Monarch of the Seas & Regal Princess
On Friday August 31st, 2007, Regal Princess made her last call under that name in the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, before she sailed to Australia to become P&O Australia's Pacific Dawn.  Regal and her sister Crown Princess (I), which is currently operating as Ocean Village Two, have a unique profile.  The ships' rounded bridge giving her the sense of being related to modern aircraft that supplanted ocran liners in the middle of the last century.  It's an interesting design that takes getting used to, but Regal and Ocean Village Two are a breath of fresh air at a time when so much of the current tonnage looks the same.
This Friday afternoon was the tail-end of a horrible heatwave when temperatures were into the hundreds across the Greater Los Angeles area.  I especially liked the huge cumulous clouds that seemed to frame the ships as they readied to sail in the afternoon heat.  Not even being by the ocean could make it pleasant and there was uncharacteristically no hint of a sea breeze.
Regal was supposed to sail at 4pm to be followed by the seemingly omnipresent Monarch of the Seas at the usual time of 5pm.  However, 4pm came and went and with no hint of movement from either vessel, we decided to hop on the Fiesta harbor cruise just in case anything went amiss with the schedule.
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			(C) Copyright Amy Blume 31st August & 12th September 2007 Not to be reproduced without permission