Day 132: At Sea

What a day. What a fantastic football day. And not only was this a fantastic day, it brought back wonderful memories of the day the Broncos won Super Bowl 50 while we were on the Emerald Princess. 

I love this!!!!

Of course, there were some positives and negatives about watching the Super Bowl on the Majestic Princess in Australia. Positives: The game started at 10:30am Sydney time. Sure, G was still waking me up at 7am, telling me he had primo seats for the game and I needed to get out there and sit in one, but at least we didn’t have a 12 hour wait for kickoff as we do when we’re on a ship in the Caribbean. Another plus:  There are just over 200 Americans on board this cruise. It was kind of nice to have a get together of sorts, especially since we’ve been out of the country for 132 days. Naturally, I’m assuming every American on board was there to watch the game, but surely they were, right?  

But, oh my, the viewing situation was the pits. The ship was only licensed to show the game in one venue, and it wasn’t shown on MUTS (instead, 40-year old Grease was being shown. This was criminal.), nor in Princess Live, which would have been perfect, or even the Vista-less Lounge. No, we were watching a large-ish screen in the Hollywood Conservatory, with its large skylight creating awful glares on the TV. Many of us complained, but it fell on deaf ears. That’s why G was up at 6am and got chairs with the glare on just one side of the TV. 

Besides, once we all stood for the National Anthem and the game began, and they brought in the tailgating snacks, we kinda sorta forgot about the glare. 

Not the best viewing situation, but my husband got usme the seats with the least glare

That’s a pretty impressive football

As is customary with the international feed, we didn’t get the usual commercials but we did see halftime, which hasn’t always been the case. But the real attraction was that game, and what a fantastic game it was. I was right in my prediction yesterday about the pacing of the game; at 1pm, it was in the bottom of the third quarter, but it was San Francisco who was up by two scores. By the start of Q4, we were resigning ourselves to the worst. OMG that was one fantastic quarter!! I am so excited for Kansas City and cruise friends Fungirl and Nancy and Yvonne and Amy. Enjoy it ladies. It’s just the first of several, I’m sure. 

Who couldn’t be happy for Andy Reid?

If it can’t be the Broncos (or the Saints), this is the next best thing

G had been eating tailgate food (extremely non-vegan) all game long, but I went to the World Fresh Marketplace during halftime and got chips and guac which was good football food. We never really ate lunch, but this was the menu in the Concerto Dining Room:

Day 14 lunch menu, page 1

 Day 14 lunch menu, page 2

When the Broncos won Super Bowl 50, the feed cut off immediately after the game and we didn’t see the presentation of the Lombardi trophy but today the coverage lasted well after the game, which was great, because ESPN disappeared off our cabin TVs when the game started and still hasn’t returned tonight (which kind of stinks). We are watching news coverage of the game on ABC...and that’s not the American Broadcasting Company, if you know what I mean, so coverage is scant. 

We made it to the Elite Lounge in the Vista-less Lounge and then to dinner, where it was nice to be hungry for a change. Francesco has pretty much taken over my meal planning and every dinner is once again exciting, which is great because I was sort of burning out on the food there for awhile. 

Day 14 dinner menu, page 1

Day 14 dinner menu, page 2

Day 14 dessert menu

Tonight’s Princess Theater entertainment was Voice of the Ocean at 6:45pm, and that doesn’t work at all with a 5:15pm dinner time, so we instead sat in the Piazza and listened to Acoustic Rush play for the better part of 90 minutes. Very nice and very relaxing. There is a variety show tonight at 10pm with Rietta Austin and Bruce Mathiski (who scheduled these shows tonight??), but our early wake up today and again tomorrow won’t let us stay up for it. Instead, we ended our evening with a pass through the World Fresh Marketplace for watermelon. I’ve decided that, if this season’s blog was a book, I’d have to title it My Watermelon Winter. Or My Walking Winter. My Watermelon and Walking Winter. Yes, that perfectly sums it up. 

Life is good. :-)

Day 14 Princess Patter, page 1

Day 14 Princess Patter, page 2

Day 14 Princess Patter, page 3

Day 14 Princess Patter, page 4

Day 118: At sea

If you’re a long time Yellow Fish Cruises blog reader, you can probably guess how we spent our day. If you’re not an NFL fan, just skip over this post. ‘Cause it was AFAD (All Football, All Day), with just a break for dinner.

9:28am. That’s what time it was when I was waking anyone still asleep at the forward end of Lido Deck with my screams. That’s when Patrick Mahomes ran for a TD just before halftime in the AFC Championship game. I’ve said it many times: Silent spectatorship, regardless of the sport, has never been my forte. It’s in the genes. At least I don’t yell at the coaches, pointing out their flawed play strategy (Mom). Not too often. ;-)

10:28am. I was yelling again, this time after another Tannehill sack, and by 10:38am, when Mahomes ran it in for another touchdown, I’m sure no one was still sleeping anywhere on the ship. 

Last night, I had placed a room service order for coffee for both of us and an egg McMuffin to be delivered around 7am, and supplemented that with a pastry run through the World Fresh Marketplace just before the first kickoff. We stayed in the cabin through that beautiful Chiefs win right into the NFC Championship game. I really didn’t care about the outcome of that game; I was just hoping for more good football. Ok, maybe not. It was kinda painful to watch. 

But it was still our best (and one of our only) football days of the season. I guess I had hoped, with over 1000 Americans currently on board, that the games might have been shown on MUTS or at least in one of the lounges, but we got bupkus. That’s okay; we made our own fun. Hours of football with my best bud is one of my favorite things in life. But it did bring back memories of the past two years when we watched these games with one eye on the beautiful Pacific Ocean in Hawaii.

Also entertaining: All the commercials on ESPN2 for “Super Bowl Monday. Are you ready, Australia?” That’s right up there with “the weather gets warmer as you go north” for just not sounding quite right. ;-)

Not that we were there, but sea day lunch was again served in the Concerto Dining Room:

Day 13 lunch menu, page 1

Day 13 lunch menu, page 2

We booked this current cruise under a promotion where we received a free dinner in a specialty restaurant. It took a lot of re-scheduling (per my husband, it must be on a sea day, but not on Most Traveled Guest luncheon day and not on Captains Circle party night). Tonight was the night, and the restaurant, of course, was the Crown Grill. I might have enjoyed the French restaurant on board, but I understand that G is feeling fairly beef-deprived. And since he never once today told me I was getting a little carried away with my exuberance during the games, he deserved a Crown Grill veal chop. Besides, I would be having seafood regardless of where we ate.

Not that we were there, but:

Day 13 dinner menu, page 1

Day 13 dinner menu, page 2

Day 13 dessert menu

On our way to dinner, we came upon the 5pm renewal of vows (haha. That was just autocorrected to reversal of vows) in the Piazza. Cruise Director Andrew suggested it as a way for couples to show their continued commitment to each other. Hey, G and I survived the aestas horribilus followed by nearly four months in an inside cabin with one bathroom. If that doesn’t demonstrate commitment, I don’t know what does. But G grabbed my hand and pulled me into the center of the Piazza as he told me we were stuck together forever. Yeah, yeah, I figured that out a few years ago. Who else would want us? ;-)

Dinner at the Crown Grill was the best one we’ve enjoyed this season. I had the salad and the orange roughy; G had the veal chop. There was no grazing in the World Fresh Marketplace before bedtime tonight. We. are. stuffed. 

The show tonight was the finals of The Voice of the Ocean, but we missed it when we lingered over dinner. No matter. We’re watching a replay of the AFC Championship game in the cabin. Apparently, six hours of football and four hours of commentary in one day are simply not enough. Forget “in sickness and in health, for richer and poorer”. True love means never having to say, “I just wish you’d enjoy watching football with me”. 

Life is good. :-)

Day 13 Princess Patter, page 1

Day 13 Princess Patter, page 2

Day 13 Princess Patter, page 3

Day 13 Princess Patter, page 4

Day 122 (continued): Super Bowl at sea

I'll be very honest here; I was pushing hard last week for us to go home on the last turnaround day, only to be able to watch the Super Bowl in the midst of friends, or holed up In the family room with a fire in the fireplace accompanied by a delivery pizza and a Bud Light Lime (or three). Because, let's face it...Super Bowl spectatorship on a cruise ship, when one actually cares about the outcome, is a grueling thing. Last year, on the Grand Princess when I didn't like either team, it was easy. About an hour before the game, we went to the Explorers Lounge and sat on a comfy sofa and watched the game in a very civilized fashion. But this year...

Second, let's get this out of the way:  I knew the Broncos were the underdog in this fight. 5 1/2 points was the accepted wisdom. But Denver lasted a month longer this season that I thought they would, and I vowed to be happy with that. My expectation was just that they play better than two years ago (so I set the bar pathetically low). And, as with so much in life, things go easier when I underexpect. 

So, back to yesterday morning, being awakened by the alarm going off at 6:30...

G threw on some clothes and hightailed it to the Calypso Pool area; I took the time to take a shower and insert contacts before following him. I was packed for the day:  besides my backpack with its usual contacts lens and asthma emergency gear, I had a bag filled with sunscreens, water bottles, sunglasses, gum, iDevices, and yes, maybe a minibottle of gin. 

In the still darkness, I could see G had claimed two loungers up one level in Deck 16. There were no loungers set up yet on Deck 15, but as soon as two were set in place, in the most perfectly primo location, my fanny was in one of them 3.7 seconds. It was 7:07am. Score!

And then the reality set in...it was 11 1/2 hours until kickoff. It was downright cold. And windy. And although we had seen a little bit of a sunrise, it quickly turned cloudy and started to rain. Pool towels had not even been set out yet, and we pulled our loungers back a foot or two where they were partially covered to try to stay as dry as possible, but with the wind, it was a lost cause. 

But we are die hards. I love the Broncos and my husband loves me and so there we sat, side by side, miserable and snappy. There were three other equally committed couples out there with us, and they were also determined to stay where they were despite the rain. 

Fortunately, the rain was only intermitting until about noon, when it stopped for longer periods of time. We followed our usual routine; first one of us went to get some breakfast food and bring it back to the loungers, and then the other did. Bathroom breaks and coffee warm ups were similarly spaced. At some time, Phyllis came by and said she wanted (or was willing) to join us, and the two became three, which made taking brief breaks that much simpler. 

Thank you God (!!!) that this year we were not subjected to watching the Wake Show for four hours, nor the Grand Princess revitalization documentary (prior views: 322 times), nor the 2-hour European history documentary (prior views:  6 times). Instead, MUTS featured a slide show of the top 1000 travel photos taken by Princess passengers accompanied by soft music, and that was perfect. It was fun to try to guess where they had been taken. Then those damn talking animals on that BBC documentary appeared, but I didn't even find them quite as excruciating this year. 

Finally, at 10am, the movie The Blind Side was shown, and those two hours passed quickly and entertainingly. Except this time I didn't fry at the end...was it possible I was just so much more laid back than I had been two years ago when Denver played in the Super Bowl?  I think so. I had really put it largely out of my mind in the past two weeks, my eyelid had stopped twitching and I was feeling fairly mellow. 

The crowd was continuing to gather. I can't say exactly when the last of the chairs were taken. There is a tremendous amount of chair relocation that takes place in the hours leading up to a game like the Super Bowl. Even though we were settled, we were constantly on guard for people sliding into our sight line, and we made small adjustments to route those people walking through to be behind us, instead of in front of us. 

At 3pm, the movie Draft Day was shown, but I had trouble hearing it (there were some loud talkers just behind me) and so actually closed my eyes and rested/slept for 45 minutes until I was awakened when it started to rain again. That little break went a long way to making me feel refreshed, the rain didn't last long, and that was the last precipitation we saw until the very end of the game. Yay!!

Meanwhile, we ate a couple pieces of pizza (the lines were soooooooo long) and drank, but just a little (I had one minibottle of gin in Sprite Zero and G nursed one beer) and I think some cookies were consumed somewhere along the way and a bag of popcorn, but it really didn't turn into too much of a junk food fest, and I think that kept us feeling better. 

After my short nap, when it started to rain, I returned to the cabin and changed into my yoga pants and sneakers and socks in an effort to stay warm. I had been wearing a heavy fleece almost the entire day. While we had had sun for about 10 minutes, the day had largely been chilly and windy and damp. But dressed in what I call my 'traveling clothes', and wrapped in towels (there weren't nearly enough blankets to go around), I stayed comfortable to the end. We talked about it later, how many times the same towels had to be laundered yesterday. Between the three of us, we probably used 20 pool towels. As it rained and they got wet, we'd replace them with new ones, usually still warm from the dryer. 

A tailgate party was set up by the Calypso Pool, with burgers and pizza and wings and chips and salsa. Others may have been set up in Explorers Lounge and Club Fusion and the Conference Room, where the game was also shown (along with the casino). There were certainly plenty of places to watch the game, but, despite its hardships, there is something special about watching it on MUTS. We did the math...of the past 12 Super Bowls, we've watched all but one of them on a Princess ship, starting in 2005 on the Grand Princess on this new thing called MUTS. 

By 5:15pm or so, we started to see some pre-game coverage, but only got the video. The audio was just music, but it was upbeat and loud and kept us going. Still, by the time Lady Gaga sang the national anthem (beautifully, I might add), we were acutely aware of the fact that we had already spent over 11 hours in the elements and who knew what emotional roller coaster was ahead. Still, because it was a much cooler day than we had two years ago when the Emerald Princess was in Barbados on Super Bowl Sunday, with almost no sun, we were tired but not exhausted. And fervently hoping that the Broncos would at least show up this time around. 

For a non-fan, the game must have been very boring.  It certainly lacked any offensive excitement (heck, it lacked any offense at all), but the score was kept close enough that the game had lots of tension for us until the third quarter.  Gun shy, I didn't let myself start to relax until the Broncos were up by 14, but by then the spectacle changed from watching the score to watching Cam Newton's sacks.

At the end, I'd did fry, just a little. It's not often that the good guy wins, and, despite that fact that he played like a 39-year old QB, Peyton Manning is a good guy. That the crowd around the Calypso Pool was so heavily favoring the Broncos showed that other people think so too. Phyllis stayed with us until the very end, and cheered as hard for the Broncos as I did, despite the fact she is a diehard Giants fan. As she explained it, she loves Eli and was rooting for Peyton and so was a Broncos fan with only one degree of separation today. Thank you Phyllis!  You made the day so much more fun. 

My only disappointment was that the feed was cut off at the end of the game and we missed the post game and the presentation of the Lombardi trophy. I've since caught a little of it on ESPN in our room, but will have to wait until we return home to binge watch the online video coverage of it. 

It was midnight before I finally fell asleep. Waking this morning, I felt the effects of yesterday. But, as I said to G at breakfast, we would have felt the effects whether the Broncos won or lost. Wasn't it so much better this way?  We watched our favorite team win Super Bowl 50 on our favorite large ship, probably watching Peyton Manning play his last down of professional football. We'll never forget that day. Never. 

 If God is not a Bronco, then why are sunsets orange?

Life is good. :-)

Day 122: The day the Broncos won Super Bowl 50

Life is good. :-)

Day 101: Football at sea

I didn't open my eyes this morning until G returned to the cabin at 9am after his breakfast. I was (in the words of my southern relatives) "done in" after a disrupted night of sleep followed by hours of playing in great waves, sitting through two football games (the first under hot sun), and eating junk food while I did. Yep, I certainly felt 'done in', and, even after nearly 9 hours of sleep, I awoke headachy and hungry.

I read in bed for awhile (my current read is about the United 93 flight on 9/11, and it's mesmerizing), but the sound of something banging somewhere nearby finally convinced me to get up and start my day. I checked our little refrigerator to see if there was a can rolling around (a likely culprit when there's noise like that), then I checked our safe door and little cubby door, and the bathroom door, but, for once, our cabin wasn't the causative factor. 

I was in the process of writing a thank you note to Cruise Critic friend Denise for dropping off her and her husband's two free drink coupons (in lieu of a Captains Circle party for Platinum and Elite passengers on this 4-night cruise), as they had purchased the unlimited drinks package, and the phone rang...and it was Denise!  That was a bit tingly!  She said she had a bag with some additional drink items in it that they didn't use and asked if she could drop it by the cabin. (Honestly, soooo nice). I was just about to step into the shower and wasn't prepared to see anyone other than my husband face to face (for good reason...read on) so she said she'd just drop it outside our door. Very, very kind!

When I stepped into the bathroom and took a good look at myself in the mirror, I knew I had done the right thing. Wow. What a mess. I looked like a horse that had been rode hard and put away wet, my eyes were red and gritty, and I wasn't looking forward to putting little pieces of hard plastic in them. After my shower (really, there is no shortage of hot water in our cabin!!!), I went to work with spackle and silicone and all the other tools in my tool kit to look presentable enough to face the world. 

When I opened the door to see what goodies Denise had delivered, I was stunned to find an entire party in a bag. A feast of alcohol and sugar and even an unopened bottle of wine...wow!  I phoned and talked with Denise's husband to thank him, but I want to thank them both again. We will really enjoy all of it!  Next door cabinmates Jackie and Ken also had the drinks package and gifted their free drink coupons to us, and then, later in the day, delivered another big party bag to our cabin. Wow. Thank you so much!!!  We are set for the duration (our vanity is totally filled with party beverages) and it is very much appreciated. 

Somehow, I just know there will be many more spackle and silicone mornings in the near future.

All this excitement happened before I had even opened the cabin door and started my day. As soon as I did, Awesome Ambrish was there, as always, ready to greet me with a smile and a cheery "Good morning!" and comment on our photo on page 1 of today's Patter. He is a treasure...kind enough not to say that, at that moment, I didn't look a bit like I did in that photo...'cause I surely did not. 

It was close enough to lunch that I didn't want to eat breakfast, but thought that one of those yummy cinnamon rolls from the International Cafe that Suzan and G are always talking about might be just right. I just missed Suzan and Greg down there by minutes, and also just missed the cinnamon rolls; they were switching over to lunch just as I arrived. Shoot. But I did order one of those sexy new coffee drinks. Today I had the tiramisu one, decaf and skinny, and maybe it was the skinny that didn't work, but I wasn't nearly as impressed with this one as I was the salted caramel one I had a few days ago. But I will continue to make my way through the new menu and report back. Anything for research, you know. 

I finally met up with Suzan and Greg, and then G and I met in the DaVinci Dining Room for my first food of the day. I was starving for something healthy, and had gazpacho and a roasted yellow bell pepper stuffed with rice. It was just what I needed.

The Carolina v. Seattle game started at 1pm, and when I got there right at kickoff, of course there were no seats available. G quickly gave up and decided to move on, but I am a die hard, especially after missing the OT in the Cardinals game last night. I first sat on the raised edge of the pool, but the sea was quite bumpy today, and I quickly got my clothes splashed. Not willing to give up, I returned to the cabin to change, and spent the rest of the game sitting in the water on the pool apron. I could have cheered, and not just from the game, when the bright sun finally went behind the screen, but then got suddenly chilled. Three hours in the water was catching up with me.  Luckily, the game outcome was very comforting, despite a tension-fraught second half! 

I won't mention it again, but really?  The Calypso Pool area was packed and the bar revenue had to be incredible, and the Broncos v. Steelers game was not shown on MUTS. Instead we had to move to Club Fusion. Big head shake here. 

I raced back to the cabin to shower and change and then rushed down to Club Fusion where G was waiting for me. Suzan and Greg also had seats in the Conference Room, but G thought we'd be better off on the more comfortable seating in Club Fusion. The bar staff was seriously undermanned, and there was no food, but G ran up to the Horizon Court Buffet to get chips and salsa and we settled in for our fourth game of the weekend.

Are we on a cruise?  Except for today's rocking and rolling, we really hadn't noticed. It's been all football, all the time. Honestly, there's been all the regular cruise stuff going on, too, but you should know by now that, with me, football rules. 

Speaking of rocking and rolling, G captured this map displaying the weather front moving through 

south Florida. It exactly mirrored the route that the Emerald Princess was following back to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow. Things were definitely bouncy today, but surprisingly we had no rain. G had been consoling me about the 'Broncos game in Club Fusion' thing by saying it would likely be raining during it and difficult to watch on MUTS. But the weather up there was perfect, if a little chilly.

Whoops, I mentioned it again. Last time, I promise. Really. 

Oh, the gut wrenching stress that comes from really caring about a game outcome. With six minutes left in the second quarter, G starting using the term 'tortuous'. I was inclined to agree. I used half time to run up to the Horizon Court Buffet for brownies for G and to the PES Lounge in Skywalkers for Stilton and grapes that I brought back to Club Fusion. That was my dinner, but dessert (read on) came later. 

We were joined by Suzan and Greg and started in on our remaining free drink coupons, ordering 24K gold margaritas. Oh my. I started drinking to ease the pain of what I was certain would be a Broncos loss; the score at the end of the third quarter certainly belied how poorly they were playing. Then the fourth quarter started and we ordered another round of margaritas to help with the celebration and those are the ones that kind of marked the end of G's day. I had enough sense left in me to go up to the Horizon Court Buffet for the red velvet cheesecake I'd seen they had tonight when I was fetching G's four brownies. Is the last night of a cruise always red velvet cheesecake night in the Horizon Court Buffet? I will make myself find out on the last night of next cruise. Research, you know.

So, out of four games, I'm thrilled with the outcome of three of them. That's not too bad. But I vow right now, in front of all of you, that I will not allow myself to get worked up over next week's games. Heck, I may not even watch them. 

And if you believe that...

Tonight, life is good. :-)

Edited to add:  I almost forgot to mentioned the Most Traveled Passengers info for this 4-night cruise. 

#1 MTP:  807 days on Princess

#2 MTP:  746 days on Princess

#3 MTP:  688 days on Princess 

Cutoff of the top ten couples for a free specialty dinner voucher:  403 nights

Day 100(!): Grand Cayman

Sleep was a bit rough last night, at least in the early hours, when we had a momentarily exciting evening after I published my blog post. We were both asleep when we heard a single beep over the PA system at 11:22pm. That woke us up a little, but less than a minute later when Captain Forteeze came on and said there was a fire in the incendiary room (which left me perplexed. Isn't that what incendiary rooms are for?) and called the crew to their emergency stations, we really sat up and took notice. G put on some shorts and peeked out of our cabin door to see cabin steward Awesome Ambrish already standing in the hall, wearing his life vest over his jeans and hooded sweatshirt. I asked G if he thought I should get dressed and put in my contacts and his response was, "I kinda think you should". 

So I did. 

Captain Forteeze kept us well informed every few minutes about what was going on down on the ship's lower decks. The fire response team was dispatched. They reported there was a fire but no smoke. They put out the fire. And at 11:52pm, Captain Fabreeze told the crew to stand down. We waved goodbye and goodnight to Awesome Ambrish, and by the time I took out my contacts, G was already asleep. Oh, to be that lucky! I had been awakened in those critical early minutes of sleep when I don't easily fall back asleep. Instead, I read. And read. And read. 

Of course, I did eventually fall back asleep, but when the alarm went off this morning, I made repeated use of the snooze button. G got up and went to breakfast, but between my need for sleep and the fact that I was still full from last night's fantastic dinner in the Crown Grill, I decided to skip it today. Instead we met up with Suzan and Greg in the International Cafe at 9am and went down to Deck 3 to board a tender for the short ride to the town of George Town on Grand Cayman. 

Sunrise over Grand Cayman as seen on the ship's webcam

The weather was picture perfect. bright sun in a clear blue sky, so we immediately caught a taxi ($5pp) to the area around Calico Jack's beach bar on Grand Cayman's famous Seven Mile Beach. The beach is not wide, and it's very sloped, but the sand is like powdered sugar and the water was clear and blue. We rented chairs for $5 each and wasted no time getting in the water (82F!!).

Suzan and G floating...and talking

It's a narrow beach, but a nice one

We spent hours alternating between floating, swimming against the strong current, playing in the waves and sitting in our chairs, and after Suzan and Greg left around 2pm to do some shopping in town, I actually fell asleep sitting up in my lounge chair, lulled to sleep by the sound of the waves. 

I fell asleep sitting up in a chair. In public. I guess I was tired.

Around 3pm, G and I packed up and took a taxi (actually, a small bus, packed to the roof) back to the tender pier. While I returned to our cabin and quickly showered, G was a star and went up to the Calypso Pool area to find us seats for tonight's divisional playoff games. Two more seats freed up one deck below us, so the guys sat down there and Suzan and I happily sat and chatted while watching the Chiefs v. Patriots (we were all cheering for the Chiefs, and found the large number of very vocal Patriots fans slightly annoying). 

Meanwhile, we grazed in the Horizon Court Buffet, eating chips and salsa and guacamole followed by ice cream.  And spicy shrimp. And pavlova for dessert (that was a mistake after the spicy shrimp).  Any admirable eating habits go to hell in a hand basket as soon as there's football. (It's the same at home, too.) We also went a long way to clearing out our growing pile of minibar items. In fact, I learned that gin is really wonderful with lemonade on a hot day. Two of them are even better. ;-)

By the time the Cardinals vs. Packers game began, the area around the Calypso Pool had cleared out quite a bit. During both games, the housekeeping and deck departments kept all the dishes, glasses and trash that always accumulates when there are that many people gathered in one spot perfectly picked up. Really, I've never seen it so neat during these games. We were all very impressed (and appreciative). 

The weather remained perfect right to the end of the second game, making it a wonderful night for football. I left after the Green Bay TD, thinking the game was over, but turned on ESPN on our cabin TV for the post-game commentary only to find out that the game went into OT and the Cardinals won. Woohoo!  

And I keep forgetting to mention the quality of the new MUTS screen that was installed during the Emerald Princess' recent dry dock. It's amazing, and provides an excellent picture even in bright sunlight. After dark it's quite impressive.  I was really looking forward to watching the Broncos game on it tomorrow. However, tonight we received the devastating (really, that's the only word for it) news that tomorrow's Broncos game will not be shown on the MUTS screen, but in Club Fusion with its tiny TV screens, and in the Deck 6 conference room with its tiny TV screens (and about 30 chairs) and in the casino with its tiny TV screens (and with smoking), just to have a stupid movie shown twice, once at 7pm and once at 10pm. Seriously????? A stupid, stupid, stupid movie??

:-(

Day 94: NFL Wildcard Playoffs...and St. Kitts

While we were at first disappointed at Captain Forteeze's announcement that we would be tendering in to Port Zante on St. Kitts because it changed our plans for today, in the end we appreciated the break it provided. While I had left the Steelers v. Bengals game at the end of the 3rd quarter last night, G had stayed until the end, around 1am this morning, I was asleep when he came in, so he had to wait until today to tell me all about that very exciting 4th quarter, and I was kicking myself all day for having missed it. Perhaps that just made me all the more determined to watch today's games, even though we had no dog in these fights.

G joined me for my usual breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room (fruit and a veggie omelet, accompanied by a decaf skinny cappuccino). He had just a fruit plate, and then I accompanied him to the Horizon Court Buffet where he had his favorite Frosted Flakes cereal. As we sat there, we enjoyed the view of St. Kitts' verdant Mt. Liamuiga (so much like the mountains above Lahaina, Maui), and watched as tender operations began (45 minutes early, at 9:15am). A P&O ship (we think it's the Adonia but we're not sure), which looks just like the Royal and Regal Princess, was already docked when we arrived and we watched as the Costa Favolosa docked opposite it. It felt a bit like we were stuck in the naughty corner, and we had quite a long tender ride to reach the small boat harbor. 

The southern end of St. Kitts with the island of Nevis in the distance

We ended up not going ashore until nearly noon, just after open tender was announced. We enjoyed the ride from the top tier of the tender, but once we reached the pier, it was obvious that mobility challenged passengers were going to struggle to get off the tenders and then navigate their way up the ramp with two steps at the end. 

We had no mission for today other than to walk around a bit and buy two postcards. There is no shortage of souvenir shopping in Port Zante, but postcards seem to be getting harder and harder to find. It was sunny and hot and fairly muggy in the port area, something we had missed out on during our beach days. We didn't dawdle on land and were back on the Emerald Princess by 1:30pm. 

We went immediately to the Calypso Pool area, intending to get two loungers from which to watch the Seahawks v. Vikings game, which started at 2pm. We were relegated to two loungers on Deck 16, overlooking the pool, and while our view of the MUTS screen was great, we were in the hot sun for hours, just what we were trying to avoid today. We left, one at a time, to get drinks and pizza, and I returned to the cabin to get SPF100 sunscreen and lip sunscreen. I covered myself with both at least four times during the game, and even used pool towels to block the sun and managed to survive the game unscathed. But, oh...that was one disappointing (and shocking) outcome. 

We could tell by the few waiters we saw walking through the pool area wearing red and white striped pullovers that tonight was going to be Italian night in the dining rooms. We decided to miss the first half of the Packers v. Redskins game and returned to the cabin to shower (and wash off all that sunscreen) and dress for dinner. We enjoyed a feast:  I had a seafood starter with calamari and shrimp, followed by a spinach salad with pecorino cheese and pine nuts and then penne arribiata made by headwaiter Ali from Turkey. It was scrumptious. Accompanied by merlot and followed by lemoncello sorbet, it was a meal for which it was worth missing football. We watched from our table as the Emerald Princess slowly turned to the north and began its course to St. Thomas tomorrow. 

We were shocked, when we went up to MUTS after dinner, to find that there was no football on the screen. Instead, preparations were underway for tonight's Love Boat Disco Deck Party. Every lounger had been removed, and the only chairs were around the tables that were set for diners from the Horizon Court Buffet. Hmmm...the lack of seating did not bode well for the prospect of our attendance at the party. But first we had to find the football game, and finally did, in Club Fusion. It was fairly full in there but we found some comfortable seating and watched the second half the game, joined by Suzan and Greg. I truly didn't not care who won that one, but G is a kinda, sorta Packer fan from years ago.

G was already half asleep by the end of the game, and we're skipping the deck party in favor of an early bedtime. Well, not so early...it's nearly 10:30pm as I finish this post. I feel badly that I have nothing more to report for the day, but if you've vicariously cruised with us in the past, you know that we find watching football on a ship, specifically on MUTS, to be a hugely enjoyable part of our winter cruises, one that we missed last year on the Pacific Princess. We have a few more weekends of this...oh, and tomorrow night, too, the national championship game. This is the time of year we plan the ports around football; there is nothing more attractive than a day at sea during the playoffs. No island can compete with that!

But after our day 'off', the alarm is set for 6:30am tomorrow. There is another beach with our names on it on St. Thomas, and we're going to try to get there via public buses. 

Pray for us. ;-)

Day 93: St. Lucia...

...just another day at the beach. :-)

My solo breakfasts continued today. I was once again up and out of the cabin while G was still sleeping. I forgot to mention yesterday that there is stollen for breakfast every morning in the dining room on the Emerald Princess. Stollen!!! I figured I had missed out on it altogether when we went home for the holidays, but what luck that it's still being offered. If there was no other reason (and there are, several of them) I would eat breakfasts in the dining room just for that. Add to it all the smiling waiters greeting me and providing me wonderful service, and why would I go anywhere else?

So I was in the DaVinci Dining Room this morning at my table for four for one as the Emerald Princess entered Castries Bay and spun 180 degrees to dock at the Pointe Seraphine pier. We were the only ship in port today, which was nice. We met Suzan and Greg in the International Cafe at 9am and walked off the ship (not nearly as frustrating as yesterday in Barbados). 

What was frustrating was trying to get a taxi up to Reduit Beach in Rodney Bay. I didn't follow my own advice from yesterday and went to the taxi dispatch area right in the port terminal. Big mistake. We had to pay $14pp to purchase a round trip taxi fare, something we really don't like to do. Then they wanted us to wait 10 minutes to fill a bus with people going to the beach. Uh uh, no way. Suzan and I went back to the dispatch desk to demand our money back, and magically a taxi suddenly appeared. I am pointing this out just to tell you that you don't have to put up with their cr$&, and shouldn't allow them to use your valuable time in port to maximize their revenue. 

What I should have done is walk out of the secured port area and we probably could have gotten a taxi to Rodney Bay for $5pp with no return fare required. Live and learn. 

We were in a van with one other couple for the 20 minute ride up to Reduit Beach. It was mostly sunny but we could see clouds starting to build over the mountains. St. Lucia is a very mountainous island, and by heading north we avoided the twisty-turny roads that exist south of Castries. The coastal road to the northern part of the island is a bit flatter, which is good for my tummy. 

We were dropped off at the Rex Halcyon Rodney Bay Resort and our driver immediately started pressuring us for a return time. We resisted...we hate getting locked into a specific time. If it had started to rain, we'd have wanted to return in an hour. If it stayed sunny, we might have wanted to stay until late in the afternoon. We were given a ticket with our cab driver's name and number on it, and it seemed inevitable that we were locked in to going back to the ship with him, but at least it would be on our own schedule. 

It's a strange, cumbersome system, and we don't like it. It certainly is a hassle. 

Once in Reduit Beach in front of the Rex Resort, all frustrations melted away. Sure, there was the inevitable hassle over lounge chair and umbrella pricing. We started at $50 for both couples but ended up at $35. We settled in side by side shaded loungers and wasted no time getting in that beautiful water. Reduit Beach pales in comparison to Carlisle Bay Beach on Barbados, but it is the best St. Lucia offers within a reasonable distance of the cruise ship pier in Castries. And on the  north side of Rodney Bay is  Pigeon Island National Park with its fort overlooking the bay. We've kayaked Rodney Bay and hiked to the fort on earlier visits to St. Lucia. 

Reduit Beach in Rodney Bay

 

We got hooked up with passable wifi for $1pp for the day. It wasn't fast enough to upload photos, but I was able to respond to a few emails right from my lounger, and that's always a plus. 

We spent the rest of the day alternating between the loungers and the water, with our four Swimways floats, bobbing on the occasionally strong waves and drinking Piton beers and generally having a great time. 

It's not just the ladies who float and talk!

The floating produce stand. This guy has been selling all sorts of fresh produce from this rickety boat in Rodney Bay for years. We think it's held together with chewing gum and baling wire, and he spends half his time bailing. Greg bought a huge papaya and enjoyed it on the beach. 

Greg and his papaya

Meanwhile, G was a lot less healthy with a beer and a cinnamon roll, the breakfast of champions. 

You can see Pigeon Island, which is actually no longer an island but has a road connecting it to mainland St. Lucia, in the distance. The fort is on the peak at the end.

Of course, we had to spend a bit of time listening to all sorts of sales pitches, for massages, for aloe, for jewelry, for wooden carvings from people walking up and down the beach. That's simply the culture of the islands, but a polite 'no thank you' or three generally sends them on their way. 

They really do carry baskets on their heads in St. Lucia!

We stayed on the beach until about 2:30pm when the clouds seemed to move in permanently. We walked back to the entrance of the Rex Resort and were lucky that the taxi driver who took us was there waiting. However, he insisted on waiting for the other couple that had been in the cab this morning. We had no idea where they were, and wouldn't have recognized them if they stood in front of us. This whole taxi system is ridiculous. We made it clear that we weren't waiting, and, just like in the morning, four seats magically appeared in a larger tour bus that was leaving right then. Again I wished I had bypassed all this and just hired a taxi outside the port. There must be a reason they operate as they do in St. Lucia, but I don't know what it is. 

Still, for around $40 per couple, we had had a great day on the beach, so it was all good in the end. 

We may have consumed these...and more ;-)

Once back at Pointe Seraphine, we went our separate ways. G and I went to look for a couple of friends who work in the shops there. We were so touched when Alycia at the Piranha Joe shop remembered our names and said she had been looking for the Emerald Princess and us for two winters. (Yes, we are predictable). Dev from India gave us hugs and said it meant a lot that we stopped by to see him. He then told us the most remarkable news that there is now free wifi throughout the entire Pointe Seraphine port area. 

G headed back to the ship to start getting cleaned up but I spent a few minutes uploading these pics. They are smaller in size because they were uploaded from my iPhone instead of my iPad, but I couldn't miss the opportunity to upload them for free. 

G was finishing up his shower when I returned to the cabin. My birthday cake was not delivered last night because we had put the Privacy card in the door so we could get some sleep without being disturbed. However, it was waiting for us this afternoon, and we both enjoyed a bite of it. While I was showering, G walked back off the ship to buy something at the shops in Pointe Seraphine. I won't say what it is, but will upload a pic of him wearing it at some point in time. It's harious,

I went up to the PES Lounge for a quick bite of Stilton and port wine reduction, but met up with G in the Michelangelo Dining Room at 5:30pm. We ate fairly quickly (but still had vodka lime sorbet for dessert) because we wanted to get up to MUTS for football. Still, we were there when headwaiter Luis stopped by from the Botticelli Dining Room where he was working to say hi to G, who hadn't yet seen him. Honestly, people like Luis are part of the reason we return to Princess again and again. 

We joined Suzan and Greg for the second half of the Chiefs v. Texans game and are currently watching the Steelers v. Bengals game, which is a lot more exciting. I retrieved my iPad from our cabin and started this blog post with one eye on this game. This won't be over until after midnight, and I'll be glad I didn't wait any later to get this post published. 

One final note, on something that has completely changed our plans for tomorrow. We had wanted to take a taxi to Carambola Beach Bar and spend the day there, but Captain Forteeze, in his welcome back on board announcement today, asked for our complete attention (which is unusual, so we knew something was up). He said that the port authority on St. Kitts had notified the Emerald Princess today that we would be tendering into port tomorrow. He said they tried to appeal it, and got Princess Corporate involved, all to no avail. Obviously they have too many ships in port tomorrow, and, since we aren't arriving until 10am, we lose out on getting a berth. Well...shoot. This is not good news. Even with our priority tendering due to our Elite status, it will be 11am before we get ashore, and noon before we could be settled on the beach. Instead, we've all decided to take a day off, and simply enjoy doing something around the port area. For what we would have spent for a taxi and beach loungers, we can do a little shopping or have a drink in one of the bars in the Port Zante area in the town Basseterre on St. Kitts.

There is fun to be had wherever we are. :-)

Day 106: Super Bowl At Sea

It was nice last night to get back one of those hours we'd given up in the past eight days; I always feel more righteous when I'm out of bed by 7am. ;-)  I was ready to start pulling out suitcases and folding up clothes, wanting to get the packing done before the fun of Super Bowl began, but G was not needing to feel so holy and instead snoozed on awhile longer. I grabbed my iPad and headed down to our default meeting location in the IC. Today was again bright and sunny, and I dressed in the same shorts and T-shirts I've been wearing since October, but my appearance was commented on in the elevator by a lady dressed as if prepared for an Antarctica expedition. "You must be from someplace warm!"  Well, no...and yes. Honestly, after 106 days away from home, I wasn't sure how to answer that. It might not have been warm outside, but it was certainly bright and sunny again; in fact, the sun has been an almost constant presence on this cruise. I think it's a little bouncy as we sail against the Gulf Stream back north to Los Angeles, but Captain Poggi remarked last night about how calm it is, so I guess any bounciness is relative.

I was eventually joined by G, and Suzan and Greg, then Phil and Jan, then Grant and Carol...well, it fact, it was a little comical.  We managed to squeeze seven chairs around a small round table in the IC, and our game of musical chairs did actually work for the eight of us, as there was always someone up and about, either folding clothes or using a restroom or checking emails. In fact, we managed to make it work so long that morning turned into afternoon and G and I went to the DaVinci Dining Room for our final lunch of the cruise. 

After that, we did turn our attention to packing. We were lucky in that we received a fourth suitcase from blog reader Jill, and, without the ability to fly with a tote bag hanging off of every finger, we sorely needed it. Luckily, we'll be flying home on Southwest, with their friendly checked luggage policy. In fact, when we had checked in for our flight today, exactly 24 hours before takeoff, we both managed to get in Boarding Group A, which any Southwest flyer knows is a very good thing. By the time the Super Bowl started at 4:30pm, we had most of our packing done. 

While the Super Bowl was, of course, shown on MUTS (the big screen by the Neptune's Reef pool), Cruise Director Mike Witte had wisely divided up the interior viewing by team. The Seahawk fans had the Vista Lounge, the Patriots fans the Explorers Lounge and the smokers had the casino and Snookers cigar lounge, but, naturally, people were able to watch the game wherever they wanted.  Football food was laid out on tables in all venues (chips and salsa, guacamole, wings, pizza and popcorn) and there were lots of buckets of beer being sold. 

We joined Suzan and Greg in the Explorers Lounge and settled in for the game. And wasn't that just about the best Super Bowl in recent history (and certainly better than last year's game regardless of which team one supported in that debacle)? Frankly, I am hoarse right now; silent sports spectatorship has never been my forte. And I am most happy about the fact that tomorrow I will have unlimited internet and cable TV and will be able to read about and watch the analysis of that Seahawks play that resulted in the interception in the end zone in the last minute of the game. What the heck was that??

G had left me at the two minute warning to run upstairs to MUTS and catch the end of the game there (and take a photo). We reunited in our cabin (it was just so darn fun to ride up the elevator with the subdued Seattle fans wearing Richard Sherman jerseys. So. Darn. Fun!!  I took me a full year, but I can finally laugh at that name.), and finished the last of the packing. After I get this published, we're heading up to the Horizon Court Buffet for a late dinner, our first meal there in nine days.  We move our clocks back one more hour tonight, which is perfect. Though the day was, as predicted, mostly taken up with packing and football, we still have some time left in our evening to enjoy the last of our cruise. 

Day 95: Super Bowl Sunday (and I think I see Barbados on our starboardside)

Who knew that we would put more effort into the Super Bowl today than the Broncos did?

What follows is simply a diary of our day today, in chronological order...

6:30am: Alarm goes off for the first time

6:39am:  Alarm goes off for the second time

6:48am:  Alarm goes off for the third time. I get up and run to the bathroom to put in my contacts. By the time I return, G is throwing on clothes willy-nilly, and gathering up every pool towel we have.  I simply bring my backpack. It contains enough sunscreens, hand wipes and contact lens solutions for an expedition.

7am:  I join G by the Calypso Pool. It's obvious the system is different today; there are no loungers around the pool and no stack of loungers nearby. Loungers are being set up one deck above in Deck 16.  He has already lay claim to the two loungers right in the center; others are laden with towels and shoes within 30 minutes. We know what this means:  we are going to bake in the sun and/or shiver in the rain for the rest of the day. No loungers are set out under the overhang of Deck 16. We are on uncovered Deck 16 and prepare for a long day. 

8am: We leave, one at a time, to get some food from the Horizon Court Buffet. G returns with bacon and OJ; I choose cereal and watermelon. Maitre d' Generoso sees me and congratulates me on our prime seating location. He knows we are diehard fans. 

9am: The Wake Show begins to be broadcast on the big screen (MUTS). A brief, light rainshower has us offering slogans for a sunny day. We realize just how much The Wake Show has become one big informercial. Spa. Jewelry. Art. Drinks. Liquor. Repeat. Repeat again. 

9:30am:  Tables and chairs from the Neptunes Reef pool are moved to fill in the empty space where the loungers usually sit on Deck 15 around the Calypso Pool. This was a wise move...people would have soon been dragging loungers back over from the other pool.

10am:  A triple feature of the Grand Princess revitalization (our previous viewings: 127 times), a history of the Panama Canal (fascinating) and a history of Europe (fascinating at first, but it's a looonnnnngggg history) play on MUTS and then the first two documentaries repeat. We abandon our slogans and start our rain dance. ANYTHING to cut the sun and bring in some clouds. It goes unanswered. 

Sometime in here I start working my way through the gin mini bottles in our cabin. I'm blistering hot and thirsty; G&T's go down a bit too quickly. I layer on SPF50 with titanium oxide so that I look bright white...then pink when the skin below still turns a bit red. 

12pm:  The three documentary features end, and we are treated to a video of animals in the wild "speaking" humorous dialogue. This is tortuous. I continue to drink. G and I spell each other occasionally, just to move out of the sun and into AC to cool off.

1pm:  A Lionel Ritchie concert is shown in MUTS. This is surprisingly entertaining; Lionel Ritchie's music marks my coming of age. It's good that I enjoy it so much, because it's hot. Stinking hot. And I'm greasy with sunscreen, which is running into my contacts. 

2:30pm:  People are arriving back from the island looking for seats, but it's a lost cause. Finally I see a deck steward removing towels and items from chairs that have been hogged. I can't help myself...the four chairs next to us have been hogged since 7:30am. Two couples laid their stuff on them and told us they were going on tour in Barbados. I helpfully point this out to the deck steward. Their stuff is gone and two new couples move in in seconds. I'm happy to see Cruise Critic friends Lew and Nan are now sitting next to us. They promise to cheer for the Broncos. Justice has been served and life is good. 

3pm:  The movie The Blind Side is shown on MUTS. It's probably my favorite movie of recent years and an excellent choice. I'm hot and sweaty and miserable, but determined to hang in there. A Broncos fan sitting behind us, a former teacher, is decorating the area with Broncos stuff. G hangs up our flag. This is starting to be fun.

4pm:  The Emerald Princess sails from Barbados. The sun comes from a different direction, and then another. It gets just mildly breezy. It's obvious that rain is only a remote possibility, and, as the sun starts to lose some of it's heat, that's a good thing. 

5:30pm:  The Blind Side ends. I fry. I'm thankful for my sunglasses to cover my tears running down my face, and return to our cabin to dry my tears, wash off ten layers of sunscreen, remove my Tilley hat which was a permanent fixture on my head since 7am, and grab my fleece pullover. I return to spell G so he can do the same. Sports trivia is playing on MUTS, but most people are doing just what we are- making final preparations for the game. Buckets of beer are bought with increasing regularity.

6pm:  Super Bowl PowerPoint slides announcing imminent coverage are shown. Generoso stops by to see if we survived the day. An interview with Peyton is aired, and he discusses the ESPN documentary The Book of Manning. My heart starts beating faster and my stomach hurts. Maybe the hardest part of the day is yet to come. (Added later:  If I only knew...)

6:12pm:  At sunset, huge black clouds appear overhead. It's instantly chilly, and I put on my fleece earlier than anticipated. Misty rain drops are appearing on my iPhone screen. 

This can. not. be. happening. 

6:16pm:  The mist stops. I breathe again. 

6:20pm:  G turns to me and says, "Can you believe this?  We've watched the games, the playoffs and the championships on the Emerald Princess.  Now, our fav team is actually playing for the Lombardi trophy.  Win or lose, this has been a thrill". I'm not certain I agree. I think winning would be a huge thrill; losing not so much. 

6:30pm: Super Bowl snacks are available by the pool. Chips, salsa, guacamole, burgers, pizza and wings. There is an ice carving of the Lombardi Trophy. 

7pm:  The pre-game begins. We all rise for the national anthem. G leads some veterans in a salute. 

7:25pm:  The game finally begins, 12 1/2 hours after we claimed our chairs.

7:30pm:  The game essentially ends (but we don't know it yet) with a Seattle safety on the Broncos first play. 

We lasted until midway through the fourth quarter. We simply could not endure any more suffering today. The game was horribly reminiscent of the Broncos' performance in their unsuccessful Super Bowl against the 49ers 24 years ago, but, in the end, a Super Bowl loss on a cruise ship is better than a Super Bowl loss at home. And I should know, 'cause while I've had plenty of experience with the latter, I have now endured the former. 

:-(