Friday November 27, @015 Las Vegas, NV

We were up at about 8.  We had our coffee and bran muffins.  Todd Wyatt and I played more Uno while Gerri got our things packed

We left Todd and Jeannette's at about 10 AM after saying our goodbyes.  We were slowed by a traffic accident before getting too far and slowed again at the merge of I-15 and I-215.

We stopped for fuel in Victorville and were home by 3 PM.

It was really a great trip.  We enjoyed the two cruises and the people we met on them.  It was great visit with Todd and his family.  We have quite a bit to do before our next trip later in December.  That trip will also include two cruises, this time to new territory in the eastern Caribbean.

Thursday November 26, 2015 Long Beach, CA

We got up about 7:30 when we heard the kids stirring.  Jeannette made scrambled eggs for breakfast.

Off and on during the day Todd, Wyatt and I played games of UNO.  Emma doesn't play games preferring to read.

Emma and Wyatt baked an assortment of cookies and muffins during the morning.  Later everyone had jobs preparing the Thanksgiving day meal.  Wyatt made the salad and Emma baked biscuits and rolls.

Wyatt, Jeannette, Todd and Emma Barker

We had a great meal in the early evening.  It is great visiting family.  Although they are scattered out we think of and are grateful for our children and grand children.  It is great to visit them, but would be nice if we could all get together for holidays.

More UNo took up most of the rest of the evening.  We were all in bed by 10:30.

Wednesday November 25, 2015 Long Beach, CA

By the time we got up we were in port and moored at the dock in San Pedro.  We got the rest of our belongings together and headed to our assigned meeting place for disembarkation by 9:50.  There was no wait either to get off the ship or for customs and immigration.  We breezed through and got a porter to pick up our bags and take us to the pickup area for the van to the Doubletree.  At the Doubletree we transferred our luggage to our car.  The drive to Long Beach wasn't very long and we were at Todd and Jeannette's by 11 AM.

Todd and the kids greeted us and we got everything we needed inside.  Jeannette was working.  We visited with the kids and Todd.  Wyatt made me a duct tape wallet complete with ID. Emma drew a Thanksgiving poster.
















































After Jeannette got home, Todd and I went to Home Depot and picked up two screen doors that Todd had ordered.  While we were gone Jeannette picked up pizza for supper.

Todd, Gerri, Wyatt and I played two games of Kill on the board Todd had made when he was in high school.  There was a mistake in the holes in the center of the board so Todd had written some slightly different rules to accommodate the mistake.  Todd won the 1st game and Gerri the 2nd game.

Before bed we watched a movie, Mall Cop II.  Very funny.  After bed time Gerri and I caught up on computer chores and read until we retired for the night.

Tuesday November 24, 2015 At Sea Between Cabo San Lucas,MX and Los Angeles, CA

Our last day at sea.  We had our coffee and breakfast in our cabin.  We didn't venture out until afternoon.  We went to the pool area and had grilled hot dogs for lunch.  As we were eating, we noticed clouds drifting by.  Turns out we went into a fog bank.  Visibility was limited and the air got quite chilly.  The ship sounded the fog horns several times.

We went to deck 7 and watched the Carpet Bowling.  We didn't participate.  The game is similar to Bocce Ball but with weighted balls.  Between the weights and small movements of the ship the balls don't always go where the player intends.

In the late afternoon we went to our cabin and Gerri got most of our things packed up for disembarkation.  We needed to have the bags out before 9 PM.  At about 5:30 we went to the Skywalker for the daily hors d'oeuvres.  Today's feature was the shrimp fountain and there were more people there.  Bob and Gloria joined us.  When they closed down the hors d'oeuvres we stopped by their suite for a tour.  They had two rooms and the bath had a large shower and a jacuzzi tub.  Very nice, someday we may splurge and book a suite,

Back at our cabin we finished packing both our large bags.  We had sent our laundry out on Monday and it came back.  Gerri got a great sunset picture before we put the bags out and headed for the dining room.

Our entire table was there.  Today was Audrey's birthday so she got a cake and the wait staff sang Happy Birthday.  After saying our goodbyes we went by Crooner's Lounge.  We listened to the piano player for a while.


Back at our cabin we did some sudoku puzzles before retiring.

Monday November 23, 2015 At Sea Between Cabo San Lucas, MX and Los Angeles, CA

End of Land

Unlike other ports we have visited, we stayed overnight at Cabo San Lucas.  We had our coffee and juice with the skyline of the Cabo San Lucas visible outside our cabin.  

La Finistera on the Pacific coast 

Later, we had lunch on the Lido deck, cheeseburgers and fries.  A SOB cruise ship (Carnival) came into the harbor and anchored outside our ship.  We sat in the pool area and listened to the band that was playing during the sail away.  The sail away was about 45 minutes late.

Downtown Cabo on the right

Looking north

Still looking north

Parasailers near the ship

After the sail away we went to the Piazza and watched horse races.  The game is played on a grid with 6 wooden horses.  They are moved by volunteer jockeys at the roll of three dice.  Each time the number of a horse is rolled the horse moves forward of one space.  The audience is encouraged to bet on their favorite horse.  Odds are calculated and winners paid accordingly.  We didn’t bet so naturally we didn’t win.  We just enjoyed the pandemonium.

We spent most of the rest of the afternoon in our cabin reading and doing Sudoku puzzles.  The sunset was obscured by heavy clouds.  There wasn’t a gathering of Platinum and Elite passengers today at 5.  Instead there was a Captain’s Circle party at 7 PM.  They introduced the top three traveled passengers on the cruise and gave them prizes.  There was also a drawing of door prizes for the remaining guests.  We didn’t win.

All of our table mates were present for dinner.  We all recanted our day’s experiences ashore.  Only the young couple Brandon and Samantha did an organized activity.  They went SCUBA diving.  We all had tender problems and delays from the day before.  

After dinner we went to the Princess Theater and saw Ferrell Dillon and his magic show.  That was the end of our evening.  Tonight we move our clocks back an hour to the same time as Los Angeles.  We need the extra hour sleep.

Sunday November 22, 2015 Cabo San Lucas, BCS, Mexico

Los Arcos

Before retiring last night I set an alarm for 5:30 AM.  Gerri wanted to get a sunrise picture.  She got up with the alarm and went on to the balcony.  Unfortunately the ships direction of travel put the sunrise ahead of us and the pictures weren’t what she had hoped for.

Sunday Sunrise

The end of Baja California

We went to sleep for a while longer after the sunrise photo session.  When we looked out again we could see the rugged coast line of Baja California, but had no idea exactly where we were.  We ordered our coffee and breakfast.  

Rounding the end of land

At about 11 the end of land at the tip of Baja California came into view.  We could see the resorts and homes on the Pacific Ocean side of Cabo.  

The Grand Princess

A panorama from our mooring

As we sailed into the bay we got a good view of Cabo’s signature “Los Arcos.”  There we two other cruise ships already in port.  The Grand Princess was there along with an SOB (Some Other Brand.)  Since this port requires tenders, our ship moored outside the other two.  That left a long distance for the tenders to take us ashore.

We waited to go to the tender queue up area, knowing that passengers with shore excursions would be taken ashore first.  We left our cabin at 2:30 to go ashore.  On the way to the elevator we met people that were taking food to family members already in the tender line.  When we got to the Piazza the line for tender tickets was outside the waiting area and around the Piazza.  The scuttle butt was that the wait was about 3 hours.  This wait was attributed to the distance to the dock, and the heavy traffic in the harbor making a lot of waves.  Since our only plan was to have dinner at Solomon’s Landing, we weren’t in a hurry to get ashore.

We spent some time in the Wheelhouse Lounge.  Before checking the tender line again, I went to the customer service desk and exchanged Gerri’s cruse card.  Her card had become de-magnetized.  After getting some things from the room she met me at the tender check in area.  When we went to check in we were told that Elite passengers board directly, bypassing the ticket system.  DOH, another perk we had forgotten about.

The sea was quite choppy when we boarded the tender.  It took some assistance to get me and other passengers on safely.  The ride to the dock wasn’t too bad but it was about 20 minutes.  Of course it was calmer at the dock and exiting the tender was easier. The walk to Solomon’s was longer than I remembered. The restaurant was busy but we got a table with a fair view of the foot traffic along the marina walk.  Our first order of business was to order guacamole and chips.  A waiter prepared the guacamole at our table and served it with chips and pico de gallo.  Gerri had been looking forward to fish tacos, but they were not on the menu.  Our waiter explained that they only served fish tacos at lunch.  Gerri convinced him to ask the chef to make them just for her.  She asked for the tacos with hard shells and that the fish be grilled.  As a backup she ordered a chili relleno.  I ordered a combination plate with some of everything.  The fish tacos came with soft tortillas and the fish was breaded.  The waiter insisted in taking the tacos off our bill, even though Gerri tried to decline that gesture.

By the time we finished eating it was dark.  In spite of my record of not finding many caches at night, we decided to try to find the nearest one.  It was .4 miles away and had been last found on the 3^rd.  The cache was off the main street and we were surprised at how little foot traffic there was, considering there were 3 cruise ships in the harbor.  We found what was described on the cache page, but had no luck finding the cache.  The walk back seemed longer.  Well it was further by the distance to the tender dock.

The queue for the tender was very long.  We took advantage of our Elite status to cut the line and board the tender without waiting.  The trip back to the ship wasn’t as rough as the trip in.  Both the other ships had already left the harbor.  We were back on the ship at about 8:40.  At 9:15 we went to the Explorer Lounge to watch the Liars Club.

We called it a night at about 11 PM.  I read until about midnight.

Saturday November 21, 2015 At Sea Between Los Angeles, CA and Cabo San Lucas, CS, BMX

We slept in this morning and with the time change it was really late when we got up and around.  We had our coffee and juice in the cabin and later went for the British Pub lunch in the Crown Grill.  We both had the fish and chips.  They were most unsatisfactory, the breading was soggy and the food was barley warm.  One waitress said the breading was always soggy another said it was because we came near the end of the serving time.

We sat in the piazza for a while listening to a Mexican string trio and had coffee.  I was still tired so I went to the cabin for a quick nap.  At 4 we went to deck 16 to see a game called Closest to the Pin.  We never found the game.  We sat on deck 14 at the rear of the ship until time to clean up for dinner.  Tonight was formal night.  We got dressed before going to hors d’oeuvres,

At about 5:45 we went to the Skywalker for hors d’oeuvres, today’s feature was Steak Tartar, we passed on that.  We did sit with Bob and Gloria who we had met before.  We had planned to go to the Vista Lounge to see a magician at 7.  We talked to Bob and Gloria until about 7:20 and then went and saw the end of the show.

Dinner was at our regular time.  All our table mates were present.  We didn’t go to the main show tonight.  We did stop by Crooners but the piano player was on a break.  We went to our cabin and retired about 11.

Friday November 20, 2015 At Sea Between Los Angeles, CA and Cabo San Lucas, MX

Thursday November 19, 2015 At Sea Between Ensenada, MX and Los Angeles, CA

Carnival Inspiration also in port

We were in port at Ensenada when we woke up.  There was a haze over much of the southern part of the city.  We ordered our coffee and breakfast from room service.  We lingered over our coffee.

Welcome to Ensenada

Gerri decided to stay on board and hang out around the pool area.  I went ashore to hunt a cache.  The closest cache was .3 mile away an earthcache, like I said before any port in a storm.  In this case any cache will do.  After I got the information required for the earthcache, I decided to walk the .2 miles to the next closest traditional cache.  I got near the cache and found it was very crowded.  There was a display and bleachers set up for an off road race.  There were people and vehicles everywhere.  GZ was in the crowd, so I didn’t even try for the cache.

Looking aft

I met Gerri in the pool area.  She had already eaten a pizza slice.  She got me two slices, one plain cheese and one Mexican style.  The jalapenos on the Mexican pizza were so hot I was glad to have the cheese pizza to go with them.  Gerri went up to the sun deck, 15, and I walked around the ship hoping to get some pictures. I didn’t have much luck.  The haze, probably dust from the races, had dissipated but the sun direction was wrong for good pictures of the city.

City view, kinda south

City view with marina

We returned to our cabin and got cleaned up before going to the Skywalker Lounge for the daily hors d’oeuvres.  The feature today was one of my favorites, herb marinated goat cheese with rosemary flatbread.  They also had tomato bruschetta.

We went the Vista Lounge and saw a floor show, Words and music.  When we have gone to these shows in the Vista Lounge we have sat at some table near the entrance.  That puts us pretty far back from the performers but has the added attraction of watching other people sitting in the area shooing away late comers who block the view of the stage.

We had dinner at our regular time.  Our table was full again.  Gerri and I had the mussels as an entrée.  They weren’t served in a broth like we are used to.  It wasn’t a large portion but since we had pizza earlier and then hors d’oeuvres we were satisfied.  Of course we had dessert, me New York Cheese cake and Gerri Apple Pie with vanilla ice cream.

After dinner we went to the Princess Theater and watched a juggling act by David Aiken.  When we got to our cabin we had mail that informed us that when we arrive in LA we have to go through customs and re board the ship.  There went our plans of sleeping in.

While we were in the Skywalker for hors d’oeuvres the ship sailed out of the harbor.  Goodbye Ensenada, next stop LA and our next cruise.  The 4 day cruise didn’t allow time for some of the activities we are used to.  Like the captain’s meeting with the Captain’s Circle members and our shout out for other geocachers.  We will soon see what a 5 day cruise entails.

Wednesday November 18, 2015 At Sea Between Avalon, CA and Ensenada, MX

We slept in this morning and didn’t order our breakfast or coffee from room service.  Instead we opted to go to the International Café for soup and sandwiches.  Gerri had a tuna sandwich and I had a Cuban Press with a bowl of Albondigas soup.  The soup was good, but somehow they missed the meatballs when they scooped it.

After eating we went to the art auction.  Gerri stayed for the entire auction while I went back to our cabin.  Later, Gerri took the camera and went to deck 15 in hope of getting some good sunset pictures.  We are on the port side of the ship so the sunset can’t be seen from our balcony. She got a good sequence of the sun setting into the ocean.

After resting for awhile we went to the Skywalker for the hors d’oeuvres.  The feature today was smoked salmon and toast tips.  We stayed at the Skywalker until about 6:30.  Gerri went to the art gallery to pick out a frame for what she had bought at the auction.  I went to the Vista Lounge to get us seats for another performance by the comedian Miguel Washington.

Dinner was at our regular time.  Only one other couple came tonight.  After eating we went to the explorers lounge and watched a game show called Liars Club.  The players were members of the cruise director’s staff.  They were given a word and each defined it, usually a funny story.  After the definitions the audience voted on who was telling the truth.

After the Liars Club we went to Crooners Lounge and listened to the piano player until he took his break.  The atrium area was set up for a balloon drop with a crowd dancing below in the piazza below.  The balloon drop has been a feature of the Princess Cruise Lines 50^th Anniversary celebration.  We didn’t stay for the midnight drop.

Back at our cabin we were in bed by before 11:30.

Tuesday November 17, 2015 At Sea Between Santa Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico

We got up around 8:30 and ordered our coffee and breakfast from room service.  While we had our coffee I caught upon computer stuff.  We were anchored off Catalina Island so our MiFi worked. Tomorrow we will have to use the ship’s internet.

Gerri decided to stay onboard and lounge in the pool area. 

I opted to take the tender to Avalon and see if I could find some geocaches. 

The weather was cool but comfortable.  I had downloaded 10 caches near the harbor at Avalon.  

After reading the information I narrowed my choices down to one earthcache.  I had to walk from the landing area over to and out onto the pier.  Most of the information to claim the find was in the lengthy description of the cache.  I don’t care for earthcaches, I prefer the no longer allowed virtual caches.  They required an answer to a question and or a picture.  The typical earthcache asks 4-5 questions and often requires some speculation.

The attached pictures are scenes from around the waterfront in Avalon.

I went back on aboard at about 3 PM and met Gerri by the pool where there was no breeze and the temperatures were warmer.  We watched half of a movie, The Sound of Music.  We split a slice of pizza.  Later we went to the Skywalker for the daily hors d’oeuvres.  Today they featured steak tartar.  Of course there were the usual variety of cheeses and vegetables.  We sat with a couple that we sat with during the Muster drill.

The ship started moving about 6.  They seemed to be having trouble getting the anchor loose.  Of course with over 200’ of chain out that took a while.

At 7 we went to the Vista Lounge and watched a Motown show before going to dinner.  We went to our regular dinner seat.  All three couples were present.  After dinner we went to the Princes Theater and saw a comedian, Miguel Washington.

This was a good day.  It was smooth sailing, some sun, a geocache, great scenery at Catalina, good food and entertainment.  We were in bed by 11 to be ready for our only day at sea on this cruise.

Monday November 16,2015 At Sea Between Los Angeles and Avalon, CA

We started our day at the Doubletree making coffee in our room.  We caught upon computer chores and then started getting ready for the shuttle to the ship.  The shuttle runs on the hour.  We chose the 11 o'clock, since boarding time was noon.  We met a couple from Prescott, AZ in the waiting area, Jan and Kathleen.  Starting with our next cruise we will board from the Elite area with the first groups of passengers.

As it was we were in the 4th group called and were in our room before 12:30PM.  This is our first booking on the Lido Deck,14.  We beat our luggage to the room so we decided to have lunch in the Horizon Court.  Already being on the Lido deck we only had to walk aft.  At lunch we sat with a couple from Los Angeles, Bobbie and Ivan.  When we got to the buffet there was no line, by the time we finished eating the line was out the doors.  Back at our cabin our luggage had arrived and we got everything put away and in a semblance of order.  The first picture is looking forward from our balcony, the other is the movie area by the ship's main pool.

At 3:30 we went to our muster station in the Crown Grill. This was our first inkling of the disadvantage of being on deck 14.  The Crown Grill was on deck 7.  After the muster drill it was very difficult to get an elevator back to the Lido deck.

Today's hors d'oeuvres featured guacamole and chips.  Their guacamole has never been our favorite, but we went anyway. We sat with two ladies from the Palm Springs area, and had an interesting chat.  We always enjoy these chance meetings and sometimes they become lasting friendships.  The Hor d'oeuvres were served in the Skywalker Lounge and is limited to loyalty levels Platinum and Elite and those passengers in Suites.  The Skywalker is on deck 18 at the rear of the ship.  Another strike against a forward cabin.

After hors d'oeuvres we visited the Piazza.  Gerri went to the room to freshen up for dinner.  I made my way to the Amalfi Dining room, on deck six all the way aft.  We chose the second seating, 7:45. We were seated at a table for six, but only one other couple was seated with us.   Supper was very good,  I had prime rib and Gerri had a fish plate.  After dinner we went to listen to the piano player at Crooners.  He played a few songs and then it was his time to take a break, so we went back to our cabin.

Back at the cabin we read for a while before calling it a night.  Catalina (Avalon) is our next stop.

Sunday November 15, 2015 San Pedro, CA

I had the alarm set for 6 AM.  Our plan was to leave at 9 and drive to the Port of Los Angeles at San Pedro.  We started our coffee while getting our last minute items packed and then loaded into the car.  We were on the road by 9, but had to stop at Sam's for gasoline.

We stopped for lunch and fuel at the Costco store in Victorville.  Traffic was backed up when we started down from Cajon Pass and we ran into rain after passing the Glen Helen area.  Traffic backed up again on I-10 because of an accident and was slow again when we reached the 605 because of another accident.

We were checked into the Doubletree Hotel by 3:00.  A little after 4pm I went out to try to find a cache that was at the end of the hotel parking lot.  The cache hadn't been found since October 13 and had a did not find logged on November 12.  I looked anyway, but had no luck.  There are a couple of caches near the cruise ship terminal but that is a couple of miles away.  I may try them when we are back in port next week between our cruises.  When we passed the terminal there were two ships docked there, one Princess and some other brand, NCL.  This picture was taken from our room, looking out over the marina.  There must be thousands of boats in the marina.  It makes me wonder how many of them ever leave the marina.

After I returned to the room we went to the hotel dining room and had Fish and Chips.  While at dinner we saw a cruise ship leaving the harbor.  It wasn't the princess liner we had seen earlier.

We returned to our room and were in for the night.

Wednesday October 21, 2015 Las Vegas, NV

Our meeting time for disembarkation was 5:30.  We were up at 4:30.  We went to the dining room designated as out meeting place.  They didn't have any coffee out.  We went ashore to the bus at 5:30 and were at the airport by 6:30.  We were told that we could check in for our flight 2 hours before departure time.  Inside at the United ticket counter we were almost last in line.  Most of the people from our bus were there.

The St. Lawrence River showing
the strips of farmland

There was one agent working.  She had two women at the desk and was on and off the phone.  This went on for over an hour before security escorted the two away.  Time for our 8:25 flight was getting close before we were checked in.  Once the wheelchairs arrived we were whisked through security and directly on to the airplane.  This airplane was a United Express flight with a row of window seats one one side and an aisle and window seat on the other.  It was a 2 1/2 hour flight to Chicago.  We got our coffee on this flight.

Korean Air on the ground at Chicago

The wheelchairs met us in Chicago and whisked us what seemed to be 3 miles including 3 sets of elevators to our connecting flight.  We passed all the food courts and were taken directly on the airplane for our flight to Las Vegas.  We didn't have anytime for shopping or getting anything to eat.  We had seats together on this flight.  The airplane was a 737 but had more legroom than any we had ever flown on.  They only serve sandwiches and snack boxes, for a price of course,  Finally we had something to eat.  It was a rough flight, the fasten seatbelts sign never went off.

Other foreign airplanes on the ground in Chicago

God even supplies scenery in the sky

We arrived in Las Vegas at 2:30.  There had been wheelchairs to meet us but people that got off the airplane before us commandeered them.  After some delay we had our chairs, claimed our baggage and met Montyne at the passenger pickup area.

A quick view of Lake Mead

Over Paradise Valley

On the ground

Once we got unloaded at our house, Gerri took Neva to the ER at Centennial Hospital.  Her doctor had ordered the visit.  The wound was examined and clean and redressed and recommendations for a podiatrist were issued.


















Except for Neva's injury and my having to use a walker for safety, this was a good cruise.  We saw new places met an old friend, made new friends and saw some great fall colors.  I was a little disappointed in not having found caches in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.  Prince Edward Island was not my fault and I made a mistake and the caches I downloaded for Quebec were over 3000 miles away.  I never had a cellular data connection to do a local inquiry. We plan to be part of a RV caravan to the Canadian Maritime Provinces next year.  The caravan ends in Quebec, I may do better then.  Gerri checked and we only need 3 more days at sea to move up in the Princess loyalty award to Elite.  That will mean free laundry and some other embarking and disembarking privileges.  Based on that we may do a short cruise out of Los Angeles in mid-November.