First Evening

My cabin mate on this cruise was John Ettensohn, father of the groom. John is currently a Roman Catholic priest of the Oblate Order, and lives in Indianapolis, IN. As it turned out, John and I had similar temperaments, and I think we were ideal roommates.

On the first evening, after dinner in the Lido Buffet, John and I took in the show in the Princess Theater, featuring James Michael (The Bad Boy of Magic), plus the Sapphire Princess Dancers & Guest Vocalists. Afterwards, we had a dinner/snack, and retired for the evening.

Well, John retired for the evening. As he fell asleep, I lay awake and grew conscious of a growing burning distress in my abdomen. What could it be? The effects of bad food perhaps? Who knew?

In the early morning hours, the intense intestinal eruption started. Worried about waking John and unable to sleep, I left the cabin and began wandering the entire ship, a specter without rest. As the hours passed, the rampaging sickness increasingly sapped my strength. Near dawn, I returned to the cabin, exhausted, and fell into fitful sleep.

Departure From Port Of Los Angeles

The Vincent Thomas Bridge on the Seaside Freeway spans the San Pedro Shipping Channel at the Port of Los Angeles.

Life vest drill.

Excited cruisers gather at the Neptune Pool on the Sapphire Princess to watch as the ship departs Los Angeles.

Shipping containers from the world over are loaded and unloaded here.

Shipping containers like Legos!

Looking back north as we proceed down the channel.

A job well done, one of our escorts does a figure-eight.

Buh-bye!

A Walk Around Hawthorne

Departure For The Cruise

Here are some pictures I took on the flight from Sacramento to Los Angeles on November 26, 2010 to join the Mexican cruise.

Downtown Sacramento, around the train yard.

The American River (lower right) joins the Sacramento River (center), with the Sacramento Shipping Channel (upper left) also visible.

The San Andreas Fault.

The Channel Islands (left to right; Anacapa Islands, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel).

LAX

Back In Port

We arrived in port at LA early this morning. Disembarkation was kind of painful - like thousands of people trying to check out of a hotel at the same instant. We are now waiting for our various flights at LAX. I planned this leg rather badly. I could have gotten an earlier flight, but I had romantic notions of hiking LA by foot. Forgot about the luggage.... My flight leaves at 4 p.m.

Sorry about no contact for days. Internet on the ship was available, but only at a shocking 75 cents per minute. Just too high!