Ocean to Ocean

Now and then we get a hankering to do a cruise. About a year ago, I agreed to accept spam from one of the large travel agencies specializing in cruises. I'm way too much of a cheapskate to be willing to pay the list prices the cruise lines ask, but started watching the "90 day" list when prices drop on unsold inventory. Got a deal on a Holland America cruise that fit our schedule, departing out of San Diego.

Once we got the cattle call, i.e. life boat drill, out of the way, we resumed wandering around the ship, getting some sense of the layout.

Found a spot up on the Lido deck where we could get a selfie as the sun started to set on San Diego.

One of our favorite spots on the ship was early morning walks on the promenade. If you waited another hour, the decks were dry after their daily washdown, but it felt like trying to walk a busy city sidewalk. Earlier was better!

Our other favorite spot was the dining room!

What can I say?

Turns out, we had a very similar itinerary to the Island Princess, a larger ship that could (and did) totally hide our ship.

I've dreamed for years of transiting the Panama Canal. The dream started in grade school history and continued when I realized that one of my ancestors had walked the isthmus before the canal was built.

I found the canal to be very interesting, especially after a recent reading of Path Between the Seas by David McCollough. Thanks for the recommendation, Ian.

Sometimes it pays to wait til the last minute for a bargain. In this case, it worked out that our anniversary was the day that we passed through the canal. We even got a card from the Captain and crew. I'm still not sure who let the cat out of the bag.

Fifteen days and seven countries after we started, we disembarked in Fort Lauderdale along with five other ships, including the Island Princess. Now the only question is where to next time? (And how soon can I lose the weight I gained?)