The Atlantic had settled and the ship was was gliding along at a steady 20.7 knots when I awoke.
Princess Cruises do not put kettles in their cabins, sorry their staterooms. So this morning was my first early morning visit to the buffet, sorry food court, called the Horizon.
Deck 14 was a long way to walk for two beakers of tea.
Our cruise through the Panama Canal started in Fort Lauderdale and would take us to Aruba, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and finally San Francisco and then onto Monterey.
Friday the 13th October was our first full day at sea. We were passing the coast of Cuba on our way to our first port of call in Aruba.
Atlantic Ocean
The Captain’s Log on Channel 43 had not been updated and was tracking how far we had sailed from Los Angeles. Miraculously we had left our last port of call at 7 am that morning too! The map did however, give our position as being off the coast of Cuba, passing Cayo Coco which is North of Macon.
Breakfast was a relaxed affair back in the Bordeaux restaurant. Sharing a table meant we could listen to an assortment of stories. This was when we discovered that our visit to Aruba would only be for a few hours rather than the whole day That we had thought it would be.
Three times around the Promenade Deck was just over a mile. Just like the restaurant at breakfast, the deck was empty and best of all no-one was smoking.
At 11 am we were still passing down the North East coast of Cuba in what the map called the ‘Old Bahama Channel’ and we had the moon at the side of us.
From the balcony I watched the occasional swarm of flying fish take advantage of the windy conditions and glide for what seemed like impossibly long distances.
A quick visit to the Internet Cafe had us set up with an on-board account and a quick access icon that would save us hassle when connecting. The Internet may be slow but getting so many free minutes was too good an opportunity to miss.
Lunch and our first Happy Hour
At lunch, I was tempted to have a Philly cheese steak along with pea soup and cinnamon flavoured rice pudding to follow. The main attraction of the rice pudding were the sultanas soaked in rum.
The lunch was a sit down affair back in the Bordeaux. This meal we shared with couples from Florida, California and New Zealand. The couple from New Zealand had been in England buying stock for their antique shop in Napier. They had filled 3 containers of antiques and assorted goods before leaving for the USA.
Before lunch I had had an hour on Deck 16 and later our balcony watching the sea. Some more exercise was needed after lunch and we went for another walk around the Promenade Deck.
Another mile around the deck delivered no sightings of sea life. While we were walking around we picked up fragments of an announcement that Happy Hour was starting in Wheelers Bar. So once the three laps were finished we headed for the bar to find out what was happening there.
The offer was that the first drink was at regular bar prices and the second was only a $1. This is why I had two bottles of Blue Mountain.
We sat with the two ladies from Belgium who were now a lot closer to Cuba than they had expected. The keys were still visible through the heat haze as we sailed along the coast of Cuba.
Captain’s cocktails in the Atrium
At 5 pm our hors d’ouvres arrived as this was to be the first formal night of the cruise.
We were soon in our formal attire and went down to the Atrium to await the Captain’s welcoming party.
Below us the photographers were in full swing taking portraits. This is a selection of the poses they asked passengers to take.
To the side of the photographer was the stack of over 600 champagne glasses. Passengers were queuing to have their picture helping to pour ‘champagne’ into the stack of glasses.
The senior officers were all introduced and finally the Captain came out to welcome everyone on board.
Waiters circulated around the Atrium giving out champagne or champagne and mimosa. This may have been a formal evening but the dress code for a large percentage of our fellow passengers was relaxed.
Dinner in the Provence restaurant
When the Captain had finished there was a rush for the restaurants and the queue for the Bordeaux freedom dining stretched around the Atrium. When we reached the entrance of the restaurant we were offered a pager or perhaps go upstairs to the Provence restaurant (fixed time dining) where they did have spare tables.
We were placed on a table for 8 and after ten minutes we were joined by a couple from Florida. They were on their way to California for the first time.
I started with the French onion soup, then lamb and finally banana foster flambe. The courses came quickly and we could see that this corner of the restaurant had empty tables and ones with lets of empty places. Our servers suggested that we could come back to his table at at anytime on the cruise.
The on-board production cast were giving their first show of the cruise called Encore. It was a mix of modern songs and opera, all backed by a full cruise orchestra. The cast included four lead singers, four dancers and (I’m guessing) six more singers and a guest soprano.
The show was excellent and the cast made good use of the multi-level set built around the orchestra.
After the show we went to the International Cafe for coffee and tea. On this ship the cafe is next to the casino and fortunately for us it was a non smoking evening in there.
Then it was time to go back for a late night’s sleep. The ship was still going around Cuba when I turned off the map on the TV.