Day 10, Island Princess Cruise December 2009

At sea

This is our last full day of the cruise and we are at sea heading for Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. Arriving tomorrow morning at 7:00.

Captain Bommarco invited us to visit the bridge this morning. This was our fourth time to visit a ship's bridge. Last time it was with Commodore of the Princess Fleet, Giuseppe Romano on the Emerald Princess. Today we had an excellent tour guide in Third Officer, Sean Poole, from Canada. Captain Bommarco was not able to be with us.


Our tour guide on the bridge, Third Officer, Sean Poole



This what the Captain sees



Here's where you can steer the ship



Paper charts are still in use



The flag collection
When the ship sails into a port she always flies the flag of that country. So there has to be some way of organizing the flags and keeping them neat. These cubbies are about five inches square and each has a country or a state flag, plus there are all the nautical code flags for letters and numbers.

Notice the plaque on the wall has the call sign of the Island Princess, ZCDG4, spelled out in signal flags.

For more information about flag codes here are links to two Wikipedia articles: International Maritime Signal Flags and International Code of Signals.

At dinner we said goodbye to our waiters and our favorite head waiter, Nelson. He's soon to finish his contract and head for some rest and recreation at home in Portugal.

Tonight at dinner, as happened last night as well, there was an announcement and the lights dimmed so the entire serving staff could dance a conga while we clapped. It was to thank them for all their hard work. Harmless fun and very brief. Not nearly as intrusive or lengthy as on Carnival, where the Maitre 'd danced on somebody's table.

Back to the room after dinner to finish packing. All the big bags went out in the hallway tonight and would be waiting for us in the morning at the dock in Fort Lauderdale.