Today was filled with the normal sea day activities I usually engage in: eating, drinking and exercising, then more eating.
We were up really early, of course, because we had no place to go and all day to get there. ;-) After breakfast in the dining room (fruit, eggbeaters and salsa. Healthy food!), I went to Zumba with Lexi and Leesh at 9:15am in Club Fusion. Those girls have been practicing...after just one cruise, they're polished professionals. And their song choice was such fun; we even Zumba'ed to Proud Mary!
Sweatier than all get out, I stuck around for Lexi's line dancing class (also a lot of fun!), before returning to the cabin to get cleaned up for the day. I took the time to back up my iPhone and transfer my photos to my laptop, and then copied them on to a flash drive. I'm not taking chances with anything electronic these days!
G and I met up for lunch in the dining room. I had a spicy hot and sour Thai soup (and it was spicy. I think my lips are sunburned, because WOW, it hurt!) and then an entree that has become a favorite, lamb curry with all the related condiments.
We returned to the cabin to begin sorting through the box of mail we'd received from home during this cruise. The anticipation of this is always slightly stressful, wondering if anything could have fallen through the cracks, and if our lives might be spinning out of control without us even knowing about it, but once again we were lucky. The thought of returning home to just a third as much mail as we would have had we not been getting periodic batches motivates us to take time on the ship to deal with it.
This box of mail was more fun than usual, and we spent part of the afternoon opening Christmas and birthday cards and reading the annual letters. Friends our age are becoming grandparents; how can they be getting older when we're not? I have two phone calls to make tomorrow in Fort Lauderdale and I should then be up to date with everything. Yay!
We attended this cruise's wine tasting at 3:00pm. I wasn't especially in the mood this afternoon, still feeling some effects from all the gin I drank yesterday, and with my lips begging for mercy after sun and Thai hot and spicy soup, but we are trying to accumulate two complete sets of the free shot glass souvenirs that are given away at each tasting. Unfortunately, we have duplicates of some of the six designs and are still missing two others...we'll have to try to complete the sets at next cruise's wine tasting.
G attended a veterans get together in the Wheelhouse Bar at 4:30pm, and afterwards we skipped the Elite lounge in Skywalkers to just go to dinner. Still full after that lamb curry, I just had salmon and spinach. And sorbet. You're never too full for dessert!
There was a new (to us!) piano entertainer performing two shows in the Princess Theater tonight, Antonio Salsi, but since we missed the first show and didn't feel like waiting around for the second, we gave him a pass. Not our usual M.O., but our minds are elsewhere. Read on...
Tomorrow is a day that we've been excitedly looking forward to all winter, as our dear friend Martha and her friend Betsy are joining us on the Emerald Princess for 10-days. In fact, they're in Fort Lauderdale right now (we just placed a Vonage call to Martha to make sure she arrived with no problems), and we're walking over to the Embassy Suites, where they are spending tonight, to meet them in the morning.
We plan to surprise them with the two sets of shot glasses, and have been hoarding water bottles, Perrier and cans of Coke from our minibar setups in those blue cloth Princess shopping bags (like the ones we use at home for grocery shopping) to deliver to them once they're on board. Honestly, it's all the fun of having company come to stay but I haven't had to clean a thing!
This is Martha's second Princess cruise and Betsy's third, and although both are world travelers, this is the first time in the Caribbean for both of them. It will be so much fun to see these islands through their eyes, as first time visitors!
So, if you've become frustrated by our repetitive beach days, or our days spent simply walking around the ports (or doing taxes!), change is on the way. Although Martha and Betsy may go off on their own in Antigua and St. Thomas, we have full days planned on St. Lucia, Barbados and St. Kitts, and are using excursions recommended on the Cruise Critic website for two of the islands. We'll be focusing on history, scenery and culture on the islands, and generally enjoying all aspects of shipboard life.
We were up really early, of course, because we had no place to go and all day to get there. ;-) After breakfast in the dining room (fruit, eggbeaters and salsa. Healthy food!), I went to Zumba with Lexi and Leesh at 9:15am in Club Fusion. Those girls have been practicing...after just one cruise, they're polished professionals. And their song choice was such fun; we even Zumba'ed to Proud Mary!
Sweatier than all get out, I stuck around for Lexi's line dancing class (also a lot of fun!), before returning to the cabin to get cleaned up for the day. I took the time to back up my iPhone and transfer my photos to my laptop, and then copied them on to a flash drive. I'm not taking chances with anything electronic these days!
G and I met up for lunch in the dining room. I had a spicy hot and sour Thai soup (and it was spicy. I think my lips are sunburned, because WOW, it hurt!) and then an entree that has become a favorite, lamb curry with all the related condiments.
We returned to the cabin to begin sorting through the box of mail we'd received from home during this cruise. The anticipation of this is always slightly stressful, wondering if anything could have fallen through the cracks, and if our lives might be spinning out of control without us even knowing about it, but once again we were lucky. The thought of returning home to just a third as much mail as we would have had we not been getting periodic batches motivates us to take time on the ship to deal with it.
This box of mail was more fun than usual, and we spent part of the afternoon opening Christmas and birthday cards and reading the annual letters. Friends our age are becoming grandparents; how can they be getting older when we're not? I have two phone calls to make tomorrow in Fort Lauderdale and I should then be up to date with everything. Yay!
We attended this cruise's wine tasting at 3:00pm. I wasn't especially in the mood this afternoon, still feeling some effects from all the gin I drank yesterday, and with my lips begging for mercy after sun and Thai hot and spicy soup, but we are trying to accumulate two complete sets of the free shot glass souvenirs that are given away at each tasting. Unfortunately, we have duplicates of some of the six designs and are still missing two others...we'll have to try to complete the sets at next cruise's wine tasting.
G attended a veterans get together in the Wheelhouse Bar at 4:30pm, and afterwards we skipped the Elite lounge in Skywalkers to just go to dinner. Still full after that lamb curry, I just had salmon and spinach. And sorbet. You're never too full for dessert!
There was a new (to us!) piano entertainer performing two shows in the Princess Theater tonight, Antonio Salsi, but since we missed the first show and didn't feel like waiting around for the second, we gave him a pass. Not our usual M.O., but our minds are elsewhere. Read on...
Tomorrow is a day that we've been excitedly looking forward to all winter, as our dear friend Martha and her friend Betsy are joining us on the Emerald Princess for 10-days. In fact, they're in Fort Lauderdale right now (we just placed a Vonage call to Martha to make sure she arrived with no problems), and we're walking over to the Embassy Suites, where they are spending tonight, to meet them in the morning.
We plan to surprise them with the two sets of shot glasses, and have been hoarding water bottles, Perrier and cans of Coke from our minibar setups in those blue cloth Princess shopping bags (like the ones we use at home for grocery shopping) to deliver to them once they're on board. Honestly, it's all the fun of having company come to stay but I haven't had to clean a thing!
This is Martha's second Princess cruise and Betsy's third, and although both are world travelers, this is the first time in the Caribbean for both of them. It will be so much fun to see these islands through their eyes, as first time visitors!
So, if you've become frustrated by our repetitive beach days, or our days spent simply walking around the ports (or doing taxes!), change is on the way. Although Martha and Betsy may go off on their own in Antigua and St. Thomas, we have full days planned on St. Lucia, Barbados and St. Kitts, and are using excursions recommended on the Cruise Critic website for two of the islands. We'll be focusing on history, scenery and culture on the islands, and generally enjoying all aspects of shipboard life.
We can't wait.
Food photos! Photo 1: lamb curry at lunch
Photo 2: the yummy merengue Sutti gets me on Baked Alaska night
