We had a surprising appetite this morning for the day after a Crown Grill dinner, and I had fruit and a egg white veggie omelet. By 9am we were walking off the ship packed for a beach day, but our intended destination today was not Margaritaville, nor Jack's Shack. Instead, we walked out of the Grand Turk Cruise Center and turned left down the island's main north-south road. After an easy 30 minute walk, we arrived at Governour's Beach, part of the Columbus Landfall National Park. It's just north of, and on the same stretch of beach as where the ship docks, but because of a fence on the other side of the freight dock, it can only be reached by walking out to the main road and back.
We had two main goals for the day: escape the noise and music and crowds of Margaritaville, and snorkel around the shipwreck that we could see from the Emerald Princess. We set our things on a large wooden picnic table, buried in sand so deeply that the seat was about 4" off the ground, inflated our floats and spent hours enjoying that crystal blue water and snorkeling around the shipwreck and the rocks in the water off the center part of the beach.
The snorkeling was not impressive. Despite the fact that G later found a gorgeous purple sea fan washed up on the beach, there were no corals at all by the beach, and only a few types of fish (though I did see a few of my favorite wrasse). Mostly we just enjoyed the peace- there were fewer than ten cruisers and locals on the beach- and the sound of the waves...and seeing the sun. We didn't get a lot of that in our ports last cruise. But it was a good thing we'd gotten an early start to the day...by 1:30pm the clouds started to move in again and, by the time we packed up and began walking back to the ship, it started to rain.
Leaving the beach, we returned to the main road until we arrived at the sign for Jack's Shack, and then cut back to the beach, walking back to the pier along the water. I think it was a shorter, but harder way to go, walking in the sand instead of on the road.
Once back on the ship, we showered and rinsed out all of our snorkel gear and beach wear. And that was the first time I wished we were on the Royal Princess, washing things out in those much larger bathroom sinks. Actually, it's the second time. The first time was when I was trying to deal with our statement kerfuffle a few days ago at the Passenger Services Desk while Strings and Steel were playing in the Piazza just one deck below. Who ever thought that loud music near the front desk was a good system? At least on the Royal Princess, the PSD is more removed from the main Piazza.
It was 3:30pm by the time we had finished washing and rinsing and were at the Horizon Court Buffet. That's a tough time to be hungry. Eat too much and we'd spoil dinner; still, we were too hungry to wait until 5:30pm. I had just a small salad and a Bosc pear, and that was enough to take the edge off. We were up in Skywalkers when the Constellation sailed about 4pm, and then for our own sailaway at 5pm. Of course, we started to see some blue sky again just as we sailed (so typical).
For dinner, I chose the ceviche starter and orange roughy entree. That is one of my favorite dishes, and not too dissimilar from how I prepare fish at home (though I often settle for tilapia for budget reasons). After pine-orange sorbet for dessert, we have returned to our cabin for G to take a power nap, but are shortly heading back out for the 8pm production show; Disco: Blame It on the Boogie. It appears we won't be seeing Magic To Do this cruise; which is a surprise. The embarkation day Patter had it listed as one of this cruise's shows. Come to think of it, I wonder if something has happened to the magician, Erik Bryan. We were supposed to see him in his own show, too, and haven't yet.
Whatever the reason, we always enjoy Disco: Blame it on the Boogie. Other things this short cruise has not included: the champagne waterfall, the Love Boat Disco Deck party, and lobster in the dining room. We also did not have an MTP or Captains Circle party. In their place, the top 10 couples (cutoff this cruise was 470 days) received a voucher for dinner at Crown Grill or the Crab Shack. We were the #2 MTP and received a commemorative crystal and a bottle of wine in lieu of Korbel champagne in our cabin last night. We also received one drink voucher each, though I'm not certain if that was for all Captains Circle members or just Platinum level and above. I won't bother Captains Circle host Melissa by asking her...she has been working 24/7 putting together the new member packets for all the first time Princess cruisers (over 1000 passengers!).
One other noteworthy item...we have received four new bed pillows in our cabin since yesterday. They are wonderful, and must be part of the new bed rollout that Princess has undertaken. Ambrish said new linens will be on board soon (I don't know if they'll be in place before we disembark). Once they are, the Emerald Princess will be among the first ships to have everything related to the new beds in place. They really are spectacular, and we are two happy cruisers. :-)
