CRUISING ON THE PACIFIC

This is our sixth day at sea and we’ll be arriving in Honolulu tomorrow, Saturday, January 26^th.  If the past week is any indication of what we should expect, we will have a TERRIFIC WORLD CRUISE! 

For me, the excitement of a cruise begins when I see my luggage coming down the conveyor belt at the airport onto the carousel.  It is always a very welcomed sight.  With four additional bags (we already brought two bags to Los Angeles in December), a carry-on, Michael’s CPAP machines (he brought two this time just in case) and his backpack, we got to Union Station via the Flyaway from LAX where Michael’s brother picked us up so we could enjoy a lovely pre-cruise visit with him and his wife.  They were kind enough to take us to San Pedro where we embarked the Pacific Princess. 

Check-in was uneventful and as soon as we got to our cabin, the first thing we always do is check the daily newsletter, the Princess Patter, for the time to meet with the maître d’ to be sure to get a 2-person table.  We got a fantastic table and we were thrilled to see our head waiter, Ilo, from the last WC.  Service has been spectacular. 

We were able to upgrade to a mini-suite this time around thanks to my wonderful travel agent, Carolyn at Tempo Travel Group, who was waiting patiently for weeks and able to immediately answer a call from Princess offering such an upgrade.  From her experience, such offers usually occur after full payments have been received.  Having been given the authority by us to book a mini-suite if one became available, she was able to call and re-confirm with us our willingness to go for it.  And, boy, are we glad we did.  Compared to the balcony room we had last time, this mini-suite is amazingly large and very comfortable.

But before our first dinner, we had to unpack all our luggage (which came to our cabin in an extremely timely fashion) in about 4 hours with time to dress for dinner.  Space is always challenging on a cruise ship, but Michael was able to move the safe onto the floor of the closet to allow for the hanging of his shirts in the same space.  We have 8 drawers this time and I brought three 15x15x15 cubes that now house our gym clothing, my “intimates” (it was suggested to me to take as many bras as possible because of the hot climes we’ll be visiting) and one for storage of bottles of water.  With so many of us elite passengers on this cruise with free laundry, you never know what the turnaround is going to be when you send in your laundry.  We’re already trying to get back from the laundry a few pairs of underwear that seem to have gone missing, but, I bring so much of everything that I don’t need to worry about running out. 

We also brought a 24-pair shoe bag that fits nicely over the bathroom door and that’s almost filled up between our dance shoes, formal shoes, nighttime shoes and daytime shoes.  We saw one in another room on our last WC and thought it was an excellent idea even for storage of extra tubes of toothpaste, soaps, shampoos, etc. 

The mini-suite is designed for at least three people so, in addition to the king size bed, we have a full pull out couch that is also very comfortable.  I can stretch out completely and with the incredibly soft and cuddly throw my cabin steward brought me, I can snuggle up in the afternoons to read my book or take a nap. 

I don’t know how he did it, but Michael was able to put 5 of the suitcases under the bed.  The closet is still small considering the length of the cruise, but we have to remember that this is a small ship with only about 650 passengers.  The size of the room makes up for the lack of closet space but I also brought two 6-pair of pants hangers that are space saving and I decided to hang half of my clothing that will be worn during the first half of the cruise;  in mid March, I will move those clothes into the suitcase and replace them with the other half of the clothing still in the suitcase. 

Because I bought so much clothing during the last WC, I limited my evening outfits to 25 rather than the previous 35;  Michael’s shirts total 38 rather than the 47 he took last time.  He also brought one tuxedo this time (rather than the three he brought last time) which is washable and dryable.  An absolute must for the cruiser since they don’t dry clean aboard the ship. 

The bathroom is very spacious with lots of spacious for our toiletries and it has a shower and tub which Michael loves.

We have a terrific duo, 2 Cool Duo, on the ship who we met on our Hawaiian cruise earlier last year.  They play great danceable music and we’ve been enjoying the opportunity every night, although the first two days were challenging because of rough waters.  They sometimes have pre-show dancing in the Cabaret Lounge but, unlike the previous WC where we had at least a dozen couples dancing, there are maybe two or three other couples with us on the dance floor. 

There are also over a dozen people on this cruise who were on the previous WC 2016.  We’ve come to learn that many take this cruise every year.  It takes me months and months to prepare for this type of cruise and if we did it every year, I’d never have time for anything else the other 8 ½ months of the year when I’m home.  At this point, I think this is our last WC.  We are going to Africa this time and that’s really the reason we cancelled 2018 and re-booked 2019.  We didn’t want the same itinerary as 2016.  We enjoy going to different places and we look forward to Africa, Madagascar, Thailand, Komodo Island, etc., but, in the end, the ship is our destination. 

MICHAEL’S OBSERVATIONS:  Thanks to my wonderful wife’s meticulous planning, the only thing that I forgot to pack was a shoehorn which I’ll replace tomorrow when we head to Walmart.  I also want to thank Carolyn for her diligence in securing this mini-suite, which is absolutely spectacular, and thanks to our good friends, Sharon and Paolo’s gift of magnetic hooks, and our sister-in-law Lyn’s Command hooks, we have plenty of space to hang our calendar, wall map, clothes for the evening and the gym.  I also want to thank all of our very generous friends and family who purchased Onboard Credits for us.  As I look around our spectacular room, I can’t think of a thing that I need (except, of course, for the shoehorn).  I’m looking forward to the months ahead with a regular plan of visits to the gym, thanks to our trainer Loretta’s cruise program, sensible eating, relaxing atmosphere of the ship, lots of dancing and visiting new countries.