauderdale. I always get a kick out of seeing this Snowman decoration!

Tomorrow morning, reality hits and we will be back on a plane to Washington, DC. In the mean time, I am absorbing the beauty of blue skies, ocean, and flowers all around us.