Category: Carefree Caribbean

Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
At Sea

Yesterday and through the night our ship steamed southeast passing the Eleuthera Island, San Salvador Island and the Anegada Island. We changed course slightly to transit the Sombrero Passage. High today is going to be 81 degrees.

After a nice breakfast on the balcony (coffee, fruit, yogurt) we decided it was time to get our butts in gear. Jeff went to the gym to warm up on the treadmill and to lift weights. I screwed up my courage and did something I’ve always wanted to do on the boat which has been both intimidating and maybe too difficult for me. I went to the current pool. The current pool is outside the spa and gym…it is quite small and no one is ever in the water though the 2 hot tubs are always full. This is an adults only area. I put on my swimsuit, cap, goggles, turned on the current and started to swim. It was great! The current is very strong so I struggled a little at first but soon got my rhythm. I know how long it takes me to swim 1/2 mile so I went a little longer than that since I had flailed around at the beginning. I did it! Got in my 1/2 mile and I know I’ll be doing that throughout the cruise. :-). While I was swimming other people also tried it – seems like they were just waiting for someone to be brave.

We both did today’s SuDuKo puzzle and read for a bit.

Tonight is our first formal night. We enjoy formal night because it is fun to get dressed up which is not something we do very often. There will be 4 formal nights in our 20 days. Of course we didn’t get any photos of ourselves. On the first formal night there is the Captain’s welcome aboard party – free champagne and a big champagne waterfall. We’ve seen it several times so we hung around for our free champagne – had two each and headed for dinner to beat the crowds. We also needed to eat early because we were going to a show afterwards.

Jeff and I always sign up for “anytime dining” instead of the fixed seated dining. We enjoy the opportunity to share our table with people we don’t know and eating whenever we like. Tonight we shared with a couple from the UK, a couple from Canada and a couple from Lafayette, Louisiana. The boat is overflowing with Canadians – apparently the entire country is trying to escape their winter. The couple from Louisiana were a little odd.
When you first sit down, you introduce yourself, say where you’re from and let the conversation wander.

The man from LA introduced himself, then introduced his wife as being “brilliant” and having 5 degrees. No one asked what her degrees were in, and when she talked about being an “advanced” scuba diver and telling the table that as a recreational scuba diver she had been 200 feet down, I held my tongue. I did NOT mention that I am a certified scuba instructor and that what she was saying was hogwash. I did take everything she said after that with a huge grain of salt.

Her husband, who according to her, was “just brilliant” about computers was telling us that soon humans and robots will be interbreeding… and this would be the end of the pure human race. Oh-Kay…Like I said, it is fun to share, though I think if I see them heading for our table again I will flee. Hahaha

We rushed through dinner, even skipping dessert (horrors!) to go to the show in the Princess Theater. It was a singing/dancing performance by the ship’s company of entertainers. The name of the show was “It’s a Swell Party” and Jeff put it succinctly when it said, “It wasn’t”

All in all, a very nice day.

Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis
Monday, March 10th
At Sea

Last night we sailed through the Straits of Florida, past Great Isaac Island into the Northwest Providence Channel and past Great Stirrup Cay (pronounced “key”) in the Bahamas.

Today is a day at sea and days at seas are probably our favorite part of cruising. They are sooo relaxing. The gentle ocean swells rocked us to sleep (seriously) and we didn’t wake up until after 10 am. Glorious!

Jeff went up to the buffet for coffee, yogurt and fruit and we had breakfast on our balcony.  We are almost directly below the Bridge at the very front of the ship. Check out these huge windshield wipers!

This afternoon we walked 5 miles which is 15 laps around the Promenade deck. While walking I spotted a whale off in the distance. We called to people along the deck and they rushed to the railing. Several saw the whale too. It totally messed up our “time” for our walk. We try to maintain a certain pace, but hey, when you spot a whale you really should stop!

Went to the Internet Cafe to set up our accounts. As Platinum members we get 250 minutes each for free, then to the library to pick up the daily SuDuKo puzzles and I checked out Amy Tan’s “Saving Fish From Drowning” to read.

Dinner was delicious. We both ordered the same thing: Watermelon lichee ginger appetizer, spinach gazpacho soup and tilapia with roasted potatoes and bak choi

Tonight’s ‘Movie Under the Stars’ is “Captain Phillips” which I think is kind of a weird movie to show on a ship as it is about Somali pirates high jacking a cargo ship for ransom. The movie was excellent as were the 4 bags of popcorn each we ate. Hey, it was good popcorn!

Fort Lauderdale, FL
March 9, 2014

It’s cruise day! We cannot embark until around noon, so we go for a walk. We go up to the water taxi stand to pick up a schedule as we might want to take the water taxi tour when we return to Fort Lauderdale in 10 days. Then we walk over the bridge to take some photos of the ships in port. Yikes! With bells clanging and railroad crossing gates coming down we realize we want to be on the OTHER side of this drawbridge and we scurry across.

Embarkation day can be stressful or not – I think so much depends on your attitude. We get a taxi from the hotel – ordered it at 9 this morning to pick us up at the hotel at noon. There is a scrum at the taxi stand every time a taxi pulls in, but we are relaxed knowing the cabby has our name. There is a woman trying to flag down a cab off the street, one pulls in, the cab driver has a name (not ours) but the flagger’s husband insists that since his wife flagged the cab down it is theirs. Cab driver calls a name, picks up his fare. The flagger woman returns to the curb. Slow learner…

We ride to port which is about a 5 minute walk but it takes 15 minutes by taxi because of all of the traffic. There are 8 boats in port!! Our boat is at berth 4 which we noticed because Princess is always at berth 2. Busy port today.

This will be our 8th cruise on Princess. We are Platinum members and get expedited everything. Go through security, fill out the health questionnaire, register our 2 bottles of wine, pick up our room key cards, get in line to board, have our embarkation photo taken and finally here we are!

This is our first cruise on the “Emerald Princess” but we’ve been on the Golden and the Sapphire; these all have the same layout so we already know where the restaurants, pools, bars, theater are and since we always get a mini-suite, unpacking is a snap. Electronics go in this drawer, sunglasses always go here..that sort of thing.

Because we get on the boat and are unpacked so early in the day it feels as though we get an extra day of cruising. We sit out on our balcony watching foodstuffs and other supplies being loaded.

For lunch we both had vegetable curry and a very nice garbanzo soup. I have been a vegan for the past year and I know the cruise will be a challenge, but this lunch is perfect.

3:15 – time for the safety drill. We gather up our life jackets and meet 500+ others gathered at our muster station. Happily people take this drill seriously. It takes only 30 minutes or so and who knows?

Cast off is at 4 pm. There is always a big sail-away party and we head to the top of the ship to wave at no one in particular on shore. The party is in full swing…drinking, music, lots of photos being taken. Then, an announcement from the Captain. Because we are not at our usual berth there has been some difficulty loading the luggage. We will not be underway for another hour. No one really cares. We watch 3 other cruise ships sail away before us. As the Royal Princess leaves port instead of the usual 3 long low loud blasts on the horn she booms out the theme from the Love Boat. It is a hoot! For those of you too young to remember, the original Love Boat was called the Royal Princess. To say she’s had a makeover is a gross understatement.

Finally we are underway! I am so looking forward to this vacation.

On selected evenings Elite and Platinum passengers are treated to private pre-dinner hors d’oeuvres and drink specials. We head up to the very tippy top at the back of the ship, Skywalker’s Lounge, for margaritas and fresh guacamole. These pre-dinner snacks also includes lots of fresh veggies, olives, cheese and fancy breads. This was our dinner tonight. Jeff and I both lost weight on our last cruise because we ate healthy and exercised a lot. On this trip our plan is to not GAIN weight which may be tough for 20 days. Everything you’ve heard about the availability, quantity and yummieness of cruise ship food is true!

There are so many things to do on board and we finally decide to watch a ‘Movie Under the Stars’. Tonight’s movie is “Thor: The Dark World”. Perfect mindless entertainment! We lay on cushy lounges, covering ourselves with little tartan blankets as it is windy here at the top of the ship, eating popcorn and chocolate chip cookies.

Jeff’s favorite part of any cruise is standing at our balcony railing at night, enjoying a glass of wine, watching the waves and looking at the stars. I go to bed while he communes with the universe.

Denver, CO
March 8, 2014

Today we leave on vacation! Tom Delaney is going to be at our house at 6:15 a.m.; we’ll leave the house at 6:30. That’s the plan, anyway. Last minute stuff… turn off our home wireless, empty the dishwasher, turn off the water. We travel enough that a lot of this is simply routine, so why do we always feel as though we’re in a mad rush? Tom is right on time – it takes a good friend to drag himself out of bed on a COLD Saturday morning to drive someone to Denver. Thanks, Tom!

Despite the fact that last night Denver was predicted to get 4-6 inches of snow, the roads are clear and we’re at DIA (Denver International Airport) in no time. We leave our coats, hats and gloves in the car, (pretty sure we won’t need them), bid Tom farewell and scurry into the terminal.
We’re flying Southwest and paid them to do our boarding numbers for us, so we are in the “A” group. We get our seats in row 6. We always sit window/aisle in hopes that no one will choose to take the middle, but this flight is completely booked, so we offer up the window seat.

We’re leaving right on time…well, hmmm…our plane appears to have a mechanical issue. A light in the cockpit isn’t working. Unfortunately it is the light that among other things tells the pilot that the landing gear is all the way down. Maintenance comes, 20 minutes later we hear the dreaded “This plane is not making this flight.” We all grab our carry-on – there is a young couple with a little boy and two very tiny twins, so Jeff and I help them with their stuff – and off we troop.

Good grief – you would think we had been cast away on the seas. Some folks are definitely not ‘go-with-the-flow’ sorts. Southwest is going to try to find another plane for us. They make it sound like they just need to go to the “spare airplane” closet and dust one off. We go to another gate. These gate attendants look a little frightened when they see 300 some people descending on them en masse. “Don’t get comfortable – this is not your gate – we’re looking for your plane”. Sounds like they just misplaced it.

Eventually we do get a gate and an airplane; but when we got onto our original flight they took our boarding passes, you know, the ones that tell you the numerical order in which to line up? Please, people, it’s not like this has never happened before. The gate attendants have put all the boarding passes in numerical order, they call the names, you show your id and board. It was actually quite a nice way to do it as there were only a few people at a time in the airplane’s aisle.
Jeff and I had bet that people would try to get “their” seats from the original flight. I did have my heart set on row 6 and there was the little family in our seats. Hahaha!

Off we flew to Orlando. The poor flight crew. They were great and it wasn’t their fault but sometimes people need to vent and they are a ready target. While we were wandering like the Israelites looking for the promised plane, I bought a box of See’s candy for the flight attendants. I think they were pleased to receive the appreciation from someone who expected nothing in return.

We’ve flown into Orlando plenty of times before and knew just where to get the hotel shuttle. We waited and waited and waited for our luggage which finally appeared on the carousel. All the passengers on our flight had the same worried “they did transfer our luggage to the correct plane, right?” look.

Then we waited and waited and waited AND waited for the hotel shuttle. Jeff took to waving down every Holiday Inn van that went by; finally we called the hotel again. “He’s right there.” Really? Turns out that one of the drivers we spoke to right when we got there WAS the right driver! Communication issue. We had watched him pass us at least 3 times in about 90 minutes. Finally, here we are at the Holiday Inn! Free room (using credit card points), free breakfast, we know where the supermarket is so we get our wine and bouquet of flowers for our cruise cabin and have a nice relaxing margarita and Mexican dinner at Pepe & Carlos.

Tomorrow we start our 20 day cruise!