Panama Canal on Island Princess 10/17-11/1 Photo Review

[RRFPresident]

Go to this post... http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=51642653&postcount=118

 

About the 5th picture down is a ship in the new Cocoli Locks. Actually there is very little changed that you see with the "new" Canal... the only real difference would be in which locks you used. The route of the Canal remains largely unchanged.:)

 

Thanks for the help!

[RRFPresident]

To this day I can't think of Aruba without also hearing “Aruba, Jamaica, ooo I wanna take ya.” This was one of the ports on Dad's bucket list and we definitely picked the right time to visit because our friends Sue and Al who were doing a back to back told us that they'd missed Aruba on the previous cruise due to the hurricane. Today was a leisurely morning since we didn't arrive into our last port until 1PM.

 

We decided to give Sabatinnis a break and check out the buffet for breakfast. Enjoyed some chocolate chip pancakes that aren't on Sabatinnis menu. I'm sure if I'd asked they'd have been happy to oblige.

 

Partook of the morning trivia challenge and only lost by one point. Not much else interested us in the Patter post trivia so we ventured up to the Teen Center during the listed “Young @ Heart” session so I could see what it was like. The Teen Center can be a little hard to find on this ship until Dad pointed out that if you stand in front of the entrance to the spa and then turn around, it's actually about 3 doors in along the corridor of passenger cabins. When we got there though, the entrance door was locked! Instead, we went over to the Lido deck to check out the line dancing lesson being hosted by Armando and Emma. Everyone was already paired up doing partner style dances so Dad and I just pulled up a couple lounge chairs to watch. It turns out that the line dancing class ended within 10 minutes of us getting settled to watch so next we headed over to the spa to see what the thermal suite was like. Use of the thermal suite loungers for free is a suite perk if your ship has them (unfortunately not valid on the Enclave sections of Royal and Regal Princess) and the first time we checked them out on the Caribbean Princess, we got a little sticker on our cards. Otherwise you would need to purchase a pass. This time however, we walked right past the front desk, through the currently empty waiting area, and into the room for the heated loungers without anyone batting an eye much less actually checking our cards.

 

We returned to the Teen Center in hopes that whomever was to host the session may have finally shown up but it was still locked. Instead we returned to the cabin to get ready for our private tour and to relax. Dad fell asleep and we ended up pulling into port about an hour early. I stepped out onto the balcony to watch us dock as did several other passengers, including our lovely young cabin neighbors. Here is when I got my confirmation of the earlier offenders as we all watched this couple nearly empty another aerosol bottle of something. The passengers in the cabin above us even yelled over that they were “asphyxiating us” but that just got dirty looks and they continued spraying. I was tempted to add “Keep it up and your face will freeze that way” but I decided it wasn't worth the effort.

 

I found it a little interesting that the dock workers used their own pickup truck as a means to pull in our ropes. Perhaps that's why the truck's brakes sounded like they were giving themselves the last rites.

 

This port was the only port on our trip that we had any other ship in port and it turned out to be a Freewinds ship that only sailed around these “ABC islands” back and forth.

[RRFPresident]

 

In case anyone doesn't like the pizza onboard, they can take their precious shore time in Aruba to order from Dominos:

[RRFPresident]

 

We aren't necessarily beach people (there's only been one port in our whole cruising history that we've devoted to a beach day) but were really considering resort for the day passes when none of the ship sponsored excursions appealed to us. I inquired to fellow cruisers for Aruba tour ideas and the consensus was you must ride the trikes! Dad was thrilled with the idea and we booked an automatic trike for their afternoon tour session. The trikes are like motorcycles in front except the driver is in a regular seat low to the ground, much like the old big wheel toys for kids. The back of the trike has a seat for one (or two in our case) and 2 wide wheels. They are completely driveable in regular traffic on the street. They feature seat belts for the passenger but they aren't for anyone of fluff and no helmets like the motorcycles you'd see in the USA. We booked via email with Trikes Aruba for $190 for both of us. You will need to provide a driver's license if you plan to do the driving. There are several points where one has the opportunity to switch and let the passenger become the driver but I chose not to drive. They do also have manual transmission trikes so be sure to specify which one you want when booking. Dad overheard one of the other couples on our tour question why we got an automatic one because they didn't know you could have had the choice.

 

Dad embracing his inner biker:

 

Our guide's trike:

 

To be continued...

[Wateron]

How big is the exercise area, lot of treadmills?

 

 

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[RRFPresident]

How big is the exercise area, lot of treadmills?

 

The gym space seemed more like an afterthought as it was tucked behind the elevator bank on deck 6. I'd say there was about 3-5 of machines like the treadmills and stationary bikes and also of the weight resistance workout machines. A good assortment of free weights. With the location of the gym, you don't get the view of the ocean while on the treadmills as we usually have found. I think at most I ever saw one person actually using the gym.

 

Here's the couple pictures I took of the gym space:

 

That's a mirror in the top left, those weight machines are actually to my left while taking this picture and I was standing just past the doorway from the elevator bank.

 

Behind the wall in the back of this picture is supposedly the "aerobics" room but I didn't even know there was something back there until I looked at the deck plans. Along the far wall that that big light fixture is over to the right in this picture is where the treadmills are. Basically, while you're on the treadmills you face the wall with your back to the aerobics room entrance.

[RRFPresident]

It turns out our afternoon tour group consisted of one other couple who'd been staying at a nearby resort and the rest was from our cruise. We got picked up at the pier and driven to the Trikes Aruba office where everyone filled out forms with their license information and paid for the tour. Once we were led out to the trikes, several employees took the ones planning to drive on a short ride so they could show them how to work the trikes. For the ride back to the office, the employee switched positions so the driver could try out what he learned on the drive back. Our group was split into two groups with about 3 couples each following one of the employees driving his own trike in front. After each stop, we changed positions so that a different trike could be in first position behind the employee's trike. It wasn't comfortable for me to sit with my legs straddling Dad's driver's seat so I got stuck having to sit with my legs to one side and literally hang on to the handle on that side, especially since I couldn't be buckled in. It was a little nerve-wracking at times when the traffic was heavy, even more so when we had to make our way through traffic circles. A couple times Dad accidentally got too close to rocks along the edge of the road and we tipped a bit before settling again. Our guide was very good about pulling over and stopping to wait if one of our group got stuck in traffic or was just having trouble keeping up. He also at several moments stuck out an arm while driving to try and get pictures of us for the company website. They freely encourage you to check out the website and use their pictures from your tour. Our guide was also happy to take any pictures with our personal cameras that we wanted.

 

Head out on the highway:

 

Hmm, not sure I'd want to visit a place called Rat Land:

 

Lots of beautiful coastline to enjoy along the ride:

 

We got many honks and waves from people and cars we passed traveling down the road. Our first stop was at the California Lighthouse where a couple group tours were already there checking out the sight. Our trikes soon became the better sight to check out as several people came over to admire them. Watched one guy even pose in front of our trike so his wife could take a photo. Dad took advantage of the food truck offering refreshments to get some bottled water for us and our guide. Wanting to bring the rest with us, he walked around the group of admirers to retrieve the keys from our trike and open the trunk. Everyone gathered was so shocked that we were actually touching the trike until they saw us open the trunk and realized that it was ours. A couple of the people who gathered recognized us from the ship.

 

Look who found another lighthouse!

[RRFPresident]

Looking at this picture makes me think the California lighthouse looks like a giant sandcastle:

 

For some reason I have a random picture of cacti so enjoy:

 

Our posse all lined up as we got off our trikes to take pictures at the lighthouse. This orange trike is a good example of the single passenger seat version:

 

No, it's not the leaning tower of Aruba:

 

The food truck (or at least the guy standing outside it) was offering fresh coconut drinks (a.k.a. hack off the top and stick a straw in it fresh):

 

One of the tour buses that were also visiting the lighthouse:

[RRFPresident]

The view from the lighthouse:

 

And we're off with our guide leading the way:

 

We had switched positions so now the blue trike got to be behind the guide. They have their hands up to wave as our guide lifted his hand up to take a picture of them as he was driving.

 

Apparently "beware of low flying maracas" is words to live by in Aruba:

[RRFPresident]

Next we stopped at a small one room church where we got to go inside and our guide took each couple's picture. He shared a little bit of history about the place.

 

These crosses lined the road leading up to the church:

 

Our guide mentioned that they don't really celebrate Halloween in Aruba but it seems one church visitor had just been dying to get here:

 

 

Just in case you didn't get enough cacti in the previous picture:

 

[RRFPresident]

And more cacti:

 

The infamous giant dill pickle cacti (and a nice side/top view of the church):

 

All the little ducks in a row:

 

Now orange gets to take the 2nd position in our caravan, or is it cara-trike?

 

Our next stop was the Casibari Cafe where another couple took the initiative to buy our guide a beer along with their drinks. One of the ladies joked that she would have bought me a beer “if she could have.” I didn't get the chance to ask if she thought I was underage like so many people do that we meet on these trips. I've heard everything from “how did you get out of high school to come on this trip” to being asked by bar waiters if they were “allowed to serve me.” The woman running the gift shop at the back of the cafe charged Dad when he wanted to use the restroom. If you had bought a drink at the bar, it came with a ticket to use the restroom.

 

Heading to the café:

 

I liked that the menu offered a dish called "Tropical Surprise"

[RRFPresident]

 

I took a moment to get my own picture posing on the bike.

 

While at the lighthouse, our guide had told us to go ahead and explore but he had to stay and watch the trikes. When we got to Casibari that concern went out the window as he happily led us all across the road to the Casibari Park's rock formation and took those up to the top who wanted to climb for the view. We elected to stay on the ground and relax.

[RRFPresident]

If you don't want to buy a drink or pay for the gift shop bathroom, there is a free bathroom just across the road at the park:

 

Our guide told a story about how people see this imprint in the rock as a monkey head:

 

In case Dominos wasn't to your liking, you can stop off for some KFC or Taco Bell:

 

All of the trike controls were in the handlebars - gas, brake, turn signals:

 

Caught the Aruba flag!

 

Our next stop was a sort of strip mall style stretch that featured a large Aruba sign in the parking lot. The guide had us each pull up in front of the sign in turn so he could take a picture for the website. This was the only time I gave him our camera to take a picture for us.

[RRFPresident]

After we parked on the other side of the sign, we walked over to a small outdoor cafe bar for more drinks. Dad got a beer and a soda for me and was given the change back in Aruba money. Dad decided it would be easiest to just give our guide the Aruba money as his tip at the end rather than have to exchange it.

 

By now it was close to 5PM so we started making our way back to the ship. Not sure we really needed as many drink stops as we took, felt like we were going on some sort of pub crawl masquerading as biker bars.

 

We actually passed our ship while driving the trikes back to the office:

 

We all managed to return safe and sound and in one piece at the Trikes Aruba office and were loaded back into the van to be shuttled back to the ship. We went a little out of the way to give a ride to the couple staying at the resort which turned out to be within walking distance of the office. Once back at the pier, our driver had to literally go up on the curb momentarily to wedge his van into a small space between other shuttle vans. I joked that this reminded me of our trikes ride and everyone laughed. As we got out of the van, Dad instinctively tipped our guide with the small bills he had on hand and then remembered the Aruba money so the guide got tipped a little extra after all.

 

I was glad to be back where someone else was doing the driving!

 

Once back on board, I was starving by now since we never had lunch before leaving for our tour so I dragged Dad over to get some pizza. We walked up to the pizza counter just as the crew member was pulling a fresh pizza out of the oven. Great timing we thought until said crew member accidentally drops fresh pizza on the floor when he turned to bring it to the warming tray. We patiently waited for a new pizza to be made after the new floor flavored pizza was cleaned up. The new Star Trek movie was playing on MUTS so we took our pizza and sodas to some back lounge chairs on the pool deck to relax and eat. Dad hadn't really planned on eating anything until our usual dinner time in the dining room but for some reason, today's pizza was the best thing he'd ever had since well, sliced pizza. He raved about how great it tasted and how it “really hit the spot” so much that I gave him the rest of mine. By this point, the deck hands were adding the padded covers to the pool loungers for the actual Movies Under the Stars evening feature and I watched them move back and forth until finally our loungers were the only ones left uncovered. I found it very classy that the deck hand tasked with asking us to move so they could cover our chairs phrased his request as “Would you mind moving for a moment so we can make your experience more comfortable?” We readily obliged but only stayed for a few more minutes as we wanted to make sure to fill a laundry bag for Lusioto to take when he came to our cabin for evening turndown service.

 

One of the perks for suites is the ability to order from the dining room menu (during dining room hours) as well as regular room service and I think there's only been one cruise where we didn't have to “remind” the steward to leave them in the cabin each day. Today's menu seemed really confusing though as it looked like someone cut and pasted pieces from our previous menus. Appetizers from yesterday's menu were paired with entrees from 3 days ago and soups from 5 days ago. Lusioto even came by when we returned to the cabin this evening just to check on whether we'd been given the right menus as another passenger questioned whether hers were right. I recall that our menu tonight turned out to be totally different options once we got to the dining room. One issue though with the petit fours offered – I selected what was described by our waiter as a chocolate chip cookie. It tasted like shortbread with chocolate chips but after biting into it, I discovered a halved peanut. If I had been someone severely allergic, that could have been a big problem. Make sure if you do have food allergies to question all ingredients.

 

After dinner, our main goal was to attend the Name That Tune trivia tonight because it was country music themed. We got to the Explorers lounge a little early and they were in the middle of “Country & Western Dicey Wooden Horse Racing.” This game featured horse pictures on top of wooden stakes on some sort of game board. Numbers were called out for each horse and people could place cash bets on which horse would make it to the end of their row first. Each horse was given a nationality and a corresponding name. One of the horses was deemed Japanese and thus was named “Ah, so” simulating a Japanese bowing. (Forgive my phonetic spelling) Armando was calling out the names and numbers as Emma moved the horses along and each time he had to call out “Ah so” Rhonda would yell out “A**hole!” She did it so much that after a while Armando had to stop for a minute because he was bent over laughing. When it came time for country music themed trivia, most of our usual trivia group just went with the flow as Sue and I were the only ones who knew the answers. I think we only missed 1-2 points during the round. One of them was for not knowing that The Rednecks sang Cotton Eyed Joe. We won the trivia with 8 points more than the 2nd place team according to Neesa who was taking the answer slips and keeping score while Armando played the song clips. I was so focused on the game that one of our teammates had to point out to me that Armando said “Oh wow!” when we brought up that particular right answer. We won another bottle of champagne and the rest of my team tried to make me take it when we were ready to leave but instead we gave it away to the team next to us. After we were announced as the winners, another team tried to cry foul because we physically had more than 6 people sitting together but they were quickly silenced when Sue told them that she and I were the only ones giving answers. Honestly, if you're that hard up for “champoo” you may need to spend some time in a meeting rather than trivia.

 

We finished trivia just in time to rush to the theater for what was billed as the “Late Night Comedy Show” with Andrew Kennedy. Andrew really played up the fact that the Patter said “over 18 only” when with our crowd it could have said “over 45 only” and still would have been fine. I'm surprised he didn't add to that joke by pointing out that the “late night” show was at 9:45PM. There were some curse words and the most “risque” topics he covered was when doing impressions of some politicians simulating a sexual act as his last joke of the night. We've been to late night comedy shows on cruises (granted mostly at 11PM-midnight) where every other word is a curse and innuendos galore so this was really tame compared to most. Still, a lot of people ended up complaining to guest services about how off color and too adult the show was.

 

We headed up to the Horizon Court in search of a late night snack only to find that they had a small setup of taco fixings left from a “Mexican themed dinner buffet corner” as it is described in the Patter. Dad piled a plate full of fajita components and I managed to find mac and cheese! We decided to sit down in the buffet and eat at a proper table rather than take everything back to our cabin like we would have with the usual cookies or cheese and crackers.

 

It was funny watching people's reactions today when they'd ask “So what did you guys do in port today?” We'd truthfully reply that we rode motorcycles and the reaction was always “Haha, no really what did you do?” One such couple that asked, Dad replied “Did you see those trikes that were driving down the road?” They replied “Oh yes, they looked cool.” Dad: “That was us on the trikes!” Them: “No way!” Not sure I'd ever sign up to do it again but it was definitely a unique experience!

[alwalaska]

Thank you so much for all of the amazing photos and the great review. I was able to see clearly the balcony on our cabin to reconfirm that it does wrap some around to the back of the ship.

 

Did you happen to take photos of any of the dinner menus that you had? I know they change from time to time, but I really like looking before the cruise to have an idea on what clothes to bring for dinners.

 

One other question, did they tell you to go to the other door when you made your reservations, or was this just something you knew from CC or another cruise?

 

Thanks again!

[RRFPresident]

Thank you so much for all of the amazing photos and the great review. I was able to see clearly the balcony on our cabin to reconfirm that it does wrap some around to the back of the ship.

 

Did you happen to take photos of any of the dinner menus that you had? I know they change from time to time, but I really like looking before the cruise to have an idea on what clothes to bring for dinners.

 

One other question, did they tell you to go to the other door when you made your reservations, or was this just something you knew from CC or another cruise?

 

Thanks again!

 

You're most welcome and thank you for the kind words! I love reading people's photo reviews when preparing for my trips so it makes me feel good to pay it forward to other cruisers through my own reviews.

 

I've tried taking photos of dinner menus in the past and they always have glare or are too far away to see what's printed on them. If any one has tips on how to do that aside from stealing them to scan in once I'm home, I'd love to hear them! I'm not sure what you mean by the association of clothes based on what the dinner menu says? Unless you're like me who won't wear white because I'm destined to drop some tomato based stain on myself at any given moment? :)

 

As far as reservations, on at least one of the first couple nights, they had a sign outside the other door that said something like "Use this door for reservations." But yes, we've done the calling for reservation option in the past on a Princess cruise and they've told us while on the phone to use the other door. It's the nicer way of having to physically push past the people in line.

[alwalaska]

...

I've tried taking photos of dinner menus in the past and they always have glare or are too far away to see what's printed on them. If any one has tips on how to do that aside from stealing them to scan in once I'm home, I'd love to hear them! I'm not sure what you mean by the association of clothes based on what the dinner menu says? Unless you're like me who won't wear white because I'm destined to drop some tomato based stain on myself at any given moment? :)

 

...

 

It all depends on the layout of the menus. The ones out front in the glass are impossible to get pictures of, but it was easier when a friend of ours was in a suite and had the menus. Even then, the best results were to take pictures of different sections and then make sure that I point to high resolution versions when adding them to Cruise Critic. You can't always embed them like your photos or you are right, they are not readable.

 

As for the packing, if the dining room menus don't have sufficient options to entice us to change into dress slacks (or formal wear), we will simply wear jeans or shorts to attend the buffet in the evening, meaning I won't need dress slacks or formal attire. ;) If the menus have a lot of options I want to try, I will bring multiple pairs of dress slacks for the 15 night cruise.

 

I do drop foods regularly, but it doesn't matter what is on the menu, I'll slop. Just who I am. :rolleyes:

[RRFPresident]

It all depends on the layout of the menus. The ones out front in the glass are impossible to get pictures of, but it was easier when a friend of ours was in a suite and had the menus. Even then, the best results were to take pictures of different sections and then make sure that I point to high resolution versions when adding them to Cruise Critic. You can't always embed them like your photos or you are right, they are not readable.

 

As for the packing, if the dining room menus don't have sufficient options to entice us to change into dress slacks (or formal wear), we will simply wear jeans or shorts to attend the buffet in the evening, meaning I won't need dress slacks or formal attire. ;) If the menus have a lot of options I want to try, I will bring multiple pairs of dress slacks for the 15 night cruise.

 

I do drop foods regularly, but it doesn't matter what is on the menu, I'll slop. Just who I am. :rolleyes:

 

What I did when it came to dressing for dinner in the dining room is bring one pair of black dress slacks and if it was a casual night I just kept the solid color tshirt I'd been wearing that day around the ship. (unless of course if it was super sweaty). Then for formal nights I just wore the same slacks and one of 3 patterned blouses (same pattern just different color combinations) so it looked a little fancier but still completely comfortable.

[Wateron]

Apparently your not wine drinkers but did you happen to notice the price of the wine packages? They usually offer either 7, 10, or 12 bottle packages that are somewhat less than buying by the glass. Also wondering what the per glass prices are.

 

 

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[RRFPresident]

Apparently your not wine drinkers but did you happen to notice the price of the wine packages? They usually offer either 7, 10, or 12 bottle packages that are somewhat less than buying by the glass. Also wondering what the per glass prices are.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

I didn't notice while on board but here's some info I found while doing a google search:

 

Semi recent Cruise Critic post about the wine packages:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=50485468&postcount=13

 

Great site with photos of drink menus showing the wine by the glass and by the bottle prices:

http://www.cruisewithgambee.com/princess-cruises-drink-prices-and-menus/

[RRFPresident]

It's not the 31st you say? Why does this post mention Halloween? Well, it turns out that the Island Princess decided to do a little Back to the Future moment and magically make it Halloween on the 30th since the 31st was our last full day on board and they didn't think passengers would want to be dressing up and trying to pack at the same time. I'd never been on a cruise during a holiday unless you count Cinco de Mayo when the cruise staff on another cruise line decided it was fun to toss thin glow sticks out from where they stood on top of a bar and I got hit by two of them. I guess you could say the second time was my fault because I was busy looking down at where the first one had dinged my arm and I looked up just in time to take the next one on the cheek. On the plus side – I still have the glow sticks sitting in my pencil cup.

 

Today was also the first day for a sort of Halloween magic trick called the Presto Change-o the Cruise Director as Mike Witte left us to return to his family after being away from home for the past 8 months. For the last two days of our cruise, we had Richard Joseph as our Cruise Director.

 

As we left our cabin to head to Sabatinnis for breakfast this morning, I made sure to grab my camera expecting to find loads of picture taking opportunities with Halloween decorations. Both the Bayou Cafe and Sabatinnis featured jack-o-lanterns (with tea light style battery operated candles of course) on their front podiums.

 

Fake spider webs and the little plastic spiders must have been ordered in bulk. Several orange and black balloons were taped up around public venues.

[RRFPresident]

 

The main display was set up in the atrium where there was a decorated sheet cake in the center surrounded by around 30 jack-o-lanterns. The display garnered lots of attention so once again it was a lot of shifting around to try and get a picture around other picture takers. One guy even pulled the carved pumpkins out so that he could pose for a picture holding one. I just pictured the whole pile toppling like canned goods at the grocery store. Another lady berated her traveling companion because she wasn't taking as good a picture of her posing in front of the display as this lady would have liked.

[RRFPresident]

 

This one reminded me of Wilford Brimley:

 

 

This is what happens when you wait for an Island Princess slot machine to pay out:

[RRFPresident]

Uhoh, looks like his friend went to go drink away his losses at the casino and imbibed a bit too much. What's the emergency code for skeleton decoration down?:

 

Today was our last day for the voyage long games even though we still had one more sea day. After breakfast, we attended our last Progressive Trivia and this time Oliver and his wife decided to show up. We did fairly well this round, not sure if it was simply that they were taking it easy on us with the questions.

 

Since it was football season, a tailgating themed set of games was offered on the Lido deck prior to the actual airing of the current NFL game on the MUTS screen. Disappointed that none of our home team's games were the ones picked to air either on MUTS or cabin TVs during this voyage. On the other hand, our team lost every game they played while we were away only to win 2 out of the 3 games since we've been back so I'm considering the losses as due to the fact that I wasn't able to watch and yell back at the screen. That sounds perfectly plausible right? I passed by the tailgating games set up while walking the ship to check out the decorations and it was kind of sad to see Chad and Emma having to stand around pretending to toss a mini football to each other while passengers started lining up chairs in front of them to get ready for the televised game. I stopped and chatted with them and Emma remarked that she thought I was sailing on a back to back cruise. Don't tease me dear Emma with such a dream.

 

 

Buffet decorations:

 

Is it considered cannibalism if one gourd appears to be eating another gourd?

[RRFPresident]

Wheelhouse Bar:

 

Unfortunately, today's session of Mini-Olympics (carpet bowling) was scheduled for the same time as Battle of the Sexes so we chose to attend Battle of the Sexes. I didn't need to try and improve on my nice round number score of 0! Not sure I ever mentioned that the women's team was nicknamed Boobs & Brains and the men's team chose the nickname The Bulls. It was fun watching how uncomfortable it made Chad to have to refer to us as the Boobs & Brains team each session. There wasn't much hope for improving on my Battle of the Sexes score either though as the men had already won the majority of the rounds. Attending today was more for the fun of the trivia itself. This round the men managed to get a perfect score. In a previous round, Ann got upset because we didn't go with her answer. This time we got a question wrong because we went with her answer so she got upset that we didn't change it to go with the woman who had the right answer. If I was psychic enough to know whose answer was the correct answer on some topic I had no clue on in the first place, I'd have a lot more lanyards and tomorrow's lottery numbers.

 

After trivia, we went to the dining room and shared a table for lunch. It seems my reputation preceded me because despite never having met anyone at this table, they recognized me as “that girl from the trivias.” I've always felt like an old soul so I enjoyed hanging out with a crowd that was at least 10-40 years older than me on this cruise. It probably also made me stand out and be recognizable just as much as for our trivia scores. The few couples that were already at our table when we joined had formed a camaraderie with our waiter and filled us in on his love story. It turns out our waiter had met his now wife while they both worked on a cruise ship and got married during a break in their contracts. The wife became pregnant and a day after having their son, our waiter started his new contract on the Island Princess. Another great reminder to be kind to the crew while on board. I couldn't imagine having to leave my 1 day old child for 9 months. This time I was ready when I was asked if I wanted a “sweet” but it still caught the other couples off guard wondering why they didn't get asked about dessert. Dad ordered his usual chocolate ice cream and I wanted to try the pear sherbet. What came was chocolate for Dad and vanilla ice cream for me. Ahh well, it wasn't worth getting it corrected as it was already close to time for our next activity.

 

Dad decided to skip bridge and came with me to check out the Halloween themed trivia run by Chad. When he saw that the first question was about horror movies, he decided to pass on trivia too and went back to the cabin to watch the rest of the Star Trek movie on TV. When Chuck came in to join our group, he was bothered by how our conglomerate had gotten so big that it was more than the 6 per team rule. I think only when Neesa ran a trivia did anyone ever care about sticking to that rule. She outright said “if you have more than 6, you will be disqualified!” We split up into two teams. Chad used his laptop to project the questions on the screen but it was mostly questions featuring movie stills and we had to answer with what movie they were from in addition to the occasional sound clip. The majority of the movie stills however were super dark and hard to see when projected onto the big screen. When everyone complained that all you could see was indistinguishable darkness, Chad kept insisting that it was fine because on his laptop screen it looked completely clear and normal. We had to resort to sending up reps from each team to look at the screen from inches away in order to have any hope of making out details in the picture. The winning team got to pick from a box of cheap plastic Halloween themed trinkets and the other half of our trivia friends decided to argue several of their answers that had been marked wrong so Chad let them pick from the box too.

 

I returned to the cabin and relaxed for a little while as Dad finished watching his movie. Stepping out onto our balcony I spotted the first major cruise line ship we'd seen join us nearby all sailing. The Celebrity Infinity was only a day or so into their current sailing from Fort Lauderdale as we were working our way to Fort Lauderdale as our final destination. It was a nice sneak peek unto our next planned cruise on Celebrity Equinox in the spring.

 

When it was time for our routine afternoon trivia session, we decided to bring the bottle of nicer champagne I'd won from the Captain's Circle party in hopes of finding a team that wanted it. We shared the elevator ride down with two ladies. The first lady noticed the champagne and asked what we were celebrating. We explained about having won it and she replied that we were lucky and so many of her friends would love to have won a bottle like that. We tried to give it to her to take to her friends but she just laughed off the offer and left the elevator when we reached her deck. The other woman in the elevator started to also admire our champagne and this time she gladly took us up on our offer. When we finally arrived on the right deck for trivia, she stayed on the elevator so she could run back up to her cabin and put the bottle on ice for later. I can only imagine what that conversation was like when she returned to the cabin - “Hey honey, I was riding in the elevator and these people decided to give me free booze!”