Day 139: Another Princess Cays miss

Except for glancing back through the window in the door at the end of our corridor that leads to the Terrace Deck and seeing it was sunny, we took no other note of the weather this morning. That probably explains why we were so surprised when, sitting at breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room, we once again heard  Captain Stenzel begin an announcement. Just a note about captains' announcements:  they are always expected once the port pilot has disembarked the ship, welcoming us back to the ship after a day on land, and they are sometimes made at noon on sea days to update navigational progress (although this is often done by the Officer of the Watch). But when we hear the captain's voice start an announcement at any other time, we brace ourselves for what is almost certainly bad news. And so it was today, as Captain Stenzel went on to tell us that, due to winds and sea swells and conditions that were expected to worsen, we would be abandoning our call at Princess Cays today.

Well, hell. We've not had the best luck with tender ports this winter, having missed Half Moon Cay on the Nieuw Amsterdam (do you remember back that far?  I barely do...), and Princess Cays three times, including the last two scheduled visits. I'll admit that we were a bit incredulous until we went out on the Promenade Deck after finishing breakfast. It was windy and rough, and, of course it made perfect sense to cancel our stop there. Not that we were happy about it: we just had to accept it, especially when we could see a Holland America Line ship anchored off Half Moon Cay, just 15 miles to our south. 

Once again, a long and unexpectedly unscheduled day stretched out in front of us. Once again, a revised Patter was quickly distributed, although the only thing on it that really appealed to us was lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room. Once again, we were amazed at how quickly everything gets re-worked to accommodate the missed port. 

With some unexpected time this morning, I made a point to watch the Wake Show with the cruise director Kelvin Joy and his deputy CD Adam. What a welcome improvement this has been. They read notes from passengers, they tell jokes, they're silly and funny. At least there's a reason to watch now...

And so we spent the day much like any other sea day, eating and drinking and hot tub-ing and reading. It was very hot (86 degrees!) and muggy and sunny, so it wasn't a day to walk on Deck 19 (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!), but we managed to pass the time enjoyably and enrichingly. 

We went to Dinner with Darko a bit on the early side; we had big entertainment plans for the evening. Pianist Antonio Salci was back on board, and, in retrospect, even if all we enjoyed this cruise were the production shows and Mark Preston and Antonio Salci, I would consider this an entertainment-rich cruise for the Emerald Princess. I don't expect to enjoy everything that's scheduled; I don't even expect to enjoy something all ten nights of a cruise. But though we had only three of the four usual production shows (as the new cast is still learning the fourth), plus two musical entertainers, one of them superb and one of them good, plus a few appealing movies, even an entertainment snob like me has been kept content. Yay Princess!

And finally, Mom returned home from the hospital last night, and will continue to receive some care at home. Yay Mom- and thanks for all your wonderful comments!