December 2006, Golden Princess Cruise -- Final Day

Saturday, New Orleans

I woke up early and looked out on the Mississippi. You could see houses and roads on the river bank. Because we were moving very slowly through relatively shallow water the wake is very dramatic. When I woke up again later we had docked and it was time for breakfast and departure. It was a sunny, but cold day in New Orleans and wet from heavy rains the night before.


Here are some statistics about the cruise from David Calabrese, Captain of the Golden Princess.

Distance sailed:
New Orleans to Montego Bay, 1039.2 nautical miles (average speed, 18.2 knots)
Montego Bay to Grand Cayman, 204.5 n.m. (17.7 knots)
Grand Cayman to Cozumel, 326.3 n.m. ( 21.5 knots)
Cozumel to New Orleans, 646.0 n.m. (20.4 knots)
for a total of 2,216 nautical miles

or 2550.1 statute miles or 4104 kilometers

Note: 1 nautical mile = 1.15 statute miles = 1.85 kilometers


Except for hand-carry items we had left all our bags outside the room last night for pick up. After breakfast got all our stuff and went to find a lounge to sit in while we waited for our departure number to be called. Actually it's a color and a number, our section of cabins was Light Blue 3 to match our debarkation luggage tags.

When they called us we went ashore to find our bags in the giant tent and then went out to wait for our transportation. I called Angel at Machu Picchu and he said he would send a van to pick us up. At that moment Jack looked up and saw one pulling into the parking lot. Great service.

We climbed aboard and soon were on the other side of the French Quarter. We got our car from the parking garage and by 9:30 we were heading out of New Orleans on our way home. Ready to host a Christmas party for 12 the next day. But no worries, it had all been planned for before we left.

Everything about the cruise, before, during and after went very smoothly. Better than we expected.

I'm afraid we didn't have very high expectations regarding embarkation and debarkation because this was Princess' first time at this port. And the port is just a slab of concrete. But Princess pulled it off brilliantly.