Cruising is About Food

It's our second day at sea and Mary and I had a very relaxing day.  We're so relaxed it's hard to believe we've only been on the ship for 2 1/2 days!  I walked 2 miles around the Promenade Deck this morning before playing shuffleboard while Mary went to a fruit carving show. Next up was Pub Lunch, serving traditional English pub fare of Bangers 'n Mash, Fish 'n Chips, Kidney Pie, which we enjoyed while sharing a table with a couple from Scotland. 

After Bridge I joined Mary on deck to watch the end of Dirty Dancing on Movies Under the Stars, a super huge screen on the top deck of the ship.  While we were watching they came around with milk and cookies.  After the show we walked through the Horizon Buffet only to spot warm apple cobbler with warm vanilla sauce - who could resist?

On tonight's menu is Surf 'n Turf  -- a filet and jumbo shrimp.  YUM!  Before enjoying that great entree I had a pear and pineapple appetizer and a new chilled soup that was apple based with yogurt -  tasted great! 

Tomorrow ARUBA! 

First Day At Sea

We had a very relaxing day today, with the main activities being sunning (Mary) and bridge (Bill). We both attended the shopping show (I went to double Mary's odds of winning but unfortunately no prizes came our way.) and I also did Zumba this morning which I found quite intriguing. It was a 1 hour session and I did do OK at it, taking it easy on two of the segments, one midway and one at the end. I think I'll do another session or two on the cruise.

We've spent the day watching the islands of Cuba out our balcony window. It is sunny, warm and very relaxing. One interesting feature of this voyage is that, since we are on the Aloha deck, whenever we arrive on our floor the elevator says "Aloha" like it's saying "Good bye" to us.

As we left the shopping show we walked past the photography area and I was drawn to the camera table. Did I mention I forgot to bring the charger for my camera? Well, any port in a storm and the Nikon Coolpix S8200 was 20% off today so I got my trip souvenir. 8-) It has some very nice features like 14x digital zoom and 16 megapixel quality. Now to practice with it for the rest of this cruise. I did take a few pictures his evening of the revamped Piazza area with the new Vines and Leaves areas so here's one from my new camera!

Fort Lauderdale sail away

Today here's what we saw as we left port and headed out to sea. 2 full days at sea before we arrive at Aruba on Tuesday. Sounds great!!!

Grand Princess Tour

We arrived at the Grand Princess about 12:30 and had no lines to check in and come on board.  After locating our cabin, we headed for the buffet and had a nice lunch on tables overlooking the stern (back end) of the ship. 

After lunch we did our usual ship's tour, locating various places and finding our what was on the dinner menu.  We were very happy to find PIna Colada soup and both prime rib and Hawaiian luau pork -- YUM! 

We continue on and located all the pools. This ship has one family pool and two reserved for adults only plus a small one on the stern.  Each has a couple of hot tubs next to it so we should not have any trouble getting pool time.

You can definitely tell this ship preceded the Ruby class, but it has one very cool feature they do not- a passenger observation area that is above the bridge!  From there you have a clean view forward of wherever the ship is heading.  This is the first ship I've see with that feature.  I plan to be up there as we pull into various ports, assuming we arrive during daylight hours. 

There were seven cruise ships in port today, serval stacked in like cordwood.  2 Princess, and one each of MSC, Carnival, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity.  We were the first to leave at 4:00 with the others to follow at 30 minute intervals. 

Florida, Here We Come!

Friday we headed to Ft Lauderdale for our 14 day cruise on the Grand Princess. Overall it was a good travel day. We left Dearborn in a fairly heavy rain (thankfully not snow!), had an on time flight to Florida, smooth pickup by the hotel, and a quiet afternoon by the pool at a Springhill Suites.  This is a very convenient hotel since they pick you up from the airport and also deliver you to the ship! We've used a Courtyard in the past, but this facility has the added benefit of a free hot breakfast. Marriott started this "Cruise port hotel" trend a few years ago, but from all the hotel vans picking up at the airport yesterday, it appears most other major chains have caught on and now offer a similar service.
Our cruise is actually two 7 day cruises, back to back, where we keep the same cabin for both legs.  The first is a Southern Caribbean with stops at Aruba and Curacao.  The second is an Eastern Caribbean with stops at San Juan, St Maarten, and St Thomas.  With lots of days at sea, I may not post every day, depending on what is going on.  During the next 2 weeks, if you ever want to see where we are, check out the Bridge Cam!
That's about it for now.  Today we head for the ship at 11:45.  Looking forward to getting on board and enjoying that first buffet lunch!

Aspen 2012 - The Rest of the Story

We had a great weekend, with 4 planned concerts and a bonus one as well (more about that later).

The Friday and Saturday night Tribute concerts were both fabulous. Friday I was not sure how they could top the prior one where the band members spoke about John, but it did, in a different way. Great songs, super musicians, and a great time.

Aspen had their first winter storm watch out from Friday evening until Saturday noon and our Saturday morning concert was 12 miles up a mountain road so we got up early. The storm turned out to be a dud, leaving a little snow at the higher altitudes. We had dry roads that morning and arrived quite early. We sat at a table with Mary’s JD friends (three of which were with us on our British Isles cruise) and enjoyed an excellent trout dinner and good entertainment.

That evening we had the last Tribute concert. Last in more ways than one since the Wheeler Opera House is being renovated next fall and the guy who did such a great job of producing it the last 3 years has said “never again”. So the future of this very special week is in doubt and emotions ran very high during the concert for both the performers and attendees. But that also served to make it a very energetic and memorable show. Several performers used their final song to pay tribute to John and to the fans who have come to these shows and singer Mollie Weaver got so choked up during her very emotional song that she could not continue. The consummate gentleman, singer Denny Brooks, stepped out, hugged her and they danced for the rest of the song. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the audience. Later on Pete Huttlinger gave her a retry and she sang it beautifully.

Sunday morning brought a church service/concert, followed by a trip to Windstar, a conservation foundation which John started that is closing down and merging with a similar organization, then back to the Aspen Chapel for the Chris, Pete, and Mack show. What a concert that was!!!!!!!!!! The guys sang their own songs, both familiar and new, and had great on stage chemistry. Their musical styles blend so well together that it was a treat to watch them interact and perform.

Since it was now supper time, we headed to Woody Creek for our traditional visit. This is a small, out of the way bar that John frequented. While we were there, the owner called out "is there a Mary Schuut here? Some guy with a foreign accent want to talk to her." Mary stood up and they brought the phone over. It was a singer named John Adams! He had a concert that evening and heard that Mary, who had gone in the past, had not bought tickets so he called to tell her two were being held for us! If you get a call from the performer and 2 free tickets, how could we turn that down? So after finishing our burgers and beer, we head back to Aspen and then to the John Adams concert. This was just one of the very special moments Mary had this time (she always has at least one) but this time she had several.

Today we went to "Goodbye Again", a closing ceremony for the week's festivities at the JD Sanctuary, then headed back to Denver via Independence Pass on a most clear, crisp, and beautiful day under a cloudless, azure blue sky.

We are now back in Denver waiting for our early morning flight tomorrow. It’s been a great trip, but time to get back to the real world (with the Tigers leading the Yankees 2-0 and looking to wrap up the ALCS in Detroit this week).

Aspen 2012 Part I

Mary and I are enjoying our time in Aspen. Great concerts, good weather, and great companionship! Our trip out here on Tuesday was uneventful. Our plane trip was on schedule and we had a beautiful drive to Glenwood Springs. We checked in and headed to the Hot Springs for a relaxing dip. The pool was great and very relaxing. Wednesday morning we headed to Aspen for Meet and Great. When we arrived we also saw the expanded JD Sanctuary which was under construction last fall. It is amazing and very large, much larger than the original JD sanctuary. This picture only shows a small part of the new section. At Meet and Greet we met up with many friends as the traditional 3 openings songs were performed by a team of 8 guitars. We went to a noon concert, checked into the Limelight Hotel, bought groceries and went to an evening concert.

Thursday was a beautiful day with 2 more concerts and a trip to the Maroon Bells where I got this fabulous reflection shot! The lake level was very low, over a foot down from last year. I guess this is a symptom of the drought they experienced this past summer. There is a beaver lodge at the far end of the lake and this year, it was totally out of the water! I could even walk right up to it this year (which was kinda cool). As we walked back, the light breeze stopped again and I was able to get a few more cool reflection shots. Friday was our busy concert day, with 4 concerts plus a special treat - riding a chair lift part way up Aspen Mountain! We went to the chair lift first thing in the morning, then headed to our first concert. While the first three concerts were very good, the evening concert was absolutely fabulous! The JD band members told a short story about John then sang one of their favorite songs. Mary and I came back to our room on a spectacular high.