Day 113: At Sea

G was up and out of the cabin ridiculously early today (but, of course, napped a few times the rest of the day). When I awoke at 4:30am and he was gone, I never did fall back asleep, waiting for the click of the door lock that would signal his return. Still, I was slow to get moving, and it was close to 8:00am before I joined him on the Terrace Deck and saw him talking...to Jenny!  Yay!  We finally connected!  We sat and talked for awhile, and then I grabbed some breakfast from Cafe Caribe. It was too pretty a morning to go down to the dining room for breakfast (but we heard about our absence later from headwaiter Luis.  We can't get away with playing hooky!).

Still, by 10:30am, we were done with the sun. We'll have several beach days this week...can't overdo before we even start. We came inside, and G took the first of his naps while I rested a bit.

We joined Jenny and Bill in the DaVinci Dining Room for lunch at 12:30pm. We are still trying to figure out when we first cruised together, but it could have been as far back as our first Princess cruise in December 2003. Cruise friendships are something every cruiser understands; non-cruisers maybe not so much.  They might wonder how we can consider friends people we have only met a few times years ago.   That's just one wonderful part of cruising!

Afterwards, I had a bit of a lie-down. I'm feeling so much better, but still tire more easily than I'd like.  I didn't sleep...not that I could have anyway, as G was practicing juggling with the juggling scarves I got him for his birthday last year. He had arranged a lesson with Team Rootberry this afternoon after their 3:15pm performance in the Piazza, and wanted me to identify where I thought he needed help.

Where to start?  He looked like he was being attacked by a swarm of bees, flailing wildly while the scarves rained down on me lying on the bed.  But help was on the way!

Team Rootberry did their usual 12-minute Piazza performance, and then, as promised, did stick around for a lesson. Within a few minutes, Jonathon (Team Rootberry Jonathon, not SN Johnathon) had G juggling successfully several times in a row. Other students included Pierre from Canada and a little boy who didn't speak English. It was darling to watch Jonathon working with him, all through gestures, and all the "kids" seemed to enjoy their lesson. Thanks to Team Rootberry's Jonathon and Bill for the special tutoring, and to Jenny and Bill for leaving their top-deck Sanctuary loungers to come and watch and cheer G on!!

By the time that wrapped up, it was after4:00pm and, being a formal night, was time to start getting ready. We went to the 5:30pm performance of comedian Scott Wyler in the Explorers Lounge- different material than last night's show- and then headed to dinner. With not much time nor appetite, we had just the beef tenderloins (though Sutti added four large shrimp to mine) and pink grapefruit sorbet for dessert. Sutti and Somphong were bedecked with boutonnières a tonight, a gift from near-tablemates Steve and Kathy, who, as suite passengers, receive them the first formal night. That was very sweet, and Sutti and Somphong seemed very pleased.

Then it was Welcome Aboard Champagne party time for this cruise. The bar staff knows it's our last cruise...it was raining champagne!

We next went to the 8:30pm performance of production show I Got the Music. I couldn't help but feel a bit sad...we're going to miss these talented performers we've enjoyed so much this winter.

9:30pm was a long time after 4:30am when I had awakened.   It was time for popcorn, fuzzy water, penicillin, blog and bed. We have fun plans again for tomorrow on Antigua!

(BTW- today's special treats included honeydew frozen yogurt for dessert at lunch, and my first frozen white chocolate mocha coffee (with whipped cream) from the International Cafe since Christmas. Happy New Year to me!!)

Photo 1:  Team Rootberry doing their thing in the Piazza

Photo 2:  G getting the hang of it!

Photo 3:  Somphong, G and Sutti, all dressed to the nines

Photos. 4 and 5:  I Got the Music with our favorite Brazilian dancers Rodney (barechested) and Renato (with the big smile)

Day 112: At Sea

It was just a bit bouncy last night, but we slept well in spite of it. I should say I slept well...I'm hearing tales that G was up around 1:00am, checking out the International Cafe, Skywalkers and the other lounges, just to see what goes on at that time of the night.

The things that happen when my back is turned! 

Still, G was up early, and grabbed two chairs on the Terrace Deck. By 7:30am he was back in the cabin, making enough noise that it was inevitable that I'd wake up. I joined him on the Terrace Deck, and he took care of getting coffee and breakfast from the Cafe Caribe (and have I mentioned that the Cafe Caribe is serving made-to-order omelets too?). Although the sun rose in front of the ship, by 9:00am or so the back area was in the sunlight. Luckily, it wasn't quite as hot today as it had been two days ago...we sat comfortably back there, G waiting on me hand and foot (a real "who are you and what have you done with my husband?" experience, I assure you!) until about noon. G had checked...veggie burritos were on the dining room lunch menu, and we LOVE them.

It's kind of strange this cruise; G suggested last night that we shouldn't hold back this last cruise, we should allow ourselves to eat whatever we want (I didn't realize he was exercising moderation himself, what with his four scoops of ice cream for each lunch and dinner dessert) because this is it. Every cruise, there is something that I might want to eat, but I tell myself, "I'll have that next cruise".  Suddenly, too soon, there is no "next". So last night I had the spring rolls as an appetizer (first time all winter), for breakfast I had a chocolate croissant (ditto), and for dessert at lunch I had blueberry frozen yogurt (ditto again). 

This is fun!  It's also kind of softening the blow of our final cruise of the winter.

After lunch, we stopped by the Cruise Critic meet and greet hoping to catch up with Jenny and Bill, but didn't see anyone we knew. G then made a bee line for a hot tub, while I made the "items I couldn't cruise without" posts, taking photos of all those odd things in the cabin while G wasn't here to question why I was taking pictures of the Fabreeze bottle and the clothesline. By 2:00pm I was in the Terrace Pool, treasuring the still sunny, but fairly windy day. 

Every time I pass the area in which Cristian is working, I'll say "Hi Cristian!", and from somewhere in a cabin with an open door I'll hear back "Hi Mrs. X!"  Not once this winter have I heard the same greeting from our Steward Nazi. 

I've really missed it!  No, we haven't suffered too badly (the worst was wrapping used dental floss in toilet paper for 2 days because we had no tissues, despite leaving a note requesting some, and that wasn't that awful), but there's just been something missing. And I don't mean tissue or bath towels. Something that makes cruising a special kind of vacation- a different kind of vacation.  Now we have it again. 

Yay!

We got dressed for the evening and went to the Captain Circle party for Gold members again at 4:45pm. G likes that program better than what we get at the Platinum and Elite party, so Captains Circle host Tracey allows us to attend.  Without enough time to go up to Skywalkers before dinner, we instead opted to have a pre-dinner drink in Crooners, which is an excellent place for people-watching. 

I couldn't wait for dinner tonight...what would I have that I'd denied myself all winter? I was giddy with the thought of it. So, what did I have?  The same lychee and watermelon with candied ginger as an appetizer, sorbet as an intermezzo and chili shrimp as an entree that I always have. But when Sutti presented the dessert menu, I was pleased to see that it's been changed yet again (see photo for tonight's dessert menu), and a cheese plate is back on the menu. That's another positive tweak of the menus. We've seen a lot of that this winter!

We finished dinner in time to catch the 7:15pm show of comedian Scott Wyler in the Princess Theater. G liked him, as did many people around us. I....just have a tough time with comedians, I've decided. I love political humor poking fun at the other side (a la Jon Stewart). That's hard to find on a cruise ship. 

We're sitting in Club Fusion listening to band Sol Provider right now, and then will move to Adagio for the Emerald Princess orchestra playing jazz at 9:00pm. Then popcorn, fuzzy water, penicillin and bed, in that order. 

It's been a good day. 

:-)

Photo 1:  sunset from our dining room table

Photo 2:  tonight's shrimp entree

Photo 3:  the new dessert menu format

Photo 4:  the Brie and Gouda cheese plate

Things I couldn't cruise without for 120 days- Part 2

Fabreze- big bottle  We downgrade t-shirts (especially)...breakfast/lunch wear to beach wear to workout wear before sending them to the laundry and Fabreze makes that possible. They also keep our water shoes smelling good enough to have in the cabin.

Tiny sewing kit with pre-threaded needles (there's not enough light in the cabin to see to thread a needle)  Princess used to give these away as an Elite amenity, but I haven't seen them for a few years

Clips with magnetic backs The cabin walls are metal, and these hold each cruise's planning Patter, invitations, coupons, photos, cards, etc. I really wish we had something like this at home too, because it's very handy!

Large cloth cooler (from Sams Club or Costco) which also serves as a beach bag

Plastic suction cup shower organizers These are a must for anyone who doesn't want their shampoo, etc. and razor on the shower floor. We like the hard plastic ones best. We simply stack them and fill them with socks or underwear in the suitcase.

5'x7' picnic tarp We got ours at Home Depot and it lasted two winters. We're not taking it home with us...it's started to rip in a few places, but it was used hard for two winters. It's also nice to use even when we rent beach chairs; we keep it mostly folded up, put it between the chairs and put our beach bag and backpack on it. 

Beyond these things, we bring other items of a personal nature:  wahl hair cutter with which we cut each others hair (something I do for G at home, but he doesn't do for me), Swimways floats, masks, fins, snorkels, wet suits/dive skins, 2-way radios, accordion folders to handle paperwork. 

Things I couldn't cruise without for 120 days- Part 1

I thought I'd take a sea day to talk about those items we bring that enable our 120-night stay in a tiny inside cabin while cruising the Caribbean. I could do without most of these items if cruising for 7 or 10 nights, but for anything over a month, they're really nice to have.

First, though I have to mention the one thing that allows us to be away from home, largely out of the country, and still keep things going at home. Of course, it's the iPhone with banking, credit card, webcam, overdrive, offline pages apps, and Lifeproof waterproof case. It goes without saying that we couldn't do any of this without being as electronically automated as possible, a feat that took us a year or two to fully achieve. Even when we're home, we do pretty much all of our business transactions using our phones; it's good practice, because it's all a bit more difficult when we're using slow wifi on the ship. 

But, back to the items we use in the cabin:

Over-the-door shoe rack There are only 4 drawers in an inside cabin, two in each nightstand, and they don't begin to neatly hold all the small items we bring with us. The over the door shoe rack holds my makeup (and after the green eyebrows experience, I was careful to put eyeliner pencils in one pouch and eyebrow pencils in a different one to avoid any future mixups), sunscreens, the few first aid/medical items we bring, scissors, a small ziplock bag of office supplies, nail polish/remover, Qtips, cotton pads, spare razors, etc.  We used to have one column of pockets for my stuff, one for G's, and the rest for what we call "common items", but, over the years, I've slowly taken over more and more of it. We bought this one at WalMart in 2002, intending to use it for one 23-night trip. Eleven years later, it still does the job. 

Extension cords or power strip We need something to turn one outlet into many for electronics charging. I would bring this even for a short cruise. 

Metal, wide mouth water bottles I fill them with ice and use them as ice packs to keep our drinks cold on the islands, and  we can drink the melted ice too.

Twisted clothesline with suction cup ends to stretch across cabin  We attach the suction cups to framed prints on either wall. We always have something hanging on this line, plus it frees up the shower line so we don't have to move things when we shower. We'll only use the shower line for really dripping things (like a wetsuit)

Photos 1 and 2:  over the door shoe rack

Photo 3:  our charging center. You can even see the Christmas tree nightlight we plugged in in December and like so much we've left it. :-)

Photo 4:  metal water bottles for ice

Photo 5:  twisted clothesline that stretches from one side of the cabin to the other

Things I couldn't cruise without for 120 days- Part 1

I thought I'd take a sea day to talk about those items we bring that enable our 120-night stay in a tiny inside cabin while cruising the Caribbean. I could do without most of these items if cruising for 7 or 10 nights, but for anything over a month, they're really nice to have.

First, though I have to mention the one thing that allows us to be away from home, largely out of the country, and still keep things going at home. Of course, it's the iPhone with banking, credit card, webcam, overdrive, offline pages apps, and Lifeproof waterproof case. It goes without saying that we couldn't do any of this without being as electronically automated as possible, a feat that took us a year or two to fully achieve. Even when we're home, we do pretty much all of our business transactions using our phones; it's good practice, because it's all a bit more difficult when we're using slow wifi on the ship. 

But, back to the items we use in the cabin:

Over-the-door shoe rack There are only 4 drawers in an inside cabin, two in each nightstand, and they don't begin to neatly hold all the small items we bring with us. The over the door shoe rack holds my makeup (and after the green eyebrows experience, I was careful to put eyeliner pencils in one pouch and eyebrow pencils in a different one to avoid any future mixups), sunscreens, the few first aid/medical items we bring, scissors, a small ziplock bag of office supplies, nail polish/remover, Qtips, cotton pads, spare razors, etc.  We used to have one column of pockets for my stuff, one for G's, and the rest for what we call "common items", but, over the years, I've slowly taken over more and more of it. We bought this one at WalMart in 2002, intending to use it for one 23-night trip. Eleven years later, it still does the job. 

Extension cords or power strip We need something to turn one outlet into many for electronics charging. I would bring this even for a short cruise. 

Metal, wide mouth water bottles I fill them with ice and use them as ice packs to keep our drinks cold on the islands, and  we can drink the melted ice too.

Twisted clothesline with suction cup ends to stretch across cabin  We attach the suction cups to framed prints on either wall. We always have something hanging on this line, plus it frees up the shower line so we don't have to move things when we shower. We'll only use the shower line for really dripping things (like a wetsuit)

Photos 1 and 2:  over the door shoe rack

Photo 3:  our charging center. You can even see the Christmas tree nightlight we plugged in in December and like so much we've left it. :-)

Photo 4:  metal water bottles for ice

Photo 5:  twisted clothesline that stretches from one side of the cabin to the other

Fort Lauderdale- part 2

Photo 1: water taxi Captain Wyeth, docking the taxi using a remote control

Photo. 2: that's one house!

Photo. 3: this is the bell tower of the house that the Waste Management/Auto Nation/ Blockbuster built

Photo. 4: Steven Spielburg's yacht 7 Seas

Photo. 5: thank you Graham!

Day 111: Fort Lauderdale (turnaround day)

I have so much to tell you tonight! On this, our final turnaround day of the winter season, we had a wonderful time off the ship, and then returned to some see old friends on the ship. What a great day!

We were up ridiculously early, in part because we moved our clocks back an hour last night, but it really didn't make any difference. There's just no sleeping in on turnaround day (Johnathon was rattling his cart at 5:00am). We went to breakfast in the Botticelli Dining Room, which is the one dining room we usually never eat in, as it's for traditional 6:00pm and 8:15pm dining. We've only been in Botticelli once before, in all our Princess cruises, but it made sense for breakfast to be served there today, as it freed up the Michelangelo and DaVinci Dining Rooms for disembarkation groups.

We walked off the ship about 9:30am, and, as is always the case when we have time to spare and never the case when we don't, we literally walked right through immigration, never slowing for a second. There were only four ships in Port Everglades today, which certainly helped move things along. We walked under the 17th Street drawbridge to the Hilton Marina water taxi stop, where we spent some time using our iPhones and making phone calls while we waited for the 11:11am water taxi that used to called the Cruisers Express. It's the one that is two levels high and offers a 2.5 hour narrated tour of the intercoastal waterway, the New River and all the mansions along the way. We had done this tour last winter too, and really enjoyed it, and so were anxious to do it again this year.

The day was hot, sunny and muggier than we've seen in Fort Lauderdale all winter, so it was a perfect day to sit in the sun and watch the scenery go by. We should have swung into Walgreens on the way to the water taxi; G had the munchies and all they had on the water taxi were single serve bags of Doritos for $1.50 each. Still, he scarfed them down, one after another, like he was starving.

Is it possible he misses junk food just a little? Chips are the one thing we don't get much of on the ship.

The excess that we see on this tour is just mind-numbing. Every mansion has a story...the man who invented a part used in GM car air conditioners, the Walgreens family, the Staples family, the Wendy's family. But the largest complex is owned by the guy who started Waste Management, then Auto Nation, then Blockbuster video which he sold before Netflix launched for $ billions. He owns an entire complex, with various family members living in mansions around him. And if their houses are impressive, their yachts are even more so.

$50 million mansions and $75 million yachts, one after another. I guess these folks don't stay in inside cabins when they cruise on Princess. ;-)

We arrived back on the ship just minutes before the on board time of 3:30pm. Hot, sweaty and a bit sunburned, I headed right up to the cabin; G stopped to chat to someone. As I started walking down our starboard-side corridor, I saw...Cristian, our cabin steward from last year!!! Calm as ever, he said, "Well hello Mrs. X. I've been watching for you all day". And then he told me that he had gotten off the Emerald Princess the day we arrived, on November 7, to go home to Romania, and he had seen us walking into the terminal as he boarded his bus for the airport. And then, when he boarded the ship this morning, he saw us walking off. No, he's not our cabin steward (we'll be with the Steward Nazi this. entire. winter., may God have mercy on us), but he is the steward in the next section of cabins, and we'll pass him at least five times a day. And just that simple thought makes me very happy, like we've come full circle this winter and will leave, as we did last winter, having benefited so much by seeing Sutti's and now Cristian's smiling faces each day.

When I got to the cabin, there was already a note from cruise friends Jenny and Bill, whom we've cruised with twice in the past. That they were taking this cruise certainly influenced our decision to stay on for 120 days. We haven't yet connected, but I'm sure we will tomorrow.

We went to dinner early, at 5:30pm (we were starving, having had no lunch), and were shocked when headwaiter Mirko Savioli made a special trip from the DaVinci Dining Room where he was working one deck up down to the Michelangelo Dining Room just to say hi. Mirko had been our headwaiter for our first 30 days on the Emerald Princess this winter, going home when the ship went into dry dock on December 7. He just rejoined the ship today, and wanted to say hi and ask how we've enjoyed our winter.

Again, full circle. It just feels wonderful.

Our table mates at the next table, Steve and Kathy, had not been to dinner since Grenada last cruise, but they're staying in a suite, and we had assumed they were having their meals in their room. We knew they were staying on for this cruise too. Well, when they showed up for dinner tonight, they had such a story to tell. They said I could give you the highlights, just to show how well Princess and their travel insurance, Travel Guard, handled what could have been a very bad situation in the best way possible. Steve woke up in the middle of the night before Bonaire and fainted in the bathroom (suite bathrooms are large enough to faint in...we could only kind of crumble in a heap on the floor in ours). Kathy phoned 911, and, long story short, Steve was taken off the ship in Bonaire, and, along with Kathy, airlifted by private medical Lear jet equipped with a doctor and a nurse from Bonaire back to Fort Lauderdale, then spent two nights in a hospital in Fort Lauderdale where extensive tests were done and he was pronounced healthy and ok to travel. Travel Guard insurance then put them in a suite in a Marriott on the beach for $1000 a night, because it was the only hotel with availability Saturday and Sunday nights. They checked out this morning, and reboarded the ship for the second half of their back to back cruises.

Whew!

They kept emphasizing how well Princess and Travel Guard insurance treated them. The only thing they had to pay out of pocket was $138 cash for the ambulance from the ship to the jet in Bonaire. A private medically equipped flying three hours from Fort Lauderdale to Bonaire and back can't be cheap (we're all guessing $50,000), and Steve won't have to pay a penny of it.

Which leads me to today's Public Service Announcement: even if you think you don't need travel insurance, even if you want to self-insure in the event things like bronchitis or a tooth abscess occur, DON'T!! You might be a healthy 35-year old, but one emergency medical evacuation could wipe out your savings. It's just not worth it.

And, finally, we returned to our cabin tonight to be greeted by the most thoughtful gift imaginable from Graham, with whom G had hiked to the southern tip of Eleuthera two cruises ago...tuxedo decorated chocolate covered strawberries. Gorgeous AND delicious, and how clever to have ordered them for us without knowing our booking number! That must have been a trick. Thank you, Graham! G enjoyed that hike every bit as much as you did, and we'll both enjoy the strawberries.

It was a full day, and we move our clocks ahead an hour tonight (we never actually changed our watches/clock last night). We're in bed early, resting up for our final exciting cruise of the winter.

Photo 1: water taxi stop #5, under the 17th Street drawbridge at the Hilton Marina

Photo 2: you can see how close it is to the Hilton Marina

Photo 3: the two-deck water taxi

Photo 4: 130 foot yacht Pegasus- a smaller boat fits into its back, and it has an entertainment platform that lowers. Cost to dock every night: $930, and that doesn't include the water and electricity!

Photo. 5: 30,000 square foot mansion, home to two people

Cruise #12: Eastern Caribbean and our LAST cruise :-( :-)

(Because I'm both happy and sad about that!)

Day 110: At Sea

I am so happy tonight. There's no doubt that I'm on the mend, tomorrow's weather forecast for Fort Lauderdale is perfect (83 degrees and mostly sunny), we just spent the most wonderful hour sitting on the Terrace Deck watching the moon (is it full tonight?) reflecting off the water AND we still have 10 more days of cruising ahead of us.

Life is soooo good!  :-)

I've also come a long way from three days ago, when I told G I thought that, if I wasn't going to get well soon, I might as well go home tomorrow.  Thankfully, even if he hadn't discouraged that radical action, the winter weather moving across the US did. We're staying put. It's going to be a great cruise!

G was up early this morning, and went out to the Terrace Deck to get two lounge chairs, then ran back inside to make sure I was up NOW, because the sun was "fixin' to rise". It waited until I got dressed in a swimsuit and coverup, and got out there, before it rose in most beautiful fashion, slightly obscured by clouds at the horizon that quickly dissipated. 

Also already situated in the adjacent lounge chairs were Shari and Marty from Cruise Critic. Shari had emailed me that she was following this blog, and I was so disappointed to have missed the meet and greet on the first sea day of this cruise (doctor visit #1 of the cruise). How lucky that I met her today, and we spent a most enjoyable morning comparing these parallel lives that we seem to be living, 1000 miles apart. 

The morning again grew quickly hot, and the sun was unrelenting. We coped with frequent dips in the Terrace Pool, but by noon we were cooked for the day. G and I showered and went to lunch in the dining room, where I took one look at our waiter and said, "I know you", which for most of the waitstaff, isn't all that impressive after four months, but I remembered this waiter from a previous winter. As it turned out, his name is Darko from Macedonia, and he just joined the ship again this cruise for the first time since he was on the Emerald two winters ago. He is a cutie (looks like a thinner Tim Tebow), but even if I hadn't remembered his face, it's hard to forget a Darko from Macedonia. So...we lose crew friends every turnaround day, but familiar faces keep arriving. 

Following lunch, I did an iPhone backup on my laptop (see how good I am being about that!), even though I took all of about 50 photos over the last ten days.  Then it was time for this cruise's wine tasting (we're still trying to get starfish and anchor shot glasses to complete the set we gave Martha, but no luck). We've learned so much about wine this winter from sommelier Thai, and that's not something I'd anticipated after years of Princess wine tastings. Things like a screw top is called a Stelvin (sp?) top, and the space between the wine and the top of the bottle is the ullage.

And, finally, it was time for dinner. G wanted me to mention that his New York strip steak was the best one he's had all winter (and my salmon was good too). It was Baked Alaska night, which means it was toasted merengue night for me. 

I simply can't imagine a winter of cruises without Sutti. I think he's ruined us for life. 

Afterward, entertainment options were light. You know my feelings about a Thai dance-less crew show, band Sol Provider wasn't playing until 11:15pm (really!), and the Emerald Princess orchestra wasn't playing anywhere tonight. Instead, we went out to the Terrace Deck, ordered drinks and sat and watched the moonlight on the water and ship's wake. It was a perfect evening!

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is our last turnaround day of the winter. Are we ready to go home?  Not yet, but I will be by the last day of this cruise. (Notice I didn't say that G will be). I think that 120 days is really the perfect amount of time, not one cruise too short or too long. For three winters now we've extended our time at sea over the previous year, but, I think we finally got it juuuusssstttt riiiijugggghhhhtttt. 

Photo 1:  Tee hee hee, one last time

Photos 2-5:  our view this evening

Day 109: At Sea

Today at sea was not all that different for me than the past five port days, because, as I realized just today, I'd only been off the ship on Princess Cays and for the walk on Bonaire this. entire. cruise. That is a first for me, and not something I'm anxious to repeat. This really was the sickest I've ever been on a cruise- not fun!!

We went out to the Terrace Deck early this morning and claimed two loungers that we sat in until lunch. Breakfast was cereal and yogurt from the buffet, eaten poolside. By 10:00am, it was already so hot that I needed to cool off in the Terrace Pool every 30 minutes or so; G, of course, was using the hot tub on the back of Deck 17.

By 1:00pm, it was simply too hot (and the sun too intense) to spend any more time out there, so we came in, took two minute showers and went to lunch in the dining room. It was a good thing we did; macadamia nut ice cream was on the menu and G had four scoops for dessert (I had Key Lime frozen yogurt). Zumba still wasn't an option for me today, but we did walk a few laps on the Promenade Deck after lunch, and although it was largely in the shade, it was still hot. The blasts of A/C that we got while passing the automatic doors on the ship felt heavenly.

It was hard to imagine the winter weather crossing the country this weekend, but I really did try.

I still couldn't. ;-) Stay safe, everyone (especially you, Mom)!!

The rest of the afternoon was spent on personal maintenance (nails) and trying to finish up an e-book before it poofs off my iPhone on Monday (its due date). It's going to be close....

G dressed in his tux and went to the veterans get together in the Adagio Lounge at 4:30pm, and then picked me up to go to comedian Phil Tag's 5:30pm show in the Explorers Lounge. This was our first personal experience with this early show time, and today, on a sea day, the Explorers Lounge was full for it. Phil Tag is easily the best comedian we've seen l winter (yay!), though I'll be the first to admit that comedy is a very personal thing. I'm just really over "bossy wife-stupid husband" kind of humor, which so many comedians have as their mainstay. Phil Tag doesn't, and that's why I liked him.

We arrived in the Michelangelo Dining Room for dinner about 6:15pm (nice to see our table was still waiting for us). I was lobster night, but I also had a new (to me) appetizer of pears and blue cheese with pecans. There was escargot too, but I had to pass. That's still a little heavy for me.

Afterwards, we swung by the Piazza to watch jugglers Team Rootberry do their 10-minute "sideshow" (that's what G calls them). They are the juggling team that considerably changed our opinion of jugglers last winter.

Production show Disco: Blame it on the Boogie was also being performed in the Princess Theater three times tonight.

G went back to the Explorers Lounge to see Phil Tag's 8:00pm show, but I returned to the cabin. I'm feeling better, but want to take it easy on these sea days. We're hoping to have some fun in Fort Lauderdale on our last turnaround day.

And, finally, I am slightly livid over something I just heard tonight. I think I've mentioned that, for the past two cruises, we've had basically no entertainment shows on the final night of the cruise, just the Crew Talent Show at 7:15pm and 8:30pm. Now, the crew talent show is good fun, but by having it done at those times, it excludes crew members who simply can it get away from their duties. It's usually done at 10:15pm on one of the last two nights of a cruise.

Well, dear waiters Sutti, Surasit and Nicky have been working on their costumes to once again perform their traditional Thai dance for the show. Last year, they were THE hit of the show, and people were on their feet applauding before they were even finished. The costumes are now ready, and they were supposed to perform tomorrow night. But today they found out that, because Princess hasn't arranged enough entertainment to finish out the cruise, once again this cruise the crew talent show will be done at 7:15pm and 8:30pm. Sutti, Surasit and Nicky can't do that...that's dinner time! All that work on the costumes, and they are not at all hopeful they'll ever get to perform the dance...because Princess is going cheap on entertainment.

This makes me so mad!! And me fired up is a dangerous thing (just ask my local government).

I am going to write my local congressman- er, cruise director, to see if they can't perform the dance as one of the "sideshows" in the Piazza. It's too late for this cruise, but it could work for next cruise.

G has his juggling lessons from Team Rootberry to keep him busy. Now I have a mission too.

Can you tell I'm feeling better?

;-)

Photo 1: pear and blue cheese appetizer- yummy!

Photos 2-3: Team Rootberry performs in the Piazza

Day 108: Aruba

Maybe I should rename this blog: Yellow Fish Goes to the Medical Center on the Emerald Princess. Because, honestly, I feel like that's all I have to talk about this cruise. I've regressed a bit, and am now on penicillin. Lynn (Dr. Smith) promises me I'll be much better by Antigua, but that's five days away. I'm hoping to be an overachiever and be much better by Fort Lauderdale.

I can tell you that we've never appreciated a medical team the way we do Dr. Lynn Smith and her group.

I stayed in the cabin for most of today, keeping my coughs to myself as much as possible. I felt so guilty by sailaway that I joined G for a few minutes in Skywalkers to watch Aruba fade into the distance for the last time this year. By the time I got to the dining room, I was already starting to fade, and Sutti and Somphong were so concerned that they didn't even laugh when I requested alphabet soup from the kids' menu. They not only brought me a pot of peppermint tea, they also brought me a bunch of mint leaves too.

It's like being tended to by Mom!

G is out and about, enjoying some entertainment. Jugglers Team Rootberry boarded today in Aruba, and are performing in the Piazza tonight. They are the duo that got G so interested in juggling last winter when they held a juggling class on a sea day. I bought G juggling scarves for his birthday and he brought them with him on the cruise just hoping to run into Team Rootberry again for another lesson. I so glad they're here. That will keep G busy until I'm feeling better!

Photo: peppermint tea and mint leaves...TLC by Sutti and Somphong

Day 107: Bonaire

I awoke at 3:30am and did a happy dance around the cabin. I felt so much better! I did fall back asleep, but we were up bright and early, and today I finally returned to the dining room for breakfast (I had been dining in the back of the buffet while I had a cough). Orange segments and mixed berries, scrambled egg beaters and salsa and even mixed berries pancakes. All was right in my world once again!

G and I sat in lounge chairs on the Terrace Deck until the hot sun forced us inside about 11:00pm. It was obvious that today was going to be a scorcher.

The ship was docked and cleared by the local authorities right on time at noon, but not without a significant amount of maneuvering. There was an extremely strong wind coming directly from the southeast, and the Emerald Princess came in almost bow first before the rear thrusters pulled the aft end in. But the ship acted as a sail, and the winds were pushing it away from the pier. To hold the ship against the pier, the rear thrusters ran at full power. and the back of the ship rattled as much as I've ever heard it do.

We decided to make today a walking day...we've snorkeled several times in Bonaire this winter, and have gone to Klein Bonaire twice, but hadn't done a walk along the pretty waterfront in Kralendjik and down to Spice Beach, about a mile away. We first went to lunch in the dining room (and I forgot to mention that the dining room was open for lunch yesterday too, with our early departure from Grenada), and told headwaiter Luis that we would be skipping dinner in the dining room tonight. With our late departure from Bonaire, we preferred to be on land until the on board time of 6:30pm.

But...plans changed. We were almost to Spice Beach when my Teva sandal suddenly broke, putting an end to our progress. I did manage to get back to the ship- carefully, and very slowly- and took the damn sandals off in the Deck 4 elevator lobby and dropped them in a trash bin, returning to the cabin in bare feet. They were expensive sandals, and they served me well for two years, but I knew there was no fixing them. If it was earlier in the winter, I'd have to order another pair from Zappos and have them delivered to the ship, but I'll just make due with my Birkenstocks for the two weeks we have left.

Two weeks!! Weep!!

Today's wardrobe malfunction made me think about all the things I'm going to need to fix or replace after this winter at sea: 2 earring backs (one is probably unfixable), a beaded bracelet, my lanyard with charms (it fell apart last cruise; walking off the ship on St. Kitts it simply dropped off my neck), all of my undies (the elastic is shot after the hot dryers on the ship), a pair of shorts (MIA early on), two t-shirts with small holes, a swimsuit and now my Tevas. And, of course, the drowned iPhone which has already been replaced. The swimsuit is a typical story...it was getting a bit ratty around the neckline, but I was continuing to wear it to beaches. One day, when I took it off, I noticed a 3" threadbare hole in the middle of the back (thank God it wasn't lower). I asked G why he hadn't mentioned this huge hole to me, and he said it just wasn't a big deal. Men!! Thank God, too, that G thought the jade green eyebrows were a big deal. I would have had to leave the ship that day in shame, if they had escaped the cabin undetected.

We never did make it back off the ship today. Instead, we watched sunset right from the Promenade Deck (not the most striking one, as it dropped early into the clouds on the horizon), and then had dinner in the buffet (Italian theme night). Captain Tony had warned us that, due to the wind, the ship would have to do a lot of maneuvering to move through the channel away from Bonaire. He wasn't kidding. An hour after we sailed, the lights of Kralendjik are still...right there, just off the stern of the ship, and the rear thrusters are still rattling away.

Right now, we are awaiting the start of the 8:30pm show in the Princess Theater (comedian Phil Tag), and then will rush to the 9:15 Beatle Maniacs set in Club Fusion. We heard the latter rehearsing in Club Fusion when we were on the Promenade Deck for sailaway. The production manager on board has told us that no guest entertainers rehearse as diligently as the Beatle Maniacs do, and their shows are proof of that.

Captain Tony said that the winds will remain strong through the night and tomorrow in Aruba. We're hoping to make our final trip of the winter to Eagle Beach, weather permitting.

Photo 1: the Emerald Princess approaches the pier in Kralendjik, Bonaire

Photo 2: Bonaire has the clearest, bluest water in the Caribbean

Photo 3: as seen on our walk, a Wish Tree. I should have added a note with "New Tevas" written on it.

Photo 4: Dutch road signs

Photo 5: the waterfront bar was full of people watching sunset and the Emerald Princess sailaway