June 15, 2019 – New York City, NY – Sunny – 79F

What an interesting itinerary - New York City is our first stop as we make our way up the East Coast.  

We are both on tour today – “New York City – By Land and Sea”.  Shorex asked us to be in the Cabaret Lounge at 8:00 AM so I am up early enough to see the sail in – views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Jersey city, and Manhattan.  

We are docked at the Manhattan Sea Port (also here is the Norwegian Dawn).

Selma, a long time New Yorker, is our guide.  She is a little bit loopy, a little bit funny, and very knowledgeable. The bus took us about three blocks to an adjacent pier where we boarded our tour boat.  Because of the wind and sun, we sat on the inside by a semi-clean window.  The tour of Hudson River was underway.


 

When a picture was needed, I went out on the bow area to snap the shot.  From the ship, we got great pictures of just about everything along the Hudson River:  The Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum (featuring the aircraft carrier, Intrepid, the Space Shuttle, Enterprise, along with jets and submarines)

1 World Trade Center, 

the Empire State Building, 

the Statue of Liberty, 

the gleaming glass skyscrapers of Jersey City, 


and Ellis Island.  

We also saw floating billboards 


and the Colgate Clock. The Clock (50 feet in diameter) is all that is left of the headquarters of Colgate-Palmolive, which left in 1985.

The city is in massive building mode with skyscrapers being constructed everywhere.  The buildings are being made of glass and some have highly unusual shapes and configurations.  Some appear crooked, some are cantilevered, some look like spiral staircases.  We also saw a huge driving range that was open day and night (below).  A net keeps the balls from going into the river and I’m guessing that the balls float. 

We also were able to see Port Liberty, in Bayonne, NJ.  An RCL Cruiser (Port Liberty is where Royal Caribbean Ships depart from) was docked.

The tour of the river took about an hour with the only drawback being that I couldn’t understand a word the narrator was saying.

We made a stop at the 9/11 Memorial so we could see the two waterfall pools and the new monument dedicated to the First Responders, who are now ill and dying from toxic fumes and materials.  The monuments are stacks of rock slabs.  


I got some new pictures of the North Pool



and South Pool



and a picture of the totally completed 1 World Trade Center.  

The Oculus, designed by Santiago Calatrava, is now completed (the South Pool is in the foreground) and will be a hub for trains and subways - it looked like a pair of wings to me - it is an impressive structure.  

If we come back to NYC, we will go inside (more spectacular than the outside).

The tour took us through Times Square, 



Broadway, the Village, Hell’s Kitchen, 


- home to superheroes, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, Trump Tower, and Central Park, and Little Italy.  

We passed by Columbus Circle and the statue of Cristoforo Colombo.


We squeezed our way down to Wall Street to get a shot of the iconic Wall Street Bull.  There were so many tourists hanging out at the Statue, I could barely get a picture of it.

We also saw a structure that Selma called a Human Ant Farm – people walked up ramps to a honey-comb type structure (composed of stairs).  This activity is only for the very fit.

As we drove along, we saw a large gathering of people - some kind of demonstration - as we got closer I could see the signs - this was an anti-Trump demonstration.  It seemed orderly and one of the demonstrators was decked out as Captain America.


Selma was very good at finding routes that would minimize the traffic crunch. She kept on barking driving instructions to our driver, who responded quickly to find open traffic. Very New York.

It was a very good tour.

No Showtime tonight.

Clocks move one hour forward tonight to put us on Halifax Time.

It was warm enough to watch the sail away on the open deck – it was a magnificent sail out.  The buildings were starting to turn on their lights – amazing.  I also got an amazing panorama shot of NYC.

June 14, 2019 – At Sea – Sunny – 75F

Very smooth ride so far, even though the seas look choppy.



My second talk and first real session of the series,“Forensics and History: The Mystery of the Romanovs”, 


drew a near Full House (300 plus).  




The audience was very engaged and the talk ran 50 minutes.  I am using the ships laptop with my USB drive – so much more convenient and reliable. Only one side screen is working and I am standing alongside the non-functional screen.

Today, we went to the Club Dining Room for lunch because they had gazpacho on the menu (I had two bowls).  I will need to look for gazpacho when it comes back up on the rotation.  Ellen had the sole, which was also good.

We are spending afternoons in the Pacific Lounge reading.  This is proving to be a challenge because the afternoon is loaded with activities (trivia, line dancing, and dance instruction).

The dinner routine for me is a double Cesar Salad and Salmon (unless something else shows up on the menu).  The Cesar Salad in the dining room is excellent.

Tony Daro is back for a another show and again I can almost recall all of his jokes.

June 13, 2019 – At Sea – Sunny – 81F

Slept OK without the need for earplugs.  
A very nice day at sea - nicer than it looks in the photos.



Here's where we are.


Breakfast on Pacific Princess starts at 6 AM, which is good for me and us (on early excursion days).  We are in a good location as the elevator closest to our room will take you right to the Panorama Buffet.  The Panorama Buffet has two egg prep stations and the usual items (oatmeal, waffles, and pancakes) but there are buttermilk biscuits also.  The wait staff will bring you coffee and juice or you can get coffee yourself from the spigots.  The coffee this morning was good and hot.  I had a waffle with cottage cheese, a tablespoon of scrambled eggs, and a biscuit.  That will probably be my default breakfast for this cruise.  The wait staff is very friendly and the muzak was, on this day, either off or at low volume.  I tried the back deck but it was too windy.

Our last ship, Oceania Regatta (the same configuration as this one) had a Coffee Bar in the Dining Room Lounge.  Pacific Princess has the Club Bar, in the Club Dining Room waiting area, that whips us specialty coffees.  I had my decaf iced skinny latte and it was very good. 

While I was ordering, Captain Andrea Spinardi – very tall Italian and young – came by and we shook hands (yes) and said hello.

At 10 AM I went to the Cabaret Lounge to hear Deb Fraioli, the semi-permanent Destination Expert, talk about New York City, our first destination.  Deb almost mans a desk and answers questions from guests about our itinerary.  She is on the ship for months at a time.  Her husband is a member of the Cruisetones Duo, that plays in the Casino Lounge.  She is also a denizen of Deck 3 Aft.  As do all destination speakers, Deb had a nice turnout.

My first talk – “Forensics and Television” – 

followed Deb at 11:00 AM.  I got there early to chat a bit with the audience.


Lynn stopped by to introduce me. 



I had a good first audience with the lounge being about 90 percent full or about 300 people (the place doesn’t look like it can hold that many but theoretically, the theater should accommodate half the passengers).  The audience was pretty vocal shouting out answers to some of my questions.

 

We had lunch in the Panorama Buffet – I ordered a veggie burger but forgot that Princess’ veggie burgers are fried mashed potatoes.  I had a large salad for lunch.

Because of the windy conditions on the deck, we went to the Pacific Lounge. Events are in there all afternoon – dance class, line dancing, a game show, and afternoon trivia – you just have to ignore the background noise and try to read. I am currently reading Daniel Silva's, "The English Girl".  I ventured out on the open deck to capture the "magic moment" or sunset.




Showtime tonight featured the first production show, “Stardust”.   


We have seen it many times but not on a small ship – only two singers and eight dancers.  The Pacific Princess Singers and Dancers did a nice job on the tiny stage (the four piece band was on the stage and the piano was on the dance floor).  The show, even in its downsized for, was entertaining. Post show music was provided by Randy Heddon in the Casino Bar.

Seas are smooth.

June 12, 2019 - Ft Lauderdale FL - Partly Cloudy - 80s

June 12, 2019 – Embarkation Day

A wonderful, comfortable, quiet night at the Hyatt House.  We will definitely stay here next time we sail out of Ft. Lauderdale. 

I went down early for breakfast (included).  They had an omelet station so I had the pepper and pesto omelet, which was really good.  The coffee was also very good. Also available at breakfast was oatmeal, various breads, various cereals, and scrambled eggs.  Maybe next time.  Before we left, I took a picture of the pool area from our room.


The hotel offered shuttle service to Port Everglades for $12 a person.  We opted for an Uber to the Port, which came to $13.62.  I later tacked on a tip and we still came out way ahead using this transportation.  It was quicker and easier.  Our driver found the Pacific Princess, which was docked at Terminal 2.  The check-in was straightforward and quick (even though I was unable to print boarding passes the night before).  We got our keys and headed up to the Panorama Buffet for a quick lunch.

Got a very nice panoramic shot of Port Everglades after lunch.

We went down to Deck 3 to check out our cabin.  We are in Cabin 3017.

  


There are only about 10 cabins on Deck 3 all located on the starboard side of the ship.  On this trip, many of the cabins are occupied by contractors.  There are some passengers here as well. 

The cabin is terrific – spacious (there’s a couch and two night stands).  The bathroom is nice and there is a lot of storage in the closets and drawers.  The porthole will let in the light that will keep our circadian rhythms honest.  The room looks brand new and it probably is because Pacific Princess has just emerged from dry dock, during the which was essentially refit in total.  It’s a brand new ship and we are the first folks to check it out.  Perhaps the contractors are on board to finalize the refit.

There was no greeting letter from the Cruise Director in my cabin so I went to look for the CD.  The Office is just across the way from the Shorex Office on Deck 4.  There was no one there. 

While we were in the Pacific Lounge on Deck 10, Ellen ran into the Deputy Cruise Director, Kim Annette.  Kim came up to the Lounge and went over the talks with me – I would be giving a talk in the Cabaret Lounge on each sea day. So I would be giving all 10 lectures at 11:00 AM with TV replays later in the day.  (NOTE:  On line, the capacity of the Cabaret Lounge is between 340 and 385 people – I’m going to use the lower number for estimating attendance).

I handed her a revised list that put the Titanic Child presentation the day before we arrive in Halifax.  I introduced myself to the Cruise Director, Lynn Van Vorcer, later that evening.  Lynn is an ex-dancer on ships - she is super energetic and very friendly.

We watched the sail away from the open deck.  Off in the distance, the weather was starting to look at bit iffy - most likely, we will be sailing away from it.  



The USCG was keeping an eye on our ship and shooing away any boats that encroached on our space.  




I got some nice iconic ET shots on the deck during our departure.




At dinner time, which is very early (5 PM) on this ship, we went to see the Maitre D about getting a seating assignment.  After a little discussion, I told him I was a guest entertainer on the ship and he said he had a table for two.  Table 95 does not have the best location (waiters are flying by from the kitchen) but it does have the best wait staff – Amil and Mariana.  We thought that this was for the evening but this ship has fixed seating (unlike other Princess Ships) – so we are in First Seating at Table 95. Done and done.

We had the Salmon (always available) and I had a Cesar Salad.  They were both OK but it looks like it might be difficult to find something on the menu on a regular basis.

After dinner, we checked out the Piano Man, Randy Heddon.  He is an OK singer but his act is also very zany.  He is entertaining.

The Welcome aboard show featured comedian Tony Daro.  We have seen him before a few time and I knew almost every part of his set.  He didn’t get rib busting laughs but the audience seemed to like him.

The contractors who live in the cabin in front of us (more toward the bow) either had their TV on or were chatting.  They did get quiet around 10 PM so that was not an issue.

Seas are smooth.