We have bad airline juju. Our Denver karma is dead. We are permanently booked on flight 13 into the black hole of United Airlines. Once again (yes it’s true) our flight to Denver has been canceled due to high winds. We heard about it from our limo driver. United was unable to rebook us through San Francisco, and Chicago was full except for a late flight. So, instead we are headed in the wrong direction – to Dulles. Then we have to cross all the way back to Seattle. Fortunately we have not been significantly delayed. We are scheduled to arrive in Seattle about three hours later than originally planned, but that’s a lot better than having to get a hotel. Of course, I mustn’t count my chickens before they hatch. Anything could happen between now and this evening.

I’m really tired of problems with airlines, delays, and cancelled flights. What do I have to do to have a trouble free trip?

Fortunately, debarkation from the Grand Princess went smoothly. We stepped off the ship and made it through customs and immigration in 30 minutes. Then we called our limo service and he showed up five minutes later, whisking us off to George Bush Intercontinental Airport ( ick! I can barely type that name). The ride was wonderful. I’ve never been in such a luxurious town car. Sadly, about five minutes before we arrived at the terminal, we got the news that our flight had been canceled. So for now things are back on track for our arrival in Seattle tonight. I'm going to assume that all will go well from this point in time.

AMY! We're on our way home!

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It's 9pm and we are home! Both our flight to Dulles, and then to SeaTac were flawless. We had a choice of flying through DC or Chicago and we chose DC. I'm so glad we did. I hear Chicago had many cancelled flights because of weather. We could have been stuck there. Choosing the longer flights through DC probably saved us hotel costs as well as time.

Amy is happy to see us and we are tired and achy. It's good to be home!

Our cruise is almost complete. We slept in this morning (first time I’ve done than since the first day of the cruise). After breakfast in the buffet, we started the usual end of cruise rituals. We filled out the shore excursion and onboard surveys. We have no important plans for the day other than packing this evening. I’ll probably post a final entry tonight, then a full cruise review after we fly home.

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The cruise is coming to a close. I spent the day doing nothing but reading, napping and eating. It’s 5:30pm. Gene is in the midst of doing two loads of laundry.

We are trying something new for disembarkation tomorrow. Usually we put our bags out in the hall on the last night for Princess personnel to move them off the ship and into customs. This time we have signed up to take our own luggage and thus be in the first group to exit the ship at 7:30am. A town car should be waiting to take us to the airport when we step out of the terminal.

Tonight we’ll go to the Farewell Show before dinner instead of after. Packing has begun. But most exciting of all, I just received my envelope containing my new Captain’s Circle Platinum card. Now I qualify for special privileges like a special departure lounge, preferred check-in, and $75 worth of Internet time for each cruise. On a sad note: I have misplaced my good Teeva sandals. I had them by we while at the Terrace Pool today, but when I moved to a more sheltered position I forgot to take them with me. I remembered to go back about 15 minutes later but they were gone, and so far they have not showed up in the Purser’s lost and found box.

Though our travels started with some pretty severe bumps, for the most part things smoothed out once we got to the ship and we’ve had no major problems since. I can only hope the same will be true for our flight home tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to our next cruise in April. We’ve signed up for only one excursion so I should have much more relaxation time on that cruise. This cruise has been lacking in low stress periods. It’s amazing how sun and fun is exhausting!

Wish us luck for the trip home.

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PS - My sandals were turned into the lost and found. I have them back!

We docked at Mexico’s largest island early in the morning. Gene and I soon headed for our tour of Tulum, one of the most famous Maya cities because it is perched on a bluff overlooking the turquoise Caribbean Sea.

First we had to board a ferry to cross over to the mainland. It was a large boat and rather like an airplane inside. It was a comfortable but bumpy crossing, ultimately dropping us in the resort town of Playa del Carmen. Once there we boarded a very nice air conditioned bus for the 1 hour drive south to Tulum.

The weather in Tulum was very hot and humid. Since the back of my neck was already burned, I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. That was difficult since many of the grassy shaded areas were behind lines and guarded by signs that asked us to “stay off the grass.” Our guide took our group of 20 around the site in about an hour. He tried to stop in shady spots as often as possible. The historical and cultural story he told was quite fascinating and seemed well balanced.

The stone temples that still stand are quite impressive, though not large. Some of the bright original colors used for painting the stucco exteriors was still evident. Many buildings still had carved relief panels and round columns. Large iguanas are scattered all over the site and they make regular appearances – especially along the top of walls and rooflines. They are obviously very tame and used to people. Believe me, there were a lot of people there. I counted no fewer than twelve busses in the parking lot, plus many cars.

When our tour guide was done, we had another hour to wander the site on our own, as well as partake of the multiple retail opportunities available in the shopping center at the parking lot. But ultimately I returned to our bus about 45 minutes early. I just couldn’t take the heat and sun any longer.

The bus returned us to Playa del Carmen where we had another hour to wander and shop. I chose to sit at Starbucks, sip coffee and read a book. Then the catamaran ferry returned us to the Grand Princess at 5:30. The ship let loose its lines at 6pm and we said good bye to our final port of call on this cruise.

Gene and I briefly enjoyed drinks at the Al Fresco bar with a couple we met previously during an FOD meet up. Then we had dinner in the main dining room and attended the musical show “Curtain Up.” We had previously seen the same show on the Regal Princess but the cast on the Grand Princess was better. Immediately after the show I went to bed while Gene hung out in Skywalker’s Disco with some other friends from the FOD parties. He even got to meet some of the crew and entertainers who stopped by.

We are past the halfway point of our cruise. Early this morning the Grand Princess anchored off the coast of Belize City (formerly known as British Honduras). Gene went into the city briefly and toured the shopping area. Belize is a very poor country, but it’s also very dependent on tourist money, so tourists are treated well. The tender ride into town is very long because large ships must anchor about 4 miles out to avoid the shallow reef system which hugs the coast. Belize is home to the second largest barrier reef in the world. It extends all the way down to Honduras. This Central American country also is home to two large atolls. An atoll is a coral based island. It’s shaped as a circle or ovoid and the center is filled with lagoons and islets.

I went on a two tank dive along the barrier reef today. Our maximum depth was 70 feet on the first dive. We stayed in the 60-70 feet range for about 20 minutes, and then we rose to about 30 - 40 feet for another 20 minutes. The reef was very beautiful. Again, like yesterday, we saw a few turtles. Thanks to our dive leader, we got very close to the first one. We also saw lobsters and even some large reef shrimp that much have been at least 8 inches long. Mostly, we saw many colorful fish. Two folks in our dive team saw a barracuda, but I wasn’t lucky enough to see that. Our second dive was to a maximum depth of 60 feet, and then the second half was at about 25 feet.  

The dive operator (Hugh Parkey’s Dive Connection) was very high class. Our group was smaller than yesterday – just six divers to each dive captain. The boat was huge with lots of room to move about. Between dives they fed us freshly baked raisin bread, chips, homemade salsa and fresh cut fruit. They took care of everything. I didn’t even have to set up my equipment – they did it all! They changed my tanks between dives, and they even put my swim fins on my feet just prior to entering the water. I felt like a king! I definitely hope I can come back and dive with them again.

Right now, Gene is taking a nap but I am too amped up after the dive to sleep, so I’m adding to my excitement by drinking a double latte in the atrium and typing in this blog. Ahead of us we have the second formal dress night. That means lobster and prime rib for dinner! Hey, the lobsters I saw today were about the same size as what I will eat tonight! After dinner I expect we will go see another stage show called Motor City which features music of Motown. Tomorrow we venture back to Mexico at Cozumel. We are going to see the famous (and overrun with tourists) Tulum – a Maya temple built on a bluff overlooking the turquoise waters of the Caribbean. Tomorrow is our final port.

I woke up early as usual - one of my goals on this cruise. I joined my fellow divers in the Painted Desert restaurant. From there we disembarked to an old school bus which took us over the spine of mountains on this island to the dive resort on the north side – Anthony’s Key Resort. Soon I was matched with a dive buddy and we got on the actual dive boat.

Our first dive was a drift dive along the northwest coast of Roatan. We drifted along a wall as deep as 100 feet. I went down to 78 feet. The wall was spectacular. Covered in every conceivable type of coral, and the wall towered above me. I felt very small. Later, as we moved to a flat section of reef we saw some fascinating animals including manta ray, squid, and turtles.

When the first dive was done our boat took us to another section of Anthony’s Resort – this time on the south side of the island, very close to the cruise port. While sitting and watching dolphins in the foreground and the huge Grand Princess in the background, I enjoyed some tacos and a Diet Coke. Then we re-boarded the dive boat for our second descent. This too was a wall dive, but it made the first wall look puny.

As I hovered with my dive partner (who was taking pictures) I gazed down along the wall into a deep blue field of nothing. The dive captain said the bottom was as deep as six hundred feet. One of the best things about scuba diving is the sense of weightlessness. I felt like I was floating in space looking down into empty blue hole, and in front of me towering 50 – 60 feet above was another wall of coral. But this time, the wall was often split open by cascades of sand and gravel which disappeared like water falls below us. On this dive I saw two seahorses and a large group of lobsters hiding amongst the coral. I could make out four lobster faces, but the dive captain said there were at least eight more in the group. Of course we were always able to enjoy a wide variety of tropical fish. Some were so colorful they reminded me of the flaming tricked out Chevy low riders popular among the Chicano community in my hometown of San Diego.

The second dive was shallower than the first. Though I went as deep as fifty feet, most of my time was spent at 20 – 30 feet. Since we spent so much time in shallow water, out air lasted quite a bit longer than on the first dive. We spent nearly an hour under water on the second tank, but our wonderful time below the surface finally had to end. When we reached the 15 foot mark we hovered for a safety decompression stop. We came up in the same spot, but the boat was having trouble maintaining its position, so it had to circle around us in the choppy water. It picked up half the group, then circled again to pick up the remaining divers. The current was strong, pushing the boat to the southwest. The captain was skillful as he maneuvered the boat around the floating divers. The dive crew was very professional and serious, which I appreciate. They were fun too and did a great job of helping us spot critters.

Once back on board I recorded my dives using the log of my new dive computer. Then I took a nap before Gene and I went to another FOD meeting for gay passengers. Dinner for us was in the dining room again. We had a very nice two hours meal with our dining companions Helen and Bill from Grand Rapids. It was Caribbean night and most of us had the lamb, while I tried the pork with a sweet Arowak sauce. Now it’s 10:30pm CST and I have an early dive tomorrow, so we are going to bed right away.

The Grand Princess arrived in the port of Costa Maya two hours late due to heavy seas and strong winds. This resort is relatively new. There is only one small hotel here, and another is under construction on the beach. But, the cruise pier has been developed as a very nice open shopping mall complete with a large saltwater pool.

  Gene and I had pre-booked a tour of the nearby Maya ruins at Chochaben. The company is called Native Choice. There are two owners, David and Ivan. David has been a scuba guide as well as a certified and college educated historian specializing in Maya history. Ivan’s family used to own the Chochaben site until it was taken over by the Mexican government in 1992. Ivan was actually born at the base of one of the pyramids.

The tour was wonderful, packed with historical and cultural facts. We had a great time. Archeologists believe that at its peak Chochaben was a city of some sixty thousand. A medium sized city for the Maya civilization. Much of the site is still un-restored, covered in vines, palms, and trees. But the three largest pyramid temples have been uncovered and restored. As well, the Mexican government has partially restored a public plaza and another that was used exclusively by the political and religious elite of the city. Finally, we also walked along one of the partially restored streets where upper class homes and shops once stood on recently uncovered stone foundations.

Now it’s 6pm CST and we are back onboard the ship. We’re too tired to shower and dress for dinner, so we’ve decided to sup at the buffet. The menu is far better on this ship than it was on the Regal Princess two months ago. Dinner should be enjoyable.

As a side note – I must say that I really love the Grand Princess. It was the first boat in the “Grand Class” of Princess cruise ships, and despite its age (9 years) it still looks fantastic. It’s the perfect size in my mind. It’s large enough to have all the latest features including 2 optional restaurants, two theatres, a night club performance venue, a disco, and more. But it also has a large buffet. It carries fewer passengers than the Caribbean Princess by about 400, and fewer than the Sapphire Princess by about 100. Yet it has the same amount of public space – including 4 pools, two of which are for adults and one of which is covered for use during cool days (like yesterday). After my observations over the last couple days, this boat seems to have just a touch more class than the other ships that followed in the same class. It is now my favorite Princess ship. There is a little bit more artwork, the carpets are somewhat more ornate, and the indoor pool is very pretty. I also must say I find the Vista Lounge far preferable to Club Fusion which has taken its place on newer ships. The sightlines in Club Fusion are terrible, making it very difficult to see the comedians and other performers. That problem is not present on this ship.

But enough of that blather about cruise ships. Tonight we leave for the island of Roatan in Honduras. I have a scuba dive planned for early tomorrow morning, and tonight I picked up a rental shorty dive suit. When I last dove in Aruba, I didn’t wear a dive suit which was fine for the first dive. But by the time we got to the second dive site, I was starting to get a little chilled. I don’t want the same thing to happen this time – especially since the interval between dives will be longer this time.

It’s time for a shower and dinner. Adios!

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Dinner and a show – that’s what we enjoy on most nights of our cruise. Last night we ate in the main dining room with a pleasant couple from Grand Rapids. I had the Cornish Game Hen and Gene ate the Mahi Mahi. Tonight was Italian night, but we ate in the buffet. This was the first time we ate dinner in the buffet, and we really took our time rather than going through the usual buffet ruch. First we dished up appetizers and salads. We sipped on some wine. Then we filled our plates with many tasty morsels including veal, beef, pasta, gnocchi, shrimp scampi, and eggplant. Afterward we watched a juggler/comedian in the Princess Theatre. My shoe took the staring role in his finale. Actually, he refered to it as my “smelly” shoe, even though that was a lie! Truly!. Still, though he was inaccurate I thought it was fun.

We made it! The relief we felt was incredibly intense. Our flight landed yesterday in Houston and we checked in right away with the baggage office. The woman at the counter was very helpful – the first United Airlines employee about which we could say that. She let us know our bags were due in on the flight that arrived at 1:15pm. Since our flight landed at 9:30am, we had a few hours free. Rather than wait around at the airport we picked up our rental car right away and headed into central Houston. We enjoyed an early lunch at a sidewalk café called Amaya. We managed to spend some time driving around town as well. We both agreed Houston is far nicer than Dallas, but it still suffers from the same dearth of activity in the central core – a dead downtown. That’s too bad because central Houston is clean and quite attractive.

After lunch we returned to the airport at 1:30pm. By 2pm we had picked up all our bags and left the airport with huge smiles on our faces. We got our bags at the last possible time, but what matters is we got them. We made a quick dash south on Interstate 45 through the heavy Houston traffic and across the bay bridge into Galveston. It was about 60 miles and it took 90 minutes. We dropped the car at the Hertz office and then experienced our first true miracle. The Hertz office was closed (which we expected) but the shuttle to the cruise pier was still running – a full three hours after it was supposed to stop!

In no time at all, we were at the cruise terminal. Within ten minutes we had checked it, posed for the usual boarding photo, and dragged our tired but relieved bodies up the gangway onto the beautiful Grand Princess.

Our cabin is wonderful. It’s about as large as we expected, but our balcony is absolutely gigantic! During sail away we attended our first gay gathering. There were about 12 people present. We enjoyed drinks and the sunset over Galveston Bay, but I wasn’t talkative because I was so tired. I mostly just listened as everyone else talked. Then it was time to dress for dinner.

We ate our first dinner in the Painted Desert Steak House (called Sterling on other Princess ships). Eating in the steakhouse on the first night is becoming a tradition for us. It’s quiet on the sail away night and allows us to eat early or late depending on our moods. After dinner we watched the usual Welcome Aboard show which included a quick song & dance number, an introduction of the cruise staff, and a comedian. I’m happy to report that we were both in bed and sound asleep by 9:45.

Today I woke up at 7:30 and walked two miles on the promenade deck. Gene slept in while I ate breakfast and read for a while by the atrium pool. Now I’m engaged in one of my favorite traditions. I’m having a Machiato in the atrium, posting on my blog. There isn’t much I plan on doing today. I’ll probably take a nap, I may go to the line dancing lesson, and reading by the pool will no doubt be on my agenda again.

It’s Saturday and we still aren’t in Houston. Our flight out of Denver was delayed again. Then, when we finally boarded and proceeded to take off, the captain had to abort takeoff suddenly when half way down the runway. As we witnessed later, the entire cockpit windshield shattered during the takeoff roll. Thankfully it didn’t fall into the laps of the flight crew. Needles to say, the flight was ultimately canceled. And we weren’t the only flight. High winds at Denver International caused the cancellation and delay of many flights. We, and hundreds of other folks, had to line up in order to rebook. When that happens, I’ve learned the chances of getting on a flight the same day or virtually nil – and so it was for us. We were stuck in Denver and our luggage was virtually inaccessible.

We skipped the customer service line and went straight for a pay phone and the Internet. Unfortunately, the cell phone was in the luggage - we won’t do that again. I guess with the expansion of cell phone ownership, payphones are no longer a priority. The fourth pay phone I found worked. I had to throw a fit with some Indian customer service lady at United who said she couldn’t rebook us except for a late arrival in Huston on Saturday. Of course that wouldn’t work. It’s 90 minutes from Houston to Galveston by car. Our cruise ship would be long gone if we arrived in Houston at 5pm on Saturday.

Finally, with the help of her supervisor, I convinced them to rebook us on the first Continental Airlines flight. Then, while Gene canceled our Houston car rental and hotel, as well as attempted to get answers about out luggage, I got a hotel reservation in Denver. Then I grabbed a cab and headed into the city center to get a rental car. We didn’t know if the cold winds would continue to blow. I wanted to have a rental car in case we had to make a last ditch effort to drive 12 hours to Galveston. Oh yes, did I mention all rental cars at the airport were gone, and all nearby hotels were booked. Yes, we were not the only ones suffering.

Once I returned to DIA, Gene was waiting for me without the bags. United was intractable. They would not pull our luggage unless we waited an additional 3-4 hours. Even if we did, they couldn’t guarantee they’d be able to find it. So we had to let go of the luggage and just hope it would make it to Houston on a different flight. We slept at the Marriott City Center, eating dinner in their restaurant and retiring by 9:30 so we could wake again at an ungodly hour and return to DIA for our 6:05am flight.

This brings me to the current moment. Gene and I made it onto the Continental flight and we are in the air, after ANOTHER DELAY. But this time it was just a 25 minute wait on the tarmac. Not all things are bad. We are seated in an exit row with a little extra leg room and only the two of us. The flight even included a lavish breakfast of a muffin and juice. Woo hoo!

Ahead of us is more work on the luggage issue. Here is our plan: we are going to hang around Houston International for a while until the first United flight lands. We’ll say a very sincere prayer to the patron saint of luggage. Then search the baggage carousel for our luggage. If we are unsuccessful, we’ll hop into our rental car and somehow find a Target (or even a WalMart!) to buy basic cruise clothing and toiletries. Then drive to Galveston and board the ship. However, I’m very hopeful we will find out luggage on the carousel and a buying spree will be unnecessary. I’m really upset that we are going through this crap again, just two short months after our last travel fiasco on American Airlines.

I must say, it isn’t the flight cancellations that piss me off. Bad things happen and airlines don’t control the weather. What makes me angry is the lack of support from the airlines once they cancel a flight. Basically, you are on your own without help. They don’t offer hotel vouchers any more. The customer service lines are huge, and the clerks are not very helpful. When a flight is canceled, the airlines need to grab a gate clerks and supervisors and de-brief the passengers. They also need to immediately remove all luggage and pass it to the customers that want it.

We have also learned a thing or two. We are both going to get larger carry-on bags and start taking our basic clothing and toiletries with us. Then we won’t be in desperate straits should our luggage be lost prior to a cruise. No more packing cell phones either.

But now it is time to get on with our vacation. I have no doubt we will make it onto the ship prior to sailing. The only question remaining is under what conditions we will be cruising. Will we be well dressed and comfortable in our usual attire? Or, will we be forced to skip the fine dining venues because all we have are shorts, T-shirts, and new sneakers.

 Tune in again for an update.

We’re facing another delay of 45 minutes to an hour. United Airlines is on my list for losing their recess time! I think they should have to write a letter apologizing for multiple delays in one day. We won’t even arrive in Houston until after 6pm now, and I still have to get the luggage and rental car. It will be dark by the time we return to the hotel, so our plans for touring around the city will have to be canceled.