Sunset, Day 23

There was a spectacular sunset tonight. The first photo was taken from the Promenade Deck on the way to dinner. The second photo was taken through the window next to our table in the Michelangelo Dining Room in Deck 5.

G saw the green flash at sunset for the first time tonight! I've never seen one yet, but have heard about it for years. Maybe someday...

Skywalkers this evening

Pre-dinner cocktails with carved smoked salmon and beautiful melon carvings.

Sunrise, Day 23 (At Sea)

We continue to sail along to Aruba, which is well over 1000 miles from Fort Lauderdale. The weather has been sunny, hot, and as calm as it can be. It's hard to remember we're even on a ship (no fun at all for those of us who like a little adventure).
I was up early for my habitual sunrise walk. It was another beautiful one, and I really enjoy my time up on Deck 19. It's kind of funny- generally, the only person I encounter is a member of the crew who is up there early, every morning, scrubbing every inch of that deck in great detail. (It's amazing how clean this ship is, but if it wasn't cleaned like this, after only a few days there would be a salt crust on everything). At the beginning on the second cruise, he looked up to acknowledge me (we've never talked), and he seemed taken aback to see me still on the cruise. At the beginning of this third cruise, he looked up again and gave me a big smile. I wonder what he'll think after 7 more cruises, assuming he's still on board?
G joined me for a few laps, then went down to Deck 16 aft to claim two loungers. We were in a perfect position overlooking the ship's wake. We brought food from the buffet out for breakfast, but he finally decided he wanted to also go to breakfast in the dining room, and so he did, leaving me sitting out back. Friend Suzan from Arizona (she and what she did for me is a while other post, closely related to the contacts post) joined me and we chatted for a long time, before she went to lunch with her husband (also a G) and I decided I'd had enough sun. I never did catch up with my G (he ate lunch in the dining room) and so I showered and grabbed salad and gazpacho in the buffet. I met up with him at 2pm for a rum tasting presentation (yum!) and then I went to another line dancing class. I hadn't been going to any classes on these cruises, not wanting to get bored with them, but have been enjoying them this cruise. We're currently resting in our cabin, with me getting caught up on my blog, before Skywalkers and dinner. My favorite entree ciappino (seafood stew) is offered tonight- can't wait!

A day at sea

Tuesday, we attended an 11am get together of over 100 people we had 'met' over the Internet who were going to bs on the cruise. It's always good to see old friends and meet new ones. Mona and Adelle, who I met on last year's cruise, and I went to line dancing in the afternoon, and learned some party dances too that we'll be doing at our island night party later in the cruise. We were all sweaty after 45 minutes of dancing- it was a workout!

Formal night was once again upon us, which meant 1.) tux and patent leather shoes for G; 2.) something fancy for me (I chose the always comfortable gold and black net two piece dress and my beautiful new dress sandals (one of the new pairs of shoes I bought over the summer and the most expensive shoes I've ever purchased but they are comfortable and G said that he wasn't spending this much on a trip and having me complain about my bad foot and i HAD to keep them and so I did and they are gorgeous); and 3.) chocolate covered strawberries delivered to the room about 4pm.

We both chose filet mignon for dinner, the only time I eat beef during the entire cruise. There was a beautiful sunset from our window (see picture).

We then joined Mona and Adelle and their husbands and Nancy and Roger and sat in Crooners for the captain's welcome aboard champagne toast in the Piazza and another champagne waterfall. Luckily our seas have been bathtub flat this cruise (no wind either- isn't it funny how that can change from one cruise to the next?), so there was no collapsed waterfall. We sat for quite a while (and must have taken 10 photos of our dressed-up selves with various cameras) before they all went to dinner (late seating) and we went back to our cabin to change.

We then went to the Cafe Caribe, because we had seen people in the elevator with plates of monster (and I mean huge- about 4" long) shrimp that they were serving up there last dinner. I then had dinner #2: four huge shrimp, and, as always, popcorn from MUTS. Several from our group were getting together at 11pm for dancing, but there was no way we could make it. My contacts had been giving me fits the entire day (honestly, I will someday write an entire post about THAT issue), and I wanted them out, and to be in bed.

A busy sea day

Neptune's Pool around 1pm on a sunny sea day. Oh, the humanity!

My lunch today

Mussels in a gingered broth and vegetarian burritos. Yummy!

Passenger Services Desk

Robson, second from right, from Brazil is a sweetheart and a big flirt (though he's young enough to be my son, I do swoon a bit when he kisses my hand). We've brought M&Ms to the PSD on turnaround day and Robson claims he never gets EVEN ONE with all the women in that department. So we brought him his very own bag to share as he wishes.

:-)

Our table for breakfast

Francesco, the head waiter in the breakfast dining room seems to know that we really aren't that interested in being seated at large tables with three other couples who are strangers to us. We used to love that aspect of cruising, but not so much anymore. You can talk about 1.) where you're from; 2.) how many cruises you've taken; 3.) which is your favorite cruise line; and 4.) how you're enjoying (or not) your cruise only so many times before you get tired of saying it and even more tired of hearing other people talk about it. So we enjoy our tables for 2, and even more when they're a 4-top table set for 2, and especially when it's by a window.

G LOVES getting oatmeal for breakfast with fresh strawberries on top and three scoops of brown sugar. And four different juices. And two pieces of ham steak. Well, it's a little healthy.

Sunrise, Day 22 (At Sea)

It has been so good to see cruising friends from prior years on this cruise. People tend to take the same cruises at the same time, year after year, and last year we were on this ship on a cruise also starting 11/28, so we're seeing lots of familiar faces.
Dinner last night was in the dining room, and I had what has become my second favorite entree on this ship (after ciappino). It's barramundi prepared in the most delicious way, and I'll try next time to get a photo and a more complete description from the menu. G, of course, had the prime rib, after having beef tenderloins for lunch. It's all beef- all the time for him. We chose to skip all shows in favor of musical entertainment in the Piazza. Then it was fairly early to bed as we were moving clocks ahead an hour last night. I wasn't certain when it would be, as we are at sea for two days and time doesn't have to align with any land standards. It did result in a sunrise at 7:40am today, but I slept until 6am and then caught what I could before we went to breakfast.

El Mejor Margarita night in Skywalkers

:-)

Sunset, Day 21 (Sailaway from Fort Lauderdale)

The Miami skyline is in the distance.

Cruise #3

Here we go again, on the Southern Caribbean route this time. We'll be in St. Thomas next Monday and back in Fort Lauderdale a week from Thursday.

Cruise #3

Here we go again, on the Southern Caribbean route this time. We'll be in St. Thomas next Monday and back in Fort Lauderdale a week from Thursday.

Pallets of food to be brought on

I hope one of them holds fresh oranges. We ran out two days ago....too many people, like us, love their orange segments in the morning. The ship must have cans of mandarin oranges as backups, but it's not nearly the same.
Other things I hope are here: seafood (all kinds, but especially lobster and shrimp), caviar, Stilton, port wine, goat cheese, feta cheese, limes, egg beaters, broccoli, brussel sprouts, spinach, asparagus, cauliflower, red and yellow peppers and sun dried tomatoes.
Not that we ran out of these, but given how much I enjoyed all of these, levels must certainly be running low.
;-)

Check out this sailing yacht

Docked right in front of our ship, at Berth 4. It is really beautiful!

A freighter is spun into position

Without thrusters, many freighters are reliant on tugboats to be positioned for docking.

The 17th Street drawbridge at dawn

When we are at Terminal 2, the bridge is right off the back of the ship.

Approaching Terminal 2

The lighted gangways await the ship.

The ship moves into position parallel to the dock and then the thrusters move it sideways into place.

Sunrise, Day 21 (Fort Lauderdale)

Approaching Fort Lauderdale, Day 20

It's turnaround day, and I was up early to walk on Deck 19. Unlike 10 days ago, it was warm and calm with no rain showers, and there really was a sunrise. It's always so beautiful to see the lights of Fort Lauderdale in the distance, and the stretch of lights along the coast as far north and south as far as you can see.
The ship entered Port Everglades and did a spin to back into its berth at Terminal 2.

Tebow and the winning field goal

The last photo is fuzzy, but that's Prater's game-winning field goal in OT.
As I was watching, I imagined Ky as the QB and JT as the game winning kicker someday. I don't, for a second, doubt it could happen in about 20 years.

Broncos on MUTS

It was a thrill to watch the Broncos beat the Chargers in OT tonight on MUTS. The game was shown live, and started at 5:15pm on the ship. I didn't want to go to dinner in the dining room at 6pm, so G went for a quick dinner and I grabbed dinner in the Cafe Caribe (buffet) at halftime. We have a great table for 2 by a window in the dining room, and we've only missed one night, on Thanksgiving, when we had dinner with John and Tess S. We know it's prime real estate and so we don't like to miss it, but, hey, it was the Broncos on MUTS. G joined me right after halftime and we watched as the game went into OT. We could tell by the cheers that those around us strongly favored Denver, so we were in good company.
While I was lying there, in a semi-reclined position on a deck lounger, a waiter brought around bags of freshly popped popcorn and a salt shaker. I never even had to lift my head to take a bag and salt it. Another waiter brought me a fuzzy water. All this, and a Bronco win on the big screen. It was pretty darn perfect. At one point G looked at me and asked, "Can you take 80 more days of this?". Well, I don't know for certain, but I'm hopeful.
;-)

Paella for lunch- yum!!

Sunrise, Day 20 (At Sea)

I was up early to walk again today. Thankfully, sunrise wasn't until 7:15am, so I was able to sleep in a bit. Tomorrow will be tough...we set clocks back an hour tonight, so sunrise will be shortly after 6am. No matter- it is turnaround day in Fort Lauderdale, and there is no sleeping in for anyone that day.
After breakfast in the dining room, I grabbed a lounger on the back of the ship and G headed to a hot tub. I love listening to my audiobooks when lying in the sun. It's much easier on the eyes. Two cruises down, and I've already listened to four books.
We cleaned up for lunch in the dining room (paella for me, with fresh strawberries for dessert) and then listened to piano music in the Piazza. The seas are a calmer today, but things are still bouncy. I will spend some time in the spa this afternoon, and will skip dinner in the dining room tonight in favor of watching the Broncos game on MUTS.

The Help on MUTS

Formal night

Formal nights mean hors doerves delivered to the cabin. In our case, we ask for only chocolate covered strawberries. They almost make the 'dressing up' part worthwhile.
On the first day at sea (of these two at the end of this cruise) the seas got very rough. We went out on the Promenade Deck to enjoy the spectacle and were served afternoon tea al fresco. It's a new Princess offering and it was very nice, albeit windy.
Dinner was a very nice orange roughy and polenta souffle with a particularly pretty presentation.
We skipped the shows last night and quickly changed after dinner and went up to watch The Help on MUTS. But the rough seas made the pool water spray up out of the pool, and the sound of the pool waves masked most of the sound, so we eventually gave up and called it an evening.

Part 3 of today's sunrise

Sunrise, Day 19 (At Sea)

Another spectacular start to the day. Walked 4 miles and am now firmly affixed to a lounger on the back of the ship alongside G. We are skipping breakfast in the dining room this morning for nibbles from the nearby buffet. On tap for today: wash out all swimsuits and Tilley hat, wine tasting at 3pm and formal night tonight. The Help is being shown on MUTS tonight, and I may change into comfy clothes after dinner and stretch out on a lounger and watch it, in lieu of a live show (Motor City again tonight in the Princess Theater and a male vocalist in the Explorers Lounge). The always amusing Newlywed-Not So Newleywed game is later tonight in Club Fusion so that's a possibility too.
Sea days are wonderful!

Champagne with friends at sailaway

We saw some cruise friends from Scotland while leaving Skywalkers, and they invited us to their favorite spot for sailaway and sunset and to share a bottle of champagne...but it was BYOG (glass). So we stopped by a bar to pick up two chilled flutes, and joined them on Deck 17 forward (or, as we called it, the balcony for those of us who book inside cabins). While up there, I took some pictures of areas I'd not yet photographed, forward (the Lotus pool is under the area with the lights) and aft (the Neptunes pool and behind that the Calypso pool and the MUTS screen).

We enjoy all of this so much that we made a decision Wednesday to pay for a tenth cruise, from February 6 to 16. Thanks to those (especially you Mom!) who encouraged us to do this. We took your advice to heart, and so will be spending 100 days straight on the ship- almost a World Cruise without leaving the hemisphere.
Will we get tired of this? Well, time will tell. But we do know that we have never left a cruise ready to return home; we were always wanting to continue. And we hedged our bet by buying insurance for every cruise. We can cancel a cruise up until sailaway for any reason and get our fare applied to a future cruise. If we decide it's time to go home, we can.

And we can all be shocked.