Day 144: Grand Cayman

We have not had the best luck, weather-wise, in Grand Cayman this winter. The best weather we've had was on our first visit, when we accompanied Suzan and Greg to Seven Mile Beach. Once, the Georgetown port was closed and the Emerald Princess had to anchor off Spott's Bay (and I didn't even get off the ship). Today was cloudy and humid, but not too hot, and we had no other plans for the day other than purchasing some last minute souvenirs for the kids.

I slept fairly well, all things considered, and went with G to breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room (just toast with peanut butter today, and a decaf café Americano). We were not in a rush to get off this morning, and, apparently, neither were most people. Open tender was called around 8am (we had arrived at 7am). 

We went down to the Deck 3 tender platform carrying just some cash and a credit card. We tendered into a dock even north of the North Pier (the Carnival Glory was in port with us and tendered into the same pier). We walked along the main street to the right, along the waterfront, browsing all the T-shirt shops along the way. Nothing was hitting exactly the right note. 

Then G spotted a sign pointing to a customized hat shop down a street and behind a building. Intrigued, we walked down to check it out and hit pay dirt. T-shirts, monogrammed baseball caps...three times we walked out of the shop and thought of someone else to gift, and turned around and bought more. It was a successful stop. 

I wanted to have Awesome Ambrish embroidered on it but it wouldn't fit. And it might embarrass him. But mostly because it wouldn't fit. ;-)

It s a bit hard to read, but there was a glass floor in the shop over stone steps carved down to a freshwater pool that was the source of potable water in the 18th century

Walking back toward the tender pier, we saw a sign advertising conch fritters and turtle burgers. Intrigued by this, too, we walked down to the restaurant and ending up having lunch there. I've been jonesing for conch fritters since we missed Grand Turk last cruise, and G shocked me (I was gobsmacked!) by ordering and eating a turtle burger. (He liked it!). We went all out and ordered dessert, too, key lime pie for me (of course) and coconut cream pie for G. What we really hadn't realized is that the prices were in Cayman dollars which are worth more than US $ and, in the end, this was a lunch with a value on par with any we had in French Polynesia. Oh well. That was really the only entertainment we spent money on today. 

It rained lightly on and off the entire morning, and, by 2pm, we were taking a tender back to the Emerald Princess. We went to the cabin to deposit our purchases and ended up resting until sailaway. We were showered and dressed for the evening by 3:30pm, and went up to Skywalkers with drinks to watch as the sand bar that is Grand Cayman quickly disappeared into the distance for our last time this season. 

We stayed in Skywalkers long enough to have some nibbles when the PES Lounge was set up at 5pm, and then went to dinner in the Michelangelo Dining Room around 5:30pm. Dinner was hit and miss for us tonight, only because we are trying some things that are different from what we usually order. We both started with beef satays (yummy), then I tried the plantain chips and returned them. Not good. I ordered the turkey pot pie for my entree (comfort food sounded good tonight), but G got really brave and tried the Curtis Stone flank steak on the always available menu.  His review?  "There is no end to the chewing until I finally get bored and swallow it", which had me falling off my chair with laughter. 'There is no end to the chewing' might be good for gum, but it is definitely not good for a Curtis Stone dish and is not likely to entice people to try his speciality restaurant. 

Princess really needs to work on those three always available Curtis Stone dishes. Between us, we've tried all three and didn't like any of them. Bring back the salmon, please!!

I was started to fade fast, but we sat in the Piazza and listened to new pianist Monika Rosca. Ryszard Sulek went home last turnaround, and Monika's musical style is totally different. She plays the light, quick tempoed classical music that I love to play (though she plays it much, much, much, much better) and I could listen to her forever. G is not as much a fan and misses Ryszard's more popular music. Is it any wonder that entertainment is a subjective thing when even two pianists have different appeal?

G is in the Princess Theater listening to comedian Eric Lyden. Even if I was feeling 100%, I could not be convinced to sit though his show again, but, feeling as I do gave me a very good excuse for missing it. Hopefully, things will come together to allow us to enjoy a sunny day on the beach in Mahogany Bay, Roatan, tomorrow.  

Day 143: At sea

It started late last night, with a sudden spiking of temperature and massive headache that signaled I was getting very sick, very fast. Luckily, I was not waking up at home this morning, buried in mail and laundry and open suitcases, and having to wait until tomorrow to see a doctor. Instead, I took an elevator to see Dr. Bronwyn from South Africa and, by 9:30am left with the antibiotics required to have me feeling fit as a fiddle, if not by tomorrow then the day after, for sure.

I spent the day ordering room service and walking up one deck to the Horizon Court Buffet for hot tea and onion soup, and frying through the last episode of Downton Abbey, but mostly sleeping. G has been out and about, being the social butterfly he usually is, and is right now, at my urging, having dinner in the Michelangelo Dining Room to be followed by the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall and then production show I Got the Music. 

I am sorry to be missing all the fun, but am so grateful to be here instead of at home. Another few days of rest and relaxation are just what the doctor ordered, and the Emerald Princess offers both. 

Day 142: Fort Lauderdale (turnaround day)

There is little notable news of the day today, other than the number of in transit passengers (those staying on from last cruise to this cruise) and the weather (cool but brilliant), but most significant is that this is our final turnaround day of our Winter 2015-16 cruising season, and that always makes me hopelessly sentimental. The same things that tend to start driving me nuts after four months at sea (the same.old.elevator jokes, the people who stop in the middle of everything and block traffic, the formal night and MTP and Captains Circle party obligations cruise after cruise after cruise) suddenly stop driving me nuts and instead everything is viewed through rose-colored glasses. It's kind of like the first cruise of the season all over again. I like it. 

We had planned to be on an open deck when the Emerald Princess arrived in Port Everglades today, but didn't make it. Oh well, there will be others. No wait...there won't. ;-) We had a quick and simple breakfast in the Botticelli Dining Room and returned to our cabin to do the normal sorting of paperwork and setting up of a calendar for the cruise starting today. We had heard that there would be between 700 and 800 in transit passengers today, scheduled to meet in the Princess Theater at 10:15am to go through immigration, and we knew we didn't want to get involved with that. Instead, we walked off the ship about 9am, and bypassed the immigration line in the terminal by using our Global Entry cards. 

We later heard that the in transit immigration was held up for 45 minutes by someone who ignored the letter about meeting in the Princess Theater at 10:15am and was using a treadmill with ear buds, causing her to miss the announcements being made for her, too. Oy vey. That's why we left the ship early. 

We first walked up and over the 17th Street drawbridge, and though the Harbor Isles neighborhood (I think that's what it's called) on the other side of the bridge; just for exercise, then stopped at the top for awhile to enjoy the cool sunshine and the Saturday morning boat traffic on the intercoastal. We didn't want to get back to the terminal until 11:30am, when we would be allowed to re-board the ship. 

A slow Saturday at Port Everglades: (from left) RCCL Independence OTS, HAL Westerdam, RCCL Oasis OTS, Emerald Princess 

Loved watching these little sailboats being towed out for a sailing lesson at sea

We stopped into Walgreens for just a few more things- Wet Ones hand wipes, hair spray and another bottle of Barefoot Bubbly and protein bars that will be our lunch and dinner next Saturday when we fly home- and walked back to and through the Pier 2 terminal and right onto the Emerald Princess. We dropped our purchases in our cabin and went down to the DaVinci Dining Room for our last embarkation day lunch of the season. This was no time to hold back; we had salads and entrees AND orange soufflés for dessert. They don't serve those on Southwest!

I had thought about taking my iPad off the ship and sitting in the terminal to use the Port Everglades WiFi, but...shoot. We'll be home in a week. Things can wait. Instead I went up to the Adagio Lounge and phoned Mom (she is doing so well!) and texted friends and downloaded another audiobook to see me through the next seven days. My calendar is already starting to fill up with appointments and commitments, including hanging with the twins for a long weekend in March while the rest of their family is out of town. Such a chore! ;-)

Muster drill at 3:15pm marked shower time, and I returned the cabin to see that G had had the same idea and was just finishing up. By sailaway, we were out on the Terrace Deck for our last sailaway of the season (weep) accompanied by a bottle of Barefoot Bubbly. It had been such a gorgeous day, cool and clear and dry, and was probably the prettiest sailaway from Fort Lauderdale we've had all season. 

The drawbridge opens to allow a relatively small sailboat to pass through.

One final look back through the Port Everglades entrance channel

Two more cruise ships leave Port Everglades after the Emerald Princess.

It was so pretty on the Terrace Deck that we stayed there talking to Dee and Bill from England, who we'd met last cruise, until it was time to go to dinner. The last Caribbean shrimp!  The last pasta conchiglie with chicken strips!  The last flourless chocolate cake!  Every course was especially savored.

We went to the early Welcome Aboard show (good grief...not even Cruise Director Neil's same old same old jokes grated tonight) and stayed for comedian Eric Lyden (Neil's were the better jokes). I dropped a final bottle of Merlot off at the International Cafe only to discover that dear Cherry returned home today, then stopped by the International Cafe for a cup of coffee and to check out the new faces among the crew there. With only a week left, things there will never feel quite the same again. 

But what great memories I have of being spoiled for the the past almost two months!  :-)

Cruise #10: 7-nights to the Western Caribbean

Day 141: At sea

The second we opened our eyes this morning, the first words out of G's mouth were, "I wonder what adventure Captain Forteeze has planned for us today."  This nut I'm married to always makes me smile...well, almost always. We've shared one bathroom and the close confines of a cruise ship cabin for 141 days in less than six months. It's not all love and laughs. I read once that a woman should never let her husband see her floss her teeth (Modern Bride, 1982).  After that horrid night of norovirus on Rapa Nui, teeth flossing doesn't make the cut of indelicate activities my husband has seen me participate in. 

I went to breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room alone today, just for a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal, and G took advantage of me being out of the cabin to do his hand laundry. I stopped by the International Cafe and told Filip from Serbia to "make me a hero", and he handed me a sprinkle donut on a plate to take back to G. Today was Filip's last day, and he will be so missed. We call him Mr. Pastry in the morning when he works in the International Cafe for three hours, and then Mr. Pizza in the afternoon and evening when he works in Prego Pizzeria on the pool deck. 

Filip from Serbia in the International Cafe 

It was also the last day for Nadia from Serbia who works in the International Cafe. She saw me waiting in line and told me to sit at a table and she'd bring me a hot chocolate for G. 

I returned the donut and hot chocolate to G in the cabin and went to the gym for a cardio workout. Today was very sunny and I didn't want to spend too much time working out in a pool. I then joined G for lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room, and he made up for his missed breakfast with a four course lunch. Dear waiter James from the Philippines who's provided us service for many breakfasts and lunches is also going home tomorrow, and was excited about seeing his wife and toddler son for the first time in eight months. 

G adjourned to a hot tub for a huge portion of the afternoon, but I made it through two more episodes of Downton Abbey. I have just one episode remaining to watch, and it just kills me. I am trying to savor every moment. 

In order to to resist watching the last episode, I went to the Grapevine Wine Tasting at 3pm, just for a diversion. I followed that with a couple of walking laps on the Promenade Deck and then returned to the cabin to beat G into the shower to get ready for the evening. 

Dinner was simple, just the tamarind salmon and a glass of Riesling for me. The tamarind salmon has quickly become my favorite entree, surpassing even embarkation day lunch salmon. I would eat it every night except Italian night when I'd have penne arrabiata, and be a happy cruiser. Who could get bored with food as tasty as that?

The big entertainment for tonight was the Voice of the a Ocean, and, for lack of something else to watch, we went. As I've said, we are not two of the 500 million people who have reportedly watched this show worldwide, so we had no idea what to expect. Well, it's basically competitive karaoke, heavily produced and dramatized. The three 'coaches' were Hotel General Manager Peter, Rhumba Duo singer Teresa, and Magic To Do vocalist/magician Erik. Seven passengers performed, and the first two were really good. The others were decent, but couldn't compare. The coaches selected their teams and then each chose a finalist (that part confused me...why pick their favorites and then eliminate one or two of them?  Wouldn't they, after they chose one really good singer, choose the not so good ones for their team so it would be easy to choose their finalist?). 

The coaches and their teams 

After the three finalists were selected, passengers who had picked up wireless voting devices on their way into the Princess Theater (requiring a ship card as a deposit and limited to one per couple) voted on which of the three finalists should be the champion. The first singer won with 70% of the vote, which was surprising because I thought the second singer was just as good. I guess that's where it pays to have campaigned for votes ahead of time, and get friends you've made or came on the cruise with to attend and vote for you. 

Chad (in the middle) won it all

Given no other show to watch, I might go again. The Emerald Princess orchestra played for about 15 minutes before the show began, and accompanied the singers, and made it worthwhile, and we were lucky that two of the singers were really good, but if there weren't any good ones, it could be an excruciating hour to sit through. As I've said, we like being entertained by professional performers, but have to concede that most of America seems to like these competitive shows. Singing, dancing, talent, cooking...heck, there was even a Christmas house decorating competition show on when we were home over the holidays. I guess Princess is just giving its passengers what it seems the public wants.

We made a pass across the Lido Deck for ice cream with strawberry sauce and sprinkles (G) and red velvet cheesecake (me). We are moving clocks back an hour tonight, and forcing ourselves to go to bed early. We'd like to once again watch our arrival in Fort Lauderdale tomorrow. It makes for a long day, but the opportunities for us to do that are quickly coming to an end.