Pacific Princess World Cruise - 2019

January 4

Our 3^rd “Once in a Lifetime World Cruise”. (no, that doesn't get old) To date we have been to all 7 continents including 82 countries visited together and IF we hit all countries on this WC it will be 90 countries. 38 States so far. We hope to hit the rest of the States after we return next year.

So far, 41 cruises and 484 days at sea…..

We look forward to our new adventure! 

Looking forward to seeing friends we have met on prior cruises and looking forward to meeting new friends and sadly missing old friends that had to cancel this cruise. (way too many)

We are packed and ready to go! I will post on sea days as I can and will include photo links since internet is slow and costly. As a reminder, please be kind with typos, misspellings or outright mistakes I make, this is just my personal journal to keep track of our travels and for friends and family to follow along. I don't profess that it is interesting or great writing. I will add photos once I return home, but will include the links as I get them uploaded.

The Pacific Princess, at 30,277-tons and 680-passengers was acquired in 2002 from now-defunct Renaissance Cruises and are by far the smallest ships in Princess' fleet. The size of the ship affords access into some smaller cruise ports without use of a tender. (though there are always a few tender ports)

from our 2017 WC embarkation 

Here is the deck plan of the ship:

Deck 3 (tender deck)

Deck 4 Medical center, shore excursion desk, passenger services

Deck 5 Cabaret Lounge, bar, casino, photo gallery, shops, future cruise desk, club bar, club restaurant

Deck 5 all cabins

Deck 7 laundry - our cabin is on this deck

Deck 8 all cabins

Deck 9 spa, steam rooms, beauty salon, fitness center, internet café, pool bar & pool & hot tubs, bandstand, BBQ, pizza, Panorama buffet.

Deck 10 Pacific Lounge, dance floor & stage, jogging track, library, Sabatinis and Sterling Steakhouse, bar

Deck 11 Sun Deck, shuffleboard, golf practice cage

map of the cruise

Here is our Pacific Princess 2019 World Cruise Itinerary - The ports in red are new for us:

Sat, Jan 5	Ft. Lauderdale, Florida		04:00 PM
Sun, Jan 6	At Sea
Mon, Jan 7	At Sea
Tue, Jan 8	Cartagena, Colombia	10:00 AM	10:00 PM
Wed, Jan 9	At Sea
Thu, Jan 10	Panama Canal (Scenic Cruising) Panama	05:00 AM	04:30 PM
Fri, Jan 11	At Sea
Sat, Jan 12	Puerto Quepos, Costa Rica – Tender port	07:00 AM	07:00 PM
Sun, Jan 13	At Sea
Mon, Jan 14	At Sea
Tue, Jan 15	Huatulco, Mexico	07:00 AM	03:00 PM
Wed, Jan 16	At Sea
Thu, Jan 17	Puerto Vallarta, Mexico	07:00 AM	03:00 PM
Fri, Jan 18	At Sea
Sat, Jan 19	At Sea
Sun, Jan 20	Los Angeles, California	08:00 AM	08:00 PM
Mon, Jan 21	At Sea
Tue, Jan 22	At Sea
Wed, Jan 23	At Sea
Thu, Jan 24	At Sea
Fri, Jan 25	At Sea
Sat, Jan 26	Honolulu, Hawaii	07:00 AM	11:00 PM
Sun, Jan 27	Maui (Lahaina), Hawaii – Tender port	07:00 AM	06:00 PM
Mon, Jan 28	At Sea
Tue, Jan 29	At Sea
Wed, Jan 30	At Sea
Thu, Jan 31	At Sea
Fri, Feb 1	At Sea
Sat, Feb 2	Tahiti (Papeete), French Polynesia	09:00 AM	11:00 PM
Sun, Feb 3	Huahine, Polynesia - Tender	07:00 AM	05:00 PM
Mon, Feb 4	Raiatea, French Polynesia - 5:00 PM arrival Feb 3	overnight	06:00 PM
Tue, Feb 5	At Sea
Wed, Feb 6	Cross International Date Line (no Feb 7 for us)	12:00 PM	01:00 PM
Fri, Feb 8	At Sea
Sat, Feb 9	Nuku'alofa, Tonga	07:00 AM	04:00 PM
Sun, Feb 10	At Sea
Mon, Feb 11	At Sea
Tue, Feb 12	Auckland, New Zealand	09:00 AM	11:00 PM
Wed, Feb 13	At Sea
Thu, Feb 14	At Sea
Fri, Feb 15	Dunedin (Port Chalmers), New Zealand	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
Sat, Feb 16	Stewart Island, New Zealand – tender port	07:00 AM	04:30 PM
Sun, Feb 17	At Sea
Mon, Feb 18	At Sea
Tue, Feb 19	Sydney, Australia	09:30 AM	10:00 PM
Wed, Feb 20	At Sea
Thu, Feb 21	At Sea
Fri, Feb 22	At Sea
Sat, Feb 23	Cairns, Australia	07:00 AM	10:00 PM
Sun, Feb 24	At Sea
Mon, Feb 25	At Sea
Tue, Feb 26	At Sea
Wed, Feb 27	Darwin, Australia	07:00 AM	10:00 PM
Thu, Feb 28	At Sea
Fri, Mar 1	At Sea
Sat, Mar 2	Komodo Island, Indonesia – tender port	07:00 AM	05:00 PM
Sun, Mar 3	At Sea
Mon, Mar 4	At Sea
Tue, Mar 5	Singapore	12:00 PM
Wed, Mar 6	Singapore		02:00 PM
Thu, Mar 7	Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang), Malaysia	07:00 AM	07:00 PM
Fri, Mar 8	Langkawi, Malaysia	10:00 AM	08:00 PM
Sat, Mar 9	Phuket, Thailand	08:00 AM	08:00 PM
Sun, Mar 10	At Sea
Mon, Mar 11	At Sea
Tue, Mar 12	At Sea
Wed, Mar 13	Colombo, Sri Lanka	07:00 AM	07:00 PM
Thu, Mar 14	At Sea
Fri, Mar 15	Maldives (Male) – tender port	07:00 AM	06:00 PM
Sat, Mar 16	At Sea
Sun, Mar 17	At Sea
Mon, Mar 18	At Sea
Tue, Mar 19	Seychelles Islands (Mahe)	08:00 AM	10:00 PM
Wed, Mar 20	At Sea
Thu, Mar 21	At Sea
Fri, Mar 22	Nosy Be, Madagascar – tender port	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
Sat, Mar 23	At Sea
Sun, Mar 24	At Sea
Mon, Mar 25	Port Louis, Mauritius	07:00 AM	10:00 PM
Tue, Mar 26	Pointe des Galets, Reunion Island	07:00 AM	10:00 PM
Wed, Mar 27	At Sea
Thu, Mar 28	At Sea
Fri, Mar 29	At Sea
Sat, Mar 30	Durban, South Africa – we will leave the ship to go on safari Valley of a Thousand Hills & Phezulu Cultural Village before going to the airport to Arathusa Safari Lodge located in the Greater Kruger Park in the Sabi Sands Private Nature Reserve	07:00 AM	05:00 PM
Sun, Mar 31	East London, South Africa (we will miss this port – 2 Game drives & game walk)	11:00 AM	08:00 PM
Mon, Apr 1	2 game drives & game walk
Tue, Apr 2	Cape Town, South Africa  -final game drive before flying to rejoin the ship	09:00 AM
Wed, Apr 3	Cape Town, South Africa
Thu, Apr 4	Cape Town, South Africa		09:00 PM
Fri, Apr 5	At Sea
Sat, Apr 6	Luderitz, Namibia	07:00 AM	04:00 PM
Sun, Apr 7	Walvis Bay, Namibia	09:00 AM	09:00 PM
Mon, Apr 8	At Sea
Tue, Apr 9	At Sea
Wed, Apr 10	At Sea
Thu, Apr 11	Saint Helena, Great Britain - tender port	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
Fri, Apr 12	At Sea
Sat, Apr 13	At Sea
Sun, Apr 14	At Sea
Mon, Apr 15	At Sea
Tue, Apr 16	Natal, Brazil	07:00 AM	05:00 PM
Wed, Apr 17	Fortaleza, Brazil	09:00 AM	07:00 PM
Thu, Apr 18	At Sea
Fri, Apr 19	At Sea
Sat, Apr 20	Devil's Island (Isle Royale), French Guiana	10:00 AM	12:00 PM
Sun, Apr 21	At Sea
Mon, Apr 22	Barbados	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
Tue, Apr 23	Guadeloupe (Point-a-Pitre)	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
Wed, Apr 24	Marigot, St. Marten	7:00 AM	5:00 PM
Thu, Apr 25	At Sea
Fri, Apr 26	At Sea
Sat, Apr 27	Ft. Lauderdale, Florida  Until next time.....

Doctors, Dentists, New House & Hotel Life saga continues....

November 29 – December 29, 2018

Well, for us it’s been a bit more low-key than usual. However, still plenty to do. I ramped up my packing not knowing how long I would be “out of it” after my surgery or if something went “wrong”. So, most everything is already packed. Down to socks and undies. Oh, and the electronics……

Here is "home sweet home" at the Residence Inn Marriott.

The day before my surgery we took the car in to CarMax and sold it after renting a car to use until the cruise. The offer decreased by $500, but honestly it still is over Bluebook, so not complaining.

Due to anesthesia, I was on nothing to eat or drink for 8 hours before, but with my appt not until 11:00 in the morning, my tummy was rumbling and I was thirsty. I have to say that Dr Koyama is fantastic as are his nurses and office staff. I was there from 10:30 to fill out about 10 pages of disclaimers that I understood and accepted that anything and everything could go wrong or that I might be swollen and bruised afterwards. I was home by 3:00.

It was quite a process for an “in office” procedure. My oxygen levels have a way of taking a dive even before the anesthesia is administrated, so they were cautious. I did feel pretty sedated, but after the tooth was removed and he went up into the sinuses, I could feel (though no doubt less intense) the suction and flushing and more suction as he drained my sinus. I was hooked up to the normal BP cuff, O2 sat, chest leads, but it was the first time I had been restrained in the chair with ankle and wrist restraints. They also had something they put on my throat so Dr. K could hear my breathing. I had packing that had to stay put for 2 hours. Then I could take a pain pill and the antibiotic and eat. Eat is a rather “wrong” term for liquid/soft diet for 2 weeks.

One of the roots had grown right up into the sinus causing the infections.

I was sent home with the packing hanging out of my mouth, ice pack Velcroed on like bunny ears and a hairnet. Greg has taken to getting photos of me “at my best”. Here’s one at the hairdresser and one on the drive home from the oral surgeons. 

I have very little swelling and the bleeding is gone. Only some minor bruises on my lips.

I return back on the 18^th of December to get the sutures out. There are some dissolvable stitches and then outer ones that need to be removed. No straw use for at least 2 weeks and only liquids or very soft foods. (mainly so I don’t get a dry socket where the tooth was removed.) Cold foods are fine, but no hot foods. (warm is OK) No blowing of my nose for the same amount of time and try not to sneeze unless my mouth is open. No spitting after brushing or mouthwash, just let it pour out. Sheesh!

I have to say I haven’t been able to breathe through both sides of my nose in about a year, so that feels good. Anyway, I think I am doing quite well. Time will tell if this will keep me good for our 4 months at sea. Sure hope so!

Well, I returned to get my sutures checked and he rinsed them, but said they needed another week before he took them out. So now, I go back 2 days after Christmas. I’m still on soft foods, but she said by Christmas I should be able to eat anything that isn’t too chewy or sticky.

For my birthday we went to Bonefish Grill and I was able to eat crab cakes & mashed potatoes. On the way home, we stopped at TooJay’s Deli for Killer Cake which really is like a very dense but soft fudge.

I’ve been dealing with a couple of “last minute” issues with tours for the world cruise, but par for the course, I guess. All the work should be worth it once we are on board and start the “enjoying” part of the cruise experience.

We drove to Orlando again for the buffet at Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Studios. I was able to eat most things. We walked the CitiWalk loop 3 times to work off some calories. Lovely warm day!

I got the stitches out on the 27^th and am starting to feel a lot better. It will still be a while until it heals completely, but so much better.

Only thing left to do now is our final design center appointment on New Year’s Eve for the house.

I will have 1 final post before we leave on Jan 5 with our itinerary.

Happy New Year everyone!!!