Final thoughts on our winter at sea

We are slowly adjusting to life at home.  Yesterday I struggled with the microwave (forgot how to use the power settings) and the very first thing I've "cooked" in over three months (oatmeal) boiled over.  First thing in the morning I was cleaning the microwave.  

My clothes are unpacked; the "common" items (as we call them), i.e. snorkel gear, beach toys, collapsible coolers, sunscreens, etc. have not yet been unpacked, but we're making progress.

G spent a great deal of time yesterday starting cars and shoveling snow.  He also made a quick run to the grocery store, and purchased enough for me to throw together a stew for yesterday's meals.

I've done laundry (multiple times), folded clothes, made a bed, washed dishes (also multiple times), and made a first pass through the mail.  And cleaned the microwave.

Feeling totally settled is just a matter of time.  Adjusting to the cold, dry air will be the same. Staying well through the transition is paramount.

But we are still basking in the warmth of thousands of wonderful memories of the times we had, the people we met and the things we saw during our 100 days in the Caribbean.  I proclaim the trip a huge success; G, in typical military fashion, says we completed our mission successfully. :^|  Either way, it's a good thing.

Did we grow tired of the islands, or life at sea?  No, not once, not even a little.  We LOVE the Caribbean, we don't feel that the islands are "all the same" as so many say.  Each one is a bit different (some are VERY different) and we have our favorite things to do on each of them.  Spending just one day a year on each island wouldn't even allow us to scratch the surface of all the things we want to do and see.

Will we do this again?  Very probably, yes.  Next year we have been thrown a curve ball by the Emerald Princess's scheduled dry dock in December, so our plans are anything but final at this point.  But this we know for sure:  we can cruise 100 consecutive days, and still love it as much on Day 100 as on Day 1.  What's our limit?  We'll keep trying to reach it.

Life IS good!

Travel Log:  60 island visits, 30 sea days, 10 turnaround days

                    34,485 miles sailed - almost 1.4 times around the world

Day 101: Home!!

It's 10pm and I'm in my own bed for the first time in 102 nights, typing this on my iPhone and posting it over our high speed, unlimited WiFi.

Life is good.

Goodbyes this morning were hard and I shed a few tears. We had such an amazing experience on that ship!! It felt really strange to disembark just ahead of the passengers staying on for the next cruise. We were part of that group nine times. And, darn, that was much nicer!

All four suitcases that we had checked in for our flight while on the ship (EZ Check) arrived just fine at the baggage carousel at our home airport. I can highly recommend that program. We zipped right through the cruise ship terminal and immigration and customs. It was so nice not to have to find and roll four suitcases through all of that, out to a taxi, into the Fort Lauderdale airport and then stand in line at a ticket counter to check them in. We simply walked through TSA security to our gate. It was well worth $20 per person.

We had some free drink coupons to use on our flights, so I had some Chardonnay. Coupled with cheese crackers, I guess it's kind of like pre-dinner drinks at Skywalkers. Except that this WAS dinner. I foresee tough times ahead as we transition to home and shed the weight we gained.


Thanks to Martha for picking us up. It was a pleasure to walk right from the airport into her warm car. And so good to see her!

We arrived home at 8pm tonight. Everything at the house was fine. We were relieved, but not too surprised. G worked so hard before we left to get everything ready. There is a LOT of snow, but we owe huge thanks to friends and neighbors who cleared our walks and enough of our driveway to make it look like we were home. It was a relief to carry suitcases in without dragging them through the snow. We will have to shovel more...but I'm in no hurry. It will all melt...eventually.

Before we even arrived home, my cell phone rang. Yes, it was JT and Ky. No, they couldn't wait until tomorrow. Yes, they had to see me tonight. So once the water was turned on, the heat turned up and we'd done a walk through at home, I gathered up the presents I'd packed in my carry on, grabbed a flashlight and walked over, hoping to avoid any black ice patches.

OMG it was SO GOOD to see them and their sisters. I missed them!!! They wanted to put their new Piranha Joe t-shirts on right away, so I guess they were a good choice. :-)

It's been a long but uneventful day, the best kind to hope for when traveling across the country. I can't wait, over the next week or so, to get on my computer to have my first look at this blog that I've been emailing my posts to for over 3 months. I can't wait to see what we did. Just as I'd predicted, it's all a blur right now.


But I know it was amazing.

Post-packing thoughts

It's midnight, and we finished packing our four huge suitcases, two carry ons and one personal item each about an hour ago. It was a tough process, but, somehow, we're returning home with almost the same amount of weight (the luggage, NOT us) that we brought. The toiletries we've used have been replaced with mail, Princess Patters (100 of them), cruise logs, island maps, business cards and Christmas cards. With our hand held travel scale, we know we have about 180 pounds spread across 4 suitcases, so we're good to go.

We invested $20 per person in EZ check, which allows us to put our suitcases outside our cabin and not see them again until the baggage claim at our home airport. We also were checked in for our flights and received our boarding passes and our airline luggage tags, which we've placed on our suitcases. All we have to do tomorrow is leave the ship by 9:30am with our two carry ons, my back pack and our laptop case, take a taxi to the airport (10 minutes) and go directly through security. No standing in line to check bags and print boarding passes. If our bags appear on the luggage carousel at our home airport as they're supposed to, I'll be a real fan of this new (to us) process. Keep your fingers crossed.

I am too tired tonight to have any final thoughts. I'll save those for another night when I'll hopefully be typing this while lying in my own bed. But I was in tears a couple of times tonight as we said goodbye to crew members. Something tells me breakfast tomorrow could be VERY emotional...

Tender troubles

We had showered and gone up to Skywalkers for our final pre-dinner drinks and hot doerves (it was margarita night) when we noticed we were still right off the coast of Princess Cays, more than an hour after we were due to sail. Once again, there was an issue retrieving a tender boat (but a different tender boat than the one that delayed our departure a few cruises ago). While we personally weren't too concerned the last time this happened (no flight for us the next day), this time we were extremely interested in what was going on.

G went down to the Promenade Deck for a closer look at them working to pull the tender in, but couldn't get too close because of all the other men who beat him to it.

;-)

Meanwhile, back in Skywalkers, the delay provided us a wonderful last look at the very southern tip of Eleuthera and the area we had hiked to on earlier visits. Look closely at the second photo and you can see the white square which is the old lighthouse. I've included photos of the inside of it in earlier blog posts.

Princess Cays water toys

More BBQ

Grill Crazy BBQ on Princess Cays

The ship's galley crew and dining crew haul copious amounts of food from the ship to the island, and prepare a BBQ lunch served in two locations on the beach. The fare includes burgers, hot dogs, knockwurst, chicken breasts, drumsticks, ribs, grilled fish, salads, fruit, brownies, cookies, cupcakes and banana bread.

Day 100: Princess Cays

After a not-particularly-beautiful day yesterday, today dawned sunny and calm. We had breakfast in the dining room, and waiter Dean insisted I have blueberries in my pancakes despite the fact that today was not blueberry pancake day. He just remembered that I liked them.

We are going to miss these people.

We returned to our cabin and gathered up our beach things, which, on Princess Cays is not a difficult thing to do, as so much is provided for us.

We were on the fifth tender over to the island, and headed to our same spot on the left side near the pavilion where the fish are fed. This allows G to be in shade and me in the sun, and we're both happy.


We did the typical beach stuff, although I don't believe that G walked at all, which was unusual. I think we both knew that this was our last chance to enjoy a beach for a very long time, and we wanted to make the most of it.

:-(

There was just enough wind to fly a kite, and G did, which makes twice that we flew the kite. Note to self: definitely bring it again next year. I snorkeled for one final time. The fish are plentiful in the bread-fed area near the pavilion, but I found pockets of fish as I snorkeled to the north too. The live coral is almost non-existent, but there was some brain coral trying to get started and lots of colorful fans.

I am happiest when my head (and my hips) are underwater.

I (still) Got the Music

After dinner, we saw one last production show of the cruise, I Got the Music. It is so fun to watch, especially since we now know several of the dancers and one of the lead singers.

We returned to our cabin, and to six huge chocolate covered strawberries, shortly after the show. My evening is done. G may go to a late night comedy show in Club Fusion.

We have one last hurrah tomorrow on Princess Cays. I hope the weather is perfect!

A valentines vow renewal

We had just enough time to return to our cabin and dress for the evening.

Just before dinner, we took part in a vows renewal ceremony in the Piazza conducted by Captain Pomata. You know, the whole "I'm so glad I chose you, sickness and health, yadda, yadda, yadda" thing. Yes, it was very sweet. We then had a dance in the Piazza accompanied by one of the lead singers, Tiffany.

It was our final formal night of the cruise, which meant it was my final lobster dinner. So, of course, I had two entrees. Hey, this has to hold me for six months!

An afternoon at sea

Lunch was at our same corner table for four set for two by a window. And I'm still taking food photos. This fruit salad was just so darn pretty...









It was a busy afternoon. G went to the veterans' gathering while I wrote a long thank you letter to the ship's hotel general manager. We met up at 3pm for our final wine tasting of the cruise.

At 4pm we watched a variety performance in the Piazza. The singers and dancers first did a Beatles medley, and then the Checkerboard Guy, David Aiken, returned for another comedy juggling performance.

Day 99: At Sea

Happy Valentine's Day!
We returned to our cabin last night to find a Valentines Day card from Princess with two chocolate hearts, a nice start to the holiday.
The seas had become rough early yesterday evening, and that continued overnight. It was still rough this morning, and cloudy, so it was not a day to lay out by the pool. Instead, we went to breakfast in the dining room and then returned to our cabin. Our steward, David, had already cleaned our cabin (and left us towel hearts on the bed) and so we decided the time had come to start packing. As of now, we're more than half packed, and it's been a fairly painless process. Of course, we've not yet weighed our suitcases, so it could all turn ugly at the very end, but we'll be enjoying our day on Princess Cays tomorrow without thinking we should instead be on the ship packing.

Day 98: St. Thomas

We had a VERY slow day today, leaving the ship only long enough to do some shopping right where the ship docks at Crown Bay. It was a gorgeous day on the island...but I was content in the fact that it was a gorgeous day on the back of the ship too. It was our 10th visit to St. Thomas this season and I amused myself with sun and the pool and using the free Internet that we get here with our AT&T plan and our iPhones.

I talked with the twins. It looks like my weekend will be full with Legos and basketball game spectatorship. I may have just experienced months of first rate live entertainment, but I can't wait to play Wii games and rummy with two eight year olds.

But I also spent some time drafting a letter of appreciation to send to the ship's Hotel General Manager and almost moved myself to tears. We have had the BEST time. But no more of that for today...we still have two days left.

Sailaway from St. Thomas was beautiful this evening, and I took one long last look at Honeymoon Beach on Water Island. I'm already looking forward to returning there in November when we will likely be back.

Tonight's entertainment

We ate a quick dinner tonight in order to get to the first show in the Princess Theater--a comedian. Then we passed through the Piazza and caught the act of the Checkerboard Guy, David Aiken, whom we had met this afternoon when he came on board in St. Kitts. He was HARIOUS! It always amazes me when I see people perform whom I know (however remotely) out of the spotlight. I really don't know how they just seem to flip a switch and go into their 'performer persona'. I guess that explains why I can't do that.


Anyway, the Checkerboard Guy does physical comedy/juggling, in kind of a silent, pantomime manner. He certainly had our rapt attention, and he found a star of the show in a young girl from the audience.







It's an early evening tonight. We arrive early in St. Thomas tomorrow (7am), and that's always a busy day for us. We won't make plans until we arrive and see what the weather is, but there are a couple of things we haven't done yet on our NINE prior visits this winter, and so we'll likely do one of those. Some people may find these islands boring, but we never do.

Sailaway from St. Kitts

As seen through our (salt-streaked) dining room window. These islands are so beautiful when seen after dark from the ship.

The aft flag

I've posted before about the size of this Bermuda flag that is displayed from the back of the ship while it's in port. I've tried to estimate it...10'x18'? All I know is that it's large, and when it's windy, it's a noisy thing.

St. Kitts from the ship

My view while I was sitting on the back of the ship this afternoon. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Day 97: St. Kitts

We didn't arrive in St. Kitts today until (our scheduled time of) 10am. We slept in a bit; the operation of the ship is so quiet when it's simply progressing forward. We made it to breakfast in the dining room just before it closed at 9:30am, and enjoyed being served by waiter Adrian from Romania again. He is possibly the most outgoing waiter we've met and has a photographic memory. After serving us breakfast just one time a couple of months ago, he still remembered that G liked four juices, and knew that they were orange, grapefruit, pineapple and V8. We were thrilled for him that he has been pressed into service as sommelier for the wine tastings this cruise, and hope a permanent promotion is imminent. He deserves it.

We will miss these people who have made all the difference between making this feel like a cruise and making it feel like home.

So it was a pleasant start to the day, and while we ate, the ship docked in Basseterre, St. Kitts. It was a beautifully sunny day- another perfect beach day- but one of us (I won't name names) got a LOT of sun yesterday during our fun day in Barbados, and HE didn't seemed inclined to have another beach day so soon. That was fine with me...after 97 days, it was time to turn some serious attention to buying gifts for the kids in our life, and St. Kitts is the perfect place to do that. The stores are all clean and well run, and located right where the ship docks in Port Zante. I thought I'd run off the ship and do some power buying, and then we'd be free to go somewhere if so inclined afterwards.

I had been picking up friendship bracelets for the kids throughout our trip, but my favorite place to get them from is in St. Kitts. In fact, last year's purchases survived an entire summer in swim league and at water parks, so I was certain of the quality. I chose four more of them, and then turned my attention to T-shirts. I sure hope we have room for them in our suitcases going home. Yes, we've used a lot of toiletries, but I fear we've replaced that weight with paperwork and mail from home.

G caught up with me (those 2-way radios again), and, as we shopped, we saw simple wedding bands for a good price. I had lost a wide gold cigar band ring on (coincidentally) St. Kitts on our last visit here, while playing in the ocean. I needed an inexpensive replacement and G needed a ring that fit. We walked back on the ship with matching bands that should serve us well, at least until arthritis takes over. :-o

After a leisurely lunch in the buffet, neither of us seemed inclined to rush off the ship to do more sightseeing. G gave me a much needed hair trim, and I spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool (it was too hot for the hot tub in the bright sun) and listening to my latest book (my 14th of the cruise). It's now after 5pm, and time to prepare to eat again. It's obvious we'll skip Skywalkers tonight, and our dinner will be a light one.

It's also obvious that we're not kids anymore. Yesterday's generous amount of rum, sun, wind and waves simply wiped us out.

More of our day on Carlisle Bay

I also flew my kite for the first time this cruise today. This kite has been all over the world with me, and has been flown in Tiananmen Square, in Australia and the South Pacific and all over the Caribbean. It was a perfect day for it.

G spent part of the afternoon on the boat with the three guys we had met last time we were here. They're so sweet...they came off the boat over to me on the beach just to say hi. That's Barbados for you, and that's why we love it here.

After renting two loungers and an umbrella for $15, we received three coupons, each good for one rum punch. Lobsters Alive has the BEST rum punches in the Caribbean. I knew from our last visit that after two of them I can't feel my lips. Well, today I learned that, after three of them (G drank beer), my whole face is numb. Before I drank the last one, I asked G if we were walking back or taking a taxi...'cause the former would not have been possible. Luckily, we ran into three of the Beatle Maniacs on the beach, and shared a taxi back to the ship with them. We arrived with 15 or 20 minutes to spare before our all on board time of 3:30pm, and headed right to a hot tub for sailaway.

After some soaking and conversation (we met a young Air Force couple who had just gotten home from Iraq and Afghanistan), we went to Skywalkers for my favorite drink of the cruise, a Brezza Marina, and hors doerves. We were starving (no lunch) and really enjoyed it tonight. Dinner was a wonderful spinach salad, and a special turbot prepared by our headwaiter Antonio, simply, with garlic, olive oil and sea salt, and my usual steamed spinach and broccoli. Entertainment consisted of listening to live music from a band that just came on board this cruise. Tonight is the island night deck party at 10:30, but it's before 10pm and one of us is asleep and I'm close. We'll have to skip it this cruise. Luckily, our arrival into St. Kitts isn't until 10am tomorrow- a chance to sleep in!

Jet skiing in Carlisle Bay

G and I live by the philosophy: When was the last time you did something for the first time? Yesterday it was Segways; today it was jet skis.

We had been looking at them all winter and today the weather and water was so perfect that G decided to do it, on the condition that I would also do it after him.

Now, as on motorcycles, I am an operator, not a passenger, so he went off by himself and later returned and I did the same. It was fantastic, very easy and a lot of fun. It's an expensive experience, and, given a choice, I'd rather spend the money to dive, but I'm so glad we did it at least once.

Jet skiing in Carlisle Bay

G and I live by the philosophy: When was the last time you did something for the first time? Yesterday it was Segways; today it was jet skis.

We had been looking at them all winter and today the weather and water was so perfect that G decided to do it, on the condition that I would also do it after him.

Now, as on motorcycles, I am an operator, not a passenger, so he went off by himself and later returned and I did the same. It was fantastic, very easy and a lot of fun. It's an expensive experience, and, given a choice, I'd rather spend the money to dive, but I'm so glad we did it at least once.

Day 96: Barbados

I know...every time we're here I say that Barbados is probably my favorite island of all of these, but it's true. There IS something special about this place. Add a sunny, hot day and a powdered-sugar sand beach and it's easy to imagine that Heaven is a suburb of Barbados.

Last evening we attended the 9pm Beatle Maniacs set in Club Fusion, where we still get 50 minutes of music, not the shortened 30 minutes they are now performing in the Princess Theater (grrrr.....). We arrived an hour early for seats, and the lounge seemed to fill up early. Afterwards, I returned to the cabin to do the blog posts from yesterday,but G was still out and about, hitting three more entertainment venues before turning in. Another great thing about a ship: we don't have to be on the same schedules all the time.

Still, he was already up and out on deck by 6:30am with coffee in hand to watch our 7am arrival into Barbados. I followed shortly afterwards, and we were in the dining room shortly after it opened at 7:30 for breakfast.

We had planned to walk to Lobsters Alive on Carlisle Bay beach, about a 40 minute walk from the ship, but while we were in the cabin gathering up our beach things, we saw on our cabin TV (the ship's webcam, the view from the front of the ship) another ship, the Norwegian Dawn, maneuvering into port. There was already a P&O ship, the Ventura, right behind ours, and two small clipper ships also in port. Three large cruise ships and two small ones meant that Barbados was going to be one busy island today, so, in the interest of time, we abandoned the walk in favor of a taxi to the beach.

At Lobsters Alive, we were early enough to get a front row (closest to the beach) umbrella and loungers. We had just gotten settled when a couple of rainshowers moved in, but we're wiser now, and knew that was no indication of how the day would be. Sure enough, the sun returned shortly and the day turned out to be perfect.

Friday afternoon in Castries

G said today that you haven't been to the Caribbean until you witness market day firsthand. The locals must be very healthy eating all the fresh fruit and vegetables. That is, if the dirt and the water don't kill them.


It's a different world down here. But a small world too, in many ways. As I said, I'm not sure I've figured out St. Lucia after close to 20 visits here.


When you think of these islands, you probably imagine palm trees and beaches, hammocks and tropical drinks. Those are all true. But Friday afternoon traffic in Castries seems like anything BUT paradise.

Bus fare

US $2 is $4.50 in EC (Eastern Caribbean). They accept US dollars too, but we've been using our Scotia Bank card to get local currency and since we're coming to the end of our winter in the Caribbean, we're using it up.

These minivans are the 'buses'.

Look, but don't touch

The glass topped wall again. Do you see what I mean? Beautiful yet lethal. Strange.

Tight security

St. Lucia is a quandary to me. It's a beautiful island, gorgeous scenery, great beaches, sort-of friendly locals (I've seen friendlier; I've seen worse), but it attracts lots of tourists. And then I see something like this broken glass cemented on top of this wall around a resort.

And the weirdest thing was that the wall itself was covered with pretty flowering bushes.


I'm just never sure what to think about St. Lucia...

The long and winding road...

I must have the Beatles on my mind, because that song was IN my mind as we walked, not exactly sure where we were going.