{"id":6254,"date":"2024-04-07T16:52:20","date_gmt":"2024-04-07T16:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/?p=6254"},"modified":"2024-06-11T17:11:08","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T17:11:08","slug":"cruising-on-the-love-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/2024\/04\/07\/cruising-on-the-love-boat\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruising on the Love Boat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

March 24th<\/sup> to April 5th<\/sup>, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frank and I had found a bargain cruise price on a Princess Cruise Line so we decided that we would take a break from the busyness in our lives and head out to sea. We were excited because we would be going to some islands we had never been to before. This cruise was a repositioning cruise which meant our leg started in Galveston and would end in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After we got off the ship it would be heading on to England and we wished we had the money and time to continue on. Princess Cruise is known as the Love Boat based on one of their ships being used in the 1970\u2019s show called The Love Boat. The horn of the ship even plays the love boat theme song. https:\/\/www.princess.com\/en-us\/news\/backgrounders-and-fact-sheets\/princess-cruises-and-the-love-boat-connection-2<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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March 24th<\/sup>– Our daughter, Hana, drove us down to the Princess Regal and despite some craziness in traffic (a couple roads closed and a train stopped on the railroad tracks blocking a roadway) we were able to board around 1 pm. Then it was time to explore the ship and get some food. Princess is very different from Carnival. There are a lot more people in our age range and fewer families and small children. We managed to get lost several times trying to find our way around. We chose to dine at a group table at dinner which was fun and allowed us to get to know several other people on board and found a least one family who liked to play cards and agreed to meet us tomorrow to play Canasta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 25th<\/sup>– Today was a sea day which we always enjoy. It gives us time to relax and unwind. The Princess had a group of crafters who meet in the mornings on sea days so I was happy to join them and work on my embroidery and visit. Then we meet with Trace and Ramesh and Devi, who we had eaten diner with last night, to play some Canasta. Later this afternoon we enjoyed a swim in the pool. We love the fact this pool was so deep and long you could actually swim in it but we didn\u2019t like how cold the water was in the pool. Tonight as we walked about the deck we watched an amazing sunset and had fun taking pictures of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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March 26th<\/sup> \u2013 The ship came into Cozumel today. We arrived much later than planned due to winds. We had booked an excursion to take the ferry and swim with the sea turtles. Since we arrived so late the excursion was not supposed to get over until after dinner and the swim with the sea turtles had been canceled. We didn\u2019t want to pay just to ride the ferry and go to the beach so we ended up canceling our excursion and stayed on board the ship. We did head out for a bit to walk to a local store and buy some Dr. Pepper Zero. Princess only has Pepsi products and we both prefer Dr. Pepper Zero. We had to go to several stores before we found it at a gas station and bought up all the bottles they had which was only six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 27th<\/sup> & 28th<\/sup>– We had two back to back sea days. We spent our time relaxing, reading and hanging out with our new shipboard friends. We played cards, read books and I crafted. We also enjoyed spending time in the pool and watching the amazing shows. Also enjoyed more sunsets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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March 29th<\/sup>– Arrived in Aruba today. We didn\u2019t realize that we would get here on Good Friday so many places on the island where closed for the day. We hadn\u2019t booked an excursion here since we had been to Aruba on our last cruise and were able to see so many places here then. We decided to walk to the store to see if we could get some more soda. We headed out and walked and walked and walked. We ended up walking over 3 miles. Each time we got to a store we would find out it was closed and continue on to the next store. We were exhausted and finally came upon some hotels. We were able to go into one and ask them to call us a taxi so we could make our way back to the ship. On the way back to the ship the taxi driver knew one convenience store that was open so he took us there to get soda. After we got back to the ship we rested a bit and then headed off the ship again to buy a few things in the port shopping area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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March 30th<\/sup>– Arrived at Curacao today which now means we have visited all three of the famous ABC islands. Curacao is a beautiful island. We had booked a tour which drove around the island and took us around the island to see the sights. Since our excursion didn\u2019t start until midday so we hopped off the ship and did some exploring on our own before starting our tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our tour guide was wonderful. She was full of information on the island and took us to a local museum to learn about the history of the island. We were amazed at the stained glass map of The Netherlands West Indies. We were able to drive over the islands tallest bridge and see the beautifully painted houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the end of our tour we had the options at getting off at the Queen Emma pontoon bridge and doing some more exploring. We decided to walk around downtown and even where able to watch the pontoon bridge open and close when a boat needed to go through. We saw the love locks beside the bridge. https:\/\/travel.usnews.com\/Curacao\/Things_To_Do\/Queen_Emma_Pontoon_Bridge_62787\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Then it was back to the ship. That evening local residents from the island came on board and preformed for us. The show was amazing as we watched them sing and dance in their colorful Carnival costumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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March 31st<\/sup>– It was Easter Sunday and a sea day. They had Easter service on the ship and a delicious Easter dinner. We enjoyed a day to rest and relax after two days of walking long distances around Aruba and Curacao.  We looked forward to coming back to our cabin each day to see how our room steward had position my Sloth that I travel with. We love the beautiful sunrises and sunsets we are able to enjoy on sea days and this one was no exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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April 1st<\/sup>– We arrived in Antigua today. The Monday after Easter is called Whit or Bright Monday and celebrated on many of the Caribbean Islands. We had a tour booked to visit Devil\u2019s Bridge and the beach. Because of the celebration on the island we were not able to get to Devil\u2019s Bridge. As we traveled across the island to the beach we passed a parade of people and musicians. Once we arrived at the beach we spent most of our time in the ocean. While we were swimming the band we had passed earlier arrived at the beach and played for the people swimming there. https:\/\/cayman.loopnews.com\/content\/why-do-we-celebrate-easter-monday<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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April 2nd<\/sup>– Today was St. Maartens, an island I had looked forward to visiting. St. Maartens is famous for its beach that is right next to the landing strip for the airport. People are able to swim in the water while planes fly low overhead as they come in to land. We had booked a side by side tour in which we were able to drive around the island in side by sides and see the sights. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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There were two couples in each side by side so one couple drove out to the beach and one drove back. Frank was the one who took us back to town after we spent time enjoying the beach and watching the planes fly overhead. \u00a0https:\/\/www.visitstmaarten.com\/beaches\/maho-beach\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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April 3rd<\/sup> & 4th<\/sup> \u2013 Our last couple days were sea days. We spent time playing games, watching shows, swimming and relaxing. Our house in Porter, Texas went on the market yesterday and today we started getting messages regarding showings and offers on our house. Looks like by the time we arrive home we may have already sold our house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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April 5th<\/sup>– Arrived in Fort Lauderdale today and it was time to say good-bye to our friends. We are always sad when a cruise comes to an end but we enjoy the trip so much. We had booked a land and water excursion of Fort Lauderdale. We learned about the town and enjoyed seeing all the mansions and yachts in the waterways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Then it was off to the airport to fly back to Houston.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 24th to April 5th, 2024 Frank and I had found a bargain cruise price on a Princess Cruise Line so we decided that we would take a break from the busyness in our lives and head out to sea. We were excited because we would be going to some islands we had never been…Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6326,"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6254\/revisions\/6326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}