Bimmer09

It's time to go to sea! We have a couple of tugs to help us fight the wind. This is the first of my 4K videos which means that when it plays on your computer on YouTube make sure the setting is for 2160p.

After lunch I went up to the Tradewinds bar for a beer. They had Guinness in a can! Excellent. Celebrity Apex had run out of it after I drank my first two! Back in the stateroom some munchies had been added to the overstuffed fruit bowl. Next up- our first ever 3 p.m sail away!

Da Vinci at 12.30 and enter on the right side. We are being led across the room to the left side and as we are nearing a two top I say to the waiter-what about that table? I liked the look of it. "Oh that's for Suites sir" "We are in a suite" quoth I. "Let me speak to a manager " said he. The Dining Room Manager, named Moises from Portugal came over and confirmed that Sir Norris and Lady Carol belonged in what is known as Reserve Dining. We sat down at our chosen table. A waiter came to take our order. Little did I know I had struck comedy gold with this guy-a perfect stooge for my nonsense. His name was Kevin and he was about to become our waiter for the next 10 days.His assistant was Rizza. She asked what kind of water? Sparkling or regular? I'd like some seawater/harbor water/water from the men's restroom on deck7....these weresome of the options I gave her over the next 10 days and she laughed at each and offered her own such as Alaskan salt water/Pnama Canal water. Both Kevin and Rizza are from the Philippines where great waiters grow on trees. Looking forward to a good lunch. I love me a hearty soup and this here Tuscan farmhouse soup hits the spot. I licked the bowl but alas got my face wedged in it. Carol's shrimp and avocado and her green salad My medallions of beef, always a sure bet!! Carol's spinach and ricotta ravioli My must-have orange souffle! We had opted for the Princess Plus package. I was having a glass of Malbec. A very tasty lunch!

As we were forward we stayed so and went to deck 9 which was our deck (Dolphin). When we arrived the access to the cabins were blocked by watertight doors. We were told it was time to go to our cabins and by golly I was not to be denied! I opened the hefty door and a siren sounded. Yikes! Immediately no one came springing to their station to find out who was breaching the castle walls. I closed the door to stop the ear-shredding din. We panned to walk the long corridor from forward to aft to avoid elevators. As we walked we stopped and moved out of the way to allow a woman approaching to pass. She passed and we moved on. "Are you Norris?" said that woman. I stopped. "Yes I am" "Hi I am Annie" said she Annie is the CC member called rdsqrl I told her my itinerary- move into cabin, lunch in Da Vinci, then Tradewinds Bar deck 16 a good place to meet before sail away. And that was the last I ever saw of her, despite my keeping a sharp eye out for her. Before we got too far we changed from Port to Starboard to make it to our suite-The St John Suite or D737. It was a nice short walk from the aft elevator bank. Carol set about Cloroxing all the surfaces we are likely to touch. Once satisfied we made a bee-line (we had brought a few bees) to Da Vinci, midship for a tasty lunch .

LYFT to port=about 12 minutes. Very busy at 11 a.m. Luggage hand-off plus $10 "insurance" against luggage falling off quay accidentally. Long line of people to board. Some signs would be a good idea..."Green Lane/Blue Lane" we found out by asking a Princess rep. We were moved to the front of the green line and thence in the door. Get some banners and hang them outside. Green Lane/Blue Lane. Less chaos. We had new photos taken and were good to board. But first the photo. No more backdrops of the ship in question-I guess they'll photoshop that later. I took a photo of the entry to the ship's gangways. I see my name... We were told we must have one hand free to hold on to the escalator. Next the gangways-two of those, one forward one midships. We were directed to the forward one. I told the Princess Rep that we were aft and she was directing us to a forward gangway. No-this is the one you want! I could see the bow while we were talking to her. She was a dumbass. An announcement said the staterooms weren't ready yet and should be ready by 1 p.m. Not used to that on Princess. Carol wanted to get away from the boarding chaos and din so we went out to sit on Promenade Deck. That's where I first saw the "We're on it" sign. It's a sign I would see often over the next ten days. I would look around to see where the "we" were but no sign. In the photo above I waited ten minutes until the crewmen came along and then took a photo. They were on it! We always like to have an MDR lunch on boarding. Hours are 12 to 1.30 in Da Vinci. A voice came over the PA to say "Staterooms are ready" at 12 noon" Hoorah!!

Today is the exciting day when the Princess luggage labels get attached Yonder waits the Ruby at berth 2. No kids in the pool. Breezy. Next stop-Ruby Princess!!

We like to eat breakfast outdoors at this hotel but the breeze off the sea said eat indoors. The grub is good, the service good but the portions are huge. My Cuban burrito with crispy potatoes Carol's scrambled eggs, well done English muffin, scorched Earth bacon shrapnel. Great OJ (not Simpson)

I've told you all before-I am blessed with a Spidey-sense. If I set an alarm for say, 4.30 a.m. I wake at 4.25 and turn the alarm off before it has a chance to shatter my sleep. This morning my eyelids popped open at 5 a.m. I could sense ships and stepped out onto the balcony. Lights out at sea. I put on my luxurious terry robe and got the camera... RUBY 5.20 a.m. EURODAM Satisfied that Ruby is here to carry us away at 3.p.m I went back to sleep, perchance to dream.

UPDATE My nap lasted from 3 p.m until 8 a.m this morning. 17 hours! Let's see what the day brings. Norris

Very much so. The dock was in sight and the pilot was onboard. Captain said wind was 37 knots and they are advised not to try over 35 knots. It would have been blowing us away from the quay and we would have been unable to shop for diamonds and baskets. I was hoping to get my hair braided too. We were in Ocho an hour later. Norris

Ok those are the last crappy food photos you will see-or your money back!! To regular readers my apologies for not achieving my usual quick pace of posting. Last night I was coughing a lot, had cold chills and aches and pains in my legs so I went to bed at 8 p.am without dinner and after a fitful sleep woke 12 hours later. Still not 100% but we both took Covid tests and tested negative. We'll test again in 2 days. We both had Covid after returning from our last Christmas cruise on the Diamond. Back at the hotel on the night before our cruise we sat by the fire pits but no comfort was found as the flames didn't reach us. Bed at 11 p.m I will have another wellness nap soon and hope to spring back to life later! Norris

THE LOST DINNER FILES Carol's Caesar with white anchovies My chew chew Shrimp Carol's Stone Crab claws were a big hit! My Branzino was decent enough, perhaps a bit dry Carol gave two thumbs up for the Key Lime Pie One thumb for my Sambuca-the middle finger for the harbor sludge espresso. The bill was about $280. Disappointing. Back to the T Bird and a Lyft home. My phone now said this...

It's up route A1A also known as FT Lauderdale Beach Boulevard and it's lined with restaurants and bars on the shore side. We pull up at a big cylindrical hotel where a sign says Trulucks and this car says "I'm cool". No air bags, anti-lock disc brakes, seat belts etc -a stylish deathtrap. But cool. We loved the original Trulucks in a strip mall for its quiet elegance. This one was a hand grenade in a fireworks factory. There was even a DJ woman twiddling knobs that have no audible effect as the music plays from her MacBook Pro. She has to look like it is hard difficult work once the "return" key has been pressed. No one is dancing as there is no dance floor and they are trying to eat. We are led to a requested quiet area. I can hear Carolspeak as long as she is facing me and I can watch her lips move. Carol kept a list of the timings from when we sat down. Her clasped hands say that someone brought us drinks and cutlery. I think it was 47 minutes before our appetizers came. For me a big shrimp cocktail of very chewy shrimp. Carol had a Caesar salad with white anchovies and graciously gave me one. There would be another half hour before our main courses came. Meantime I was spoken to by a friendly "bro" at the table next to us about a foot away. Had a nice chat, mainly about Chicago and how cold it can get. He was with two others who were ordering up a storm when they could get a waiter's attention. I think they were ordering drinks two at a time as they could see waiting in their future. As a result they were rapidly getting wasted, louder and using more swear words than before. The F one that is always nice to hear over dinner. There were some kids at a table 5 feet away. The lights were low and the volume high. I took photos of Carol's big Stone Crab claws and my Branzino with Mediterranean tomatoes and olives. Both were good, great in Carol's case. Carol's Key Lime Pie and my Sambuca hit the spot but the espresso was weak and bitter. The photos from my iPhone are not really useable due to the darkness.

A short pre-dinner nap as we had been up since 4.30 and we were soon in a Lyft on the way to the new Trulucks location within the Paramount Hotel. Trulucks moved there in November 2023. The sun had gone down by 5.30 The Hyatt hotel at left center is closed and being refurbished A fine inland waterway house that caught my eye The hotel pools below Our Lyft is here...

Zaandam was followed soon after by Celebrity Equinox, a ship we have booked for a Spain, Portugal, Morocco cruise in October 2025. A bucket list cruise for Carol. We have booked our favorite aft wake-view cabin. We put down a $200 deposit while on Celebrity Apex on last year's Iceland/UK cruise. As the sun is going down the Independence sets to sea My dad having been a Cargo ship's Captain in the UK I have a keen interest in cargo ships. Norris

We had a room on the 14th floor Far left, 3rd room down, extra wide balcony Zaandam makes a run for it

We had a dinner appointment at a once favorite restaurant chain called Truluck's but as there was no food offered on the plane without money changing hands we decided to immediately after Cloroxing the room fittings adjourn to the beach restaurant Sea Level . I had been thinking of their Crab Salsa for days. All crab and a delicious salsa No of course they don't serve it anymore! Instead but no substitute I ordered the Cuban sandwich which with fries cured my hunger. Hard to get fries not dusted in something these days but with enough ketchup I cleared the plate. Imported beer is slowly going away to be replaced by American brands. I'm not happy. Carol had some "chewy old shrimp" $55 including tip.

Le Menu For those of you unfamiliar with my Gentleman's Seafaring Journals, or Gerbils as AI would have it, I have a full range of delights in store There's always; FOOD PORN. Each meal is photographed lovingly and the food is identified and critiqued. SHIP PORN. I roam each vessel and show you the rooms I get to. One might be your hideaway... SKY PORN. I was the guy you saw getting excited over a sunset or a cloud formation. EXCURSION PORN. We are not "ship stayer-onners". We get off and go see something . SHOW PORN. We go to the shows and watch comedians and karaoke singers PHOTO PORN. I take lots of photos of where we are and what we are doing. CANAL PORN. I was especially happy to see this canal and take photos of it. VIDEO PORN. I spent a small fortune on a 4 K Sony camcorder and you are the first to see the pics/movies. Everything is chronological. We'll get to the Ruby when we board. I will answer questions if asked and comment freely Good Bad or Ugly on anything we experienced. As always I am guided by the note keeping of the trustworthy Deck Chair Queen. As always there is a cyber all you can drink fully stocked bar (top shelf-no crap). My prices don't change with the wind, like a Celebrity Drinks Package, but are free. You're welcome. Norris

We had booked a king partial sea view which would give us the beach and the port views so we could see the Ruby the next morning. Sea View Port view and the bathroom A spacious and comfy room. Check in is at 4 p.m but we didn't have to wait today as 4 was imminent. We were given coupons for 2 "free" drinks which are included in our $44 a day resort fee which is something hotels apparently have to resort to. It includes a couple of beach chairs and use of the swimming pools and you can look at the palm trees as you sit by the two blazing fire pits .

December 19. We were up by 4.30 for our 7 a.m Lyft ride I had booked to O'Hare airport. We had a 10 a.m flight to FLL and usually allow 3 hours. As we loaded our luggage the Chi temperature was 19F, feels like 11. We expected better once in Florida. We were lucky as we had TSA Pre security clearance and a United club membership. By 8 a.m we were sipping espresso by Illy (!) and munching on light breakfast snacks. Flight was on time and we were soon aboard and seated. I spent time watching the luggage hurlers needlessly slamming bags onto the conveyor belt. Carol paid $8 for wi-fi during the flight. I watched our progress through the skies at 38,000 feet. We flew over the Everglades which is a bit of a swamp where even Starbucks haven't bothered opening and when we got to Fort Lauderdale we flew over that too and out to sea. I wanted to run up to the cockpit and bang on the door but I was sitting in the window seat. Luckily the Captain realized he had missed the airport and turned around to go back. Phew! There below sat the Zaandam and the Equinox who would sail out today. Once we got our bags it was outside to some real likable weather (69F). We found a dirty taxi (there's a city ordinance that says they can't be clean and tidy) and a fast drive for $27 incl tip brought us to our usual FLL hotel, The Marriott Harbor Beach.

The Back Story (inevitable but you knew that already). No- this is not going to go back as far as bearded be-sandled Thessalonian blacksmiths developing shoes for the ancient goat herders- it only goes back to December 17 2022 when we enjoyed a Christmas Cruise on the Diamond Princess to the Pacific side of Mexico. Even though the ship was just coming back to sea after a couple of idle years of sad notoriety and with many (but probably not enough) new staff, including some from places like Botswana and Nigeria and the food and dining service wasn't always on point, we enjoyed the festive atmosphere and were blown away that Santa himself visited the ship to give presents to the children onboard. What were the odds? I got a present too, as did many adults- a set of 4 genuine Thessalonian goat shoes (now made in China). I found I had little use for them upon returning home but it's the thought that counts... We had sailed the Ruby twice before in 2013 and 2016, both times to the Caribbean. It had been almost 8 years (7 yrs 11 months) since we set foot on her but she had a drydock this past October and got a refresh including a lot of new carpet and bedding. She's 15 years old. We were going to sail in an aft suite to secure a good view while in the Panama Canal and for the sound of the wake. We also looked forward to the complimentary mini bar, free laundry and best of all breakfast in Sabatini's. We had our Medallions and were in the Princess App Green Lane for boarding the Ruby on Wednesday December 20, 2023. We would have to go to Ft. Lauderdale though and take some clothes to wear for 10 days so those things had to happen before we could board. As the days passed we found that we had less time remaining to cancel the mail, clean out the fridge, water the plants, organize the cat food for our trusty cat-sitter and most importantly, pack. The packing was best done while the cats were asleep... They are alas, light sleepers and sometimes I just got as far as adding one more Hawaiian shirt to my case when they woke up and I had to cease and act nonchalant. I had hoped to do all my packing in one fell swoop-but fat chance. When this appeared on my phone we picked up the pace and decided we had better get to an airport next day. We have one in Chicago so that was handy. The saga continues....

Already the wheels have come off the wagon as this pic belonged up above (pointing)and the date would suggest that it comes after Dec 22 (Ocho Rios) and before Dec 24 (Cartagena). When I have time I will add an instruction manual or an appendix to help you navigate this GSJ (I think it is Giraffe Stomps Jaguar but that makes no sense at all- leave it with me....) I've got a lot of photos to show you to help tell the story of this cruise. I used a Canon DSLR, an iPhone, a Sony 4K camcorder vs my usual Sony HD and a Go Pro and so today am faced with editing and uploading and remembering where and when-did I mention I was drinking champagne last night? Norris

Itinerary Already with the reminders- if you see a picture you like, clicking on it will take you to a crisper copy as the CC software takes its toll. Also this is a GSJ and will unfurl or fall apart in chronological order-just like real life. GSJ means , um, I forgot,so maybe someone else can explain? Maybe the G is for Giraffe? I'm a wee bit foggy as I was up late drinking champagne last night. Oh- Happy New Year if you are reading this! Onward....

Thanks for the shout-out MJ! I have 4 cruises booked at the moment-up until October 2025. The first one sails December 20 to the Panama canal and back. Ruby Princess photo/video review kicks off January 1 2024. The other 3 are HAL times 2 (Eastern Med 14 day, Arctic Circle 14 day) and a Celebrity 9 day to Spain, Portugal and Morocco, Oct 2025. Some Euro land excursions in the mix too. Hope to see you in the Ruby review! Norris

Last of the fall color at my local arboretum Norris