Day 122: At Sea

Today was a very good day, as many things we've been dealing with just seemed to resolve or disappear altogether:  warm, sunny, not-too-windy weather; extremely smooth seas; a new (different) mattress for G; and I woke up feeling better- much better- than I have since I fell.  Our cruise is finally in (pardon the pun) cruise control, and I predict (pun intended) smooth sailing going forward.

The weather was warm and sunny on the Terrace Deck

We left the pools and loungers in the sun to our fellow passengers and stuck to mostly indoor activities, but had a full and fun day. While I wasn't quite up for line dancing (soon, very soon), I did attend another of Wilson Jean-Baptiste's steel drum classes (I've got When the Saints go Marching In down!) and drummer Antonio's Mardi Gras drumming circle. Both of these are so darn much fun, and have such a basic premise, too. Take an off duty musician with the patience of a saint, bring on board several simple, but quality musical instruments, put a notice in the Princess Patter and...voila!  Even veteran cruisers find something to enjoy. The drumming circle held in Club Fusion always manages to grow by 50% over the course of the class simply because passengers hear it, come to investigate and stay because it looks like fun.  It is!!  I think I've had a frustrated drummer inside of me wanting to be let out.  It's sooooo relaxing. 

Besides having great fun hitting things with sticks (can you tell I was raised with just brothers?), we walked for awhile on the Promenade Deck (if there's a jogging track on this ship, we've not found it) and enjoyed both breakfast and lunch in the Coral Dining Room. That was about it...until it was time to dress for formal night #463 of the winter. Actually, I didn't mind so much tonight. I must be feeling better!!

The dinner menu was the 50th anniversary menu (which I posted when we were on the Grand Princess). I had that yummy dessert for the fourth time, which reminds me that I'm not certain I've mentioned how they make it. Headwaiter Peter told us last cruise that the raspberry part is sprayed on, which is why it turns out so even and perfect. Huge sheets of plastic are hung around a marble island in the galley and pastry chefs wearing masks and goggles spray it on, as if it was paint on a car. It's worth the effort. People rave about it every time it's served. 

I know I've said this before, but all these 50th anniversary additions have made Princess into a new, yet at the same time familiar cruise line. If I could, I'd squeeze in ten more cruises this year just to continue to enjoy them. I'd even settle for nine. ;-)

We left dinner and claimed two seats on Deck 5 in the Piazza for tonight's Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall, where we enjoyed people watching and chatting with fellow passengers. Most people were dressed formally; I might have expected something different on this 5-night cruise. In fact, nothing about the way this cruise is going would cause me to avoid these short cruises in the future. There are several multigenerational family groups onboard, lots of babies and toddlers, many young adults, groups of single senior ladies traveling together; we've seen no behavior at all that was any different than we'd see on any cruise. Another stereotype bites the dust!

After the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall (still loving that keyboard shortcut), we opted to skip production show Born to be Wild, having just seen it a few days ago, and instead went to Club Fusion for Oscar night. What fun that was!  We have finally found the perfect use for that space!! They had two red carpet runners leading into the lounge (the famous Oscar red carpet), and we were greeted by a large, slightly husky Oscar statue ice sculpture. Of course, the fact that everyone was formally dressed added to the ambiance, and special hors doerves were served off trays by waiters. An Oscar ballot was available to be filled out and tallied, and an Oscar trivia was held during the real red carpet timeframe. We didn't stay until the end (arrival in Cozumel tomorrow is at 7am and we're determined...) but we sure enjoyed what we did see. 

We walked into Club Fusion on the red carpet. ;-)

Oscar's put on weight (but we all loved it)

The night was perfect for a stroll on the Promenade Deck in formalwear

We're hoping for a beach day tomorrow in Cozumel. We must hold on to that determination to get ourselves to one before noon. 

Cruise #12: A 5-night cruise to Mexico

Day 121: Fort Lauderdale (turnaround day)

As it turned out, Fort Lauderdale today wasn't as cold as it has recently been. We did make it to the mid-70s, which made for a very pleasant day.  We went to breakfast in the Palm Dining Room (my first time in there) and shortly afterward chose to walk off the ship early, not waiting until the in transit walk through of immigration at 10:45am. The immigration line moved fast and we were soon on our way to Walgreens on 17th St. Our timing couldn't have been better; we had completed our errand and returned to the ship right after in transits were allowed to reboard but before the first of the new passengers could. Gotta love those magic "In Transit" slips that allowed us to use the crew security entrance and bypass all lines everywhere!

We were seated in the Coral Dining Room by noon with waiter Ignacio who was showing us photos of his new granddaughter who was 40 days old today and being presented at their church in Mexico at the exact same time friend Suzan was texting me new photos of her 43 day old granddaughter.  Ignacio loved seeing her photos too, as they gave him some idea of how his granddaughter is growing and changing weekly.

I spent quite a bit of time this afternoon checking things on the Internet and paying bills and texting friends and talking with the #1 most traveled passengers again next cruise who, amazingly, we hadn't met before this year. They have about 960 days on Princess and spend much of their winter cruising, as do the #3 most traveled with about 550 days.  They were all on before us and are staying on longer than we are, as are other passengers we've met. When asked why they're not doing the 10-night Caribbean cruises on the Royal Princess, the answer is always the same:  it's a great ship for two cruises but not for two months. That's funny; we kind of felt the same way. But we currently have two sets of friends on the Royal Princess for two months and I'm anxious to eventually get their thoughts, as we're likely going to end up doing the same some year, maybe even next winter. 

I got showered and ready for the evening during muster drill and we were on the Terrace Deck for sailaway about 4:45pm. Fort Lauderdale on a pretty winter afternoon never fails to impress

The 17th St. Drawbridge going up with a Fort Lauderdale Water Taxi in the foreground

Fully opened

The Celebrity Constellation was docked at Pier 4, perpendicular to Pier 2 where the Caribbean Princess was docked (empty in the photo above, as we had just sailed).

The Coast Guard boat getting the pleasure boats lined up for a safe passage past the Caribbean Princess before it entered the channel to the Atlantic Ocean

I'm always tickled by how the Coast a Guard boat buzzes about protectively; gun at the ready, but 200 yards later we enter the ocean and we're completely on our own. 

Looking back at the Celebrity Constellation sailing next. 

Standing on the Terrace Deck looking up at the underside of the walkway connecting to Skywalkers and the underside of Skywalkers. It's a strange look from below, but I love the shade it all provides, and the view inside the tunnel and Skywalkers is pretty amazing.

We went to dinner immediately after sailaway. Success!  We are moved over one table to the left, against a wall (a little more private) at a larger table with LIGHT but still have Marian (that's a guy) and Slava as our waitstaff.  Life is so good. The couple who had been seated at that table for the past two cruises complained about everything, but especially that the hot food was not served hot. When we ordered, I told Marian that I was already sure that our cold food would be hot and our hot food cold...it must be something about the table. He laughed and confided that one time he took a plate back to one side of the galley and brought the same plate back out the other side and set it down in front of her, warning her about the hot plate, and then she was happy. I bet these guys could tell some stories!

I ordered all Caribbean inspired menu items tonight; a fruit salad and then a Bahamian soup and crawfish mac and cheese as an entree. Tonight's dessert menu did not offer flourless chocolate cake (what??) so I had sorbet instead. Geesh, I hope I get it one more time this winter. I'm not emotionally prepared for no more flourless chocolate cake. 

We sat in the Piazza and listened to Wilson play steel drums for a bit while two little girls danced and did pirouettes in the middle of the floor. So cute!  I love that we're seeing lots more kids on this shorter, 5-day cruise. Then we went to the Princess Theater for the Welcome Aboard show and comedian TroyThirdgill who is absolutely harious, one of the best there is doing cruise ships. He'll be back for a longer show later in the cruise and we won't miss it. (I hope it's not on MTP or CCP party nights.)  

That was it for the evening. G downloaded some more TV shows from Comsat TV2Go today in Fort Lauderdale, and I'm into another book that will poof off my iPad in 5 days. We're quite content to be early to bed, especially as I was receiving texts about the twins' semi finals basketball game tonight against one of their toughest rivals, and just found out minutes ago that they WON and will play in the finals tomorrow morning!!! Some part of me wishes I was there to see it, but that same part, while doing lots of snow shoveling to dig the car out of the driveway, would no doubt wish it was on a warm beach. Technology is a warm and wonderful substitute; I'll settle for receiving the play by play through iMessage. 

Day 120: Nassau, Bahamas

Despite the rough seas last night, we slept pretty well. Our scheduled arrival in Nassau, Bahamas was not until noon today, so there was no reason to rush this morning, but we were up fairly early anyway, and actually made it to breakfast in the Coral Dining Room. Progress!  The morning was cold, cloudy and windy, which did not bode well for our day in Nassau, at least not for water activities in Nassau.

Still, cold is relative. As chilly as it was, Nassau was supposed to reach 67F, which I imagine sounds pretty good to many of you. 

When we read in the Princess Patter that the dining room would be open for lunch today between 11:30am and 1pm, G suggested we eat there before getting off the ship. After all, he explained, he hadn't eaten much for breakfast. No, just eggs florentine and fruit and bacon...it's understandable that he'd be hungry again three hours later. ;-)

We stepped off the ship into the wind tunnel created by the Caribbean Princess and the Carnival Liberty on the other side of the pier. Brrrrrrrrr; it was so cold that it was almost enough to make us change our minds about leaving the ship. The poor Philippino security staff was visibly suffering, with hands in pockets and hoods pulled up over their uniform hats. They welcomed us to Alaska as we stepped onto the pier. 

It wasn't quite so bad when we walked beyond the two ships, though it was cute to see the local kids wearing winter parkas and pom-pommed ski caps to stay warm. The adult locals had wrapped blankets around their jackets to add some more insulation. We made our way through the crowded and crazy cruise ship terminal (there were also two NCL ships at the second pier) and picked up a walking tour map at the information center. We had learned from the Nassau Port Guide distributed to us in today's Princess Patter that there was a fort (G was immediately interested) reachable by a 65-step staircase carved by slaves into a limestone wall. A fort AND a climb; this was right up G's alley. We set out to find it. 

We had been in Nassau on a Sunday last year, and had spent most of our time there at Atlantis, but even when we returned to the Emerald Princess, there was almost no traffic in town. Not so today, where narrow sidewalks with large holes had G yelling back at me "Tourist trap!!" to alert me to yet another opportunity for disaster. How we managed to cross streets with left-sided drivers and constant horn blowing and even a prison bus racing through town accompanied by leading and following police cars with sirens blaring, all of them taking corners on two wheels is beyond me. Captain Pomata had made an unusual announcement last night during dinner alerting us to a US Department of State warning about high levels of criminal activity in Nassau. Honestly, I was more concerned about getting taken out by a car. 

We did finally find the Queens Staircase, at the end of a limestone canyon lined with tropical foliage right in the middle of town. On the top of that limestone cliff, called Bennet Hill, was Fort Fincastle, dating back to the 18th century. Fincastle's unique appearance is a bit like a ship's bow, and the fort served as a lookout against possible attacks as well as a signal station and lighthouse.  Even in my slightly infirmed condition, I had no trouble climbing the steps, and G provided me the motivation to do it safely by calling cadence as we made our way up:  "Lift your feet and hold them high (lift my feet and hold them high), so that you won't fall and die (so that I won't fall and...WHAT?)". What a support he is! ;-)

We swung through the souvenir booths and straw market on our way back to the ship, but were satisfied buying only a postcard. Once back on board, we warmed up with coffee and hot chocolate from the IC, which looked to be a popular thing to do.  After a quick clean up (we certainly didn't get sweaty today), we were at dinner with Marian and Slava at 5:30am. We have been seated at a table for two that was added as an afterthought to the Coral Dining Room. It's actually a table for two relocated from the Horizon Court Buffet, and is so narrow that Marian and Slava have to keep removing every single thing when we're done with it (i.e. butter dish and bread bowl). Its size is compounded by the fact that there is not a sliver of light above the table. We read our menus by iPhone light, but it's actually hard to see what we're eating. After two cruises of tolerating that, we've asked to be moved to the table for two next to ours that is larger AND has light. Fingers crossed...

Following dinner, we raced up to Skywalkers to watch first the Carnival Liberty, then the Caribbean Princess sail away. That might have been something enjoyed from an open deck if it wasn't dark and cold and windy. Instead Skywalkers provided a better observational venue. It was funny; docked just the width of the pier apart, the Carnival Liberty backed up and spun one direction, but the Caribbean Princess spun the opposite. Sailaway with the lights of Paradise Island and Atlantis was beautiful...but even Skywalkers felt chilly. It felt like a night that should be spent in front of a fireplace. 

With no fireplace in sight, we grabbed hot tea from the Horizon Court Buffet and returned to our cabin, where we turned the thermostat up to BAKE. Entertainment tonight is magician Alex Ramon; who was fantastic; but tonight he can't compete with a book (me) or a Comcast TV2Go show on his iPhone (G), finally toasty and warm under a fluffy duvet.  

Fort Lauderdale is supposed to be 75 tomorrow. Fingers crossed on that, too. 

Day 119: At Sea

Internet on the ship today has been so bad that I'm not certain when I'll get this post published. We've also used almost all of our internet minutes, not because we've been able to do so much on the Internet, but because everything we've tried to do has taken forever or been impossible. I'm sure the fact that we are bouncing- and I mean shaking and shimmying- our way up to the Bahamas has everything to do with it. What the heck is going on with the weather along the Eastern sea coast right now?  We've had chilly, windy and wet weather today, and I suspect it gets worse going north.

We were up early enough to get to breakfast in the Coral Dining Room. Go us!  The rest of the morning was spent at a steel drum lesson with Wilson Jean-Baptiste, and then G and I met up for British Pub Lunch in the Crown Grill. I had my first 50th anniversary special Seawitch beer, and liked it. It's very different, kind of fruity, but good. We went back to the Coral Dining Room for dessert, though. Trifle is no match for ice cream (G) or key lime frozen yogurt (me). 

We had a serious discussion after lunch about returning home on Saturday that took a lot of time and too much internet. We've always said that we would cruise each winter as long as the weather at home was bad. I think G is frustrated by some minor, but unrelenting service issues on the Caribbean Princess and was ready to throw in the towel, but when we saw the weather at home...well, maybe it's not so bad here after all. If we had felt this way immediately after living like royalty on the Pacific Princess, I'd say we were just spoiled by the attention we'd received on that small ship. But in between we had a wonderful 9-night cruise on the Grand Princess, where we were no different than any first time Princess cruiser and certainly didn't receive any special attention and still felt that the service was exemplary. And it's nothing huge; it's more like death by 1000 cuts. I think this crew simply has no incentive to provide particularly friendly service when they face a new set of passengers every 7-, or 5-, or 4-days.

Grapevine wine tasting at 3pm featured the same wines as last week, and we remained in the Piazza to listen to Wilson's steel drum for awhile afterward. We returned to the cabin with just enough time to dress for formal night dinner, where I had a new (to me) Chocolate Journeys dessert, a chocolate covered pistachio mousse. I did take a photo, and a photo of the menu, and will upload them here when we get to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday. 

We finished dinner in time to get to the 7:15pm performance of production show Born to Be Wild (again, photos will eventually follow), then went to a session of 50th anniversary Princess trivia in Club Fusion. Our team came in second to an obvious team of ringers who scored a perfect 20/20 (including answering the question about what year Princess launched its website correctly. Seriously??).

We went to the Wheelhouse Bar to listen to the Massina Duo for one set, then into the Explorers Lounge where Fresh Power was playing to a packed dance floor. We are in bed early, tonight, by shortly after 10pm, especially notable because we move clocks back an hour tonight. I love these 25-hour days on a cruise ship!  Still, sleep could be rough. It's a "tuck in the sheets to keep from rolling out of bed" night up here on Deck 14 aft.