May 22, 2012 - at sea

May 22, 2012 - at sea

We are headed to the Cape Verde Islands and the city of Mindelo and the seas are a little rougher. The ship is rocking a little more then usual. We turned back the clock an hour last night and we are only six hours ahead of Los Angeles.

It seems that there is shuttle from the ship to the town center and for this one there is a $16 R/T per person. We have an afternoon tour so I don't think we will need the shuttle. This is the first time Princess has charged for the shuttle and I wondered why. Next time I'm at the tour desk I will ask.

We finished up our bridge lesson and are waiting for trivia to begin. The Cruise Critic group is meeting for lunch today and Evelyn and I will be going. We are skipping bridge this afternoon because we want to meet with the future cruise desk to plan our next cruise. If we book on the ship we get a lower deposit and a room credit. No matter what you can always cancel up to ninety days prior to departure without penalty. Also it is very nice, not to hot or humid and I would like to lay out by the pool.

Evelyn and I enjoyed the Cruise Critic lunch, we sat with two ladies from Australia and an Indian couple from San Francisco. All of these people have cruise knowledge which they are willing to share and you can learn a lot. It gives you a chance to meet people with common interests. It is like going to Friday night services to meet all the Jewish passengers.

We talked to the future cruise desk and we are looking at a couple of cruises for next year.

I asked the tour desk about the shuttle charge and was told that if the town is within walking distance (and with no obstacles) there is a charge for shuttle, if you can't walk there is no charge. It does seem logical.

We ate in the dinning room. It seems that on sea days we eat in the dinning room and on port days at the buffet. Tomorrow we are in Mindelo, Cape Verde Islands. The next two days we are at seas and then the Canary Islands. The first sea day is a formal night so we will eat in the dinning room and the next night we have a reservation in Sabatini's.

Tonight was the second concert of Hyperion Knight and he was excellent. While the playing was good, it was his explanation of each piece and information about the composer that made the evening enjoyable.

People take cruises for 2 different reasons. 1st is the ports. You can unpack and see a smattering of many places. 2nd is the sea days. Lazy days doing not much at all. Except I think we are more scheduled on sea days than port days. Work-out, breakfast (or at least coffee) bridge lesson, trivia, lunch, nap, bridge, dress for dinner, cocktails, dinner, entertainment and I'm exhausted.


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Hal