This World Cruise began early on Friday, January 13, 2012. Our friends Leslie and John drove us from Pompano Beach, Florida to Terminal 2 at the Port Everglades.
What a surprise to see an empty check-in terminal! We sailed through the administrative processes and within minutes we were onboard the Pacific Princess. By 3:30pm we headed to The Club Restaurant for the General Emergency Drill. There we were pleased to see our friend Sandy Gunder (Captain’s Circle Host/Future Cruise Consultant) as the Officer-in-Charge of the drill. Sandy was on the 2011 World Cruise with us. Shortly after the drill it was up to the open decks for the Champagne Sailaway Celebration. We ran into many friends from last year. It was really good to see them all. Our luggage wasn’t delivered until almost 8:00pm just prior to dinner. Our great Stateroom Steward, Gabby, went below decks and located our luggage. We can’t thank him enough. So the stateroom was in total disarray when we headed off to the evening meal. But, the day didn’t end badly It was capped off in style with a wonderful dinner in the Club Restaurant headed by the Executive chef, Antonio Cortese and the Maitre d’Hotel, Carlos Da Rosa.
Day 2—Sea Day
On the second day of the cruise, January 14th, the Pacific Princess navigated along the northern coast of Cuba through the old Bahama Channel. The water in this area is extremely shallow. Today was spent getting our stateroom organized for the next 118 days onboard. Finding little places to put all the necessities we brought is always fun and, of course, trying to remember where you put things is an adventure in itself.
The Captain came on the public address system during the day to inform us of a change to the itinerary. We were originally scheduled to visit Santa Marta, Columbia on January 17th. But due to incidents of drug related violence in Santa Marta and the city being paralyzed for days by dozens of gangs, Princess has elected to bypass this stop. Instead, we will be going to Cartagena, Columbia on January 18th, and will have a shorter period of time ashore.
Day 3—Sea Day
The Pacific Princess is maintaining a steady south easterly course across the Caribbean Sea en route to Aruba. Early this morning we passed between Haiti and Jamaica. Today is one of many brunches which are held between 10:30am to 1:30pm on Sundays when we are at sea. And, tonight is the first of 9 formal nights to be held during the world cruise. The ship is holding The Captain’s Gala Cocktail Party. Captain John Foster will be addressing the passengers at two events, time depending on whether you are 1st or 2nd Sitting for dinner. On this cruise we elected to do 2nd Sitting. The main reasons for this choice were due to returning to the ship last year from tours and being rushed to make 1st Sitting and we always missed sailaway from many of the ports.
Today, Curt got a belated Birthday surprise from the ship (balloons, a card, and birthday cake)!!
