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Hi Tom and Marie,
I just reread your account of your trip through on Princess so I could compare a few
notes. Our trip probably would not have the same retell value as yours as it was pretty
tame! The wildest part probably was the trip from San Jose, Costa Rica to Caldera where we
boarded the ship. We had a nice bus, but the roads were winding and hilly. It was a 50
mile trip and the last part was driven in the dark. The little towns ranged from pretty to
grubby, but all the vegetation was green and the range of flowering plants was amazing.
The houses are painted all colors so present a sort of surreal view.
The Harmony is considered a medium sized ship at 105' x 790' and carries 940 guests when
full. Fortunately, due to the 9/11 events I suppose, there were only 500+ guests on board.
The joys of cruising on a half full ship are numerous! I would like to do it again
sometime. When we got home my new Condé Nast Travel magazine had arrived and featured the
70 best cruise ships in the world, as judged by travelers. It was no surprise to find the
Crystal Harmony the #1 ship in the medium size range. Our verandah was large and
wonderful. There are two sizes of verandahs and ours was the large one--almost as deep as
it was wide. We did not spend much time sitting on it however--too darned hot for most of
the trip, while in port or in calm water. Quite a lot of the trip after we left the canal
was in rough seas and a couple of days we had mist or heavy overcast skies. I did,
however, spend a lot of time hanging over the rail watching the antics of the flying fish.
They were very visible for three days. Of course, hanging over rails or in windows just
watching the sea as it slices away from the bow is my favorite thing on a cruise. I find
it easy to anticipate the size of the spray by the motion of the ship under my feet. When
I feel the deck tilt me back I know the following motion in the opposite direction will
produce the large spray. But I digress.
The service on the Harmony was impeccable, as was the comfort level. The food was
outstanding in appearance and variety, but I did yearn once in a while for some green
beans or corn instead of all those veggies I hate. The cruciferous veggies and carrots
are, of course, very fashionable and healthy, but my mom never made me eat them at home
and I still don't. The desserts were great, but then the Princess ships always had great
desserts. We had only one breakfast in the dining room. That was on a day when the weather
was especially hot and I felt like starting the day somewhere cool. The Lido deck buffets
were great for breakfast. Every kind of food imaginable, well prepared, and there were so
many waiters ready to help they almost fell over each other! We had a few lunches up on
Lido also, but again I like the luxury of having someone wait on me. I had the best tuna
salad I ever ate for lunch one day.
I think I mentioned earlier that the canal thing probably would not be too big a thrill
for us as we went through nearly 70 locks on a 2000 cruise on the Rhine, Main and Danube
Rivers. We stood on deck with everyone else, camera at the ready, for the first lock, then
migrated to something else. I was on the verandah for a lock or two, but none were deep
enough or interesting enough to make me want to do them all from there. We had no port
stops until we arrived in Curaçao. From then on the port stops were pretty much the
same--Antigua, St. Kitts and St. Thomas. We had been to St. Thomas twice before so that
was not a biggie. Antigua and St. Kitts were so hot and humid we were ready to get back to
the ship after a short run through the shops near the dock.
The nightly stage entertainment was the best I have ever seen. In addition to the regular
evening shows, we were entertained at various times throughout the trip by an author who
patterns herself after Erma Bombeck and an origami artist whose onboard regular job is to
translate the English language menus into Japanese for guests of that ethnic group. Since
this cruise was only half full and most of us were from alumni groups throughout the US,
her skills must have been underused. There was a classical guitarist from Spain (or
somewhere that they train in his field) who entertained on several occasions. One of the
afternoon teas was a "Mozart Tea" and all the service personnel were properly
dressed right down to the white hose and gloves. The Filipino trio (guitar, violin and
flute) who entertained nightly in the dining room played the appropriate music plus a lot
of tunes that weren't Mozart. This was the caliber of everything this ship provided--top
drawer. Guests were invited to dress in the 50's mode for one evening and that worked out
nicely--a lot of us old people were young then. But the Renaissance night sort of fizzled.
The dining room staff was resplendent in their velvets and laces, but few guests
participated. One notable exception was a very corpulent man who obviously thought a blue
polyester dress made for a very overweight woman would make him look like Henry VIII. His
wife wore something equally appropriate with a wimple. Made for lots of laughs.
This has gone on much too long, but I couldn't resist the urge to describe our trip aboard
the crème de la crème of ships. But I would still like to take a cruise aboard one of
the Princess lines newer ships. With cruise lines merging and going belly up they may turn
out like the airlines, banks and tech companies--all belonging to only 2 or 3 large
conglomerates before long. Sure hope not.
Keep up the good work on your site--makes for
interesting reading. Emme
Hi!
Just a note to tell you how much I enjoyed reading your account of your trip through the
Panama Canal and then on to Cartagena... It brought back many memories since my husband,
two children and I lived in the former Canal Zone from 1974 to 1996. Going to the Zone
after living the first 30 years of our lives in Detroit was quite a change. We lived in
Gatun on the Atlantic side till '80 and then in Cardenas on the Pacific side. My husband
joined the PanCanal Company as an electrician and, as such, worked his way through
repairing the 'mules', driving the mules, walking ships through as a Lockmaster and
finally as a Control House Operator where he was responsible for opening/shutting the
gates and regulating water levels in the locks. I'll never forget one afternoon when Jim
had forgotten his lunch and asked me to bring it to the visitor's stand at Gatun Locks.
When I arrived, the stand was filled with tourists who had gotten off ships in Cristobal
and taken taxis back to the locks. I worked my way up to the front rail and, as he drove
his 'mule' past the stand, I leaned over and handed him his lunch. Well, the rest is
history. I was immediately surrounded by the tourists who asked me about the locks and
living in the Zone... and even ended up loading five of them into my car for a short trip
to see the banyan trees, the coatis who lived in the jungle behind our house (and would
come for food at a whistle), the sloth and iguanas in the mahogany tree next to the house,
the cannonball trees, and poinsettias bigger than many trees. It was a neat experience...
and I was thrilled to share a part of my life with 'strangers'. Another time, Jim called
and said a big Navy amphibeous carrier was coming through (they drop their decks) and
invited me into the control house. I was standing on the balcony that runs the length of
the building when one of the young sailors onboard the ship asked if I would shake his
hand while his friend took a picture of us. I reached out and shook his hand and the next
thing I knew, there were at least 20 sailors lined up waiting to shake my hand. I wish I
could have seen some of those photos!
Well, if you've heard from many other Zonians, you know by now that we loved that country
and we'll talk your ear off about it if you let us, so I'll close. Thank you for sharing
your experiences... it brought back memories of 'home'.
Donna Murphy
Hi,
This is Emme checking in, with a comment. You may remember that our trip from San Jose,
CR, to the port at Caldera for boarding the Crystal Harmony was uneventful. We had no
idea, however, that the little bus trip we took would prohibit us from giving blood for a
year! Seems that, although San Jose and Caldera are in safe zones, the road on which we
traveled is in the forbidden zone! It was a disappointment to me to be refused at the
blood bank.
A week ago a friend asked that members of our Sunday School class donate if we could for a
friend of hers who was destitute and without insurance to cover most of the blood he
needed. It was then that I found I had been driven through an area which rendered me
ineligible. I tried an end run by telling the nurse we had not set foot on bad soil nor
eaten or drank anything. She said it didn't matter, it was the bugs such as anopheles
mosquitos which kept me from being eligible.
So I look forward to January 29, 2003, as the time when I can again do my duty at the
blood bank.
This is all trivia--something to think about. How little we think about these things until
we learn what bad things lurk out there. But I think it was probably the only negative
thing about our trip.
Emme
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