Daily Log, Explorer of the Seas, Jan. 16-27

[rwdnj]

 

The most exercise I get is when I cannot find a waiter at the pool and have to get up and walk to the pool bar to get a beer.:eek:

 

Yep, I'm with you Johneeooo!!:D

 

If I did ten percent of what you did they would have carried me off the ship feet first.

 

I'd be on a gurney.:eek:

[ViviKim]

Just wanted to also say thank you for taking the time to do this. I'm glad you and your daughter are having so much fun. My family and I will be boarding the explorer on Feb 17th with the same itinerary as your trip. This will be our third time stopping at San Juan Puerto Rico with Explorer, and I always wanted to stop at one of the restaurants to try mofongo but never dared do it without a recommendation; so when you were writing your review I thought too bad you didn't catch the name of the restaurant, but just had to keep reading and thanks to your hat being forgotten you were able to add the name..LOL . I will make an effort to try to get there but our Puerto Rico stop will be 7:00 am to 1:00 pm so it would have to be a very early lunch..I also googled the restaurant and others gave it very good reviews as well.

 

Looking forward to read your St. Marteen report as this would be our first time there!

 

Thanks again!

Edited January 21, 2012 by ViviKim

[johneeo]

I will make an effort to try to get there but our Puerto Rico stop will be 7:00 am to 1:00 pm so it would have to be a very early lunch..I also googled the restaurant and others gave it very good reviews as well.

 

 

Check out the Segway excursion.

 

Lot of fun.

[EmpressofPurple]

Saturday, January 21, 2012 – St. Martin/Maarten

Woke up at 4:30am due to random alarm on my sports timer going off unexpectedly. Finally shut it off, then woke up again at 6:45 (alarm was set for 7). I shut off the alarm, thinking I’d get up a bit early for my 7:30 stretch class… then dozed until 7:30! I shot out of bed, jumped into my workout gear and grabbed an elevator to 11 – just missed the first 5 minutes of class, since my watch was five minutes fast (and perhaps they got started a bit late again). Same SJ workout as before, stretching each side more or less depending on which is tighter; abs workout afterward included crunches, reverse crunches, double crunches, and oblique crunches. Ouch! Hurts so good.

Headed down to the cabin at 8:30, Ariel was up and ready to go. We packed our bags and went down to the Diamond Breakfast by 9:00am – a big mistake. Even that room is SO SLOW for breakfast (and once again, there was a huge line waiting to get into the dining room). We will definitely be eating breakfast in the Windjammer from now on, especially on our two remaining port days. What a ridiculous waste of time! I mean, I love talking with the other Diamond and beyond members... but not for an hour when we’re already docked and have a limited time in port. Anyway, I had the same breakfast as the day before (eggs benedict – eggs and ham only; kippered herring; half grapefruit; V-8; “free” cappuccino, or as I said before, free for the price of the cruise). All served at the same time, after 9:30, when they had closed the door to the dining room. Ridiculous.

Ariel and I headed down to deck 1, made our way onto the pier where there were three other ships in port: A Carnival cruise, the Wind Surf from Windstar Cruises, and a Seabourn ship. We took a picture with every pier photographer (there were four, two pirates, one with the ship as backdrop, one with the beautiful St. Martin marina and hills in the background) and made our way through the duty free shop to the taxi stand. There we joined a line for a shared taxi to Orient Beach, paying $6pp for the one-way ride. (I might note that all the others in our van were very large people – my people! Before I shrank a bit anyway – and it is very interesting to now be smaller than the largest folks around… though please note, I still weigh 100 lbs. more than the other women in my morning stretch class, I know because we all actually use the gym scale after class!! And thanks to my valiant efforts, despite this amazing amount of food I have been eating every day, I have dropped one pound so far on this cruise.)

We arranged with the taxi driver to come back for us at 3:00pm, thinking that would give us about 5 hours of beach time and still leave us enough time before the 5:30pm all aboard to explore Front Street. We walked along a small path to the beach, where a lovely young man stopped us, introduced himself as Ory, pointed out his beach chairs and explained how Orient Beach works: you rent a beach chair at one of the stands and enjoy yourself. This one included the chair, an umbrella if desired, a free drink, and use of the restroom and shower. They also had a restaurant onsite. He advertised “love and security” and had a very nice manner. I assured him that we would probably come back, but that we wanted to explore a bit.

We walked down the shore a ways, looking at the other similar setups all along the beachfront, but with no better enticements, we decided to return to this stop, at the “sun beach clubber” where we paid $7pp (I actually gave Ory $16 total.) We got two chairs with nice cushions, two rows back from the ocean (a great location, actually, less windy, no people walking by right in front of us, etc.). We laid out our towels and I went straight into the water. It looked VERY rough, but actually was quite calm underneath, with virtually no undertow, and waves that just slapped playfully as they rolled in, although they appeared strong enough to knock you over. I walked out past the small breakers, and swam and floated in the beautiful blue-green water, the warmest we had yet encountered on our trip. Then I went back and joined Ariel on the chairs. Ariel had her beach drink, a rum punch (apparently not very delicious), and I asked Ory to bring us some ice so I could freshen our water bottles.

There was a strong wind which continued throughout the day without abating – which felt delightful, keeping us cool in the hot sun – but as Ariel said, it could be dangerous, since you might burn without realizing it. Fortunately, we had learned our lesson from Labadee and kept ourselves well-coated with sunscreen all over. I alternately listened to my ipod (a “Caribbean Delights” playlist I had put together with help from my very first CC RCI roll call that is still a favorite) and the competing music from our beach bar (mostly European-style techno) and the bar next door (Island-style easy listening). Oddly, the cacophony was not unpleasant, rather cheerful and energetic. There was a nice vibe on the beach, and we easily chatted with our neighbors, including a young man who was on the island for 10 days, who had been coming here since he was 4 years old with his parents who own property on St. Martin and planned to retire here eventually.

Around 12:30 we headed into the beach bar restaurant, where we had the Creole special: mixed Boudin (blood sausage), stuffed crab, and green salad, served with good French bread, and we each had an Orangina to drink. The sausage was delicious, skinless, more like a paté, one white, one dark red and spicy; the stuffed crab was amazing and fresh. We had planned to order a crème brulée for dessert, but had no room! (Bill was $21, $15 for the mixed platter, $3 each for the Oranginas; we left $25). They tried to give us free shots, but we declined, to their surprise. We asked to take a picture with Ory, who was thrilled: apparently he had just commented to a friend that day that no one had ever asked to take a picture with him, and we made him feel like a rock star. (Of course, all these young men are happy to take a photo with my beautiful daughter!) These photos are a nice way to remember your visit. He also chatted with us about how cruising was a good way to visit different Caribbean islands to learn which ones you might want to come for a more extended visit. He said that he was from St. Lucia, and shared interesting information about his homeland.

Then it was back to the beach chairs for more reading, napping and music listening, alternating with taking a swim in the delicious water. At about 2:30 I planned to take my last swim and then walk up towards the nude beach while I was drying off… but the beach came to us, with a number of women, young and old, taking chairs in this club and removing their clothes! I decided to just dry off on my own chair, and Ariel and I packed up our stuff to leave. I stopped at the bar to get a non-alcoholic punch for the road; the bartender was tending to so many other drink orders I had to wait quite a while, but I did finally get it; it tasted basically like orange-pineapple juice with a dash of grenadine, nothing very special. I also left a $5 tip with Ory to thank him for taking care of us.

In any event, our taxi driver didn’t return, so we made arrangements with another one to take us back for $6 each. He had four people in the van already, and we drove slowly back and forth the length of the beach as he searched for more customers. Finally we picked up another party of 3 and got on the road back to the ship; along the way, the driver pointed out various sites of interest and provided some background and historical information, such as the fact that the French town of Orleans, French Quarter, was founded by the same people who went on to found New Orleans’ French Quarter in Louisiana.

We asked to be dropped off at Front Street, and walk back to the ship on our own. We found the Guavaberry shop, where I wanted to pick up some gifts for my son. Many years ago, when Ariel and I went on our first cruise together without her brother, we brought back various hot sauces, steak sauces and barbecue sauces from the different ports of call. Jason fell in love with the Guavaberry sauce, made only in St. Martin, and one year when we hadn’t been back to St. Martin for quite a while I ordered it for him online as a Christmas present – and he nearly cried, he was so happy to see it! So we had to be sure to get some from the store. We took photos with the “Old Man” logo, and picked up the barbecue sauce and some honey (!) – we still had plenty of hot sauce at home – but they were OUT OF STEAK SAUCE!!! They said we might find some at their outlet at the ship pier.

After that we stopped in Diamonds International, where I picked up my free charm for my bracelet, and then we walked to the waterfront… where Ariel reminded me that we had done a Segway tour on our last cruise which stopped in St. Martin! That was a GREAT tour (and yes, Johneeo, I had thought when I visited San Juan last time that I would love to do the Segway tour there, the PERFECT location for that activity… but alas, that is outside of our budget on this cruise… and fortunately it was not to achingly hot there, with nice cool ocean breezes, especially when we were within the thick stone walls of the forts.)

We walked back along the busy waterfront, and then on the road by the marina, until we reached the dock area. We saw the Guavaberry stand and ran over – but no, they were out of steak sauce, too! We tried every sundry shop and tourist store… and finally found a few bottles left in a drugstore in the duty free building and snapped them up! Yay, a gift for Jason when we get home. We also picked up a couple of candy bars and ate one right there to replenish after the long walk back to the pier. (I think we had taken the water taxi in the past, a nice way to get back to the ship.)

We boarded the ship and headed up to the room… when I realized I had left my towel backpack on the luggage scanner. Ariel took my shopping bag and I walked back down to the ground level, where my bag was sitting on the rollers. I picked it up, and this time I took the elevator to the room – we had to get dressed quickly for tri-bond trivia! It was Caribbean night, so I wore a Caribbean-print shirt and some nice ankle pants; Ariel wore a beautiful scarf-hem dress in Caribbean colors. We paired up with some nice folks at trivia and had a good time, even though we didn’t win anything. Then we walked along the Promenade deck to watch a perfect Caribbean sunset, and into the dining room.

We were happy to see our dining companions again, after having missed them the previous night to enjoy a dinner onshore in our rare night stop in San Juan. We discussed how you could really feel the energy of the city come alive once the sun went down and the temperature cooled off. We have been incredibly lucky with weather, despite predictions of 40% and 50% chance of rain, having beautiful blue skies, lots of sun, and pleasantly (not unbearably) hot temperatures. (ViviKim, I’m glad to hear others have given positive reviews to El Caldero Sabroso… but let me say, I have eaten Mofongo and other local specialties in several different places in San Juan, without a single bad experience! When I stayed in Isla Verde after a repo cruise on Princess several years ago, there was a little diner in a strip mall across the street from the hotel that specialized in mofongo and it was amazing: breakfast mofongo with eggs and bacon, lunch mofongo with beef or shrimp or pork or chicken, all delicious! We also found a real hole-in-the-wall place in the old city, dark and mostly frequented by locals, with things like goat stew and fried pork and homemade chicken soup, that was simply the best food I have ever had… but alas, I forgot the name and could not locate it on this trip, but in searching for it I wandered into this restaurant and was not disappointed.)

Our dining companions had taken bus tours of St. Martin – including a stop right next to the nude beach, which was apparently quite something to see. They also had a very different experience with the water than we did, finding that there was a lot of undertow, less than a mile along the beach from where we were located. Interesting! Their tour included transportation to and from the beach, a beach chair, and unlimited rum punch, so at $34 or so was probably a bargain, at least for someone who wants more than one drink. We enjoyed sharing stories and talking about our plans for the next day – and eating more of Royal Caribbean’s good food. Today I ordered an appetizer of fruit (yeah, the same watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew, this time cut into thin slices) with lychee and water chestnuts, in a kaffir lime sauce; mulligatawny soup (a nice spicy Indian lentil soup which I often have at home; they added chicken and rice); and tomato salad (thin sliced tomatoes with scallion and a sprinkling of blue cheese). Main course was orange-glazed duck (I left behind the fatty skin and the rice), and for dessert, Ariel and I had a “dessert buffet,” trying one of each of the items on the menu: she had the chocolate banana trifle and the mango mousse, plus the raspberry sherbert; I had the pear tart and the lemon cheesecake (both of which I left the crusts behind), plus the pistachio ice cream (just a bite, to remember what it tastes like; I haven’t had it in decades). Coffee with cream for me – and with lactose-free milk for Ariel! – so we could stay up to see the show.

After dinner, I stopped off at the cabin to drop off another leftover plate of cheese for midnight nibbles. I took pictures of the ADORABLE and weird sloth-like towel creature sitting on my bed, with its arm around my stuffed animal, picked up tomorrow’s Compass, and then met Ariel on the Promenade, where I got another cup of coffee to take into the Palace Theatre where we waited for “Invitation to Dance” to start. The show was tremendous, choreographed by someone from “Dancing with the Stars” – not one of our favorite shows, but honestly, this was one of the best RCI shows we have ever seen, and that is saying a lot. High-energy choreography, beautiful costumes (!!!) that were flattering (!!!) to the singers and dancers with their wide range of body types and colors, terrific musical arrangements sung by those amazing singers, backed by a terrific orchestra – it was just an entertaining and eye-catching show, and we had a great time.

Afterwards we headed up to Maharajas, because I wanted Ariel to see the Battle of the Sexes. We didn’t see any young people in the audience, but somehow when they called up 8 men and 8 women, the young people magically appeared! Ariel feels a bit on her own, since they all seem to be in couples, and she doesn’t really want to go out to the club on her own – I wish she had some friends along, or that there were some young folks in our CC group she could hang out with. Oh well, she’s having a good time with old maw for the most part, and I’m certainly enjoying her company. Ah, young folk and their lazybones vacations! She’s sleeping now as I write this report, and will sleep in in the morning when I get up to take my 7:30 stretch class, too, no doubt.

 

Other questions: Saramom, I wish I could help, but we didn’t stop in St. Thomas. You seem to have a different itinerary that we did (confusing for staff, too, as evidenced by our waiter telling us the wrong night to set our clocks forward). Best advice would be to give yourself an hour of “wiggle room” if you are booking a private tour. They are also usually amenable to last-minute changes beyond your control; I booked private tours once when I was on a Princess cruise that had engine trouble which caused us to be late to many ports, and we had to either cancel or reschedule a number of private tours with no penalty – the tour providers are aware that these things can happen.

Birdnutty, trust me, I am eating cookies and cake and candy, as well as my three appetizers and often two entrees (and today, three desserts!) and only managing to stay on track because of the incredible amount of exercise I fit in every day!! And the only way I can do that is because I have come to really enjoy it and realize that it makes me happy – and that is the FIRST thing I did when I decided to change my lifestyle, was to change my mind about exercise. I started studying friends of mine who liked to exercise and thinking about what it would take to be like them, rather than like my other friends who complained and groaned and moaned about having to go to the gym, but it was necessary to keep of the pounds/satisfy the doctor/fit into their clothes/etc. I really wanted to be HAPPY with what I was doing – I mean, let’s face it, even being healthy doesn’t make you live forever, and I did not want to get to the end of my life and say, damnit, I didn’t want to be exercising all that time, I wanted to be eating cookies and lying in my bed! Well, that meant I had to want to PREFER to exercise, and that meant a BIG change in my own values… one that has finally started to come into place. My kids have commented how nice it is to see me happy and excited to go to Yoga class or go for a run or go to the gym, rather then feeling like it is an obligation or a chore or a punishment. Come along for the ride, it’s more fun than you could ever imagine… once you have the courage to start. (That’s the title of a great book I’m reading by a middle-aged “accidental athlete” who turned his life around when he started running. Very inspirational!)

BND, interesting to hear this isn’t the first time there have been dining issues on the Explorer regarding long lines at breakfast. I wonder what’s going on here? Must be something at the dining management level.

RutgersGirl27, thanks for the kind words, I hope my daughter looks back on this trip with fond memories. I certainly will!

Everyone else, lurkers and posters alike, thanks so much for your good wishes and good will and bearing with my loquacious and detail-ridden descriptions of our daily activities, meals, and tours, as well as my own commentary on various and sundry cruising topics! This cruise is an utter delight, and I’m thrilled to have an opportunity to share it with my CC buddies. I love reading about all of your experiences, and I’m grateful to be able to return the favor; well worth the time spent jotting down these notes, and they will be a terrific travel diary for me to look back on as well.

I’ll let you know about tomorrow in Antigua; we’re going to talk to the taxi drivers about which is the best beach for snorkeling – having lugged it with me, I’m determined to use my snorkel gear on this trip!

Best regards,

-D

[Virtopia]

Thanks so much for this great review! It's really getting me excited for my cruise right when you depart.

 

A couple questions for you please.

1) How crowded is the gym that early in the morning? I'm aiming to be at the gym between 7:00 and 8:00 and would probably prefer that it has less people. I am interested in trying one of those stretch classes as well.

 

2) Is the MDR cold? I'm thinking if I will need to bring some type of shawl/sweater with me as most of my outfits are sleeveless.

 

3) I'm 29 and I'm wondering what percentage of people in my age category do you think are on your sailing? I'd like to meet some people around my age, but I'm thinking, a 10 night cruise in January makes it highly unlikely.

 

Thanks again for your great review!

[dirtgirl]

Hi Denise! You are making me tired just reading about your adventures! Bravo to you for all of your dedication to exercise - it is such a huge part of my life, too, and I can't imagine not exercising every day. It makes you feel SO good! ;) Say hi to Ariel for me!

[will773]

Thanks again for the update! I'm really loving your posts!

[Comet Cruiser]

Hi there!

 

Thanks for posting this daily.....we have good friends on the Explorer with you, it is their first cruise. The reason they booked this one was because they love touring around on their motorbike and found this cruise was one that they thought would be a great way to cruise.:D... me.....I prefer the beach to touring around on a motorbike:).

 

Happy cruising! Can't wait to be back on the Explorer in October!

 

Gail

Comet Cruiser

[MaskedTurtle]

I actually have two questions.

 

1)What is the current team member limit for the trivia sessions? Sometimes it's 6 and sometimes it's 4.

 

2)Have there been any seminars/classes on how to properly apply make-up? There was one a few years ago, but I forgot what they taught.

[ETski]

Do you know what Headliners are onboard? We board when you are departing.

[johneeo]

I actually have two questions.

 

1)What is the current team member limit for the trivia sessions? Sometimes it's 6 and sometimes it's 4.

 

 

We had anywhere from 6 to 16.

 

I quit because all of my team members were stooopid.:rolleyes:

[will773]

Any new updates?

[MaskedTurtle]

We had anywhere from 6 to 16.

 

I quit because all of my team members were stooopid.:rolleyes:

 

6 to 16? Really? The last couple of cruises we took, the limit was capped at 4 (a few cruises ago it was 6, which was good because there are always 6 of us).

[dsvd79]

I feel like a lot of us from the next sailing are invading this thread! lol

 

I too board when you leave.

 

Virtopia- My party for the cruise is 32, 39, and 41. So at least we will be part of the younger crowd. lol

 

 

It is just too bad about hearing the MDR problems. We love going there for breakfast, and dinner. Have you tried the MDR for lunch yet?

[MaskedTurtle]

I feel like a lot of us from the next sailing are invading this thread! lol

 

I too board when you leave.

 

Virtopia- My party for the cruise is 32, 39, and 41. So at least we will be part of the younger crowd. lol

 

 

It is just too bad about hearing the MDR problems. We love going there for breakfast, and dinner. Have you tried the MDR for lunch yet?

 

 

We're just trying to make sure the ship is ship-shape for us.:)

 

I'm glad to see your definition of "the younger crowd". 34 here.;)

 

There always seems to be some sort of MDR snag. As long as the food is good and they have plenty of those little rolls with the seeds, all is right with the world.:D

[EmpressofPurple]

Hi Denise! You are making me tired just reading about your adventures! Bravo to you for all of your dedication to exercise - it is such a huge part of my life, too, and I can't imagine not exercising every day. It makes you feel SO good! ;) Say hi to Ariel for me!

 

Love you Carol! You KNOW you are the example to me of a person who loves exercise, and have been a great role model and inspiration! You make our travel easy and fun. Wish you were aboard so we could close the dance club at night AND open the gym in the morning!! I'd say hi to Ariel for you... IF SHE WERE AWAKE!!!

 

xoxo

 

D

[EmpressofPurple]

Thanks so much for this great review! It's really getting me excited for my cruise right when you depart.

 

A couple questions for you please.

1) How crowded is the gym that early in the morning? I'm aiming to be at the gym between 7:00 and 8:00 and would probably prefer that it has less people. I am interested in trying one of those stretch classes as well.

 

2) Is the MDR cold? I'm thinking if I will need to bring some type of shawl/sweater with me as most of my outfits are sleeveless.

 

3) I'm 29 and I'm wondering what percentage of people in my age category do you think are on your sailing? I'd like to meet some people around my age, but I'm thinking, a 10 night cruise in January makes it highly unlikely.

 

Thanks again for your great review!

 

1) - Varies, but machines are pretty crowded by 7am -- although when I woke up too early by mistake, I learned they were empty before 7!!:) Stretch class is fun, give it a try.

 

2) Yes, bring a sweater or pashmina for dinner for sure. My daughter is 25 and gets chilly easily, and she always brings a wrap for dinner (I do, too).

 

3) Small percentage, at least on this sailing. There are some, and you'll probably find them at some of the "fun" activities -- but my daughter's observation is that they were all in couples or groups. Put a shout-out on your roll-call, too!

 

Glad you're enjoying reading along; hope I can "continue" my cruise by reading one from all of you who are getting on when I get off!!!

[EmpressofPurple]

I actually have two questions.

 

1)What is the current team member limit for the trivia sessions? Sometimes it's 6 and sometimes it's 4.

 

2)Have there been any seminars/classes on how to properly apply make-up? There was one a few years ago, but I forgot what they taught.

 

 

1) Six, and fairly strictly enforced.

 

2) I've seen a "sunglow makeover" advertised, but haven't attended.

[MaskedTurtle]

1) Six, and fairly strictly enforced.

 

2) I've seen a "sunglow makeover" advertised, but haven't attended.

 

 

Thanks.

I'm glad to see the limit is back up to 6. That's the number that is always in my group (including myself) and we always feel bad about someone having to sit out.

 

Maybe for the next cruise, which is when I am going, they will have something more involved as far as make-up goes. I am pretty clueless and usually just wind up slapping some stuff on.

[EmpressofPurple]

Yikes, writing this two days later, very hard to remember everything that happened on Sunday with all that happened since! I’ll do my best…

Sunday, January 22, 2012 – Antigua

Up at 7am for 7:30am stretch and 8:00am abs class, lead by Bea (pronounced “Bay-ah,” short for Beatrice, from the Netherlands) today. Same routine as previously with her, with the addition that we arrived in port at 8:00am, so we got to experience the beautiful approach to Antigua going by outside the gym windows during class.

After class I headed down to get Ariel; we packed for a day at the beach, and headed up to the Windjammer for breakfast. (We rode the elevator, since my knees were a little achy this morning.) This time we decided to walk all the way to the front, where there are much more interesting selections: and indeed, at the Jade station I found stir-fried vegetables (!) including summer squash, carrots and peppers; miso soup with toppings including tofu, thin-sliced mushrooms, and seaweed (among many other offerings); I also had smoked salmon with capers, red onions, fresh tomatoes and cottage cheese; plus corned beef hash, “pit ham,” and two hard-boiled eggs.

After breakfast (and adding some ice cubes to our water bottles), we headed down to deck 1 (by elevator) to disembark. We went onto the pier in Antigua and went to the information booth to ask which was the best beach for snorkeling, only to be told Long Bay – all the way on the opposite side of the island. I asked about a couple of beaches closer to the pier, but was told repeatedly, no, just Long Bay for snorkeling, and that it would cost $8pp each way. We asked the taxi dispatchers and were told it was $32 for 1-4 people, so we had to wait for 2 more people to drop the price, otherwise we would be paying $16pp each way. (I also hoped to take Ariel to see Nelson’s Dockyard, the main tourist stop on Antigua, but since it was a Sunday I was sure that the displays and vendors at the site would be severely reduced if not closed altogether, and when we learned it would add to the price of our trip, we decided to leave it out for today.)

Fortunately, a young couple showed up who were also looking to snorkel. We asked them if they were on our ship and they said yes, and we commented that we hadn’t seen them before. “Thank goodness,” they said. “We were on the love and marriage show and said a bunch of embarrassing stuff and everyone on the ship has been coming up to talk to us ever since.” We missed the show on this sailing, but having seen it many times in the past, I knew what they were talking about. It was fun to spend the days with these “celebrities”! They were both very funny and nice people.

The taxi dispatcher (who was wearing eye-catching bright red glasses, red hat, and red knitted shoes!) assigned us to Sammy as our driver, who had a large 14-passenger van for just the four of us. We all introduced ourselves and started the half-hour trip to Long Bay. Along the drive, Sammy pointed out sites of interest and shared a little about the history and development of Antigua. We learned that independence was in 1981, that sugar cane had been the main industry until tourism took over in about 2005; the country’s slogan was “tourism is everybody’s business,” because it is the center of the economy. They receive 2 or more cruise ships per day in the season (October thru April), as well as direct air flights from many US cities and London, and tourist hotels and resorts are located throughout the island, not in any one particular district.

Indeed, driving around the island, Antigua looked notably cleaner and more well-kept than either the French or Dutch sides of St. Martin (and more well-to-do than St. Kitts, which we would see the following day). We also learned that the Chinese had made significant investments in Antigua, funding a beautiful Cricket stadium, building roads and improving infrastructure, and helping construct a state-of-the-art hospital (we had seen the hospital building from the ship and thought it was a four-star resort). In fact, the Chinese government also funds 20 scholarships per year for students from Antigua to study in China – and our taxi driver’s son was one of the recipients! (His other two children lived in New York with their mother, and he often came to New York to visit them.) The son in China is studying engineering, and can speak Mandarin. Sammy, our driver, described what a small world we are living in, and how he speaks to his son daily via Skype or cell phone. Amazing.

Sammy also commented that Antigua is like a small town, where everybody knows each other. (In fact, I have a friend in New York who is from Antigua, who had told me much the same thing – and said that it had its downside, too, because if you ever did anything bad, or owed anyone money, or cheated on your girlfriend, everybody knew about it, and you could never live it down or get away from your previous misdeeds.)

We arrived at Long Bay, and Sammy agreed to come back and get us at 3:00pm to return to the ship, and that we could pay him on the ride back. We were met at the car park by Eric, who directed us to some beach chairs under an umbrella, pointing out the restaurant at the back, and when I asked him what we could pay him for the chairs, he said $6 each. We selected two chairs under the umbrella (having one chair replaced twice, since the plastic slats were torn on the first, and then the second one was missing slats), gave Eric $12, and settled in. The couple we were traveling with just put their towels on the ground and relaxed. I went right into the water with my snorkel gear to see what there was to see.

Well, right offshore I didn’t see much: a couple of large, pale fish that looked like the sand beneath them. I could see a small surf break farther off shore, but didn’t want to snorkel out that far just yet. Trying to get used to snorkeling again, I went over some dark areas closer to shore that was just underwater grass, without much sea life. I swam back to the shore, hoping this snorkel stop wouldn’t be a disappointment.

I discovered that the umbrella was down, and Ariel told me that Eric had come back and asked where the rest of the money was; the $6 was just for the chairs, we had to pay an extra $10 for the umbrella! I was really outraged, and went to find him, and gave him a piece of my mind: he had never indicated that there was an extra charge for the umbrella. He said oh, no, the charge was just for the chairs. I told him we had paid the same amount on St. Martin for a nice chair with a cushion, and umbrella, a welcome drink, showers and bathroom; he said we couldn’t compare this to St. Martin. I walked off in a huff; I almost wanted to ask for my money back and join the other couple on the ground, but I ate my anger and decided to just relax and enjoy the day on my $6 plastic-slat chair.

I also realized I had forgotten one critical item for a day of snorkeling: my snorkel shirt. You see, many years ago I learned that when you spend hours floating on your stomach, entranced by the wonders of the sea, enjoying the cool water, you don’t realize that your back (and especially your backside) are bobbing on the surface of the water, fully exposed and raised up to receive the burning rays of the sun… and you can end up with a nasty sunburn without realizing it. Ever since that happened to me on my last day of a Hawaiian vacation, when I got to take a 12-hour nonstop flight home on my badly burned bottom, I have never forgotten an extra-long snorkel shirt… until today.

Nonetheless, I went back into the water, determined to get out to the reef area where the surf was breaking. It was hard work swimming against the waves to get out there, and I took several breaks along the way, floating on my back, using my arms to swim as well as my flipper-clad legs, but finally I started to see some fish: tiger fish, a few little black fish, and more. But I was TIRED, and it was a long way back! It took a lot out of me to breathe through the snorkel, flap my legs from the hips to propel myself against the current and swim around; there was no one who could come to get me if I got tired, so I decided to head back to shore, a little disappointed in the quality of the snorkeling. (I was grateful to have a good-quality Body Glove snorkel, though, which automatically shut off when water from the waves rolled over the top; I never inhaled water as I had in the past with a cheap open snorkel.)

When I got back, Ariel was feeling poorly; she has had some digestive issues on this trip, and I hoped that was it, but she felt so bad she was worried she had problems with her appendix. I assured her that we did have travel insurance, so if she needed to see the doctor onboard, we would have to pay for it out of pocket, but we would get reimbursed. I also encouraged her to stay hydrated. When she felt a bit better, we took a dip in the water together. We decided not to eat at the restaurant (I didn’t want to give them any more money after I felt we had been misled about the prices of the chair/umbrella, either), so I had an Isagenix protein bar for lunch, and Ariel ate a fiberplus bar I had brought along for her. (The good news: she felt better later and never felt the need to pay a visit to the onboard doctor.)

I then decided to go for a walk along the length of the beach, and walked all the way down to the left, where there was a lovely beach resort, with dozens of beach chairs covered with green towels, security guards, and a large restaurant. I then walked all the way back, picked up my snorkel gear, and walked to the right end of the beach, where I noticed there was a pale strip underwater leading out towards the reef. I walked out here and realized that one could walk practically all the way, and I only had to swim towards the very end. This was much easier! Unfortunately, other people were here too, having discovered the same path, and they were kicking up the sand so the water became very cloudy. I tried to veer away from them, but the reefs were so high it was nearly impossible to swim over them, and I didn’t want to bump into them as I knew from past experience that they could be very sharp and cut or scrape you without your noticing until later. However, I did get to see quite a few fish in this area, dozens of tiger fish, large silver-blue shiny fish, tiny black fish darting into small holes in the reef, etc., etc. This was quite fun!

I decided to swim back the long way, since I would have the waves with me all the way, and indeed it wasn’t tiring at all. I was thrilled that my third time in the water with my snorkel gear had yielded a special experience; I wish I had known about this path to the reef from the beginning. I told the young couple that this was the way to go to see some good fish, and they went out that way with their snorkel gear (they had masks and snorkels only, no fins). After they returned, they went to the bar, and we took a few more minutes on the beach before we started to pack up our stuff to meet Sammy in the parking lot. He arrived shortly, we brushed off the last of the sand and went into the van. We got on the road, and arrived back at the terminal area by about 3:30pm. We browsed the vendor area, picked up our free charms at the Diamond International shop, and got back onboard.

We were pretty hungry, having essentially skipped lunch, so we stopped at the Promenade Café and had a selection of their mini-sandwiches: salami & cheese on a poppyseed roll; brie & red-leaf lettuce on a sunflower-seed studded whole wheat bagel; and ham and cheese on a croissant. I made a fruit salad by peeling and cutting up a banana, an orange and a kiwi, and mixing them all together. I had a coconut cookie with some iced coffee (which I made by fixing hot coffee, getting a cup of ice from the server at the ice cream counter, and mixing them together).

Ariel ran up ahead of me to shower and dress for dinner (and Trivia at 5:15); I followed shortly afterwards, and made a discovery when I was getting dressed: during the day on the beach, since I was spending so much time snorkeling, and without my snorkel shirt, I had decided to spend all my land-time on my back, reading my kindle. Unfortunately, I was not assiduous in the application of my sunscreen, so I discovered that in addition to a very red back from my snorkeling, I also had bright red skin on my upper thighs and at my neckline from laying out in the sun! ARGH!

In any event, we were dressed and in the Schooner bar in time to snag a couch by the window so we could enjoy the beautiful sailaway from Antigua, watching all of the little hills and hillocks drift by the large, circular, porthole-style window as we played Trivia. We came THIS CLOSE to beating the “Dream Team” who all have been on 50+ cruises – in fact, we tied them, and ran up the tiebreaker answer ahead of them (they were seated 5 feet from the piano, where we were by the window)… but the CD staffer took theirs first, and they won UMBRELLAS!! (Something I lack and have long coveted.) Argh!! And we had THREE answers that we had originally gotten right and then changed, so we could have beaten them outright if we had only trusted our first instinct. Sigh.

After our CLOSE defeat, we walked to the outside deck and enjoyed the sunset, due at 5:58pm, perfect for just before dinner. We then proceeded to the dining room. Even though most nights are casual, Ariel and I still dress for dinner: I wore a navy Chico’s ensemble with silver Moroccan-patterned Tom’s shoes, a silver bag, long silver necklace and large silver hoop earrings; Ariel wore a tan skort with a tan-and-white polka dot top, with a black scarf to protect against the chilly air conditioning. Once again we shared stories of our day with our dining companions, and enjoyed a delicious dinner. Ariel ordered the caprese salad (mozzarella, tomato and basil) and the lamb shank (one of her favorites; I had a bite of the lamb and it was moist and flavorful); I had the antipasto platter with roasted garlic, grilled eggplant and melon wrapped with prosciutto (which I shared with Ariel), and we shared the insalata misto; I had the garlic tiger shrimp, which were expertly de-shelled by Frank, our cheerful and friendly assistant waiter. Dessert was a dark chocolate cake and rainbow sherbert for Ariel; I tried the butter almond ice cream, but didn’t eat it, because it tasted exactly like the pistachio ice cream from the nice before, only white instead of green! However, I did eat the raspberry panna cotta, one of my favorite desserts – even the shortbread cookie! – and I was very mature and only ordered one. (Ahem. Many times I have been known to order two of these raspberry-topped jiggly pink round mounds and make them shake together. Sorry!)

After dinner, we stopped by the theatre to watch the end of the Ravens. Vs. the Patriots (mostly to see our dining companions, who had left dinner early to support the Patriots, since they were all from New England). We never got to see the Giants vs. 49ers game, which was on afterwards, but heard the next day that the Giants had won in overtime. Go New York! We then headed into Broadway Music Trivia at 7:45, and once again came in SECOND!!! This is getting to be a pattern WHICH WE MUST BREAK.

After trivia, we walked on the outside promenade on deck 4, then headed up the stairs at the end to deck 5… and up from there to the helicopter landing pad! This area of the ship is unlighted, and we could look up and see the sky full of twinkling stars, all the way to the horizon. We also saw various Caribbean islands, with lights on the houses at the base of the hills. It was an absolutely magical cruising experience, the night sky and sea from the bow of this beautiful ship.

We then returned to the room, and planned to head up to the pool deck for the dancing and buffet at 11:30pm, so we stayed in our clothes as we watched our second “free” pay movie of the trip: Puss in Boots. I always keep a bowl of fresh fruit in my cabin, which I put together from the Windjammer and the Promenade Café, with a banana, orange, kiwi, pear, red and green apples, and while watching the movie, I munched on a green apple and some Good-n-plenty candy that I had brought from home. I didn’t eat my leftover cheese plate because I thought I’d be at the midnight buffet soon… but despite the movie being great fun, I started dozing off by the end of it… and when it was over it was clear I wasn’t going anywhere. I barely had the energy to pull off my clothes and crawl into bed before I fell asleep… didn’t even take my evening vitamins or brush my teeth! (Did both in the early morning before I headed up to my daily stretch class.)

[EmpressofPurple]

Monday, January 23, 2012 – St. Kitts – Last Port Day!!! Farewell, Caribbean

Up at 7:00am; hung up my clothes from last night (!) and got dressed for my workout class. Couldn’t find my ponytail holder (hidden in the folds of my bag from yesterday), so I borrowed one of Ariel’s; brought my water bottle, which I would fill in the gym for our day in port – plus a business card for one of my stretch-class companions, who learned that I run a résumé and typing service on the upper east side of Manhattan, just a few blocks from her home, and she needs her resume updated! Always nice to find new clients, even at sea hundreds of miles from home. (As an interesting aside, I discovered that the daughter of one of my dining companions runs a similar business from her home in Massachusetts, handling medical transcription work for many clients – but she uses overseas providers, while I only use US workers.)

SJ led stretch and abs classes today; I’m starting to get into the routine! Warm up by bending knees and touching ankles, then reaching up; then same to right and left; then swinging arms around the body, then touching arms to chest and across back. One leg forward, arms back, then curling forward; same with opposite leg. Then one leg back, open chest and lean back; same with opposite leg. Stretch arms right and left, tricep stretch down back, bend over and touch toes. Then seated stretches, including left and right spinal twist with leg crossed over; lying down, dropping knees right and left. The abs class started with the same twists, followed by squats and lunges; reclining side leg lifts (upper leg bent; lower leg lifting) and slow leg lifts and holds. Ouch!

After the workout I headed down to the cabin; I have been taking the elevator since yesterday because my knees have been a little gitchy (especially the one that started to hurt during my 11-mile run last Saturday). Ariel was up, and we dressed for the day’s outing. We decided to find a taxi on shore that could take us to see Brimstone Hill Fortress and the Caribelle Batik Factory and possibly drop us off for a little beach time at the end, so we wore touring clothes and each packed a swimsuit and towel just in case.

We headed up to the Windjammer for breakfast again, and again headed up to the front, and I had a very similar breakfast to yesterday: stir-fried vegetables; smoked salmon with fresh tomato, red onion, capers and cottage cheese; pit ham, bacon, and one hard-boiled egg; and some grits with salt, pepper and hot sauce. I drank the sugar-free mango flavored water, and it was tasty; also had some orange juice, and filled our water bottles with ice cubes to keep them cooler throughout the day.

I took some pictures in the entry to the Windjammer with the amazing wooden bird carvings behind glass, used the bathroom and went down to deck 1 by elevator. We “binged” out the door, stopping to take several pier pictures once again – although not every one this time! We went into the taxi hall and talked with the dispatchers about the available tours, explaining what we were looking for. They said this was the island tour, it would cost $20 per person and take about two and a half hours. There was a separate $8 entrance fee if we wanted to go into Brimstone Hill Fortress (we did), and an additional $6 (that was later reduced to $4) if we wanted to go to a beach at the end. We agreed, and waited to find other people to join us.

While we were waiting, I went into the town square and talked with some other private taxi providers to find out if we could get a better deal. With just two of us, there wasn’t anything better available, so we decided to wait up front. Eventually, two other couples came to join us (apparently the newlywed couple almost came along, too, while I was pricing out the other tours, but they ended up deciding just to go to the beach). We ended up with Ivy as our driver in an 8-passenger van: Ariel sat up front; one couple sat in the back bench seat; the other couple sat in the shared two-person seat and I sat in the single sliding seat that moved to allow access to the rear bench seat. Ivy said that we weren’t just her tourists, we were her friends, and she would show us all around her island of beautiful St. Kitts.

Ivy was lovely, giving a running commentary on everything we saw as we drove around. I was surprised how much I remembered about this island from my one visit here on a previous Princess cruise several years ago: the circus modeled after Piccadilly Circus in London, with a tiny model of Big Ben at its center; the Queen Victoria monument; the statue of the country’s first premier who led them into independence in 1983. St. Kitts was not as prosperous as Antigua, from what we could see; their largest resort development was in the area of a huge Marriott hotel and residential complex near Frigate Bay, which we passed at the end of the day. Elsewhere, the buildings and roads were often run down and in disrepair. There were also dozens of different churches throughout the island, including several old historical ones.

We made a number of stops, some just for photos of beautiful vistas, looking out at Nevis, or at Eustacia and Saba, even at St. Martin in the distance; looking up at Mt. Liamuga, with its squared-off top peak hidden by clouds; or to see monkeys in diapers whose owners would let you hold them and take a picture with them… for a fee. We passed a tree filled with egrets, and a “rum tree” – with dozens of empty bottles of booze hanging from strings. Our first major stop was at Romney Manor and the Caribelle Batik Factory. Formerly the plantation owned by Jefferson’s great-grandfather, Romney Manor is located in the beautiful rainforest in the center of St. Kitts, so different from the tropical island topography we had seen in St. Martin and Antigua. Here, there were lush gardens filled with banyan trees, fan palms, brightly-colored flowers, and stunning jungle-like vistas. The air was cool and fresh, and we enjoyed strolling around the gardens, taking pictures of each other in front of various beautiful plants, flowers and trees.

We also went through the factory, and learned the various stages of batik production. It’s hard not to spend a LOT of money here; items are pricey, reflecting the amount of work that goes into each piece. Ariel found a beautiful sundress on sale for almost half off, dark brown with white and tan butterflies, perfect for her. We also got a multicolored island scene on a handkerchief; some small bags, one with a lavender sachet, one with local spices (nutmeg, pepper and cloves), and one a cosmetic case with colored shells attached to the zipper pull.

After this, we got back in the van and drove on to Brimstone Hill Fortress, a Unesco World Heritage site, and quite a remarkable piece of architecture and engineering. To get to the fort, you must go up a single-lane road with dozens of hairpin turns, with the drivers honking their horns at every corner, since there simply is not enough room for two of these van-taxis to fit on the road at the same time. We made it to the top, literally squeezing through a small stone archway, paid our entrance fees, and explored the grounds. There was a brief orientation film we watched at the beginning, giving the history of the construction of the fort, some history of the island itself, when the fort was abandoned, and when it started to be renovated as a historical site.

We then proceeded up the 25 HUGE steps (each step is at least 4-5 paces long, making the actual climb 100-125 steps!) and look over the dizzying view: out to sea, with islands in the distance; down the hillside to the patchwork of farms and houses running down to the water’s edge; behind the fort to the untouched hills of the island’s interior. Everywhere you looked, the views were truly breathtaking. We wandered around the fortress – not as much to see here as in the forts in San Juan, this took less than an hour to cover the grounds and see the exhibitions – but really unique displays throughout. There was even a working bathroom stall in the old “latrine” room, which we could use!

After we made our way back down the steps, we decided to stop in the snack bar for some lunch. We shared a piece of barbecued chicken ($5) (clearly cooked in one of the oilcan smokers and really delicious) plus a plate of fries ($4) and a “Ting” grapefruit soda ($2.50) (made it St. Kitts, we later learned – I always thought Ting came from Jamaica). Our tour companions had a beer and relaxed while we all enjoyed the views, and then we got back on the road. We had two more treats to see: “Black Rock,” where unique lava formations thrust out of a rough ocean; and the spot where the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean met – you could actually see where the calm Caribbean ended and the waves of the Atlantic rolled in towards the black sand beach!

Then there was a long ride around the far side of the island, where there weren’t many sights to see… but the landscape was very reminiscent of Hawaii, with the roads curving around the deep gorges, plunging from the hills to the sea, and covered with lush green vegetation from top to bottom. Finally, we passed the large Marriott resort development, and shortly beyond that reached Frigate Bay. It was nearly 3:00pm, and our tour companions decided to head straight back to the ship, so Ariel and I were the only ones at the beach. Ivy agreed to come and pick us up in an hour so we could get back to town before the afternoon traffic got too bad, to make sure we would be on time for all aboard at 4:30pm. We changed into our swimsuits in the beach bar bathroom, declined a beach chair and just laid our towels on the beach, which had brown sand, a combination of the black volcanic sand and white sand. We went in the water first thing, so we would be dry and sand-free by the time Ivy returned.

The water was clear and beautiful, but the beach was quite rocky, not the smooth sand that we had experienced on Antigua and St. Martin. We had to walk down a steep slippery underwater slope of large pebbles, and then once in the water up to our waists, we were walking on large, plant-covered rocks. We saw an area farther along the shore that seemed to have sand under the water and headed that way. I put on my swim goggles and floated along, looking at the shells underwater and diving down to pick up any pretty ones. (At home, we use a gold pen to write the name of the beach or the island where we find them and the year of our trip, and we have a bowl full of shells and rocks with this information on them. It’s fun to look at them and remember our travels.)

After a while, we scrambled back up the steep, rocky shore and stretched out on our blankets. We used plenty of sunscreen, since we had both been burned over the previous couple of days, and relaxed and read. We were right next to another young couple we recognized from the ship, having seen them at Trivia and Battle of the Sexes. Around 3:40 we started packing up our stuff and heading to the parking lot, where Ivy was waiting for us. We offered the other couple a ride back to the ship and they accepted, so we all went back together. It was nice for Ariel to have some young people to talk with, although her observation that they are all in couples seems to be correct. They took a picture of us with Ivy, whom we tipped handsomely on top of the day’s fees in thanks for her turning what should have been a 2.5 hour tour into an all-day adventure.

When we got back to the town, we browsed the souvenir shops, and I found a nice magnet with a picture of brimstone hill on it. I also stopped in Diamonds International and picked up our free charms, right before we headed for the ship. In the plaza, we were approached by a monkey-photo salesman, who wanted $20 for several photos. I said I had only $5 left, and he accepted it; his three diaper-clad monkeys clambered all over Ariel and I snapped several photos of her. He then said I should have pictures, too, and gave the monkeys to me! They were on my arms, on top of my head, and Ariel got some great shots of them. It was fun, especially seeing one of them using his tiny hands to try to take off her bracelets. We took pictures with the monkey-man, too, before we headed out to the pier.

There was a long line to get on the ship – it was 4:15pm, the latest we had boarded – and once we got on the elevator line was impossible, so we just walked up the stairs to deck 5, where we stopped at the Promenade Café for a replenishing snack. Ariel had a slice of pepperoni pizza, and I combined the contents of two mortadella sandwiches onto one roll, and made my wonderful banana-orange-kiwi fruit salad and an iced coffee (no brownie today, although I did eat a coconut cookie in the room that Ariel had brought up last night, while I was getting dressed).

Once again, Ariel headed up first, while I sat at the table and chatted with another woman who had just returned from an all-day tour. She hadn’t eaten since eight o’clock that morning! We compared the price of what she paid for a ship tour: $49 on a bus with 19 people, that didn’t make all the stops we did, and no beach time – vs. what we paid: $20 tour, $8 brimstone hill, time for lunch, plus a beach stop for $4 more (we paid Ivy $60 total with tips, plus $16 for Brimstone = $76 for two), traveling in a van with only 4 other people. My experience is that it usually is more cost-effective and often more pleasant to plan private excursions rather than rely on over-booked, over-priced ship tours. (We tried to book one ship tour: the unique hike and yoga tour in St. Martin for $59pp – but it was canceled due to lack of participation. All the others offered were either easily matched by local providers, or simply too expensive.)

I headed back up to the room, and rushed to shower and dress for 5:15pm Trivia. Tonight I wore blue silk pants, a dark teal top, Navy jacket, and teal-and-navy watered silk scarf, with large turquoise scarab jewelry. Ariel wore her brand-new Caribelle Batik brown sundress, along with her black wrap. We had a lovely window seat in Trivia, and got to enjoy stunning views of St. Kitts as we pulled away, including the fortress and other sights we had seen during our tour – even a rainbow appeared as we came around the end of the island! However, once again, we came in SECOND in trivia!!

Then we walked on the promenade up to the helicopter deck, this time in daylight, to watch the sunset. There were half a dozen other people up there, too, and we all looked at the pink and purple clouds hiding the sun, or off in the other direction at the grey clouds over the various islands, and the rain clearly visible beneath them falling on the land and the sea – then back at the golden sun as it appeared from beneath the low clouds and then sank into the sea. We walked back down to deck 4 and over to the dining room.

Once again, we shared tales with our dining companions of our day’s adventures, and enjoyed our dinner. For appetizers, Ariel ordered a salad with baby spinach, tomato, mini-mozzarella balls and soft focaccia croutons; I had clam chowder and a crab cake. Main course for Ariel was shrimp gyoza (Japanese-style dumplings) and for me, pork loin over lentils and haricots verts (thin French green beans) – I didn’t eat the potato au gratin served with the dish. We both tried the lemon meringue tart (the meringue was inedible, grainy and oversweet, but the lemon was very tangy); Ariel also had the pineapple sherbert, and I was happy to have coffee ice cream once again. I made up a plate of leftover cheese, and brought that and my coffee to the Schooner Bar for “Songs with Color” trivia.

In this game, we heard a piece of music and had to name the song (which would have a color in the title) and the artist. Our team did very well… but once again, we came in SECOND overall!!!!! THIS HAS GOT TO STOP! Following trivia, Ariel brought the cheese up to the cabin while I got us seats in the front row at the headliner showtime performance (I went to the bathroom when she arrived to hold our seats). The show was amazing: first, Fluorescence, a terrific performance where the performers were invisible, and we just saw neon-colored puppet creatures performing amazing feats, tricks, and magic. Then, out came three Argentinian gauchos, who played the drums, tapped with their high-heeled boots, machetes, bolos, and whips. They roused the audience to great shouts of “Olé!” and won a standing ovation… and then we discovered that they had also been the invisible performers in the warm-up act!! Quite an amazing display of creativity. (I’m afraid I can’t tell much about the other headliners; I believe they included an impressionist, a juggler, and a magic/comedy act, but we didn’t see any of them.)

After the show, Ariel and I returned to the room – Quest was on at 10:30pm, but we have attended this plenty of times, and weren’t really in the mood tonight. I set up the computer and did my best to catch up on the past two days, while she dozed and watched various TV shows, including behind-the-scenes movies about the building of Liberty and Voyager, when those were the newest, largest and most state-of-the-art cruise ships afloat. I’ve also been nibbling on those leftover dinner cheese plates, and I had coconut cookie and a cup of coffee from the Café Promenade, too.

(Just to give you an idea of how much you have been reading along with me – and how much I have been writing! – in its original format, my notes constitute a 42-page Word document… and we still have three sea days to go!)

Oh, we were sad to have our last port day today: the perfect weather, friendly people, interesting tours, beautiful beaches are all behind us… we hope to get in some serious pool deck time tomorrow, when we will have the last of the warm weather. Then we’ll be moving into the cold (and probably experiencing some rough seas) as we head towards home. Even tonight, when we are moving along at a good clip, you can really feel the ship rocking and rolling.

All right, I’m going to give a quick check of what’s online, and then post everything I just wrote… probably in two installments, one for each day, so it’s not too long to read all at once… and then I’ll add any additions to respond to questions or comments that may have appeared over the past two days. Sorry I haven’t been able to keep up every day; I’ll try to do better on the last three days at sea.

 

Okay, responded to the questions first… about to post this now… but wanted to add another story: either last night or the night before I checked our onboard account, which you can access on the TV (unlike on the Monarch, where you must go to guest services and request a printout). I would have checked sooner, but I didn’t want Ariel to see the charge for the announcement I had put in the Compass congratulating her on her AmeriCorps service until after it appeared! Well, there were multiple charges from Explorations (two x $12, $36 and $44), even though we hadn’t ordered any excursions. We called the front desk, and they looked into it, and it turned out that they had been ordered by someone else and mistakenly charged to our cabin! Easily and quickly corrected, but it shows that it’s a good idea to keep an eye on your charges throughout your cruise so you can make sure they’re accurate.

 

[Virtopia]

What is this trivia all about? Never heard of it before, but sounds like something I'd enjoy watching or participating in.

 

Glad to see some younger folks on my sailing!! LOL

[dirtgirl]

You have really made the most of your trip, Denise!! Great memories, and good luck at trivia!!! I really enjoyed St. Kitts - that is where we climbed the volcano last month - what an experience!

[smeck]

Denise,

Have you noticed any sewer smells on your voyage?

[Bakrubb1]

If you get a chance to talk to the Cruise Director is Jimmy Rhodes, can you ask him if he will be onboard for the February 27th sailing and if not who will be the cruise director then.

 

Thanks

Jimbo:)

Hi, I'll be on the same cruise in February. Will you be in the Meet N Mingle.? Where are you parking or is someone dropping you off? Coming in from VA and looking for a safe place to park.