Imagine this: You and the love of your life are sitting on a cruise ship balcony. You are sharing a bottle of wine as darkness descends around you. As you look off in the distance, you can see the lights of the port of Puntarenas, Costa Rica fading away. Warm breezes caress your faces and add to your ability to relax and sink back into your lounge chair. You and your love have just spent a day exploring Costa Rica with a guide and had seen monkeys, crocodiles, beautiful beaches and a variety of hand made crafts created by the Costa Rican natives. As you look at each other in the dusk, you toast to five more days at sea which will enable you to relax and share each other’s company while eating delicious foods that you did not need to prepare, enjoying entertaining shows, taking naps and laying in the sun whenever the mood strikes. Not to mention you will be waited on hand and foot. This is how the last part of our cruise started out on Sunday night. And that is what the rest of our week will be like. Today is Monday and started out slowly as we woke up early, went to the buffet for breakfast, and then needing to find something to do while we gave the steward time to make up our room, we laid in thick cushioned lounge chairs in the Lotus pool and spa area. Here's the area we relaxed in.
This area is air conditioned, but has cushioned lounge chairs lining the windows. It is quite a nice place to get away from the heat while still being able to enjoy the views of the sea. I didn’t see anymore dolphins, but watched some large silver fish repeatedly jumping out of the water and splashing back down. Shortly thereafter, we did see another family of dolphins again jumping over the waves left by the ship as it passed by them. It is such a thrill for me to see them in their natural habitat, rather than just being able to see them at the Mystic Aquarium. Chuck did some work this morning while I read. We also went to a talk about the electronic and technical workings of our cruise ship which was much more exciting to Chuck than to me. We did our third load of laundry today as well. I love I that Princess ships have Laundromats on them so for $2 to wash a load and $2 to dry we can have clean clothes for $4. There are also free ironing boards to use and that comes in handy too…. Out our windows today we can see no land, only the sea all around us. Yesterday it was a bit cooler and we can tell that we are getting out of the Central America area. I have heard a few passengers around the ship comment on how much nicer the air temperature is now. It’s easier to breathe and isn’t as balmy. I totally agree with them. We saw 3 dolphin sightings yesterday. One was around noon, one at about 4:00 p.m., and one at 5:00 p.m. The last one was when I was once again working out and I ran outside to see them better. There were about 20 dolphins in this group. They were having so much fun jumping over the waves from the ship that I actually laughed out loud. One jumped up and spun around in the air. I am quite surprised at how high they jump. Here's the treadmill area in the gym where I had a great view and could see the dolphins when they jumped out of the water.
We spent another day of relaxation which included some time in the sun, reading in lounge chairs on the Promenade deck, and working out. After dinner in the Horizon Court Buffet, we listened to some music by a piano player. We were not interested in the shows which included a hypnotist and a female singer, so instead, headed back to the room for some more reading. We have a lot going on tomorrow night so we decided to just take it easy tonight. I watched the movie, “This Means War” starring Reese Witherspoon, on the stateroom TV. They have some really good movies on the TV in the stateroom, and I love to watch the art channel as it has biographies of famous artists as well as some of the artists whose work is displayed on the ship and auctioned off at the art auctions on board…… Today after breakfast we found a nice quiet place to read. Chuck took a book out of the library on board. You may have heard of the book that Bill O’Reilly helped to write called, ‘Killing Lincoln?” It’s really interesting and Chuck has been reading interesting tidbits to me as he finds them. At 10:00 a.m. Chuck went to a lecture about the discovery of electricity, while I walked around the ship and took pictures. After lunch I am going to the movie, ‘The Silver Linings Playbook” and tonight we have the Captain’s Circle Party…a party for all the returning Platinum and Elite cruisers on Princess. They give free drinks and snacks and there’s a chance to win prizes. After dinner we have plans to see a comic at 8:45 p.m. and a dance production at 9:45 p.m. Never a dull moment on Princess!............ Today’s the last day on the ship. The movie, “The Silver Linings Playbook” was really wonderful. Especially for those of us who have known people that struggle with mental illness. The comic from the other night was hilarious. And the show was very good as well. Yesterday was another relaxing day. It is getting quite cool now as we are further away from Central America, passing Mexico. Chuck didn’t even want to lie out in the sun. I gave it a shot with shorts and short sleeves for only about 20 minutes. The wind was quite strong. We aren’t seeing anymore dolphins as the air temperature and water temperature gets colder. In the afternoon there was a Breast Cancer Walk on board on the Promenade deck that passengers could participate in. Over 80 people took part, which is actually not very many since there are 1800 passengers on board. It was a $15 minimum fee to participate. Chuck didn’t walk but he did sponsor me. Afterward we worked out, went to dinner and he had lobster tails and prawns which was the specialty in the dining room. It was the last formal night so we had to dress up. After dinner we saw a really fantastic show dedicated to the Louisiana Bayou with lots of songs by the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt. It was the best show we have seen over the whole cruise. Today is even colder than yesterday. Hardly anyone is sunning themselves or in the pool. I am sad because the cruise is ending. We still have some fun planned for tonight, including dinner and a variety show and Chuck has promised to take me dancing. I have been walking around taking pictures of the ship so we have them to remember it by. I will be writing an article complete with pictures and publishing it on Hub Pages so you will be able to see it when it’s complete. Although it’s a bit of a sad day, we still have each other and I am so happy about that. Oh yes, and we already have another cruise planned in October…a 12 day Transatlantic cruise from Copenhagen to Florida on Norwegian Cruise Lines. Life is good! I hope you all have enjoyed these cruise updates. See you or talk to you soon!
Karen & Chuck
This area is air conditioned, but has cushioned lounge chairs lining the windows. It is quite a nice place to get away from the heat while still being able to enjoy the views of the sea. I didn’t see anymore dolphins, but watched some large silver fish repeatedly jumping out of the water and splashing back down. Shortly thereafter, we did see another family of dolphins again jumping over the waves left by the ship as it passed by them. It is such a thrill for me to see them in their natural habitat, rather than just being able to see them at the Mystic Aquarium. Chuck did some work this morning while I read. We also went to a talk about the electronic and technical workings of our cruise ship which was much more exciting to Chuck than to me. We did our third load of laundry today as well. I love I that Princess ships have Laundromats on them so for $2 to wash a load and $2 to dry we can have clean clothes for $4. There are also free ironing boards to use and that comes in handy too…. Out our windows today we can see no land, only the sea all around us. Yesterday it was a bit cooler and we can tell that we are getting out of the Central America area. I have heard a few passengers around the ship comment on how much nicer the air temperature is now. It’s easier to breathe and isn’t as balmy. I totally agree with them. We saw 3 dolphin sightings yesterday. One was around noon, one at about 4:00 p.m., and one at 5:00 p.m. The last one was when I was once again working out and I ran outside to see them better. There were about 20 dolphins in this group. They were having so much fun jumping over the waves from the ship that I actually laughed out loud. One jumped up and spun around in the air. I am quite surprised at how high they jump. Here's the treadmill area in the gym where I had a great view and could see the dolphins when they jumped out of the water.
We spent another day of relaxation which included some time in the sun, reading in lounge chairs on the Promenade deck, and working out. After dinner in the Horizon Court Buffet, we listened to some music by a piano player. We were not interested in the shows which included a hypnotist and a female singer, so instead, headed back to the room for some more reading. We have a lot going on tomorrow night so we decided to just take it easy tonight. I watched the movie, “This Means War” starring Reese Witherspoon, on the stateroom TV. They have some really good movies on the TV in the stateroom, and I love to watch the art channel as it has biographies of famous artists as well as some of the artists whose work is displayed on the ship and auctioned off at the art auctions on board…… Today after breakfast we found a nice quiet place to read. Chuck took a book out of the library on board. You may have heard of the book that Bill O’Reilly helped to write called, ‘Killing Lincoln?” It’s really interesting and Chuck has been reading interesting tidbits to me as he finds them. At 10:00 a.m. Chuck went to a lecture about the discovery of electricity, while I walked around the ship and took pictures. After lunch I am going to the movie, ‘The Silver Linings Playbook” and tonight we have the Captain’s Circle Party…a party for all the returning Platinum and Elite cruisers on Princess. They give free drinks and snacks and there’s a chance to win prizes. After dinner we have plans to see a comic at 8:45 p.m. and a dance production at 9:45 p.m. Never a dull moment on Princess!............ Today’s the last day on the ship. The movie, “The Silver Linings Playbook” was really wonderful. Especially for those of us who have known people that struggle with mental illness. The comic from the other night was hilarious. And the show was very good as well. Yesterday was another relaxing day. It is getting quite cool now as we are further away from Central America, passing Mexico. Chuck didn’t even want to lie out in the sun. I gave it a shot with shorts and short sleeves for only about 20 minutes. The wind was quite strong. We aren’t seeing anymore dolphins as the air temperature and water temperature gets colder. In the afternoon there was a Breast Cancer Walk on board on the Promenade deck that passengers could participate in. Over 80 people took part, which is actually not very many since there are 1800 passengers on board. It was a $15 minimum fee to participate. Chuck didn’t walk but he did sponsor me. Afterward we worked out, went to dinner and he had lobster tails and prawns which was the specialty in the dining room. It was the last formal night so we had to dress up. After dinner we saw a really fantastic show dedicated to the Louisiana Bayou with lots of songs by the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt. It was the best show we have seen over the whole cruise. Today is even colder than yesterday. Hardly anyone is sunning themselves or in the pool. I am sad because the cruise is ending. We still have some fun planned for tonight, including dinner and a variety show and Chuck has promised to take me dancing. I have been walking around taking pictures of the ship so we have them to remember it by. I will be writing an article complete with pictures and publishing it on Hub Pages so you will be able to see it when it’s complete. Although it’s a bit of a sad day, we still have each other and I am so happy about that. Oh yes, and we already have another cruise planned in October…a 12 day Transatlantic cruise from Copenhagen to Florida on Norwegian Cruise Lines. Life is good! I hope you all have enjoyed these cruise updates. See you or talk to you soon!
Karen & Chuck
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