Day 31: Princess Cays

I need to back up a bit to where I signed off last night, because, in case you hadn't noticed, I published that post early, as we were sailing from Fort Lauderdale, because I could do it for "free" using AT&T. I really didn't anticipate anything noteworthy happening the rest of the evening, but I was wrong on two counts and must remedy that here. 

To start, for the first time ever in my cruising history, our captain quoted Bette Davis when discussing what to expect last night in terms of seas- Fasten your seatbelts boys. It's gonna be a bumpy night. - which had me collapsing in laughter on the bed as we got ready for dinner, because, as I said, I'd never heard a captain say that and I can't imagine it was used by Captain Nick in context. But he was absolutely right...it was a bumpy evening and night. 

The second item of note was a stunner...we walked into the Michelangelo Dining Room at 5:45pm or so for dinner only to find that our waitstaff had been changed. At first we looked around in confusion, thinking we had gone into the wrong dining room, but, no, we were where we were supposed to be, and Corn and Immanuel were no where in sight. Instead there was none other than Darko from Macedonia as our waiter and junior waiter Koman from Bali, Indonesia. Well, we've known Darko for years, and so weren't displeased, but...a new wait team?  What happened?  How did we manage to hold on to Suttipong for an entire season not once but twice over the course of two winters?  A new wait team means another meeting with a head waiter to order G's brioche rolls and my steamed vegetables. It means making sure they know that caffeine is poison to me. It also means that we will spend the rest of the winter wondering when Darko and Koman will be ripped away from us in the night. It was a trauma (and I'm only half kidding about that). 

I was in no mood for a Welcome Aboard show after that shocker, so I listened a bit to strings duo Playthoven before heading back to the cabin to read. G did go to the show (it was his beloved juggling instructors Team Rootberry), but returned to the cabin soon after.  Cruise friends Suzan and Greg came on board yesterday and, in the midst of some high energy mania before we even left home we had made tentative plans to do the hike to the southern point of Eleuthera today while in Princess Cays. We needed to connect with them about that. Well, thankfully, we had all reconsidered in the interim weeks, and, in the end decided not to do that walk today. I'm having a smidge of lower back pain, and had spent the prior several days (well, since my slip and slide in Dominica) trying to psych myself up for an 8 mile hike over rough terrain, so it wasn't too hard for me to let go of the dream. Still, G and I both took some Vitamin I (ibuprofen) before tucking ourselves into a rolling bed. 

I don't know if it was because of that or the rough seas, but we slept today until after 8am (except it was even scarier than that because our clock said it was after 9am).  We managed to get to the DaVinci Dining Room just before it closed for breakfast, and saw several tenders carrying passengers to Princess Cays while we were still eating. It was obvious that we were not going to be a force of energy today. It was so beautiful out on deck on the ship that, in an enormous break with protocol, I stayed on the ship today, first walking for an hour on the Promenade Deck and then lounging on the Terrace Deck. Occasionally I took a dip in the Terrace Pool, sitting in my float (first use this winter) and listening to that new audiobook American Tropic, but mostly I just enjoyed watching the sun glisten off the water behind the ship. 

G did go ashore (no surprise on that count), and, because he was wearing that tell tale yellow shirt, blue shorts and Tilley hat, was identified as "G" and met Chrysalis from Cruise Critic (sorry I missed that!). That happens quite a bit, and the funniest thing is when G's standing next to me in an elevator and someone asks him if he's "G" and has no idea that the lady standing next to him is me. 

G returned to the ship about 2pm, and knew where to find me. We ended up spending an hour or so sitting on the Terrace Deck together before I went to the spa to enjoy the steam room and sauna for the first time this winter before getting ready for dinner. We watched sailaway from Princess Cays in the Elite Lounge in Skywalkers, and Captain Nick made the not unexpected announcement that, once again this cruise, we'd be taking a more protected route to St. Thomas to avoid some high winds and rough seas, but that we could expect some bounciness when we passed between islands. 

It occurred to me, sitting in Skywalkers, that I had enjoyed several things today- walking on the Promenade Deck, lounging on the Terrace Deck, swimming in the Terrace Pool, using the free steam room and sauna and, finally, watching sailaway from the Elite Lounge that would all be unavailable on the Royal Princess. Not a happy thought, since I had enjoyed the day so much, but we're still convinced we'll cope next year. 

Dinner with Darko and Koman was wonderful. I have always enjoyed the occasional breakfasts and lunches with Darko, but it's really quite nice to have him as a dinner waiter. I hope he sticks around more than 10 days. I REALLY hope that. 

Entertainment tonight in the Princess Theater was Mathilda, billed as Jamaica's funniest comedienne. Hand to God, there is no way I would have gone if I has known Mathilda was a dummy. Yes, it was a ventriloquist act, and you know how I feel about ventriloquists. I mean, what's the point?  If the material is funny, just do a comedy act, and if it's not funny unless it's said by a dummy, don't do it all. We stuck it out so as not to be rude, and parts of it were humorous, but I'm just not a ventriloquism afficienado. 

We followed it up with music by Sugar Cane, and then fuzzy water and college football on the cabin TV. While we enjoyed our time apart today, when it comes to football, we are of one mind. 

Day 30: Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale turnarounds are a blur for us...get shaken out of bed by thrusters turning ship into position at Pier 2, look at clock in cabin, remember ship's clocks moved back an hour last night and try to figure out what time it REALLY is, throw on clothes and leave inside cabin and go to Terrace Deck, complain about how cold it is to anyone who will listen, iPhone, Internet, find where breakfast is being served (Botticelli on turnaround days) and go there, eat, remark to G that I don't like the Botticelli Dining Room, go up to buffet for more iPhone and Internet access since it is too cold and windy to sit outside, return to cabin to get passports, go to DaVinci Dining Room to await in transit immigration march, enter terminal, wait for something to happen, flash passport to ICE agent, wait for something to happen, re-board ship, return to cabin, put passports back in safe, plug phone in in buffet to be able to continue to iPhone, Internet, go to lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room, more iPhone and Internet, this time for work, run to store (G, as I had work to do), struggle to find quiet place on ship to make important phone calls (usually Adagio works but I arrived during piano tuning, so it didn't), answer phone calls from G asking for clarification of items on shopping list, finally exhaust iPhone battery, nearly freeze to death because the ship is SO COLD on turnaround days and today's weather in Fort Lauderdale didn't help, consider pulling out suitcase with fleece pullover in it, call Mom with updated departure time information, call Mom again to tell her not to bother to watch for us on Port Everglades webcam at sailaway because it is too cold and windy to be outside on an open deck, decide I'm clean enough for dinner so skip showering, dress in warmest evening outfit I have, buy soda stickers after ship reaches international water to avoid Fort Lauderdale tax, go to dinner, listen to some live music, return to cabin, flip through TV channels all offering safety and hand washing instructions, fall asleep. 

Really.

Cruise #5: Eastern Caribbean

Part 2: Emerald Princess wine list

Part 1: Emerald Princess wine list

Day 29: Thanksgiving at Sea

We broke our usual morning pattern this morning and, when we awoke early (as we almost always do on the Emerald Princess), we settled ourselves in two loungers on the aft Terrace Deck just steps from our cabin. G snagged two plastic drink glasses from the closed Outriggers Bar back there, filled them with ice and OJ from the buffet, and we added what was left of last night's champagne. Mimosas at sunrise on a day at sea...I know what I was thankful for this morning. 

I was also able to get a Thanksgiving morning Vonage call through to Mom, and that was an unexpected pleasure. 

We stayed out there for the rest of the morning; G got a bit to eat from the Cafe Caribe but I wasn't particularly hungry early on. The sun was bright and hot and I plugged in ear buds to listen to a new audiobook I downloaded from my local library while in Aruba (American Tropic, a murder mystery set in Key West during the- you won't believe this part- World Champion Power Boat Championships). G alternated between the hot tub on Deck 17 and the lounger next to me. We were enjoying watching the Island Princess, which had been in Aruba with us and was following the same route back to Fort Lauderdale, arriving with us tomorrow morning. First thing this morning, the Island was on our starboard side behind us, but by late afternoon she had passed us. I always wish there was more interaction at sea when sister ships sail so closely together, that they'd play some kinds of cruise ship games like horn blowing contests or follow the leader, but, alas, they never do. They don't even sail close to each other. But it's still fun to have a sister ship in sight on a sea day. 

Finally, an announcement came from the bridge that we would be cruising through a brief rain shower in about 10 minutes. We stuck it out for that one, but when it became obvious that we were losing our sunny start to the day and the weather was taking a permanent turn for the worse, we gave up and came inside. It was lunch time by then, so we got cleaned up and went to the DaVinci Dining Room. I, of course, was starving, having not eaten for nearly 18 hours (on a cruise ship!), and was pleased to see spaghetti putanesca on the menu, and key lime frozen yogurt for dessert.

We took some time after lunch to admire the Thanksgiving Day display in the Piazza (like last year, it was turkeys playing fruit and veggie instruments), and something new this year:  thankfulness trees. There were already many cards on the trees, and blank cards there to be used to add more thoughts. G seemed very interested in getting me to read the cards on one of the three trees...VERY interested. Like leading me with his eyes to one particular card. And then I saw it:

I took a moment while I was in the Piazza to check with the Internet cafe manager about what to expect with our free Internet perk for our next cruise, which was booked as a 20-night cruise instead of two 10-night cruises. Not surprisingly, we will get only 250 minutes each for the whole 20 days (instead of 250 minutes each for 10 days). But what was a surprise is that he said our leftover Internet minutes from this cruise will roll over. I remain skeptical but hope that's true. We both have between one and two hours remaining from our 250 minutes from this cruise. 

Three NFL games were shown on MUTS today...

1:30pm- Packers v. Lions

5:30pm- Cowboys v. Raiders

9:30pm- Steeler v. Ravens

...but the weather was not cooperating. Huge wind and frequent rain showers kept all but the most ardent fans away, and at least the Cowboys-Raiders game was shown on our cabin TV ('cause we're watching it right now). This afternoon, I was surprised to see that the washers in the passenger laundromat on our deck were available, and so did a load of delicates. Our poor cabin steward Raymond took one look at the undies hanging on our clothesline from one side of the cabin to the other and left our turndown chocolates on the vanity. Smart man. 

Thanksgiving dinner, for the second year in a row, was really nothing special. Sure, turkey was on the menu, but it's the same entree that's always on the menu on the last night of a cruise. G had the Virginia ham and said it was wonderful, as was the turkey, and we both had pumpkin pie for dessert, but it's a far cry from Thanksgiving on the Sapphire Princess in 2004 when the entire menu was Thanksgiving oriented. 

We went to an early show in the Princess Theater- vocalist Jacqi Michaels. We had missed her first show two nights ago to attend the Most Traveled party, and that's too bad, because she was really good. I hope we'll see her again this winter. G mentioned tonight that the musical entertainment seems to be of a higher quality so far this winter, and I think so too. It makes us quite optimistic about what lies ahead. 

The ship is really rocking and rolling tonight. We're back in our cabin to watch football and to try to fall asleep, which might be a bit of a trick tonight. We move clocks back an hour tonight, and may need that extra hour of sleep to try to get some quality rest.  Well, I might. G's already snoozing next to me. 

I wish I could do that!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving display in the Piazza on the Emerald Princess. 

Miscellaneous musings on life at sea

Over the course of several port days, things pop into my mind and I'll think, "Oh, I really should mention that on my blog," but when I sit down to write about our days, these thoughts really don't fit in anywhere. So here's a potpourri of things that occurred to me during our first Emerald Princess cruise this winter...

Regarding laundry:  we learned our lesson last year...many items of clothing can't stand up to repeated washings in the ship's commercial laundry. And so this year I brought with me enough unmentionables to last an entire 10 days. Each cruise, generally on turnaround day morning after the Emerald Princess docks in Fort Lauderdale, I am going to use the passenger laundry room and do a load of laundry myself, on a gentle cycle, and hang those things to dry in our cabin. This serves the dual purposes of extending the life of clothing as well as putting some much needed moisture into our cabin. I got $10 in quarters at the PSD earlier this cruise, and detergent in Fort Lauderdale. We're good to go. 

We are still sending out laundry two or three times each cruise, but only shorts and T-shirts that are expendable, or items to be "dry cleaned" (we've never had an issue with the latter). Still, we've already suffered our first T-shirt injury: one of G's T's came back with two of the usual holes in it.

For this reason, he never sends his beloved race T-shirts, but this particular shirt had been purchased at one of the "garage sales" on board last year and held no sentimental value.  The T-shirt I wore during my slip and fall has been returned in good shape, and, fortunately hole-less (it's from Samoa and not so easily replaced). We know to pre-treat with Shout Gel before sending things out to be washed, so stains are less of an issue than those little holes are.

Bottom line:  free laundry and dry cleaning are wonderful perks, but don't send anything that's irreplaceable. 

There were 401 Elite Passengers on this sailing. That's way more than the typically high 300+ Elite passengers that are on the January cruises. I have no idea why, but that's the way it is. We'll see if it changes considerably on the next cruise. 

The Emerald Princess has new, larger Viewsonic flat panel TVs this year, but it also has exactly the same TV offerings it had last year after the dry dock. Exactly. It's not just that it's still offering Love Boat or Modern Family or How I Met Your Mother reruns...it's offering the exact same episodes of those shows, including a Love Boat episode in which Captain Stuebing's horny uncle comes on board and sexually harasses Julie McCoy, and the rest of the crew thinks it's funny, which, I guess, was what passed for humor in the 1970s. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. Surely Princess could have found a more PC episode to air eight times every cruise for two years?

Also still available:  Fox News, MSNBC and BBC, so, to keep the peace in our tiny cabin, we're getting most of our news from BBC. However, we are being saved, entertainment-wise, by the show American Greed which is shown on CNBC, and which we both enjoy. If I had to do it all over again, I would be a forensic accountant, kind of an Angie Dickenson with a green eyeshade and calculator. 

G, who promised he wouldn't complain about the lack of TV options this year, already is a bit. That's another thing we're looking forward to next year on the Royal Princess- its fantastic TV programming. Of the four ships we've been in most recently, we'd rank TV selections in this order:  1.) Nieuw Amsterdam (because of the 1000 DVD library; 2.) Royal Princess (because of its on-demand programming); 3.) Allure OTS (which at least had TBS, TNT and TCM); and 994.) Emerald Princess. We're working on an inexpensive solution providing access to TV shows or movies, but I'm not sure we'll be successful.   

There are plenty of daytime activities on the Emerald Princess this year. I'm not certain if that's due to the cruise director, JJ Ulrich, or if it's coming from Princess. We haven't even begun to avail ourselves of most of them, but these are early days. There is certainly no entertainment drought daytimes on sea days; if we had the Royal Princess' on demand programming our evenings would also be full. 

We have now been cruising for four weeks and it still feels like we're just getting started. I don't know if it's a tolerance thing (you know, where eventually we'll feel about four months of cruising the way that most people will feel about two weeks), or a result of having moved around so much at the onset. Either way, we've just returned to the cabin for the evening, and G said, "Hasn't this been a wonderful ten days?", and he's right, it has been. We seem to have encountered another perfect- not storm. Rainbow?- this year, where the three individuals most responsible for our day to day contentment- our cabin steward, waiter and junior waiter- are all batting 1000, and it definitely has us building high expectations for the winter.  We have several cruise friends coming on board on Friday for at least ten days, and we can't wait to see them. 

Life is good. 

Day 28: At Sea

We have had the best day at sea today, not least because we chose to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary today. I wasn't kidding when I mentioned earlier that, on our "real" anniversary, we had side by side dental appointments and G spent the rest of his day in an anesthetic and pain killer-induced fog. 

I knew we could do better. 

Our morning routine remained unchanged again today:  coffee from the IC followed by breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room. During breakfast we took a minute to look at today's Patter to see if any activities appealed, and many did, starting with a navigational lecture by third officer Dennis from the UK who was also on the Emerald Princess last year and gave a similar lecture then. He is amusing but educational, and we come away every time with a better understanding of what's happening up on the bridge that allows us to magically arrive in one port after another all cruise long. Dennis' lecture was followed by the Chief Engineer's presentation on the ship's electromechanical and engine systems.  

This photo from the presentation shows how large a stabilizer is, and there is one on each side:

Both lectures kept our attention for nearly two hours and, despite the fact that we missed the ice and turkey carving demonstrations, napkin folding and Zumba, and a gloriously sunny morning on the open decks, we're glad we went. Other options included line and ballroom dance classes as well as more unique tap and belly dance classes.

Lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room featured our favorite lunch menu- mozzarella cheese sticks as a starter for G and spaghetti aglio, olio and pepperocino as an entree for me. I enjoyed it so much that waiter Peter said I should ask for it for dinner whenever I want it, but we don't usually order off the menu...there's enough on the menu to keep us content. After lunch, we chose to stroll on the promenade deck, where the shade and occasional blasts of AC when an exterior ship's door opened made it a most pleasant place to be. 

This cruises' wine tasting was held at...well, we weren't exactly sure when. Our tickets (it is an Elite perk) said 2:45pm; the Patter said 3pm. We decided to assume it was 3pm as we didn't want to sit and wait an additional 15 minutes for it to get underway. I wasn't really in the mood for the wine tasting (admittedly, I'm never in the mood for the wine tasting), but it would be an unpardonable sin in G's eyes to miss it, so we went. Let me just say this about that:  I really, really miss having sommelier Thai Reznich on board doing the wine tastings. I think Princess lost far more than they gained by eliminating those positions.

We had just enough time for a quick hot tub visit afterwards before getting ready for formal night. We weren't all that hungry, and so ordered just an entree (lobster for me and beef Wellington for G) before enjoying the real draw of the evening- a bottle of good champagne we had been gifted, an anniversary cake and being sung to in two-part harmony by our waitstaff and another waiter. It may be hokey, but we loved it. 

Sunset from our dinner table was appropriately spectacular for the occasion:

No entertainment really appealed tonight (production show What a Swell Party in the Princess Theater and a mentalist in the Explorers Lounge), so we have returned to our cabin to change into shorts and our heading out to the Terrace Deck to watch the wake and enjoy the last of our bottle of champagne.  

Is it asking too much to have a repeat of today in 20 years, for our 50th anniversary?  Probably, but it won't stop me from hoping. 

Day 27: Aruba

We have been sleeping so well on the Emerald Princess, but, unlike with our cabin on the Royal Princess, there is no sleeping in upon arrival in certain ports, and Aruba is one of them. We were already awake when the announcement was made about 7am that the ship was secured along side her berth and had been cleared by the local authorities (and that is almost, word for word, what the announcement is in each port, and it's no wonder I nearly have it memorized). We made our IC stop for morning cheeriness and brewed coffees and then made our way up one deck to the DaVinci Dining Room for breakfast. We were once again seated with our dinner waiter Corn and Sara (so sweet) from Mexico provided our breakfast service. 

Deep sigh of contentment injected here. 

Frankly, I was ready for a full beach day today. I know that we have other plans already for our next port of Princess Cays on Saturday, and I thought we were way overdue to be slugs on a beach, but G had other ideas and I was game for at least part of them.

First, I must mention here that Aruba appears to have made an effort to clean up their waterfront area. As I mentioned at least once last year, it was just getting trashy looking, and looked very shabby in comparison to neighboring Curaçao. Well, the condos right there are still unfinished (ceramic tiles for roofing have been delivered, and a crane is parked there, in a raised position. Let's see if anything at all changes over the course of the next month or so), and cruise ship passengers are routed out of the secured area on about a six foot wide sidewalk with a palm tree planted in the middle, but it all looks nicer, as if they've picked up the trash and spruced up what little landscaping there is. 

We left the ship about 10am and turned right to the Starbucks at the Renaissance Resort, where we enjoyed the free wifi for about an hour and I got caught up with friends at home. As we left there, we continued to walk down the waterfront and were thrilled to find a newly constructed sidewalk, wide enough for bicycles, that ran along the main street for over a mile to a nice beach area at its end. There we enjoyed the loungers and unbrellas and gentle waves and friendly service and, oh yeah...the $3 beers until it was after 3:30pm and time for us to start walking back to the ship. So, in the end, we had both a beach day and a walking day and we were both most pleased. 

After a quick stop at the IC for salad (since we had had no lunch), we returned to our cabin. G immediately headed to a hot tub but I chose to get cleaned up for the evening. We were in the DaVinci Dining Room shortly after it opened at 5:30pm and watched a beautiful sunset at sailaway from our port side table. No entertainment for us tonight...at 7:30pm we had this cruise's cocktail party for the 40 Most Traveled Passengers (MTPs) on this cruise (for those interested, the cutoff for the party was a high 460 days sailed on Princess). They have really stepped up the hors doerves at the party, and we easily could have skipped dinner (we'll remember that for next time, though we don't often miss dinner!). We were seated next to another couple of about our ages (most of the MTPs are a bit older than us) who, coincidentally live only about 15 miles from us. Both guys are retired military and there was a lot to talk about. As always, we were the last to leave the party over two hours after it started. 

We now have two days at sea. Captain Nick said we are in for some rough seas, so it will be nice to have the option of sleeping in if the nights get too bouncy. 

AAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH!

We found decent wifi today at Starbucks in Aruba and I tried to go back and fix some recent posts that were published in bold text for some, unknown reason. 

I really should know better. I really should leave well-enough alone. When Blogger is in Dutch:

it's difficult to know what I'm doing. 

The result is that the St. Thomas post is now out of place. 

I have learned my lesson. I get what I get and I don't throw a fit. Bolded, misspelled, wrong auto-corrected words...from hence forth all posts will just remain that way. 

Day 23: St. Thomas

When G used to work, we still did these 10-night cruises, two of them back to back, first on the Sun Princess and later on the Emerald Princess and Ruby Princess. I used to prepare a one page spreadsheet listing all our travel plans, including a short description of what we were doing on each island, who we were doing it with, what time/where we were meeting the guide, and the cost. Every. single. day. was packed from start to finish. To leave home without our plans 100% in place would have been unthinkable. 

Times have changed. Now we wake up, stand up and stretch a bit to see what hurts and what doesn't, look at the weather, and ponder what we feel like doing. We sometimes have a tentative plan in place, but it's certainly likely to change.  And that's what happened today. 

We thought we'd take the ferry to Water Island today and go to Honeymoon Beach for the first time this winter, weather dependant. The weather was perfect:  mostly sunny, mid-80s with a milder breeze than we've been experiencing. But neither one of us was in a beach mood today. We'll have plenty more opportunities here in St. Thomas this winter, and, even more immediately, a beautiful beach later this cruise on which to spend a day.

As you know, St. Thomas is, for us, first and foremost a business day, particularly when we're here on a weekday. We were up very early and in the IC getting coffee long before we docked, and were happy to see that we had AT&T cell and Internet service at least 45 minutes before we arrived in St. Thomas. We went to breakfast when the DaVinci Dining Room opened at 7am and sat there interneting and checking on things at home (everything remains fine, and the Nest thermostat is all we'd hoped it would be). By the time we finished breakfast (served by Peter and Janos from Hungary, who were wonderful), we had pretty much talked ourselves out of going to Water Island.

Instead, we went out on the Terrace Deck to make some phone calls, and I took advantage of faster wifi on the ship (with most people off) to check our cruise arrangements for the rest of the winter. 

We finally decided we wanted to walk today, and so set out to walk over to Havensight from Crown Bay. First, of course, is the requisite stop for G to feed brioche to the iguanas. I am way past worrying about him getting bit by doing this (the iguanas have no teeth, only gums), but have started to spend the time standing back and listening to others' reactions, which are hilarious. I wonder how many photos of G and an iguana are on cruise passengers' Facebooks. 

On the way to Charlotte Amalie, we stopped at Pueblo supermarket to get G a bottle of Mountain Dew and Skittles for our room steward Raymond. What a difference a year makes; today was our first linen change and we asked if he would mind if we switched our mattresses before he made up our room. Instead of arguing with us about it, he insisted that he would take care of it. I'm so happy I could cry!

Once past the Pueblo supermarket, we turned into the Frenchtown area to walk around the waterfront. From here, the channel between St. Thomas and Hassel Island, an uninhabited island in Charlotte Amalie harbor, is very narrow. We were pondering what function the old building at the waterfront on Hassel Island had performed when Duane from the St. Thomas Dive Center walked by and told us:  it's the oldest dry dock facility in the Western Hemisphere. Who knew?  There is a kayak trip that goes to Hassel Island and discusses the history of the several old buildings there and we may just have to do that this winter. 

We continued on to the fish market (where the ability to mouth breathe is definitely an asset). There are huge tarpon, probably at least three feet long, that hang out there to get the fish guts.  There are also a lot of roosters running wild in the area, for a reason unknown to me, so G fed the rest of the brioche to them while I continued to try to not get ill from the smell and look of what the fishermen were doing. I love my seafood well presented on a plate. I really don't need to know its history. 

Finally(!) back on the main drag, we arrived at the Charlotte Amalie waterfront, which greatly enhances the enjoyability of the walk. We stopped  by Seaborne Avistion, which operates the floatplane flights to nearby islands to beck out the schedule for the afternoon. Since nothing was imminent, we continued down to where several sailboats were busy tacking around the harbor. It was apparently a small race, and we sat on some bleachers that had been set up for spectators to watch for awhile.

Due to all these stops, it took us about two hours to walk 3 miles or so to Havensight, the cruise ship dock on the eastern edge of Charlotte Amalie. We stopped into the Scotia bank office there where we have an account, and when we went back outside, it suddenly occurred to us that the day had gotten much warmer than we thought it would. The walk back to the Emerald Princess at Crown Bay was a lot less exploration and a lot more dragging drudgery. When I checked my iPhone for the temp once we were back on the ship, I saw that there was a Real Feel of 95 degrees. Yes, it WAS hot, but at least our walk was on a flat surface. No hill climbing required!

It wasn't enough to just wash my hands; I needed a shower to get the dirt of St. Thomas off of me. By 4:15pm I was dressed for dinner, and went up to Skywalkers to watch sailaway preparations. G joined me a bit later, as St. Thomas offers one of the prettiest sailaways anywhere. By then It had started to rain vigorously, so we were very lucky with weather today. It was Breeza Marina and herbed goat cheese night in Skywalkers, and I had my first drink since we boarded. (Really, I'm still recovering from the Allure). 

We were at dinner shortly after 5:30pm (more excellent service by Corn and Immanuel...we may survive after all) and then in the 7:15pm show in the Princess Theater. Tonight's entertainment was singer Billy Wilson, and he was good, singing songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s with lots of Motown which we love. Steve Moris was doing two shows in the Explorers Lounge tonight, but by the time we got there it was standing room only. Stand for shadow puppets? We'll pass. 

Besides, we had been up since before 6am and were wearing down. We made one pass around the Promenade Deck and went upstairs for popcorn and fuzzy water before calling it a day. 

This is Duane talking about the history of the oldest drydock in the Weatern Hemisphere but the wind made the audio questionable. Maybe with a computer and speakers you'll be able to hear it, so I'll include it just in case. 

Day 26: Bonaire

I spent most of the morning in a bit of a funk. We finally called it quits on the Broncos-Patriots game sometime after 11pm last night, when they were ahead 24-0. Apparently, so did the Broncos. During the night we turned on ESPN just to catch an update and were disbelieving about what we were hearing. As soon as I logged onto wifi this morning, I received distressed texts (with rows of !!!!) from the twins. Guys, I share your pain. 

So, not the happiest morning, but we are on a cruise ship and it's impossible to remain inconsolable for long. 

Arrival into Bonaire was not until noon, due to the distance the Emerald Princess had to travel from Grenada yesterday. It provided the opportunity for a welcome sleep-in, not that we took advantage of it. But we did notice, when we were up early, that the ship was particularly quiet this morning. We started our day in the usual way, with coffee to go from the IC (and I think the crew there is selected for their sunny dispositions), and then breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room. 

Arrival into Bonaire, cruising past Klein (Little) Bonaire is a beautiful thing, and I plugged in my ear buds and went up to the jogging track on Deck 19 to walk and watch as we approached the island. It was a bright, sunny day (we've been quite lucky with weather this cruise!), but thankfully not too hot and windy...yet. While I made my laps, I frequently stopped to take photos. The water here is just so incredibly blue and clear!

This storm to the north blew directly west and never affected us. 

Sunny Kralendjik 

These sailboats are moored right at the edge of where the reef drops off. 

As we approached the dock, the wind coming across the island intensified and it took nearly 45 minutes to get the Emerald Princess safely along side and docked, with the thrusters running during the entire process to keep the ship in place. Most likely for this reason, they were unable to set up a safe midship gangway, forcing everyone to exit at the forward gangway. A late arrival with just one gangway is a recipe for congestion, and we sure had it for awhile, but, luckily, within an hour or so, a midship gangway was able to be opened. 

More lines are required to hold the Emerald Princess against the pier. 

Our first plan for today was to join new friends Gene and Sandy in renting a golf cart to check out a condo they've rented sight unseen on Bonaire for two months next year, but the identical twin ship the P&O Azura had arrived before us today and by the time we disembarked, only one 2-person golf cart remained available to rent. Luckily, we spotted (or, more accurately were spotted by) Sandy on their way off the ship, and we led them right over to the stand for Jack's Bike Shop to get it rented for them.  This opened up our plans for the day, but we didn't feel driven to do anything in particular. 

We decided to take a walk down the sidewalk along the water, but it didn't take long for us to realize that it was beastly hot today, with unrelenting sun. Everyone was soggy with sweat and it was obvious that today was meant to be spent either in the water or A/C. G and I turned right around and headed back to the ship, deciding that lunch in the dining room held more appeal than anything else right then. Afterwards, I needed to do a bit of work, and so stayed on the ship to use wifi while everyone else was off and it was a bit speedier, and G walked off the ship again to explore a bit more as long as he could stand the heat. 

I eventually completed what I needed to do and decided the aft hot tub and/or pool was the only other place I wanted to spend the afternoon. G was of like mind, and he soon showed up, having taken a walk down to the Divi Flamingo Resort and back. The P&O Azura was scheduled to sail at 5pm, and so we were showered, ready for dinner and out on the front of Deck 8, but it was obvious they were still missing someone(s) as the gangway was still down at 5:30pm. Finally we spotted two of their passengers running down the pier and up the gangway, accompanied by abuse being hurled their way by all the passengers on the Azura's open decks. The gangway was lifted, but the Azura was being held against the strong wind by as many lines as we were, and we lost interest as they began to be loosened and lifted from the ballards and went down to dinner. 

It was Italian night in the dining room, and apparently there's been enough time distanced since we ate homemade spaghetti sauce non-stop before we left home, because I had pasta arrabbiata with chicken breast and steamed broccoli and enjoyed every bite. The orange sorbet we both had for dessert was amazing (but then Princess doesn't make an ice cream I like or a sorbet I don't). 

We were done with dinner just in time to step out on the Promenade Deck and watch the lights of Kralendjik disappear as the Emerald Princess sailed away shortly after 7pm. Not in the mood for a show tonight (production show Boogie Shoes was in the Princess Theater; a mentalist was performing to a standing room only audience in the Explorers Lounge), we decided it was time to check out all the musical entertainment on board. Party band New Deal hasn't caught our eye (or is it ear?), but we discovered we enjoy steel drum-keyboard duo Sugar Cane, Playthoven on violin and cello (but highly synthesized cello generally played with a pick instead of a bow) and surprised ourselves by liking Rhumba Duo in the Wheelhouse. Honestly, so much of the music on ships these days is on tracks...we joked that one day soon all the musical acts will be solos. 

We're back in our cabin to change for Monday Night Football on MUTS. With no dog in this fight, it shouldn't be quite as wrenching tonight. 

Day 25: Grenada

When this Southern Caribbean itinerary is done in this direction (which I could mention is my favorite, but, if you read along last year, you already know that), the Emerald Princess arrives in Grenada early, at 7am. Early, Sunday morning. In Grenada. Let's just say that, on our arrival, it wasn't a hive of activity on the pier.  

We had thought about taking a water taxi from near the cruise ship pier to Grande Anse Beach, but, although we were up early and in the DaVinci Dining Room shortly after it opened at 7am, and could see from our table some of our fellow passengers on water taxis leaving for the beach by 8am, it's hard to get excited about a beach that early in the morning. We'll eventually do this itinerary in the opposite direction, and so we're postponing the beach until then. 

However, the weather was perfect:  sunny, not too hot and windy, and so, once breakfast was done, we decided to make it a third walking day in a row, which is easily done on Grenada. We first walked into the mall which serves both cruise passengers and locals, looking for the free wifi which we've usually been able to find there. I should mention that our need to wifi on land has been reduced considerably this year; the Emerald Princess wifi is allowing us to both check our Nest thermostat (which we've never had before this year so we didn't know what to expect) and our security webcams (which we've had but have never been able to see from the ship in the past). These two things provide a measure of comfort that will eliminate the need to have to actively search for wifi on shore. Still, we found it and it was fast and free and shaded and quiet, though definitely not cool. I made a phone call for free using the Vonage app before we continued on our way. 

John, the dreadlocked seller of water taxi tickets in the terminal gave us a big smile when he saw us. This is the Emerald Princess' first visit here this winter, and John said he had been watching for us to come through the terminal. When the locals start expecting us, I guess we are predictable. But it was wonderful to talk with him again. 

We walked through the Sendall Tunnel for the first and surely not the last time this winter, and I took the requisite photo of G walking close to the side as a vehicle passed by.

We then walked along the Carenage, the harbor of St. George's, Grenada. The cruise ships dock at a more recently built pier separated by the tunnel from the Carenage. Occasionally we'll still see a small cruise ship docked in the Carenage, but today all that were there were fishing boats.

We stopped near the statue at the head of the Carenage dedicated to the people of Grenada who assisted when the Italian freighter the Bianca C caught fire and sunk in the harbor.  

Several locals were seated there, some selling spices (Grenada is known as the Spice Island), others not and while G fed brioche to the pigeons, I struck up a conversation with a local named Morris who was born and raised on Grenada. It turned out that Morris was a taxi driver/chef/budding float plane pilot (this career combination being not at all strange on the islands), and he was simply the nicest guy I've ever met in Grenada. I asked for his card in case anyone reading is looking for a reliable and friendly and NON-AGGRESSIVE driver on Grenada- Morris would be your guy. 

Here's his info:  Morris Taxi Service, 1-473-457-5275, altonmorris2010@gmail.com. I recommend him only because if you've been to Grenada before you know how aggressive some of the drivers can be (but not mean...just a bit pushy) and sometimes it's nice to have someone in mind before you arrive. 

Sitting there feeding pigeons and finding out about daily life on Grenada was so relaxing that we never did make our usual climb to Fort George, but instead returned to the ship and immediately went to the DaVinci Dining Room for lunch (it was open today due to the ship's early departure).  It was one of my favorite lunch menus, and I chose gazpacho followed by a stuffed bell pepper which I adore. The nice thing about the Southern Caribbean itinerary is that the dining room is open for lunch on two additional days, Grenada and Bonaire, when we leave and/or arrive early. 

After lunch, G went to a hot tub to enjoy sailaway and then to a rum tasting at 3pm in the Wheelhouse Bar. I chose to touch up my nails and go to party line dancing class (in preparation for tonight's island night party on the pool deck that I won't get to, because football is so much more important, but I like the line dancing anyway) followed by Zumba. I hadn't done any cruise staff activities yet this cruise, because, frankly, I haven't felt like it (I think I'm being a bit solitary after the wild week on the Allure), so it felt good to be slightly more participatory. We had already met cruise staffer Christopher from Australia, and didn't recognize any of the others on board. 

Today's NFL football schedule needs to be mentioned here, although I did not go to watch the first game of the day; these are all being shown on MUTS, and the final (and most important) game is also going to be shown in Club Fusion.

2:00pm:  Jets v. Ravens
5:30pm:  Cowboys v. Giants
9:15pm:  Broncos v. Patriots

So, as you can see, the chances of watching a particular game on the ship is pretty slim, at least until playoff time, but there is plenty of football available to be seen on Sundays, and Monday and Thursday nights. 

The Captains Circle parties for the Platinum and Elite Captains Circle members were tonight; we went to the party held from 5:15pm to 6:00pm.  Captain Nick Nash is a bit of a hoot; we'll see if his jokes change a bit from cruise to cruise. He made a stunning announcement (and gave a shout out to Cruise Critic at the same time) when he said that, in response to all the chatter on Cruise Critic, the new Regal Princess, that is launching next year, will have a central staircase for passengers. Huge news to me...I had previously read the Princess announcement about an aft pool and a promenade deck, but not a mid-ship stairway. Captain Nash was harious, said he never read Cruise Critic but he wife did, and then would call him to ask, "Now what have you done?"  Amanda, the Captains Circle hostess from the US is new to us, but, wow, she knocks it out of the park during her part of the party...perfectly polished and professional but friendly too. 

From the party we went to dinner. I'm not sure if I've mentioned that our table for dinner is in the Michelangelo Dining Room mid-ship on Deck 5. Corn and Immanuel are looking after us quite well, but we didn't dawdle; two courses and coffee and we moved on. We wanted to return to our cabin to change for football, and try to get a chair well ahead of the Broncos-Patriots game.  Another aside:  from where we sit we have a full on view of the table setting for the Chefs Table and there have been two so far this cruise. We try to get out of the way before the fanfare starts, but it certainly brings back wonderful memories of attending the Chefs Table last February with friends Martha and Betsy. 

Other entertainment was light tonight; singer Bobby Wilson did two more shows in the Princess Theater, but except for dance music and a game in the Explorers Lounge, that was it until the island night party at 10pm. Dressed in shorts, we're catching the end of the. Cowboys-Giants game while waiting for the start of the important one. 

;-)