We have planned shore excursions with the cruise line and have picked a few ports where we can do walking tours of the port town.

We are looking forward to sailing on the Royal Princess. In May of 2018 we sailed on this ship for a 12 day British Isles cruise. We love the forward mini suite set up and hope that it will be good for a long cruise. \240The ship has lots of activities on sea days. We have “elite” standing on the loyalty program so we get free laundry service-that helps on a long journey. \240The weather will be mostly warm in the Caribbean and in Brazil and Peru. We may see cold weather in the Faulkland Islands and in Chile.

We have planned to spend two nights in Fort Lauderdale before the cruise. \240We wanted to allow time in case there is bad weather(flight delays) during this time.

Caribe 101 - the Fiji suite will be our home away from home.

We are on the final countdown now-12 days to go. The winter here in Oregon has been mild. The East coast has had cold and snow. We gave ourselves 2 days in Florida, just in case there were any weather delays. We hope all flights go as planned. We expect lots of sunny days but have to take cold weather clothes for southern Argentina and Chile.

We have been packing and repacking and as the time draws close we think we have thought of everything. We have warm weather clothes, cool weather clothes and in between clothes. We have first aid and pharmacy supplies. We have electronics, book light, alarm clock etc. Shoes, hats, gloves, cameras, binoculars...

Now if we can get the suitcases closed we will be ready to take off. We start out with 2 nights in Fort Lauderdale so we can get a good nights rest, some sun and time to pick up anything we need😮.

I will update the journal when we get to Florida👨‍✈️👩‍✈️.

Had a great flight from Portland to Fort Lauderdale yesterday. Our hotel is about halfway between airport and cruise ship terminal. Four points by Sheraton..seems to have everything we need including a pretty good restaurant. \240We walked a couple of blocks to a drug store to pick up a few things. It was about 75 but cloudy today. Just kicked back this afternoon. Will be ready to get on board and begin trip tomorrow. There are six ships sailing out tomorrow 😀

We were up early and ate breakfast at the hotel. \240We called for a cab about 9:30 and were at the pier in 15 minutes. Found our line and were checked in and waiting to board by 10:45. They said there were 2000 elite and platinum cruisers so we had a lot of company. We were on board by 11:30 and had a nice lunch in the pizzeria. Weather sunny 75-80.

Had fun watching ships go out. Great dinner in the Crown Grill Steakhouse.

The wine tasting was a pairing so there were small tastes of food with each wine. We will be going in to St. Thomas- just a walk about and some shopping. Hope the “snow” at home didn’t last long.

We walked all around the Havensight mall. We had lunch at the Smoking Rooster.

We had some clouds and rain in Antigua today. Still very warm and humid. Shopped for a few souvenirs and came back to the ship for lunch and a nap!

We went Rum tasting in Barbados. Our tour took us through the town and then to the Foursqaure rum distillery .

The grounds were beautiful and we saw the distillery and the barrels used for aging rum.

So we went on a bird watching tour. The red ibis is the beautiful bird in the pictures. We saw them but it was hard to get a good picture.

It was very warm, about 80, luckily there was lots of shade as we went along among the mangrove trees.

Champagne breakfast / Sunday Bruch

It was a beautiful sunny day the, the actual crossing was at 1:47 this afternoon. \240There was a ceremony this am for those who had never crossed before. It involves kissing a fish. We had a cocktail instead 🥤🌈☀️

Going ashore today. Fortaleza is known for its beaches. We are hoping to see the arts and crafts market.

We took the ships shuttle bus to the downtown area which was 4-5 miles away. The market was a former prison! Lots of lace and embroidered tablecloths.

Randy bought some cashews. We did not really see a good lunch spot. This area is known for great grilled meat. \240There are a lot of hotels and condos on the beach. That must be where the restaurants are

Back to the ship for lunch and 🍧 gelato😎

It was so hot and humid we only lasted an hour in our sanctuary beds!

Had dinner at Sabatini-Italian food

We walked several blocks to the Mercado. Temp in the 80’s at 9 am. \240

Salvador is known for its historic area with brightly colored buildings

These are traditional costumes.

There is an elevator that takes from Mercado to the “old town” area.

Lighthouse

Skyline taken from the veranda of our floating condo. The ship is preparing to sail at 4 pm

Cloudy this morning 78 degrees at 8am . Our tour is in the afternoon

Going to see the statue of Chris the Redeemer 😓

We were lucky to get our tour in without getting wet. The rain came just after we viewed the statue. In the evening before sail away, there was a lightning storm.

Dance lesson in the piazza

Cherries jubilee and Strawberry 🍓 Romanov 👌😎

Trash heap regatta . Make a boat you can support 6 coke cans to float across the pool.

Carol floating her handmade boat.

Hop on Hop off bus tour.

Lunch at local cafe. The know how to cook beef here.

Very warm. 90 degrees today.

Arrived late into port. We were scheduled to arrive at 5 am, as this was the end of the first leg. Due to a variety of glitches our ship was put to the end of the line to dock in Buenos Aires😝. \240We had a shore excursion from 8:30 to 3 . It was cancelled because we didn’t get to the port until 2. \240The passengers getting off had the biggest problems. We stayed cool and comfortable.

The ship had a troupe of local singers and dancers come on to do a show so we got to see Argentine Tango 💃.

Loved the dancing.

We rode the shuttle to the port building to buy a few souvenirs. 9:30 am feels like 85 degrees and very humid.

Spent most of our time watching activities of container ship terminal.

Ann - facial

Randy - massage

No wildlife airings for us today😟

There is a lot of motion in the ocean today. The prediction for tomorrow is good so far. The temperature will be about 45 degrees so Coats will be needed for our tour I. The Falkland Islands.

Horse racing in piazza.

Pub lunch in Crown grill. Note mushy green peas🙃🙁.

We went to Bluff Cove to view the penguins.

Part of the ride was in these 4 wheel drives and “off road”. Very bumpy!

Beautiful beach. Cloudy and about 40-44 degrees.

King penguins there babies were born in Dec so they are big and almost ready to be on their own.

Nice shop and cafe for tea and scones!

Gentoo penguins playing and swimming on the 🏖 beach.

Almost dark when we went around Cape Horn. Sea is calm as we head into the Beagle channel.

Had to use Pinterest picture. It is overcast today. Not raining, thank goodness. We took the tender to go ashore. We just went to the pier market and a handicrafts market.

On a clear day.

On a cloudy day looking at the top of the volcano.

Spa time - fire and ice pedicure 🔥🌎

Pelicans in Paracas

Movies under the stars- Greenbook!

Reading on on veranda

Looks like we landed on the moon

Good news, they have vendors!!

Did some shopping and ate in cafe along the water front.

Calimari and ceviche - good😀

Peruvian Pasa 🐎 horses

Lake Nicaragua with \240Concepcion and Masyaya

Grenada

Lake Nicaragua 🇳🇮

Music and dancing on Sunday in the square

Beach hotels in PV

Carnival Splendor in port.