20240507 Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 34 - Heading home and cruise wrap-up

Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 34 - Homeward bound

Ugh. 6:30 comes way too early. 

Our departure time, despite what we asked for, was set for 7:30. Sure, we could have gotten off later, but then it would have been potentially more challenging to get to our bags since they were divided by group. We grabbed our final breakfast, tossed the final items into our carry-on bags, and made our way down to Deck #7, Explorers Bar to wait for disembarkation. A few minutes later, our Silver #3 group was called and we were off. Wait in line, scan the medallion the final time, walk, walk, walk, find our bags in the sea of Silver #3 bags, and walk to Customs. Finding the bags wasn't too difficult, but it was interesting that all four of our bags were in different places. You'd think they would place bags from the same room together, but where is the fun in that? Better to have a final scavenger hunt.

We were prepared for a long Customs process, but we didn't get one. We walked up to the camera terminal. Look at the camera, *ding* - green light - welcome home, and we exited the terminal. Easy peasy.

We had to make the walk from terminal 91 where we docked to terminal 92 as that is where ride-share services like Uber and Lyft pick up from. I ordered an Uber XL (we had two bags plus a carry-on each) and in less than five minutes, we were on our way to stop-and-go L.A. traffic.

We hit solid traffic right after I snapped this

Before we even got going, I got a notification from Southwest. Our noon outbound flight to Austin, Texas was already delayed 29 minutes. Woo! More than three hours before flight time and we were already delayed. We had two hours in Austin, so we still had wiggle room to make our connection to Orlando.

Getting there

The iconic control towers at LAX

54 minutes later, our driver dropped us right in front of Southwest. We walked right up to a self-check terminal and got our bag tags. We walked right up to the bag drop and were on our way to TSA. We got to TSA and walked right up to the officer - nobody was in the Pre-Check line. Next, we walked right up to the scan station - again, not a soul there. Zip/zap and we were through security and on our way to Gate 15 to wait for our flight.

Southwest - if you know, you know

Of course, we had to listen to the incessantly repeated warnings to not accept any from anyone who asks you to carry something onto the aircraft. Seriously, aren't we past that? Don't we all know that? Plus, even way back, did anyone really ever say, "Sure! I'll take that bag to Albuquerque for you, even though you're not going!"?

LAX be fancy!

By the time we were all settled in, we had a shade over 90 minutes to wait before our updated boarding time of 11:59.

The late plane finally arrived, Southwest did their famous quick turnaround and we were off with a nearly full plane just over an hour late. We arrived in Austin, Texas with just enough time to grab a slice of pizza before grabbing our next nearly full flight to Orlando. Southwest sure packs them in.

Speaking of being packed in, welcome to Orlando. There were no less than eight Southwest flights that all arrived in Orlando within minutes of each other. So what, you say? There are a limited number of baggage handlers, especially at 10:30 at night. Our bags were unloaded, per the Southwest app, at 10:27. The bags finally arrived on the luggage carousel around 11:10. There were people milling about everywhere as hundreds of bags were coming out on three carousels at the same time. Pandamonium.

The next challenge was catching our ride home. The driver was there but fighting traffic. It took him ten minutes to finally get to the terminal. The amount of traffic at Orlando International Airport at 11:00 on a Tuesday night is crazy!

So, we're in the car, on the way home as I write this. We should be home around 12:30 A.M. Wednesday morning. That kind of sucks because some idiot (me) made a medical appointment for 8:15 A.M. so sleep will be limited tonight.

We flew across the country twice, sailed 11,000 nautical miles, crossed the equator twice, once in each direction, and crossed the international date line four times losing two days and repeating two days. We visited Hawai'i, Samoa, American Samoa, Fiji, and French Polynesia, adding two new countries to our list, and hitting 63 visited countries. It was a fun trip, although it was a little heavy on the sea days. But, on those days, we spent time with some wonderful people and that's part of what makes travel fun.

As we wrap up this trip, this blog, which I started in July 2021 with our Iceland cruise, is a few hits short of 500,000 lifetime views. It is humbling to know that so many folks have read it, and perhaps learned something or got a chuckle. We do it so we can remember all the amazing places we've been. I plan to continue writing and it will start again in just 23 days when we depart for Quito, Ecuador for our 16-day Galapagos and Machu Picchu adventure. Stay tuned - lots more adventures are coming soon! We're happy to have you all along with us.  See you soon!

20240506 Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 33 - Sea day 8 of 8 back to San Pedro - The final sea day

Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 33 - Sea Day #8 back to L.A. - The packing

Our last day started out with trivia a little earlier than usual. We tied for the win and won in the tiebreaker. The afternoon trivia saw the reverse - we tied for the win and lost in the tiebreaker. Noon progressive trivia saw us with 8/10. That paced us three points out of third, so no prizes for us. No matter, we had a great time with the folks we played with.

Our final day misses:

• What is the part of a flower that has sacs that produce and store the pollen?
• Anther - never heard of it
• Our morning tiebreaker was: How many words are in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I guessed that there were perhaps 400 pages in each book for 1200 pages in total. I guessed that there are ten words on average on each line and 40-50 lines per page, so let's call that 45 lines.400 pages x 10 words x 45 lines = 540,000 words. The correct answer was 576,459 words - less than 7% off - not too shabby.
• What is a group of eagles called?
• Convocation
• What is the capital of Greenland?
• Nuuk
• Who designed the collonade in Rome and several of the fountains?
• Gian Lorenzo Bernini
• What first appeared at a fashion show on June 3rd, 1946?
• We guessed the Little Black Dress (it was in the 20s) - it was the bikini

We really enjoyed the folks we played trivia with. It was a great group of people to spend time with these 32 days.

Arlona has taken an elevator perhaps three or four times this entire cruise. Today was one of them. And...she found this - her third cruising duck. Some things happen for a reason.

The seas were rolling a bit today - a last reminder that we're at sea.

Mist from the bow was creating continuous rainbows - they were faint, but there

The time came to take everything we took out of the suitcases 32 days ago and put it all back in. Arlona packed first and then I packed. The room isn't that big so this helped us keep out of each other's way.

We enjoyed a final pre-dinner drink at Explorers before heading to dinner. As we arrived, the crew was singing their farewell to the early diners.

We enjoyed bacon-wrapped meatloaf for dinner.

I had the baked Alaska for dessert

Arlona opted for the turtle cheesecake - I'm not sure what kind of turtle they use, but she said it tasted good :-)

We haven't seen many decent sunsets, but we did get a usable one tonight.

Sizzle, sizzle

We had fun with a world landmark game at Explorers after dinner. Then, the staff had a "Can You Beat The Cruise Staff?" game. I was on the guest team.

We competed in music, trivia, team construction, and improv

In the end, the crew team won - mainly on the strength of goofball and improv genius, Victoria, who came up with passing gas on moths in an ice cave in Iceland to quell the invasion. Seriously!  It was great fun and we had a lot of laughs.

We spent a few more minutes with friends that we made at Explorers before heading to the room for the last-minute wrap-up in the room in preparation for tomorrow's departure. It will be an early morning tomorrow so we can grab breakfast before disembarking and catching an Uber to LAX. I had my fast fingers working at flight check-in time at noon and scored Southwest boarding positions B13-B14 on the flight from LAX to Austin and A35-A36 for the flight from Austin to Orlando.

I'll wrap up this trip with a post tomorrow as we travel across the country toward home.

20240505 Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 32 - Sea day 7 of 8 back to San Pedro - Today, we're all Mexican

Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 32 - Sea Day #7 back to L.A. - Cinco de Mayo

Brr...this morning, we awoke to 54F. Brr...did I say that already? We will be in this cooler weather for the duration of this journey. The predicted weather for L.A. on Tuesday includes a low in the low 50s for our arrival. Good thing it will be in the 90s back home!

We made our final cruise time change last night so we're on Pacific time, three hours behind the U.S. East Coast. Easy sailing from here on, as far as time changes go.

The Captain was almost giddy in his midday announcement. We have no isolated patients and no new cases of gastrointestinal distress. It looks like we've beaten this outbreak (don't call it norovirus, even though that's what it was) so we should be good for the rest of the cruise - that's tomorrow.

We passed 30 days at sea so Princess required every passenger to report to their respective muster station today and check in. We're not sure why. They claim that it is a SOLAS (Safety Of Life As Sea) code requirement. Unless there has been a recent change, we don't agree.  We've been on longer cruises and only reported to muster stations upon embarkation. This is the first time we've had to report twice. Weird.  Regardless, we did it and it didn't work. We both scanned our medallions and the crew reported that we were checked in. But, this is what I see in the Princess app.

Somehow, it missed me. I reported it to Guest Services and they said they would take care of updating it, but that was eight hours ago, so I expect it won't get resolved. No matter, we leave the ship on Tuesday and it's not like they can kick me off tomorrow. Still, it was a minor annoyance trying to get it resolved without resolution.

It was a rough trivia this morning and noon progressive trivia has challenges as well. The afternoon was goofy by design with several off-the-wall questions. The misses:

• Where were the 2000 Summer Olympics held?
• We could remember every other recent one other than the 2000 Sydney Olympics
• Where is the world's largest Starbucks?
• Why is it in Chicago?
• The search company, Yahoo - what does Yahoo stand for?
• Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle
• Who was the highest-paid athlete in 2023?
• Cristiano Ronaldo
• Apart from the Bible and Qur'an, what is the bestselling book of all time?
• Guinness Book of World Records - there are lists on the internet that dispute this claim, so don't quote me on this
• The song, "If I Fell" is featured in what 1964 Beatles film?
• A Hard Day's Night
• Walt Disney was afraid of? (Mice, snakes, ducks, all three)
• We guessed all three, but he was afraid of mice
• The passenger in the first hot air balloon ride was? (Rooster, duck, sheep, all three)
• All three!
• Actor James Franco once sold a sculpture made entirely of? (Dryer lint, cigarette butts, air)
• Air! Someone paid $10,000, seriously - back in 2011 - Google it
• What animal holds its breath the longest (Otters, sloths, dolphins, hippos)?
• We guessed hippos, but it is sloths - they are excellent swimmers and can hold their breath for 40 minutes!
• We got this right, but wow! What is the largest number of children born to one woman (19, 29, 49, 69)?
• Unbelievably, it is 69 - read about it in Guinness World Records

Today is Cinco De Mayo. This celebrates the date of the Mexican army’s May 5, 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. Interestingly enough, Mexicans could not care less. But in the US, much like St. Patrick's Day where we're all Irish, on May 5th, we all become Mexican.

We opted to celebrate with street tacos and margaritas for lunch. Seemed appropriate, right?

A little after lunch, we headed to the Explorers Bar and grabbed a table for a margarita and to play cribbage. We didn't have a board so we went old school with Arlona tallying scores on paper. She won convincingly. Did I mention she was keeping the score? (seriously, it was no contest - I had a zero hand and multiple two-point cribs - can't win like that - she skunked me for a double win). We wrapped up the afternoon trivia and went to get dressed for the final formal night.

Just a quick selfie tonight

We dined on surf and turf in the form of braised short ribs and lobster tail. It was, in a word, fabulous. The ribs were tender and flavorful and the lobster was firm and sweet.  Yum!

We opted for the signature dessert tonight, a praline, hazelnut mousse.

The taste was good, but the texture was off - way off. The dark coating had almost a gelatin-like consistency. We've found several Princess desserts like this. It throws the whole experience off.  The mousse inside was a little spongy when it should have been creamy and melted in the mouth. The macarons were good, so that was a win.

We returned to the Explorers Bar for a Top Five game. We were given a list of top five items in a variety of categories with one of them missing. We had to identify the missing one. I would give you an example, but every single one I looked up to validate showed something completely different from what the hosts presented. Wow. So while it was fun, we really didn't learn anything as it looks like all their answers were wrong. Oh well.

Next up was a game called Read My Lips. One by one, each member of the entertainment team, Fortuna Luck, DJ Denzel, Bernardo, Adrianna, Javier, Victoria, and Mayte took turns acting out and lip-syncing to different songs. A team of three singers and musicians judged and selected the top three. The audience selected the winner. It was not what we were expecting, and it was uproariously fun. There were surprises, silliness, and a good time for everyone there.

For us, it was time to retire to C-115 for the second to last time. Tomorrow will include more trivia and packing and checking in to Tuesday's Southwest flight right at noon to potentially score an A boarding group number, B at the worst. Send positive vibes for fast fingers and a good internet connection at noon Pacific time!

20240504 Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 31 - Sea day 6 of 8 back to San Pedro - I'll be strumming my way back to you, dear...

Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 31 - Sea Day #6 back to L.A. - The Concert

Our day began as usual, with breakfast and then trivia, but with one difference - wow, it was borderline chilly!  There was a marked drop in the air temperature overnight as we continued our way north toward L.A. I think we're done with the hot weather until we get home - it was 91F there today.

We won morning trivia today, scoring Princess string backpacks for the team. Progressive trivia went well with 9/10 and afternoon trivia was a little tougher.

Our mistakes throughout the day:

• Where was the first fashion week held?
• I lobbied for NYC, but was overruled for Paris - it was NYC
• What supermodel was born in Streatham, London?
• We guessed Twiggy but it was Naomi Campell
• Per InstaCart, what is the most disliked food?
• We guessed liver, but it was anchovies
• What 2021 Netflix show was the most streamed show that year?
• We guessed Ozark, but it was Squid Game
• What color flag is waved at a driver whose mechanical problems have become a threat to other drivers?
• Black
• What Latin American country was the first to gain independence?
• Haiti
• How many countries have only one international border (5, 10, 17, 26)?
• 17, Brunei, Canada, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Haiti, The Gambia, Ireland, Lesotho, Monaco, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Qatar, San Marino, South Korea, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom, Vatican City
• Who was the drummer for the band, Queen?
• Roger Taylor

All of this was just a distraction from the day's main attraction, a concert featuring the entire ukulele class plus all the folks that have been learning hula dancing.

Arlona, looking tropical and lovely, ready to strum

When I got to the theater for the performance, the place was packed.

The show started with a few hula numbers from the hula students.

Next, the ukulele students took the stage for five songs.

Can you see Arlona?

See the woman in blue front and center? See the man with the hat behind her? Arlona was right behind him.

There she is

Strumming

Singing

She said they clipped their music on the back of the tall man in front of her

They played five songs before the hula dancers rejoined them for a two-song finale

The entire ensemble

A nice concert

One of the numbers - thanks to our next-door neighbor, Tricia for the video!

My only disappointment was in the instructors. They both had microphones and he had an amplified ukulele. Therefore, the audience could only really hear them, not the masses of students strumming and singing on the stage. In my not-so-humble opinion, the instructors turned the show into being about them and not about the students who have been working so hard this past month. It was a shame. Still, it was a fun concert and I think all the participants enjoyed themselves. They sure looked like it - lots of smiles all around.

Arlona wrapped up another knitting project today. She improved on her cellphone purse design. She removed the flap and added a little flair at the top.

Old on the right, new and improved on the left

The ship has art pieces located all over. This one spoke to me today.

I think that he is telling her that her hair smells funny and she's not pleased - thoughts?

A few days ago, we received a disembarkation survey. It asked us to detail our travel plans, whether we were using Princess transport to the airport or private transport, our desired departure time, and so on. We filled it out stating we would like our luggage taken off overnight, we would arrange our own transport to the airport, and we would like to disembark between 8:00 and 8:30.  Here's what showed up today.

We said we wanted to disembark between 8:00 and 8:30. We got assigned to the Silver 3 group with a 7:30 disembarkation time. Why do we even bother if they ignore our requests? Customer service really isn't that hard, but sometimes, Princess makes it look like it is.

Dinner tonight was unremarkable, but the dessert was worth noting. The fruit and vanilla pavlova was yummy.

In the Explorers Bar tonight, we attended a Broadway trivia with our trivia partners. One of them retired as a band director and he was excited about the game. We had to identify the play and song from a snippet of the song. We scored 29/40 - respectable, but from the 39/40 the winning team and obvious musical theater buffs scored.

Next up was a second round of Liar's Club where the three contestants had to provide a definition of an obscure word and the audience had to determine who was telling the truth.

Assistant Cruise Directors, Bernardo, Victoria, and Javier plus host, Fortuna Luck

While the last round a few days ago was funny, it paled in comparison to tonight's round. We laughed from beginning to end as the contestants provided silly, goofy, and down-right hilarious definitions. It was a great way to wrap up the day.

We called it a night as we will lose our last hour overnight, making for shorter sleep time. Of course, we can sleep in as trivia isn't until 10 AM tomorrow morning. We have two more days to go before we jet home, and one of those will include packing. Tomorrow night will be our final formal night so we have one more night to look awesome (except Arlona who always looks awesome).

20240503 Sapphire Princess cruise day 30 - Sea Day

Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 30 - Sea Day #5 back to L.A. - Wow - just wow

OK - I just have to share this. I'm not what I would consider lazy, but I do enjoy relaxing. On this cruise, while Arlona has been taking the stairs, I have been taking the elevators. In the past few months, I have developed arthritis in my left knee and even three flights of stairs, up or down, get my knee throbbing. I'm looking into some treatment so I'm not looking for suggestions here - just explaining. The reason is that today, I witnessed laziness so impressive that for me, it has set a new standard. This was the pinnacle of laziness - a Supreme Lazy, if you will.

Here's a look at the forward elevator bank. The forward stairs are behind me and you can see the four elevators, two on the left and two on the far right. 

Let's call the elevators 1, 2, 3, & 4 from left to right

This is not a wide space, perhaps 35 feet from the center of elevator #1 to the center of elevator #4. 12 paces, 15 if you take small steps.

Here's another view from the ship's map in the Princess app.

You can see elevators 1,2,3 & 4 - a couple is standing at the xx and I am standing at the G

The down button was pushed when I walked up. I was going up so I pushed the up button. A moment or two later, elevator #4, on the far right, lit up with a down arrow, sounded the "ding" and the door opened. I was going up, so I wasn't getting on. The only other contenders were the couple, and given that the down button was pushed when I got there, it seemed likely they wanted to go down. But...they weren't moving. So I asked them, are you going down?  Seemed like a logical question, right?

Her response was, and I quote..."I'm not walking all the way over there!"

Huh?

I said out loud that nobody was coming so the friendly folks on the elevator that were holding the door knew they could continue their journey downward. The door closed and the other half of the couple, the man, went and pushed the down button again. They wanted to ride the elevator down, but apparently, only the elevators immediately in front of them were acceptable as walking 30 feet to catch the other elevator was too inconvenient. Keep in mind that they were mobile, not using walking aids or mobility devices.  Congratulations on setting a new standard for the lazy in the world to aspire to!  

The Captain gave a talk about Antarctica this morning. They expected high attendance so trivia was moved from 10:15 to 11:15. We didn't attend as Princess only offers a drive-by visit and since we've already been to Antarctica and put actual boots on the continent, we figured it wasn't worth it.

We came close in the morning trivia missing by only one, and we scored a perfect 10/10 in progressive trivia at 12:15. We're in fifth place there and are still hoping to sneak into fourth or possibly third, but we're running out of days.

Afternoon trivia was, in a word, brutal. Here are today's failures:

• Where would you find the Copacabana beach?
• We thought Cuba, but it is Rio in Brazil
• What is a group of Rhinos called?
• A crash - we've had that before, but the recall wasn't there
• What country replaced their Lev with the Euro?
• Bulgaria
• When did the 8 Years War begin?
• 1568 - we had no idea what that even was
• When did Guinness start brewing beer?
• 1759
• How many candles are lit during Hanukkah?
• 44
• Where is the smallest volcano located?
• Mexico
• By area, what is the fourth largest U.S. state?
• Montana
• What country produces the most cocoa?
• We assumed Mexico, but it turns out that it is the Ivory Coast - they along with Ghana produce more than half of the world's cocoa

Once again, we hit up the Trident Grill for lunch.

It is near the pool on Deck 15 a little forward of midship

They offer burgers, dogs, street tacos, chicken sandwiches, pulled pork sandwiches, and loaded fries

We enjoyed burgers for lunch at the bar with our bartender buddy, Saju as they conducted the sailing trials in a boat-building competition. Three teams competed by floating their creations around the pool - it was fun to see the entries as we competed in something like this on a previous cruise.

This elaborate entry, Sapphire Princess Wannabe, easily won, even though it capsized right at the end

The weather today took a slight downward turn with high winds, solid overcast, and moderate waves. The ship crashing the waves combined with the rush of the wind made sitting on the deck mostly a futile exercise, so we popped back in the room, giving me a headstart writing this entry today.

We were uninspired by tonight's menu plus we weren't really hungry. We opted to grab a small sandwich plus some chocolate cake from the International Cafe and eat them at Explorers. We wanted seats for a show later tonight so we got there early and had a couple margaritas while waiting.

Assistant Cruise Director, and a favorite of ours, Bernardo, stopped by and said "hi". He's a great guy, a mechanical engineer by training, smart, funny, and engaging. We're hoping Princess sees everything he brings to the table name makes him one of their next Cruise Directors.

We played a music game, naming artists and titles of 70s & 80s music.  While we scored 36/40, one team had a former DJ and they were perfect. It was still fun and a great way to pass the time.  Until what?  Assistant Cruise Director, Javier (Javi), was scheduled to perform a one-man show tonight.

Javi is quite talented, specializing in beatboxing, acapella singing, and guitar playing, all while using a looping recorder. He will lay down a beat track using his beatbox skills, then record accompanying harmony tracks, and finally add impromptu lyrics and melody. It was engaging, unique, and very entertaining.

Tomorrow is day 6/8 of our return to San Pedro. Arlona, along with all the ukulele gang, plus the hula dance class will perform a show tomorrow afternoon in the Princess Theater. It should be epic.