Day 75: Dominica

We had gorgeous weather today in Dominica. There was no rain at all where the Emerald Princess docked in Roseau, although I did hear of brief light showers in other parts of the island. Despite having the weather's full cooperation, we stuck close to the ship today. Luckily, we were at the cruise ship pier (pity the Mein Schiff down at the freight pier), and so after breakfast and using some of the not-so-fast wifi from the Fort Young Hotel, we spent some time walking around Roseau, but were not so ambitious as to make the trek to the Botanic Gardens. We had thought about taking a taxi to Trafalgar Falls but were turned off the the $50 fare plus $5 each to get in the park. We were back on the ship and eating lunch in the buffet by 1:00pm.

While we were finishing lunch, we heard an announcement about a man overboard emergency drill. Now, this sounded interesting, so we headed down to Deck 7 and watched the entire thing. Not only was the Promenade Deck left open and not blocked off, one of the Deck officers stood with us an explained the entire drill to us. It was quite interesting to watch; we've seen parts of these in the past but never one in its entirety and never one where an actual dummy was thrown out and then retrieved. Honestly, Princess could have charged for spectatorship, and a chance to be in the rescue craft from launch until the it was again lifted could be the most profitable excursion of the cruise.

Afterwards, when the excitement was over, I went up to Deck 19 to walk (I love walking up there when the ship is in port). When I was done, I was so ready for a float in the Terrace Pool, and then decided to go to the spa and used the (relatively) big showers, the steam room and the sauna for only the second time this winter. I enjoyed it so much...why haven't I been there more often?

By 5:00pm we were up in Skywalkers for port wine and Stilton night (another favorite of mine). We watched the Mein Shiff sailaway and sunset at the same time on the Promenade Deck before going to dinner. Right now, we're comfortably ensconced up at MUTS watching the NFC championship on the big screen.

Not an exciting day, but a most enjoyable one

Photo 1: I am going to miss having fresh fruit for breakfast when I get home!

Photo 2: the Fort Young Hotel and the southwest coast of Dominica as seen from the Garroway Hotel terrace

Photo 4: Dominican mailbox

Photo 5: gearing up for Carnival