A Prince Albert, but not that kind

The Prince Albert II is the Silversea Cruise's expedition ship and also its smallest. The name of the ship is for the prince of Monaco, the home of the owners of the cruise line and not for the, uh, unique jewelry of a similar name. One hundred seventeen crew members--the largest group involved in food preparation and service I believe--serve an absolute maximum of 132 guests and probably much fewer given IT'S HURRICANE SEASON. So the adventure aspect may involve getting in and out of the Zodiacs after overeating and figuring out where we might be the next day. The 6072-ton ice-class 1A vessel, originally the sister ship of the one that hit a sand bar (not an iceberg) in Antarctica and sunk a year or so ago, will not see any sea ice I presume on the upcoming Dominican Republic to Costa Rica itinerary, but there will be lots of bird watching, jungle bug swatting, and a bit of snorkeling, hiking, and visits to a couple of quaint native villages. The usual Silversea showrooms featuring a couple who can sing but not dance and another who can dance but not sing that well are replaced with a lecture hall where naturalists (no, not naturists) will share more than they know with the hung over guests. (See Silversea's "all inclusive" policies on their web site.)

This trip should be fantastic nevertheless--for a number of reasons. The transit of the Panama Canal will be my second, but this time I will definitely not be wearing a "Computer University @ Sea" (sic) tee-shirt and be locked in a class room with 80+ year olds as I try to teach Windows 95 while looking over my shoulder at Lake Gatun and attempting to hear the announcements about the ascent and decent of the ship through the locks. The voyage begins in just over two weeks, starting with an overnight at a resort in La Romana that is so huge that each room is provided with a golf cart (for traveling over the hotel's property, not the room I presume) and ends with an overnight in San Jose, Costa Rica. The cruise covers only 2500 miles but looks like a nice change of pace from the larger ships (for Silversea anyway since my other SS cruises have been with no more than 300 or so guests at most and sometimes just over 100), and the plane flights involve no overnight economy tortures.

Further reports to follow after departure.