Good smells of lunch being served in the Horizon Court Buffet above us finally convinced us that we were hungry and needed to get up. We went to lunch in the Coral Dining Room and were seated at a nice table for two. When we finished, we exited into the Piazza to see the tail end of the Mardi Gras mask decorating for a Mardi Gras party to be held later in the cruise. I knew I was late, but asked if I could decorate one and was kindly told I could. I was quick about it, and that's reflected in my mask's final appearance (that's my excuse...er, story and I'm sticking to it!) and the cruise staffers nicknamed me Ninja because I stopped in, did my thing and left while others were still finishing up. I'm enjoying the cruise staff on the Caribbean Princess very much!
We returned to our cabin to find the same two washcloths we'd not used from last night, plus two additional ones. Does this mark the end of Washclothgate? Stay tuned...
After that, a hot tub was calling our names. We went out on Deck 17 aft and were shocked by the gale force wind. No wonder the back of the ship was shimmying and shaking! It was so windy that a full glass of beverage would blow over if set down, but it felt great in the water. The aft decks on the Caribbean Princess are among our favorites, and, if the sun had been out (it wasn't), we would have appreciated the additional shade that Skywalkers and the bridge up to it provided.
We had some fun conversations with fellow passengers until the rain started. At first it was more of a mist, but then it picked up and, in that wind, the raindrops felt like needles on our skin. The Caribbean Princess runs a bar back there on sea days (which I LOVE, because I don't have to get my fuzzy water from the bar behind the Horizon Court Buffet and carry it up all those stairs in the blowing wind), and it went from packed to empty in a matter of seconds. No matter; by then it was nearly 4pm and time to start getting dressed for tonight's formal night, our 20th of the winter (not that I'm counting, mind you, but you know I'm not as much a fan as Mr. GQ).
By 5pm, we were dressed to the sevens and up in bouncy Skywalkers for tonight's Elite Lounge. I have never been a fan of that shopping cart handle appearance, but when we're actually in Skywalkers, I love it. It has about 300 degrees of glass with amazing views of the water whichever way we're seated, and what we saw tonight was that the rain had stopped and the sun was out again. I hope that's a good sign for our weather tomorrow.
Dinner was the special Princess 50th anniversary dinner with the commemorative menu (the same we had on the Grand Princess last cruise), but the real surprise was the amazing chocolate raspberry mousse with vanilla creme brülee and crunchy shortbread. While it was delicious on the Grand Princess, we all commented there that the crust seemed less shortbread and more fudge brownie. Well, tonight's dessert featured exactly that- a crunchy shortbread crust. I'm not certain if you can tell the difference from the photo (look back at January 25th if you're interested), but it was definitely different and even better.
We left the Coral Dining Room and went right into the Piazza on Deck 5 to watch the spectacle of the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall (oh, thank God for that "cwap" keyboard shortcut!!). Band Epithanie played (I found out they are from Guyana) and they add so much to every single event at which they perform. Cruise Director Kelly Rose from Melbourne, Australia introduced the ship's senior officers, but we've only met two of them previously: Captain Georgio Pomata, who was on the Emerald Princess with us for years and Hotel General Manager Peter Hollinson. We've seen surprisingly few crew members we know: bar waiter Alan, who was just on the Pacific Princess (we knew to look for him), waiter Aurial and bar supervisor Ricky. But we're always on the lookout for a familiar face!
After too many glasses of champagne, and a Norman Love chocolate truffle pop (those things are deadly, especially after the dessert at dinner), we returned to our cabin to change out of formal attire. The middle of the ship is warm tonight, and the dressy clothes have got to go. We're heading back out to the Explorers Lounge to listen to Epithanie play tonight; the show in the Princess Theater is female vocalist Lovena Fox but comedian Troy Thirdgill is also performing there at 10:15pm.
Friend Suzan texted me to remind me I had not yet posted an itinerary for this cruise. Whoops! I fell out of that habit while I was in French Polynesia and had poor internet. I will include our itinerary in a separate post. We're in St. Martin tomorrow, and have plans that require us to be up and at 'em before noon. Can we make it?