Cruise Status Report

Hello all,

Just wanted everyone to know we are alive and well, having a blast crossing the Atlantic at full speed, (21.5 knots),  in 80° weather, calm seas, dodging storms and hurricanes. (See chart below.)

When we left Casablanca last Thursday we were supposed to go to Ponta Delgada in the Azores. But a storm was headed across the Atlantic to the Azores, so we went to Medeira instead. That was great. We have been to the Azores, and Madeira was much nicer and a new port for us.

Then we were going to steam almost due West for Ft. Lauderdale and Sandy came along. So now we are headed full speed, 600 miles further South and will come in to the Caribbean around the Dominican Republic and sail back North to Ft. Lauderdale behind Sandy.

So the storm hasn't affected our weather, but the trip won't be as profitable for Princess because it's added about 900 miles to the trip and sailing at full speed burns more fuel/mile.

So we will arrive on time Sunday morning. Now the question is how Sandy affects the air transportation schedules and our flight to JFK.

We'll keep you informed when we get on dry land. See you soon.

Skip & Carol

Created using Skitch by Evernote.

Sent from my iPad

First Two Days in Venice

We have been on board Ruby Princess for nine days, so we are at the half-way point in the cruise. We docked in Casablanca this morning after visits to Naples, Civitavecchia (Rome), Livorno (Florence), Cannes, and Barcelona. Unfortunately, the Internet service aboard the ship is terrible, but that is not unusual. The signal has to go 22,000 miles up to the satellite and 22,000 miles back down, before it gets into the terrestrial internet infrastructure, so you get dial-up connection speeds at best.

So here is a collection of pictures from Venice. Today we are in Casablanca, we'll have two sea days before Ponta Delgada, and then six days to cross the Atlantic to Ft. Lauderdale. We'll have some time to post some more photos when we are at sea.

Carol got a big thrill last night passing through the straights a Gibraltar and seeing "The Rock".

The iToys Workshop has had good attendance and is being well received.

San Marco at Night

iPhone 5 does a nice job with night photos.

View our new Photo Journal "Arriving Venice 10/06/12"

You've been invited to view "Arriving Venice 10/06/12".

View "Arriving Venice 10/06/12"

If you are unable to access this journal by clicking the button, please copy and paste the URL below into your browser.

https://www.icloud.com/journal/#4;CAEQARoQ2icIcY-ni-XrPhivJa1jzQ;6035FDED-FDFD-4022-90EC-97B55F931C26

The photos were taken with an iPhone 5  The journal was composed using the photo journal feature of iPhoto on my iPad and uploaded to iCloud where they reside at the URL shown above. The journal will be updated as the trip progresses.

Sent from my iPad