Evening- Aruba

Photo 1: that mysterious train track by the cruise ship pier

Photo 2: sailaway from Orangestaad, Aruba after dark

Photos 3 to 6: production show What a Swell Party in the Princess Theater

Day 24: Aruba

Oh my. So much to write. So tired. I'll try to make this quick (although written brevity is obviously not my strong suit).

We were excited to get back to Aruba for the first time since January. Even better, we awoke to see that we were the only ship in port today and, therefore, got the first berth.

The day looked bright and sunny, and so we knew our original plan of spending the day on Eagle Beach would stand. We particularly enjoyed breakfast in the dining room today; we were seated next to a couple of about our ages who were uncannily similar to us...early retired, no kids, no pets, a window of opportunity to travel. They live in South Carolina, though, and while their aim is to spend half the year cruising, they do their time in more frequent, but shorter stints. That just doesn't make sense for us, living in the middle of the country. Plus, we really don't enjoy the travel and packing part of cruising very much, so these longer trips are better for us. Still, although we meet several older passengers who spend 1/3 to 1/2 the year on ships, we seldom meet people of about our same age.

We returned to our cabin to pack for our beach day. For the place we like to go- Eagle Beach- we have to be self-contained with drinks, food, tarp and toys. We have protein bars for just these kinds of days, but today G brought some fruit loops too...just something to tide us over until dinner.

We walked to the Arubus terminal right down the street from the cruise ship pier and there was a #10 bus already waiting. Unlike on most of the Eastern Caribbean islands, Arubus adheres to a schedule. However, we were shocked to learn that the bus fare has increased from $1.50pp each way to $2.30pp just since January! This created a bit of an issue. G had brought six- US$1 bills and a $20 bill. We used five of the $1 bills to get to the beach and needed to break the $20 to get back. As we rode the short (10minutes or so) to Eagle Beach, I said I thought we could easily walk back to the ship. It wasn't the $4.60...it was trying to find a place on that empty stretch of beach to get change. We decided to see how we felt after a few hours on the beach.

And what a beach day it was. Sunny, only slightly breezy, and the water was gentle and 85 degrees. Gorgeous. We spent half the time in the water and half lying in the shade of a palapa. It was hot but not unbearably so, and after almost 5 hours we decided we needed to get some exercise today and walked back to the ship. It was probably just under 3 miles; it took exactly one hour and we didn't dawdle but did have to stop a couple of times for traffic.

Next time we'll take two $5 bills and be good to go.

When we returned to the ship, G went right out to a hot tub and I (of course) rinsed things out and then rested until it was time to get showered and dressed for the evening. Tonight's drink in Skywalkers was the Breeza Marina and the signature hors doerve herbed goat cheese, homemade wheat crackers and bruschetta. Winners, all of them, and it's my favorite night of the cruise. It was particularly nice because we weren't sailing until 7pm, and so sat on the land side of Skywalkers, looking at the island.

We were surprised by the amount of change around the port area. Several warehouse buildings had been torn down, other small vendor stands moved, and what looks like a railroad track is going in right by the cruise ship pier, crossing the main street in Orangestaad and going...somewhere, we don't know where. We cannot figure this out at all. We'll be back several more times this winter; maybe we'll see it completed.

Or not. This is the Caribbean, after all. Unfinished buildings and projects are everywhere.

After such hearty hors doerves in Skywalkers, we had just a salad and an entree in the dining room, and then went up to the Promenade Deck to watch sailaway after dark, which is always particularly beautiful. Then we made a last minute decision to go to the Princess Theater for the 7:15pm performance of the production show, What a Swell Party, featuring the music of Cole Porter. This show is not a favorite- we're at least a generation too young to fully appreciate his music, and so I don't think we even saw it last winter. Well, we were impressed by the gorgeous set and costumes, and the performances of the singers and dancers, if not the music. The two male dancers from Brazil were so cute; one of them waved at us at the very end (we always sit in the front row) and the other stuck his hand under the curtain as it was going down and waved. Getting to know the performers makes the shows even more entertaining for us, and motivates us to see them over and over again.

We then returned to the dining room for coffee and dessert. G looked at me and said, "Can you believe that this is our life?" And it is...at least for a few months.

And it's a good one!

Photos 1 to 3: our views three directions from where we sat on Eagle Beach

Photo 4: still using that same picnic tarp from Home Depot!

Photo 5: it looks like the palapas were rebuilt and rethatched this year

Photo 6: One Happy Island- two happy us

Day 23: At Sea

Take yesterday, do it almost exactly over again and you have a report about our day today. With just a couple of exceptions...

Following Zumba, I didn't lift weights; I walked on the Promenade Deck. As always, dear Ruby, a widow with about 900 days on Princess was sitting there in a teak chair, with her two new friends, Lily and Victoria. G and I spent some time talking with them. We've known Ruby for at least three years; she's frequently on these 10-night back to back cruises. And she is so friendly and so kind...I hope she keeps cruising for many more years.

I did line dancing this afternoon only because it started right after we finished lunch in the dining room. But by 2:15pm I was ready for a pool and some sun.

However, at 2:50pm, a cloud moved overhead and Dennis on the bridge made an announcement warning us that a shower was imminent. Damn. It was sunny and bright all day...until I got outside.

But, tonight was formal night, and dressing for the evening always requires a bit more time and effort than on other days. For example, I wear eyeshadow (wow!) and sometimes (but only rarely) blow my hair dry. Usually my hair styling is more along the line of standing under the cool air blowing from one particular place in the ceiling in the mid-ship elevator lobby on Deck 14 on my way to a meal. 

And talking about eye shadow reminds me of a funny incident from our last formal night...

Have I mentioned that the lighting in our inside cabin isn't the brightest?  Well, it isn't. Couple that with the fact that I'm constantly assessing whether or not I need my reading glasses, I'm frequently doing things more from memory than from sight. A few days ago, G was showering while I was doing my makeup, so the bathroom mirror was off limits (too steamy). Using the vanity mirror requires leaning way over...not the best way to do eye makeup. So I was making do with the full length mirror in the hallway. I filled in my eyebrows a bit, then did my eye makeup, all without the benefit of reading glasses.

Thank God a thousand times over that, on that particular formal night, we left for Skywalkers together, and not one at a time as we usually do (leaving the remaining person in the cabin to get ready). We did a a quick check of each other just before we left the cabin.  G hesitated a moment, and then asked, "The eyebrows...is this a new look?  'Cause I can't say I'm a fan..."

I had filled in my eyebrows with my jade eyeliner pencil.

:-o

So, anyway, back to tonight's formal night (where my brows were NOT green)...we took Bar Supervisor Rhea a "You Made a Difference" card today. Rhea is the supervisor in Skywalkers during the Elite lounge, but, really, she's so much more than that. She is the sweetest, most welcoming host imaginable, perfect in that role. I mentioned to her last night that we had not received the nightly drinks and appetizer schedule for this cruise (as we had for our first two), and asked where those came from. She wrote down our cabin number and a few hours later, when we were in bed, I heard something slide under the door. Sure enough- it was the schedule we had been missing. Very kind. To tell you how taken G is with her:  many of you know that he is not a hugger; it's just not his thing. But he doesn't leave Skywalkers each evening without getting a hug from Rhea. 

Yes, Rhea certainly DOES make a difference!

Another touching kindness tonight came from waiter Suttipong. I ordered the filet mignon, my only beef of the cruise, but he delivered it with three large grilled shrimp on the side, because "he knew I really liked seafood more". 

We followed up dinner with the Captain's Welcome Aboard champagne party (and I can attest to the fact that the schlok- er, champagne- actually becomes almost palatable after four glasses). Then it was to the Princess Theater for the production show I Got the Music. We decided part of the reason we enjoy this one so much is that the orchestra accompanies the show. And now that we've met several of the dancers, it's even more fun. 

And still people wonder how we can cruise for four months?

We were going to watch the Saints-Falcons game on MUTS (Movies Under the Stars, the big screen by the Calypso Pool), but instead are watching it in our cabin. It's going to be ugly, I'm afraid. No need to see it 1000 times bigger. 

Tomorrow:  Aruba, our first visit since last January. We hope it's sunny; we want to go to the beach!

Photo 1:  on a cruise, even breakfast features appetizers. Here's mine from today's breakfast. 

Photo 2:  tonight's dessert. Mine (pavlova) is on top. G's actually came from the International Cafe (IC). It has incredible desserts all day long, but since we don't snack in between meals, G keeps missing out on them. When G decided to skip the desserts on the dinner menu in favor of stopping by the IC after dinner, Sutti instead ran there and picked these up for him to enjoy in the dining room.  Yes, we're spoiled!

Photo 3:  Captain's Welcome Aboard champagne party

Photos 4 and 5:  I Got the Music. Dancer Renato from Rio de Janeiro is in the middle of photo 4 in yellow.  He told us he lives near the base of Sugarloaf Mountain, and was very excited to see my photos of that area from my trip there. He kept saying, "I live THERE; I run THERE, etc."

Photos 6 and 7:  and, finally, in case I start feeling just a smidge homesick (and only because I miss friends. And Internet. And maybe cable. But, really, just people)...I always smile when I log into the ship's wifi and see texts from my buddies pop up. 

Day 22: At. Sea

Today was about as perfect a sea day as I could imagine. I've mentioned before that sea days aren't necessarily our favorites. We enjoy more exploring and enjoying the islands we visit. But sea days as perfect as this one might have us changing our minds...

Somehow, G slipped out this morning without waking me- no small feat. It wasn't until he came back to the cabin that I heard the familiar sound of the key card in the door. I had slept until almost 8am! I have been having a couple of days with more back pain, so I took a muscle relaxant last night and slept like a log.

I quickly dressed in workout clothes and joined G for breakfast in the dining room. Zumba with Ryan was scheduled for 10am, and that class lasted for an hour (yay!). As is typical, the class was packed and overflowing the dance floor in Club Fusion, and we were moving tables and chairs to make more room in the carpeted areas. Ryan said Zumba would be offered five times this cruise. Departing Bonaire early and arriving in Grenada late (due to their distance from each other) basically opens up two half sea days for more shipboard activities.

After Zumba, I went to the fitness center to lift weights and then finally made it back to the cabin a little after noon to get cleaned up for lunch in the dining room.

Meanwhile, G had been doing his thing...free bingo, and a hot tub. After lunch together we again parted company, him to a gaming lesson (craps, I think), me to line dancing. By then it was 2:30pm and time for a pool and some sun. I was surprised when I went out on the Terrace Deck to find a few open loungers, and spent 90 minutes enjoying one of them and some pool time listening to a book.

BTW- as you can tell from my continued posting, the waterproof iPhone case is still doing its job!

We had time for just a short stop in Skywalkers. I had one of the happy hour drinks, a Singapore Sling, because the drink tonight was one of those "masculine" drinks...Chairman of the Board or something like that. Yuck. The Singapore Sling was good, but needed more gin. I'm finding that all of the reduced price drinks are pretty light on the alcohol.

Dinner tonight was the Caribbean menu, my favorite, because it means seafood stew (ciappino) and key lime pie for me. G had a fruit starter, the cold soup and jerk chicken, which he loved.

We had a bit of energy tonight, and so made it to a show (shock!). We saw Brent Webb, a mentalist. What's a mentalist, you ask? It's like a mental magician. There was lots of "pointing to a phone number in a phone book and he guessed it" type stuff. He was good, but the funniest part was that all the audience members he got up on stage to help him needed reading glasses, and so they were passing the glasses from one person to the next for his part. Now, THAT was amusing (and familiar!).

It's 9pm and we're back in the cabin. G is already sleep, and I'm watching a 35 year old Love Boat rerun on TV. You might recall that Princess was the cruise line featured on that show, and though the on board bands no longer play the theme song at sailaway, it's still hard to escape the connection altogether.

Since there was not much to tell today, I'll include a couple of updates...

My shorts? Still missing. Of course. I'm certain they'll never be seen again.

My back? It's doing well overall with just occasional set backs. The new mattress definitely helps, and we do the stretches the chiropractor taught us everyday, although we have such truly limited floor space in our cabin, I almost have to lie on the floor with my head under the bed while G helps me stretch.

The Steward Nazi? Still has us toeing the line. It's kind of funny...the two other stewards between our cabin and the mid-ship elevators are named Dario and Nicky, and we don't pass by them without exchanging a pleasantry and greeting them by name. Our own steward? If we say hi, he'll say hi back but that's about as social as it gets. We are definitely low maintenance passengers, mostly because we don't generally eat in the cabin (no room service, no snacking...usually). But a couple of evenings ago, G brought a bag of popcorn being served by the big screen back to the cabin...and spilled half of it on the carpet. We both froze, and then dived to the floor, picking up every piece on our hands and knees. I told G that he'd better sneak Johnathon's vacuum cleaner and sweep up any remaining salt crystals before our cabin was cleaned the next morning. Honestly, Johnathon has been able to accomplish in three weeks what I haven't managed to do in 30 years: G is now always putting his clothes and shoes away where they belong and wipes up the bathroom after himself religiously. Hallelujah, it's a miracle!

Photo 1: Back ups DON'T happen when you're on a cruise ship. Plugged in and connected to wifi? It just ain't happening anytime soon.

Photo 2: a Singapore Sling at sunset. Pretty darn perfect.

Photos 3 and 4: ciappino and key lime pie- my favorites!

Photo 5: almost full moon as seen while strolling the promenade deck after the show.

Day 21: Fort Lauderdale (turnaround day)

What a difference 10 days make when it comes to ships in Port Everglades on the Emerald's turnaround day! Instead of 8 ships in port, including one of the world's largest, today saw just two ships in port, the other being the MSC Poesia. For some reason, Port Everglades put us both together, at Piers 2 and 4, instead of spreading out the traffic a bit. But no matter...there wasn't a huge amount of traffic to spread out.

We were awake very early, before 5am. G immediately turned on the TV to the channel featuring the webcam at the front of the ship, and we could see the very bright lights of Port Everglades and the slightly less bright lights of the Fort Lauderdale beach area in the distance. That's all G needed to entice him to get dressed and go out on an open deck to watch our approach. I tried to sleep some more, but, honestly, turnaround days are not good days for sleeping in. Not only could I hear the Steward Nazi wheeling his carts in the hallway, I could already hear the slamming doors of our neighbors as they were out and about. About 5:30am, the Emerald Princess entered the channel at Port Everglades and then the noise started in earnest, as the thrusters were used to back the ship into position at Pier 2.

Finally, I gave up on more sleep, showered and went up on the back of the Terrace Deck. It was already dawn-y, and I could see a hint of the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean and the lights of the 17th Street drawbridge just beyond the back of the ship. I phoned G (yay!! We had cell phone service!!) to see where he was and we met in the dining room for breakfast. While we ate, we formulated our plan for the day.

There was no doubt that one issue that needed to be addressed was laundry. Yes, we get free laundry and dry cleaning, but my white t-shirts are being returned with more and more stains every time I send them. I bear full responsibility- my sunblock is staining them- but every time I get a shirt returned with a little "Sorry- we couldn't get these stains out" note, I cringe. I didn't pack a lot of clothes to begin with. Between lost items and stained items, I could be out of clothes by next cruise. So, a laundry pre-treater topped our shopping list.

With 500 in-transit (doing back to back cruises) passengers, the most we'd ever seen, we wanted to get the heck out of Dodge, and decided not to wait to go through immigration with the group. At 9:15am we were walking off the ship; by 9:30am we were through immigration and on our way to the stores on 17th Street. That's pretty darn good. We've been held up in immigration alone for more than twice that long during past turnaround days.

Our first stop was Office Max. G wanted to get some stick on name tags for a Cruise Critic meet and greet on December 18th. Right next door was a Dollar Tree, a store I typically avoid like the plague, but found myself in this morning. No, I didn't buy anything...we were just hoping to find name tags there (we didn't). We then crossed 17th Street (a whole different sport today...no traffic with just two ships in port) and went to Publix. All along the way we were greeted by several crew members we know; we were all so happy to be at Pier 2 today.

We took some time to get set up in the Publix pharmacy computer with our insurance information. I'll need a doctor to phone in a prescription for me, but not until January, and G has a paper scrip to be filled after we return to the Emerald in late December. Our next stop was the Ace Hardware in the same shopping center for black electrical tape (don't even ask). And, finally, Walgreens had 18-packs of Mountain Dew on sale, so we swung in there to buy two. Actually, this was a really good thing...on the Noordam, where we'll be 10 days from today, there isn't an unlimited soda sticker program comparable to Princess. I can get by with water and Crystal Light I brought from home, but G needs his caffeine. By buying the Dew today, we won't need to go to a store on our next turnaround day when we're busy moving from the Emerald to the Noordam. How we're going to get all this stuff from the Emerald to the Noordam and back is still a mystery.

When we returned to the terminal about 11:30am, we were shocked to see that the in transit passengers who went through immigration as a group were still in the terminal, and not back on the ship already. This meant that we were also prevented from re-boarding. We found out that two in transit passengers were still unaccounted for, and this is a huge deal. After each cruise, the passenger count has to be "zeroed out", meaning that, as each passenger "clocks" off the ship with his ship card, the passenger count decreases by 1. Until that count goes to zero, meaning that every person has also had to pass through immigration in the terminal, no passengers can re-board the ship. This is all spelled out quite clearly in letters the in transit passengers receive towards the end of each cruise.

Apparently, some one didn't read his letter. After we'd been held in the terminal until about 11:45am, two passengers were escorted off the ship, in wet swimsuits with towels wrapped around them. A cheer went up in the terminal, and then only half-joking abuse was spewed their direction...they were the missing passengers, holding up all the in transit passengers and the newly arriving passengers from boarding the ship.

I don't know for certain, but I hope there was some serious butt kicking going on. That is really inexcusable.

So, that's how it came to be close to noon before we returned to our cabin hauling our purchases. I immediately grabbed every t-shirt I have, clean or not, and went to work with the Shout gel, and then put all the shirts in a washer in the self-serve laundry on our deck. It cost $2 to wash, and another $2 to dry, but it was well worth it. The shirts are, if not new looking, at least wearable, especially for on port days. I'll also pretreat all the shirts I send to the laundry going forward, in an effort to get them even whiter.

While the laundry was underway, we went to lunch in the dining room, our favorite lunch menu of the cruise. Mid way through I ran back to the laundry room to move the clothes to the dryer, no easy feat with all the mid-ship elevators tied up with newly boarding passengers and their carry ons.

It was 2pm before all the housekeeping chores were done (but at least I'm not laundering sheets and towels). I then spent the couple for hours before we sailed calling friends and surfing the Internet on my iPhone. The absence of always available high-speed internet is still rough to take, but it's getting easier with each cruise. I can tell you now that leaving the country the day after the election was brutal. I'm a news junkie, and I was certain I was missing talk of voter fraud, and succession and revolution...which I was. Some things are so predictable...hilarious and predictable.

We were in Skywalkers for sailaway and sunset. If G doesn't get his hug from bar supervisor Rhea, who oversees the Elite cocktail lounge, his day is just not complete. After the huge excitement of our last sailaway, with 8 ships in port, this one was a bit of a letdown...at least for us. We were the first ship to leave; there was no one else to watch.

After dinner tonight (which remains a high point of each day for us), we are once again early to bed. I know we sound like two boring old people, but when you're up before 5am, something has to give. We also move clocks ahead an hour to Atlantic Standard Time tonight. I had thought I might watch an episode of Downton Abbey on my laptop, but even that requires more energy than I have.

Maybe we ARE two boring old people...

Photo 1: 20 days of bedtime chocolates we're saving for the kids. Can you imagine what 120 days worth will look like?

Photo 2: this was on the ship's log channel, an obvious error but also an enticing goal. 366 days at sea in a row...I like it!

Photo 3: at sailaway, a view back towards Pier 2 and the 17th Street drawbridge.

Photo 4: along the channel from Port Everglades to the ocean, there is quite a mix of 1950s, unremodelled small homes (still worth over $1M), the newer McMansions that are replacing them (worth $8M+), and the high rise condos.

Photo 5: a virtual wall of condos. Will we live in one of these one day?

Photo 6: the view north, up the coast

Photo 7: looking back at the channel and Port Everglades after the Emerald enters the ocean

Cruise #3- the Southern Caribbean

We are anxious to get to beautiful Eagle Beach on Aruba, and to snorkel on Bonaire!

Day 20: At Sea

This may have been a sea day, but we were busy from start to finish, with all good stuff. I didn't set an alarm last night, but when I awoke naturally just before 6am, I got dressed and went up to Deck 19 for a walk and a sunrise. At 7am I went to a stretch class (no charge) that is held everyday of the cruise in the fitness center, though this is the first time I've made it there. My back is acting up a bit and I thought some directed stretching might help (it has). There is also a free abs class every morning at 7:30am, but instead of staying for it, I returned to the cabin to collect G to go to breakfast in the dining room. Zumba was held at 9:15am this morning, a time that I like (get all the sweaty stuff over with early), and then I had a short, 45 minute break in the schedule until line dancing at 11am.

We always say that Fort Lauderdale, and to a lesser extent St. Thomas, are business days for us. Phone calls and Internet and banking if necessary. In the same vein, this first day at sea after six port days was a housekeeping day for us. I washed out swimsuits and undergarments and my Tilley hat, and stuffed the latter with towels and balanced it on top of the box of wine to dry in shape.

I also sorted through the significant amount of paperwork we seem to accumulate every cruise. Patters, port brochures, letters from the Passenger Services Department, Sudokus (G keeps picking them up from the library in the hope I'll try again...but I haven't). If I don't stay on top of it all, it will take over this cabin!

G took care of two bookkeeping items: settling up our on board account and cashing out his casino credits, but then found time to go to what we call the rummage sale- an end of the cruise sale of off-season t-shirts (he bought a nice one from the Baltic season the Emerald was on last summer) and other "junk". I don't do that sale. Just the thought of it makes me itch.

With our cabin looking a bit like a laundry, wet clothes hung up to dry, I went to line dancing, followed by my first shower of the day, a quick 2 minute one (it's all I had time for!), because we wanted to be in the dining room at noon for lunch (Greek Salad and frito misto for me) to finish in time for a backstage tour in the Princess Theater at 1:15pm.

I haven't been to one of these backstage tours in a long time- G more often attends- but it's fun to get to know some of the dancers on a more personal, first name basis. Cruise Director Peter emceed a good introductory Q and A session, and then invited us up on stage to talk one on one with the dancers and production crew (the singers weren't there). It's always pointed out that these singers and dancers have been selected from thousands of applicants all over the world...the competition is fierce. We were able to see the dressing room, including the long, automated clothes rack (like in dry cleaners) where all the costumes are stored. One lighting system alone cost $500,000...the total cost to outfit the theater runs into the millions, as does the cost to produce each production show. The production crew said it takes them three hours to break down the sets after a night of production shows.

It's all very interesting and amazing.

We then had a whole 20 minutes (wow!) to return to our cabin. I phoned room service to order some more wine glasses for our cabin, and was excited to meet room service steward Yulia from the Ukraine who has hair every bit as curly as mine (although hers was neatly pulled back in a bun). When I opened the door I exclaimed, "You have curly hair", and she said "You too!". We curly-haired sisters have to stick together!

Next, we were rushing to the wine tasting at 3pm. Dear waiter Nicki from Thailand sat us at our favorite table for two next to a window, and sommelier Thai knocked it out of the park...fully informative, minimal BS and we were out of there in 30 minutes...with our gift of Princess shot glasses, which is biggest reason we attend this every cruise (the other is that it's free for us- another Elite perk). There are six different shot glass designs and we've completed two complete sets of our own and are now compiling them for friends.

Leaving there, afternoon tea was taking place in the Da Vinci dining room just one deck up. We've not been yet this winter, and also haven't ordered it to be served in our cabin. We decided that today was the day, and stopped by briefly for cups of tea and a scone.

Finally, we had 45 minutes to rest. We debated going outside to a lounger in the sun, but really didn't want to have to shower again before the evening, so we rested a short time in the cabin before dressing for dinner. We had fully intended to go to Skywalkers...tonight the featured drink was the Breeza Marina, which I may have previously mentioned ;-) is my favorite. There was also herbed goat cheese on homemade wheat crackers and focaccia bread, as well as the usual cheeses, breadsticks, olives and crudités. But there was no way, not even a remote chance, that we could eat again before dinner at 6pm, and the wine tasting had fulfilled my alcohol desire for the day.

I had had the frito misto for lunch- shrimp, scallops, calamari and fish all coated in a tempura batter and deep fried. It was delicious, but I don't generally eat fried food, and even at dinner time I still felt blah from it. I simply ordered my usual broccoli and spinach and a scoop of rice and called it dinner.

As G said...we starve on port days and feast on sea days. But enough was enough!

After dinner we wandered into Club Fusion to listen to band Serious Sounds perform. Leaving there, we ran into the other Mr. and Mrs. Smith who have dinner following us at the same table (and who did last year too). We had not seen them yet this cruise, but had gifted them with a bottle of champagne earlier this cruise. They were on their way to dinner and had, in hand, a thank you note for us that they were taking to Sutti to deliver to us tomorrow night. They are such a sweet couple, and are also amazed at the coincidence of two couples with the same last name dining at the same table on the same ship with the same waiter a year apart.

And by then it was 9pm and bedtime. Turnaround day is busy and wake up time comes early, with the sounds of the ship maneuvering into its berth at Port Everglades and all the door slamming as our neighbors leave their cabins early.

20 days have passed. It feels like 5 or 6. It's passing too quickly!


Photos 1 and 2: sunrise, Day 2

Photo 3: scrambled egg beaters and lots of FRESH salsa. Life is good!

Photo 4: backstage tour with the dancers and production team

Photo 5: sweets at tea time. Life is REALLY good!

Margaritaville photos

Day 19: Grand Turk

Just before sunrise this morning, G gently woke me to ask me come outside and watch the sunrise on the aft decks. He already had two loungers set up, with fruit and pastries and juice and a cup of hot coffee waiting for me. So sweet! This morning the sunrise was almost directly behind the ship, and while the breeze was a bit cool first thing, after the sun had been up for just a few minutes it began to warm up.

What a nice start to the day!

At 7am we decided we wanted a bit more substantial breakfast and so we headed to the dining room. After a couple of blips getting unwanted cheese with my veggie egg beater omelets this cruise, I've taken to ordering just scrambled egg beaters and a bowl of salsa, which is pretty much what I eat at home for breakfast except on the ship it starts with orange segments and mixed berries and the salsa is fresh, not Kroger brand from a jar. I've fallen in love with the fresh salsa made on the ship...it is fairly mild but heavy on the cilantro and onions and if I had concocted a salsa recipe to my personal taste, this would be it.

By 8am I was back in a lounger. I should have walked, or gone to Zumba at 10:15am, but instead I fell asleep. Yes, I fell asleep...took a nap...snoozed. Whatever it's called, it was a wonder. I think the ship was bouncy last night as Captain Pomata made tracks to get to Grand Turk on time today after being delayed about two hours as we left St. Thomas yesterday. Particularly up where our cabin is, on Deck 14 aft, there was just enough movement to wake us up several times throughout the night. In fact, G said he had dressed and left the cabin this morning at 4:40am, giving up on sleep altogether.

So, l'll give a restless night the credit, not the blame, because I've always wanted to be able to nap. I think it's a valuable talent.

Captain Pomata announced about 10am that we would be arriving in Grand Turk on schedule at 1pm, a heckuva accomplishment given that we had already been scheduled to be cruising at 21.5 knots from St. Thomas to Grand Turk, nearly the ship's cruising limit.

We were lined up for lunch in the dining room just before it opened at noon. Normally the dining room is closed for lunch on port days, but it does open for lunch on days that the ship arrives late or departs a port early. Luckily, today featured our favorite lunch menu which wasn't offered last cruise. G ordered fried mozzarella sticks with marinara sauce as an appetizer and I had spaghetti aglio, olio and pepperacino (or something like that) which is basically spaghetti served coated with olive oil, butter, garlic and red pepper flakes. I've tried making it several times at home, but it's never as good as on a ship. I think it's because I skip the butter.

As we dined, the ship was cruising down the west coast of Grand Turk, a 6 mile long, 1 mile wide coral island surrounded by reefs. From the ship, it didn't look at all like I had expected it to. We had been told there was nothing on the island, so I was expecting it to look like the southern end of Eleuthera. It wasn't at all like that. There is one town, called Cockburn town, and several beach resorts. It's biggest claim to fame is a shopping complex right at the cruise ship dock, with Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, a large beach, pool, restaurant and shopping complex also located there. It seemed most passengers had been there before, and they rushed off the ship as soon as it was cleared to claim loungers in prime beach or pool locations. We managed to find chairs under a canopy of palm trees and set ourselves up for the afternoon.

The air was considerably cooler today, in the mid- to high 70s. I used a float to relax in the water but after 30 minutes or so got a bit chilled, and we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and watching the entertainment provided by brave passengers trying to master the flow rider.

With margaritas starting at about $10 each (with tax and tip), we decided to instead enjoy margaritas in Skywalkers tonight for less than half that price, and made our way back down the pier to the ship around 4.30pm. The ship was docked right at Margaritaville, and we decided that the ship docked just a couple minutes walk from a beach is a very nice thing.

After dinner tonight, we saw the Disco production show again and it's growing on me; I enjoyed it even more the second time around. Then we watched a brief acrobatic performance by Duo Push in the Piazza afterwards. I was so mesmerized by their performance that I forgot to take photos, but I'm certain there will be plenty more opportunities to do that in the next few days.

It's almost 9:30pm (10:30pm AST, which is where we spend most of our days), and time for bed. G found a movie to watch on TV, Men in Black #72, but was asleep less than five minutes into it.

Such a talent!

Photos 1 and 2: watching sunrise at sea from a deck chair

Photos 3 to 5: our favorite lunch menu and G's favorite mozzarella sticks. These were served more artfully plated, with the sticks stacked and angled, but the first thing G did was straighten them out in three lines.

;-)