Day 1, Island Princess Cruise November 2009

Embarkation, Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale

The hotel was comfortable and we slept well. And woke up early. We wanted to get to the parking lot around 1:00 and get in line for boarding around 2:00. We had read on CruiseCritic.com that lots of people always got to the ship early and there was less waiting in line if you arrived mid-afternoon.

Oh, well. We killed as much time as we could and arrived at Park 'n' Cruise at 11:30. There was no waiting for a van and we were beside the ship at the registration desk at 11:40. At 11:50 we were in our cabin and at 12:55 our luggage arrived. The fastest boarding ever.

Our cabin steward is from the Philippines, as many of the staff of cruise ships always are. He is quiet, serious, friendly but not warm and clearly we will not get to know him at all. Not a problem.

At dinner we meet our waiters. Our senior waiter is from the Philippines, the junior waiter from Thailand, both are quiet and very serious. Not naturally warm personalities, but they are good waiters. The head waiter for our section of the dining room is Nelson from Portugal. Nelson knows how to do it. He gives a little bit of extra service to every table and he is always 'on.' It is amazing to watch him in action.

Throughout the cruise the food is good to excellent most of the time. Coming up at the end of the cruise there will be a post on our dining experiences on the Island Princess.

Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas, the biggest passenger ship ever built.

In addition to the Island Princess, there were four other big cruise ships in port: Oasis of the Seas, Seven Seas Navigator, MSC Poesia and Bahamas Celebration.

The Oasis of the Seas is the biggest of them all. It is brand new and will have its first voyage with paying customers in a few days. So far in Port Everglades she has been taking travel writers, the press and various travel industry VIPs on two-day excursions. We got to see it as it departed this afternoon and it is really big.

While the Island Princess, was waiting to sail the Christmas decorations were going up. Here's a photo of the atrium's holiday decor.

Driving to the Island Princess, second day

From Ocala, Florida to Plantation, Florida -- today's drive was much easier than yesterday's. It was only 275 miles (443 km.). The city of Plantation is located just west of Fort Lauderdale. We were at the hotel before 4:00 PM. There was plenty of time to re-pack our luggage for the cruise and just relax from two days of driving.

For dinner we had planned to eat at one of the Cuban restau- rants near the hotel but we ended up at La Casita Roja, a Peruvian restaurant. It sounded like something worth trying and it was. The food was tasty but not spicy at all. Hot sauces were available. I'm not sure if the food in Peru is really that bland or perhaps the owner/chef is worried that the Florida locals want it that way.

We had a nice meal of fresh ingredients freshly cooked. The owner was very friendly and explained everything we had questions about.

Driving to the Island Princess, first day

Our original plan was to drive to Jacksonville and then see a little of St. Augustine and the northeast Florida coast. Then we would head south to spend the second night in Vero Beach completing the drive (about three hours) to Port Everglades on Monday morining.

However, just before we left Pensacola we decided to cut a few miles and see St. Augustine some other time. So we headed south to Ocala and spent Saturday night there.

The mileage was 383 (616 km.) including a few extra miles to take the cats to the cat hotel our vet runs.

At 10:15 AM we set out on Interstate 10. We tried to have lunch at Gary's in Chipley. Not only are they closed the day after Thanksgiving (we learned that last year) they were closed this time for carpet cleaning. So we went on again to Marianna and ate at PoFolks Restaurant. Excellent fried chicken. And sweet potato casserole.

After several breaks for me to walk around we got to the hotel in Ocala at 6:00 PM. We had dinner in our room: deli sandwiches from the nearby Publix Supermarket.

Itinerary for the Upcoming Cruise

Island Princess, December 2009

• Saturday, November 28, drive to Ocala


• Sunday, November 29, drive to Fort Lauderdale


• Monday, November 30, 5:00 PM depart Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale


• Tuesday, December 1, at sea


• Wednesday, December 2, at sea


• Thursday, December 3, 7:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M., Aruba


• Friday, December 4, 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M., Cartagena, Colombia


• Saturday, December 5, 5:00 A.M. to 3:30 P.M., Panama Canal; 4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M., Cristobal, Panama


• Sunday, December 6, 7:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M., Limon, Costa Rica


• Monday, December 7, at sea


• Tuesday, December 8, 7:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M., Montego Bay, Jamaica


• Wednesday, December 9, at sea


• Thursday, December 10, 7:00 A.M. arrive Port Everglades; drive north; find a hotel around Perry, Florida


• Friday, December 11, arrive home late afternoon

Backyard: The Pool At Sunset

Taken in Pensacola, Florida on November 13, 2009 at 6:10 PM CST.

Reading List for the Island Princess Cruise

A cruise is a great time to just sit and read -- or listen to an audio book. You have to find something to do between meals and naps. Here is a list of the books we're taking on the next cruise. And there's more for us to read in the ship's library.


Very Good, Jeeves!, eleven short stories by P.G. Wodehouse
A Midsummer Night's Dream, By Wm. Shakespeare
Rat Pack Confidential, by Shawn Levy


The Talented Mr. Ripley
Ripley Under Ground
Ripley's Game
all by Patricia Highsmith


The Boy Who Followed Ripley
Ripley Under Water
The Complete Ripley Radio Mysteries, audio CDs from BBC Radio 4
all by Patricia Highsmith


Spinoff 2008, annual publication by NASA
The Hit Charade, by Tyler Gray

The Next Cruise

Panama and a little bit of South America on the Island Princess

We have a cruise coming up early this winter -- ten days on the Island Princess, sister ship of the Coral Princess. We think back on our April 2007 cruise on the Coral as one of our favorites. So this time we will be on a ship with an identical layout and size and with a nearly identical itinerary. Like the Coral the Island Princess was launched in 2003 and carries a maximum of 1,970 passengers with a crew of 900.

It's a slightly smaller ship than some of the others we've been on. We like the size a lot. It is big enough to have all the amenities we want but it isn't huge and hard to get around. Click here to look at the deck plans.



We sail out and back from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. The ports of call are Orenjestad, Aruba; Cartagena, Colombia; then Panama with a partial crossing of the Canal. Morning and afternoon we cruise around in Gatun Lake and then take the locks back down to the Atlantic, followed by a visit to Cristobal for sightseeing and shopping. In the next few days there are stops at Limon, Costa Rica; Montego Bay, Jamaica; then back to Port Everglades.

Sarasota Trip, Day 5

Monday, October 12, 2009 -- Home

Up and out and on the road by 10:00 AM. We got on Interstate-10 about 25 miles north of Perry and were flying home. Good news, the construction around Tallahassee is finished after many years and we never slowed down.

When we are on the road and need a room in small-town America we often stay at either a Holiday Inn Express or at one of Hilton's Hampton Inns. Both offer a free continental breakfast plus they promise a couple of hot items -- sometimes scrambled eggs, mini-omlettes, fried eggs, bacon, sausages, etc. But today it was Huevos Rancheros -- scrambled eggs with Mexican-ish stuff mixed in, seriously overcooked and served cold. What were they thinking?

Generally the Holiday Inn Express chain has a better breakfast than does Hampton Inn and the Holiday Inn Express has those fantastic hot cinnamon rolls.

We made good time heading for home, thanks in part to the extra hour we gained when we crossed the Chattahoochie River heading west. Lunch was in Chipley at Gary's Flaming Grill again.

We picked up the cats from the pet hotel and were home before 4:00. Today's distance was 266 miles and the total for the trip was 1,145 miles (1,843km.).

Sarasota Trip, Day 4

Sunday, October 11, 2009 -- Heading Home from Sarasota

The weather seemed a little bit milder this morning. Or have we just gotten used to the recent heat wave.

Before we left town we visited Toby, Debbie and their daughters. What a great place they have. An open, airy house with fabulous plants and trees and art. And what an office!

Early afternoon we started up I-75 North and hadn't made any plans for how far we would try to get before stopping for the night. Soon after Tampa we tired of driving on the congested Interstate and took the exit for Brooksville. A few miles later we joined the "old" road, Route 98. It's a divided highway but the style is pre-interstate highway -- no exit/entrance interchanges. Plus lots of speed traps. And there's almost no traffic, the opposite of I-75. Relaxing to drive.

We took 98 as far as Perry, that's where it heads west to Florida's Panhandle and the northwest coast. Along the way 98 adds Routes 19, 27 and 55. One road, four route numbers. Our drive today was 303 miles, and a total of 897 miles so far for the trip.

In Perry we found a room for the night at the Hampton Inn. And almost next door a wonderful place, Mama's Italian Family Restaurant, with home cooked food, Italian and other kinds too. You can visit their web site here.

Sarasota Trip, Day 3

Saturday, October 10, 2009 -- In Sarasota

Another hot day. We drove around the city taking in the sights.

Longboat Key, pictured here, was beautiful as always. There was a huge festival and arts fair going on at St. Armands Circle so lunch at the Columbia was out. We soon went back to the mainland to continue our tour.

We went to Yoder's Restaurant, for lunch. They serve Amish food. It's located in Pinecraft, Sarasota's Amish and Mennonite neighborhood. The food is simple and delicious. Famous for their pies and hearty eaters, the restaurant recently attracted the attention of Adam Richman and the Travel Channel's Man vs. Food show.

The Sarasota episode featured Yoder's and two other Sarasota classic, casual dining, restaurants, Munchies 420 Cafe and the Old Salty Dog. Watch the Travel Channel's listings for reruns.

After a nap we joined Michael and Ralph for Italian food at Primo! Ristorante, in Sarasota near the airport. The food was wonderful, thank you, Ralph! And we had a great time catching up. We hadn't seen Michael for more than 30 years and were just meeting Ralph for the first time.

For info on restaurants in the Sarasota area here's a blog, Dine Sarasota Pot Luck, I found that has some wonderful suggestions.