We had a much earlier start today, but it really didn’t matter, since we had fallen asleep so early last night. I grabbed a quick breakfast in the World Fresh Marketplace but G managed to squeeze in Sabatini’s between 7:30an and 8am. At 8:05am we were walking off the ship.
Interestingly, but also sadly, there were two cruise ships docked in Oranjestad, the Oceania Insignia (exactly like the Pacific Princess) and the Norwegian Sky (we were on that ship when it was new in 2000). Neither ship is in operation yet. It’s one thing to hear about the cruise ships all around the world that have not re-started after COVID, but it’s quite another to see these ships sitting there with a minimal number of officers and crew on board. We had also seen the HAL Noordsm in Puerto Vallarta in the same position.
We had originally booked a sunset sail in Aruba because we were to have been there until 9pm, but when our itinerary changed, we lost the late night here but picked one up in Curaçao. As a result, that excursion was cancelled, but we still wanted to take a catamaran excursion today. We chose a catamaran sail, snorkel and beach time excursion, and it was a blast.
There were only 12 of us on a boat that would normally hold about 36, with the captain and two attentive crew, and beverages were served the whole time (alcoholic after snorkeling). I hadn’t had my head in the water since Fiji or New Caledonia in early 2020, but I hopped off the boat right behind our guide. He looked at me, told me that it looked like I knew what I was doing, and to come back when the horn blew in 45 minutes and I was on my way. It wasn’t the best snorkeling I’ve ever done (far from it) but it was snorkeling, and there were a lot of fish, especially yellow ones. I was among my peeps…sort of, and in my happy place.
I had been a bit concerned (more than that, really) about getting up the ladder back onto the catamaran, given that I really can’t do stairs right now, but where there’s a will… Nothing was going to keep me from snorkeling today.
We next stopped at Palm Beach, and, like yesterday, there was a special area with sanitized loungers (they said) for us to use. The crew continued to serve us rum punches on the beach, and that “numb lips” feeling and powdered sugar sands sure bought back memories. On the return to the ship, I sat on the webbing in front and reveled in the moment, once so familiar but recently just a memory. It had been five years since we were in the Caribbean, and I had forgotten how much fun the open bar on these excursions can be. It’s not like that in the islands of the South Pacific.
Pelican tours ran the excursion, and we were able to use a pier to get
from the boat to Palm Beach instead of swimming to shore
Gorgeous Palm Beach
Along with Eagle Beach next door, there is a 6 mile stretch of beach like this.
G with new friend Dwight. He and his wife Wendy were on our excursions both yesterday and today.
A wise woman would have turned down that last rum punch offered when I was sitting on the webbing, but I was not a wise woman, and stumbled back onto the ship and right up to the Sanctuary where I promptly fell asleep in a lounger, then woke up and had lunch. We stayed there until 3:30pm or so when it started to rain and get windier and it chilled me.
We did make it to dinner tonight in the Michelangelo Dining Room with Anil and Verna (the bouillabaisse was the bomb), but were content to go up to the Adagio Lounge to listen to the Emerald Princess band play two jazz sets. G convinced himself that he needed to see the ventriloquist, but I’ll have the dual satisfaction of 1) not seeing him and 2) publishing this blog post.
Day 13 dinner menu
A sure sign it was a beach day- money laundering in the cabin.
Day 13 Princess Patter
