Wednesday, April 24, 2013

April 5-7, 2013 Panama Canal Cruise Day 1- Fort Lauderdale; Day 2-3 Sea Days

Thursday night, April 4th, had finally arrived!  Brett and I finished work, ate a delicious Acai Banana Berry Bowl, dropped off our Siamese Cats to my In-law's, and went on our way to LAX.  We were both ready to start this Panama Canal Cruise adventure.

My delicious and healthy dinner

The worst part about traveling is probably waiting to get on the plane.  At this point, I'm pretty antsy to just be at my destination.  I was also mentally preparing myself that A) I most likely would not get any sleep on the red-eye and B) was probably going to be grumpy due to the jet lag when we arrived at Fort Lauderdale.  I know myself too well! ;)

Pre-flight picture:
purple skinnies, my polka dot Keds, and carry on luggage

Our flight was with Virgin America and it was ok.  I thought they were better than Delta, but I still love Air New Zealand the best (selection of shows and the cuddle seat).  I don't want to sound like a complainer, but their head rest was uncomfortable because it stuck out more and forced you to sleep sitting up and I can't do that. Also, their satellite TV kept going out which was disappointing especially when you couldn't sleep.  I did make the best of the situation, but Brett agrees with me 100% that it wasn't the best for us.   
Brett and I arrived in Fort Lauderdale at 6 a.m. and had to hang out at the airport for 5 hours until we could board the ship in Port Everglades.  We made the best of it and ate breakfast at Chili's and slipped in a few cat naps as well.  When it was finally 11 a.m., we hailed a taxi and went to the Port.  The Port was probably 3 miles from the airport which was about a $15 taxi ride.  Brett was getting a little upset because the guy took $20 and didn't give us any change back.  He pretty much ripped us off, but I told Brett just to let it go. No need to get in any arguments with the taxi guy!
We eventually boarded the Island Princess, settled ourselves into our stateroom, met some people, ate some lunch, and then took a two hour nap.  That nap was much needed because then I felt I had energy to explore the ship and get ready for my 5 course dinner.  I love cruising because of all the seafood I can eat.  My favorite is shrimp cocktail for an appetizer every night!  Such good food!



We spent the next two days at sea. We kept ourselves busy with Zumba, reading, relaxing, swimming, eating, napping, more working out, Movies Under the Stars, etc.  Brett and I did begin to notice that 85% of the people on this ship were 70 and over.  We were thinking that we may be the youngest couple on the cruise, which ended up being pretty accurate.  That didn't bother us and that's why I like Princess (not a drunk party ship).  This cruise was already great!



No comments:

Post a Comment