Day 106: Grenada

I had a rough night, but slept until nearly 9:00am this morning, and from then on, G and I were like two ships passing in the night, never connecting until the on board time of 1:30pm. After a quick breakfast in the buffet, I dropped by the Medical Center for another bottle of Robitussin (my new favorite drink? NOT!), and then made a quick run off the ship to purchase two handmade gifts that I had seen on an earlier cruise in one of the extensive terminal shops. Even the thought of free wifi couldn't entice me to go upstairs in the Esplanade Mall to brave what I knew would be hot, stuffy conditions. I can't imagine the temperature in that mall in August!

I spent a bit of time in the sun on the Terrace Deck, just to give Johnathon the time to do the morning clean up of the cabin, had some delicious chicken tortilla soup from the buffet for lunch, and then returned to the dark, quiet calm of our cabin.

Leaving Grenada at 2:00pm is required to get to Bonaire, a favorite island of mine, by noon tomorrow. I really hope I feel better by tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure I will. I'm much better tonight.

We took care of haircuts this afternoon, cleaning up a bit for the Captains Circle party tonight. Most travelled passengers for the past four cruises, and again this cruise are Steve and Peggy Kerridan, with nearly 1200 days on Princess, and they've asked us to join them for the party tonight. We really owe our winter lifestyle to Steve and Peggy; when G was still working, we took these 10-night cruises back to back for 20 nights every January, and that's when we met them. They come on for 50 days at a time during the winter, basically using the Emerald Princess as their winter home. Sounded like a fine idea to us!!

We went to dinner early, at 5:30pm, so as to be in Club Fusion at 7:15pm before the party started. Entertainment was provided by favorite band Sol Provider, and two Breeza Marinas later the party was over and G and I stayed for the Emerald Princess orchestra playing big band favorites for 45 minutes. We are truly old souls, and though we didn't dance too much ourselves, we enjoyed seeing all the other couples on the dance floor, especially a couple who have stayed on from last cruise. At 84 and 82 years old, they are on the dance floor for hours every night. We've had lunch with them; they walk 3 miles every day at home to keep up their endurance for their dance marathons.

I want to be them when I grow up!

At nearly 10:00pm, we're in our cabin, fuzzy waters on the night stand, watching a 35-year old Love Boat re-run. We're a long way from being them!

Photo 1: Steve and Peggy, most traveled passengers this cruise

Photo 2: Deputy cruise director Frenchie, kicking off the
party (she has the BEST shoes!)

Day 105: Dominica

I have not much to report about today, and I'll  be even shorter than that about it. It was really quite a pretty day today for Dominica; there were the periodic rain showers, of course, and the just as periodic rainbows (quite spectacular ones, actually). But overall the day left a mostly sunny impression, and Dominica when the sun shines is a truly beautiful island. We also had the great good fortune to be docked at the cruise ship pier in town, in Roseau, and not at the freight dock as we had been two cruises ago.

Still (and I know I've mentioned this before), I'm just over Dominica for this winter. There is simply not much for us to do on our own around the cruise ship dock. We had initially thought that we'd do Jack's Walk from the Botanical Gardens in Roseau up to the Morne Bruce overlook, but I felt challenged walking from our cabin on the back of the ship to the spa at the from to use the steam room, and so we nixed that idea. 

The day passed in a steady rotation of steam room visits, hot showers, prednisone, epinephrine and Robitussin as I continue to recover from bronchitis. Don't worry, Mom, I'm doing better all the time, but it's going to take a couple more days to get back to normal. 

We did go to dinner in the dining room, and then the Beatle Maniacs are back this cruise, and with three of our favorite performers:  Burak Ceylon, David Deveaux, Greg Weeks (someone new to us played Paul McCartney). We were thrilled to see Burak and David, who we've not seen for a month or more. Still the best entertainment of the cruise!

After that, it was popcorn and fuzzy water, cough syrup, blog and sleep. Hopefully tomorrow will be a more exciting day for us (and so for you too!). 

Photos 1 and 2:  one full rainbow off the back of the ship, so close I couldn't get it all in the frame, then the start of a double as one end dips low in the water

Photo 3:  beautiful Dominica as seen from the webcam on the front of the ship, and shown on Channel 40 in the cabin

Photos 4 and 5:  the Beatle Maniacs (I think I have that exact same photo of Greg Weeks in Photo 4 from last year!)

Day 104: St. Thomas

I don't have much to report for today, other than it was spent in a restful manner. Thank you for the Get Well Soon emails sent my way; I was very touched by your concern. 

We decided early on to curtail our daytime activities in St. Thomas. There was no way I could climb the hill and back down to either Honeymoon Beach on Water Island or Emerald Beach near the airport on St. Thomas. So we turned today into a ship day and took advantage of most of the other passengers being on excursions to enjoy a quiet ship.

We went through another batch of mail from home today. I've learned that the only things we can't plan for are medical bills that have worked their way our health insurance companies and still have a small remaining balance due; thankfully, physician services are more lenient when it comes to late payment than are credit card companies!

I was feeling better by late afternoon, enough to venture out a bit, first to Skywalkers for pre-dinner drinks and hors doerves (do Breeza Marinas mix with Robitussun?  I think it's a safe bet that the heaviest machinery I'll be operating tonight is my Sonicare toothbrush).  We followed up with dinner - so sweet to be welcomed back like the prodigal son by crew and fellow passengers alike- and then I made it to this cruise's Most Traveled Party (cutoff was 348 days, so we comfortably made it). We sat with Joan and Don from Florida; Don follows this blog and had wanted to meet us at last cruise's most traveled party, but we were at the Chef's Table that night. I'm glad that they had booked for 20 nights, and we did get a chance to connect. Once again, we were last two couples to leave, 1 hour 45 minutes after the party ended at nearly 10:00pm. How coincidental is it that we always sit with talkative people at these parties? 

;-) !!!!!

No entertainment tonight, although I did watch two more Downton Abbey Season 2 episodes while I was laying down today. All that's left is the Christmas episode...weep!  I see that Season 3 is available through iTunes for $19.99, but where would I ever get fast enough wifi to download it before I return home? I'll just have to start watching some of the Seinfeld re-runs that I have on my laptop to carry me through.

Entertainment options we didn't see included comedian Steve Morris in the Princess Theater, and pianoman Kory in Explorers Lounge.  For some reason, when there is a second show option in the Explorers Lounge, its been a been scheduled at 5:30pm, 8:00pm and 9:30pm. Don't k is what that's all about...the 5:30pm show was less than half full. Also new last cruise (but I forgot to post about it, I think)- the $3.99 drinks in Skywalkers for the Elite Lounge are now $5.00. They're a little less perk and a little more profit at that price. 

Tomorrow:  Dominica. If we're at the freight port, I swear I'll make it another R&R day!

Photo 1:  Charlotte Amalie harbor.  You can see Royal Caribbean's Something-of-the-Seas leaving from the pier at Havensight.  

Photo 2:  my first Breeza Marina of the evening (followed by two more at the most traveled party)

Photo 3:  Gerry's fruit and vegetable carvings tonight in Skywalkers were adorable!

Day 103: At Sea

Well, you can probably tell by looking at my only photo where I spent part of my morning. G forced the issue by walking me down to the Medical Center himself, just to be sure I made it there. He can be tough like that sometimes. ;-)

The vertigo that I've had for a week or so (that I attributed to the taxi ride to the volcano on St. Lucia) was a harbinger of what's developed into bronchitis, never a good thing when you have asthma. I know my energy level has been plummeting for a few days and on turnaround day my lungs started to burn. But I am now fully medicated and stayed down for most of the day, willing the drugs to take effect, and am hopeful to be up and about tomorrow on St. Thomas. Or at least by tomorrow night.

So, Dr. Lynn Smith from South Africa (Lynn...we're on a first name basis. I don't know whether to laugh or cry about that!) has come through for me again, and although my ailments this year have been minor, they have also been many, and she, along her medical staff, has handled every one of them in a professional, but caring manner. Along with Sutti, I want to take her home with us too.

So this is another insurance issue I'll have to deal when we return home. It's going to take me until we leave again next winter to get through all the paperwork!

G was in and out of the cabin throughout the day. I know he went to the Cruise Critic meet and greet in Skywalkers at 11:00am (and I'm sorry I didn't make it), then took our two free bingo cards to the morning bingo session, hoping to win big (he's so cute when he's optimistic like that), then lunch in the dining room and then a rum tasting. I was sorry to miss the movie Lincoln in the Princess Theater at 1:00pm, but I really don't want to be around other people with this cough, and I'm certain that they don't want to be around me. Maybe I'll get to see it next cruise....

As for the rest of the day, here are the things that G is planning to attend solo, stopping in the cabin periodically just often enough to dress formally and bring me sustenance:

The Captains Circle party for Gold members at 4:45pm in the Princess Theater; dinner alone in the Michelangelo Dining Room (not even a sick wife stands between him and beef tenderloins!); the production show I Got the Music; the Welcome Aboard champagne party, then mentalist's Jon Stetson's second show in the Explorers Lounge.

My plans for the rest of the evening: dozing and Downton Abbey, not necessarily in that order.

It's likely to be a rough night...it's nice to know that the International Cafe is open 24/7. One of us may be camping out there in the wee hours of the morning.

Day 102: Princess Cays

On this, our 9th visit to Princess Cays this winter, our 19th visit over the past two winters, we finally hit a snag. I can't say that I'm surprised, given the winds from the southwest that we'd experienced here two days ago, and yesterday's really lousy weather in Fort Lauderdale. Just before 9:00am, Captain Tony Draper made an announcement that was broadcast into all the staterooms, a rare occurrence. We were told that, due to the strong winds from the west, and weather that was expected to deteriorate as the day went on, he had decided not to allow the tender with all the food to go over to the island, and there would be no BBQ there today. There would also be limited beverage service, and he asked that we stay close by in case they needed to wrap up tender service early if the weather worsened. We weren't planning to walk to the southern end of the island today anyway, and were still anxious to go to the island, so we packed up the appropriate beach gear and took the second tender over.

It was sunny, and deceptively pretty, but I could see that the surf was even rougher than two days ago. I quickly decided not to snorkel today; two days ago even the fish seemed a bit discombobulated by the waves and wind direction. G and I dragged two loungers just to the right of the feeding pier and settled in for a few hours. It was soon obvious that the rough tender ride and the threat of bad weather wasn't going to deter most people from going to the island; we were told that, at one point, there were over 2000 people on the beach.

I have a habit of always asking people what their favorite...whatever is. It's a great conversation starter (the kids at school love to tell me all about their favorite EVERYTHINGs).  As we sat there, in semi-silence, enjoying the crashing waves and feeding brioche crumbs to the sandpipers, G offered that, out of the entire winter, and of all the experiences we've had, his very favorite was doing just what he was doing at that moment:  sitting near the water's edge on Princess Cays, drinking a beer, watching all the people participating in the various watersports, and feeding crumbs to the sandpipers.

Even on a good day, some people don't bother to get off of the ship at Princess Cays. Between you and I, I simply don't understand why not.

For all the contentment we were feeling, by 12:30pm we were getting hungry. All the brioche was gone by then, fed to the birds, and so we decided to go back to the ship. We didn't know that they had opened the dining room for lunch due to the change in food service on the island, or we would have gone there. Instead, we got grilled veggie burritos and gazpacho from the buffet, and ate while watching the tenders struggle their way between the ship and land. 

The front of the ship was anchored, and on a normal day that's enough to hold the ship in position.. Today, however, the rear thruster on the ship ran continuously, to hold the ship against the wind. In the buffet, dishes and silverware were the percussion in a concert of rumbling that lasted for hours. If you've been on a ship as it turns 180 degrees into position at Pier 2 in Port Everglades, it was like that, but all day long.  It never did rain today, and while the winds stayed strong, they also stayed steady, and tender operations were able to proceed as planned until our scheduled departure time from Princess Cays. 

Eventually we ended up in a hot tub, and spent a most companionable hour talking with fellow cruisers, some of whom we remember cruising with last year. Showered for dinner, we went to Facets fine jewelry store in Deck 7 to try to win a 5-carat sapphire (it doesn't need mentioning that we didn't win, because of course we didn't). Before dinner, we did something we hadn't done yet this winter:  we simply sat in the sofas by the Explorers Lounge and watched the sun dip low in the sky. 

Dinner followed, and then we went to the 7:15pm performance of mentalist Jon Stetson, whom we'd never seen before (we can't often say that about cruise ship performers!). Next up will be listening to the Emerald Princess orchestra playing jazz in the Adagio Lounge, a favorite. 

We move our clocks ahead an hour again tonight, but I'm not sure I even care. I'm fighting a bit of a cold and am going to sleeeeep as long as I want, ignoring what the clock says. That's one of my favorite parts of our winter at sea!

Photo 1:  feeding the sandpipers on Princess Cays 

Photo 3:  for those who have been to Princess Cays, do you notice anything different?  The ship doesn't usually point to the right; it points to the left.