At sea

03/07/2014

We are safely on the ship and have been since Wednesday around noon.  Embarkation went smoothly and luggage arrived safely.  We wandered the ship Wednesday afternoon and then to early dinner at 5:30.  We were the first to arrive at our table, a table for six, which we like.  It is much easier to have a conversation with the six rather than eight or ten.

Good sleep has been a problem due to outside noise.  On Wednesday at 4am the San Francisco street folks started their street sweeping operation, which I'm sure, like any major city,  needs to be done on a regular schedule.  Then Thursday morning at 4am, another early wake up with the fog horn.  We were in a deep fog for about 20 hours, so every 2-3 minutes the ship would sound its fog horn, hoping to alert any one in its way that we are coming through.  On Thursday night Co slept much better but around 7am Friday morning,  a loud and persistent knocking at our door woke us up.  Someone was lost and had the wrong room.  And there is a good story about that!

When we got onboard, our room name tag, outside of our door, had an error on it regarding our level of Princess loyalty program.  No big deal, and we didn't say anything.  That part of the tag was corrected overnight, but now the name tag said "Mr. John McLean and Mrs., Bonnie Plauchild".  Being curious, Co wanted to know who was and why John hadn't notified her of a new cabin mate!  So...we took the card to Passenger Services and explained.  It was to be taken care of, but wasn't, thus the lost knocker this morning.  If the name tag had been in place the lost person might have realized her mistake.  (Or, maybe it was Bonnie?)

At  9:30 each sea day morning, there is a lecture in the theater that is given by Col. Roland Guidry, USAF (Ret.).  His first lecture was a history of drones.  He flew C130 airplanes in Vietnam that launched the early drones that we had then.  They couldn't take off or land.  They were recovered, those that were not shot down, by helicopters.  Then he took us to today's drones with their long flight times and refueling in the air capabilities.  The lecture this morning was about the Iran hostage rescue mission in 1980 that failed.  He flew the first C130 and had detailed insights.  He was one of the first leaders in special ops, Delta Force and Seals.  They will be having three more talks, and John can't wait.  The Colonel is very interesting.

Trivia.  We have a group of six and we have been second all four times!  Two times we have been tied for first, but lost the tiebreaker.  Good fun and we hope to break through and win a tacky prize.

We have had some great entertainment after dinner.  We've seen Steve Moris, a member of the Beach Boys band and a backup player for many other bands and performers.  His is hugely funny and a talented singer and guitarist.  Tonight we saw an acrobat/comedian.  Lots of old jokes but he was very flexible.  He could do a standing back flip and land on one hand and hop around on that hand. 

We switched dinner tables and our new tablemates are friendly and fine company.  Our prior table had four people that lived across the street from each other for 35 years and made it clear that they wanted to be alone at dinner.  We have never asked to be moved, but it was just too uncomfortable for us.  We are much happier now.

We will be in Cabo San Lucas tomorrow for our camel ride.  We will post again tomorrow night, internet allowing. 

Colleen & John