Happy Valentines Day everyone!
Princess Cruises, the cruise line of love, never fails to make a big deal about St. Valentine's Day, the holiday of love. We were greeted last night by heart shaped chocolates and a Happy Valentines Day card on our pillow.
Weren't my last words in last night's blog post asking about when we might expect to receive our minibar set up for this next cruise? Well, there was a knock on our door at 8:30 this morning -turnaround day- that didn't go away when we didn't immediately answer. I was in the bathroom attending to morning ablutions and yelled at G (in a most loving, St. Valentines-y Day tone of voice, of course) to "GET OUT OF BED AND ANSWER THE DOOR. Darling". Our minibar had arrived, earlier than we'd ever received one before. Yay Caribbean Princess!
We made it up to the Horizon Court Buffet just before it closed at 9am but soon got moved on, as the seating areas needed to be disinfected before the next cruise. I hadn't mentioned that we spent about half the past cruise at Code Yellow control for norovirus. The only notable impact on a cruise is in the buffet where salt and pepper shakers are removed from the tables and the tables are not pre-set with wrapped silverware in napkins and coffee mugs and juice glasses in the morning. I am not a fan of silverware, cups and glasses set out on tables before passengers sit down. I can't remember how many times I've seen two people at a table set for four sneeze and cough over the entire table, but only the used silverware and glasses get removed. Yuck. But no matter; it looks like we got back to normal in the Horizon Court Buffet after the last cruise's passengers disembarked. Fingers crossed.
We had to meet in the Island Dining Room at 10:45am with the rest of the in transit passengers (those staying on for another cruise) before being led off the ship, into the terminal and past immigration. Now, we did not have to do this while in French Polynesia because we entered the country one time (at the Papeete airport) and didn't leave again until we would either leave via the Papeete airport (which we didn't do) or sailed out of French Polynesia waters (which we finally did the last time we left Bora Bora). Everything in between was in French Polynesia, so there were no interim immigration requirements. It was nice. But, even on the 7-night cruise we had just completed, we were in four different countries, so we had to "enter" the US again. There were only about 50 in transit passengers this week, so the process wasn't too onerous. By 11:30am, we were back on the Caribbean Princess and waiting to go to lunch in the Coral Dining Room.
The ship's lounges and dining rooms were nicely decorated for the holiday...
The International Cafe coffee bar
The bar next to the IC
The Coral Dining Room
We had the alternate embarkation day lunch menu, the one that doesn't have lemon dill salmon. I don't know if it changes back and forth on the Caribbean Princess, but last turnaround day we had the more traditional lunch menu.
Following lunch, we walked over to Walgreens to get a few things we needed (mouthwash, Fabreeze, Barefoot Bubbly pink sparkling wine...). The day was brightly sunny without a single cloud in the sky, and dry, but oh-so-cold. I think the high was about 66F (your burning looks are lost on me out here). This pleased no one. People coming from frigid climates were hoping for better and people coming from Florida were in shock. I wore sneakers, socks and a fleece pullover to survive the 10-minute trek to Walgreens.
Once back on the ship, we used the time during muster drill to shower and dress for the evening, and were up on the Terrace Deck to watch sailaway.
The Coast Guard was racing about keeping bad guys away with their automatic weapon at the ready on the front...until we passed through the Port Everglades entrance channel and then we were immediately on our own.
We went up to Skywalkers where we were well looked after by our favorite bar water Chetan from India, then went to dinner at the same table in the Coral Dining Room with Marian and Slava at 5:30pm. I wasn't all that hungry (perhaps my three course lunch including a hazelnut soufflé bears some responsibility), so I just had French onion soup and a salad...and flourless chocolate cake for dessert, of course.
We went to the 7:45pm Welcome Aboard show in the Princess Theater where we first met our new (to us) Cruise Director Paul Chandler-Burns, just arrived back from his vacation. Now, we have seen that Princess welcome video that is shown at all Welcome Aboard shows at least 30 times, but Paul's comments had us LOL-ing. This guy is funny. Also funny is comedian Mike Morino who performed next. His whole act was based on shopping at WalMart and Costco and dealing with self-checkouts. Harious.
I took a moment afterward to stop by the Calypso Bar to purchase a soda sticker for this cruise (hopefully no issues with this one). The Indian bartenders are wearing winter parkas with the hoods pulled up and covering knit caps. Yes, it's chilly out there. I really wanted to watch An Affair to Remember on MUTS but I've seen it at least 20 times, always while I was much warmer than I would be tonight on the open deck. What will tomorrow bring on Princess Cays? Something tells me another quick BBQ lunch and not a toe in the water.