We seemed to be people on a mission today. For some reason, our bag of dirty clothes was already overflowing. I think it's because we'll wear things, particularly clothes that haven't left the ship, over and over again (thank you Fabreze) and then suddenly- bam- it seems every thing is dirty at once. We've also done some walking to beaches...the clothes that we wear to do that are only suitable for laundry or burning afterwards. We knew better than to think, with two sea days upcoming, that we'd be able to get close to the washers in the laundromat until late the evening on the final night of this cruise. We simply didn't want to wait that long, and it was time for a laundry morning. We have almost discontinued the practice of sending even shorts (on the CLEANING) side of the laundry slip to the ship's laundry. While the shorts are heavy duty enough to stand up well to whatever happens to them, we're having waistband button casualties left and right. I'm getting tired of sewing new buttons on, and I'm certain Raymond is getting tired of pestering the on board seamstress for more.
G continues to send the T-shirt (below, downgraded to beaches only) to the ship's laundry; it's become a scientific experiment at this point. Here's the T-shirt that was nearly new when we arrived on the ship:
I'll end today's laundry litany by saying this (again): We consider the passenger laundromats to be one of the best parts of a Princess cruise ship.
Two loads of washing and two loads of drying took a bit of time, and by the time we were finally done I think we'd both decided not to stick to our original plan of taking a local bus to Valley Church Beach today. Instead, we turned it into a "walking, but not to a beach" day and stepped off the ship shortly after 11am. Our first goal was to find the post office in St. John's (which was only a few minutes walk from the cruise ship pier), and mail a postcard from our cabin steward Raymond to his family in the Philippines (we gave the clerk $1 and received a palmful of Eastern Caribbean coins in exchange). Once that little chore was out of the way, we spent a couple of hours walking around the streets of St. John's and browsing the souvenir stands (which all seem so dirty. Trust me...St. Kitts and St. Lucia have the best souvenir shopping on this Eastern Caribbean itinerary). We handed over our fistful of change to the old man wearing a headdress who drums continuously (continually? I've already forgotten) from the time the ships arrive until they leave. He's as reliable as the Kings Casino coupons that are handed out in the morning just outside the security gate. Casino coupons, incessant drumming, death and taxes...
As always, my focus when walking in Antigua is primarily on watching where I'm stepping (you could lose a leg in the storm sewers that line each road)...
...but, I'm telling you, Antigua always offers a treasure trove of wisdoms in its signage. I'm going to post just a few gems; until wifi improves, I'm cutting back on photos.
Community bench message:
This is my favorite sign in the Caribbean, in a different location than we'd seen it last year. The diagram is harious. So is the concept that anyone found doing this would actually have $100 to pay the fine.
Forget those happy pills...liquor is quicker!
We eventually realized that we were getting hungry, and made our way back to the Emerald Princess. Today's specialty pizza was Hawaiian pizza, which is ham and pineapple. G asked if they could make one that was half pepperoni and pineapple instead, just for him, and they happily obliged. That was a LOT of pizza:
Only on a cruise ship. ;-)
We went to dinner at 6pm and had just garden salads topped with chicken breast. The longer we stay here, the more we're eating like we do at home. Sunset from our dinner table, over the active volcano island of Montserrat, was spectacular.
The 7:15pm Princess Theater performer was vocalist Nik Page, from England, new to us. Well, wow! It's not just that he sang so well; what he sang also appealed. Josh Groban, Elton John, songs from Les Mis, Pavorotti...it was good good good. He was the only featured performer tonight, but when the performer is like him, one is plenty. Also tonight: the 50s and 60s rock and roll theme party in Club Fusion.
Next up: two sea days, Fort Lauderdale and then (I'll spill the beans now) another cruise. We may be slowing, but we're still going.