Day 115: Barbados

Prepared Saturday evening, February 22nd, but couldn't get on wifi to publish

I think Barbados is my very favorite island of all of those we visit on these itineraries, but that's not new news to you. The people are wonderful, the beaches perfection, there's history, there's scenery. There's rum. ;-)

We were up fairly early today and, after yesterday afternoon's nap, and a good night's sleep, I felt 100% again. We started our day with breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room. We were still at our windowside table as we entered the port of Bridgetown, Barbados, and I could tell by the way we were entering the port that the Emerald Princess was going to be on the breakwater (aka the bad dock). Damn. But I was still surprised at what I was seeing out the window. The Noordam was in the second berth on the good pier, the P&O Azura was at the first berth, and Star Clipper's Royal Clipper was at the terminal berth. CruiseTimetables.com had said that just the Noordam and the Seaborn Spirit would be with us today. I wasn't even seeing the Seaborn Spirit and still I could count four ships. Hmm...

When we returned to our cabin to pack for a day on the beach, we turned the TV to the "front of the ship" channel, and I was shocked to see another masted sailing vessel in front of the Emerald Princess. With the Seaborn Spirit (still unseen), that would mean that there were SIX ships in Barbados today. What I hadn't counted on was that there are some ships that begin cruises on Barbados, particularly on the weekends. And that's what happened today; the Royal Clipper, the P&O Azura and the Windstar Wind Star were all embarking passengers, luggage, food, beverages...everything for their cruises in Bridgetown today. Yikes!

Our arrival wasn't until 10am; I was convinced that the beaches would already be full. We walked off the Emerald Princess and, as there was a waiting line to take a shuttle to the terminal, decided to walk. However, everything- shuttles and pedestrians- was stopped by freight being delivered to the Wind Star. We were routed up on the breakwater wall to continue on our way to the terminal. 

The three ships on the breakwater- the Emerald Princess, the Wind Star and the Seaborn Spirit:

Traffic jam on the breakwater:

Up and over to bypass the traffic:

The Windstar Wind Star:

We started out walking to Lobster Alive on Carlisle Bay Beach.  Going to the left instead of the right as we left the terminal, we bypassed all the taxi congestion. 

Just past the security gate, G was approached by taxi driver Richie, who made us an offer too good to refuse ($10) to take us to Lobster Alive. Although it's just a 30 or so minute walk, G was still hoping to get a good lounger location on the beach, and so took Richie up on his offer...

...and before we knew it, this was our view from the very last of the front row loungers available at Lobster Alive (still $15 for two loungers and one of the best umbrellas on the beach and three half-priced drink coupons). Yay G for thinking ahead and getting us a quick taxi!

Lobster Alive from the water. Ours were the two loungers on the left. 

Look at those wide, nicely spaced umbrellas...

...then look at the umbrellas at the Boatyard. 

See why we like Lobster Alive?  In addition, the Boatyard thumps with loud music all day, and frequent announcements when food orders are ready. There's none of that at Lobster Alive; it's the age 55+ neighborhood on the beach!

But the view of Carlisle Bay Beach is gorgeous regardless of where you spend the day. 

Lobster Alive also has the BEST rum punches in the Caribbean, made daily by Cheryl. I waited until 11am for my first one ($2 with coupon), and had planned to combine our two remaining coupons for a free drink, but G decided to have one too. Here's Cheryl serving up a rum punch for each of us.  

Despite a light, 30 second rainshower shortly after we arrived at 10:30pm, the remainder of the day gifted us with beach-perfect weather. We spent the day in and out of the water, using our floats, walking on the beach...and using free, unlimited, fast wifi from Lobster Alive. This was a nice surprise, since last time we were there, it wasn't even turned on. Well, we sat on the beach and called Mom and friends at home using Vonage (for free!  Get the app!) just to make sure everyone knew where we were and that we were surrounded by powdered sugar white sand and blue water. And

letting them know we wished they were there too, of course!

The Emerald Princess wasn't sailing until 7pm tonight, and with an all on board time of 6:30pm, we never had to clock-watch today, and that was wonderful. Finally, about 3:45pm, we gathered up our gear and walked back to the ship. We cleaned up for dinner (as much as I love a day on the beach, I hate how sticky, stinky, salty and sweaty it leaves me) and went to the Michelangelo Dining Room around 5:15pm for Dinner with Darko. I was hoping that tonight was Italian night- penne arrabiata wih chicken and brocolli would have been perfect after skipping lunch- but no luck. Instead I had a salad and a seafood skewer. 

The Noordam sailed at 5pm, and while we were at dinner, the Seaborn Spirit sailed. That ship is so tiny (10,000 tons) that it did a U-turn right in the port, and sailed out bow first. We skipped coffee and dessert (temporarily) to go up on deck to watch the Emerald Princess sailaway. The lights of the P&O Azura and the Royal Clipper reflecting off the water were stunning. 

Also beautiful was what was left of the sunset, which we had missed. See, good things come to those who are late!  ;-)

We finally positioned ourselves up on Deck 16, where we could watch Captain Stenzel on the bridge wing as he used the controls there to thrust away from the berth. He backed into the basin and turned the bow to starboard and we left the lights of Barbados behind us as we sailed. 

G and I next sat on the Terrace Deck watching the lights of the island fade behind us, then returned to the Michelangelo Dining Room for Dessert with Darko and Coffee with Komang. The only featured entertainment tonight was two performances of production show Boogie Shoes. The Ultimate Deck Party was starting at 10:15pm, but we're skipping it all in favor of an early bedtime. The rum, the sun, the time spent in the water and walking have caught up with us, but we can sleep with visions of clear, turquoise water dancing in our heads. 

Day 114: St. Kitts

Well, Captain Stenzel had warned us yesterday that today's weather might disappoint, and, at least this morning, he was right. We were scheduled to arrive in St. Kitts at 7am, which means that we began hearing that familiar thruster action just after 6:30am.  And then it took a long time- a REALLY long time- of non-stop thruster usage to get the Emerald Princess docked. Apparently, we are in the midst of a storm with high southerly winds that kept pushing this tall ship away from the northern side of the pier at Port Zante. Chief Engineer Roddy told me tonight that the Emerald Princess almost didn't get docked in St. Kitts today. It took two attempts before it was finally stable against the pier.  In fact, the docking went on so long that G dressed to go up on deck and see firsthand what was going on. Apparently, for every inch the thrusters would move the Emerald Princess closer to the dock, the wind pushed it back two. Finally, a tug was utilized to keep the ship against the pier while the lines were set. Meanwhile, the Carnival Valor was waiting for its turn to dock on the southern side of the pier (why the Emerald Princess didn't dock on the southern side and then act as a buffer from the wind, we'll never know, but that might have made sense).

Once the ship was docked and still, I continued to sleep on for awhile. G grabbed a quick breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet, and then returned to tell me that this was not going to be a good weather day, but was a PERFECT tax preparation day. Oh joy. 

I did eventually get up, and when I opened the door at the back of Riviera Deck to climb the stairs to the Terrace Deck and Horizon Court Buffet, it was, indeed, raining. It was also densely foggy, something I'd never before seen on St. Kitts. Those picturesque hillsides and mountains overlooking the town of Basseterre, where the cruise ships dock, were shrouded in mist.  

I returned to the cabin and we semi-ambitiously started opening the tax document envelopes we'd just received when our mail was delivered and laid the numbers in TurboTax. Now that I think about it, I believe this is the second time we've done taxes in St. Kitts, and I bet we're the only people on a cruise who have. 

We took time for a late pizza lunch, and I have to mention something I forgot to tell you last night (three Breeza Marinas might be partly to blame), about the infamous WHITE PIZZA. I had read on Cruise Critic about how delicious Princess's White Pizza is, and for the past nine cruises, I have been looking for it at Prego's Pizzeria.  There are always three kinds of pizza offered: pizza Margherita, pepperoni pizza and then a specialty pizza that changes every day. And for nine straight cruises I'd never seen White Pizza on the menu sign.  Finally, on embarkation day, I stopped by Prego's to ask which day of this cruise would be White Pizza day, and I was told it would be served on St. Thomas day.   When I arrived there today, the menu sign said today's specialty pizza was Four Cheese pizza. When I asked what happened to the White Pizza, they straightened me out: Four Cheese pizza IS White Pizza. The sign NEVER says White Pizza. I'd probably missed out a few times because of my confusion. 

All excited, I got my two slices of Four Cheese pizza (aka a White Pizza) and sat down to eat it. It was quite a let down. It's just four cheeses on pizza crust, with no pizza sauce. I guess I need the contrast of flavors that comes from the sauce. Oh well. At least I now know. Also noteworthy:  people will sometimes say the pizza on Princess has changed, and is better or not as good on one ship as on another. Well, Mr. Pizza extraordinaire Vladimir has returned home to Serbia, and whoever is making the pizza dough now is making it so it's way too chewy and a bit tough. I'm sure the recipe didn't change overnight; the cook did. And that has made all the difference. 

So, enough pizza analysis for today. Other than to say that for years I never had a slice of pizza on Princess. But since they closed the dining room for lunch on port days, I have it at least four times a cruise. You know how I feel about lunch in the buffet...

While we were eating lunch, the sun came out a bit, but I was shocked at how chilly the wind was, especially as it was coming from the south. 

That strong wind stayed with us all day. I tried walking on Deck 19, but felt like I was in a wind tunnel, and so gave up and ended up napping instead. Yep, I napped. Is a doctor's visit in my future?  We'll see what the next few days brings. I told the senior doctor at the MTP party last night that we had been extremely lucky this winter. Last winter, the Medical Center had an ever-expanding file on me.  Hopefully our luck will hold, and today's sleepiness was merely a function of too much partying and not enough smooth seas the past few nights. 

G vacated the cabin, ensconcing himself in a hot tub to keep from waking me, but returned at 4pm, just as the thrusters were starting up again for our departure. We went to Dinner with Darko early, because of tonight's Captains Circle parties being held at three different times in Club Fusion. We were going to try to get to the middle one, but dawdled a bit over dinner, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the water sprays outside our window as the Emerald Princess cruised down the western coast of Nevis. In the end, we made it to the 7:30pm party. I'm enjoying our new captain, Martin Stenzel. It took me a few days (his style is the opposite of Captain Nick Nash's), but he's very personable and friendly. It's nice to get to meet another Princess captain. 

After the party, we were in the mood for dessert, and so returned to the Michelangelo Dining Room and were seated with waiter Stephen from the Philippines, who we've known for years. Hostess Mihaela (from the famous poster), brought us a table pet to keep us company...a lemon mouse (NOT a lemon mousse). Harious. This thing was so darn cute, with lemon peel ears and tail and caper eyes. 

I love the dining room later at night (it was 9pm when we left). The pace is so much more relaxed and the waiters have time to have a bit of fun and to chat. I just can't talk G into eating late. He's far more comfortable being an Early Bird diner. Honestly, people were lined up outside the Michelangelo Dining Room when dinner started at 5:30pm, so they changed it to begin at 5pm and still people are lines up outside 15 minutes before it opens. 

Entertainment tonight was vocalist Bobbie Eakes in the Princess Theater and comedian Darrell Joyce in the Explorers Lounge. Although neither appealed to us tonight, at least it was a two-featured performers evening. Yay. 

We are rocking and rolling a bit tonight as we sail east across the southern Caribbean into the Atlantic Ocean to Barbados. We are anxious to get to a beach tomorrow, but are certain that, regardless of what happens, it will be a better day than on our last visit to Barbados, Super Bowl Sunday. 

The memory of that day still stings. 

Day 113: St. Thomas

Our activities today force me to humbly remind you that, though G and I are on a cruise ship, we are not taking a cruise. Rather, we are living at sea, and sometimes mundane administrative tasks intrude on our utopic existence. As they did today, because...well, it was St. Thomas and mundane administrative tasks are more easily completed on St. Thomas than anywhere else, even Fort Lauderdale (due to immigration requirements there that break up our day). 

So, I spent most of today going around in circles, first dealing with the frustrating task of taking care of business this morning, then walking on Deck 19 and "running" in the Splash Pool on Deck 17 in the afternoon. I never even got off the ship, though G did. The iguanas would've stormed the ship looking for brioche if he hadn't.

We were in Skywalkers for sailaway, but we were so busy chatting with new cruise friends Richard and Sylvia that I neglected to take even one photo of the beautiful scenery we were sailing past. 

Next up was Dinner with Darko and Komang, and then this cruises's Most Traveled Passengers party took place at 7:30pm. Cutoff this cruise was significantly lower at 400 days, and this was our first party with Captain Stenzel and new Captains Circle host Patrizia. Once again, we were part of the last group to leave the party, at nearly 10pm.  Someone, or several someones, likes to talk!  (I might be one of them).

I'll warn you now that tomorrow in St. Kitts might be equally disappointing for you. Captain Stenzl says the forecast calls for a 50% chance of rain. 

We plan to do our taxes. :-(

Day 112: At Sea

Prepared Wednesday night, February 19th, but I was too tired to wait to publish it on Internet

 It was a rough night last night, and I lay awake until nearly 3:30am before I fell asleep. The Emerald Princess is once again pretty bouncy. Now, when I say it's bouncy up high on the back of the ship, someone down on Deck 8 midship might not even be noticing it. But we were rolling around in bed like marbles in a box last night. The bounciness then continued throughout today, but, luckily, I did not have that condition known as being "sick of the sea". I think that, when I was troubled with that, I had some congestion in my ears that affected my balance. Without that, I'm fine. Just unable to sleep. For hour after hour after hour.

After all that, I slept until nearly 10am. G had gone to the DaVinci Dining Room for breakfast, but I was not particularly hungry when I got up. Instead I went down to the International Cafe and had a cappuccino while I observed the fruit and vegetable carving taking place in the Piazza. G spotted me when he was leaving the junk sale...er, Bijou Terner "everything's  worth $1 but is for sale for $10" sale in the Michelangelo Dining Room. People love that stuff; it makes me itch. 

We went together to lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room (Chicken Korma for me), and then returned to the cabin to open a box of mail we received yesterday (thank you, Martha). The timing couldn't have been better; I have to make two phone calls tomorow in St. Thomas and remotely deposit a check while I have 4G Internet  (Mom, we received our $40 lottery winnings!  Thank YOU!).

G spent some time in a hot tub; I spent some time walking and in the little round splash pool on Deck 17. I love that pool. When there's no one in it, I can water jog in a circle in one direction, and then reverse in the other direction and I basically have created a current channel.  I plugged in my waterproof earbuds and was happy, happy up there, going around in circles. I will miss that on the Royal Princess next winter. 

We cleaned up early for formal night, and went to the 4pm Gold and Ruby Captains Circle party in the Princess Theater. We sat close this time, just to watch the Emerald Princess orchestra. G's dad was a professional musician, and we have both played a musical instrument. While I could watch a pianist perform forever, G could do the same with the sax and bass players. During the party, we got our first glimpse of Captain Martin Stenzel, who will be here for the remainder of our winter on the Emerald Princess. 

We returned to the cabin to dress formally (we REALLY get our money's worth out of our formal attire!), and then went early to Dinner with Darko and Komang (always an event) so that we could fit everything in this evening:  6:45pm production show What a Swell Party in the Princess Theater (I think this might have been the last time we see these singers and dancers perform it), the 7:15pm Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall, and comedy magician Christopher James at 8pm in the Explorers Lounge. He really wasn't bad for a comedy magician (and our evening was compromise in action, if you hadn't noticed). 

Yochin from Thailand, Evelyn from Philippines and Charlotte from England building the champagne waterfall. They can build it small, medium or large based on how rough the sea it. Tonight's was medium-sized. They then pour fuzzy water over it to kind of stick it together until the Maitre d' and Captain start the champagne waterfall. 

We made a brief pass through the buffet for cheeses and grapes as a snack, then got fuzzy water and called it a night. As for sleep...that's another matter. It may be another sleepless night tonight. As G said at dinner, that's something to look forward to on the Royal Princess; she sailed so smoothly that we didn't even know we were on a ship. And at this point, that's a pretty attractive attribute. 

More miscellaneous cruise info

I think of things every night AFTER I publish my blog posts, and try to remember to mention them the next night, and then forget again, and so on, so I've started just typing things whenever I think of them, to jog my memory later, kind of like a blog To Do list (I cannot get away from them, can I?). The list right now looks exactly like this...

Drink packages

Sanctuary

Pillows

New CC host

Tender tickets for Princess Cays

Cancellation of Southwest flights 

...and I'll take some time now, while listening to the Emerald Princess orchestra, to expand my thoughts. 

Drink packages

We've heard for two cruises now that the unlimited drink packages for $49 pp per day will be offered on the Emerald Princess, but we keep hearing "next cruise, next cruise". Several people have emailed me about this, so I'll answer en masse here: it's imminent but not currently offered. 

Sanctuary pricing

I've also had a few emails on this. It's still $20 per day on the Emerald Princess.  From the Patter, but you probably can't read it, so just know it says $20 per day, $135 for the full cruise (counted as 9 days). 

Pillows (and mattresses)

I've received a couple of emails about pillows (and I could include mattresses in this too). There are some new ones on board and some old ones on board. The new pillows and the old mattresses are firm, the old pillows and the new mattresses are soft. Which you'll get is really anybody's guess. Even if I check your future cabin on turnaround day and tell you what's there, it could change. Our pillows were changed mid-cruise. G hated the new pillows and still has old ones. So our cabin, for example, has a mix and I suspect many others are the same. If you don't like what your cabin has, ask for a change. 

New Captains Circle host

Amanda has returned home and Patricia from Romania had replaced her. Nothing more to add here. 

Tender tickets for Princess Cays

For a couple of cruises in January, when the number of Elites on board was especially high, we were asked, instead of going directly to the tender loading area, to stop by the Explorers Lounge for Elite tender tickets. We did, and it never slowed us down. We would simply collect the tickets and were told to go directly to the loading station. They've since abandoned even that requirement, as the number of Elites has started to drop. 

And, on a personal note...

Cancellation of Southwest flights

Well, it's started. You may remember that I've mentioned that we have flights booked to return home on five different dates. The first one was last turnaround. I woke up in the middle of the night before in a panic...what if I forgot to cancel them?  I was feeling around in the dark for paper and pen, and wrote the word CANCEL in big letters and placed it on the floor. When I turned my iPhone on yesterday morning, I saw I needn't have stressed. I had set it up as a To Do before I even left home.

Is anyone besides me surprised about that?